Quick Photo Update

The whole community together in Sama when we went to visit Nate with Cristo Rey. They are building the staircase you see in the background, although the day we went there were some kids just sitting on the side playing cards. Very different from last year.........










My attempt to participate in the JVI Tacna male´s beard growing context over Mes de Mision. I think I only had some success with the ´stache.











At the clausura on the last day. The women in green was our wonderful cook, Olga.










My group and I (on the right) planting some corn. It is a pretty simple process and actually was some of the best work because you could do a lot, talk while working, and see what you accomplished afterwards.







I promise more to come, though maybe not soon. Sunday starts a five day silent retreat (which I am very much looking forward to. I definitely enjoy silence and time to reflect) and then we are traveling northward to Trujillo, Piura and whatever spontaneity throws our way.

The Return

I want to say that I survived, but this year´s Mes de Mision experience was a lot more enjoyable and easy-going than last year. Obviously, every year many factors are unique to that year (the situation with the food, the type of work being accomplished, the students, etc) and the change from a Cristo Rey, the-kids-should-suffer mentality to a Miguel Pro, allow-the-kids-to-develop-and-mature-in-a-new-service-oriented enviornment both impacted the last month.

Basically, we spent the month pulling out Santa María (a type of weed that somewhat oddly has a holy name), cleaning and feeding goats, working with corn (weeding, harvesting, planting), and playing a lot of sports (from the small field soccer to volleyball to knock out - a wonderful, basketball-like game that we taught the Peruvians). We still had to deal with some of what I have come to see as the usual issues down here in southern Peru. At times, the government officials would tell us there was work, but never send transportation for us. At others, they would not communicate amongst themselves and we would be left hanging in the wind. Additionally, the lack of planning - although I have come to be better at simply being spontaneous, which us volunteers feel is a staple of the part of Peruvian culture that we have experienced down here - also wore on me a bit. I oversaw our finances and held on to all the money (which at the beginning meant carrying around the equivalent of over 1500 dollars in a fannypack all day and night) and my attempts to budget or organize this were expecially difficult with the lack of planning.

At the core of the experience, however, are the students and their personal development. This group of kids was especially respectful, fun-loving, and amiable. There were highs (one night, I was sitting alone in a corner of the school writing in my journal and a group of them came running over to sit around me and tell ghost stories) and there were lows (one kid spent an entire day pouting after I became very frustrated with his lack of participation in the catechesis class we led and told him sternly that he needed to get involved) as are to be expected.

There were many moments of laughter (one student loved throwing out random phrases in English and from time to time would ask me, ¨teacher, are you hungry?¨ when he saw me frustrated. He, of course, meant to ask me if I was angry, but with the silent h in Spanish, it came out in a way that always made me smile) and good bonding with my fellow volunteers and with the students (a hour-long, late night discussion about multiple universes over secretly-popped popcorn comes to mind). There was a lot of the same music (the kids loved to hear me terribly try to sing along to this song without knowing the words: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IEG3z7Ze3I. But let´s be honest, it is called ¨My Beautiful Girl¨ and is by Chino and Nacho, how could it now be wonderful to sing along to?) and some really good and greasy food (all the usual Peruvian cuisine of Arroz Chaufa - fried rice with hot dog bits - Ají de Gallina, Papa Rellena, Porotos, Lentejas, Chicharon de Pollo, Saltado, etc.).

Even though the passed in a much smoother way than last year, I still need time and space to process it and reflect. Next week, I will be going on a five-day silent retreat in which I plan to think a lot about the last month and begin to plan the steps I want to take for next December/January, when my time down here comes to a close. I promise there will be pictures and more thoughts to come!

Mes de Mision Part 1 - ie, I´m Alive

It´s true - I survived the month of cleaning plazas, shoveling rocks and dirt, cleaning out mud, grass and debris while shoeless in canals, managing 8 kids on my own and, in general, being one of 8 adults with the responsibility of handling 53 15 year old, kind of spoiled brats. I learned a lot about picking my battles, about having patience, about laughing at myself, about my own self-esteem, about where my limits are , and about Peru.

The best way to describe the whole experience is an emotional rollercoaster. The stress of working like this and dealing with these kids 24/7 (and their constant questions, their constant complaints, and their constant mocking of me and my Spanish), along with the frustration of plans and decisions always changing (one of the things my kids mocked about me was that I always said ¨Todo puede cambiar¨in response to their questions because I never really knew what was going on or what would be happening next), made me break down a couple of times during the month. Other times, I just felt extreme extreme depression - and I think I only got through those moments by writing letters and talking with the other American volunteer Nate.

