Reunions and Homecomings

Hola amigos!

Well after many travels and summer adventures with family, students, and friends, I'm finally back in Tacna for good. The past two months have been a whirlwind of experiences and emotions, full of reunions and so many wonderful people. At the end of December I enjoyed a very special visit from my family, and we spent Christmas here in Tacna with all my community mates and adoptive families and friends. After that we traveled to Cuzco for a week to check out all the Sacred Valley ruins, and of course Machu Picchu. Everything there was beautiful, absolutely breathtaking-they don't didn't name Machu Picchu one of the wonders of the world for nothing. After Cuzco we spent New Years in Lima and then parted ways again, as the McCarty clan traveled back to the States and I returned to Tacna. I was home for approximately half a day before Seamus, all the new female volunteers and I took off again for Mes de Misión with Miguel Pro (the month-long service trip we do every January with the high schoolers). The rest of the guys accompanied the Cristo Rey students on their Mes de Misión. Overall it was a successful month, exhausting and sometimes very frustrating, but also a really great opportunity to spend time with some of the kids I had all year in English class but in a totally different context and environment. More reflections on that month to come later...

After Mes de Misión we FINALLY had summer vacation, so this month for me has been full of catching up with all my friends and neighbors I'd been too busy to see since December, resting, a little traveling, and a much-needed retreat just across the border in Arica, Chile. 2 weeks ago I took a solo trip to Lima, just to get away and catch up on some R&R, and while I was there I was able to reunite with Cara and Nate, two of my community mates from last year who left at Christmastime (Nate is still traveling all around South America, and Cara is returning to Peru to do a 3rd year at the new site in Cuzco) and my dear friend Jenny from Holy Cross who has been living in Lima since July. It was so great to see all of them, and to have some alone time too after an entire month with 15 year olds and a whole year of being surrounded by people, both at school and at home. After that trip I went to Arica with a small group of colleagues for a 6-day (mostly) silent retreat. I say mostly because Peruvians are not very good at being silent so there were more than a few whispered jokes and conversations in the midst of my reflections.

As of yesterday I am back in Tacna again, this time for good, and it feels so nice to be back home again. I always love coming back to this place after extended times away because Habitat seems so peaceful after traveling, and I love that feeling of coming home to a place that, not so long ago, felt so strange and foreign, but now is as comfortable and familiar as if I had lived here my whole life. I love Tacna! Vacation has passed way too quickly so now I only have one precious week left to soak up the summer sun and get myself organized for another school year, but I'm really looking forward to my second year living in the Habitat/JV community and teaching at Miguel Pro so it'll be nice to get back into a routine again. I have literally hundreds of pictures I'm trying to organize from the past couple of months so hopefully later this week I can write about each of the major experiences I've had since my family's visit at the end of December with a few visuals for you all to enjoy.

But for now I'll leave you with one of my favorites from Mes de Misión of the JVs with our baby alpaca friend whom we named Albert. He had HUGE eyes, and was very affectionate. Also, one of all 9 of us the day we went to visit the boys at Cristo Rey's Mes de Misión. We hadn't seen each other in over a month, so that was a very happy reunion too. I hope you're all well and enjoying the new year so far. I was thinking of you all in a special way last week, since here in Peru they celebrate "Día de la Amistad" (Friendship Day) on Feb 14th instead of Valentine's Day. I'm grateful for each and every one of you and the friendship that you've blessed me with over the years. Take care and I promise to write/put up more pictures this week!! Chau, un besote!

Feliz Navidad!!

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to wish you all the happiest of holidays this Christmas morning, and let you know that you've all been in my thoughts and prayers today. I hope you're all enjoying the day with family and friends and feeling my Christmas love all the way from Tacna!

