Mes de Misión, Reflexión y Perspectiva

Not only was this month about ¨mission¨, but also an opportunity to reflect and gain new perspective and insight. I have officially survived my first month-long mission trip with teenagers! Mes de Misión is a month long service trip that the students of both Miguel Pro and Cristo Rey must make before entering their second to last year of high school. Both schools are Jesuit so one of the main lessons that they try to instill in the students is the importance of loving and serving others. Regardless of ones own situation you must always seek to serve others in need. This is what the mission of the month is...to teach the kids how to love and serve. This means not just loving and serving the outside community, but also the community of students. They were forced to learn how to live together for a whole month, without many of the commodities they were used to. They had to learn how to rely on one another, and how to have a group mentality rather than an individualistic attitude.

Mes de Misión 2011 took place in Ticaco, Peru which I truly felt was a wonderful site for the experience. It is a very small town in the mountains, where the people rely almost exclusively on the land for their survival. The landscape is stunning with the green mountains and all of the farms on the hillsides. It being a mountain town made it challenging however in our ability to breath. It is about 3,200 m high...essentially two miles!!! The altitude became a bit of an issue when it came to the work that we were doing. We spent almost the whole month cleaning paths that the people use to access their farms. We thus walked up and down up and down up and down these dirt paths kicking and moving rocks aside for a month. It was incredible seeing the people from Ticaco traverse these trails. As we struggled some days, we were often greeted by elderly townspeople that were no strangers to hard work and especially not to the difficult climb to and from the farm. I say that Ticaco was a wonderful site, because it was great for both the kids as well as for me to learn about a different way of life, and to recognize how indebted we are to these people for the food that comes to our table. How easy it is to go to the market to buy food without giving a second thought to where it comes from or the people who brought it there. It seems so unjust that these people whose sweat and tears help feed us are so often the ones that suffer a terrible poverty.

I had many surreal experiences in Ticaco. I had a feeling on more than one occassion that I had gone back in time, simply because the town did not have many of the commodities that I am so accustomed to not only in the U.S. but also in Tacna. Since the people live off the land, they are at the mercy of Mother Nature, thus while we were there we too learned just how precious water is. On several occassions the water got cut off so we had to go to a nearby canal with buckets to carry back to the school. I neared the canal one day and was greeted with the site of our students on their knees washing clothes in the canal. On my return trip to the school, with water on my head, as I passed by the adobe homes, I also passed by sheep and donkeys in the streets. While surreal at first, by the end of the month these sites became a normal part of the experience. One aspect that was difficult to get used to was the wood-fired stove. Although they say that the food can be tastier when cooked on one of these stoves, they are so incredibly labor intensive, especially when cooking for nearly 40 people. We also had to go look for firewood, which required some incredibly difficult hikes to locate a decent amount. The moments hiking up hills with wood tied to our backs or shoulders also seemed a bit surreal, but gave me an incredible appreciation for the gas stove we have in Tacna, as well as tons of respect for those people that do those hikes on a regular basis for years and years in order to survive.

I knew that Mes de Misión would surely not be an easy experience, but I think it might have been even more challenging than I anticiapted. The work was certainly not the most difficult component for me, but rather dealing with the students. The experience forced me to take a critical look at myself, which is never easy either. I became painfully aware of personality flaws previously unseen to me. Before coming here I told myself that even if I might not be the best teacher and certainly not the most experienced, I would be able to make up for these in the love I would show the kids. As difficult as it is for me to admit, I found it much more difficult than I imagined to show love and kindness to the students. The lack of respect and whining really brought me down. I was shocked at how lazy these kids were. I couldn´t seem to understand how some kids thought it was fair that while they were sitting down doing nothing, their classmates were still working. I felt like I was consantly nagging them, and it was exhausting. When we´d finish work, I was always so tired not from the labor but rather from trying to get them to actually work. I hated feeling like a nag, but it was especially tough when my partner didn´t support me or help me to motivate the kids so it fell on my shoulders to be the one to keep them going.

One of the most difficult aspects of the experience was figuring out exactly how to motivate the students. I quickly realized that what motivates me is very different than what motivates teenagers. The work was admittedly boring and incredibly monotonous, but it was work that the townspeople needed us to do. Whenever someone would pass us on the trail on compliment us on our work or thank us, I found motivation to keep going. One day an old lady passed us as we were working and she commented how she had fractured her leg when she tripped on a rock in trail and now she feels confident going to her farm even at night because the paths are so clean. These moments moved me and motivated me, but sadly I don´t think the kids were as affected by those interactions. I suppose it is mostly a maturity thing...