I really don´t quite know how to process the whole experience yet - I am hoping that the five day silent retreat in Arequipa will help me think about all that I lived and dealt with - but wanted to at least put an update up with some information. This pueblito is home to 350 people and is a tiny, humble place in a valley, surrounded by high mountains (me and three of the asesores - the adults - one day just left early in the morning and climbed one of these and the views from there were just incredible). The people mostly raise cows (the area is famous for its cheese), grow zapallos (which are kind of like pumpkins) and aji (hot peppers), and generally are very poor. The municipalidad of the region only recioeves 3000 soles per month to run everything of the government (and that is equivalent to about 1000 dollars). It was a pretty beautiful place, and very very tranquil, but I very seldom got to experience that because I was trying to deal with these kids and getting them to listen/work/become involved in the experience of living simply and for others for a month. Also, the area is known because there is a lagoon there and they use the water both to irrigate a lot of the crops in southern Peru, but also for electric power that covers the entire area of Southern Peru from Tacna even up to Lima.

Our work mostly consisted of using picks, machetes, shovels and assorted other things to clean out the canals. I had a lot of fun at times with the work, although it could be exhausting. One of the best stories (or funniest) came out of one day when I cut my pinkie with the machete. I was shoeless in a canal and covered in mud because I had been trying to use the pick to get all these roots out of the middle of the canal. I was cutting some grass along the edge and badly cut myt pinkie. I screamed ¨mierda¨and grabbed my finger. I jumped out of the canal and began to run toward the little medical outpost of the town. But since I was a little frightened, I didn´t put my shoes and was running through rockey fields of alphalpha and short cornstalks holding up my left hand and screaming very quickly, ¨f*ck, f*ck, f*ck¨and trying to step really lightly. Since I was descending, my group of eight kids were up in the canal laughing and laughingat the crazy gringo. About ten minutes later, I arrived at the medical outpost with my hand covered in blood, shoeless and with my legs and body full of mud. The nurse there gave me the strangest look - like I was absolutely insane. Needless to say, it turned into one of the kids favorite weays to joke about me (to mimick the way I was cursing and high stepping it through the alphalpha fields).

There are a million other little stories and for all the bad moments and couple times I even broke down in tears, there were some real good one-on-one conversations with kids and times when I just realized how much I value certain things (like talking with my mom or being able to sit and drink a cup of coffee and do a crossword puzzle). I learned a lot about how Peruvians operate - and everything truly can change from one moment to the next here - and about the things that Peruvians value (it was pretty touching to see these 15 year old punks break down in tears when they recieved letters from their family or met up again with their family at the end). I will try to write some more about everything I went through and post some more photos, but for right now, here are a couple I took at the end of the experience showing some of the physically changes I went through (losing a bunch of weight, getting my legs and arms all cut up, and growing an ugly ugly beard). Later I will get up the more interesting ones showing what the area was like, who the kids were, and what not.

Please continue to read up and email and write me - I miss having regular contact with a lot of you and am feeling like I am losing contact with a lot of the people who are important and who I value in my life.

Feliz Ano Nuevo

Happy New Year to all the friends and family out there!

I passed from the old to the new on the beach here with the other volunteers and some friends. There is basically a huge party, most people do not sleep, they set off tons of fireworks on the beach, burn dolls meant to represent the old year, and dance all night long. There are also a million traditions-superstitions out here and I participated in probably about half.

First of all, yellow is the color to wear (down to the underwear) and it means good luck. Then, one should eat 12 grapes at 12 o´clock. Then, one should also be hiding under the table at New Years (this one makes no sense to me). Then, one should put lentils and rice (uncooked) in your pocket or wallet and this will bring you money in the New Year. Then, if one wants to travel, you should take your suitcase and run once around the block when midnight comes around. It´s all pretty wild.

Despite all the festivies--which I did enjoy--the holidays here did not quite feel like the holidays. Part of it is that I didn´t pass them with good friends (I would not quite yet consider the community here good friends, but rather in the process of getting there - though I do get along quite well with everyone and have had many a deep conversation on everything from sex before marriage to social justice to family secrets) or family. I have come to realizer that despite one year in Colombia (when I was about ten and my family went down there), I have never passed the holidays outside of New York and Conn. I have never not watched some sort of countdown on TV for New Years and never not participated in putting up our Christmas tree or saying Merry Christmas to my family the morning of. Also, normally the holidays fall in the middle of working and so they are a vacation-holiday. Here, the school year just ended, so they are more of a release (though in some ways like a holiday because on Sunday I start Mes de Mision).

