Hello again! For fun, I kept a log of my daily activities for seven days, Thursday to Wednesday since the last posting, to give a snapshot of my ´routine´ for those who might be interested -- and with the risk of putting up more than you ever wanted to know :). Beginning last Thursday...
Thursday, 2/21
5:50____wake up, stretch
6:30____run, with Milagros (19-year-old whose family took me the beach earlier -- name, which is common here, means ´Miracles´) and Nicole. Nicole and I meet Milagros at a pre-arranged corner after waiting just a few minutes.
7:25____sweep up trash/sweep sidewalk/water street in front of house
8:00____N&E leave, I read daily scripture, write in journal, use my head weights (chiropractor-recommended to help my spinal health by encouraging correct posture)
8:45____Breakfast (´Quaker´ -- oatmeal drink with milk and cinnamon, bread) and reading out loud in Spanish for practice (a book about ministry with Hispanic youth)
10:00___Computer work at the sisters´ house (there are now four - Juanita, Rosaline, Katty and Silvia, soon to be joined by Sophia, a fifth) to work on translating the youth´s sharings about their Lima trip and print out some English class material.
12:30___Back home for a bit of guitar practice
1:15____Lunch by Nicole, who has the day off (chicken, boiled potatoes, fresh tomatoes), dish duty
2:30____Planning for tonight´s English class -- I´ve found a decent curriculum (Interchange) to follow (by helping occasionally at a local private institute, they have shared resources with me) so I don´t have to come up with everything from scratch.
3:30____Talk with Dad on his birthday
4:30____Meeting with Fr. Carlos (and supposedly Elmer, who didn´t show up) about plans to start a childrens´(8-12) basketball team for the parish. Elmer and another friend, Juan Carlos, will be heading it up, though we´re now in initial planning stages.
5:30____15 minute walk to make copies for English class -- they now know me well, as I come most Mondays and Thursdays. Copies are 5 centimos each (about 2 cents).
6:30____Quick dinner at home (leftover pasta from yesterday) and arrange copies.
7:00____at parish for brief meeting with Lima trip youth, to pass out material and choose neighborhoods that pairs will visit in our parish youth survey. An impressive start only fifteen minutes late gives us a quarter hour to accomplish the task, which we manage. Three youth arrive, though, at 7:45, after the meeting is over and English class well under way.
7:30____English class (divide basic/intermediate groups, Nicole and Emily leading reading/comprehension with the basic group)
9:30____In a bit of a change from the usual, I join Emily and Nicole in going to a Nuevo Chimbote discoteca for the goodbye party of a US med student named Laura (from Nebraska) who has been helping at hospice and became friends with E & N. A number of hospice friends come along, for a group of about 15. There is a live band playing cumbia and salsa in a large warehouse type structure with a uniformed dancing group that reminded me for some reason of Las Vegas or Reno. I was suffering from severe sleepyness at 12:00 so Laura and I shared a taxi home an hour or so before the rest of the group.
1:00____bed
Friday, February 22
6:05____get-up, stretch
6:35____Run, with Milagros (and her former high school teacher, who we run into along the way)
7:30____Breakfast (quaker), journal/scripture, conversation with N & E
8:30____head weights, weekly laundry by hand
10:00___Shower, dress
10:45___Visit internet cafe, more translation and personal emailing
12:30___Lunch, again by Nicole (hamburgers, fried sweet potatoes), talk with Emily
2:00____reading (old Newsweek sent by Mom)
3:00____Deliver a Lima trip photo CD to Yelina´s house, 10 minute walk
3:30____Clean house: sweep floors, clean kitchen/bathroom/dining room table -- in preparation for English students visiting in the evening
5:30____Make cornbread for snack (turns out to be popular), fold laundry from line, eat dinner (bread with cucumber/tomato, fruit, puffed wheat cereal)
7-9_____English class conversation practice. Our biggest group yet, about 17 people show up. We run out of chairs and have to divide into two groups.
9:15____Choir rehearsal, with some good individual help from the director (was lacking in this area originally)
11:00___Two choir members accompany me home, quite tired
11:30___bed
Saturday, February 23
7:30____get up, breakfast, journal/scripture (no running today), head weights
9:00____Michi calls
10:30___Shower, dress, prep for day
11:30___Walk downtown (20 minutes) to pay for CD´s ordered at Lima course and a visit to the supermarket
1:30____Lunch (bread, garbanzo beans, tomatoes, cucumbers)
2:30____meet up with Lenin, from Lima trip group, to do four hours of youth surveying. We talk with 13 youth and I have a good, tiring experience. Other groups are covering different neighborhoods over the weekend.
7:00____Dinner (bread, garbanzo, cucumber, tomato), rest, guitar practice, phone conversation with Sister Katty concerning ministry with youth
9:00____Choir rehearsal, goes a bit late.
11:30___arrive home, accompanied by two choir members.
12:00___bed
Sunday, February 24
6:00____get up
6:30____run, with Nicole and we climb the cerro (small hill of sand), meeting up with Milagros and her uncle along the way.
7:30____Journal, scripture, dishes, breakast (quaker), head weights
9:15____shower, dress
10:00___Closing ceremony/certificates for summer childrens´ classes at the parish -- I had teamed up to do the English class. Performances by the dance class kids and the speech class. Very hot today in the sun.
12:30___back home for lunch (rice, chicken, carrots)
1:30____rest, guitar, a bit of the dubbed Narnia movie on TV
3:15____Mom and Dad call
4:45____Head out to play basketball at a neighbooring parish
7:00____Shower, get ready for church
7:30____Sunday mass with Emily and Nicole.