I realized that balance is going to be one of the most difficult things while I am here. I struggled with how to get the kids to listen to me without yelling, how to get the kids to respect me yet still keep them disciplined, how to love them and keep them in line and especially how to get them to feel comfortable enough with me to be able to share their lives, while simultaneously maintaining some distance recognizing my role as their teacher.

The root of most my difficulties was of course the struggles with Spanish. I felt like I could have done so much better in my position as a group leader had I been able to communicate better with them. Granted I learned a lot, especially the command form of Spanish, but I was really missing the words to have profound conversations. There were so many moments when I hoped to have a meaningful conversation or hoped to comfort the kids in their moments of need, but lacked the words. It was incredibly frustrating and humbling.

Nevertheless, the experience was also filled with beautiful moments. I had a few conversations with kids that made me grateful to be there. The afternoon when I was sitting down and two girls came and layed by me, their heads in my lap...missing their famlies, in need of some loving. The night that the girls decided that us volunteers needed to get out of our grundgy clothes and into their clothes for a birthday celebration. (Nothing like fitting into 14 and 15 year olds´ clothes for a confidence booster!!)  The laughter, the smiles...these were the moments that I had to hold onto. I was also especially grateful to my fellow volunteers that were an incredible source of support to me. They were there to listen to me, to comfort me, and to understand me.

I am certainly glad that Mes de Misión is only a once a year type of deal but I am grateful for the experience, and the lessons I learned. I made it out alive, with no injuries or illnesses (despite an obsene number of health codes violated), with a renewed sense of what it is to love and serve and to give fully of oneself. Both the challenges and positive moments will help me to grow, but nevertheless it´s so good to be back in my home away from home...Tacna.

Hogar Dulce Hogar

Home Sweet Home!

So a couple of weekends ago my roommates and I moved out of our host families´ houses and into our house in Habitat. I´m definitely sad to not be with my host family anymore...it was a really great experience. I feel so fortunate to have had almost an entire month with a Peruvian family that truly loved me and treated me like their 5th child. At the same time it is really nice to have some independence and privacy. It´s also nice to unpack and start to feel a little bit settled in our new home. The other day one of the neighborhood boys and I were chatting and he asked what we do for fun since we don´t have a TV in the house and I said we cook together, play games together, read and spend a lot of time talking! These activities have truly been wonderful! So much of the time that we would spend doing other things we just spend hanging out with each other! I am so grateful to have the other volunteers to be going through this experience with!





D-10...my home for 2 years! It´s not the prettiest thing, but the goal is to paint it this year!



Dining Room/Kitchen/Living Room area

The perilous steps leading to my bedroom

Our top of the line ¨washer and dryer¨

Patio area...a bit of a mess right now!

My room...in desperate need of some decorating!

 Christmas in Peru

So this was the first Christmas I´ve ever spent away from home, and it was really tough. I was really sad, especially on Christmas Eve. I had to leave Mass on account of crying. I was just really missing home! It´s so tough being away from home for the holidays, because the best part about the holidays is getting to spend time with loved ones, especially family. Therefore not being able to be with my family made it not seem quite like Christmas. Two of my housemate´s families were here however, which was wonderful to at least be around a family. It was really sad, but I did feel blessed to have a lot of wonderful people here in Peru to spend the holidays with. It was also interesting getting to experience Christmas in a different country. Here, Christmas Eve is when the big celebration happens, so we went to mass here in Habitat on the 24th, which was really beautiful by the way! At the end of Mass the congregation was addressed in several native languages with a special Christmas message. It was really lovely! After that we went around to give out Christmas baskets to some families here in Habitat and we sang them some Christmas carols. Then everyone split up to go to their host families to wait for Christmas. It seems to resemble our celebration of the New Year. Everyone waits anxiously for midnight and then at that time everyone hugs each other and wishes each other a Merry Christmas. Meanwhile the streets resemble a war zone with the amount of smoke and noise from all the firecrackers! After that we went into the house for a toast, to open gifts and finally to eat! We sat down to eat around 1 am, so of course it was a late night! Christmas day isn´t really celebrated as much as the night before, so we had a pretty tranquilo day of hanging out with the family. After mass that night we had some hot chocolate (despite the fact that it is summer here) and of course, the Peruvian staple- Paneton! This food is essentially fruit cake, and it is consumed in amazing quantities in this country! I decided that the more I eat it the less I like it. On a side note...nativity scenes here are HUGE....literally sometimes! I included some photos of some nativity scenes from a house that we visited that basically transforms their entire place into a bunch of different nativity scenes that represent various regions of Peru. This means that the nativity scene to represent the jungle included giant insects and monkies...and jungle Barbie and Ken hahaha they cracked me up!

