“El que no vive para servir, no sirve para vivir.” -Madre Teresa

Cathedral in Catacoas

Winter break from school brought a lot of Lacie and Britt time. El Encuentro de Central Pastoral brought about 100 religious people from the diocese of Chulucanas to meet, pray, discuss, and eat for four days. A trip to Frias was filled with hiking, talking, and singing karaoke with priests. With my favorite hike leading to up to bringing communion and witness The Anointing of the Sick Sacrament to a paralyzed man that hadn't left his dark room or even his bed in ten years, but yet he was so upbeat and happy to see and pray with us. It was a beautiful moment, one that most people don't get to ever experience. "It's not about the destination but the journey"...we were told there is a bus or there are automobiles that you can take up the mountains to Frias, but what did we choose? The top of a truck, not like a pick up truck, but like a cargo/ mini semitruck, where we sat on metal bars, ducked under trees covering the road, and tried not to fall in to where all the food, chickens, and goods were being held. Our what was suppose to be a two hour ride turned into a three and a half hour adventure, but wow was it beautiful! Nothing like being out in the open air, on a small narrow dirt road scaling the side of the mountain with nothing blocking you from God and nature.Lacie's 23rd birthday celebrations included eating chicken, eating fried banana chips with dried beaten meat, motorcycle rides, nightclub dancing, friends, brownies, and a decorated house. Her parents brought us a chance to get to know her background better, laugh at their funny Boston accents, do a lot of eating out at restaurants, and showing off our city!

Central Trujillo

Huanchaco!

The week before Lacie's parents got to Chulucanas, the infamous Murray and Patrice, made their way to northern Peru to experience my world first hand! In the three days they were here, they came to school with me, did a lot of walking around, met a lot of my friends and my host family, rode in motos, tried Peruvian foods, went to the market, the orphanage, La Encantada, Piura, and Catacoas! My students loved them, they couldn't believe how tall they were, it was like I had brought in zoo animals for show in tell, plus the animals talked and in ENGLISH, this was just too much for the kids, they were a hit to say the least. The strict teacher came out in Murray, making kids pronounce words better and not taking "I'm shy" as an excuse out of speaking up. Then when he brought out pictures from home every girl wished they had brought Connor along and every guy now wants to meet Keriann.

After we had explored just about everything Chulucanas has to offer we headed on down the coast to Chiclayo. In Chiclayo we explored the beautiful plaza, the Museo de Sipan home of the tombs of the Moche people, and the beach! Next, we traveled three hours further down the coast to Trujillo. Trujillo is one of the oldest modern cities, founded by the Spaniards. The plaza and the cathedral are old Spanish style buildings painted brightly. In Trujillo we stayed with the Augustinian priests and seminarians, who were so hospitable, welcoming and just fun to be around. We took a tour of the ancient sacrificial pyramid ruins of La Luna y El Sol, the ancient buried city of Chan Chan home of the Chimu people. Both abandoned cities are still being uncovered due to lack of government support and financial assistance, but slowly the people's stories are being revealed. 


Overall it was really a blessing to be able to share a week with them here, great to see them, show them around, explore new cities, and just catch up! Thank you to everyone that helped make their trip possible and thank you for all the generous donations! My host family, the teachers at my school, and the soccer team were all extremely touched by the generosity from all of you especially Madison Insurance! Thank you! You brought smiles to many people that mean a lot to me!

Me encanta la vida!

Othmar and I

Another month has disappeared, but boy was it a fun one! Filled with lots of new adventures, new cities, cars, buggies, buses, tubes, planes and boats, beaches, sand dunes, mountains, and hot showers!
  

Paracas

Front of the march! 

Red beach

July began with our nations Independence Day, so naturally we celebrated too! I wore the famous USA flag pants to school, got told Feliz Dia all day with lots of hugs, and we blasted off fireworks in front of our house with friends! Which we bought from some random persons house for 3 soles a bottle rocket, 3 of which exploded before they got airborne, normal.

