I had my first Spanish confession yesterday. I´ve been trying to get to confession for 2 weeks now and have found it surprisingly difficult considering I live with 7 nuns at a Catholic school. Well, yesterday I went to Mass outside the school and found the confessional where a priest was patiently hearing confessions.
I waited my turn and when I entered I explained that due to my imperfect Spanish I might not be able to explain everything well. I also said I didn´t know how to recite the prayers in Spanish. Or, I thought I said all that. The priest looked at me a minute then asked if I was married. Um... no. I explained again that I just wanted to make sure it was okay to have the confession in Spanish if not everything said would be understood. He looked at me again, then repeated the marriage question. Hmmm...
I should point out, the priest is 98 and I don´t think he can hear very well, add my accent on top of that and I´m pretty sure he had no idea what I was saying - so at least I feel a little better that my Spanish might not be that bad.
I assured him I am not married. He asked if I had any relations with a man. I began to think that maybe we had skipped the introduction (which is fine with me since I don´t know it in Spanish) and had jumped right into the confession. So I quickly tried to confess as best I could and much to my pleasure, he gave a short reply, a penance, then asked me to recite the Act of Contrition. When I told him I didn´t know it, he gave me a card that had it written in Spanish. Yea! So I read it, he absolved, I feel good!
At dinner last night I explained this to the Sister´s and they said the priest I spoke with knows English. Perdon? Next time my first question will be ¨Do you speak English?¨
Monday, May 18, 2009
Black Water
A new problem has developed here at the school, a sewer pipe broke underneath the building where the Interna´s sleep - the Internado. There are also a few classrooms in this building. What this means is that ALL the water from the school and the house of the Sister´s is spilling into the ground under the Internado. That´s a lot of water. Gross, icky water. I call it sewage, they call it black water. I don´t know how long the leak has been there - I don´t think more than a week, but it was discovered a few days ago.
Because the ground under the building is now a wet, soggy mess, (up to about 3 meters in depth, which is 10 feet) the integrity of the building is compromised. Sor Margarita Guillen is worried about this affecting the neighbors. To stop the rapid spread of sogginess, and to give the workers time to fix the problem without more water pouring in, school has been cancelled Mon-Wed and the Sister´s are going to another House for these 3 days. Solidea and I are going to the beach :) You can imagine how disappointed everyone is. I´ve already had 3 students call me from the house to express their sadness at not having school. (the students are still coming this morning to pick up homework all the teachers have prepared for them)
So, I´ll be at the beach!
PS - Say a prayer for the Sister´s, this is really hard on them finacially and poor Sor Margarita Guillen has had to coordinate all the school activities around this.
Because the ground under the building is now a wet, soggy mess, (up to about 3 meters in depth, which is 10 feet) the integrity of the building is compromised. Sor Margarita Guillen is worried about this affecting the neighbors. To stop the rapid spread of sogginess, and to give the workers time to fix the problem without more water pouring in, school has been cancelled Mon-Wed and the Sister´s are going to another House for these 3 days. Solidea and I are going to the beach :) You can imagine how disappointed everyone is. I´ve already had 3 students call me from the house to express their sadness at not having school. (the students are still coming this morning to pick up homework all the teachers have prepared for them)
So, I´ll be at the beach!
PS - Say a prayer for the Sister´s, this is really hard on them finacially and poor Sor Margarita Guillen has had to coordinate all the school activities around this.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
The Month of May
The month of May is the month of the schools founder Madre Maria Mazzarello and also the month of Mary, Mother of God. Normally, every morning there is the ¨Buenas Dias¨where the whole school meets in the gymnasiam for 40 minutes of prayer and the welcome of another day. More often than not, this runs over into the first hour of classes.
During the month of May, to celebrate Madre Mazzarello, every grade is assigned a day of the month and for that day, they perform a prayer service of some kind in honor of Mary and Madre Mazzarello during the Buenas Dias. This can include, and often includes all, a procession involving the entire grade, ribbons in the hair, presentation of gifts to the statue of Mary, prayer service, dancing, and sometimes a cheer. For this month, it is best not to even plan your first hour of classes, as you will not have any time to teach anything once the Buenas Dias has finished.
Currently I have no photos of this, I´ll have to get a photo of the stage. The decorations change rather frequently, but always the statue of Mary is there. It´s very festive and today, May 13th, there was a school wide mass in the morning. There will be another mass on the 22nd of May to celebrate the day of Madre Mazzarello. There won´t be classes that day as it will be dedicated to commorating and celebrating their foundress just like they did when they celebrated the day of St. Don Bosco, founder of the Salesians.
