Cumplo 35

Before I forget to mention it -- check out my photo link at right for a few recent photos.

The last week seems to have gone quickly, so first an update on events:
- I turned 35 on Friday the 19th, and got to celebrate in a few different ways. On Thursday night, a few members and friends of the Canticos del Sol choir visited the house (thinking that my birthday was that day) and e had another birthday music session -- most of this group had been there Monday for Emily`s birthday. I was thinking that we were getting special treatment because we were new, but was told that it is common for friends to gather and go to a person´s home on their birthday sing and wish them well. This group was a lot of fun and had a couple of great guitarrists. On friday morning, I woke up to balloons and birthday sign put up by Nicole and Emily, and they made me both breakfast )eggs after looking in vain for pancake mix) and lunch. In the evening we went to daily Mass and afterward had birthday cake and some of the local ice cream as a treat (not as creamy as at home, but still good). Then, to our surprise, the other youth choir from the parish (Trabajadores sel Evangelio) sent two representatives, including our friend Fernando, to ask if they could come at 10:00 PM to wish me a happy birthday. Nicole went tp sleep after a week of celebrating, but Emily and I hung out with our 10 or so well-wishers and heard a few beautiful songs that they sing in Church, including Paz en las Tormentas. Finally on Saturday night, the franciscan priests and brother at the parish invited us to a late supper birthday celebration at their home.
- Saturday, Alex and jJuan Carlos from the Friday choir, took me out for my second experience of ceviche, the regional favorite of raw fish/seafood in lime and chili. This time I enjoyed the flavor quite a bit and, as a bonus, didn`t suffer any adverse gastonomical aftereffects (ie no diarhea). My stomach must be toughening up :).
- In the parish, we´re getting closer to beginning the home visits to youth, and I´m meeting with the youth counsel this Thursday to set up some plans goals for the next couple months. I´m meeting with Confirmation youth classes and with their leaders to begin planning for the retreat (11/17-18) and ceremony (11/25). Also, Nicole, Emily and I will begin a twice-weekly English class for youth and young adults on 11/5.
- Fernando and Donny from the TDE choir visited last night to sing a bit and invited us all to join the choir, wghich I think I will do, at least when my arm is functioning again enough to play the guitar. I have never played as part of a group and look forward to learning the new songs and building some confidence.
- Speaking of my arm, the doctor last night gave me another week in my cast, 10 days in the sling after that, and then slowly I can begin to move it around again. I am a bit tired of the sling and using only one hand, but I guess this will help me to appreciate my lowly left arm more :).
- Reflecting on my overall experience so far after a month in Peru, I find that the slower pace of `getting started` here sometimes makes me feel as if I should be doing more -- I was much busier as a CYM in Corvallis, doing a lot more ´things´. It struck me today that maybe this is good for me, as Fr. Carlos told me; ´Paciencia trae buen humor.`, or Patience puts you in a good mood. Also, I have been prone to base my own self worth on the quantity of quantifiable contributions I make instead of on the true basis of my worth as a loved child of God. Finally, living a bit more slowly has helped me to realize that I often miss the blessings of the moment -- even trying moments -- by impatiently escaping, either mentally or physically, to the next thing on the schedule. Maybe my time here will teach me to see more clearly the people and places that surround me in my daily life.

Thanks for reading, and God bless!

Three week report

Greetings! We have now been here in Chimbote for three weeks -- as I was dicussing with nicole and emily earlier this week, it both seems that we have been here a long time and that we are stll unsettled and very new to town. I think that our environment here is so different from that which we left that the US seems far away in both time and space. On the other hand, I stll feel inept at times with the language, am meeting new people all the time, and -- as when moving anywhere -- it takes time to develop friendships. In addition, my injury took many of the routines I had settled into and forced them to change. I now take a long walk downtown instead of running, for example. Some things are getting getting easier, though, such as sleeping through the night noises (with the occasional help of earplugs for the steady weekend parties with very loud music), finding my way around walking, knowing where to shop for food certain items of food, photcopies, etc. Wrking with youth at the parish is is also beginning at a slow pace, though with my arm and the cultural adjustment i don´t mind. I attended a confirmation meeting last evening and met a lot of new young people (about 30 attended), and have another coordination meeting tonight with Fr. Carlos and Yuri, president of the youth counsel. I will begin my experience here by accompanying the confirmation group during the leadup to their 11/25 ceremony in addition to begining systematic visits to the homes of other youth and families. This was an idea I had to help me know more of the youth and their reality, what they and their parents see as needs that we can work togeher on, and to re-*invite personally youth that are not actively involved (the post-confirmation disapearance is also common here).

