So with all the changes I know i'll be experiencing in the next while and all the unknowns I know one thing about the next 2 weeks. It's going to be hot! Now I have to say it for my Missourians... it's a dry heat. =) Which is always nice. Although Texans consider it a humid heat.
My flight was landing and over the intercom they said it was 100 degrees.
I loved the welcoming! I met Meg and Mike at the airport without a problem and we headed to our orientation home at the Mexican American Catholic College on the west side of San Antonio. It's a very working class neighborhood, but there's a lake that I'm anxious to take a run at. I tried to go this morning, but got a little lost so I gave myself a nice tour of the area =) I started the run to the sound of a rooster. (I'm not kidding.)
It was a nice break from all the goodbyes with lots of smiles and hugs.
When we got to MACC 4 others already arrived and we all ended up hopping in a 15 passenger van to pick the last 2 up from the airport later.
There are 16 missioners already in sites and there are 8 of us at orientation.
Monterrey-these 4 are starting this community
Mike-grew up in St. Louis. Went to Mizzou & graduated last year. Worked with JVC in Cleveland last year and is with IWM for 1 year.
Andrea-moved around while growing up, but attended college at St. Mary's (affiliated with Notre Dame). She's with IWM for 1 year (I think). She was so excited yesterday it was amazing! She was the first one to get up and give me a great hug when I walked into the Fiesta Room yesterday. She said her cheeks hurt from smiling so much. She's wonderful!
Linda-just retired. I admire her greatly because she set-up a storage unit with some of her things, but sold everything else. She's a go-getter and she's worked in many different facets (to say the least) and seems to have a connection everywhere. She lives in San Antonio.
Paula-is from England. She is in her early 30s and seems like a wonderful person to calm you down if you're stressed, she has very loving words.
Peru
Jenn-just graduated from SLU. She's had a lot of experience in community and loves St. Louis. She's originally from Iowa so we talked about Ragbrai a little bit =) She brought her teddy bear, which kind-of made me wish I brought snuggles, but i'm really trying to grow up...
Marcelle-is also in her 30s. She is from around this area as well. She has a couple degrees with nursing being one of them. She currently (well i guess not anymore) worked in the ER and she is excited to get out of the hospital.
and....Mexico City (D.F.)
Melissa-just graduated from Loyola. I like her already. It's funny that her best friend from Loyola, Hannah, is best friends (from high school) with one of my best friends from DePaul, Inez. We're roommates here and I'm excited to be her housemate in Mexico!
I guess I assumed we would fly to Mexico City, but apparently we're taking the bus. Honestly, when I first heard this I got very excited. We'll get to see so much more of Mexico this way. Apparently, we'll go to Monterrey stay the night with the group who will stay there and then head on our way to D.F. Sounds like it'll be around 13 hours in total. Can't wait! But as Meg reminded us today...stay in the moment. She said it's like Christmas. We have advent before when everyone is super excited for Christmas, but we just need to wait and prepare ourselves and it will be even more wonderful than we think.
She also brought up the point of letting go of all expectations. I honestly don't have all that many so I don't think that should be extremely hard. They gave us journals (very nice ones in fact) and Meg said write down all our expectations to get them out and forget about them.
It's so strange how so many of us know mutual people, etc. Meg calls it the six degrees of separation in the social justice world.
This morning for our introductions we got a blank sheet of paper and were told to draw ourselves as trees. I think mine was the most strange... i drew a person (myself) doing the tree pose in Oz Park. I said how your toes are your roots and they keep expanding, but don't get smaller. It's your strong base, family, close friends, etc. I think I have some pretty strong roots and I'm very lucky for that. Your fingers spread out into the wind and you have to adapt to the wind around you. You adjust. like life. When something comes at you, you work with it and move on. Sometimes you fall out of the pose. That's ok. Get back up and try again. I also drew a normal tree off to the side because I am unique and although I'm in the tree pose, I'm not like that. (That's the basics of what I said.) Everyone's tree was very different. It was great. Who knew you could learn so much from a tree? =)
Quote of the day: "You are there to listen." ... not to do.