9:00____Roger and Elvis (Nicole and Emily´s boyfriends, respectively) visit and we hang out at the house.
10:00___I excuse myself and head to bed.
Monday, February 25
6:10____get-up, stretch
6:35____run (solo, Milagros doesn´t show)
7:30____shower, breakfast, head weights, some girls visit to pick our figs, journal/scripture, reading out loud in Spanish
10:00___Computer work at internet cafe--finally finish translation of youth trip sharings, send it out, local ministry related emails.
12:45___Make lunch (mashed potatoes, lime-ginger-soy-carrots-tomatoes chicken
1:45____lunch with Emily and Nicole
3:00____Plan for tonight´s English class
5:00____snack/break
5:30____Internet to print class registration form, walk to make copies for class
7:15____set-up for class
7:30____English class (Emily and I do the basic grammar, reading/comprehension for intermediate students led by Nicole)
9:30____Hang out with Elvis and Emily at home
10:00___Head to bed
Tuesday, February 26
6:00____Get up, stretch
6:30____run with Roberto (friend/student) and Milagros
7:20____journal, scripture, talk with Emily and Nicole before they go to work
8:00____head weights
8:20____shower, breakfast, dress
9:15____downtown trip to pick up ordered CD´s at the bus agency, make a copy of a key
10:00___sit in on/help with an English class at Metropolis private institute, where I´ve gotten the class curriculum I now use. I plan to help/visit about once a week or so.
1:00____lunch by Emily (noodles with ground meet and cheese), do dishes
2:00____make hummus, read, play guitar
5:00____prep for evening meeting
6:00____dinner (hummus and bread)
6:30____Phone conversation with Michi
7:00____Meeting with youth to organize upcoming events and discuss survey. Was to start at 7:00, but we get going at 7:40 -- mostly youth from Lima trip plus a couple more, plus Father Carlos and Sister Katty. A good discussion, based largely on some of the questions raised by the youth we have surveyed -- not overly productive in a practical sense, but meaningful group faith sharing. I´m getting a bit more capable of navigating a meeting in Spanish.
10:00___Hang out at home with Elvis, Roger, Nicole and Emily.
10:30___bed
Wednesday, February 27
6:00____get-up, stretch
6:35____run (solo, as Milagros doesn´t show). I run into Elmer at my turn around point and we run back together.
7:15____sweep/trash/water street duty
7:45____talk, tea, scripture,journal
8:30____head weights
9:00____breakfast, shower
9:45____leave house for internet (print English class readings, ministry/personal emails)
11:00___trip to supermarket and outdoor market for the week´s food, coming home with a heavy backpack
1:00____start cooking lunch
1:45____lunch with Emily and Nicole (lime chicken, rice with vegetables)
3:00____Plan English class for Thursday, cook rice pudding
5:00____Guitar practice
6:30____Talk with Emily, Nicole
7:00____Mass with Emily, Nicole, and María -- a two-month volunteer from Germany in the nearby Capilla San Felipe who I met last week.
8:00____María comes over to visit and have rice pudding, as she is leaving town Friday. Nicole and Emily talk with thier folks online 8-9, but join us afterward.
10:30___María takes a cab home and we three hang out a bit longer, laughing about life in Chimbote.
11:30___bed
Thursday, February 28 -- see description of hospice trip below.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Hey Todd, I already wrote a blog once but it failed to post, so I will try, try again. Your daily journal meant so much because it helped me visualize your routine. Maybe all the details are too much for some, but a mom who loves you just gobbles them up! Thank you! I was so touched by your accounts of the patients you visited during your hospice morning. I was filled with compassion for them due to your descriptions and can just imagine how helpless you feel and how your heart is torn. When you gave the massage, what did the woman mean by "Si, sabe"? I would really like to supply the money for the man's medicine. Is there any way you can acquire that medicine in Chimbote if we got the money to you? Let me know. I am touched by your stories and proud of you for trying so hard to bring something good and new--hope?--to these suffering people.
It's great that there is such a good response to your efforts to teach English also. That is a skill that is needed by many here in the States that you might pursue when you return, since you will be a well practiced "ESL" teacher by then.
In less than a month I get to see you--yay!! Love you, Mom
Dearest Todd,
Thank you for sharing your life in Chimbote with us. I admit that there were moments when it was hard to read because the distance between us is emphasized. Although, your entry about your visits with the hospice patients and your work with the youth is a reminder of your greater purpose for being there. Of course, I am reminded of how proud I am of you for living out this calling. You are truly touching people's lives through your physical and spiritual touch. You do give good back rubs!
I also thank you for sharing because the hardship that you encounter really puts life into perspective. There are moments when I get so trapped in my own boxes (as you heard over the phone :) ) that it is hard to realize that there is hope by opening those doors and letting the new good thing into our lives.
You are such a special person. I am so blessed to have you in my life!
Love always,
Michi
Hola Todd,
Thanks so much for sharing your daily life and happenings in Chimbote!! You are doing great things there and despite your fears of not making a lasting impression -You impact everybody's life that you have come into contatct!! -I know you definitely have for me and I've shared that with you before. Hopefully, you will be able to witness just how you have touched the lives of those in Chimbote before your 2 yr stay is over. Try to enjoy your time there and do what is only humanly possible and don't be so hard on yourself :)
Hearing of your hospice visits is saddening. Yet, knowing that you and others are caring for these people (even when their families have abandoned them) is a beautiful thing. I laughed when I read what the old lady said "si, sabe" b/c it's true!!
Well, you and N&E are in my daily prayers! God bless!
Jaclyn
Post a Comment