The 5th of July our director arrived to take us on our midyear retreat in Punta Sal! We were spoiled with enormous amounts of food, hot showers, comfy chairs, and a beautiful beach to hang out at all day! It was a wonderful break, time to get away, reflect, talk as a community, rest, pray, rejuvenate and prepare for the second half of our year!

Sunset in Punta Sal

Chulucanas baile!

The Nazca Tree line!

 Something that makes the Augustinian Volunteers more unique than any other service organization is the extreme emphasis on community life. Not only do we live and eat together, but we pray together, we discuss all of our ups and downs together, kind of helps we are the only other english speakers here, but still we intentionally live in communion! I can tell when either Chantelle or Lacie have had a rough morning from the way they open the door, I know exactly what makes Lacie happy and when she's about to start getting real weird out of boredom, I know exactly how long it will take Chantelle to get ready and how to give her proper were leaving warnings, I know how Chantelle can win over someone's heart in the first five minutes she meets them and Lacie's dry sarcastic humor that doesn't translate can make me laugh so hard I cry. We share everything with each other, including spoons, drinks, clothes, and Chantelle's peruvian boyfriend.
Anyway, midyear gave us the chance to talk, figure things out and come back to Chulucanas excited to make the best of our remaining months here! We also went tubing behind a boat in the ocean, saw whales right off the coast, ate sushi and walked around the big beach town Mancora.

Central pastoral!

Sandboarding

Our next big adventure began with a flight into Lima followed by a 3am bus ride to Paracas! Arriving at 8 am, the city was freezing, on the beach, and pretty deserted, we really had no idea what we got ourselves into! But, like most adventures it turned out awesome! We saw beautiful sand dune mountains, red sand beaches, cliffs, mind blowing rock formations, islands, war ruins, penguins, sea lions, seals, crabs, and birds! We ate super fresh seafood, went sand bugging, sand boarding, on a boat ride and then back on a bus to head to Ica! Ica is a big city famous for its wine and pisco making! Here we got a tour of a winery, lets just say its a lot differently than those in the US, tasted different Piscos, got hair wraps, saw an 8 headed palm tree, a beautiful cathedral, and I got food poisoning! Next day we got up and headed to Nasca on a bus! Nasca is peru's second most famous tourist destination. Famous for the Nasca lines, mystery ancient lines carved into shapes in the dirt stretching several football fields long and wide. Over 20 different figures cover many miles of the land! The best way to see the designs is by airplane. Unfortunately, after waiting around all day to go up in the little plane to see the lines they closed the airport due to poor visability so we had to settle for seeing 2 of them on a tower and head on back to Lima.
We got back to Chulucanas just in time to see the Independence Day week activities! This included two day long marches in the plaza with all the schools here marching the high straight legged duck walk in unison. It's rather militaristic or even Nazish, but either way entertaining. We had an achievement fair at school, the whole city was decorated in red and white and all the discos were Peru themed Saturday night.

Our last exciting adventure in July was our day trip to my new favorite city, Conchaque! Conchaque is up in the mountains, a 2 hour bus ride away (with 4 of us and 2 seats, normal) through windy narrow roads! Our day here was spent chasing after Hector (our tour guide), hiking, looking at waterfalls, eating, drinking coffee, and admiring the beautiful mountains.

Yenny and I in our classy uniforms!

Abre tú corazón y acéptame tal como soy

Park by my house!

The past month has been amazing, challenging, exhausting, and emotionally straining but, probably also one of the most rewarding and eye opening months of my life! But, first I'll back up to the beginning of June and our week with fifteen 17 year old high school boys. Every year Malvern all boys high school, in Villanova, PA sends a group for an immersion/service trip led and planned by the Augustinian Volunteers, the three of us! In our attempts to keep them as busy as possible we exhausted ourselves but also really enjoyed being able to see the city we have grown to love so much through new excited eyes, eyes with great desire to help and curious souls questioning and pushing our knowledge. They played lots of soccer, gave out lots of candy, soccer balls, clothes, and love. They hiked hills, went to the river, came and helped me out at school (made the girls week, maybe even month, they just couldn't get over how tall they were), bought pottery in La Encantada, went to the special needs school, visited the hospital, cleaned Centro Pastoral, and passed time talking to people in the plaza. But, in the end the only thing they really "did" was paint at the elderly home, it wasn't about doing, it was about being, being in communion with the people.  Learning about how the third world lives, their realities, their struggles, and their true happiness and finding the true wealth they have is in each other.  People here are so proud of what they have, who they are, and all they've made for themselves. In the end, we hope the boys went home and told their story, told people about Chulucanas, Peru and all it's beauty!