I've had a wonderful 2nd Peruvian Christmas so far, sharing in many beautiful moments (and meals) with both my outgoing and newly arrived community mates, all my Peruvian friends and adoptive families, and of course my real family that came to spend this Christmas with me here in Tacna. It's been so special finally sharing this place and these people with them after living here for over a year. We enjoyed a lovely Christmas Eve mass last night in Habitat (and I even got to sing a song in English this time-Breath of Heaven, one of my all-time favorite Christmas songs), passed out Christmas baskets to some of the poorest families in Habitat while singing carols, avoiding stray bottle rockets that were being lit all over the neighborhood, and simultaneously inflating Fr. Fred's flat tire, then headed uptown to Greg's host family's house with him, Gabe, Seamus, and the entire Regan clan who is also here visiting. That family has always been wonderful about opening up its doors to all of us volunteers, so it was really nice to spend the evening with them. I'll be spending a quiet day here in Tacna today with my family, then tomorrow we're hitting the road to spend the rest of the week in Cuzco and finally see Machu Picchu. I'll be home New Years Day but only for a matter of hours, then first thing in the morning on the 2nd we're off for Mes de Misión round 2, the month-long service trip we do with the high school kids every year during summer vacation. So you may not hear from me again until February, but when I'm home for good I'm sure I'll have lots of stories and pictures to share so stay tuned.

Thank you all for your continued support, love, and well wishes from afar-it really means the world to me to know that I have so many people thinking of me back home, and in JV sites all over the world too. Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and many many blessings for 2011. Cuídense mucho, I love and miss you all!

Un beso muy fuerte,

Mo

P.S. I haven't been able to upload any of our Christmas pictures yet, but here's one of all 12 volunteers with our good friends and neighbors Carmen and Charo a couple weeks before Christmas. More to come in February, chau!

October and November in Photos

Ok so I know I promised updates on all the exciting things that have been going on here these last couple months, but there's just too much to write about and never enough time so I'm going to attempt to summarize the highlights with pictures and captions. But in short...life is good, things have been crazy but fun with all the new volunteers around, Día Familiar (our big dance festival to celebrate the school's anniversary) was a lot of fun and a huge success last Sunday, and we only have 2 full weeks of school left before Christmas, summer vacation, and my family's visit! That's both very exciting because I'm definitely in need of a vacation-both kids and teachers are gettin pretty antsy these days-but also kinda scary because so much has to happen between now and Dec 20th. But just like finals time in college I know it'll all get done when it needs to get done, and for now I'm just trying to enjoy these last weeks wtih the 2010 JV community and not get too wrapped up in all the work and activities to the point where I forget why I'm really here. Well I think this is the most successful blog picture upload since I've been here so I hope you enjoy them!

ReO/DisO: The big year-end retreat we do with JVC staff that comes to visit. We spent a wonderful 6 days at the beach with our beloved staff members Margaret and Dan, fellow JV Catherine who came up from Santiago, Chile and our incredible cooks Rosa and Celestina. The first picture is right after we all jumped in the ocean. We're supposed to be making polar bear faces, but most of us just look confused. The second is the whole group of us right before we left the beach. Until next year!

Halloween:

The Tacna JVs have a tradition of making a haunted house for the neighborhood kids every Halloween. We recruited a few friends to help us make it extra scary this year. More than one kid ran out of the house crying before we could even give them their candy-success! Here's a pic of our house all done up for Halloween, 4 of us in costume with our neighbor Margarita, me in my mad scientist get-up slicing Gabe open, César eating some of Gabe's "guts," and the whole group of us in our scary outfits.

Jenny's Visit!

Halloween weekend also meant a visit from my good friend Jenny who's currently living in Lima. She was my first visitor from home and we had a lot of fun catching up that weekend. Here we are underneath the famous Tacna arch in the Plaza de Armas, and at my friend's house for a barbecue.

Birthday! My 24th birthday was definitely a memorable one as it also marked the arrival of all 7 new Peru volunteers, and since I shared my birthday week with my housemate Cara we were treated with lots of celebrations with all of our friends, students, and neighbors. The first picture is the first of many bday parties with our friend Vicky, who also had a November bday. Nate decided to add up all the years we were turning when he put the candles in our cake (109) so it resembled a giant fire ball when they brought it to us. The second pic is us with our good friends when we went out the night before my birthday, next is me with my homeroom kids when they came to my house to sing to me, me with one of my favorite preschoolers and her cousin (Brigitte and Briza) who also came to visit me that day, Cara and me right after getting cake smashed in our faces (one of my favorite Peruvian birthday traditions) at our party, and all the volunteers and friends at our famous couples-themed birthday party.

