ReO/DisO

Sorry I've been so long in posting. September has been an exceptionally busy month. 

Photo credit to selfie master Billy Hood.**

ReO/DisO is the easy to say - but tricky to type - abbreviation for Re-Orientation/Dis-Orientation, the week long year-end retreat run by JVC staff. It's a multilayered retreat because it has to balance the needs of 1^st year JVs preparing for their second year (Re-Orientation), and outgoing JVs preparing to move back to the States (Dis-Orientation). It's also one of the few times that JVs are in face-to-face contact with JVC staff.*

As I always don't with retreats, I won't get deep into the specifics of ReO/DisO. I don't think retreats are experiences to be broadcast to the entire world. But I'll share a bit.

The best part of ReO/DisO isn't any of the activities, it's the other JVs. Our ReO/DisO held a total of 13 JVs (5 Andahuaylillas, Peru; 4 Tacna, Peru; 4 Santiago, Chile). Because of the 2 week orientation held pre-departure, all international JVs in the same year know each other. It was great to see familiar faces, and to meet the 2^nd year JVs that I didn't already know. We're all living the same 4 values and the same mission, but we live those out in very different contexts. Andahuaylillas and Santiago have very little in common. This means that being around JVs from other sites, you learn more about the JVC mission, and see it with different eyes. Getting together makes our experiences less insular, less limited to where we are living.

ReO/DisO also included a day of silence. Silence is a very Ignatian (meaning, having to do with St. Ignatius and his ideas) thing. The idea is that by not talking and not interacting with others, you can quiet down and hear to voice of God calling you. I find silence pretty difficult, because – as anyone who has been in the same room with me while I've ben studying can tell you – I'm an audio processor. But even though it was difficult, I ended up feeling like the silence was too short, and that another day would have been helpful for deeper reflection. It's funny to remember high school, when participating in Day of Silence was about making a statement, and contrast it with JVC, where participating in a day of silence is about listening.

ReO/DisO was over all too quickly, and by now all the JVs in South America are back home. The end of the year seems much closer from this side of ReO/DisO. It feels like there isn't much time left until Theresa, Jacqueline, and Victoria are leaving, Rachel and Lauren (the new JVs for Andahuaylillas) are arriving, and Erin and I are 2^nd years. Of course it's 2 full months before that happens, but it feels close.

*The others are Big O, the Orientation held the summer before you start your service, and site visits, which happen once a year.