About a year ago, I believe, I kept track of my activities for a week and shared in this blog the daily routine of my life here. As I get close to my departure from Chimbote, I thought it would be interesting to repeat the excercise, without reviewing my previous effort, as a comparison and record to look back on. Therefore, for those who might be interested you can continue reading to get an idea of my current weekly schedule and activities, specifically from Sunday, July 5, to Sunday, July 12. I like that in my life here, no week is exactly the same, but the schedule and commentary below gives a basic idea how I pass my time.
SUNDAY, JULY 5TH
7:30 Get up, boil water, buy bread, head weights
8:30 Walk downtown, buy blended papaya/pineapple/apple juice, quick market trip
10:00 Meeting/rehearsal: parish theater group
12:30 Go to lunch at the sisters` house with housemates to celebrate July 4th.
2:00 Talk with family on the phone, friend Roger stops by
3:30 Walk downtown with Courtney and Jane – they go shopping and get coffee, I make some copies of song sheets for choir/confirmation in the evening
5:10 Meet my confirmation group (called Friar Bernard) so they can practice a song and dance for the competition next weekend. At 5:10 one person (out of 17) is there, at 5:30 eight, at 5:50 they start rehearsing with 12. I visit with them and others who gradually begin arriving for the normal 6:00 pm meeting.
6:30 Begin confirmation meeting with a couple games, and then my choir comes to rehearse the songs that we will be singing shortly in mass.
7:20 I go with the choir to the church to set up for singing at the 7:30 mass.
8:45 Mass ends, we start our weekly JUMIFRA (youth council) meeting, focusing on a fundraiser we will be doing in a couple weeks for a planned trip to Cajamarca in August.
10:00 Return home, a snack and then off to bed.
MONDAY, JULY 6TH
6:00 I get up, stretch
6:30 put on water to boil, leave to go for a run into the country a bit
7:05 buy bread, shower, eat breakfast
7:40 out the door – to catch a car to the National University of Santa in Nuevo Chimbote.
8:05 Arrive and lead a conversation class for second year students studying to be English teachers (I started going one Monday a month in June). The last 20 minutes they serve papas a la huancaina (potatoes with cream sauce) to celebrate Teachers` Day – all grade and high schools have the day off.
10:30 take a car back home
11:00 Help Courtney and Jane clean the kitchen, smash and take the pile of plastic down the street to recycle them, repair the faucet in front of the house that broke on Friday evening and since has been temporarily fixed by inserting a large screwdriver, wrapped with a rag, into the pipe end. At 12:00 Julie gets back from work and begins cooking lunch
1:15 Lunch, prepared by Julie (rice, beans, cucumbers and tomatoes).
Wash dishes
½ hour nap
3:15 Prepare plans/lessons for evening English classes
Do some work on drawing up aproxímate plans of the existing parish buildings, using measurements that Padre Carlos and I climbed onto the roof last week to obtain. With approxímate existing plans, we can work out possible floor plans for the planned youth center addition. No AutoCAD, just graph paper and a ruler.
5:30 Walk to an Internet café for an hour to send a mixture of Confirmation, JUMIFRA, and personal emails.
7:15 Pack my bag and head to the parish for English classes. Tonight I teach our intermediate students – our highest level group – theme is adverbial clauses of time.
9:30 return to the house, and walk the couple blocks to Susan`s house with Courtney. The two of them have some coordinating to do for their Confirmation group (called Santa Clara). I tag along to visit, and end up also helping Olga – Susan`s older sister – a little with questions about her English homework. Afterwards we hang out and watch a little TV on their very comfortable couches.
11:00 Return home and head to bed, after a snack of some `quaker` -- oatmeal drink with milk
TUESDAY, JULY 7TH
6:10 I get up, stretch, run, boil water, buy bread, eat breakfast (bread and quaker), shower, journal/reading in Spanish
9:15 Go downtown to buy tickets that we`ll sell for our upcoming JUMIFRA barbecue fundraiser, stop by the supermarket and the Progreso market.
11:00 On the way home, I stop by the sisters` house to use the Internet, among other things to send invitations to various groups of young people to planned weekend activities: concert by Alfareros (Catholic music group) on Friday and the Confirmation morning of games on Sunday.