Miscellaneous Fun

This first pic is of me and my good friend Giuly at her despedida (going-away) barbecue. Giuly married her Spanish boyfriend a few months ago so right after my birthday she moved to Madrid to be with him. We're all very happy for her as she starts her new life there, but I miss her a lot! The second one is the new JVC rock band, fittingly named: JVC-USA! Our friend invited Cara and me to sing at this rock band contest at the Cultural, the English-language institute where he works, so we put together a whole band with Profe Carlos on lead guitar (our music teacher, and my co-tutor and good friend), our 5th year student Alfredo on drums, new Cuzco volunteers Mateo and Jess on bass and keyboard, and Cara and me on vocals. We made it to the final round with our rendition of "Killing me Softly," then Cara sang "Torn" by Natalie Imbruglia and I did "Suddenly I See" by KT Tunstall at the final contest. We did not win, but we definitely had the best fan section and had a lot of fun. Unfortunately those 3 volunteers are all leaving me for Cuzco in February, but I'm looking forward to at least a few more good jam sessions before they go. The third picture is me as the godmother of the little boys' soccer team at Miguel Pro. I had to go to their game and they presented me with flowers, then we processed around the field together. I kinda felt like I was in a beauty pageant, but it was pretty cute. The last one is at Thanksgiving dinner at the JV house! We were able to find a turkey and a pumpkin so we prepared a pretty legit and delicious Thanksgiving meal. I was on mashed potato and pie duty, so here I am with my apple and first ever from scratch (as in from a real pumpkin!) pumpkin pies-you can ask my friends, but I think they turned out pretty tasty. :)

Día Familiar 2010!

So if you remember from my blogs from last year, Día Familiar is the huge yearly dance festival at school. All the schools here have them, usually corresponding with the school's anniversary. We spend basically the entire month of November preparing for it, with each class (and teachers, parents, and alums too!) learning a different typical Peruvian dance, and it all culminates at the end of November with a day-long festival of food, contests, music, dancing, and family fun. It's always a cool experience for the new volunteers because we invite all of them to dance with the Miguel Pro teachers, so within their first weeks here they're thrown right into Peruvian culture, learning dances and getting to know these teachers. This year the dance was almost pure gringos since there are so many of us! I also decided to dance with my 1st year tutoría (homeroom) kids this year, so I had a lot of fun learning that dance with my kids and getting to put on 2 crazy cholita outfits (cholita is kind of a term of endearment for the ladies from the highlands, the ones who wear the big pollera skirts, long braids, and bowler hats). So here I am in outfit number 1 with my 1st year girls (I'm 3rd from the left)-we did a typical dance from Ayacucho-and with Profe Carlos, my co-tutor or homeroom teacher, who also danced with us. Below is a pic of all the profesoras in our outfits for the teacher dance, a dance from Piura called Pacasito. Those neon orange blouses were pretty hideous.

And last but certainly not least....the 2011 Tacna JV community!! From the left are Greg, Ashlen, Rose, me and Seamus (the 2 veterans). We're all pretty excited about our new community and getting to share this next year together, so I'll do my best to keep you posted as Seamus and I kick off round 2 of this crazy adventure. Wishing you all the best this holiday season and hope to be in touch soon! Paz, amor y muchos abrazos,

Mo

Miguel Pro-Siempre Más Alto!

