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.