reflexiones de navidad

songs are up...a little late for christmas, but not too late to enjoy! go here: www.reverbnation.com/raymundoycorina

this wasn´t my first christmas away from home, but definitely my first so far away from friends and family. i would be lying if i said it was the most wonderful time of the year--it has been the most challenging--but it has also been beautiful, in a very strange new way. we started the christmas festivities on the 23rd with a festival de villancicos (christmas carol concert) and it was hilarious. we sang with our english classes, and it´s no wonder they´re studying english and not music performance! despite sounding a little rough, it was really beautiful in a clash-of-cultures sort of way. there aren´t many people in chimbote who speak english, so i think it was (hopefully) entertaining for the audience (despite the entertainment of our disharmony!). todd and i did a little duet of my absolute favorite ¨o holy night¨ and it went really well and just confirmed the fact that i was created to sing on stage. jaja.

after we had a little birthday party for me in our patio. honestly, because my birthday falls on christmas eve, i had forgotten what it was like to have a huge birthday bash with friends! it was so much fun, and true to peruvian tradition, we stayed up until well after sunrise dancing to salsa and cumbias.

on the 24th, the girls took me out to our favorite restaurant downtown, then went for a little paseo to the mar. the malecon (seawall) is my second favorite place in chimbote. so peaceful, and though it reeks of burning fish this time of year, it´s one of the few places to sit and enjoy chimbote. that night, we went to christmas eve mass. a typical christmas mass, although it wasn´t actually much busier than a typical sunday mass, which seemed unusual to me. after mass, we went over to our friend tanya´s house for dinner. at midnight, the ritual here is to place the baby jesus in the manger scene and then, and only then, you´re allowed to hug everyone and say merry christmas. true to peru, we ate dinner around 1 AM, then danced the night away in her living room. it was beautiful to spend the night with an actual family, i feel like i have had so little family interaction here, and to observe the family roles--complete with the typical dad jokes.

on the 25th, we had lunch with the dominican sisters and our incarnate word sisters--basically a gathering of all the religious who are in chimbote, far away from family. it was really nice to eat a u.s. style meal, complete with a cheese plate, mashed potatoes, camote (basically sweet potatoes), and ham! oh, and also nice to spend time with them!

and tonight, just to keep the insane amount of activity going, we´re off to lima to finalize our immigration business. hopefully we won´t run into any problems like we had with the consulate in ecuador...

pictures coming soon!

con amor,
corina

bummer

my apologies. unfortunately, none of my songs were posted on reverbnation, but keep checking the site and i will try to post them soon. so have yourself a merry little christmas, and thanks for all the love, prayers, and energy sent my way!

dreaming of a white christmas

¡feliz navidad! and thanks for all the birthday wishes.

i have a whole villancico (christmas carol) album recorded, but unfortunately was only able to download 1 song. so here´s my regalito:

www.reverbnation.com/raymundoycorina

to everything, turn, turn, turn

two posts in one month?! i´m getting out of control...