12:15 Head back to the house to cook (pasta with tomato sauce, meta/non-meat versions)
1:30 Lunch with Courtney (Julie working, Jane out with visiting aunt and uncle)
2:15 Work on plans for evening English classes, drawings for youth center plans
4:00 siesta
4:40 Make copies nearby
5:00 meeting with Father Carlos at the parish about youth center project, trip to Cajamarca, upcoming fundraiser
6:15 hang out at the house with Jane and her aunt and uncle, Roger, Courtney. We sing few songs (her uncle also plays and sings)
7:00 go to parish – coordinate English plans with Roberto and Paul, intermediate students of ours who tonight are covering the Basic Level class, since none of the girls are free. Also, our Confirmation group meets to practice the song/dance for Sunday.
7:30 English class -- with the beginner group tonight I teach colors, clothing, and possessives.
9:15 back at the house, Susan and Roger stop by to visit
11:00 Time for bed
WEDNESDAY, JULY 8
7:00 get up, buy bread, boil water, head weights
7:30 walk downtown, take some photos of different neighborhood sites where our mayor is working (she puts up/paints `thank you` signs to make sure people don`t miss the fact that she is working.)
8:45 breakfast back at the house
9:00 Friend and English student Laura stops by for help with a translation that she is doing for someone else.
10:00 Shower, work on projects at the house: plans for English classes, organize ticket sales for JUMIFRA fundraiser
1:15 Go to lunch at Victor`s with Julie and Courtney when they get back from hospice work (Victor`s is our favorite `menú` (soup or ceviche, main dish, and drink) place, price is 4 soles ($1.40).
2:15 Write in journal, work on writing up reports about a couple of past JUMIFRA projects – starting to think about how to leave a trail about my work here, so Jenn and the group don`t have to start from scratch on activities next time around.
5:15 Guitar class with Roger and Courtney
7:10 Pack bag for English class, head to the parish
7:30 English class – with our Basic I group, I teach imperatives, body and health vocabulary.
9:15 After English, I join the in-progress JUMIFRA meeting. Topics include the upcoming fundraiser as well as a city-wide art/poetry/choir contest that the we will put on in late September to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the approval of the Franciscan order by the pope.
10:15 I arrive at the house – we were to have community night with the four of us, but Julie is sick and Jane is tired, so both are in bed. Corina and I have hot chocolate and we do some guitar practice.
11:30 Go to sleep.
THURSDAY, JULY 9
6:00 I get up, stretch, put water on to boil, go running with Susan (stop at her house to pick her up), buy bread, eat breakfast, head weights, write in journal
9:00 Give myself a haircut, shower
10:00 Computer work in the house (JUMIFRA fundraiser/trip, Vìa Crucis report, blog)
1:30 Lunch made by Courtney (fish/noodle soup)
2:30 Finish off June blog update
3:15 Visit Susan at her house
5:15 prepare English class plans for the night
6:30 Guitar practice
7:15 pack bag and got toe the parish for 7:30 English class – with the Basic II group I teach there is/there are, houses/rooms/furniture
9:30 Back at the house, meet with Yuri, Consuelo, and Courtney to plan for the Sunday morning confirmation morning of games. We usually use this time to plan for the Saturday evening Confirmation session, but instead we coordinate details for the upcoming special event.
10:00 Friends Anthony, Colver and Roger stop by to visit.
11:00 Go to sleep.
FRIDAY, JULY 10
6:10 I get up, stretch, start garbanzo beans cooking, put on water to boil
6:40 Go running – Susan was going to come, but overslept
7:15 head weights, eat breakfast, journal, wash socks and a couple dark shirts
8:40 Susan stops by to visit for a little while on her way to work
9:20 Shower, dress
10:00 Walk downtown: buy a Peru soccer jersey (on the list of things to do before I leave), pay water and electric bills, stop by friend Lenin`s house to talk and drop off his fundraiser tickets to sell, trip to the Progreso Market, quick internet at the sisters` house to send a couple emails and print something out
12:30 Return home to cook (make hummus, tortillas, rice, tomatoes, red pepper, cucumber)
1:45 Lunch
2:15 Clean house (my job this week is to sweep inside)
3:00 Four friends of Jane arrive from the US to the house
4:00 Courtney and I go to the parish to meet young people who are gathering to go to a Catholic music concert. We are the third and fourth people there.
