I spent this past weekend at Donaldson, Indiana, at a retreat sponsored by Valpo's Chapel. It was at Lindenwood, which is a ministry of the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ, a convent. The area was really beautiful, and I could feel that the air was cleaner.
We had a lot of time for meditation via different forms of prayer, as well as some time to play and take walks outside by the lake.
Their chapel was built in 1920, and is one of a kind for north west Indiana, a real catholic specialty. Here's a close up of their stain glass.
This is a long week for me. I had a test a couple hours ago, and I have three more on Friday. Also this afternoon for my major, International Economics and Cultural Affairs, we're doing a simulation on the U.S. response to international conflict, particularly in Columbia, which has been stricken with drug problems primarily with the Revolutionary party, the FARC.
In other news I'm locked into my trip to Chile this summer! It's organized by our local YMCA. I'll be there for two months assistant teaching English in primary schools. You know what's next: let the fundraising begin! We're starting a raffle on campus soon, and are hosting a huge babysitting night for YMCA members, hopefully it'll be a doozy.
I'm in the library taking a break from writing an 8 page research paper on vocation. I've interviewed a Professor from Valpo that's done some interpreting and translating work. I've learned a lot! I've also been pouring over reference encyclopedias and governments books on jobs, they actually have a lot on interpreting. Initially, my research has actually made me a little bit skiddish of the interpreting world, but I think going to Chile this summer will help my career choice a lot. I'll have time to teach some english, probably do some translating, and of course be immersed in the language. The real test is not just fluency, but speed and accuracy when interpreting. By the end of the summer I hope to know if I should keep my international economics and cultural affairs major, or maybe switch it to social work, I will definitely keep Spanish though.
This weekend there's a retreat hosted by the Chapel, that I'm really looking forward to. It's supposed to be on discernment, but regardless of that I just look forward to taking a break from school lifestyle (even though I just got back), time to be quiet, time for god conversation, and some time to play sports (they have a lake).
Listening to Imperials, by Ratatat, on the album LP3, very good studying music, no lyrics.
I’m on the train from O’Hare to downtown Chicago where I’ll connect to the South Shore Line to Valparaiso. I’m jamming to some electronica a friend of mine, Ben Harel, mixed, check it out: http://www.purevolume.com/JohnnyRealgood
A crapload of St. Patty’s day celebraters just flooded my part of the train. Why sit next to me? I don’t know, but they’re actually pretty chill so far. For some reason I’m looking forward to seeing a load of hung-over faces at my 9 AM class this Wednesday.
A lot’s on my mind as I near Valpo; a great week in New Orleans, the new friends I made and the older ones I bonded with; an amazing week home in Mass; the friends I miss at Valpo and how I look forward to furthering our relationships; my hopes for my classes, especially the three tests I have in the next two or so weeks, and the research paper due Friday; the B- I have in Spanish, a class I’ve found to be a lot harder then I’ve expected.
The St. Patty’s people just started talking to me somewhat indirectly. “Hey you get internet on there?” “Can I like, check my facebook?” We chatted a bit, and I was told I sounded like I was from the South. Apparently my week in Nawlins affected me more than I thought or my cough is just wreaking havoc with my voice, in a southern way. Go figure. Anyway, I got some beads out of the deal.
On the topic of New Orleans I ponder more about what I took from it. I’m not left with a great sense of helping a hurting city, just a sense of doing a little bit. In construction terms, we left less than a tiny mark on the 850,791 homes (http://www.throughtheeyeofthestorm.com/KatrinaFacts.htm) that need to be rebuilt. In emotional and spiritual terms I hope we did more. Wherever we went we shared our brief story, and met many looks of appreciation and happiness.
Now I’m having tea (fighting the cough) at Starbucks in Millenium Station. A friend from Valpo, Emily, just dropped by; she’s going for St. Patty’s drink with a friend at the Millenium Bar (there’s also a Recession Buster deal at the pizza place down here, it’s a pretty wild station).
What a week. I’m writing while on my flight into Boston. I just wrote out a brief play-by-play of our activities for every day and I’m already forgetting things! I believe part of this is due to the intensity and busyness of the experience and part due to my lack of sleep this week, especially the last two days. It's been tough at times, but far worth it.