Ceramics man!

I know having them here to question things taught us a lot about Chulucanas, they refocused us on why we are here, and why we are so happy we still have five more months to leave our mark. The boys loved the most challenging place in Chulucanas, the orphanage, they just couldn't get enough of it, they went everyday because they wanted to go, they wanted to ask questions, dig deeper, and even try to adopt some of the kids. The orphange here is a home to 38 children under the age of 15 and is run by one nun and her assistant. They live off day to day donations, there are two kids to a bed, the roof leaks, and the sewer pipe is broken so it constantly reeks. The past couple of months we have tried our best to avoid going there just because it is hard to sit there. But, Malvern got me to go, got me to ask questions about why each kid is there, their stories. The ones that hit me the hardest are the little three year olds who can't walk because they were so malnourished before found, a three year old girl stuck in a bouncy chair her whole life, some kids taken away from abusive alcoholic parents by the police, others abandoned at the hospital, others found in plastic bags next to dumpsters, others voluntarily take themselves there when they are 12 years old and pregnant with their step-fathers baby due to being rapped. These kids like the children at the Special Needs School here need qualified staff members to help them, they need their own beds, they need the sewer pipe fixed, and they need so much support. But, yet are grateful for some kind of roof over their head, happy to be safe and happy to have the opportunity to go to school.

How we buy veggies!

The day Malvern left, Global Health Medical Campaign arrived with a team of 39 people! Our days spent with the campaign were long, emotionally draining, challenging, rewarding, and a completely new adventure. Our days began at 7:15 in the morning and we didn't return home till 8:45 pm each night. But, the long hours weren't what caused us to pass out at 10 pm exhausted every night, but more so the emotional and mentally exhaustion from talking in two languages all day. I worked with a nurse practitioner, Genny, we saw all the kids under the age of 18. This was perfect for the fact that every patient was a new challenge, I didn't hear the same my back hurts, my knees hurt, my blood pressure is really high, or I might have diabetes story over and over again. Each child came in with a different story, and never with just one problem but more so a full list of things they were praying for a miracle for. 

Fresh Fish!

Throughout the two weeks I saw extreme cases of birth defects, mental disabilities, severely malnourished children, epileptic children ceasing while sitting there, parasites, hemophilic boys, big hernias, and irregular heart murmurs. One little boy was born with his brain in islands, four years old and unable to walk or talk, and probably never will be able to. Epileptic children with no way of being able to afford medicine to slow down the frequency of how often they were ceasing. Often causing these kids to then be malnourished because they cannot eat while ceasing because it may cause pneumonia! Kids weighing less than seven pounds at two years old being breastfeed by a mother probably weighing less than 80 pounds herself she is so malcourished as well. Children with asthma due to the fact that the mom cooks over an open fire with no ventalation for the smoke to be removed from the house. Other children came in with severe cleft lips, hoping to be put on the list for the operations in October. Another child was born with his skull already sealed not allowing for any head or brain growth. One little three year old girl looked like she was about 4 months old, she was born with severe schoiosis, a cleft lip, a back dimple signifing that her spine did not fully formulate and hips not in their sockets. Another baby was not born without an espophogus, another without a bladder, both attacted to several tubes in order for these kids to be able to eat or go to the bathroom.

Fruits!