Christmas Din with the volunteers and the families of two housemates that were visiting for the holidays.



A nativity scene made to represent Tacna.

A Barbie nativity scene!

Christmas Mass

Mis hermanos (brothers)

My Peruvian parents and Mallory

Cultural Stuff

Of course there are soo many interesting cultural things that I´m learning to get used to everyday! One thing that continues to be difficult is the language of course! I knew coming here would be challenging in terms of learning Spanish, but I underestimated how different it would be. The Spanish is relatively easy to understand, but they use soo many words that are different than what I learned. Here are a few examples of some different words:

Tacos- high heels

Palta (not aguacate)- avocado

poroto (not frijoles)- beans

chela (not cerveza)- beer

lapicero (not pluma or boligrafo)- pen

wa-wa - baby (in Quechua)

They also use a whole bunch of slang, which makes it especially challenging! I have no idea what the students say to me half the time, because they speak so quickly and use so much slang! These tricky Peruvians also like to switch the letters of words around or for example start to say one word and finish it with another word. Like a kid might say... mier (the first part of a swear word in Spanish) -coles (meaning Wednesday). I think after Mes de mision I´m going to be an expert at both Peruvian slang and swear words!

Speaking of Peruvian Spanish...one noticable trait is the usage of the diminutive. By adding -ita or -ito to the end of words it is made smaller so to speak. So you can use the diminutive if you´re referring to something that is indeed smaller or it kind of makes words kinder. So if you called your grandma vieja (old) it would be disrespectful, but if you said viejita it would be totally ok. As another example my host mom one day described a salad as una ensaladita con un poquito de tomatito y choclito y cebollita y lechugita haha

Peruvians really like their nicknames...which tend to be very blunt and often relate to the physical appearence of someone. For example if you were in the street and called out ¨Chato¨ (a nickname for someone short) who knows how many heads would turn haha Some of the nicknames are interesting and address things that in the US we do not talk about...like the nickname Gorda for example is super common...meaning fat. Or Negra (meaning black) for someone with darker skin or Chino (meaning Chinese). These would definitely be offensive names back at home, but here it´s so common. I´m not judging, but I guess I just wonder how a teenage girl´s self esteem would be if she´s constantly being called fat by everyone. hmmm...So I too have acquired some nicknames...One of which is Piolin, meaning Tweety in Spanish. Apparently my blonde hair and light skin makes me earn the name of a yellow bird. Another name is Flaca, meaning skinny or as my host sister calls me occassionaly...esqueleto con patas meaning basically a walking skeleton...they completely overestimate my skinniness. I´m sure with all the delicious food that nickname will fade in the next two years!!

I love...I miss...I´m still not used to...

I love...
the people
the hospitality
kisses on the cheek to say hi and bye
when I run into people I now know
the full attention of people...the result of not having cell phones
fresh fruit
variety
newness
adventure
abrazos from the children
how you can get on and off the bus wherever you please
community/spirituality nights
the way people are moved by the music
dancing
cultural pride
hours and hours of sitting around talking and enjoying the presence of others
my Peruvian family

I miss...
loved ones from home
being able to fully express myself
putting up Christmas decorations at home
understanding
home

I´m still not used to...
the desolation of the desert
the garbage
not being able to run when I want to
the blunt honesty about physical characteristics such as weight
nearly falling out of the bus when they´re so jammed full
la hora peruana...which ranges from 30 minutes to 2 hours after the intended hour
so many stray dogs
the lack of organization
not being in control

Fotos

Pictures from Dia Familiar when we participated in the Baile de los Profesores. We preformed the Pacasito dance.

Right before the guys hid under our skirts...so funny!

Team Tacna!

The whole crew...all of the professors that danced. The volunteers were definitely the majority!

A few weekends ago we took a trip to the beach. We spent one day with the students and their families and then the volunteers stayed an extra day to have a retreat. It was so nice to be back at the beach! I have definitely missed it! It´s so bizarre though...as you´re driving to the ocean there are miles and miles of the desert and it is soo dry that it seems impossible that there could be any water, but low and behold you arrive at the ocean after all!

Yoga on the beach...a great way to start our retreat

The desert side

The ocean...soooo cold!!! What a contrast from the sand that was burning our poor feet!



All of the volunteers enjoying a dinner with the neighbors.





Virtual Site Visit

Welcome to your virtual tour of the various work sites of the new Tacna volunteers as well as the community.

