The October Update

I´m taking a break from the usual ramblings and reflections to bring you the October Update. This is a big month for the Tacbloc. Recently we teamed up with the volunteers from the two other JVC communities in South America and our program director for our annual reorientation/ disorientation retreat. Liz (our awesome program director!) and the volunteers from Santiago stopped by Tacna before the retreat. We had a great time sharing our home with them. We did some fun things like eating salchipapas, eating hamburgers, eating ice cream, eating travesuras, and climbing a sand dune.

Then we all headed up to Mejia, a beach town in southern Peru, and met the volunteers from Andahuaylillas, Peru. There we had a week of fun, prayer and reflection of the past year. It was challenging to honor and hold the ENTIRE YEAR. It´s been one for the books, yall. But I also felt the desire to renew my commitment to this JVC life and enjoyed the space to marinate the sacredness of it all. (Marinate- Greg Boyle shout out)

I´d like to title this photo: a year of processing.

More than anything, I was grateful for a beautiful week with good friends! This photo doesn´t do justice to our beauty, but I loved this moment surrounded by my girls. Had to share.  

Meet the current Jesuit volunteers in South America! We enjoy chocolate, ricoto relleno, large playing cards, madlibs, skimboarding, sunsets on the beach, service and justice.  

After the retreat, Liz came back to Tacna with us for the annual site visit. Always good to feel that love and support from the JVC office! We got to do some cool stuff like having mass in our home, seeing a procession of Señor de los Milagros while eating pizza, hanging out with MEGAN, and catching up on how life is for us here. It was great to share my experience—Liz even got to share in the glory of primary classes! Here´s a couple of action shots from my fourth grade class. We had a fun lesson. We read Head to Toe by Eric Carle and learned the word ¨Can¨ with some new verbs  

And October is still going! The TacBloc is gearing up for Halloween. The volunteers have a tradition of transforming our lovely home into a haunted house for the kids in the neighborhood. Blood and guts and screams and… clowns? OH MY!
I´ve embraced the role of dance mom recently. The school is preparing for family day. Each grade presents a traditional Peruvian dance, and I´m hoping a couple of the classes I teach will win the big competition! You can find me in the patio, cheering them on. The teachers also present a dance on family day. You read right. My first Peruvian dance will be performed in front of the entire faculty, student body, parents and neighborhood. As Jim Halpert once said, ¨Lord, beer me strength.¨