4:45 The 15 people gathered head in three cabs to the concert, which is taking place at the fairgrounds near the bus Terminal and soccer stadium.
5:45 The 5:00 concert begins, with a couple of opening acts
8:00 Headline group, the Alfareros from the Dominican Republic, begin playing. Their mix of salsa, merengue, rock and ballads is catchy and prayerful. I enjoy sharing the experience with Susan.
10:00 Concert ends, we return home. Gathered with Jane and her friends are a few folks from the parish and we talk, play music until nearly 12:00. Then, off to bed.
SATURDAY, JULY 11
6:00 I get up, stretch, put water on to boil
6:40 run, head weights, breakfast, journal
9:00 wash and hang clothes, shower
10:00 Some fun brainstorming/drawing of possible plans for the new youth center
12:00 Cook and eat lunch (beans and rice)
2:00 Go to Susan`s for a visit, help her with some English homework
4:30 back at home, I practice guitar
6:00 Meet with Yuri and other Confirmation leaders at the parish to plan the evening`s session
7:00 Confirmation meeting – theme is the life/person of Jesus, who is Jesus for them. At the end, each of the two Confirmation groups has a short meeting to coordinate for Sunday (pay for our group T-shirts, who is going to bring materials, etc). There is a little tension in that a couple of the kids who have leadership roles within the group feel that others have not contributed their fair share, but all ends well.
9:15 I join the in-progress theater group rehearsal (we are preparing a doctor`s office themed series of comedy skits for a bingo fundraiser that the sisters` clinic will host on Saturday, the 25th of July).
10:15 Choir rehearsal, which I join slightly late (the 9:30 rehearsal itself began late).
11:15 Return home, begin typing up song lyrics for Sunday night`s mass.
12:15 Go to bed.
SUNDAY, JULY 12
6:30 Get up, put on water to boil
6:50 Walk to Progreso market to buy snacks for the Confirmation games event, buy the daily bread for the house on the way home
7:30 With Courtney, prep materials for the day, make a bucket of `chicha` flavored drink with water I`d boiled in shifts the day before and powder packets bought from the store down the street.
8:10 Courtney and I head to the parish
8:30 youth begin showing up, little by little, preparing shirts, cheers, etc. We set up the sound system in the patio, benches, etc.
10:15 Games finally begin, beginning with a `concurso de barras`-- basically a competition of a group cheer and introductions. Sack races, three-legged races, water balloon toss, dance competition and several other contests follow. Despite some minor disputes as to which group won a couple of events, the morning goes well and we all have fun.
1:45 After the groups left around 1:00 and several of us stay to sweep and clean up It`s Jane`s turn to cook today, but she is out showing her visiting friends around Chimbote. Julie had joined us the second half of the morning at the parish, so we three have lunch at Victor`s.
2:30 Return home, finishing typing song lyrics for the choir to use at Mass in the evening.
3:20 Show up late for a 3:00 choir retreat at the parish
6:00 make a printout and copies of songsheets at a nearby Internet café
6:30 Choir rehearsal
7:30 We sing for Mass
8:45 JUMIFRA meeting, a bit longer than normal
10:30 Arrive home, have a snack of quaker with milk, and say goodbye to Jane`s guests
11:30 Happily, it`s time for bed.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Friday, July 10, 2009
Fiesta San Pedrito, etc.
Greetings from Chimbote! June 21-29, Chimbote was in the midst of a weeklong celebration of its patron saint, the fisherman St. Peter, which falls on June 29. Officially in the church, St. Peter shares a feast day with St. Paul, but the great evangelizer of the gentiles takes a second seat in this port that lives on the fishing industry (the resulting odor is the `smell of money`, as I`ve been reminded many times). All week there were parades of various sorts downtown, at least three separate artisan fairs, concerts and music shows. It culminated Sunday and Monday, June 28-29, when a group of us took in a concert and fireworks downtown, and then waited three hours with a group of youth from the parish to climb aboard a fishing boat in the bay early morning for a maritime procession following the image of St. Peter. Last year it was a unique experience, with maybe 30 large and small boats, loaded with people, following the lead boat to the mouth of the bay, where the bishop prays for blessing on the bay and the people of Chimbote. Already very polluted and receiving more daily from the city sewer system, fish factories and steel plant, the bay needs all the help it can get. A friend was commenting to me recently that even if the pollution entering the bay was halted now, it would take 100 years for the bay to naturally recover from the past 50 years of human abuse. Unlike last year, however, we weren`t ever allowed onto the pier because there were apparently fewer boats this year – so we returned home tired and disappointed (though a plate of ceviche on the way home brightened our mood a little).
