Tuesday, November 13, 2007 4 Months down, one month to go!

Tuesday, November 13, 2007 4 Months down, one month to go!

I slept in later than I’d expected so I had to spend all morning finishing the Drugs and Alcohol workshop/presentation I was supposed to give at Nuestra Casa this afternoon. Preparing these presentations has made me realize how difficult it must be to be a good teacher. It’s so much prep work! I met up with Tamara, my volunteer friend from Nuestra Casa at 1:30 to have lunch. We’d been talking about doing it all semester so when she called me yesterday to see if I’d want to go today, I was excited. We ate at a little salad bar place in Providencia, one of the “your basically back in the states” parts of down town. I think I’ve realized that she just loves being able to speak English with me and I don’t mind because she is really interesting to talk to. After lunch we took the metro and walked to Nuestra Casa together. When I got there and finally had to start speaking Spanish, I realized that it just wasn’t working today. I had a really hard time speaking to the people and quickly felt discouraged, which doesn’t help at all. But Tamara helped me edit my presentation again and told me it looked good then I talked with Alejandro about how he broke up with his girlfriend (of 11 years off and on) that is married to another man. He was obviously still emotional about it but kept saying that it was the right thing to do and that he couldn’t live like that. He never ceases to surprise nor amaze me. Plus I can understand him and doesn’t expect me to speak back, so it’s perfect!

The rest of the afternoon I just worthlessly sat around Nuestra Casa. I wanted to do the Drugs and Alcohol workshop but no one seemed interested (it’s a tough topic since much of them are alcoholics and drug addicts) plus the guys had a soccer game at 7 and where obviously distracted. So we decided to skip the workshop for today and do it next week. I ended up watching a pirated Spanish dubbed version of Ratatouille and we left early, around 6:30 when most everyone else left for the soccer game.

I decided to go to mass at 7:30 and instead of walking home then turning right back around I went and sat on a bench in a park and read for my Education class. Looking back, it really was a beautiful moment. The park was full of kids screaming and playing, moms and dads sitting on benches watching, old women walking to the grocery store on the corner. Just lovely. I think I just people watched more than I actually read. At 7:15 I walked to the church and found Olga sitting in the 2nd row where she always sits. She was thrilled to see me and I saw her smiling next to me while we prayed before mass. From November 8th to December 8th (The Assumption of the Virgin Mary) is Mes de Maria or “Mary Month” in Chile. There is an opening and closing prayer about Mary at every mass and at San Lazaro (where I was) says a rosary at the end of every mass. So instead of the usual 40 minute mass, it was well over an hour. But I didn’t have too much homework and enjoyed the time to think and pray. When I told Olga I didn’t have my rosary with me, immediately handed me hers and told me not to worry because she really didn’t need it. After mass they handed out little sown bags filled with flower seeds and told us to plant them and give the plant to someone who needs it. There were extras, so I got two! I’m going to wait till I get home to plant them so I don’t have to worry about transporting them! After mass we had once then I headed to my room to work until I fell asleep.