• my roommates and i are leaving tonight for ecuador! we need to leave the country to pick up our visas. even though we´ll only be gone for about 60 hours (about 40 of which will be on the bus :( ), i am so looking forward to getting outside of chimbote for a little bit. just to be reminded of the world outside of this city. although chimbote is a city that is well-connected to the outside world by buses and boats, it can feel so isolating...
• it´s so strange to think that i´ve been here long enough to note the changing seasons. just as the holidays role around, and i´m craving the smell of fall and a chill in the air, it´s getting warmer here and the days are getting longer (sunday will be the official start of beach season!). i would be happy if it stayed just like this for a while--a nice spring--hot during the days and cool at night, but all the chimbotanos keep reminding me this is nothing yet. i guess that´s what i get for choosing to live so darn close to the equator.
• today at work, i was chatting with a patient who was waiting to be seen, as well as with one of the doctors. the patient was asking me all the typical questions (who i am, what i´m doing here, how long, how much i miss things at home, how i learned spanish), when the doctor commented on my language ability. he said i only spoke ¨poco poco¨ castellano when i arrived, but he was impressed with how much i´ve picked up. now, i would like to think i came here with more than ¨poco poco¨ (give me a break!), but it was great to hear that others have noted my improvement. i definitely am finding castellano easier, and it´s so exciting when i have an all-around good communication day! i have yet to have a dream in spanish (which you know i have been waiting for), but several times i´ve woken up thinking in spanish, which is such an encouraging sign! pero, poco a poco.
• healthcare. ridiculous sometimes. i have had many frustrating days, where i spend hours folding gauze or rolling cotton balls (no, seriously). but those days are punctuated by some really exciting things that i get to do--actually, i´ve had an awesome week at work. i delivered another baby yesterday! and then today i got to suture a guys head! oh yeah.
• my roommate jane had some visitors here this weekend from the states. we had a great time showing them around and introducing them to all of our friends, but it was so strange to be surrounded by english and gringos again. and it absolutely made me miss my people who know me outside of this context. we went over to our friend alex´s house for a cuyada one night (cuy--guinea pig, remember?), and i was struck with such a weird realization. i am in limbo right now. i am shifting between two worlds, and i´m not exactly sure where i fit anymore. i don´t particularly like the taste of cuy, but it didn´t gross my out to have a little clawed rodent foot on my plate. i didn´t exactly identify with jane´s friends, but then i´m not exactly peruana either. i´m losing parts of my english, but then i struggle with spanish...and as challenging as it is, i just need to take a deep breath, and remind myself of the beauty in this tension.
• i think this is my first thanksgiving away from my family, and that´s really challenging. i know that the entire holiday season will be really challenging for me, and i realize how much i´ve taken some of those typical comforts for granted. i almost miss the chaos of finals and of end-of-the-year stuff. and christmas carols! it´s so weird that i haven´t already been saturated in christmas music! at home, i refuse to listen to christmas music before thanksgiving, but here, i´ve broken my own rule. there´s something so absolutely comforting in the songs that have literally surrounded me since the day i was born, that i can sing in my sleep, and honestly, just feel like they are a part of me (a sliver of u.s. culture that i am actually missing pretty desperately). i´ve been playing ¨o holy night¨ on my guitar, and everytime i do, it´s like a deep breath of something warm and familiar. so, on this thanksgiving, where i ate ceviche and rice to celebrate, a list of things that i am thankful for in this moment:
• music that transcends language barriers
• quiet moments on my roof, usually with a cup of instant coffee
• heart-to-heart conversations in castellano
• the resources to choose to do whatever i want to do with my life
• the ease with which i can travel, just because of the label on my passport
• knowing that i am loved and known, even from thousands of miles away

what is making your heart glad, right now, in this moment? happy thanksgiving.

i feel the earth move under my feet

i apologize for my lack of posting, which so many have commented on! honestly, part of it is because things are becomming more and more normal here, so sometimes i feel like there´s not too much new to say. the other part is that everything is still new and different and challenging, and how can i even begin to share my entire world here? i´m finding that many times, words fail to describe life, in english or spanish...

i will attempt a few updates, in bullet-point form.

• the other day, i had another beautiful ¨this is peru, and i can´t believe this is my new home¨ moment. actually, i have those moments daily,but this one especially struck me. i was walking down the street, headed home after work, and i was overwhelmed with this place. i felt completely awestruck by the fact that i was walking home, down my own block on a beautifulspring day, and it felt pretty normal. the sun was shining, there was a light breeze, and the dust had somehow miraculously stopped blowing everywhere for a second. i was taking everything in, enjoying every color and sound, and even the rubble that i was walking through. and then i saw it...a man, about 50 feet away walking around the corner, pulling with all his strength a 30 foot rope. i stop for a second, wondering what it could be that he´s pulling on the other end of the rope, and out walks a full-size bull, tied by the horns. and this man is just taking him for a walk down the street...
  
• i had my first performance with the band! we sang for todd´s birthday party, and it was awesome--we had an enormous sound-system set up in our back yard, full band, and we rocked out! todd requested some good old fashioned rock & roll for the party, so everything was in english, but next concert will have to be all castellano! it has been such a joy to be able to sing here--i can honestly say that my soul flies when i sing at the top of my lungs, especially in spanish. it has been the most beautiful constant for me here, and much needed source of comfort. my friend roger has taken me on as somewhat of a musical apprentice, and he´s teahing me everything he knows about music (which is quite a lot), everything from castellano rock to cumbia to balladas, to guitar lessons! the culture of music has been one of the best surprises that i´ve found in chimbote.