During the month of May, to celebrate Madre Mazzarello, every grade is assigned a day of the month and for that day, they perform a prayer service of some kind in honor of Mary and Madre Mazzarello during the Buenas Dias. This can include, and often includes all, a procession involving the entire grade, ribbons in the hair, presentation of gifts to the statue of Mary, prayer service, dancing, and sometimes a cheer. For this month, it is best not to even plan your first hour of classes, as you will not have any time to teach anything once the Buenas Dias has finished.
Currently I have no photos of this, I´ll have to get a photo of the stage. The decorations change rather frequently, but always the statue of Mary is there. It´s very festive and today, May 13th, there was a school wide mass in the morning. There will be another mass on the 22nd of May to celebrate the day of Madre Mazzarello. There won´t be classes that day as it will be dedicated to commorating and celebrating their foundress just like they did when they celebrated the day of St. Don Bosco, founder of the Salesians.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Copan Ruinas - The Drive
Two weeks ago Solidea and I went to Copan Ruinas for a weekend where we met up with some of her friends. What this really means is we traveled for two days and spent one in Copan Ruinas. It was quite the experience. We had planned on a 7 hour trip, roughly, but here is what happened.
8:30 - we leave with Don Paulo, the driver for the school, and he takes us to the bus terminal.
9:00 - we find our bus and get on. Bus leaves shortly after we get on.
10:30 or so - we are in some small village, same bus we started with, bus breaks down. We wait for another bus to come and take us the rest of the way
11:00 - next bus comes. Already full of people. Really, full. No problem, we smoosh in. I´m the last person to get on which initially ment I was partially hanging out the door of the bus. (really, the bus was very full). But with a little pushing and people moving bags around, they managed to close the door behind me. During this leg of the trip I even managed to sit down!
Time - unsure - arrived at the border town Took a taxi (little 3 wheel open cab affair) to the border and entered Honduras.
1:00? - took mini bus to another city
1:20? - Arrived at other city. Purchased ticket for bus leaving at 2:30. Wandered around. Solidea unexpectantly ran into a friend. I tried - unsuccessfully - to get money out of an ATM.
2:40ish - bus departs
6:30 - bus arrives at city. Late. We missed the last bus to Copan Ruinas.
6:40 - get in taxi.
6:45 - get in another taxi that the driver says is nicer (the car is newer) and is driven by his son.
8:00 - arrive in Copan Ruinas
In case you were counting, that was 8 different vehicles to get to Copan Ruinas and was much longer than 7 hours! Still, a good time, a good adventure. The trip back was just as long, but fewer vehicles.
8:30 - we leave with Don Paulo, the driver for the school, and he takes us to the bus terminal.
9:00 - we find our bus and get on. Bus leaves shortly after we get on.
10:30 or so - we are in some small village, same bus we started with, bus breaks down. We wait for another bus to come and take us the rest of the way
11:00 - next bus comes. Already full of people. Really, full. No problem, we smoosh in. I´m the last person to get on which initially ment I was partially hanging out the door of the bus. (really, the bus was very full). But with a little pushing and people moving bags around, they managed to close the door behind me. During this leg of the trip I even managed to sit down!
Time - unsure - arrived at the border town Took a taxi (little 3 wheel open cab affair) to the border and entered Honduras.
1:00? - took mini bus to another city
1:20? - Arrived at other city. Purchased ticket for bus leaving at 2:30. Wandered around. Solidea unexpectantly ran into a friend. I tried - unsuccessfully - to get money out of an ATM.
2:40ish - bus departs
6:30 - bus arrives at city. Late. We missed the last bus to Copan Ruinas.
6:40 - get in taxi.
6:45 - get in another taxi that the driver says is nicer (the car is newer) and is driven by his son.
8:00 - arrive in Copan Ruinas
In case you were counting, that was 8 different vehicles to get to Copan Ruinas and was much longer than 7 hours! Still, a good time, a good adventure. The trip back was just as long, but fewer vehicles.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Surfing
I went surfing on Saturday. Let me rephrase, I took my first surfing lesson on Saturday. Solidea and I signed up for a lesson, were each given an enormous board that I could barely get my arm around to carry, and two instructors to show us what to do. We got to practice on the sand first - you know, the embarrassing part where you jump up and down on the board in front of the people who know how to surf - then it was into the water. wow, those boards are hard to move, even in the water. Granted, my board was 12 feet long and nearly as wide, so maybe once I can stand up on that I can work my way down to a smaller, more maneuverable board.
Once I got the hang of actually staying on the board and paddling at the same time, I had to stop a few times to rest because I am sooooo out of shape. We finally got close to where the instructor wanted to be. I was no help, in fact, I was a terrible student. The whole time I felt nervous. We were swimming out to big waves with big white crests and I didn´t like that, so I kept asking questions, ¨Where are we going?¨ ¨Why are we going to such big waves?¨¨How do you steer this thing?¨ ¨What do I do when I´m on the wave?¨¨Aren´t there rocks over here?¨ And so on. We finally got close enough to catch a wave and he gave my board a push to get me started. After that there was no stopping me, as the guy who paddled in front of me found out. :) Luckily, he is a more experienced surfer, could tell I was new (all the new people lay flat on the board) and paddled a bit more quickly to get out of my way!
