Ale La (Go There)

Sometimes I forget that there is more than one way of being self centered. There is the obvious way, the way that most people think of, the person who does whatever they want to do regardless of the consequences to others. Then there is the sneaky way, the way of perfectionism, the person who is so obsessed with getting things right that they forget to actually look at the person in front of them. I slip into this second type of self centeredness all the time. And it's oh so easy , because you think that you are simply trying to be a better person, while in reality you are caught up in a fog bank of thoughts like, "How am I coming across today? What do people really think of me?" "Oh my gosh, My Spanish = THE WORST THING EVER!" "Did anybody see that? I did finally did it right!" The only problem with all of those thoughts is that they are completely about me, instead of about the person in front of me. What does the person in front of m...

Happy Sunday everyone! I am happy to report that I made it through the first week and half, and first episode of midnight toilet time, and I'm now sitting in my room in Arequipa. This is my home base. The family that I am living with is going to be my host family through the end of November. AND I can see the epic volcanoes from the top of my roof where I just hung my first load of laundry!!!! (I am very excited about this last bit, can you tell?) This post is about the funny things that happen when you are traveling alone, in a developing country, and all that jazz. You know how tweeting people use the hashtag #firstworldproblems when things are not going their way? Well, if I were twitter savvy, which I'm not, here are some of the things I would have tagged  #thirdworldproblems #whitegirltravelingalone #neardeathexperienceinmymind. I had a six hour layover in Mexico City, during which I decided to do some yoga. You know, yoga is good for quieting your mind, and ...

I work with an as a volunteer for an organization in Peru called MMI (Medical Ministries International). MMI is a non-denominational Christian organization that is based out of Toronto , Canada and Texas . MMI employees and volunteers travel together to rural areas in various countries around the world and give healthcare, counseling, education, and prayer to people who are in need of basic medical attention. Today was the first day of our clinic in Ica , it was my first clinic since I was in Cuszo last November, and it was my first day in the clinic since I came here last Thursday to work for six months. Can we all take a moment to appreciate that I really wanted things to go super smoothly today? If I had been given my choice I would have been working either in triage or in the Integrated Health area, or any place where I could have felt truly bad ass and confident. Ahhhh. Life. When do we ever get what we want? Where did I end up working today? You ask. Today, I...