• there was a pretty big ¨temblor¨ the other day, an earth tremor. julie and i were working at the tb clinic, and all of the sudden, the windows started to rattle and the whole building shook. julie and i looked at eachother with huge dopey excited grins, and realized that the woman we were working with put her head on the table and started to pray. apparently not something to rejoice over...also they were prediciting another big temblor, or even an actual terremoto, an earthquake, last week, but, don´t worry mom, it never happened. but it´s pretty humbling to feel the entire earth move and know that no one is above nature...


• i went to a galvez futbol (soccer) game last weekend. the team is from chimbote, and it was a pretty cool experience! i was there passing out stickers for an anti-racism campaign with comision justicia social (social justice comission, where jane works). apart from being cat-called every 3 seconds and even gropped by the all-male crowd, i was overwhelmed by the sense of community and the importance of futbol, worldwide. i was thinking about why futbol is often a sport associated with impoverished countries...my conclusion is this--futbol is one of the only sports that doesn´t require any sort of equipment to play. no hoops, no grass necessary. all you need is a flat surface, something to mark a goal, and a ball (which can even be made out of tape and some old newspapers). and it creates a beautiful sense of community in places where often people have very little to rejoice about
  
• there has been an influx of gringos in chimbote this past month, and i can honestly say that it has been an interesting challenge...it started with a group of med students at maternidad, and i was so annoyed when their volunteer coordinator just walked up to me and said ¨uh, hey¨ and started talking to me in english! i was at work where i try to only speak spanish and she just assumed that i would be the best person to talk to in order to arrange a volunteer opportunity for the students. she called our cell phone the next day to ask me if it was okay if she sent a group in for the morning. i kind of laughed, and told her i definitely don´t have the authority to say ¨sure, come on in¨. after all, i am still basically a guest there and trying to find my own roll. it was so frustrating that she assumed the gringo would be the person to talk to. i cannot stand that ethnocentric attitude. we are all guests here, and i can´t even describe here how frustrating it was to be confronted with that mentality. then last weekend, there was a big benefit dinner for the hospice, and a large group of u.s. benefactors from minnesota were there. it was so weird to be surrounded by gringos--minnesotans even. and to have that juxtaposed with the desire to spend the entire time with my peruano friends who were there. it is strange to be in a place where i am starting to identify more with peruvians than gringos. and to be totallyembarassed by some of the gringos. for example, one man who obviously was drunk and didn´t speak any spanish, wearing a hawaiian shirt (por supuesto), telling a woman who was selling raffle tickets for 1 s/. (about 30 cents), in english, ¨i can´t, i´m broke now after buying the last ticket from you¨. seriously! i´m trying to not be too anti-u.s. here, and to paint a better picture of ¨americanos¨ but no wonder there´s an international hostility towards us...

unfortunatley, i am running out of internet time here (there´s just never enough!), but i do want updates/life stories/struggles/jokes from you, and i would love to share more personal moments with those who care to know, so please send emails. or real mail! almost into month 3, and those comforts mean so much.

con amor,

corina

h---a---double l---o---w---double e---n

spells halloween!

hi friends,

a lengthy, disgustingly detailed post will follow some day soon. just want to let you know that i´m still alive and leave you with my favorite halloween/midwife joke:

why can´t the which have any babies?

because her husband has a halloween-y.

jajaja. maybe my next post will have a little more depth to it. maybe...

love,
cj

up to my elbows in placenta all day long!

good news #1--I CAUGHT A BABY TODAY!!! ah, it was so beautiful, and i´m still trying to fathom it. absolutely incredible to be the first person to hold a new life in my hands!

good news #2--i joined a band! no, seriously...how ridiculous is that!? a few friends asked me to sing for them. so it´s just me, and 8 peruvian guys! so if i didn´t stick out before...whatever, i´ve always wanted to be a band chic!

good news #3--pictures are posted! i still need some time to go through them and label and delete and all that fun organizational stuff, but if you can handle the mess, they´re there for your enjoyment! also, check out jane and julie´s page for more!