Never have I had to choke back tears so many times in a week, never have I heard such sad stories, never have I had to tell parents that their kids are going to join God and the angels soon, nor have I ever experienced such intense love! Some of these moms came from a six hour bus ride away, not to mention the 2 hours they walked carrying their child to get to the bus, then waited outside in the sun for several hours before getting to actually talk to a doctor, for me just to tell them their child wasn't going to make it. One mom came in with a baby born so with so many things wrong it was amazing the baby was still alive, when I told the mom about all the things wrong with her child, she started crying, she was 17 and this was her 3rd baby born this way, the other two didn't make it more than a week, but yet she wanted to keep trying. Another woman came in with her grandson because the mom was 14 and in school, the grandma traveled all night to get there. Another mom came in with her 12 year old daughter, who had a really irregular dangerous heart murmur. The girl needs an extreme heart surgury that is so far out of the mother's price range she doesn't know what to do. Next thing I know the mom asks the daughter to leave the room and go wait outside for her. The mom then starts to cry and tells me she has stage 4 cancer, but hasn't recieved any treatment for it because she would rather that money go to her daughter. This mom loves her daughter so much she is willing to give her own life to her.

The campaign also gave me time to get to more about people in Chulucanas. Multiple mom's of students or actual students came in to the clinic. I learned my favorite student, Christian, who I spend  lots of time with, dad left him last year, since then his grades have dropped, he doesn't like going out, and he has trouble sleeping. My best student, Juan Jose, his mom experiences extreme PTSD and anxiety because her brother murdered someone and is now in the highest secruity prison in Lima. My cool kid in the class, Mr. I sit in the back, am too cool for anything, am just gonna sleep, actually has an irregular heart problem that keeps him up at night. Found out his parents aren't in his life anymore so he lives with his aunt, he is 17 (so 2 years older than everyone else in the class) and his main caregiver, his grandma, is super sick. Stories like these reminded me how much I can't get frustrated at students for not studying, so many of them have stuff going on at home, they all have a story, even the ones I thought I knew.

Regular sight!

Lastly, the campaign made for some awkward funny times as well! Learning how to ask kids if they were sexually active, how often they go to the bathroom and what color it is, if it hurts when they go to the bathroom, if they have "blancitos en sus potitos," (little white things coming out of their little butts) parasites, and the list continues. Also, Genny, my doctor, was huge like 5'11 and super animiated, and of course didn't speak a word of Spanish. So when she would get up and explain things with actions the people would just stare at her like what is this crazy lady doing. But, then when I would translate it, I too would have to act out the same actions so they understood what which part meant. I've never had to teach so many little girls how to clean themselves after going to the bathroom or how to have uncircumsized little boys clean themselves to avoid infections. Never a dull moment! But, overall a truly amazing experience! Just wish their was so much more we could do for these people! Campaigns like this are awesome but also such a bandaid! These people need extreme education, they need access to clean water, prenatal vitimins, regular doctors, and equipment that supports all the hard manual labor they have to do. 

"Open your heart and accept me as I am!"
Sign on the wall at the Special Needs Home

"Welcome to hippieland"

While explaining the difference of when to use "there is" verse "there are" I was asked the very intelligent question of: "Profe, if one duck means it's singular, and two ducks means it's plural, what is three ducks?" I know we were always taught that there is no such thing as a stupid question, but this was a stupid question. The sad part is I am asked questions like this often, and not because they are unintelligent but because they often don''t have the confidence to believe in themselves. Even the older kids, I have to hold their hands through every little step of the day from what color to write the title of the unit in, to if every single answer is right on their test, they don't trust themselves to do it on their own.

With that being said the end of the first trimester grades were rough to give. Passing in Peru is a 55% or higher, based on a grading scale of 1 to 20. At a 55% you think they would all pass with flying colors yet, still at least 12 kids a class did not pass multiple subjects. Grades are based on a notebook grade, participation, homework, and a final exam. To say I spent more time grading notebooks and tests than all of my students combined spent studying would probably be a fair statement.