Anyway, Monday the 29th is a national holiday to celebrate the feast, and so we canceled English class and I had the first completely free evening since April. Very tired, I took a nap and then Corina and I watched a movie on the laptop of Julie (her sister, Beth, was here for a visit and brought it with her). We watched Juno, which I enjoyed, though I was surprisingly struck by some common US scenes that have been unfamiliar to me these past couple years (especially since I rarely watch movies here): nicely paved residential streets lined with grass and trees, well-equipped and modern high school science classroom, etc. Watching a video felt like something I used to do in a former life.
PROTESTS IN THE PERUVIAN JUNGLE
I´m not sure that it reached international news agencies, but during the first part of June there was substantial unrest in the Amazon region of Peru – demonstrations and protests by the indigenous communities of the area that turned violent with the intervention of the police and military. To be honest, I don´t know the blow-by-blow details, but the result was 50-100 police and civilians killed, and all over Peru – including here in Chimbote – demonstrations were organized in solidarity with those in the jungle and to protest the government´s handling of the situation. The complaint, as I understand it, is two-fold: total non-inclusion of native interests in the formulation and signing of the new trade agreement with the United States, and a new law that makes it legal for the government to seize local land in order to harvest mineral and oil resources. I believe the protests were successful, at least for the time being, to the extent that an agreement was signed with the government and the offending law repealed.
PROGRESO MARKET
Our unique but not-so-modern-or-sanitary mercado Progreso has taken a couple of blows recently, but remains stubbornly resistant to change. First, the city has plans to relocate the vendors (small and larger scale, receiving daily shipments from surrounding rural areas) to a newly `constructed` market site near the stadium and bus terminal. Unfortunately, the site is not finished and lacks basic services, `pure sand` they tell me, and despite a few days in which there were very few vendors in the market area (really a taken-over street) and a lot meandering the streets, the market returned to normal within a week or two. I don`t know if the city has given up or is just waiting/regrouping. It would be back to normal, that is to say, were it not for the replacing of the sanitary sewer system in the area, huge trenches and mounds of dirt forcing stalls to cram the street edge, the shoppers clogging the various catwalks and climbing up and down the smaller mounds. Even this disturbance is subsiding as of early July, the larger trenches mostly filled back in and only a small number of stalls remaining relocated.
JUMIFRA UPDATE
Our youth council continues with 10-15 people at our weekly meetings following the Sunday 7:30 pm mass. Following the Pentecost Vigil at the end of May, we organized a smaller scale celebration of Fathers` Day – the new theater group at the parish (of which I am a member) presented an original short play at the end of the morning mass and then JUMIFRA organized and prepared a free breakfast in the hall afterward. The 16 members of the theatre group – ranging in age from 9 to mid-50`s – had a blast preparing the play and we were all happy with how it turned out (I played an evil spirit). We have our regular meetings/rehearsals on Sunday mornings from 10-12, and it helps me with my Spanish in addition to being fun to hang out with a very positive and enthusiastic group of people. Sister Katty is the director.
We in JUMIFRA (Franciscan Missionary Youth) are also preparing to purchase our own identifying polo shirts, and at the moment we are in midst of plans and fundraising for a weekend trip to Cajamarca – the reputedly-beautiful city in the northern mountains and the site of the infamous capture of the Inca Atahualpa by Francisco Pizarro and his fellow conquistadores. Though each person is contributing a portion of the cost, we are also organizing a 150-plate barbecue fundraiser lunch for July 25th that we hope will cover the remainder of the costs. The trip is planned for August 21-24, Friday night 9 p.m. to Monday morning 6 a.m, including two nights on the bus, one night lodging, and two days exploring Cajamarca and the surrounding area. Each person is given 10 tickets to sell ahead of time for the event, and we`ll cook most of Friday evening and starting early-morning Saturday. Such fundraisers, usually Polladas – featuring a large portion of chicken – are quite common here for organizations but also for families who need a sum of money to meet an unexpected or out of the ordinary expense, such as hospitalization of a family member or house repairs/construction. The trip – besides being a chance for all of us to see Cajamarca, only a couple of the group have been there before – also will be a time to share together as a group before I leave, so say goodbyes and hopefully solidify for the future.