http://mividaperuana.shutterfly.com

love love love,
me

ba bah--this is the sound of settling

it´s hard to believe, but life here has begun to settle a bit--both terrifying and exciting! here are a few highlights:

WORK
i kind of have a work schedule figured out! i will be spending monday, wednesday, and friday in the posta santa clara. this is a clinic run by the sisters of charity that is completely open to the public. they have all kinds of specialties and are constantly running ¨campañas¨, public health campaigns that cover a large variety of topics. i will be able to do a whole plethora of things, from working inside the clinic (giving injections, extracting toenails, you know, all the fun stuff!), to helping with campañas in the community, to tuberculosis therapy in homes, to ¨charlas¨or health chats in local schools. i´m really looking forward to it, and they seem excited to have us there. i know i will be learning a lot and taking on a ton of responsibilities that nurses in the u.s. would never have!

on tuesdays and thursdays i will be working in ¨la maternidad¨which is a public hospital and posta for women without health insurance. i´m hoping to spend the majority of my time in the obstetrics hospital and posta. they actually don´t have any nurses that work there--the entire staff is obstetricias, which is similar to a midwife. this means that again i will be learning a TON of skills that i would not get by working as a nurse in the u.s. after working at the clinic for a while (and with more training!) i might even get to catch babies!!! this absolutely thrills me, and is an incredible step towards...well, something. perhaps what i think i want to spend my life doing...

today at maternidad i was able to observe a full delivery. this is nothing new for me, but it was such a beautiful reminder of why i love healthcare. as i fought the tears, i kept thinking how wonderful it was to be a part of something that is completely universal, that crosses all cultures, and brings forth life. in spanish, ¨to give birth¨ is translated ¨dar la luz¨--to give light. so beautiful!

CONNECTION
confession: this has been such a struggle for me here. i thrive off of human connection and have obviously never been thrown into a situation like this! since being here, i have consistently felt like i give false first impressions of who i am, all because of lack of fluency. words are so important for me in expressing who i am (especially through humor--i´m just not as funny in spanish)...it has been challenging and especially humbling to make connections without being able to fully express myself. but as i said before, i am learning that communication goes so much beyond language...

last weekend, we went on a camping trip with about 15 people from the parrish. i can honestly say it was one of the best camping experiences i have ever had--not just because camping itself was fun and hilarious, but mostly because it was such a beautiful weekend of connecting. i already knew most of the people we were with, but for the first time, i felt like i could genuinely express myself! and i think i can finally say, i have friends. i have friends!!!!!! again, absolutely beautiful!

HOME (sometimes bitter)SWEET HOME
i can´t believe i´ve been in peru for little less than a month. it feels like so much longer. but then again, it´s still exciting that i can take a combi (public transportation in a 15-passenger van) by myself and know exactly where i am and where i´m going, that i know where to go to run errands, that there´s a coffee shop (with REAL coffee!!!!!) downtown, that i frequently run into people i know on the street--all these things make me feel more and more settled. with a deep breath, i find myself again and again returning to that peruvian saying: poco a poco...little by little...

love,
cj

(p.s. i am still working on the whole picture situation! i want to be able to share all the adventures with you, but just be patient please. poco a poco!)

thoughts on culture...

cultural moments that i´ve experienced in the last week:

• pervians love music. LOVE dancing, singing, playing instruments. the other day we had lunch with the entire hospice staff and they welcomed us so beautifully! after everyone was done eating, they pulled out an old boom box and serached for some good dancin´tunes on the radio. then everyone got up and started dancing!! can you picture this in the u.s.--after a work-sponsored luncheon, everyone gets up in their scrubs and suits and starts dancing with eachother!? the ceo and the cleaning staff kickin´up their heels together. so wonderful.
• we had our first fiesta last night! we threw a despedida for emily and nicole, the two missionaries who are headed home next week. but this was not just any party...we danced, **NONSTOP, from 9 pm to 5 am, when we finally had to turn off the music and kick the remaining partiers out! we are totally exhausted today, but some of our new friends invited us to go out to a discoteca again tonight. i swear, pervians do not need sleep! (**note: i lied, i did sneak off of the dance floor for about an hour, around 3 am. i spent my little break talking to 2 of my new friends, each in their late 50s or 60s, about peruvian politics and the role of the u.s. government in international poverty issues, making this not only one of the most fun, but also the most enlightening parties i have ever been to)
• i had a beautiful ¨this is peru at it´s finest¨ moment today. we went over to the church this afternoon to help prepare for a youth fundraiser that´s happening tomorrow. they are having a ¨cuyada¨. although most of you would consider cuy a pet, in peru it is a ceremonial treat--roasted guinea pig. words cannot even describe how wonderful this scene was, but i will try...we walked through the kitchen to a back patio. about five older pervuvian women circled around a sack of potatoes the size of a peruvian adult. they were peeling thousands of potatoes with dull butcher knives and throwing them into the largest pot i have ever seen. and hanging above them, a laundry line, with pink underwear on one end, and the on other, hundreds of skinned, gutted guinea pigs hanging out to dry!!! it was such a wonderful moment...one of those images that will remain with me forever as an image of the real peru...and i had to stop and remind myself that this is a pretty unremarkable scene to them, but to me, it was infinitely beautiful. on a slight note of irony, i ate a piece of candy today, and on the inside of the wrapper, this message: try something new tomorrow. somehow, i doubt whether the writer of that little tidbit of advice was thinking that eating guinea pig would be the adventure to try, but i will take it to heart anyway and eat it with a smile on my face!

lima bean

hi friends,

we left lima on thursday and made the long bus trek to chimbote! so now we are just beginning to settle in, discover the city, and attempting to normalize life a little. here are some initial thoughts--

• this is a dusty, dusty city, and i will never feel clean again.
• i have never felt so welcomed by strangers.
• spanish is hard, and i feel like i'm in a bubble sometimes. but i am finding a little comfort in knowing that language is only one means of communication.
• i am finding myself struggling with the lack of control, so when i find tiny things i can control (like putting my clothes on hangers, as silly as it sounds), i am awed.
• i never thought i would be singing in a peruvian youth choir, but by chance (and a little language misunderstanding), todd, jane, julie and i all ended up performing at a concierto last night with one of the parish coros!!! it was hilarious, but fun to jump right in and be a part of something.
• i have not seen much yet, but i already know that the poverty here is more than i ever anticipated...
• i spent one day with hospice workers, and have never seen people in worse shape--by far the worst bed sores i have ever seen on persons who have been neglected. a simple lack of resources and healthcare that has cost many their dignity.
• as hard as adjusting is, i am finding comfort in small things, and trying to remember to breathe and take it all in...
• I HAVE A NEW NAME!!!! i tried out a few different ones, and nothing felt right. then, it finally came to me one day, peruvians can actually pronounce it, and it seems to fit me--corina. nice, eh?

thanks for the prayers, emails, thoughts, support!

besitos,

cj

good news, bad news

the good news--i have arrived in lima, and the actual travelling part was not bad at all!

the bad news--we hit torrential rains in panama and EVERYTHING i own is soaked and will certainly not dry for, oh i don´t know, at least a month. ah well, i guess the rain (plus jane´s missing suitcase) are just sweet reminders of what it means to be living simply...and travelling in south america

although we were all exhausted from travelling, today was marvelous. here are some highlights:

• sleeping in for the first time in 3 weeks
• the wonder that is lima
• learning about peru´s recent, brutal history, which we unfortunately never hear about in the states. did you know that over 69,000 people died due to terrorist and military action between 1980-2000? me neither. it´s ridiculous what we fail to hear in world news...
• speaking spanish (or at least listening attentively and then nodding my head, as if i understood everything)
• the best seafood in the world

anyway, all is well in the southern hemisphere...basically a lot of excitment (punctuated by moments of two years? seriously? can i go two years without hot showers and real coffee?)

i think i can i think i can i think i can...

the last goodbyes...

i find myself needing to take a deep breath, and then dive into the next step, headfirst. these have been some of the most challenging weeks of my life, but also some of the most rewarding, and i know this is barely the beginning.

today, as my sister and mom drove off, i was hit in the gut with the impact of what tomorrow will bring. i handed over my cell phone and said goodbye, and in that moment, i realized that it was symbolic of the huge changes that are coming, perhaps faster than i would like...i am being stripped of everything i know (as my friend heidi says, stripped bare), and jumping into a world of unknowns, lack of control, and simple trust. it feels like the first time i went scuba diving--even though i had been prepared and had some notions of what to expect, the hardest part was the moment that i had to slide off the boat, back-first and without looking, into a sea of unknowns, and just trust. and now i relive the feelings of just having enough courage to get out of the boat, and let god explode my every expectation...