The wave peetered out and I paddled back out with my instructor to catch another. I got on another wave with another push from my instructor and this time the wave didn´t peeter out before the shore. In fact, I came in really fast and realized that if I didn´t stop somehow I would ruin the fin of the board on the rocks. Not yet knowing how to steer, I just rolled off - just like when sledding! And the wave didn´t kill me, so that was nice.
Once I got to shore I lugged my board onto the sand and kindly declined another foray into the waves even though I still had 10 min left of my lesson. My arms were dead and the joy of riding a wave wasn´t enough to make me try and swim out again. We went boogie boarding later in the day. That was much easier and a ton of fun.
I´m still going to learn how to surf. We both are. We just need to work at it more, get in shape a little, and utilize all the free surf lessons offered to us over the weekend! Knowing how to speak English and practicing with the local surf instructors is a great way to get free lessons here - FYI.
Once I got the hang of actually staying on the board and paddling at the same time, I had to stop a few times to rest because I am sooooo out of shape. We finally got close to where the instructor wanted to be. I was no help, in fact, I was a terrible student. The whole time I felt nervous. We were swimming out to big waves with big white crests and I didn´t like that, so I kept asking questions, ¨Where are we going?¨ ¨Why are we going to such big waves?¨¨How do you steer this thing?¨ ¨What do I do when I´m on the wave?¨¨Aren´t there rocks over here?¨ And so on. We finally got close enough to catch a wave and he gave my board a push to get me started. After that there was no stopping me, as the guy who paddled in front of me found out. :) Luckily, he is a more experienced surfer, could tell I was new (all the new people lay flat on the board) and paddled a bit more quickly to get out of my way!
The wave peetered out and I paddled back out with my instructor to catch another. I got on another wave with another push from my instructor and this time the wave didn´t peeter out before the shore. In fact, I came in really fast and realized that if I didn´t stop somehow I would ruin the fin of the board on the rocks. Not yet knowing how to steer, I just rolled off - just like when sledding! And the wave didn´t kill me, so that was nice.
Once I got to shore I lugged my board onto the sand and kindly declined another foray into the waves even though I still had 10 min left of my lesson. My arms were dead and the joy of riding a wave wasn´t enough to make me try and swim out again. We went boogie boarding later in the day. That was much easier and a ton of fun.
I´m still going to learn how to surf. We both are. We just need to work at it more, get in shape a little, and utilize all the free surf lessons offered to us over the weekend! Knowing how to speak English and practicing with the local surf instructors is a great way to get free lessons here - FYI.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Tortillas and Coffee
I have slowly become addicted to Tortillas and Coffee. Okay, ¨addicted¨ may be a bit strong, but around 3pm each day I get a hankerin´for a tortilla with cheese. Not just any cheese, but the wonderfully fresh white cheese that is usually too salty for my taste, but every so often a batch is purchased that has no salt and is simply wonderful sliced up on a tortilla.
And the coffee. It´s just instant coffee. Put a spoonful in a cup and add water. Although, I put 1/2 a spoonful, some sugar, a bit of chocolate mix, dry milk and then hot water. Umm . . . coffee, or something like it. I just bought an insulated coffee mug today so I could take this beverage with me to my room (currently on the other side of the school). Yeah, small addiction growing.
I´ve also acquired a habit of dunking items in my drinks. Not just any items, edible things. Preferably sweet edible things, like cookies, or crackers (crackers not as sweet, but they get just the right kind of soft for really happy eating). Not just my hot drinks of tea and coffee, but I also do this with milk now, which I didn´t do before. Hasn´t gotten so bad that I do this with water. If that starts to happen, I´m going to have to cut myself off from food small enough to fit in a cup and just quit cold turkey!
And the coffee. It´s just instant coffee. Put a spoonful in a cup and add water. Although, I put 1/2 a spoonful, some sugar, a bit of chocolate mix, dry milk and then hot water. Umm . . . coffee, or something like it. I just bought an insulated coffee mug today so I could take this beverage with me to my room (currently on the other side of the school). Yeah, small addiction growing.
I´ve also acquired a habit of dunking items in my drinks. Not just any items, edible things. Preferably sweet edible things, like cookies, or crackers (crackers not as sweet, but they get just the right kind of soft for really happy eating). Not just my hot drinks of tea and coffee, but I also do this with milk now, which I didn´t do before. Hasn´t gotten so bad that I do this with water. If that starts to happen, I´m going to have to cut myself off from food small enough to fit in a cup and just quit cold turkey!