Funny mistakes: "He can party rock" "You should do the doctor" "I must not go the house of Britt DeLine" (taught the class to call him a 'Suck Up' after that one)

Luckily, I really really enjoy these kids and have developed pretty solid friendships with several of them. They may not be the best students, but they are great kids. Gone running with a couple of them, gone to the river with others, done service with some of them at the Hogar de Abuelitos (Little Grandparents House, or nursing home) and the Special Needs School. I also started an after school study hall to hopefully help improve their English grades and/or give them something to do after school a couple hours a week. It has also given me a chance to get to know them better with less of them in a class. And on days when I don't have my afternoon class, I am helping with the school volleyball team. So, to say the least, I live at Santisimo Cruz.

Chantal's 23rd birthday party group pic!

But, don't worry I find time for fun and friends as well! We threw Chantelle a birthday party a couple weeks ago, American style, with games, conversation, music, dancing, and 10 different people that hardly knew each other, of all different ages. It was a blast!

I've learned to ride side saddle on a motorcycle. I drove a car around Chulucanas!

We went to our friend Nena's birthday party that was suppose to start at 7:30, so we got there at 8:00, guests continued to arrive at 9:45, so finally ate at 10:45, dancing started at 12:00am, and left at 1:30am on a school night!

Two university students came over and cooked for us all day, tried Pulpa (octopus), pretty darn delicious!

Walking with an Iguana

We have great overprotective guy friends who were scared for us to go to Ecuador alone, they wanted to call friends they have in Ecuador to pick us up from the bus station and take us around. One even stayed on our couch while we were gone to make sure no one broke into our house. Then, they were mad when we didn't call them the second we got home to let them know we were safe.

But, our trip to Ecuador was awesome! After an 11 hour $17 bus ride we arrived Friday morning at 9 am. Found ourselves a $5 a person a night hotel room, and started exploring the beautiful city of Guayaquil. Guayaquil is famous for the Malecón River and it's three mile boardwalk of gardens, ponds, playgrounds, restaurants, shops, bridges, towers, statues and parks. We spent the day eating, exploring, and watching Lacie play in an inflatable ball in a pond with other kids under 15 years old. We got up early Saturday to head to the bus station to find a car that was heading to Montiñita. After nearly causing a fight among taxi drivers we headed out with our chosen driver and two 22 year old Ecuadoran guys. Three hours later we piled out of the 5 seater car the 6 of us uncomfortably road in to hippie land! Montiñita is about 4 blocks by 4 blocks of straight hostels, restaurants, bars, and hippies selling anything they can make right there with their hands. We spent the rest of the weekend at the beach, eating, making new friends, shopping, and dancing on the beach! It was great to get out of Chulucanas, have a break, and get to know a little bit about our neighbors!

poco a poco

School band

I MADE IT! I survived my 2 weeks of solo teaching! Boy do I now have so much more respect for all teachers, as well as a need to sleep for the next week I'm so exhausted! My first week included a lot of yelling, like a lot, a lot of frustration and a fun new adventure! Remember when you were in elementary school and had a substitute teacher for a day? Remember how mean kids were to the poor subs? Imagine that times three, plus there being double the amount of students in one room, it all being in Spanish, and when kids feel like you are ignoring them they just get out of their desks and poke you until you acknowledge them. But, on the other hand it was super fun to actually be able to do what I wanted to do with my classes. I didn't make them copy everything from the really not helpful text book, I didn't care what their notebooks looked like and what they wrote down verse didn't, I worked on reexplaining things to get them to understand better, played vocab and verb practice games, didn't kick kids out of class for not having their books, and tried to make full use of the time we had together.

My second week was way better, I somehow did something right the first week, because they respected me 10 times more. I actually didn't lose my voice from yelling nor did I think a vain was gonna pop out of my head. A few kids even came up to me after classes and told me I was a really good teacher or they liked my class that day! So, that was pretty awesome. But, non the less still exhausting due to late nights preparing for the next day, grading tests and billions of notebooks.

Bonfire in the yard

Other fun things: Learned how to drive a motorcycle! Our friend Javier taught us a couple weeks ago. I was a natural of course, Lacie and Chantelle were a little bit more freaked out by the idea so he sat on the back praying for his life the whole time with them! But, now we're all quite good, especially Chantelle, she's had lots of practice! Also, learned out to ride side sandal on a motorcycle, kind of scary the first 30 seconds.