It appears that, unfortunately, my goal of achieving a larger-scale survey of youth in the parish neighborhoods will not be realized – at least not in my tenure. I went out one weekday morning with Roger, but we only had minimal success finding people at home and we kind of got discouraged. The size of the undertaking coupled with with my imminent departure have made me accept that we won`t arrive at the vision I`ve had almost since arriving – a more comprehensive network of visits and personal connections with young people who live in our community. Still, the small-scale experience we achieved was a positive one.
YOUTH CENTER PROJECT
Our project to open a youth center at the parish continues forward but in an alternate form. In order to avoid the substancial cost of sustained house rental, Fathers Raùl and Carlos at the parish suggested that we instead pursue construction of a second floor to existing classroom space, with the addition having its own entrance to the street and being dedicated solely to serving youth of the community. In the meantime, we would do some small-scale remodeling to four existing, non-used rooms on parish grounds in order to begin a few of the proposed programs of the youth center on a smaller scale. Those of you who offered to financially support the original proposal have liked the new idea even more, so I have been involved in climbing onto roof and taking measurements as first steps to developing construction plans. I also have prepared pencil/ruler drawings to scale of the existing rooms that we hope to modify, a phase of the project I hope is underway before I leave in a couple months.
CONFIRMATION
I continue as a co-leader of one of two twenty-member confirmation groups with Consuelo, a recent high school graduate who was confirmed last year and who I also know from her being in our choir. It is going well, again having to lead a group gives me valuable practice in speaking Spanish strongly and loudly – sometimes I feel successful and sometimes not. We meet with the other leaders (Courtney, with friends Yuri and Alex) on Thursdays to plan and our meetings with the kids are Saturday evenings 7-9 pm for lessons and Sunday evenings at 6:00 – we do a couple games, prepare for mass, and choir directors alternate in rehearsing the Mass songs with the kids so that they can participate more. I have taken on the role of typing up and copying songsheets each week, which I then distribute to the choirs and to our confirmation youth. In addition to a booklet guide to Mass prayers that I developed and that we hand out to the group each week, I think the song sheets help them participate more actively in the Mass and to know a bit more what is going on (the general congregation does without any song guide – the songbooks are for sale in the office but few actually buy them). Of course, the choirs hope to gain new members through their colaboration.
This Sunday, 9-1, we confirmation leaders (they call us `animadores` here – animators) have organized a morning of good-natured competition among parish groups – the two confirmation groups, the two youth choirs, last years confirmation group, theatre group, etc. Besides a cheer and choreographed song competition (change lyrics to fit your group), there will be relay races, volleyball, and soccer. Added to a choir retreat 3-6 in the afternoon, and singing with the choir at Mass plus JUMIFRA meeting at night, it will will make for a fun, long day.
MISCELANEOUS
I continue to enjoy and progress slowly but surely on the guitar, learning to pick out some lead melodies and to strum a couple new rhythms – cumbia and marinera. I have made general arrangements for a month of traveling after I depart from Chimbote the second week of September.
I fly to La Paz, Bolivia on September 12 and plan a loop south through the Bolivian highlands, turning east in northern Argentina to visit the famous Iguazù waterfalls and the well-preserved Jesuit missions at San Ignacio Mìni. Then, a swing south to spend a few days in Buenos Aires, visit to Corvallis friends living in Còrdoba, and finally a cross into Chile where I will visit longtime friends of my folks in Temuco before returning to Santiago and an October 10 flight back to Lima. From there, two last days in Perù before a day-long flight to San Francisco and the United States on October 13.
In addition to ongoing English classes each night at the parish, I began in June going one Monday morning each week to teach a conversation class to English-education students and the National University of Santa in Nuevo Chimbote. The hour and a half time together goes quickly, but I enjoy the new setting and they value the chance to interact with a native speaker.
With my departure from Chimbote now less than two months distant, thoughts of how my girlfriend Susan and I will handle the separation are more frequent. I have found that in these last couple months, getting to know her better, I like her more and more – which on one hand is exciting and on the other hand complicates things. I am praying that God will guide us through this time, and am thankful to have met and had the chance to get get to know her in these months.