Hi friends! I have so many things I want to write about and only a few short minutes so I just wanted to give a quick shout-out on this year's Día Del Colegio (the 18th anniversary of our school, Miguel Pro). Things have been CRAZY around here lately as they always are this time of year, but the most exciting events of late have definitely been the arrival of the new volunteers and my birthday! Which happened to be the same day. It was a little hectic, but a fun birthday present too to meet so many new and wonderful people that I'm going to be sharing the second half of this experience with. They're all so full of energy and curiosity and so ready to dive in and start their lives here. I remember so vividly what it was like stepping off that plane just over a year ago, meeting my community mates and neighbors, students and coworkers for the first time, and thinking to myself, "I am never going to remember all these people's names," and "I have SO much to learn!" But the months flew by, lots of incredible experiences and deep conversations happened, relationships were started, built upon, strengthened, and continue to grow and deepen everyday, and all of a sudden it's November again and I can't imagine being anywhere else. I feel as at home here as I do in my neighborhood in Seattle, and I've met so many incredible people that I won't ever be able to forget (and I thought I wouldn't be able to remember their names!). Teaching is still a challenge for me sometimes...a lot of times...but I really love my students and feel so lucky to be a part of the Miguel Pro community. We had our annual Thanksgiving mass and dinner last week with Fr. Fred and all the teachers and as we went around the circle sharing all the things we wanted to give thanks for, we all got pretty emotional talking about all the blessings in our lives, and how happy we were to be a part of this community. It was a pretty special moment to take part in.
Anyway besides all the reflecting on my first year and marveling at how fast the time has gone by, I've mostly been busy coordinating orientation activities, class observations, host families, and Spanish classes for all the new volunteers. JVC is starting a new community near Cuzco this year, so they sent us the 3 new Tacna JVs plus the 4 new people they're sending to Cuzco so we can help them get oriented a little bit before they head up there. It's been crazy having so many gringos around, but really fun too getting to know them and share my life and experience here with them little by little. They surprised me when they stepped off the plane with a giant happy birthday sign, and then got to share in the party Cara and I had together to celebrate both of our bdays. It was probably a pretty overwhelming first week for them, but also a good opportunity to meet all the people that are going to become their good friends and support people here. Also on my birthday my tutoría kids (kinda like my homeroom students for the year) surprised me at my house with a song and some presents, all of my classes sang to me that day, AND my sneaky community mates coordinated with my friends from Holy Cross to send me letters. I received over a dozen letters that day from friends from home, some from people I haven't talked to at all since I've been here, and that absolutely made my day. It was so special to hear from those people that mean so much to me, and to feel so celebrated from both near and far. So thanks again to all of you who helped make that day so wonderful!
Alright I gotta run to choir practice-we have a big mass tonight we're trying to get the kids ready for. But I'll try to write again soon because so much has happened these past couple months! Be on the lookout for updates on...my trip to Les Peñas, Chile in October, ReO/DisO with JVC staff, haunted house spectacular on Halloween, visit from Jenny, and my new rock band?! yes that's right, i participated in a rock band contest last weekend. and i'm not talking about the video game! Haha love and miss you all and hope all is well. Take care and Happy Thanksgiving!!
Un abrazo muy fuerte,
Mo

P.S. The picture is all 12 of us gringos at our first lunch out together the weekend after the newbies arrived. We love Patroncito!

Ciudad Heroica...TACNA!