Santisimo had a march for education. Every class choose different costumes to represent different ages in Peru history. My class were Incas!

May is the month of the Virgin Mary. At school, everyday a different class brings flowers to present to Mary and prays the rosary in honor of her and the holy family. Each neighborhood also has a statue of the Virgin, our neighborhood Mary came to visit us this week. Monday night the community was invited to our house to pray the rosary, a woman and her granddaughter showed up to lead us in prayer.

We've gotten real tight with the priests of San Jose Obrero, the Augustinian parish here. Yesterday we went to lunch with a couple of them, where we drank wheat beer, yes WHEAT, we were excited and ate delicious spicy ceviche (raw fish cooked from the acidity of limes), arroz con mariscos (like spanish paella, seafood and rice), seco de chavelo (fried mashed plantains with dried meat and veggies), and cachema (a type of fish grilled and served with onions and tomatoes) ALL amazing!! Then last night after mass we went out with them to a bar for pisco sours, they paid!

Mother's Day is also a huge deal here in Peru! On Wednesday they had a special mass for all the Mother's of Santisimo. On Friday, they held a specially lunch for the teachers and gave the mothers presents. Also on Friday, there was a huge party in the school. The mothers were greeted by the senior boys in suits with roses ready to escort the mothers into the party. Then each grade level choose students to sing a song, read a poem or do a dance in between raffling off baskets of random foods: pasta, milk, yogurt, crackers, etc. Today, I went to my host families for a special lunch of baby goat and rice.

Todo lo puedo en Cristo que me fortalece (Flp 4:13)

The things that frustrate me! Oh where do I even start? The fact that I have yet to cry from students not listening to me causing me to lose my voice from yelling all time? The lack of respect people give one another, the lack of their ability to communicate, or the lack of efficiency in the school system??

Respect: A word I hear probably about ten times a day. Yet, the teachers don't show the students respect! Students are yelled at all day everyday. There is no sense of disciplinary system in place besides yelling at them. Students are expected to respect the teachers time but yet the teachers are always late, leave the class to talk on the phone, and lesson plan in the middle of class. Students are all expected to respect each other, yet students are afraid to talk in class because they are afraid of being made fun of or they are afraid of just being talked over by the annoying boy that sits in the front. Students are suppose to respect eachother's property as well as the school property, then they throw eachother's stuff on the ground where they also throw their trash. Not to mention, when we have teacher/parent meetings to talk about respect, and the moms just talk over one another the entire time.

Lack of communication: Communication in my mind is a very important part of life, it's what enables any of us to get anything done! Peruvians would disagree. Chantelle works at Central Pastoral, The Center of the Diocese for all of the Chulucanas area, in the health office under two sisters. It is a rarity that Chantelle doesn't come home completely frustrated solely due to the fact that they don't communicate something with her then yell at her when it hasn't been done. Two weeks ago, Lacie and I ended up spending all of our free time helping Chantelle get a project done that her bosses just didn't tell her to do, until it was past due. In school I'm often not given directions then have to regrade papers, rewrite the tests, or reexplain a chapter because I wasn't told how to do it in the first place. One of these days I guess I'll just learn to start reading their minds to know when we are going to have a meeting after school, what days we get out early, and when people are expecting me to do something.

Walking bridge over the river in Piura

The inefficiency in the school system: This week, we gave our first set of midterms out to two of our classes. Of the 72 students that took the test, 15 of them got a C or D, 9 got above a 50%, and everyone else was lucky to get 20% right. Why is this? Yes, the students don't study, EVER. But, we also have such a limited amount of time with the students each week (1.5 hours, not including wasted time. I take away kids homework on a daily basis for coping someone else's homework right there in the front row in front of me. They don't have computers, projectors, or any sort of media to assist in teaching, kids are constantly talking and therefore constantly getting yelled at. To add to it, they take their tests outside to try to spread the kids out to avoid cheating. But, taking them out of their normal learning environment makes for a lot of distractions especially when other teachers are interrupting them, Yenny is talking on the phone, and kids are throwing white out around like dodge-balls because they are more concerned with not scratching stuff out than their answers. Also, there is no sort of reward system. Their reward is often not being embarrassed in front of the rest of their peers. After the test, Yenny went through and called out every student that got a 20% for the rest of the students to 'ohh' at!