First of all Tacna makes Rock Springs look lush! Scary, huh?! It is just so incredibly dry and to be honest quite desolate looking! I went on a run the other day and we passed these little shacks out in the desert where there was clearly no access to water so a little bit further down a bunch of people were in this trench getting out buckets of water. This idea was a bit foreign to me since I´ve always had access to running water. It sounds like water is a pretty big problem here, which makes sense considering the fact that Tacna is in the middle of one of the driest deserts. The issues related to water are intensified by the growth of this city. The city has experienced incredible growth in its recent history. Because Tacna is on the border with Chile it offers more opportunities for work so a lot of people that might not have as many job opportunities in other parts of Peru such as the highlands will migrate down to Tacna. This seems to give the city an interesting dynamic in terms of the various groups of people that converge in this city.

Habitat is located about 15ish minutes from the center of the city, which seems to have its pros and cons. Transportation at night especially can be a little tricky, because you have to rely on collectivos which are basically shared taxis. They´re reasonably priced (about 40ish cents), especially for people that sit in what is essentially the trunk- that´s half the price! But it´s nice being a bit away from the city because it´s much quieter and a pretty safe area. The area has a really interesting history. Almost all of the houses here were built by Habitat for Humanity, starting in 1989. The land had been donated by the mayor who was a friend of Father Fred. Everyone worked on all of the houses not knowing which house would actually be theirs. Then, depending on how many hours the people put into it they chose their house. Thus, those people that put in more hours chose first. In all, 474 houses were built. At first there were no lights or water, but now the houses here have both.

Last week the volunteers spent time at each different work site, which was a really great opportunity to get to know the different places and I think it will be really helpful in understanding what my housemates are dealing with in their own jobs to see it first hand. I will be working at Miguel Pro, which is located right here in Habitat. The school just celebrated their 18th anniversary last week, so it is still fairly new. The school is Jesuit and follows the principal that the students are here not just for academic formation, but equally important is the formation of the person. The emphasis on Jesuit principals such as being men and women for others is a critical part of this formation. These ideas don´t always play out in the classroom, but it´s an ideal to strive for. In terms of the population that is served here at Miguel Pro, many obviously come from Habitat although some kids commute here from other communities. A study found that approximately 25% of the students are chronically malnourished so the school offers a health program with fortified bread to try and address this issue. About 70% of the Miguel Pro students come from families with a monthly income of $160, which works out to be a little over $5 a day. We heard a story about a taxi driver that works about 11 hours a day for a total of $5. This number was really shocking to me, because although I´ve seen that a little money can go a long way here, for a family to survive on just over $5 a day must be incredibly difficult. It challenges me to think about my own lifestyle and how little I think of spending $5. The tuition at the school is about $6 for one kid $10 for two and then the price decreases if there are more kids in the family, although there are scholarships available for those who cannot pay the cost of tuition.

One of the other sites is Colegio Cristo Rey (primary-high school) where my housemate, Greg will be working. The school seems to serve a different population as evidenced by their tuition of over $100 a month, although they also have scholarships available. The day we spent there was really impressive. They have a lot of resources, and a lot of great opportunities. It is really seen as one of the premiere schools here, and has an awesome reputation. I´m excited to see the ways in which Greg will really be able to push the kids to move beyond their comfort zones and live out the Jesuit values of the school.

Rose, another newbie like me will be working at a school, called Fe y Alegria (Faith and Happiness) that serves the most in need. It´s a part of a network of schools by the same name that serve those on the margins of communities. They really try to reach out to the people that might otherwise not get an education. The cost to attend the school is about $25 per year per family although many people cannot pay. The majority of the failies have migrated from other parts of Peru. The students at Fe y Alegria face a lot of unique circumstances due to often unstable home lives. For example, a lot of them are alone in the houses for maybe a week at a time while their parents work in Chile, and many more are alone all day while their families work. So although a lot of the kids are intelligent and have a lot of potential, it´s challenging because they might not get the support they need. They´re very skilled though, especially since many have been essentially on their own for many years. At Fe y Alegria though they learn various trades to hopefully help them and give them more work opportunities for the future since few go on to college from the school.

As you can tell, the three different sites are all very different! I´m really looking forward to seeing what each of us can contribute at our schools, and the different lessons we can take away from our positions. I think there is a place for all of us at our sites, and I hope we can each find that place in the coming months.

A view of Habitat from the rooftop of a friend´s house.

The other side of Habitat...in the distance are the Andes mountains that look awesome on a clear day! On the right side of the photo is the Pan-American highway that passes by Habitat.

Miguel Pro

Life Update...

