We are here!

Just wanted to let you know that we have arrived safely in Bolivia and I am now living with my host family! They are absolutely terrific and I cannot wait to post information about them.

Bolivia is beautiful, hoping to put up pictures soon! I am having a terrific time - will have a social/orientation tomorrow for the language institute.

Hope all is well, thinking of you often.

Love - M

A busy first week!

Hola hola! I hope everyone is doing well, I am thinking of you often. At the moment, I am sitting in an internet café in Los Andes, Chile and to my right is a huge window with a view to die for...snow capped Andes Mountains and a beautiful sunset. I am ending my third day in Pocuro, the other HCA house - more about that later.

Since it has been some time since I have been able to give an update about my first week in Chile, I think it is best to describe it day by day. Sorry I do not have my camera with me, but I will be sure to put up pictures later.
I already talked about my first day in South America in my previous post, but let me just say that the second school, Andacollo, was such a blast - we played ¨Duck Duck Goose¨ with about 8 five or six-year old boys. Managing their behavior in espanol was a challenge, but it was a learning experience at the same time. Despite this, my favorite class was in the school Cervantes, with the 16 and 17 year-olds. Later that night, we had community night with a little Chilean wine and we met Isabel, the co-facilitator/director for the Santigago house.

On Thursday, Natalie and I went with Roy again, this time to St. Geroge's school. Again, I already referenced this in my last post, but it was another learning experience as these kids were more wealthy than the others and thus, more educated. In fact, they were correcting my spanish more often than I would have liked and I had to patiently teach them how to correct someone's english politely...this was a challenge. Later that night, after we returned home exhausted and ate some food, I taught Natalie how to knit. The event turned the night into knitting night with wine, as all the other girls in the house wanted to learn how to knit or help them with their kitting projects. I had no idea that Chileans love to knit, but apparently it is a HUGE hobby for the Chilean women...looks like I will fit in just fine! At the moment, I am working on black scarf...I don't need a scarf, but it is something different just to pass the time (when I have any, haha).

On Friday, Natalie and I once again hung out with Roy (good thing for us he worked at all the places we wanted to visit!). Around lunch time, we went to the comedor, or soup kitchen. After serving food to about 15 or so Chileans who ate at the soup kitchen that day, we ate lunch with a few priests who belong to the congregation in Chile. The comedor is located at the seminary, where the priests live. After good conversation and a little rest, the three of us went to a hogar, or orphanage. It was so much fun - sure, I did not know as much spanish as I needed, but the girls that lived there were amazing and hung out with me instantly. As soon as I walked in the door, they grabbed my hand and were shouting ¨tia, tia!¨, which is the name that they give to the volunters (just an informal name for teacher or older adult...although it translates into aunt). The girls that were in the hogar were ages 8, 10, 12, and 16. Many other girls live at the hogar but were not there for various reasons. Anyway, we talked about anything and everything, hanging out and playing a little bit of soccer. One of the girls even taught me a new game that she and her amigas like to play...I plan on using this later when I visit other hogars to become instant friends with the girls, hehe.

On Saturday morning, the Santiago house was again joined by Isabel as well as Pedro, the director of the progrm here in Chile, and the kids from Pocuro. After a great brunch, my four housemates and I packed up a few things and came here to Pocuro, the other HCA house. The house is in a very rual area, surrouded by a large agricultural community and MUCH different than the Santiago house that is in the middle of a city with 4 million people. Last night we walked around the nearby city, Los Andes (where I am writing from now), and stopped at a bar for a drink or two. While at the bar, we played Cacho, a Chilean dice game that is apparently very popular and a somewhat different version of Yatzee in the United States.

Yesterday, Sunday, was a very chill day as we attended mass in Pocuro (my first in spanish, quite different). We spent our entire day at a birthday party for a girl in the town named Antenella. She turned two years old and the party was quite extravagant, complete with pink decorations, a princess cake, a barbie piñata, and lots and lots and lots of candy. It seemed if everyone in the small town of Pocuro was at this party - it was a lot of fun to speak completely in spanish and hang out with kids who were hyped up on sugar. We ended the night by building a bon fire and relaxing under the stars, drinking pisco sour, the national drink of Chile which Ryan makes so well. It pretty much tastes like a margarita with a little more sugar and you can taste the alcohol a bit more.

Anyway, I gotta jet - my time at the internet cafe is almost up. I have had a great day as I was able to tour the surrounding village, help teach an english class at a nearby agricultural school (the kids this time were by far my favorite), and work at two more hogars (this time with more kids and a lot more attention and spanish being used!). I am quite exhausted but cannot wait to see what tomorrow has in store.

I am sorry that I have not been able to call you or write more on the blog, but please know that everyone is in my thoughts and prayers. Ciao for now - M

PS - My sister found out that she is having a girl! We are going to have another girl in the family, I am going to have a niece!! :-)

We have arrived!!

