starting off...

A first post, like a first lesson plan, first meeting, etc., is obviously very important. It sets the tone, the ground rules, the purpose. In this case, the intention of this blog. Not going to lie, I'm a bit uncomfortable with the culture around blogging. The sense of urgency that you must know what I am doing, as if what I am doing should be on the forefront of your mind. That is not what I want out of this blog. Instead of telling you all about what I am doing, I want to tell you more about how I am being, what I am thinking. 

the wanderings of my inner landscape. 

I want this to be a place of sharing, a place of honesty. A sacred space of thought and reflection. Even a place of silence. At least that is what I hope. 

With that being said, I also owe you a bit of information. An update of sorts. By way of introduction. This is not what I expect most of my blog entries to be like, but here we go. 

What am I doing?! On November 9th very early in the morning, I will depart from LAX with two bags and a backpack for Peru to serve for two years as a Jesuit Volunteer. My placement is a unique one in Andahuaylillas, Peru, a small village in the Andes mountains which is about a 45 minute ride from Cusco. This is a new site for JVC to send volunteers, and so myself and the four other volunteers with whom I will live are "pioneers" of sorts. 

Actually, I will not make it to Andahuaylillas until early February. Since Andahuaylillas is a new placement site, there are no second-year JV's to receive us and help us through an in-country orientation and language training. For the first 3 months I'm in Peru, I will be in Tacna, which is the city where JVC has sent volunteers for years. We will be in a home stay with host families for a while (6-8 weeks?). In January, all of us will do Mes de Mision, a month-long service trip with the students at the schools in Tacna where JV's work. Then in early February, the Andahuaylillas volunteers will finally go to "Anda."

Wait, what am I doing?! As you can probably tell, there are a lot of details missing. That's okay, really.  I would be kidding myself if I pretended to know what this experience is going to be like. But I do know just a little more.

Work site: Right now it looks like I will be working at the parish in Andahuaylillas. Details are still being worked out, but there are opportunities in music ministry, sacramental preparation, after-school tutoring. Rural development projects, legal services, a library. Some of my fellow community-mates will be working at a school called Fe y Alegria, teaching english and working as Campus Ministers. It looks like there are possibilities for all of us to overlap too, working primarily in one location and helping out in the other. For me that means I will probably work at the parish and help out at the school when they need something. 

Who are the other volunteers? I'm going to live in a house in Anda with four other volunteers. Sam Hay, Mateo Pimentel, Mallory Naake, and I are all new volunteers. Cara Caponi is a current JV in Tacna who is opting for a third year and joining us once we get there. 

Okay, that is all for now. I leave you with a picture of the four newbies from orientation at Boston College (Left to right: Mateo, Me, Sam, Mallory). Pray for me, I will be praying for you too.