The Wonder Year: El Año Maravilloso

Wonder: to be filled with admiration, amazement or awe, to marvel

As I reflect on my first year as a JV in the beautiful desert of Tacna, Peru, the word wonder comes to mind. This year though full of what may have seemed like wandering at first has made me witness many wonders, maravillas.  Piecing together these little and big wonders of my heart brings me an immense gratitude and a peace that fuels me and sustains me in my second year as a JV.  Similar to a swimming metaphor made by a JV friend last year, for me its like im taking off my floaties finally and maybe even getting all the way up on a surfboard and riding the waves ( a reality I have yet to reach literally). I couldn’t have made it through this year without the many wonders, so here I present them to you, my little wonders.

En vivo y directo.

In your light, I learn how to love

Mica, Micaela, my hermanita peruana, my sweet 7 year old little host sister who knows my love of mangoes, chocolate and dancing like no one else, the one I spent my first Peruvian Christmas with, who i´ve spent just about every Monday afternoon with since, who likes to tickle me,who I dance around the room with like a loca and who has blessed me with an incredible extended host family,  including Ivana, my 9 yr old host cousin who also tackles and tickles me with lots of love.

Mi mama peruana,  Male who cooks the best lentejas and torejas  on the face of this planet and consoles my troubled heart when needed.  ;)

Ricardo, mi papa peruano, though he works a lot, the few times I see him, he never fails to make some joke about my nonexistent chamberlan,  what a goofball.

Meli, Melissa, my 21 year old cousin who picks on me like a good younger sister and took marinera classes with me this year and presented the dance with me in front of my coworkers and students.

Dudito, Eduardo, Her 2 yr old baby who can finally say my name and loves to ´´mueve el toto.´´

Tia Glenda who was first introduced to me as the JVs momma figure, who spoils me with sublime ice creams and since the very beginning has been incredibly selfless, a true angel, I hope she never forgets how much I love her.

The 3 Musketeers/ Las 3 Mosqueteras

No te vayas, no me dejes, quedate conmigo, un ratito mas

Pretty sure these ladies and I first officially became inseparable after dancing in our office together to Uptown Funk for Lauren´s Wedding Video.  They still think I´m crazy but they know the rough patches of my heart and we have laughed so much together this year.  Rafaga, Rebelde, Prince Royce, HermanosYaipen, and Romeo Santo´s number 1 fans.  Moving on to the real world soon, all tituladas with their psych degrees and stuff,  for now the 3 musketeers get to share an office together un ratito mas.

Be awkward, dorky & stupid.   Bro.

Johnny-boy

The kid who asked me over a year ago now ´´eres la cubana?´, knew way too much about me before meeting me,  the kid who kept me sane on my first mes de mision, whos mom makes bomb.com arroz con leche and brings it to our doorstep,  the kid who has kept me laughing and speaking Spanglish since we met and someone who really brings out my raw awkward, dorky & stupid. Keep it up socio.

Also here´s a ridiculous comparison via the below picture but totally fitting thanks to the title of this blog post…..so..yeah, I was once told you looked like Kevin from the Wonder Years…

Say my name Say my name

#Community.My second year JV community.Maddie& Shannon arrived to Tacna last November and its been Emily and I´s job to orient them in-country and continue this JV journey together this 2016. These ladies are absolutely wonderful and making a mark in Tacna´s JV history with a house of only girls, I´m so excited to get to share this year alongside them.  They survived their first mes de mision, are getting the nack of the market, Spanish, la horaperuana, and love to dance like Em and I asique, chevere! And like my friend Senaida likes to say,  ¡Son del pueblo!  Thanks to our shared love of Rafaga.

We also enjoy singing into spatulas like they are microphones, especially to Destiny´s Child, our girl Beyonce, Backstreet Boys and Britney. ;)

 El verdadero y el primero

Grupo 3

Mes de Mision has always been and I hope will continue to be a blessing in disguise.  What first seemed to be the daunting dirty unknown quickly became a beautiful unbreakable bond to a group of amazing jovenes (15 & 16 year olds) united by a spirit of service, Promo 2016. My 7 kids in my first mes de mision group are gems of humans.  As they would say I made them suffer because I had to boss them around asking them to do hard labor to serve the pueblo, I would say that they stressed me out too, we yelled at eachother, they were lazy attitude stricken moodyflojo teenagers until the very end, BUT in one month they grew and we have grown together since.  They wrote me letters on my second mes de mision, wished me well, and proclaimed themselves ¨Grupo 3: El Verdadero y El Primero¨ as soon as they found out that my group this year was also Grupo 3.  Coming home from mes de mision this time around was something special.  I teared up because Tacna really is home to me now and full of people I love to pieces.  After being away from home for a month I was amazed and so proud when I arrived to a welcome home cartel reading ¨Bienvenida Miss Christie¨ and El Verdadero y El PrimeroGrupo 3 waiting for me to hug me and take me out to eat pizza!

Perdono si te hago sufrir, perdono si te hago llorar

Grupo 3

Mes de Mision Round 2.