Hola from Sur de America!! After a 22 hour trip, we arrived at 4:15pm yesterday morning and were greeted by all the current associates - it was sooooo great to see them after hearing about them and reading about their adventures on their blogs. I slept on the plane for about 4 hours and did not go to bed until 10:30pm last night, so this, combined with jet lag and moving back and forth from speaking english to spanish, and back again, has my speaking and writing skills all out of wack...beware as this post is going to be completely random and probably grammatically incorrect. :-)

I am experiencing more things than I can write at this point, but let me just say that being in a foreign country is amazing and I don´t think I have realized I am actually here.

I am using spanish a lot but I have a lot to learn...cannot wait for language training in Bolivia. We are staying in the house in Santiago until Saturday then we are going to the other house in Pocurro until we leave for Bolivia on Tuesday. Right now I am at St. George´s, the elite private school for Chile, where Roy, one of the associates, teaches english to a 5th grade class. Yesterday I attended two other schools, both of which are completely different than St. George´s because they are public and have students of lower economic status. Roy also teaches English at one of these schools, but this time he has 8 or 9 16/17 year olds. They are typical teenagers and after claass it was great to talk to the students. Pretty much, the students helped me and I helped them, as I spoke spanish and they responded in English. It is amazing the things they said about America, haha. Will definitely write more about that later.

I hope all is well and I am thinking of everyone often. While we do not have a phone that I can use right now, we will have one soon - if you want me to call you, you must have an international phone card; I will call and you have to call me back. Calling long distance on a cell phone does not work, sorry.

Hopefully after I have caught up on my sleep I will be able to process and think about everything more clearly...after, I will be sure to let you know all about it in a new post.

Love to all, hope all is well - M

Tomorrow is the day!!

Hey all - this is my last posting before I leave for South America! We leave at 6:30am tomorrow for our 8:00am flight out of South Bend, flying from South Bend to Cincinnati, Cincinnati to Miami, Miami to Bogota, Columbia, then Bogota to Santiago, Chile.

Before I get on with the rest of this post, I first want to say best of luck to all SMC and ND students as they start the new academic year. Today was the first day of classes for SMC Chicks and tomorrow is the first day for Domers. Especially my SMC Chicks, I will think of you often and I wish you nothing but the best for a successful and memorable year - party and live it up! GO BELLES!

Yesterday was an absolutely beautiful day here. After visiting Sr. Mary Elizabeth, I spent the rest of the afternoon at St. Pat's Park here in South Bend. I couldn't resist taking a few photos as I laid in the grass, reading, journaling, and soaking up the sun.

My view as I laid in the grass...beautiful blue sky, warm sun, and a good book - what can be better!













I couldn't help but take a picture of this AWESOME jungle gym that I drove past while at St. Pat's Park...it is so huge and looks like a barn!













Funny story about my afternoon at St. Pat's: After reading for about 30 min. or so, I fell asleep...and woke up 2 1/2 hours later, just as the sun was starting to go down! The reason for me waking up: ants! I felt something on my foot, so I looked down and realized that my foot was off of the blanket and next to an ant hill - and they started crawling all over me! AH! It was kinda creepy...and I know the people around me were wondering what the hell I was doing when I suddenly woke up from my nap and started shaking my foot around. Haha, good times!

Natalie got back from Chicago later that evening and we bummed around for the rest of the night, eating popcorn and watching trashy American tv...i.e. The Teen Choice Awards. :-) Hey, it is something that we will not be able to experience for the next 2 1/2 years, so why not?? Haha, good times as well!

Today I got my Yellow Fever, Typhoid, and Tetanus travel vaccinations...and boy does my arm hurt! The tetanus is really killing me right now. I also drove to O'Hare Airport and dropped off Matt and Clay, who are going to Uganda, Africa for the next year and a half. For those who read my blog often, you know that they are recent ND graduates who participated in "cultural immersion training" with me and the other Chile associates for the last 2 weeks. It was great getting to know them and was sad to see them go - I wish you both the best of luck guys, please keep in touch!

After returning from my four hour drive to and from Chicago, Natalie, Steve, Mark, and I went to the famous CJ's Burgers for dinner....good ol' American food one last time!! The burgers were great and I can definitely see why everyone says that you have to eat there at least once in your four years in the Bend (well, I am a little late...but whatev.) Again, I couldn't resist taking a picture of us at the restaurant:

Me, Steve, Natalie, and Mark













Natalie and I topped off our last night in America just right: a trip to Wal-Mart complete with one last trip to Ritter's Custard. Again, for those who read my blog often, you will know that this is the second time in a week and a half that we have made a visit to Ritter's...but we are living it up as Americans do! The custard was good as always...here are a few pics that I took - notice the cherries on top of my Grizzly Cub Sundae!