Monday, May 4, 2009
What´s been happening
So much has happened, I´m not sure I can get it all in one post. Let me start out by saying I have been feeling much better the last two weeks. Better than what? you might ask. Let me sum up:
March and April were spectaculary terrible months for me. I had an on again, off again relationship with depression and couldn´t seem to find the courage to break it off. This left me very drained, lack-luster, and terminally sad. I missed home as though it were the only thing that could make me happy and had stopped bothering to study Spanish - I didn´t care. I made contact with a couple people at home, and it helped, but didn´t solve my problem. I finally called my parents to tell them when I came home in June I would be staying home, I didn´t want to return. That was my lowest point.
That same day I talked to the Principle down here to express how unhappy I felt and I also talked to the volunteer coordinator in Texas to see what could be done (a transfer, go home, or something). Having already made the decision in my mind to go home, I felt much better. Suddenly, the school didn´t seem like such a prison and I thought of all the things I wanted to do before I left.
I spent all of the next day (Friday) in prayer and reflection between my classes. I came across the link on Dom´s Facebook page to Discernment of Spirits by St. Ignatius (http://www.nwjesuits.org/JesuitSpirituality/Exercises/SpEx313_336.html) and knew right away I had to read this, and I did. The 2nd and the 4th rule hit home. I read on. I read it over several times. Then I prayed. Simply having identified this spirit of Desolation seemed to help me get free of that depression which had hounded me for 2-3 months. I realized that my lack of prayer had allowed this depression to settle over me and for the last two weeks I have been free of it.
A few things have changed here at the school now. Solidea and I no longer teach the Sunday English classes - yesterday was our last day. There is another teacher now. Also, Wednesday is our last day teaching the two 7th grade classes, another teacher will be taking over those. We found a beach with tourists where we can relax and find other people to socialize with, and last weekend we went to Honduras to spend time with Solidea´s friend Marta (volunteer in Honduras) and some of Marta´s friends from Honduras. We had a wonderful time and now we have some friends in Central America. Granted, none of our friends are from Central America (Marta´s friends are actually from Holland and Chile and are currently living in Honduras). Nonetheless, friends.
I´m still traveling home for Mike´s ordination this June, but I will be returning afterwards. I don´t dread each day anymore and now, with the entire weekend free, Solidea and I have great plans for travel! I feel full of life and have picked up my flashcards again to expand my Spanish vocabulary. Happy to be in the Spirit of Consolation!
March and April were spectaculary terrible months for me. I had an on again, off again relationship with depression and couldn´t seem to find the courage to break it off. This left me very drained, lack-luster, and terminally sad. I missed home as though it were the only thing that could make me happy and had stopped bothering to study Spanish - I didn´t care. I made contact with a couple people at home, and it helped, but didn´t solve my problem. I finally called my parents to tell them when I came home in June I would be staying home, I didn´t want to return. That was my lowest point.
That same day I talked to the Principle down here to express how unhappy I felt and I also talked to the volunteer coordinator in Texas to see what could be done (a transfer, go home, or something). Having already made the decision in my mind to go home, I felt much better. Suddenly, the school didn´t seem like such a prison and I thought of all the things I wanted to do before I left.
I spent all of the next day (Friday) in prayer and reflection between my classes. I came across the link on Dom´s Facebook page to Discernment of Spirits by St. Ignatius (http://www.nwjesuits.org/JesuitSpirituality/Exercises/SpEx313_336.html) and knew right away I had to read this, and I did. The 2nd and the 4th rule hit home. I read on. I read it over several times. Then I prayed. Simply having identified this spirit of Desolation seemed to help me get free of that depression which had hounded me for 2-3 months. I realized that my lack of prayer had allowed this depression to settle over me and for the last two weeks I have been free of it.
A few things have changed here at the school now. Solidea and I no longer teach the Sunday English classes - yesterday was our last day. There is another teacher now. Also, Wednesday is our last day teaching the two 7th grade classes, another teacher will be taking over those. We found a beach with tourists where we can relax and find other people to socialize with, and last weekend we went to Honduras to spend time with Solidea´s friend Marta (volunteer in Honduras) and some of Marta´s friends from Honduras. We had a wonderful time and now we have some friends in Central America. Granted, none of our friends are from Central America (Marta´s friends are actually from Holland and Chile and are currently living in Honduras). Nonetheless, friends.
I´m still traveling home for Mike´s ordination this June, but I will be returning afterwards. I don´t dread each day anymore and now, with the entire weekend free, Solidea and I have great plans for travel! I feel full of life and have picked up my flashcards again to expand my Spanish vocabulary. Happy to be in the Spirit of Consolation!
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