Los Nuevos

I entitled this post ¨Los Nuevos¨ because that is a phrase that I have been hearing over and over since arriving here in Tacna. When we are introduced to various people we are described as Los Nuevos...the new volunteers. Usually this description is enough because there is basically a legacy of volunteers here in this community. There have been individuals coming from the United States to volunteer here for the past 18 years.  I´ve already realized that there are advantages and disadvantages to being one of many volunteers in this community. It is nice that we don´t get too many weird looks when we´re here in Habitat, since they are very used to having gringos wandering about. Plus, we have sort of inherited a whole bunch of friends and contacts. There are people here that have been friends with almost all of the volunteers so it is sort of assumed that you too will hang out with those people. Fortunately all those people have been extremely nice so far!

Of course being one of many volunteers has its downside though too. For one, because there have been so many volunteers I foresee it being challenging trying to separate myself from those that have come before me. I do not know how many times I have been asked where this one teacher is that left last year. She left a huge mark on this school, and the kids are thus constantly asking for her. I´m obviously going to have my own style and I hope to also leave my own mark on the school, but it is certainly difficult feeling like you have such huge shoes to fill and that you might not live up to those expectations. This is probably my insecurities about teaching talking, now! I observed two classes today and to be honest it was a bit terrifying! I know that classroom management is going to be extremely challenging. Hopefully I can learn a few tricks for that while observing the classes!

The structure of the JVC program in Tacna is really effective in my opinion. The new volunteers (Greg, Rose, and I) overlap with the volunteers that have been here for two years and are getting ready to finish their time here in Tacna. It is so nice though to have this opportunity though to learn from them and to really learn a lot from the collective wisdom that is in the house! So here is the plan for the next little bit...we are doing site visits at the different locations in Tacna that have volunteers as well as a few other places such as a center for young boys and adolescents that typically work in the streets. After that I will spend the next three weeks observing classes at Miguel Pro (where I will be teaching for the next 2 years).This orientation period is a little bit different this year, because we are doing it alongside the volunteers that will then go on to Andahuaylillas. So we are a group of 12 right now! It´s a big group, but so much fun! In December, three of the volunteers will be returning to the U.S. (although one will be returning to do a third year in Andahaylillas). That means that nine of us will be going on Mes de Mision, which is a month long service trip that the incoming 10th graders go on in January. Following that we have the month of February off so the plan is to use that month to figure everything out with our visas in Lima as well as attend a retreat for teachers, and then school starts in March, but phew...I´m getting ahead of myself...I´ve only been here for a week!

This week has truly been an incredible week, though! I have been so overwhelmed with how welcoming, hospitable and loving so many of the people are that we have met so far! We have been pretty busy with various meetings and chats as well as some social things like birthday and going away parties. I have found that I am quite exhausted a lot of the time! All this Spanish is tiring! There is so much more to say, but I don´t want this to go on too long! In my next entry I will tell you more about Habitat as well as Miguel Pro. For your viewing pleasure though I am including a picture of one of the other volunteers and I in typical Peruvian dresses that they use while dancing the Marinera. This was one of the activities that we had to complete for the scavenger hunt that got us out in the city of Tacna exploring it and chatting with the people! It made for a very interesting and entertaining day! There have already been lots of laughs and bright moments...I´m feeling very excited about the prospects of these next two years! :)