Natalie and me













Natalie and her dessert - look, it doesn't fall out when you tip it over! It must be custard!!



















Look at all those cherries!!! Mmm...mmm! (I think I am a little too proud of this, what do you think??)



















Alright, that is about it! I am off to finish packing and get ready for my "new life." I appreciate everyone's support, enthusiasm, and love as I partake on this new adventure. As corny as it sounds, I do not believe that I would have ever felt so comfortable and ready to take this journey if I did not have the love and support of my family and friends. Thank you - I will love and miss you all.

The best way to conclude this posting is to look to the future, examining my expectations in anticipation for what is ahead. Lucky for us, we can do this via a worksheet I filled out last week during training! (In no particular order):

a. What are the five things that you are most looking forward to about going abroad?
1. language training/language fluency
2. experiencing a new culture
3. meeting new people
4. changing my world perspective
5. doing/experiencing things that only this opportunity in South America can provide me

b. What are the five things that currently worry you most about going overseas?
1. saftey
2. homesickness/health of family
3. Loneliness
4. Frustrations in communication with others through a foreign language
5. not getting back into the country (for whatever reason - who knows!!)

c. What are five things you believe you will miss most from home when you are abroad?
1. mama's cookin' :-)
2. friends and family
3. life moments/milestones for family and friends
4. deep conversations with people in a language I understand
5. being involved/being a leader in my community

d. What are three things (people, places, activities, etc.) you believe you will miss least from home when you are abroad?
1. gluttony of America/processed foods
2. materialism and consumerism
3. America's obsession with celebrities

Hope this gave you a little insight into what I am thinking/feeling at the moment as I partake on this new journey. Thank you again everyone for your support and I hope to be able to write/talk to you soon. Love ~ M

Sr. Mary Elizabeth

I know that I just posted something earlier today, but I couldn't resist placing this picture up of Sr. Mary Elizabeth and me. She is so wonderful and our talk today was the best we have ever had. Her health is failing and she is not doing too well at the moment, please keep her in your prayers.

Alone time is only lonely if you do not make it fun :-)

Hey everyone - hope you had a great weekend! As it is my last one here in the States, I did everything I could to make it the best...but, that proved kinda difficult when all day Saturday and Sunday (today) I spent with myself. Natalie went to Chicago for the weekend with her friend Steve from Detroit, and Katie and Patrick are visiting home.

Friday night was great - Natalie, Mark, Steve, and I all went to the Friday night soccer game. I did not play but did decide to go for a run around the neighborhood. About 15 minutes into my run, it started to rain! It felt so good, so I continued to run right through it...45 minutes later, soaking wet and sweaty, I ended back at the place I started, just as the soccer game ended. Definitely one of the best runs I have had in a while.

After shower and a little relaxation, Natalie and I went to The Backer, the place to be on Friday nights here in the Bend, particularly on football weekends. Although it was not as crowded as usual (students do not move in to the dorms until today), we had a great time. I saw a few guy friends that I have not seen in a while and also saw a group of SMC Chicks that live off-campus and were starting off their first weekend of senior year...fun times for everyone. Here in this posting I want to give a "shout out" to one of my girls Sarah Vabulas - Vab is usually at the Backer whenever I go and we always have a great time. Hey Vab - it was simply not the same without you, miss ya bunches! Here are a few pics I took from the night:

Natalie and Me, before we left for Backer













Awkward picture, hard to see, but this is a small SMC Chick reunion! Me with Sarah Wieber (we hung out a bunch this past year) and Catherine Wagner. Don't remember who the fourth person is who is half way in the picture - sorry!













Hahaha, this is me giving a "thumbs down" to a signed Silver Hawks jersey that hung on a wall at the Backer. We went to a Silver Hawks game (AAA team of South Bend) a few weeks ago and they were horrible! Now that I look at it, this is kinda mean...but whatev. :-)



















On Saturday, I was officially by myself as Natalie left earlier that morning. I bummed around all day, watching The Incredibles movie and reading outside. Around 10:00pm, I went to Nicole Boyd's going away party - she is leaving the Bend and moving to Phoenix, AZ to start a teaching position. Nicole's family has been so gracious to me over the four years at SMC and I even spent Thanksgiving dinner at their house freshman year. Nicole's party was fun, here are a few pics I took:

Nicole and Me, saying goodbye one last time













This is me with Heather Eich. As I leaving Nicole's party, Heather was driving in - I stopped in the middle of the street to say hi. It was soooo great to see her! Heather and I go back to Heather's freshman year and my sophomore year when hung out a bunch because we lived on the same floor of Regina Hall. Now Heather is a big SENIOR at SMC...my how time flies! Great to see you again Heather!