My second and my last Mes de Mision was spent with a lovely group of 22 15 year olds and was pretty tranqui, with a greater sense of comfort with a year under my belt but evening out  stress-wise by basically being the mom of mes de mision as the asesora  with experience, in charge of finances and the kitchen for a bit. Paired with the amazing Genny as my co-leader, a French volunteer from the Centro that I work at who discerned coming to Mes de Mision without really knowing too much about it, we successfully led our 6 kids together in clearing caminos by moving rocks and hiking down and back to the river to bring back firewood many times.  Singing Parecequevalloveren camino and Asifueannoying the heck out of our hijitas and our hijitos, fighting with Ghojan about insignificant things like hes my younger brother,curling up next to Milagros and getting the latest drama of Peruvian 15 year olds, having Sebas and Pechis find their favorite artists on my ipod (coldplay and imagine dragons)and jam out as we cooked,  listening to Gustavo say zuuuuuuuuumba, learning how to dance some ridiculous dance craze with our boys GusGus, Mauro and Jaime, cooking Peruvian recipes for 30 over firewood with 250 kilos of papas and cebollas to pick from and becoming the Misses enojadas after just about every meal,because the children could not dump excess food properly in a bucket that was to be given to the pet pig of the lady next door (#nota sobre la utilizacion del balde del chancho).  All in all, there was a lot of teenage girls dancing with brooms and whiny kids but Promocion 2017 San Alberto Hurtado did really well and I´m excited to share this year with them and watch them grow.

Con Confianza

Megan and John, my first community mates, the ones who taught me and helped me grow so much during my first year as a JV. They allowed me to start this year con confianzaand  I hope they know that they did an incredible job kickstartingEm and I on this beautiful journey.  I miss their quirks, their beautiful spirits, their formas de ser, our favorite songs but I know that they are on to do amazing things.   They are the ones who understand me and my first year like no one else can. I am so thankful for them and the moments we lived together as a community.  Saying goodbye to them was a tear fest but I hope they know how much they are loved here. Besos y abrazostacbloc 2015.

Joder

Pardon my language but there really wasn´t another relevant title to tell you about my Spaniard friends, that involve a lot of names that start with the letter M, Miguel, Maria, Marta &Mireia.  My Centro coworkers, volunteers like us who understand and share our cross-cultural context but more importantly some of my first friends in Peru.   Although I may have only known them por un par de meses my first year, hanging out with them was always a riot whether it be grabbing burgers with our favorite street burger vendor Luchito, dancing at get-togethers, belting outMiChilala, eating tequeños and guac, bringing brownies to their house, or just the times I stopped by their house before our work shift started and felt at home.  My big brothers and sisters who understand laslocuras, they deserve a huge thank you for being awesome friends during the time our paths crossed in Peru.  Los extraño y los quiero mucho. :)

Wherever you stand, be the soul of that place.

Ginna

My coworker, my friend, my other momma, some kind of crazy, this woman has got a lot of soul.  When I first started at the Centro, it was just me and Marta, another volunteer, in a room full of 20 something  3^rd and 4^th graders who loved running around the room, crawling under tables, throwing things, name-calling and playing instead of homework and behaving.  When Ginna arrived, she had the power to channel their kind of wild and make moves towards order in this after school classroom, poco a poco.  I have learned a lot from her this past year but the one thing that she knows better than anyone else is that these kids just need love. She´s the first to notice the needs of our students and address them, all with lots of love.  Every time there is a visitor in our classroom we send that person ¨ energiaspositivas¨

Gracias Ginna por la energia positiva que siempre traes.

Carry me where your heart would have me

My little hearts, my students

In the classroom, this quote speaks volumes to me.  I may have the same lesson plan for all 3 of my sections of 1^st grade or 2^nd grade English, but I gotta let the Lord carry me where His heart would have me.  I may have a pretty tranquilo activity planned but have to do a complete 360 because today this particular group of students is bouncing off the walls. So, I make them get up and wiggle or bump up the behavior competition with cool prizes.  Every day is a different adventure that´s for sure.  When it comes to my students at my after school job at the Centro, same rules apply.  They hardly ever want to do their homework and sometimes the kids in my taller de baile just don´t wanna dance even if that’s what they signed up for. We find ourselves playing limbo or freeze more times than we actually rehearse our dances.  I wouldn´t have it any other way though, and my kids sure do teach me too.  Love is all they ever really need.

Paz les dejo, Paz les doy

Dolito

Hermana Dolores, an Hermana de San Jose with mexican roots, from San Diego, California, 86 years old and a dedication of many years of her life to the beautiful country of Peru.She has the all-time best recipes and nothing I ever copy comes out tasting quite as amazing as hers.

She is a woman of great faith that I truly admire.  She radiates paz, fuerza y amor and I can´t thank her enough for it. Te quiero muchisimo Dolito.

Bueno, there you have it, my little wonders.  The people who made my first year as a JV truly MARAVILLOSO.  Yet these are still just some of the wonders who have made this place home for me and not to mention those who keep me rooted back at home, an ocean away. :)

I am blessed beyond measure to have them in my life and look forward to keep dancing along with them on this journey.   It really feels like a dance of the purest kind of joy this year. Being a second year changes things, it’s a feeling that’s hard to describe, a feeling filled with confidence, comfort and peace,  you just gotta come to know it, to meet it along the journey, let it seize your spirit and allow you to truly become a part of this, this country, mi pais.

La Danza de mi pais.

Asi que

´Danza danza danza con tus penas, con tus alegrias, con tu caminar¨

Con todo corazón baby!