This week both Emily (10/15) and I (10/19)are celebrating birthdays. We had a birthday lunc with Sr. Juanita on Sunday with delicious strawberry shortcake, on on monday we gave emily some small gifts and were pleasantly surprised when a couple guys we´d met at the parish called at 10:00 pm to ask if the could come over to wish Emily a happy birthday. Six guys arrived a half-hour later with two guitars to serenade her with las mañanitas and then came inside to sing and play until almost midnight. Two were excellent guitarristas and most are in the parish choir, so it was both an excelent musical and cultural experience. Nicole is planning to make a cake for us tonight (halfway betwwen) with a cake mix that we found at a small supermarket downtown.

Other news/observations:
-On Sunday Elmer. a new acquaintance here, took me to professional soccer game at the local stadium between two of the teams in the national league, which was fun.
-A small group of kids from the neighborhood (most are related and live in the same house) have befriended us and come to visit every few days to draw and play games in the patio. I think they would come every day if we let them. :)
-For Chimbote, a city of over 400,000,there are only about 40 PO boxes at the one, small post office. Sr. Hermanita says that 99% of people have never sent or. received a letter.
- The national census takes place this Sunday, and there is a prohibition on parties and discotecas the night before (we had to move a planned joint bithday pary to next weekend). In addition, everyone has to stay in their homes from 8;00 am onward on Sunday until the census takers come by (whenever that is). I find it somewhat difficult to believe that there is suffiient organization here to complete the entire cesus in one day, but that is the way its done.

Thanks for reading!

An unexpected adventure

This entry may be a bit shorter an lacking in capitalization, and that is because I am typing with only my right hand due to taking a fall while playing basketball with new friends here this past sunday. We all immediately knew that I I had dislocated my elbow, and the next few hours were spent getting the bones back in the right place, after the basketball group took me to a huesero and then Sr, juanita and Emily took me to the emergency room of a private clinic. The link to my photos at right has a couple pictures of my injury and the result -- I`m in a cast and sling for three weeks. I mostly am free of pain now that its back in place, but have to have help wih things like putting in my contacts and tying my shoes each morning.
Ww are gradually meeting some people here who could become friends over time -- last night we had cake and drinks to celebrate the birthday of one of the friars here, Fr. Carlos. The IW superior in Peru, Sr. Pilar, parishioners Cenaudeand Milagros,brother Tino and the pastor, Fr. Stanislaus. It was good fun. We are helping Fernando from church with english tonight (and he us with our spanish) this evening, and Elmer has invited us to watch a soccer match this weekend. T0day i have a checkup on my elbow and tomorrow afternoon I meet with Fr. Carlos to get started officially with youth ministry involvement. I am doing my best to cook one-handed for nicole and emily this week, as they are now working full time at the hospice. Though this injury was unexpected, I am in good spirits and am adapting. The hospital experience was really interesting (I went under general anesthesia), and everyone here has done their best to take good care of me - from the guys playing basketball whom i had just met to Sr. Juanita and Nicole and Emily. it was an interesting weekend overall at our house, as nicole had a nasty stomach bug friday evening through Sunday.

God bless, and have a great weekend!

San Francisco de Asis

Saludos a todos! I am here in the internet cafe to upload some of my photos but the speed is quite slow, so I have a little time for a brief update on the week. Thursday the 4th was the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron of the parish where I will be working. To celebrate, they first had a novena with street masses in each surrounding neighborhood in the days leading up to the feast day (we went to the mass in our neighborhoo). On the 3rd, the confirmation youth put on a play about the last days of St. Francis´ life, and it was pretty well done. On the fourth, the festivities began at 530 pm with a procession through the streets, a couple hundred people, a brass band, and carrying a large, heavy image of St. Francis. I got drafted to take a couple shifts in carrying the image between stations, where we would stop to say prayers on the hour and a half walk (though they had to select the person opposite me with care, since I am taller than most people here). I even had the chance to carry the image into the church to big applause right before Mass and a concert/party in the hall. More later, as my time is nearly up. Some photos are up to, but more organization will come later.

Una Semana en Chimbote

¡Buenas tardes a todos! I write you tonight from the convent where lives Sr. Juanita, from Texas, who has lived here for 11 years and among many other things has overseen the rebuilding of the medical clinic and construction & opening of a hospice ministry here, both projects of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word.