Thanks for the invite Nicole - best of luck and please keep in touch! After getting back to Moreau, I bumped into Nick and Kyle, two 24 year old seminarians that are way cool guys. They were watching Dodgeball and asked me to join - I had never seen the movie before, so I said "why not??" The movie was absolutely stupid and ridiculous...but was a lot of fun to watch because of the company I was with. Thanks guys for the invite :-)

And that's it for this weekend! Went to mass today at the Basilica and I am on my way to a picnic here at Moreau, complete with volleyball and a Hawaiian Ice stand, haha. Around 2:30ish, I am on my way to SMC again to visit Sr. Mary Elizabeth at the SMC Convent. My freshman year, I was assigned to visit Sr. Mary Elizabeth through the Friends to Sisters program, but continued my visits with her over my four years at SMC. I know it will be sad for both of us to say goodbye.

Have a great Sunday all - tomorrow will be my last post before I leave for South America on Tuesday morning!!

#2: Training is over! Time to celebrate and relax!

(continued from the post below...read that first! :-) )

Alright, so I just got back from my appointment at the Health Department...due to a little miscommunication between me and the receptionist about my appointment, I had to reschedule my appointment for Monday at 11:00am. So, no shots today and I can continue to let you know about the fabulous week I have had.

So Wednesday night was great at rumrunners and Thursday we got to examine whether or not we were "missionaries" with Fr. Paul Kollman of Notre Dame. After our talk with Fr. Kollman, Natalie and I took Katie to the train station - she, too, is flying home to stay with her family for our last weekend here in the States. After some lunch at my favorite eatery, Jimmy Johns (yeah!), Natalie and I hung out and watched a movie...pretty much bummed around like that for the rest of the day. At 4:15pm we had a farewell mass - the first for me outside of a church, located in a small room here in Moreau. No big deal, just a little different. :-)

Again, Natalie and I just bummed around, I wrote letters and thank you cards and such...nothing exciting happened until around 11:30pm when Natalie and I decided we were bored and that we wanted to go to Wal-Mart to print off a few pictures from the week. We had a great time jammin' out in the isle, listening to samples of cds like "Hits of the 80s," "Rock Favorites," and so on. The Wal-Mart night crew gave us looks like "oh, those crazy kids" but we did not care - we were bored and tired of hanging out in the Seminary, so we just had ourselves a great time.

Today I had lunch at the University Club on Notre Dame's Campus with Professor Joe Incandela. Joe is a professor in the Religious Studies Department at Saint Mary's College and now an Associate Dean. Joe taught one of my favorite classes in college and it was great to eat a meal with him, catch up, share my thoughts about my upcoming adventures, and laugh about the craziness that is now SMC. Too bad that Joe had a 1:30pm meeting, I probably could have visited with him all day.

That's about it - I am going to hang around here until dinner at 6pm and then Natalie and I are going to join Mark and Steve for the weekly soccer game with their friends (look at last Friday's post to see what I am talking about). I do not think I will play again, but I will probably go for a run around the neighborhood. After soccer, Natalie and I plan to go to The 'Backer and dance our little hearts out...I am sure I will have good stories and pictures to share on my next post.

Hope everyone has a great weekend! ~ M

PS - Pray for my Grandpa as he gets the results back from his E.E.G. and starts new medications.

Training is over! Time to celebrate and relax!

That's right folks, my three weeks of cultural immersion training here at Moreau Seminary is over! Now it's time to just hang out here in the Bend, waiting for Tuesday to come when we start our 22 hour journey to Santiago at 6:30am.

This week ended on a great note. On Wednesday, I had a great lunch with one of my best friends Amy Kelley (who is starting Indiana University School of Law on Tuesday - good luck Aims!) and one of my all time favorite professors Patrick Pierce of the Saint Mary's College Political Science Department. Conversation was great as we got a chance to catch up on life and new and exciting things for all of us (earlier that morning, Pat sent his youngest child off to attend graduate school at Columbia University). I completely forgot to take a picture of all of us while at lunch, but Amy and I made sure to take one when she dropped me off at Moreau after lunch:















Later that night, Director Steve made good on his promise and spent a night out with us. Too bad Patrick could not have been there - he flew back to Los Angeles to spend his last weekend here in the States with his family and friends. Anyway, Mark (Assistant Director), Steve, Natalie, Katie, and me went to Mazatalan, an awesome Mexican restaurant. After some great enchiladas and a few Maragritas, Steve, Natalie, Katie, and me went to RumRunners, a dueling piano bar here in town. Lucky for us, RumRunners Wednesday is the place to be in town AND they have .75 cent well drink specials. Now now Grandma, I can hear you know - I am not always drinking nor do I always have to drink to have fun...but at a place like RumRunners, you simply cannot resist. My choice of drink for the night: MONAS. That's right, my specialty drink that I created and the American Legion Post 318 has officially named after me :-P It's pretty much a shirley temple with vodka, or a sprite, vodka, and grennadine combination. Anyway, it was a fun time and I have posted a few pictures of us below:

Me, Katie, and Natalie

Katie and Natalie
















Natalie and Steve
















Thursday morning, after waking up with a bit of a headache (hehe), we listened to Fr. Paul Kollman, Professor of Theology, talk about the ultimate question: ARE WE MISSIONARIES??? A lot of people have asked us this, but it makes sense why they would ask: we are going to another country to do service via a Catholic organization and sponsored by the Catholic Church, we are all Catholic, a major pillar of this program is spirituality, we spend three weeks of our training in Moreau Seminary living with Priests, Seminarians, and candidates for the priesthood, AND when we get there, the Chilean community's label for us is "missionary." So are we missionaries?? This is a very hot topic and something that all four of the Chilean Associates deal with both in our own identity and as we describe our experience to our family and friends. Patrick has a great portion of his blog dedicated to this issue, check it out and see what he has to say (it is his August 2nd blog entry). Fr. Paul Kollman told us that the answer to this question is both yes and no - which is what I expected. We are missionaries because Christ calls all Christians to serve others in any way we can, thus serving in any capacity is a mission from God. Additionally, Christ's work calls us to support justice, health, education, etc. for all - which is the type of work we will be doing while we are in Chile for two years. BUT, we do not, however, fit into the missionary category that comes to mind when we think of a Mormon or Evangelical Missionary - we are not in any way attempting to convert others to Christianity while we are down there. BOTTOM LINE: We are overseas volunteers who are giving up a portion of our lives to serve others because we feel that is what we are called to do, both morally and spiritually. If that is what you call a missionary, well fine by me and I accept that title proudly.

OH MY GOSH - I am writing way too much and I have got to leave now - I have an appointment in 10 minutes to get my Yellow Fever, Malaria, and Typhoid Vaccinations, haha. When I get back, I will use my sore arm to add another blog and tell you about the rest of my weekend.

Much more to come, hope everyone is having a great day ~ M

More training and my first visit back to SMC

~ This post is dedicated to my housemate Natalie...I accidentally deleted her blog today when trying to help her edit her first posting! I feel so bad - sorry Nats, I can't say that enough! ~

Today we were introduced to Fred Goddard who is here to facilitate "cross cultural training" today and tomorrow. Fred introduced us to the stages of culture shock, how we move from cultural sensitivity (learned last week from Maureen) to cross cultural adaptation, how we exactly define "culture," and how we can recognize what biases, perceptions, traditions, beliefs, and communication styles we have that may influence how we view our "new culture."

Fun "lightbulb" moment for me today: I realized today that although I will know how to communicate in Spanish, I still may not be able to understand others due to the fact that they may not use proper grammar when speaking...afterall, even in our native language of English, it is rare to find everyone using correct grammar all the time. When I talk or when you talk, do we sound like a grammar text book? The answer should be no. :-) So, since we do not always use correct grammar, why should I expect Bolivians or Chileans to be any different?? Hm...

Today I visited my alma mater for the first time since graduation. Shocking, I know! It was sooo different to be on campus as a graduate, but Saint Mary's has never looked more beautiful. I ate a great lunch in the Noble Family Dining Hall with Keith Fowlkes, Director of Information Technology and the vision, sponsor, and driving force behind me and others in creating SMC-TV. The meal was great (forgot about the cookies that come right out of the oven....how dangerous they are!) and the conversation was even more enjoyable.

Tonight, we signed our contracts as Holy Cross Associates - we are officially and legally bound to this organization until February 28, 2009. Although we will return from South America in December 2008, we will participate in re-entry training and transition process for two weeks in February 2009...which means two more weeks in Moreau Seminary...oh boy, can't wait! ;-)

The Chilean Asssociates ended our night with our second "community night," drinking a few beers and chatting at Oaken Bucket. Oaken Bucket is a great restaurant in Mishawalka, IN with a huge patio that sits over the St. Joe River. We enjoyed the weather, shared hilarious stories, and chatted about our expectations, worries, and plans for our time in South America. Good times...we leave for Santiago in 6 days!

Hope everyone had a great day, looking forward to an awesome day tomorrow in which my lunch break will be at Lulas, eating with one of my best friends as well as a one of my favorite professors from college!

Until tomorrow ~ M

PS - New quotes are up, check them out.

Last week of HCA Orientation

Hello everyone - hope you all had a restful weekend!

A lot of people have asked me if I am going to send out email lists about my adventures or if they can comment about particular things I have posted on the blog. Well, this blog is my version of an email list, so just check this regularly to see what is up with me. If you want to comment about an individual posting (to say things such as, "oh michelle, that was such a great story!" haha, just kidding), just click on the "comments" portion at the bottom of the posting you want to comment on and there ya go. If someone has commented about the posting, a number will appear and you can click on that to view what the person said.

