Mi Primer Dia (my First day)

I woke up today at around 8:30 Am and took a very quick shower. It’s the fall here, and it is pretty chilly. I didn’t want to be out of my clothes for very long. After dressing in multiple layers, I went in the kitchen for breakfast (toast and coffee).

I spoke with Sr. Marie Isabella in Spanish for a bit and then she took me in the garden and showed me the different trees and flowers. There were pears, apple, lemon, orange and walnut trees.



















We also said hi to “Guaton,” the big white dog with a floppy ear (they say his daddy ears stood up, and his mommy's ears went down) who was resting in his dog house. He is loose in the yard protecting us at night.



At 10am Sr. John Marie took me to see the other quarters that was available to me. I’m sharing a bathroom with a 20 year old the pre-postulate named Solange, and the sisters wanted to offer me alternate accommodations if I wanted more privacy. It was a large empty convent house with a bunch of bedrooms. Sr. John Marie said she lived with other sisters there for a while when she was in Santiago 30 years ago. Now it was empty and used for when sisters visited from other convents for meetings and storage. She showed me the room that the sisters thought I could use if I wanted to move there, but I said that I was happy to stay in the main house with the sisters. Sr. John Marie said that is what she thought, but they wanted to give me the option.

Then we toured the school. It’s a nice campus with lots of areas for the children to run and enjoy. We went into the teacher’s room, where Sr. John Marie introduced me to ALL the teachers and then visited the Director of the school and then the different buildings.

I returned to the convent, studied my Spanish workbooks, talked with Solange for a bit, and then we had lunch around 1pm with the sisters. The lunch was prepared by a woman named Elsa. She made soup, salad and Pasteles de Papa (a chilean dish), which was like Shepards pie, with meat with olives and potatoes on top, followed by a coffee cake. It was delicious. After lunch, Sr. John Marie said that it was a Chilean custom to take a nap after lunch, and that I was welcome to do so. I did so gladly.

At 4:30, Solange and I went to the school to help make sandwiches, which I later learned would be given to the poor. We then took a nice long walk around the neighborhood. Solange would point out something and ask me the name in Spanish and then she would ask me to tell her the name in English. We returned to the convent and let Guaton out to run around, and then returned to the convent for a quick snack(cake and coffee).

At 6:30 I bundled up in my jacket and scarf, and Solange and I walked to church in town for the rosary and then a mass. I remember the rosary prayers from Sr. Helen’s Spanish class. We did an entire rosary, so I had lots of practice on Hail Mary. Our Father and Glory Be, not so much. I didn’t understand most of what was said in the mass itself, but I followed along with the book as best I could.

Solange and I drove back to the convent with the sisters. We then joined Sr. Justin and Sr. Anni and some of the girls, teachers and parents from the school. We were headed to the men's shelter in downtown Santiago to distribute the sandwiches we made earlier in the day. I think it was about 9:00 pm.

One of the parents I met told me that he had visited New York and St. John Villa Academy with his family last September. He encouraged his daughter to meet me and to speak to me in English, but she did the same thing I would do…clam up.

Anyway, there were about 14 of us assembled for the trip to the men’s shelter. We packed 7 of us in a little Nissan and the rest in a SUV. We drove about 20 minutes to the downtown area of Santiago to the shelter. Then we carried in sandwiches, cakes and coffee into a small room with a kitchen area and a long table where the men were waiting for our arrival.

First Sr. Anni said a prayer, and then papers with song lyrics on them were handed out to everyone in the room. One of the teachers, Paulina, played the guitar and everyone sang along. I had a moment (that often happens in group connections) where I started tearing up. It was very touching.

Then we handed out the food and drinks, and mingled with the residents. I spoke with a teacher, Patricia, who was an alumnae of St. John Villa in Chile and had visited St. John Villa Academy in New York 1992. We had a nice conversation, and she helped me with some of the phrases that I had trouble with.

The group finished up the event around 10:30 by handing out little houses and cards that were made by the students, and thanking the men for letting us visit them. We packed up our stuff and said goodbye.

On the way home, I had a nice conversation with one of the parents about the school, his job, his daughters, and the city of Santiago. I felt good about beating my stage fright. I still have a lot of vocabulary to pick up, but I feel like I am making progress.

We returned to the school around 11:30. Long day…but un bien dia.