Hello and happy spring from Tacna! Time continues to fly down here, and the past couple months have been full of activities so I wanted to take a few minutes to fill you all in on a few of them. Just about a month ago (Aug 28th) we celebrated Fiestas de Tacna, the 81st anniversary of the day Tacna was reincorporated into Peru after 50ish years of "captivity" under Chilean rule. Tacna is known for being one of the most patriotic cities in Peru because of this temporary period as part of Chile and its fight to be reincorporated. Its nickname, la ciudad heroica (the heroic city) comes from this too. I have to say Tacna Day was much more exciting than the national holiday, Fiestas Patrias, that we celebrated at the end of July. The entire month of August was spent preparing parades and reenactments, listening to the Tacna polka (where the title of this post comes from), learning and singing the Hymn of Tacna every Monday morning after the national anthem, and bearing maroon and gold ribbons or bougainvilla pins (the colors/flower of Tacna). It was a lot of fun seeing the whole city get so involved in celebrating this day, especially at the end of the month for the culmination of all the activities. The last week of August I went to a huge Peruvian food festival, two concerts (Olga Tañon, a Puerto Rican singer, and reggaeton super star Daddy Yankee!), helped direct our choir in a presentation of Tacna songs at the municipal theater, and watched all the activities at school on August 27th. All the preschool and primary kids dressed up as traditional Tacneñan señoras and caballeros to process down the street, the streets were decorated with traditional alfombras (literally carpets, but they're actually designs made out of colored sawdust, kind of like sand art), and the secondary kids marched around the streets of Habitat military style for their annual marching contest. It was a little weird to see them all marching around like that, but impressive to see our playful and mischievous students so disciplined and serious...at least for a few minutes.
On the 28th we headed uptown to see all the alfombras and watch the official procession of the flag. The story goes that during the years of Tacna's captivity, the people weren't allowed to sing their national anthem, wave a Peruvian flag, or show any kind of loyalty to Peru. But they begged the Chileans enough that they allowed the women of Tacna to make a Peruvian flag and process with it one day a year, in complete silence. So the women of Tacna got together and made the hugest Peruvian flag anyone had ever seen, just to stick it to the Chileans, and they processed around Tacna in silence every year until the Chileans left. Now, 81 years later, they still process with the very same giant flag, and all kinds of people are invited to join the procession. The streets were absolutely packed with people following the flag, throwing bougainvilla petals and yelling "Viva Tacna! Viva Perú!" It was pretty cool to see, and the culmination of a really fun weekend. The celebration ended with a lunch at Seamus's host family's house of Tacna's typical dish, picante a la tacneña (a stew-like concoction with potatoes, hot peppers, and huata-cow stomach! yum! i usually try to swallow those bits whole so i don't have to chew or taste them) and maraqueta bread. All in all a fun and full month of August.
Oh and sidenote about the Daddy Yankee concert that I mentioned earlier...that was a huge deal that he came here, because big name performers NEVER come to Tacna. But the people here went crazy for him, and the venue (a huge outdoor amphitheater) was absolutely packed. Some people paid up to 300 soles ($100, which is a lot here) to sit up front in the vip section. I was actually dead set against going until the last minute because I don't particularly like reggaeton music, I didn't want to pay for it, and I knew he wasn't going to start his show until after midnight, but in the end all of our friends went and I had nothing else to do so we made it a community event and ended up having so much fun. I still don't like reggaeton, but I knew more of his songs than I thought just from hearing them all the time when we go out, so it was a lot of fun just dancing around and making fun of his not so profound lyrics with all of our friends.
Alright friends that's all for now. Here are a few pics of the Tacna Day festivities, and you can check my facebook account in the next few days for a massive photo update because I just uploaded picture highlights from the whole time I've been here. Enjoy, and I hope to hear from you all soon!
Un abrazo muy fuerte,
Mo

Gabriel and Brigitte, two of my 4 year old preschool students, all dressed up for Tacna Day. If that doesn't tug at your heartstrings, I don't know what does.

Cara, Gabe, Cokey (Cara's host uncle), Seamus and our good friend Giuly watching the procession of the flag.

The giant Peruvian flag processing down the street (above).

All of us with our friends Martin, Edith and Giuly checking out the alfombras in town.

The whole crew at the Daddy Yankee concert.

Mid-Year Ponderings

Arequipa by night

Hi friends!
I hope you're all enjoying the summertime up in the Northern Hemisphere. I've been a little jealous lately looking at all your pictures of summer BBQ's, beach days, the 4th of July, etc, but I can't complain too much about winter in Tacna-it's definitely not nearly as bad as Worcester. Time continues to amaze me as it flies by. It's really hard for me to believe that it's already August...JVI orientation ended yesterday for all the new volunteers that will be joining us this year, most of my friends that did JVC after graduation are already finishing up their year of service and heading home in the next week or

two, and here in Tacna we just hit the halfway

mark of the 2010 school year. Being a JV in another country thousands of miles from home, living in community, being a first-time teacher, teaching in a culture, language, and educational system that are not my own, and being without my family and friends continue to challenge me in ways I'd never experienced before, but also bring me so many blessings that have absolutely enriched and changed my life for the better.

Just about 9 months into my JV experience, I can easily say that I am exactly where I'm supposed to be right now. I've definitely struggled over the past couple months, at work and in community, but in general this experience has been so

overwhelmingly positive for me. The people I've met here at Miguel Pro, in Habitat, and throughout Tacna have brought so much joy and meaning to my life, especially as I've settled in and really cultivated those relationships over the past few months. One of the best feelings after coming back from my mid-year vacation to Arequipa last week (my first extended time away from Tacna since February) was getting off that bus in Habitat, walking into D-10 (the JV house) and feeling truly at home. I almost immediately starting making the rounds to visit all of my neighbors, call my host family and close friends so that I could see them all and catch up after my week away. It's nice to feel so comfortable here, and to be able to share in this experience with so many wonderful people.