The HCA Chile Associates and the Uganda boys had a great weekend. On Friday, we went to Hackers, an arcade-sorta place up the road in Michigan with batting cages, go-carts, and an arcade. It was fun to see the guys try to hit the 65mph and 85mph baseballs while Natalie and I were rockin' it in the softball cages. After playing a few arcade games, we went to Ritter's Custard Ice Cream stand and I had my ultimate favorite: Grizzly Cub Sundae. It is pretty much the same as a Peanut Buster Parfait from Dairy Queen, but tons better because of the custard. Anyway, Natalie, Steve, Mark, and I finished the night by playing a game of soccer with a bunch of young 20-somethings and one fifty year old who either played in college, coach teams now, or are just playing for fun. Alright...I lied - I did not play, I just watched, cheered them on, and enjoyed the nice weather...afterall, I am not a soccer kinda gal, I leave that up to my sister. :-)

For the rest of the weekend, it was just me and Natalie. On Saturday, we went to University Park Mall and ended a night with a few beers at Oyster Bar. Oh, how I love Oyster Bar - not quite the same without my girls, but still just as fun with Nat. On Sunday, Natalie and I woke up and attended mass at the Basilica of Sacred Heart on Notre Dame's campus, had brunch, then went to the Potawatomi Zoo. This is a picture of the two of us in front of a lion (lion is on the rocks, right hand side). Yeah, it's not the best pic of me, but whatev. Anyway, despite what others told me about the zoo, it was fun and had a lot of things to see. The Potowatomi Zoo is not as big as other zoos but is amazing considering it is Indiana's oldest zoo and is home to over 400 animals...and is located in the small city of South Bend, IN.

Well, the last week of Orientation has begun. I cannot believe we leave one week from tomorrow! Today we met with Father Tim Scully, the creator of Holy Cross Associates and another post-graduate service program A.C.E. (Alliance for Catholic Education). Good for us, Fr. Scully is a leading expert in Chilean politics, author of 4 books and numerous articles. We were able to pick his brain about what we will be experiencing politically while in Chile for the next 2 years. Good news everyone - Fr. Scully confirmed what I was telling everyone before I left: Chile is politically stable and will remain that way, more than any other country in Latin America. He also clued us in on a few cultural practices that we will experience. Here are a few of my favorite: what hand gestures not to use so we will not be offensive (hilarious), the fact that men will always view the women as objects and what to say in response (also hilarious), greetings, how to compliment Chileans, how to politely tell Chileans you are full when they continue to put food on your plate then take insult that you do not clean your plate for the third time in the same meal, the fact that Chileans start their goodbyes about 15 minutes before they plan toactuallyy leave, the fact that they will walk you home wherever you are as part of the goodbye, and lastly, everyone in Chile wears browns, blacks, and dark colors compared to the outrageous colors of Central America. Patrick was bummed to hear that his pink polo will not be as popular there as it is in Southern California, haha.

Alright, that's it for now. Have a good night ~ M

BTW - Great news about my grandpa's health! All of his tests came back great and he is doing well on his new medications. Thanks for all the prayers.

BTW again - Happy Belated Spiritual Birthday to my sister Melissa. A few days ago was the 1-year anniversary of her baptism. Congrats Missy, it is so great to have a blood sister who is also a sister in Christ.

My housemates and me

Hey all - finally got a pic of me and my housemates! From left to right: Katie Hall (graduate of LSU), Natalie Nathan (U. of Portland), me, and Patrick Furlong (Loyola Marymount U.).

Super excited about these folks and looking forward to good times with them for the next 2 1/2 years!

Bummin' around

Sorry all - someone just notified me today that the "What Is HCA" portion of the blog was not working. I have fixed it and all is well...check it out for specific info on what I am doing for 2 1/2 years.

Last night we went to Director Steve's house to have a few beers and eat some awesome grilled chicken breasts with Gates BBQ Sauce - it is great to have a director from Kansas City who enjoys KC BBQ as much as I do. After the meal we went to the South Bend Silver Hawk's game, a AAA affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks, drank a few more beers, then went back to Steve's place to watch movies. I fell asleep half way through Mr. and Mrs. Smith, waking up to Natalie telling me that Steve was taking us back to the Seminary for the night. Good times...

Today we are just bummin' around. Going to some arcade place in town and enjoying the beautiful weather, tomorrow we are most likely making a group trip to Chicago for the day.

Hope everyone has a great weekend :-)

~ M

new quotes

I have placed new quotes on the "They Say It Better" portion of my blog. I particularly enjoy the first two quotes from Thomas Dooley and Thomas Merton - pretty much describe my state of mind at this moment.

Hope everyone is having a great day ~ M

It is only Wednesday???

Wow...it is only Wednesday, but this week has been quite interesting, packed with self-discovery, spirtual reflection, a brief stint of homesickness on Tuesday, and the first drink of many with my housemates at the infamous Notre Dame bar known as Corby's on Tuesday. Sorry to all those who would have liked me to update this blog sooner - this long entry definitely makes up for lost time.

