Translation: we have much to be thankful for.
This was one of the songs that Cara, Christa and I sang at our Thanksgiving mass last night at Miguel Pro and I found it very appropriate for both the time of year and what I've been feeling my first couple weeks here. The mass (and turkey dinner!) were held in the teacher's lounge at school with maybe 30 people present, and for the homily Fr Fred had us all go around in a circle and say what we were thankful for. I guess that's a pretty typical pre-Thanksgiving dinner tradition, but for whatever reason those moments of sharing in each other's gratitude really touched me, and made me feel so fortunate to be here and a part of this community. Many of the teachers expressed their love for this Miguel Pro family, and I can already tell it's going to be a really wonderful place for me to work. I've hardly been here 2 weeks and so many of these teachers have already taken me under their wings and done so much to make me feel welcome here, from giving me teaching advice to helping me with dance steps to dubbing me with new nicknames (the 3rd grade teacher has taken to calling me Blue Eyes, and sings this song called Ojos Azules whenever she sees me). Apparently they dont see blue eyes very often down here.
My community mates have also been so helpful, showing us around Tacna and explaining all the ins and outs of life here, introducing us to all of their friends and inviting us to various lunch parties and get togethers, and doing all they can to make us feel comfortable and at home. I'm really looking forward to moving into our house next month and finally starting real community life.
And of course living with a host family has been wonderful, always having someone to take care of me and little sisters to hang out with. I'm looking forward to spending more time with my host family, and having them as a constant source of support and friendship throughout my 2 years in Tacna.
So indeed I have much to be thankful for, between all the communities that I just left (but carry with me wherever I go!) and this new very special one that I am just joining. For all of this, and all that is to come, gracias Señor! Happy belated Thanksgiving everyone!!
And now I'll leave you with a few interesting tidbits on Peruvian customs I've learned so far:
1. No bus is ever too full for more passengers, even if they're toting several oversized grocery bags, gas tanks, or multiple small children. Also, there aren't really any bus stops here. You have to flag them down when you want to get on, and yell baja, baja if you want to get off. Always keeps you on your toes.
2. Watch out for cars, they don't stop! And not just the yellow ones either. I've had several near death experiences walking around downtown Tacna because I assumed being in a crosswalk gave me the right of way but apparently they don't teach that rule in drivers ed down here, if they even have drivers ed...
3. Toilet paper cannot be flushed down the toilet, and tap water must be boiled before drinking.
4. When you live in the desert, sometimes the water gets turned off during the day to conserve. That means no showers, no hand-washing, no toilet flushing, and you better have saved up some drinking water from the day before.
5. If you ride in the trunk of the colectivos (like taxis, but they pick up more people until they're full) you only have to pay 50 cents instead of 1 sol!
6. Almost every Peruvian school begins each week with lunes cívico, during which all the students line up outside by grade, some marching happens, and then everyone sings both the school song and the Peruvian national anthem.
7. Simpático means attractive in Peru, not nice...that led to some confusion in a conversation I had last week.
8. The only milk I've seen here has been evaporated which means I don't drink it unless it's mixed with Nescafe...which is the only coffee we have. Hint hint if anyone wants to send me Christmas presents....
9. This was the case in Spain as well, but never show up on time for anything! You'll end up waiting at least half an hour for things to get started.
10. When people invite you over they expect you to eat, and potentially to stay the entire day. This one I really like, as it really shows the value Peruvians place on family, friends, and spending time with the people you love. I can't tell you how many times I've already heard the phrase Sírvete, estás en tu casa (literally: serve yourself, you're at home). We've enjoyed many wonderful meals with many wonderful people over the past 2 weeks, and I know there are many more to come.
Ciao amigos, y cuídense mucho! And hopefully by the time I write next I will have memorized the Peruvian national anthem.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
Here I am!
Well today marks my first full week in Tacna so I thought it was about time for a little update. Things are going very well so far, just lots of new people and information and things to take in so its been a tad overwhelming, but poco a poco I'm adjusting (sidenote-i forget how to use spanish keyboards so for now I'll mostly be ignoring punctuation. sorry).
We made it here without any problems last Friday, and all of our community mates plus our incountry coordinator Fr Dolan and the legendary Fr Fred were all at the airport to greet us. Fr Fred is now celebrating 50 YEARS in Tacna, and he is responsible for both the Cristo Rey and Miguel Pro schools where all of us JVs teach, as well as the entire Habitat community where we live. Hes a pretty amazing man, so Ill try to do more justice to his life and work in another post.
Our house is small but very comfortable, and its just down the street from Miguel Pro so Ill have an easy commute to work. Weve already spent a lot of time at the school this week, getting to know some of the teachers and students, learning more about its history and how it runs, as well as observing classes. Its late spring right now in Peru so classes will be finishing up in about 3 weeks, just in time for Christmas and summer vacation (thats gonna be weird!). The observations have been really helpful, giving me lots of ideas on how teachers here deal with their students and classroom management and things like that. Half of me feels so ready to just jump in and start, but the other half is still terrified of getting up in front of a classroom and teaching (in Spanish nonetheless). In any case Im grateful for this time to get acclimated, improve my spanish, and mentally prepare before I actually have to teach.