Now, about my vacation...Seamus and I spent our week off in and around Arequipa (the 2nd biggest city in Peru, about 6 hours from Tacna). I absolutely loved it there, being in a big city surrounded by so much natural beauty. One of Arequipa's claims to fame is Misti, the 5000m volcano that towers over the whole city. It's also famous for Santa Catalina, a beautiful 400+year-old monastery for cloistered nuns, and the mummy Juanita (aka the "Ice Maiden"), an almost perfectly intact Incan princess found in the Andes in 1995. Arequipa is also known for its delicious food and chocolate, so needless to say I had a wonderful time. After a weekend exploring the city, we hopped on a tour bus to Colca Canyon, the 2nd deepest canyon in the world, about a 5 hour drive from Arequipa. Our tour took us first to the condor lookout where we watched the impressively huge birds coast above the canyon, and then to the small town of Cabanaconde where we started our 12km trek down to the bottom. The second day we hiked through the valley, where I drank chicha beer (a typical Andean corn beer fermented by people's spit-yummy) and chewed coca leaves for the first time. They're supposed to help with altitude sickness and increase your stamina, but all it did for me was make my tongue really numb. We spent the rest of that day lounging in the pool at the beautifully green and relaxing oasis, and at 5 the next morning we started the hike back up to the top. It was pretty steep, and a lot harder than I was expecting, but we made it up in under 3 hours and all before the sun got too hot which was my only saving grace. (The picture of me above is while I'm on my way up the canyon.) Once at the top we had breakfast, drove to the town of Chivay where we enjoyed the beautiful natural hot springs, then headed back to Arequipa. I had a lot of fun with our tour group, a mix of 9 people from the States, Australia, New Zealand and France, as well as our Peruvian guide Diego. Our hostel booked the all-inclusive tour for us (transportation, guide, food, and lodging for the 3 days) for only $40 usd, so I'd say it was a pretty good deal.

After that week off we went back to school for 2 days, then had the rest of last week off for Fiestas Patrias (Peru's big national holiday). I think I enjoyed that time almost as much as my vacation in Arequipa, just hanging out in Habitat with all my neighbors, visiting my host family, and catching up with people I hadn't seen in a while. Highlights of those days include starting a rendition of the Peruvian national anthem in a crowded bar at midnight the night before July 28th, visits from Cara's sister and former JV Dan Robb, learning how to make aji de gallina (my favorite Peruvian dish), and being invited to SO MANY delicious meals! I've also been working a lot with the choir lately and we've been doing some exciting stuff. I translated one of my favorite Paul Melley songs into Spanish (my choir director at Holy Cross who also composes liturgical music) and Cara and I taught it to our kids for a mass we sang at last week. It came out so beautifully, and now Carlos the music teacher is teaching it to all the music classes in primary! I have lots of videos of the kids singing but these computers are way too slow to put them on here so I'm still working on a way to get them online.

So overall life is great here. I'm missing you all a lot and thinking of you all the time, but I am very very happy here in Tacna and so grateful to have another full year ahead of me. I look forward to hearing updates from all of you and hope all is well wherever you are. Here are a few pictures from my trip too-enjoy!

Mucho amor y paz de Tacna,

Mo

At the condor lookout in Colca. It was freezing if you can't tell (-2ºC). I'm wearing every shirt that I brought under that sweatshirt.

At the hot springs in Chivay; beautiful landscapes in the canyon; our group after reaching the top of the canyon; Drew (a Santa Clara student who volunteered here for a month), Seamus and me posing with Misti in Arequipa; in Arequipa's Plaza de Armas; inside Santa Catalina Monastery

A long time coming

My sincerest apologies to all my loyal blog followers, I realize it's been an embarassingly long time since my last post. You're all either dying to know what I've been up to the past 3 months or you've given up on me completely. Well in my defense we were without Internet at school for most of March and April, and since then my only excuse is I was busy...but I'll do my best to fill you in briefly on all we've been up to lately.