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2
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JUMP!!!!

incarnational what?!

**note: click on bold words for more information**

okay, i know what you're thinking..."it's friday night and everyone's out having fun, and cj's sitting in a dorm room thinking about incarnational spirituality and social analysis?!" true. it's been a challenging week. so, here are my scattered thoughts on incarnational spirituality (don't let that scare you, i'll try to keep it interesting!!)...

i admit that i was a bit hesitant to apply to a program called "incarnate word missionaries." for a long time i told people i was volunteering with the sisters of charity. true, yes, but the full name is the congregation of the sisters of charity of the incarnate word. that's a lot of big scary words with some (perhaps unfortunately deserved) implications and attached stigma. i just want to serve in love, not preach. well, i am slowly learning that this is the exact spirit of incarnational spirituality. let me break it down for you.

"incarnation" literally means embodied in flesh. the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us (john 1:14). "the incarnation"= jesus. simple, right? it is until you consider the fact that "christ has no body now but yours" as teresa of avila says.

so all this to say, we are christ's hands and feet. and that's where it becomes tricky, because it's not in some figurative, symbolic way. the congregation started when bishop dubuis of texas wrote a letter stating "our lord jesus christ, suffering in the persons of a multitude of the sick and infirm of every kind, seeks relief at your hands". the sisters responded, and now lay missionaries can continue in that tradition. our mission statement is as follows:

we, the missionaries, inspired by the charism and mission of the incarnate word, choose to live in community and walk in solidarity with the economically poor and marginalized, in order to be transformed by them and to transform unjust social structures that keep people economically poor and marginalized.

i like how shane claiborne puts it in his book the irresistible revolution (as most of you know, shane is a personal hero of mine. caution: this book will severely disturb one's worldview):

as we practice hospitality, there comes a point where the suffering around us drives us to ask what it would take to reimagine the world. we've all heard the saying "give someone a fish and they'll eat for a day, but teach them to fish and they'll eat for the rest of their life." but our friend john perkins challenges us to go farther. he says "the problem is that nobody is asking who owns the pond." as we consider economics, some of us will give people fish. others will teach people to fish. but still others must be looking at who owns the pond and who polluted it, for these are also essential questions for our survival. we must storm the fence that has been built around the pond and make sure that everyone can get to it, for there are enough fish for all of us.

and this is exactly what motivates me for the challenges ahead...

#2 and a new name

first, a visual review of the week:
the peru girls remember the alamo

peruanas at the riverwalk (jane, me, julie)

chapel of the incarnate word

most of the group--missionaries at a missions game--that's funny!
(the san antonio minor league team)

first week of orientation is officially over, and as we begin our second, i think we can all say that we are officially pooped-out. this past week has been filled with a lot of learning and a lot of fun, but i am definitely looking forward to this week, as we start to discuss issues like cultural reciprocity, latin american reality, social analysis, and of course, the myers-briggs! here are a few highlights of last week:

• the enneagram: for those of you who don't know, the enneagram is a type of personality map. it basically places you in one of nine types, but unlike the myers-briggs, it does not box you in. it is more of a tool to understanding one's own personality and needs. i am thinking i fall most closely in the category of a 2. that explains a lot about me. for more information, and to try to figure out where you fall, check out the link on the right!
• we've been able to get out a little, which is beautiful, but me and some of the girls are feeling a little stir-crazy! there's not much to do in the area, so we have had to be creative in entertaining ourselves and finding ways to escape the "compound" without anything to do nearby and without transportation...makes it tricky.
  