Oh, I am not sure I will get to post again before leaving for Mes de Mision, but here is some info: I finally made the decision to go with the wealthier, all-male Colegio Cristo Rey because I felt the need for another person was stronger there even though my heart wanted to go with the community in which I live. I will be gone from Jan 4th to 31st and will be with 7 other adults and 52 kids in Curibaya, Tacna. It´s a couple hour bus ride away and this is about all I got for ya from the internet: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distrito_de_Curibaya

Noche de Paz

So I haven´t posted since before Christmas and would just like to start by saying Feliz Navidad y Prospero Ano to all of those out there who are still reading over a month and a half into this adventure.

Also, as a forewarning, I will be on hiatus from January 4th till the 31st, but not because I am giving up on my blog, but because I will be out of contact on Mes de Mision. So please come back and read in the beginning of February - I promise whatever thoughts will come out of it will be exciting.

So Christmas - wow. Everyone here stays up until midnight, and on the radio they play this grand countdown (which always used to be live, but then apparently they got worried about the age of the announcer and it is taped now - remind anyone of Dick Clark...). Then, everyone is together in one room (can range from immediate family to 30-40 people) and when the clock strikes 12 and the countdown ends, everybody hugs, there is a champagne toast and then the whole city - and I mean the whole city - goes outside to light fireworks. From the roof of where I was, we could see the whole city and for like fifteen minutes it is just a grand display of everything from bigger booms to the little firecrackers. I thought it was pretty amazing - though I have heard that in some places in the US it is celebrated similarly. Then, everyone has the big meal afterward and people spend most of the day of the 25th itself resting.

Other interesting traditions include having manger scenes that are chaotic as possible (with as much Christmas junk and snazzy, but real tacky lights - that blink in bizarre ways and play really crappy versions of Christmas carols), using a real baby and real involved costumes in the presentations of the first Christmas, and sharing a chocolatada many many times (a chocolatada is basically making hot chocolate - usually super greasy - and eating paneton - which is basically fruitcake, but more doughy. It might sound delicious and it can be, but also remember that it is the middle of the desert here....

Two other events to note:
- They finished building the roof to new classrooms at my school and in celebration cooked some local fare - picante al la taquena - for the workers. This overlapped with the Christmas dinner amongst the teachers that was shared. I have to be honest - I was a little disappointed with it as a party as it started super late (and so I and many other teachers couldn´t stay late because it is hard to get back to the center from there) and was divided into like three groups: the workers who were in a circle drinking beer, some of the teachers - all males ones and almost all of the male ones who were there - standing around in a circle and drinking, and then the rest of the teachers - mostly female - inside eating and drinking a bit. Food wasn´t particularly good and people were not really dancing, which I was hoping for (I have come to really really enjoy dancing). The most exciting part of the night was when I hung out with the workers for a bit and made fun of my gringo self and just generally bonded with them. The school doorman, who was drinking with them, also was still drunk at 9 am the next morning when school started and then still drunk or maybe redrunk at 3 pm when he passed by my house to introduce me to his son (who was thoroughly embarassed). That whole experience definitely reminded of some of the cultural norms (if that´s the right word for it - I don´t know, I feel like I am losing my english sometimes, haha) of Latin American cultural.

- I went yesterday to check out the petroglyphs that are nearby Tacna in a town called Miculla. They are pretty cool and really old, and according to my host mom, are part of a magnetic center that attracts extraterrestials or something like that. At the least, wack job groups who believe in that stuff make pilgrimages there from time to time. I had one of my lowest moments yet though when my host mom took off down the road without me when I was exploring the rocks. I felt really abandoned and upset as I saw her practically running down the road (and everytime she turned around and I tried to wave her to stop and wait, she ran faster). I got angrier and angrier (also, I was pretty hungry by that point) and was annoyed at myself for acting a little childish instead of just running to catch up and play the whole thing as the joke I knew she meant it to be. When we finally reached the road where the buses passed about a half hour later, she told me it was all just to get us to lunch faster. A good lunch of choclo and grilled lamb, accompanied by a malta beer, definitely did the trick for making me feel better.

Lastly, there are MORE pictures up on my facebook, so check them out!