On Sunday night, I drove with Natalie to pick up our fourth and final housemate, Katie Hall, from Midway Airport in Chicago. It was fun - after picking up Katie, the three of us went to Olive Garden for dinner (thanks to the HCA for picking up the tab, hehe) and had great conversations. Patrick, our other Chile housemate who was in Chicago for his dad's birthday, met us at Olive Garden and we all drove back to Notre Dame together. The 2006-2008 Chile Associates are finally together :-) and once I figure out how to do it, a picture of all four of us will be posted soon.

On Monday morning, two recent graduates from Notre Dame, Matt and Clay, joined the Chile Associates for our two weeks of "cultural immersion training." Matt and Clay are going to Uganda, Africa for a year and a half, leaving at the same time we leave for Chile (only 12 more days!). Despite my reservations and beliefs about ND boys (just kidding), it is great having two domers with me, the smick chick, to reminsence about ND/SMC.

Also on Monday morning, Maureen Rosemary Connors, Ph.D., joined us to facilitate the first three days of our international training. From Florida, 60ish year old Maureen is well-traveled, incredibly brilliant and an absolutely fabulous lady. It has been a joy getting to know her and it is my hope she will be able to join us when we come back from Chile to assist in our transition/re-entry process. Maureen's three day trainings were titled "Developing Intercultural Sensitivity as a Volunteer Missioner" (Monday), "Living and Serving in a Turbulent World: Violence, Trauma, and Saftey" (Tuesday morning), "Examining Intercultural Conflict" (Tuesday evening), and "The Stress of Overseas Living: Stress Management and Self Care"(Wednesday). Monday was particularly interesting as I was given the results of a test I took a week or so ago examining my views and biases toward those from a different culture...as shocking as it is, let's just say that I still some work to do towards reaching a goal of complete adaptation and inegration of culture differences, haha.

Tuesday morning I experienced something that I had never experienced before: homesickness. Yeah, I am suprised too...I am an independent and self-sufficent 22-year old woman who has been able to live at least 11 hours away from home, visiting only for Christmas and summer, for the past 4 years - I prided myself that I did not get homesick unlike my peers. To this day, however, I cannot explain the reason for waking up on Tuesday morning wishing that I was at home. Thinking that I could hide my condition from my housemates was a mistake: Tuesday morning's topic was about violence, trauma, and saftey overseas, filled with various scenarious on how our life may be complicated or ended while on our journey as well as conversations about dealing with changes in our family or losing loved ones while we are gone...hard to talk about these topics when you wish you were with your family at that exact moment. So, while these conversations were EXTREMELY helpful, it was horrible timing as they combined with my feeling of homesickness and resulted in, what I can admit, are some tears as I talked to my mom on the phone after the lecture. But, for all those concerned for me at this moment (this means you too Grandma, hehe), no worries - talking to my mom and my best friend Brian helped and I was back to my good ol' self by noon. That doesn't mean that I don't miss my family, but ya know what I mean.

The last thing I want to share with you about Maureen's teachings was a thing called "Compassion Fatigue." Have you ever heard of it? I had not but certainly can see myself experiencing it while I am away. Compassion fatigue is experienced by so many people in fields where they care for people under extreme circumstances, including doctors, nurses, EMS personnel, police, firemen, victim advocates, and of course, missioners or international service volunteers. It is often known as the stress of "Caring Too Much" but is NOT labeled as "burnout". Burnout is associated with stress and hassles involved in your work; it is very cumulative, is relatively predictable and frequently a vacation or change of job helps a great deal. Compassion Fatigue is very different. Compassion Fatigue is a state of tension and preoccupation with the individual or cumulative trauma of clients, thus absorbing the trauma through the eyes and ears of your clients. For those with Compassion Fatigue, morale drops and personal relationships are affected; home lives and personality deteriorates, eventually leading to overall decline in general health. Pretty much, you minimize or stop seeing the passion, excitement, and joy in your own life because you care too much about the pain and suffering about those you are helping...your own life and your own happiness and tribulations, as well as the happiness of others, become insignifcant due to seeing, experiencing, and dealing with the pains and tribulations of others. ANYWAY, I tell you this because I can see myself vulnerable to suffering from Compassion Fatigue if I do not take care of myself because I do tend to "care too much." Finding a balance to take of myself mentally and physically will enable me to help serve others in Chile better, and it is my hope that all of you who are reading this rediculously long blog entry and acutally care about what I am doing, will help me in maintaining my relationshiop with you and contribute to this balance in my life.