Tacna Highlights March-June:
1. Right before Easter we got to do a really cool caminata (pilgrimage-type walk) from Miguel Pro up to the top of one of the sand dunes that surround Tacna. They do this every year to start off Holy Week, and I thought it was a really cool activity. So on Friday night we all met at school (5th graders up to 5th years of secondary) for a group reconciliation service that ended in a school-wide singalong of "We Are the World" (in Spanish of course). Then we spent the night at school (aka napped for 2 hours on the floor of the teachers lounge) and met up again at 3am to start the caminata. We walked in the dark for about 2 and a half hours, stopping several times for readings/reflections. We reached the sand dune just before 6 and climbed it as the sun was coming up which was pretty cool.
For Easter the following week we had a really nice brunch at our house with our Habitat family (all of our closest neighbors and friends). We don't have guests that often so it was fun to open up our home and share that day with the people who have taken such good care of us down here.

2. I don't know if I should call this a highlight, but on May 5th we experienced a small earthquake. Actually it was a 6.4 but it was short so it didn't really feel that strong. There was no damage but school was canceled for 2 days just as a precaution which meant that we watched all 13 episodes of Glee that are out on DVD and are now OBSESSED. We've downloaded all our favorite songs and have frequent singalongs in our house, and we're already anxious to get the rest of season 1 when it comes out.

3. On May 22nd one of our Mes de Misión students asked us to do a surprise dance performance at her quinceñera party. Cara choreographed a whole mix of songs and we spent weeks practicing in secret for the big performance. It turned out pretty awesome and the kids loved it. I have the whole thing on video so someday whenever I have the time and patience I'll try to post it on here. We've whipped it out at several parties since then so the JVs are becoming quite renowned for our dance moves...

4. For the first 2 weeks of June we had delegates here from USF doing a couple different projects at school. A group of dance students taught lessons in primary using movement/dance, and also organized a little performance at the end of the week for the kids to show the community what they'd learned. They also sent a group from the School of Ed (as well as a professional muralist from San Francisco) to help paint a mural on the outside wall of the school. We had all the kids draw pictures of what service means to them, then the artist helped arrange all the best images on poster paper. A small group of kids colored it all in and put the images on the wall in charcoal, then we all got to help paint it. It turned out really cool, and it was a lot of fun seeing the whole community get involved in the project. They left us with a whole bunch of materials too so hopefully we can paint another one to cover up some of the graffitti around Habitat.

5. We finished our first bimester (quarter) at the beginning of May and now we're already halfway through the 2nd. Teaching is still hard and I have lots to learn, but it definitely feels good to have one quarter under my belt. Everyday I feel a little more comfortable in the classroom and I've learned a ton about what works with different groups of kids and what doesn't. They test my patience all the time (especially my very special 2nd graders) but despite all of the stupid and annoying things they do I really am growing fond of these kids and love working at Miguel Pro.

6. Next week we're going to a big English teacher conference at one of the private language institutes in Tacna and the US embassador is going to be there! We've been invited to a fancy dinner in his honor so hopefully we'll get to talk to him. I'm looking forward to meeting some other English teachers in the area and learning some useful teaching strategies and activities.

So I think that's about it for now. The only other big news around here is World Cup fever. Everybody's talking about the Mundial and the kids try everyday to get us to turn on the TV at school so they can watch (which we did yesterday when the US played). We're using it as an opportunity to teach them our national anthem which Cara and I are hoping to sing at lunes cívico on July 5th (that's the all school assembly we have every Monday morning where we always sing Peru's national anthem). We've got vacation coming up at the end of July after the 2nd bimester ends so I'm hoping to do some traveling, and there will be lots more gringos passing through (family and friends of my 2nd year community mates as well as some former JVs coming back to visit) so that should be fun to keep sharing our lives here with more people from home. Unfortunately for them summer vacation in the US means winter in Tacna and it is getting cold here! I mean it's no Worcester winter but definitely lots chillier than I was expecting, plus our houses don't have heat here so we really have to bundle up at night. I had a nice surprise this morning when I got back from a very chilly run and jumped into the shower only to find the gas tank was empty which meant frigid water-I'm still cold and that was almost 5 hours ago!
Alright I'll leave you with that, and promise I'll try to be better about writing in the coming weeks. Hope all is well wherever you are and I look forward to hearing from you soon! Muchos saludos from Tacna,
Mo