Last night I met my host family that Ill be living with starting on Monday until about the 20th of December. They have 3 daughters, 14, 15 and a 20 year old who lives in Lima so I should feel right at home. They were all super nice and I had a lot of fun talking with them last night, so Im excited to start that part of my immersion here. This weekend several of us will be joining a group of 35 Miguel Pro high schoolers on their campamento, kind of like an overnight retreat/field trip in a nearby town called Atarata. Im looking forward to seeing a new place as well as getting to know some of these students before we go on Mes de Mision with them in January (Ill write about that later...)
What else...the city of Tacna is actually much bigger than I was expecting, very bustling with lots of markets and open plazas-you can find anything there that youd need. We live about a 15 minute bus ride from the city center.
Oh something else weve been working on is our dance for the big Dia Familiar at Miguel Pro a week from Sunday. Its an all day affair where all the students perform different traditional dances from all over Peru, and the teachers have to do one as well. Were doing a dance called a Huayno and weve had 2 rehearsals so far, so I think Im getting it down. I am definitely not a dancer, but that may change by the time I leave this place because dancing is such a huge part of Peruvian life and culture. We went to a birthday party on Saturday and danced, ate at a restaurant on Sunday and danced whenever we werent eating, and attended a students quincinera last weekend and danced pretty much the entire time. I wish I were more graceful but Im trying to learn a few steps.
Well I think thats all for now, Im off to observe a primary class, but Ill try to update again soon. Happy Friday everyone! Lots of love and besos from Tacna,
Mo
We made it here without any problems last Friday, and all of our community mates plus our incountry coordinator Fr Dolan and the legendary Fr Fred were all at the airport to greet us. Fr Fred is now celebrating 50 YEARS in Tacna, and he is responsible for both the Cristo Rey and Miguel Pro schools where all of us JVs teach, as well as the entire Habitat community where we live. Hes a pretty amazing man, so Ill try to do more justice to his life and work in another post.
Our house is small but very comfortable, and its just down the street from Miguel Pro so Ill have an easy commute to work. Weve already spent a lot of time at the school this week, getting to know some of the teachers and students, learning more about its history and how it runs, as well as observing classes. Its late spring right now in Peru so classes will be finishing up in about 3 weeks, just in time for Christmas and summer vacation (thats gonna be weird!). The observations have been really helpful, giving me lots of ideas on how teachers here deal with their students and classroom management and things like that. Half of me feels so ready to just jump in and start, but the other half is still terrified of getting up in front of a classroom and teaching (in Spanish nonetheless). In any case Im grateful for this time to get acclimated, improve my spanish, and mentally prepare before I actually have to teach.
Last night I met my host family that Ill be living with starting on Monday until about the 20th of December. They have 3 daughters, 14, 15 and a 20 year old who lives in Lima so I should feel right at home. They were all super nice and I had a lot of fun talking with them last night, so Im excited to start that part of my immersion here. This weekend several of us will be joining a group of 35 Miguel Pro high schoolers on their campamento, kind of like an overnight retreat/field trip in a nearby town called Atarata. Im looking forward to seeing a new place as well as getting to know some of these students before we go on Mes de Mision with them in January (Ill write about that later...)
What else...the city of Tacna is actually much bigger than I was expecting, very bustling with lots of markets and open plazas-you can find anything there that youd need. We live about a 15 minute bus ride from the city center.
Oh something else weve been working on is our dance for the big Dia Familiar at Miguel Pro a week from Sunday. Its an all day affair where all the students perform different traditional dances from all over Peru, and the teachers have to do one as well. Were doing a dance called a Huayno and weve had 2 rehearsals so far, so I think Im getting it down. I am definitely not a dancer, but that may change by the time I leave this place because dancing is such a huge part of Peruvian life and culture. We went to a birthday party on Saturday and danced, ate at a restaurant on Sunday and danced whenever we werent eating, and attended a students quincinera last weekend and danced pretty much the entire time. I wish I were more graceful but Im trying to learn a few steps.
Well I think thats all for now, Im off to observe a primary class, but Ill try to update again soon. Happy Friday everyone! Lots of love and besos from Tacna,
Mo
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Heart Don't Fail Me Now...
A little shoutout to all my fellow Anastasia fans (ahem Allie, Emma, and Jeana :)
Well I'm off! Literally out the door right now. I currently have over 20 voicemails saved on my phone from the last several days and I am so so sorry I just couldn't return them all. But know that I appreciate all of your thoughts, prayers, and birthday wishes from the bottom of my heart and I will be thinking of all of you as I take off this afternoon.