Alright, last thing I am going to talk about tonight - promise. Talking about these topics this week and really examining my ability to perform 2 1/2 years of service, live in a foreign country, speak a foreign language, and uphold the mission and four pillars of Holy Cross Associates with my three other housemates - who all have different definitions of, and notions of commitment to, these areas really stressed me out. Not the "I cannot think straight or sleep" kinda stress, but just enough to get me worried about whether or not this program will be what I expected it to be. Then my housemate Natalie said something to me: Let Go and Let God. I have been so tense these past few days, worrying about things that I cannot control...again, not like me I know but this seminary has an effect on people, haha. Natalie and Katie, thorugh a great conversation, helped me to realize that I need to just make this experience the way that I want it to be and stop concerning myself with whether it will meet my expectations. Simply, let go and let God; God will do the rest and my experience will be what it needs to be. A giant weight has been lifted off of my shoulder and I feel great...I cannot wait to see what tomorrow brings.

For now, it is back to Chicago. In just a few minutes, I am driving Katie back to Midway Airport so she can go home for her brother's wedding this week.

Hope everyone is well and talk to you again very soon ~ M

P.S. Although somewhat expected, Talladega Nights, the Will Ferrell movie I saw with Steve and Natalie this past weekend, was horrible! There were one or two parts that were funny just because it was rediculously stupid, but other than that, I could not wait until the movie ended. Thanks to Steve for buying our tickets but everyone can just save their money.

Guest Book added

Hey everyone - I just added a guest book to my blog...so if you are visiting my site for the first time, PLEASE SIGN IT!

Everything is going great here, just hanging out with Natalie. All the domestic associates have left and Patrick has gone to Chicago to celebrate his dad's 60th bday. Steve, Director of HCA, Natalie and I are going to see Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby in just a bit...hahaha, things you do when you get bored at the Seminary. :-)

Have a great day all ~ M

Day 6 of HCA Orientation - Goodbye to Domestic Associates

Nothing much going on today - domestic associates are leaving at various times throughout the day to make the looooong trip to their sites. My thoughts and prayers are with them, not only through their year of service, but as they make their way across the country experiencing the culture that is "Greyhound." :-)

Will miss all of you - best of luck and God Bless, please keep in touch!

~ M

P.S. Recently, I have come across many quotes that seem to best express myself as a Holy Cross Associate. Click on "Describing My Experience...They Say It Better" on the right hand side of my blog to see them. I am sure these are just the start of many to come.

Day 4 of HCA Orientation, Day 1 of tracking Michelle's South American Adventures

Hey everyone! Well...this is the first entry on my blog. While I am not really into the whole "exposing your daily life through an online journal that the whole world can see" kinda gal, this is the best way to keep in touch and share my adventures with you over the next 2 1/2 years. I miss you all so very much already and I hope all is well.

Currently I am in Day 4 of Holy Cross Associates (HCA) Orientation training. Those who are participating in the 1-year HCA Domestic Program are also with us 2 1/2-year Chile Associates for training. The domestic associates live and complete their year of service in one of five houses in the United States: Phoenix, Colorado Springs, Portland, or Brockton, Massachusettes. They are an amazing group of people and will certainly be missed.

We, the Chile Associates, will stay for two more weeks here at Notre Dame to complete our cultural immersion training. It is a new adventure living in and training in the Moreau Seminary; I have never lived in a religious community before and we share our meals with those priests, seminarians, and candidates. I am proud to say that I have gained not only a new perspective on those in this religious community but I have gained many of them as my new friends, mentors, and partners in Christ.

Currently, Patrick, Natalie, and I are waiting on the arrival of Katie, our fourth Chile Associate. Katie graduated from Louisiana State University (LSU) and served as a HCA domestic associate last year in Coachella, California. She ended her service about four days before HCA orientation began, so HCA has told her that she can take off the first week of orientation to relax and spend time with her family before she heads back to HCA and another 2 1/2 years of service.

I am going to set up an option on the side that explains Holy Cross Associates and its four "pillars" to give you a better idea of what this program is about and why I am so passionate and excited about serving as an associate for 2 1/2 years. Simply click on "What is HCA?" and it should pop up - happy reading :-)

Underneath the "What is HCA?" link, I am also going to put a link to the Holy Cross Associates Chile website as well as links to other associates' blogs. Ryan, Emily, Roy, and Caitlin are currently in Chile and serving their first year. I highly recommend Ryan's blog...it is funny, concise, and gives an accurate portrayal of life in Chile.

Other than training, everything is going great. I am having a great time meeting new people and hanging out with the other associates. I hope to write more about Natalie, Patrick, and Katie later as well as all the new things I am learning about my upcoming adventures.

I hope everyone is well and that you will check my blog often. Feel free to leave comments for me and let me know what you think about my recent post, or sign my guest list. Regardless, please keep in touch and let me know what you are up to - I certianly will and hope you will do the same.

Love ~ M

P.S. I would like to wish my mom a Happy Birthday today! Hope you have a great day mom, love ya!