I wish you all a beautiful day, God bless.
Anyway, Monday the 29th is a national holiday to celebrate the feast, and so we canceled English class and I had the first completely free evening since April. Very tired, I took a nap and then Corina and I watched a movie on the laptop of Julie (her sister, Beth, was here for a visit and brought it with her). We watched Juno, which I enjoyed, though I was surprisingly struck by some common US scenes that have been unfamiliar to me these past couple years (especially since I rarely watch movies here): nicely paved residential streets lined with grass and trees, well-equipped and modern high school science classroom, etc. Watching a video felt like something I used to do in a former life.
PROTESTS IN THE PERUVIAN JUNGLE
I´m not sure that it reached international news agencies, but during the first part of June there was substantial unrest in the Amazon region of Peru – demonstrations and protests by the indigenous communities of the area that turned violent with the intervention of the police and military. To be honest, I don´t know the blow-by-blow details, but the result was 50-100 police and civilians killed, and all over Peru – including here in Chimbote – demonstrations were organized in solidarity with those in the jungle and to protest the government´s handling of the situation. The complaint, as I understand it, is two-fold: total non-inclusion of native interests in the formulation and signing of the new trade agreement with the United States, and a new law that makes it legal for the government to seize local land in order to harvest mineral and oil resources. I believe the protests were successful, at least for the time being, to the extent that an agreement was signed with the government and the offending law repealed.
PROGRESO MARKET
Our unique but not-so-modern-or-sanitary mercado Progreso has taken a couple of blows recently, but remains stubbornly resistant to change. First, the city has plans to relocate the vendors (small and larger scale, receiving daily shipments from surrounding rural areas) to a newly `constructed` market site near the stadium and bus terminal. Unfortunately, the site is not finished and lacks basic services, `pure sand` they tell me, and despite a few days in which there were very few vendors in the market area (really a taken-over street) and a lot meandering the streets, the market returned to normal within a week or two. I don`t know if the city has given up or is just waiting/regrouping. It would be back to normal, that is to say, were it not for the replacing of the sanitary sewer system in the area, huge trenches and mounds of dirt forcing stalls to cram the street edge, the shoppers clogging the various catwalks and climbing up and down the smaller mounds. Even this disturbance is subsiding as of early July, the larger trenches mostly filled back in and only a small number of stalls remaining relocated.
JUMIFRA UPDATE
Our youth council continues with 10-15 people at our weekly meetings following the Sunday 7:30 pm mass. Following the Pentecost Vigil at the end of May, we organized a smaller scale celebration of Fathers` Day – the new theater group at the parish (of which I am a member) presented an original short play at the end of the morning mass and then JUMIFRA organized and prepared a free breakfast in the hall afterward. The 16 members of the theatre group – ranging in age from 9 to mid-50`s – had a blast preparing the play and we were all happy with how it turned out (I played an evil spirit). We have our regular meetings/rehearsals on Sunday mornings from 10-12, and it helps me with my Spanish in addition to being fun to hang out with a very positive and enthusiastic group of people. Sister Katty is the director.
We in JUMIFRA (Franciscan Missionary Youth) are also preparing to purchase our own identifying polo shirts, and at the moment we are in midst of plans and fundraising for a weekend trip to Cajamarca – the reputedly-beautiful city in the northern mountains and the site of the infamous capture of the Inca Atahualpa by Francisco Pizarro and his fellow conquistadores. Though each person is contributing a portion of the cost, we are also organizing a 150-plate barbecue fundraiser lunch for July 25th that we hope will cover the remainder of the costs. The trip is planned for August 21-24, Friday night 9 p.m. to Monday morning 6 a.m, including two nights on the bus, one night lodging, and two days exploring Cajamarca and the surrounding area. Each person is given 10 tickets to sell ahead of time for the event, and we`ll cook most of Friday evening and starting early-morning Saturday. Such fundraisers, usually Polladas – featuring a large portion of chicken – are quite common here for organizations but also for families who need a sum of money to meet an unexpected or out of the ordinary expense, such as hospitalization of a family member or house repairs/construction. The trip – besides being a chance for all of us to see Cajamarca, only a couple of the group have been there before – also will be a time to share together as a group before I leave, so say goodbyes and hopefully solidify for the future.
