A Grateful Heart: Un Corazón Agradecido

The gratitude I had this thanksgiving certainly weighed heavy on my heart this time around.

 I am incredibly grateful for being able to spend this holiday with my family, for the gift of these last 4 months, for the journey that lies ahead, for all the beautiful people in my life (new friends & old friends alike), for those who donated to my Send Me to Serve, for the incredible support team that stands behind me, for closing one chapter of my life (always remembering the experiences Spring Hill College provided me-forming me and shaping me into who I am today), for every trip I took since, for visiting the people I love and just BEING with them, for one of my last tastes of America being a slice or maybe two of my all-time favorite pumpkin pie (thanks Ileana!) 

 As I savored one of my favorite bits of the holiday, I like to think I have savored every moment since my invitation to JVC back in April. It's been a wild ride, taking a leap of faith after I was accepted into grad school and remembering to follow my heart and that peculiar pull in the right direction and trusting it was where God wanted me to be no matter what it meant. It didn't steer me wrong. I said goodbye to the place where I grew so much, the hill, where part of my heart will always lie, on that avenue of the oaks (even though we didn't get to walk down it on graduation day as tradition has it) I got to stand beside two of my best friends as they married the loves of their lives, reveling in the beauty of those hot summer days and the beauty of unconditional love. I got to spend a whole month with my best friend/my cousin/my sister with graduation festivities, weddings, and visiting the happiest place on earth together (Disney) for the first time since the baby days!

Today I give thanks with a grateful heart for the time well spent and now for arriving in Tacna safely and jumping in to this whole new world that is this desert.
Black Friday was my departure day and I was packed a week in advance weighing my suitcase countless times. My last week in the states included blissfully attending a bonfire with my brothers and old friends, picking out the Christmas tree with my parents and helping mom decorate it as tradition has it.  After thanksgiving dinner, dessert was at our family friends house also as tradition has it.  Last year's black friday was commenced with a shopping extravaganza so of course this year needed its own mini black friday festivities.  After an hour of galavanting around Target (including hidiing in a bed of body pillows for a brief silly moment) I was ready to take my nap before my 6 am flight.  When time came, I found myself in a hug line saying goodbye to my parents, brothers and family friends (basically my second family of 4 other brothers and my little sis Nicole (who are SO amazing for coming to send me off at 4:30 am!).  Though I don't like to dwell on the intensity of the moment because there are really no words that do it justice, I know that as soon as I left security, this was it, the time was here, was real and a whole new world lied ahead.  This is my life now. A Jesuit Volunteer sent to serve the people of Tacna, Peru.

 I finally slept for two hours on the last leg of the trip, lima to tacna, and awoke in awe to the sands that lay below me, the sand dunes (Cerros) of the Atacama Desert that streches into Tacna, Peru and a pretty big chunk of the Peruvian coast if not all of it!  After Emily and I loaded up our luggage onto luggage carts, we simply turned the corner to find the exit of the airport and our new family of Jesuit Volunteers (Megan, John, Allie, Thomas, Kelly) running to open our Bienvenidos a Tacna Emily & Christie banner as soon as we walked their way. Fr. Fred Green was even at the airport to greet us! He is in his 90s and the most loved Jesuit priest of Tacna, who built the Jesuit schools Miguel Pro and Colegio Cristo Rey!  The Centro Cristo Rey's van, from this point on known as the “white pearl” caravaned us and our luggage to our new home in the neighborhood called Habitat with Pedro, a volunteer from Spain as our chauffeur. Since my arrival I have encountered so much here!

 It's mango season here (mango is my all time favorite fruit)!

The Spaniard volunteers are the Jesuit Volunteers' best friends.

Arguing with the Spaniards can be anything from whether putting a banana in the fridge speeds the ripening process up to just yelling at each other for the sake of being loud..

“Choquelo” is the equivalent of saying “high five”

Peruvian herga or slang is very prevalent and hard to understand but will supposedly be learned over time...

Public transportation and the mercado are “experiences”

I had a pretty amazing hamburger the other day topped with palta (avocado) sauce, chimichurri sauce, & papitas (fries) from a street vendor who has a history of being our friend and is a treat for us every now and then.

I am planning to write a blog post solely dedicated to the sounds of tacna (stay tuned)

stray dogs are EVERYWHERE

it doesn't rain here, it mists instead (I experienced my first mist the other day)

Ceviche was my first meal here and I absolutely loved it! I may have to frequent the corner restaurant more often..

There are more than 150 types of corn “choclos”

my favorite at the moment is “canchitas” (a certain type of corn that is popped like popcorn and served with Ceviche and as a snack)

Chicha morada is a juice made from purple corn, lime and sugar that is served with every meal even at El Pollon, the Peruvian version of a Pollo Tropical (fast food (cuban) in Miami ) except its equip with a bowl of french fries, a full chicken on a platter and a bowl of artfully displayed salad avocado included and chicha morada.

John's host brother Fernando is bound to make fun of my cuban spanish speaking accent countless more times.

TacBloc, otherwise known as the Tacna JV house, my new home, has the best brownie recipe of all time! Seriously they get better every batch and I will definitely be pocketing the recipe.

Jeff Thielman, a former Jesuit Volunteer, founded the Centro Cristo Rey del Nino y adolescente where I will work part-time (looking forward to reading his book “Volunteering with the Poor in Peru” soon)

January will consist of what's called Mes de Mision where high school sophomores participate in mission work in an impoverished area in the outskirts of Tacna, possibly referred to as “the woods” with little or no trees, running water is not a thing, nor will any form of communication be...

Vinani and Baranquillas are both outskirt districts of Tacna and proyectos of the Centro Cristo Rey that I may have the opportunity to work more closely with which I am very excited about!

So as this week comes to an end, I await another week of ICO, In country orientation, where I will accompany Kelly to work at Fe y Alegria in the mornings (the school I will work at) and possibly teach english class with her this week and I will accompany Joanna (an independent U.S. Volunteer from Chicago who is pretty awesome) at the Centro Cristo Rey where I will work in the afternoons! I will learn more about my roles at each placement site soon and will officially begin work there in mid-February. Until then, I will live my host family until Christmas time when I move into the JV house once Allie, Thomas, and Kelly leave us to head home to the states.  I will also be attending several despedidas where I imagine I will be fully immersed into food, dancing etc..

Peruvians are incredibly welcoming and are just the sweetest people. I have been welcomed with open arms and a kiss on the cheek by every person I have met (of which I hope to remember everyone's names sometime soon)  The same goes for the Peruvian children! Being greeted on the street with an “Hola Miss!” or “Hola Profe Christie!” just warms my heart even if the hugs and besitos make me arrive late to every destination. :)

So until next time my family and friends as the Peruvians say, much like the Italians (who interestingly enough had some influence here back in the day) . . .

Ciao!