My flight was landing and over the intercom they said it was 100 degrees.
I loved the welcoming! I met Meg and Mike at the airport without a problem and we headed to our orientation home at the Mexican American Catholic College on the west side of San Antonio. It's a very working class neighborhood, but there's a lake that I'm anxious to take a run at. I tried to go this morning, but got a little lost so I gave myself a nice tour of the area =) I started the run to the sound of a rooster. (I'm not kidding.)
It was a nice break from all the goodbyes with lots of smiles and hugs.
When we got to MACC 4 others already arrived and we all ended up hopping in a 15 passenger van to pick the last 2 up from the airport later.
There are 16 missioners already in sites and there are 8 of us at orientation.
Monterrey-these 4 are starting this community
Mike-grew up in St. Louis. Went to Mizzou & graduated last year. Worked with JVC in Cleveland last year and is with IWM for 1 year.
Andrea-moved around while growing up, but attended college at St. Mary's (affiliated with Notre Dame). She's with IWM for 1 year (I think). She was so excited yesterday it was amazing! She was the first one to get up and give me a great hug when I walked into the Fiesta Room yesterday. She said her cheeks hurt from smiling so much. She's wonderful!
Linda-just retired. I admire her greatly because she set-up a storage unit with some of her things, but sold everything else. She's a go-getter and she's worked in many different facets (to say the least) and seems to have a connection everywhere. She lives in San Antonio.
Paula-is from England. She is in her early 30s and seems like a wonderful person to calm you down if you're stressed, she has very loving words.
Peru
Jenn-just graduated from SLU. She's had a lot of experience in community and loves St. Louis. She's originally from Iowa so we talked about Ragbrai a little bit =) She brought her teddy bear, which kind-of made me wish I brought snuggles, but i'm really trying to grow up...
Marcelle-is also in her 30s. She is from around this area as well. She has a couple degrees with nursing being one of them. She currently (well i guess not anymore) worked in the ER and she is excited to get out of the hospital.
and....Mexico City (D.F.)
Melissa-just graduated from Loyola. I like her already. It's funny that her best friend from Loyola, Hannah, is best friends (from high school) with one of my best friends from DePaul, Inez. We're roommates here and I'm excited to be her housemate in Mexico!
I guess I assumed we would fly to Mexico City, but apparently we're taking the bus. Honestly, when I first heard this I got very excited. We'll get to see so much more of Mexico this way. Apparently, we'll go to Monterrey stay the night with the group who will stay there and then head on our way to D.F. Sounds like it'll be around 13 hours in total. Can't wait! But as Meg reminded us today...stay in the moment. She said it's like Christmas. We have advent before when everyone is super excited for Christmas, but we just need to wait and prepare ourselves and it will be even more wonderful than we think.
She also brought up the point of letting go of all expectations. I honestly don't have all that many so I don't think that should be extremely hard. They gave us journals (very nice ones in fact) and Meg said write down all our expectations to get them out and forget about them.
It's so strange how so many of us know mutual people, etc. Meg calls it the six degrees of separation in the social justice world.
This morning for our introductions we got a blank sheet of paper and were told to draw ourselves as trees. I think mine was the most strange... i drew a person (myself) doing the tree pose in Oz Park. I said how your toes are your roots and they keep expanding, but don't get smaller. It's your strong base, family, close friends, etc. I think I have some pretty strong roots and I'm very lucky for that. Your fingers spread out into the wind and you have to adapt to the wind around you. You adjust. like life. When something comes at you, you work with it and move on. Sometimes you fall out of the pose. That's ok. Get back up and try again. I also drew a normal tree off to the side because I am unique and although I'm in the tree pose, I'm not like that. (That's the basics of what I said.) Everyone's tree was very different. It was great. Who knew you could learn so much from a tree? =)
Quote of the day: "You are there to listen." ... not to do.
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