Last night we had a brief meeting before bed. Everyone shared their best moments during the trip. It was a really great experience for me because I got to see what others were pondering throughout the trip. It always amazes me how many different things, small and large, can be important to people in many different ways.
For me, the most powerful moment actually came on our last day, during our visit to the memorial of the victims and survivors of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. When we got there were all pretty solemn and quiet. Personally, I felt extremely awkward being there, because I wasn't sure how the surrounding neighborhood felt about the many groups that come to visit. Almost immediately a few cars started honking at us. I became more nervous, but then I noticed the gentleman in the next car that honked gave us the peace sign. Graciously I realized they were honking for us, in true appreciation for our care for them. Words don't describe the peace and unity I felt. 
A little later while gathered around the memorial, Red, one of the members in our group, asked me to pray. Red's a great guy, I wouldn't have had the courage to pray with the group unless he had pushed me. I knew it was the right thing to do, but I felt very fearful of what those driving by and those living in the area would think. We made a circle and bowed our heads in prayer together. That moment brought the whole experience together for me, including my other times in Mississippi. It was another moment where I realized although I travelled to help the gulf coast, the gulf coast helped me.
In that moment, God viscerally affirmed for me that as long as I do his will and follow his ways, all things in my life will be taken care of by him. This great fact effects my entire life. I need not worry about my resume, GPA, future jobs, or what the economy will be like when I leave college. My father will take care of that in ways I can't imagine.
I can't control what others think of prayer, but I can do it and trust that God will ultimately use it for good.
Today (the 4th) was a pretty long day, but very productive. We completely finished packing up Miss Alberta's belongings, raked the lawn, mowed and weed whacked the lawn, and finally took out a shed.
In the interest of my health, I'm going to go to sleep because it's 1 AM and I have to get up at 6:30. However, I'm jotting down brief things in a document which will l coming spilling out into a huge blog on Saturday when I'll be waiting for my flight home for about 8 hours :)
I had a video I was trying to upload but it was taking forever, so for now enjoy this photo of what used to be Miss Alberta's shed:
So it's way too late for me to be writing this, as we have to get up at 6 to eat and get to work every day here, so I'm going to make it super brief. We started working today, we were assigned to a 96 year old woman who has been a foster mother all of her life and STILL IS for two of her grandchildren (15 and 17). Their house was flooded and had plenty of wind and rain damage. She's getting money from the government (I wonder how many people can say that?) to rebuild her house so we're taking everything out of it and putting it into storage.
Then this evening (after a super performance by our singing group, The Back Seat Boys - videos to come I think) some of the group decided to rest while 6 others and I went out to walk around the french quarter and get some Beignets from Cafe Du Monde.
After that, we headed down to the river for a few photos and good conversation.
I had several photos to upload but it's been uploading for about twenty minutes some going to call it quits and try tomorrow. Until then.
We made it! Those words are surprisingly significant. We set out at about 1 PM yesterday and didn't arrive to New Orleans until this evening at about 5PM. 28 hours. The shocker, we never made it to our sleeping point in Memphis (Trinity Lutheran Church). There was a snowstorm in Arkansas that slowed us down to about 25 MPH for 3 hours, had we continued, we would not have gotten to the the church before 3 or even 4 AM. At that point we decided to get to a hotel. A decision we had made to late, we found when we called over 10 hotels that had no vacancies. We trekked on until the two lane highway that had become a one laner came to a full stop. We sat for over 45 minutes, and had finally come up with a plan to take shifts sleeping and turning the car on and off for heat, when things picked up again and we stopped at a gas station. After much difficulty getting the gas pumps to work and thorough contemplation of our plan we decided to sleep in our vans in the gas station lest we end up doing the same on a highway.
Sleeping conditions in the back of the van
My technique for blocking out the bright lights under the Shell station.
Breakfast of (Shell)Champions
Morning eyes at breakfast after about 2 hours sleep plus anything gained while driving
Finally, after settling in and having a sort orientation at the LDR site, we went to the French Quarter to have dinner at Cafe Masnero on Decatur and Toulouse. Here's the trademark New Orleans Muffaletta Sandwich (this one has meat, I got the one with olive salad):
and then we went off to check out the better/healthier (haha) parts of Burboun St.