It appears that, unfortunately, my goal of achieving a larger-scale survey of youth in the parish neighborhoods will not be realized – at least not in my tenure. I went out one weekday morning with Roger, but we only had minimal success finding people at home and we kind of got discouraged. The size of the undertaking coupled with with my imminent departure have made me accept that we won`t arrive at the vision I`ve had almost since arriving – a more comprehensive network of visits and personal connections with young people who live in our community. Still, the small-scale experience we achieved was a positive one.
YOUTH CENTER PROJECT
Our project to open a youth center at the parish continues forward but in an alternate form. In order to avoid the substancial cost of sustained house rental, Fathers Raùl and Carlos at the parish suggested that we instead pursue construction of a second floor to existing classroom space, with the addition having its own entrance to the street and being dedicated solely to serving youth of the community. In the meantime, we would do some small-scale remodeling to four existing, non-used rooms on parish grounds in order to begin a few of the proposed programs of the youth center on a smaller scale. Those of you who offered to financially support the original proposal have liked the new idea even more, so I have been involved in climbing onto roof and taking measurements as first steps to developing construction plans. I also have prepared pencil/ruler drawings to scale of the existing rooms that we hope to modify, a phase of the project I hope is underway before I leave in a couple months.
CONFIRMATION
I continue as a co-leader of one of two twenty-member confirmation groups with Consuelo, a recent high school graduate who was confirmed last year and who I also know from her being in our choir. It is going well, again having to lead a group gives me valuable practice in speaking Spanish strongly and loudly – sometimes I feel successful and sometimes not. We meet with the other leaders (Courtney, with friends Yuri and Alex) on Thursdays to plan and our meetings with the kids are Saturday evenings 7-9 pm for lessons and Sunday evenings at 6:00 – we do a couple games, prepare for mass, and choir directors alternate in rehearsing the Mass songs with the kids so that they can participate more. I have taken on the role of typing up and copying songsheets each week, which I then distribute to the choirs and to our confirmation youth. In addition to a booklet guide to Mass prayers that I developed and that we hand out to the group each week, I think the song sheets help them participate more actively in the Mass and to know a bit more what is going on (the general congregation does without any song guide – the songbooks are for sale in the office but few actually buy them). Of course, the choirs hope to gain new members through their colaboration.
This Sunday, 9-1, we confirmation leaders (they call us `animadores` here – animators) have organized a morning of good-natured competition among parish groups – the two confirmation groups, the two youth choirs, last years confirmation group, theatre group, etc. Besides a cheer and choreographed song competition (change lyrics to fit your group), there will be relay races, volleyball, and soccer. Added to a choir retreat 3-6 in the afternoon, and singing with the choir at Mass plus JUMIFRA meeting at night, it will will make for a fun, long day.
MISCELANEOUS
I continue to enjoy and progress slowly but surely on the guitar, learning to pick out some lead melodies and to strum a couple new rhythms – cumbia and marinera. I have made general arrangements for a month of traveling after I depart from Chimbote the second week of September.
I fly to La Paz, Bolivia on September 12 and plan a loop south through the Bolivian highlands, turning east in northern Argentina to visit the famous Iguazù waterfalls and the well-preserved Jesuit missions at San Ignacio Mìni. Then, a swing south to spend a few days in Buenos Aires, visit to Corvallis friends living in Còrdoba, and finally a cross into Chile where I will visit longtime friends of my folks in Temuco before returning to Santiago and an October 10 flight back to Lima. From there, two last days in Perù before a day-long flight to San Francisco and the United States on October 13.
In addition to ongoing English classes each night at the parish, I began in June going one Monday morning each week to teach a conversation class to English-education students and the National University of Santa in Nuevo Chimbote. The hour and a half time together goes quickly, but I enjoy the new setting and they value the chance to interact with a native speaker.
With my departure from Chimbote now less than two months distant, thoughts of how my girlfriend Susan and I will handle the separation are more frequent. I have found that in these last couple months, getting to know her better, I like her more and more – which on one hand is exciting and on the other hand complicates things. I am praying that God will guide us through this time, and am thankful to have met and had the chance to get get to know her in these months.
I wish you all a beautiful day, God bless.
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