• if anything, this week has calmed some of my fears and made me so excited to actually head out to peru! i am finding that my spirituality mostly falls in line with the peruvian girls as well as the sisters of charity. of course there are differences, but i am feeling much more at ease. i guess i expected a little more friction, being the only non-catholic, but it's actually been great. i've met some really incredible, hard-core nuns, that are clearly super-passionate about making this the best experience possible for us!
• my new name--one concern i had for peru is the fact that my name does not translate to spanish; in fact, nothing comes even close and it's really really difficult to pronounce if spanish is your first language. i'm still trying to work this one out...some of the girls have taken to calling me "coco", which, honestly, doesn't really thrill me. other suggestions have been "coca" (like coca cola), "coqueta" (which means fashionable or flirt-haha), or "cj" (which, obvioulsy is my nickname, but en espanol, it would be pronounced "say-ho-ta"). so i'm taking votes and new suggestions!
• thanks again for all the calls/emails/facebooking! i know it's only been a week, but it feels like a whole lot longer, so it's great to get news from home and still maintain connections. shoot me an email if you want my address, for either here in san an or for peru!

love,
cj

hot hot hot (or cold).

hi friends. i am in san antonio now, and the heat is absolutely BRUTAL. seriously, who lives in texas in august?! but alas, orientation starts tomorrow! i've had fun tonight getting to know the girls, but i'm a little nervous about spending so much time in a classroom...

a few business notes: -if you email me, i will definitely respond (with a little time). but know that i am much more inclined to respond to an already-received email, rather than send one spontaneously. again, my email is: courtneyjcranston@gmail.com
-i have a skype account, so if you want to hear my voice, set one up and we can talk for free! my account name is the same as my email/blog: courtneyjcranston
-i still have my phone, so you can call me in the next 3 weeks!

the last week has been an incredible rush of emotions (to say the least). in the spirit of pure honesty, the following is an excerpt from my journal, as i was writing on the plane ride from chicago to san antonio:
i can't even fathom what is going on within me right now...thank you for making this past week so incredibly overwhelming and for letting me feel perfectly loved and completely known. i have never experienced such genuine love and feelings of worth in such a concentrated amount. right now i am filled with: love, anxiety, joy, confusion, worry, anticipation, and intense loss. all of the comforts i have ever known are being stripped away, or at least, changing in the most unpredictable way. as uncomfortable as this time is, i love that in this heightened emotion i feel fully ALIVE. and i want to savor every hug, every tear, every letter, every laugh, every conversation, and every breath....

and now, a few photo highlights of the past week (in no particular order. thanks, blogger):










ahh, so much love. goodnight.

a little confusion and a lot of excitement!

hi friends,

it seems as though there is a little confusion about my whereabouts: i am NOT in peru yet!!! those pictures are from my previous trip last spring...let me clear this up...here is the schedule of where i am/will be:

tonight-tomorrow morning: mpls
7.25-7.28: wild rose
7.28-7.31: mpls, saying goodbye #1
7.31-8.2: wild rose, saying goodbye #2
8.2-8.3: chicago, goodbye #3
8.3-8.25: san antonio (iwm orientation)
8.25-sometime in 2010 (eek!): PERU!!!!

i understand why you're confused. i am confusing. life is confusing. if you want to see me anytime i am appearing in a city near you, please call me and we can set something up!

also, in other news, i have been chatting with some of the people i will be volunteering with in peru, and it has made me so incredibly excited! and also calmed me down a little bit. i'm not one to freak out, but i've been a little anxious lately; it has been wonderful to have some of my fears justified and soothed through some of the amazing people i will be experiencing this adventure with!

love,
cj

a little taste of peru, from my trip there in may/june:

oh, well hello there!

hi all,

here it is, the first post! this blog will be a record of my thoughts, adventures, frustrations, and all the life that i will be living while in chimbote, peru. i will be volunteering with incarnate word missionaries in a health care clinic there. i am so excited for this adventure to begin, as most of you know, international health care issues have been my hearts' passion since i could walk. i can't promise that my posts will be consistent, deep, or even very interesting, but i want you to be able to share in the adventure!

the title of this blog translates to "the glory of god is man, fully alive." i hope that through this adventure, i will be able to share in life like i have never experienced it, and know what it is to be fully alive!

love love,
cj