Please stay in touch and I will talk to you all from Peru!!
Lots of love,
Mo
Well I'm off! Literally out the door right now. I currently have over 20 voicemails saved on my phone from the last several days and I am so so sorry I just couldn't return them all. But know that I appreciate all of your thoughts, prayers, and birthday wishes from the bottom of my heart and I will be thinking of all of you as I take off this afternoon.
Please stay in touch and I will talk to you all from Peru!!
Lots of love,
Mo
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Life Ain't a Track Meet, It's a Marathon
Isn't that the truth. Here are a few pictures from the Portland Marathon for those who are interested:
Post-race family shot
Collecting all my free stuff (they give you roses because Portland is the Rose City)
Mile 19ish-Kate jumped in to run with me!
Post-race family shot
Collecting all my free stuff (they give you roses because Portland is the Rose City)
Mile 19ish-Kate jumped in to run with me! Approaching the finish line.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
The Final Countdown
"And if you never stop when you wave goodbye
You just might find if you give it time
You will wave hello again
You just might wave hello again."
-John Mayer "Wheel"
I HATE goodbyes. You all should know that by now. But unfortunately these next 11 days are going to be full of them. Today marked the beginning of the end for me as I said goodbye to 7 of my friends from Holy Cross who came from all over the country to spend the weekend with me in Seattle. I played tour guide most of the time they were here since most had never been here before, but the weekend culminated in a celebration of all things fall last night. Over 20 people gathered in my house to share a full blown Thanksgiving dinner (since I'll be missing the real one) and since it also happened to be Halloween we spent the evening in costume as well. Although the tryptophan knocked us all out pretty early, it was still so much fun to celebrate with family and friends last night, and to be surrounded by so many great people all weekend. I am reminded time and time again of how blessed I am to have such wonderful people in my life. These past few days have been full of those reminders as friends traveled from near and far to come visit me and spend one last weekend together before I take off. It was especially cool because I already said goodbye to most of these people after graduation thinking I wouldn't see them again before I left. Just goes to show you never know when you might cross paths with someone again!
It's hard for me to believe that I won't be seeing any of you for a pretty long time. I know that we'll keep in touch and that you'll all still be here when I come back, but I also know that I won't be able to have as much contact with you as I would like. I take comfort in the fact that I have felt similarly before every big transition in my life, and each one has turned into an even more life-giving and meaningful experience full of new and wonderful people, so I have high hopes about my upcoming experience with JVI. But no matter how excited I am or how right this feels, it's still hard for me to say goodbye. My mind will be racing this week about all the things I still have to buy/pack/finish before I leave, but above all of that I'll be thinking of all of you and how much our shared experiences have shaped me over the years. If I don't get a chance to see or call you in the next twelve days know that I'm thinking about you nonetheless, and I'll try to write you a letter the first chance I get.
In the meantime, the countdown to November 12th is on, at which point I'll stop waving goodbye and start waving hello to my new home in Tacna.
You just might find if you give it time
You will wave hello again
You just might wave hello again."
-John Mayer "Wheel"
I HATE goodbyes. You all should know that by now. But unfortunately these next 11 days are going to be full of them. Today marked the beginning of the end for me as I said goodbye to 7 of my friends from Holy Cross who came from all over the country to spend the weekend with me in Seattle. I played tour guide most of the time they were here since most had never been here before, but the weekend culminated in a celebration of all things fall last night. Over 20 people gathered in my house to share a full blown Thanksgiving dinner (since I'll be missing the real one) and since it also happened to be Halloween we spent the evening in costume as well. Although the tryptophan knocked us all out pretty early, it was still so much fun to celebrate with family and friends last night, and to be surrounded by so many great people all weekend. I am reminded time and time again of how blessed I am to have such wonderful people in my life. These past few days have been full of those reminders as friends traveled from near and far to come visit me and spend one last weekend together before I take off. It was especially cool because I already said goodbye to most of these people after graduation thinking I wouldn't see them again before I left. Just goes to show you never know when you might cross paths with someone again!
It's hard for me to believe that I won't be seeing any of you for a pretty long time. I know that we'll keep in touch and that you'll all still be here when I come back, but I also know that I won't be able to have as much contact with you as I would like. I take comfort in the fact that I have felt similarly before every big transition in my life, and each one has turned into an even more life-giving and meaningful experience full of new and wonderful people, so I have high hopes about my upcoming experience with JVI. But no matter how excited I am or how right this feels, it's still hard for me to say goodbye. My mind will be racing this week about all the things I still have to buy/pack/finish before I leave, but above all of that I'll be thinking of all of you and how much our shared experiences have shaped me over the years. If I don't get a chance to see or call you in the next twelve days know that I'm thinking about you nonetheless, and I'll try to write you a letter the first chance I get.
In the meantime, the countdown to November 12th is on, at which point I'll stop waving goodbye and start waving hello to my new home in Tacna.
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