For obvious reasons Peru does not celebrate Thanksgiving, but nevertheless we celebrated it anyway...twice actually! Last week was the annual Thanksgiving dinner with the professors of Miguel Pro. Father Fred said mass (which closed with dancing...I think it would be fabulous if every mass ended like that!) and then we had a Thanksgiving feast...with a Peruvian twist. Then Thursday night the volunteers gathered at the house to share a meal with a few other friends. Both occassions were a great opportunity to give thanks and reflect on some of those things I´m thankful for especially my family, friends, this opportunity to be in Peru and the hospitality and love that the people here have shown me.

Speaking of the love people have shown me, I recently moved in with a host family where I will be until mid-December, and that I will ideally be able to maintain a connection with for the next two years. They are a really great family! It´s a lot different than my own in the sense that there are always soo many people in the house! The parents live there with 4 kids ages 27, 25, 23, and 13 along with 3 dogs, a cat, a hamster, some birds and then tons of roosters at the farm. Unlike in the U.S. it´s not unusual to have older kids still living in the house when their in their 20s. It seems like people only really move out after they get married or if they go to Lima for college for example. So there are always people around whether it´s family, the kids´ boyfriends/girlfriends, neighbors, etc. It´s a really fun environment and they have really made me feel welcome. The kids call me their sister and the parents introduce me as their 5th kid. It´s really sweet and a real blessing to have that so far from my own family and home that I definitely miss.

This week Miguel Pro celebrated their 18th anniversary as a school, which coincided with the Dia Familiar this past Sunday, which was an opportunity for the families of the students to gather at the school to celebrate with food and lots of dancing!! Each class prepares a dance to perform for the event. They were incredible to see! Almost all of the dances were typical dances so the costumes and music were fabulous! Many of the dances were stories too, which displayed various aspects of life here or history...really fascinating! It´s a competition too so a lot of the kids got really into it. Not only did the kids dance, but so too did the professors! woot woot! We were decked out in a less-than flattering bright orange shirt with puffy sleeves, skirts, shalls, hats, and scarves. It was tons of fun getting to participate!! There will be pictures to come...as soon as I have access to a computer that won´t freeze as soon as I plug something into it!

In response to some questions that people might be wondering in regards to daily life:

The food- DELICIOUS!! Thus far I have liked the vast majority of the food I have eaten. The diet is quite different than what I´m used to though. For one, they eat a lot of meat! Sometimes the first course will be some sort of meat, followed by more meat in the main course! Plus, they eat an incredible amount of carbs in one meal. It´s not unsual for there to be potatoes on top of rice served with bread. eek! Tasty but maaayybe not so healthy! I´ve actually been feeling guilty lately thinking about how I´m concerned about gaining weight while a lot of people are not getting enough food. The schools for example offer meals to the kids that include a certain fortified bread to try and get the kids the nourishment that they might not be getting at home.

The Laundry- Wow...I have sooo much respect for people that do laundry all the time by hand...what a process! I seriously have a new appreciation for washing machines. As it is, laundry is not one of my favorite chores, but by hand...even worse! Luckily I had a friend (that has had lots of years of experience doing laundry by hand) as my laundry mentor! :) Right now I´m staying with a host family though that has a washing machine, so I´ll have to take advantage of that!

The Cuy- Yes I have tried cuy (guinea pig)! I was under the impression that it was something that a lot of people eat, but it´s actually pretty expensive to order in a restaurant so I tried a bite of one of the other teacher´s at a luncheon the other day. It didn´t taste bad, but I couldn´t get over the way it was served...it´s little arms and legs spread out and it´s head there with it´s teeth and all. I swear it was looking at me...

The Stipend- As you know, the challenge for Jesuit Volunteers is to live simply in an effort to be more in solidarity with the people we are working with. As such, we have a stipend of a little over $2 a day. I have been surprised though at how easy it is to live within that stipend. We have a place to live and also a separate stipend for food so really the main thing I have spent money on thus far is transportation. The bus to the center of town from my school is approximately 17 cents so even that isn´t too much of my stipend, which is good because I want to save up for a little bit of travelling in the future and also to maybe treat myself to a coffee or something like that! It is a little bit bizarre though, to try to change my mindset to not just getting things I want (mmm that piece of cake looks delish or ooohhh I want a coffee), but really limiting my purchases to necessities.

The weather- the sun is sooo strong here! I feel like if I don´t put on sunscreen my skin is just going to sizzle!! Sunglasses are a MUST! It´s kind of strange to be seeing all these Christmas decorations as I´m bracing myself for the heat rather than snow like at home!

Poco a poco I think I´ll start feeling a little bit more at home, but as for now it still feels sort of like an immersion trip of sorts. It still hasn´t quite settled in that this is where I´m going to be for the next two years!

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! :)