My reality. A letter home.

Dear readers,

I understand it has taken me quite some time to share about my life here in Tacna. I’ve shared about my experience, but as some family and friends remind me, they know very little about what my life looks like here. I haven’t given much of an idea of my day-to-day reality. This is not because I’m secretly vacationing in South America or because I’m a secret agent. It doesn’t come from a desire to keep my life hidden. I simply haven’t had a daily routine or stable work schedule until very recently. I’ve been in Peru about five months now, living here in Habitat for about three months, and we’re about two months into our school year here.

Life falls into a rhythmic sense of normalcy with the beginning of the school year. (Of course that is only our senses- normalcy doesn’t exist, does it?) As I join the rhythm of daily life here, I’ve started to feel more distant from home than ever before. My part of the harmony is so, so very small. And I sing incredibly, embarrassingly off-key. I allow myself to be swept up in the chorus anyway. I’m carried by the joyful praise to God, but it’s taking me far away. It astounds me to realize that I am no longer a visitor. I am no longer passing through. This reality has become my reality.

Attentive to the ebb and flow around me, it takes a current change: a phone call from home, a Facebook post, a photo or memory. Then I remember that my reality is so very different from that of my family and friends.

And then I remember that my reality is also very different from the people around me because of where I come from.

It’s a very disorienting piece of this experience.

            I want to thank all of you for meeting me where I am- whether it’s listening to my stories, my hopes and frustrations via Skype and messenger or sending letters or offering your prayers. I am so appreciative of your desire to know this experience and your love to take me the way I am. And I am sorry for the times I fail to support you- because I am physically not present or simply because I don’t understand… because I’m changing. Although I still drink too much coffee and enjoy Grey’s Anatomy. Some things will never change. Thank you for sharing such tremendous Grace and love with me. Here is my attempt (again, insufficient as it may be!) to come meet you. This comes from my own desire to connect, open up and share some of this life that my community here so generously shares with me.    

Bienvenidas

                                                                                                         

I live in this house with these girls. Casa Fred Green is named after Fr. Fred, a Tacna hero and Jesuit priest who helped build our neighborhood (Habitat) and found the school where I work (Colegio Miguel Pro). We are a community of four volunteers: Me, Shannon, Emily and Christie.

This is our kitchen. Parts are simple. See those dishes drying? No dishwasher. Microwave tampoco. See those pots on the stove? We use them to boil water. Some parts are kind of fancy. There is an oven under that stove and a blender behind the big water jug. We use the whiteboard to keep track of community stuff, and we spend a lot of good times seated at that table with each other, family and friends.
Walk through that open door to our patio (pictured right). We each have our own bedroom (two up those stairs and two below). The patio is the coolest place in the house- literally- making our hammock (not in the pic) my favorite spot in the summer time. We wash our clothes by hand. Currently a bunch of towels are drying on the line (my chore, done late this week. Sorry comunity!)





Tacna, located on the border of Peru and Chile, is a desert. The city is surrounded by cerros, sand dunes. Here is a photo I snapped at the bus stop near our house while I was waiting for my ride into the center of town.








Every weekend we take turns going to Mercado Grau, one of the largest markets here in Tacna s. All of our food is freaky fresh. (I´ve plucked a couple feathers out of the chicken before). Vendors like these gals here bring fruit, vegetables and (in this case) herbs from their chacras (farms) nearby. We tend to go to the same vendors, so we´ve gotten to be good buddies over the years. That´s not to say I was way overwhelmed the first couple times by the crowds and conversations happening all around me. Wonders of the market include the fish section (not pictures sorry!) with ALL kinds of good stuff from the ocean nearby. (We are a desert, but we are also on the coast.) Another wonder is the aprons that these ladies wear. Their pockets are deaper than Mary Poppin´s bag. I´m forever amazed by their wearable cash register and ability to do mental math.



A couple blocks down from my house is the school where I work, Colegio Miguel Pro. I teach English classes to three grades in primary (roughly ages 8-10) , so a lot of my teaching materials look a little something like the picture on the left. I did not incldue a picture of my backpack/mobile classroom which is a disastrous mess of coloring sheets, games, markers, gifts from students and confiscated materials. I also assist the English teacher in two high school classes (second year and fourth year). And recently I´ve taken up the job of volleyball coach! One of the school´s slogans is siempre más alto as you can see on a part of this mural. Always higher means that we as a community are always striving for más (more) in the Ignatian sense. We want to do the best we can for our students, for our daughters and sons. We are always striving to do more for those who need it. And so we are men and women (boys and girls) for others.


Speaking of family... a blog showing some of my life here would not be complete without my host family! Truly my favorite people in Tacna. Here is all five of us (Mom, Dad, Daleska, me and Sofía) doing something we love: getting ice cream. Weekends with the fam are the best. They are the people who love me and welcome me the most. I am so grateful they are part of my life here!