There is much to say and share about my first week here, so let me share a few first impressions--
1. There are almost no private cars here because few can afford to buy one, but that does not mean that the streets are quiet. In fact, if you take a walk for a few blocks around here (the distance from our house to the parish and convent) you will almost invariably see, and have to be wary of, a variety of conveyances. These might include a donkey pulling a cart of corn or produce headed for the market, a `moto`, which is a three wheeled motorcycle/taxi with room for two passengers, a bicycle (two or three wheeled varieties, some used also to carry goods), a `combi` (minivan style taxi with a set route that holds limitless amounts of people), a `tico`(small Yugo-shaped taxi, a car (old US models), trucks, medium-sized buses. And, nearly all of them seem to be honking for some reason or another, usually to indicate that they are free and to ask if you would like to ride. If you do, just raise your hand and off you go.
2. The streets here (which have no street signs, but still everyone knows their names) are mostly dirt, which makes for a lot of dust (including in the house). Many people begin their day by watering the street in front of their house (to keep cleaning effort down) and by sweeping the dirt to remove trash - it seems to collect rather rapidly. Though not as bad as I pictured from descriptions prior to coming, the trash collection system is not well developed. Also, dogs of all sizes abound, thought I havent yet run into any aggressive ones. Some are obviously stray dogs, but many seem to be pets. The dogs also seem to enjoy barking at night and in the early morning.
3. Our house, rented by the sisters, is simple, fairly spacious, two story, four bedrooms (one extra for visitors!), with a kitchen, dining area, and living area. It is among the more solidly built of the neighborhood, but doesn´t stand out too much. We have a gas stove with propane (delivered by truck), fairly warm showers (heater on the shower head), and compost cylinders in the back yard/patio. An upstairs patio has an outdoor sink and close line for washing and drying clothes (did my first load by hand yesterday -- good for the forearms with all the wringing.
4. I will be mostly helping out at the local parish (St. Francis of Assisi, just like Burney!) with the youth program, but am waiting until after the busyness of celebrating his feast day (Thursday the 4th) has concluded until meeting formally with young priest in charge of youth programs there. Thus far though, we have attended a street mass in our neighborhood and sat in on a play rehearsal with the confirmation group (on the life of St. Francis), and attended a lively choir festival at the parish on Sunday. After visiting various ministries in the neigborhood and seeing parts of the city with Sr. Juanita last week, this week we each are accompanying one of the hospice workers in their home visits during the mornings (8-1). Today we visited six different patients, and the worker I was with focused on spiritual support -- prayers, singing, conversation, and communion. She (Justina) is very good at what she does, and I enjoyed the chance to visit the patients and their families in a variety of living conditions (only one with dirt floors). One patient had died the previous day and we payed our respects at the wake. Of course, this was also a great way to see neighborhoods of the city by a mixture of combi-taxi-walking with lots of practice in speaking and listening to Spanish.
5. Last week Sr. Juanita asked me to visit a man`s home who sets up each day in front of the convent with his shoe repair equipment. A friend of Sister`s from the US is coming down and might be able to help make improvements to his house, and she asked be to take a look to see where we might start. I walked with him from the convent and we spoke a bit about his situation. He was born in the Andes but came with his wife to Chimbote about eight years in search of work. He works seven days per week in order to earn the 10-15 soles ($4-$5) daily that he uses to buy food for his family that includes eight children. He owns a small piece of land and his house two solid walls connected by two walls of bamboo & poles, a water source and sewer connection, one small area set off by plywood with three beds, a roof of bamboo and plastic, and a dirt floor. Just next the house he has a couple of chickens. We think that we will start by trying to put in a concrete floor and some plywood walls to help keep out the cold. Generally that is the progression of growth here. People come from the mountains and squat on land with just mats, then raise shelters of poles and bamboo matts, then switch to plywood, then concrete floors, then a brick structure, then stucco/paint over the outside. In most neighborhoods, you can see houses in each of these stages.
6. It never rains here and there are few trees or greenery, though there are signs of noble efforts in some sections to carve out patches of green and parks (a lot different than Oregon)!. We are on the coast in springtime here, so the weather is grey in the morning, sunny in the afternoon, and chilly and windy in the evening. Apparently this winter has been colder than normal.
7. We shop at the local mercado, which is a crazy mixture of sound, smell, and sights. Vegetables are fresh but need to be washed, and the meat was alive not too long ago (I`m told that if you arrive early enough you can see the vendors killing and plucking the chickens).
8. One last thought -- hearing the gospel reading last night (parable of Lazarus and the rich man) in such a different context -- not a mostly-wealthy US parish but a church full of people that most of the world would consider poor -- struck me, and the sermon didn`t focus on the rich man but on need, and why God would allow extreme need to exist. By the way, the youth choir at the mass was great. I am thinking of trying to join and help out on the guitar.

Well, thanks for making it this far. There are a lot more details to share, but this gives a decent outline so far. I cannot post photos from this computer, but will try to go to an internet cafe soon to show some visuals of what I have described above. God bless!