EARTHQUAKE DRILL!

Kids playing injured during the earthquake drill...other students play doctor. Normal? Always prepared for the worst?

All things considering, we didn't come here to have an easy year, to recreate the United States, or let our frustrating take away from the experience. Especially when we don't know what's going on in these kids homes, we don't know how many parents are around, if they have food on the table, if their parents encourage them to do well in school, or if they have to work every afternoon to help provide for their families. Doesn't make it any less challenging and make me question if what I'm doing has any purpose but, if I can impact even a handful of them, this year will be worth it! 

Anyway, other events of the last two weeks: we had an infestation of flees so got the house fumigated, the termites in my room are here to stay though. Lacie spent a day in the hospital due to an extreme stomach infection. The dog the bit me, he lives, I don't have rabies. Our director, Pat, came to visit, brought Christmas with him (goldfish, granola, cereal, cliff bars, chocolate, etc). Done some awesome Piura exploring, including walked into the perfect mass at a beautiful Church. And just busy living, cooking, cleaning, hand washing clothes, spending time with friends, and running on Saturday mornings with students.

Viviendo en el presente

Just doesn't do it justice

So, not sure if you heard, but I moved here, I moved to Peru. I'm not here for a week service trip to get this awesome spiritual, do good, save the world high...I'm here to live with the people of Chulucanas. I'm here to experience how the third world lives, here to live their everyday struggles, face my own struggles, and learn more everyday. Because of this, I have good days and I have bad days. I have strong feelings of frustrating and belly aching fits of laughter. We have concern for our safety and amazing friends that are protective, welcoming and generous. The school system drives me nuts, in the fact that my students will have learned hardly anything by the time this year is over, but my students constantly make me smile.

Everyday is a new adventure full of awkward, funny, and sometimes surprisingly deep conversations. Every chance I get to look out at the landscape is a blessing. Never have a seen such open lushious green land leading up to beautiful big pointy blue mountains that look so close you can touch them. Never have I been stopped in the street by a stranger wanting to thank me for being there. Nor have I met someone that 10 minutes later is inviting me over to their house to feed me, or wanting to take me to see their favorite place in the Chulucanas area. Chulucanians are so proud of their city, their culture, and of course their food, so much so they can't wait to share anything they have with us. But, yet never have I felt so much like I am constantly in need of a shower, my stomach is constantly in a state of discomfort, bugs are constantly crawling on me not to mention biting me, and I'm still constantly sweating. I joke by the time I get back literally nothing will phase me, I'll think all things are just well, normal! Last night, for example, we were coming back from a city 20 minutes away on moto with two new friends when we broke down. It was so dark you could literally see nothing but billions of stars, with not a person in sight, we didn't feel scared but yet, just kind of, un phased, naturally this would happen, we're in Peru.

The mural is made of dyed wood chips made only for the evening procession

Anyway, Holy Week was spent much differently this year. We didn't have work or school Thursday or Friday because they are days meant to be spent with family, at church, in community, and/or traveling. Never have I gone to more hours of church in 5 days, especially where I only understand about 50% of what is being said. The most significant mass was Friday morning's Stations of the Cross. Beginning at 5 am, was a three hour procession through the streets while fifty 15 to 17 year old parish kids acted out the stations. By the end of the procession probably close to 5,000 people were walking with us as they physically wipped the boy playing Jesus and hung him on a cross bleeding for all the crowd to see.

Fabiana and I riding on the back of the moto

Catacoas llama, carnival and beautiful cathedral.

After the procession our friend Italo accompained us to a small city, Catacoas, for their Semana Santa activities. It was pretty much a giant street carvinal with millions of people and tons of good food!

Trip to the water falls with new friends