It is mid afternoon Friday and we are still waiting for the phone people to come and install. They said they would be here this morning. Oh well.
More Cyber Café time…
This job is very difficult without internet. So much is of the work involves communication.
No more complaining.
So without being able to communicate – (had to get one more in) I’ve had some ‘free time’ on my hands. The ladies of the Pastoral Team had other ideas. Thank goodness! The trip to Usulután was fruitful in that we were able to track down prices for construction materials that seemed fair. And the owners were absolutely delightful and helpful. They recognized us as an institution trying to help communities and seem willing to work with us giving decent prices and free transportation from there to Berlin. That was a good visit.
We’ve also been able to speak with a ‘master builder’ and arrange a visit to a community for the construction of a set of bathrooms for a new school. We’ll go out to measure next Friday and he will prepare for us a budget. I had hoped this would have been done while I was gone – but no such luck. So I get to participate! Part of the problem of getting things done while I am gone is that no one here can drive – except Alejandro – and he is in school every day. And he doesn’t have his license yet. No license is not normally a real problem out in the communities – but the police now and again do like to harass people.
This morning (Friday) I made a HUGE batch of spaghetti sauce for freezing for future meals. That was a request of the Team. And for lunch, we took advantage of having good (in our opinion) sauce and I made pizza for us. Otilia was here today so she got to enjoy some, too. I usually only cook in the evenings – and she cannot be here in the evenings. So it was nice to enjoy a meal all together. I even did all the dishes afterwards.
I should take a nap … I haven’t been sleeping well at all since I got back. But I know that as soon as I doze – the phone folks will be here… maybe I should go do that!!! Might speed up the process!
October 16, 2010 – another day
I never made it to the cyber café yesterday … but now it is Saturday.
For the record – I didn’t get a nap in yesterday. I don’t like to nap. I feel guilty. The Pastoral Team never naps … or rests … they might watch a soap opera over the lunch hour … but they are often disturbed by the door or phone. So their quiet time is not often very restful.
Friday night was great. At about 4 p.m. we went to the church to start decorating for the confirmation mass. Blanca is a Catechist. She helps teach/train young people to become confirmed in the faith. We had purchased flowers a bit earlier and there was a young man ready to make arrangements for the altar. I ended up helping blow up balloons with a couple of kids, a woman and two men. Then we had to tie them together in two-somes. While we were doing that, the group that was going to sing for the mass the next day came in to practice. These are old friends of mine, so before they got into the real practice, they played around with some secular music: Cat Stevens, Chicago, Billy Joel, etc. It was fun to sing along.
When the balloons were done, I helped Blanca and Cecilia make name tags for all the confirmation kids. We had to wait till the 5 p.m. mass was done to actually begin decorating the church. For all the above pre-prep, we were in a big meeting room off the sanctuary.
After the mass, we had a chance to all eat together. Then we started in on the flowers and placing the balloons. It looked lovely when all was done. And the camaraderie was special. It really is a gift to me if I can contribute in some small way to the special celebrations of life here.
On Saturday, the Bishop came to serve mass at 10 a.m. Of course, I attended. And it dragged on for almost 3 hours. The Bishop has this beautiful and lilting way of talking. And being as tired as I’ve been for the past week … I wanted to nod off at times. (And looking around me, I was not alone with this problem). Fortunately, he “yells” a few times during his homily. Not yelling per se – but he emotes. He throws in a few jokes now and again. And this helped keep me focused.
Afterwards, I went home and had a quiet lunch with Idalia (bean soup with veggies and a tortilla). The others stayed behind to tidy up and participate in the photo taking. Just after we finished eating, one of our new translators visited with his wife and two little children. That was a lovely diversion. William is a fabulous translator and it was great to meet his family! They have very CUTE children aged 2 and 3.
Then Tito showed up to visit a bit (our technical school scholarship student).
By the time everyone left … I was tired. But I needed to check emails. So I visited a cyber café (but didn’t post a blog … sorry). The one I went to the day before was closed so I asked around and found another. In a day and a half I received 48 emails. And about half needed a response. Sigh. Such is the life.
So now – Saturday night … I find myself very tired and in my room ready for bed by 7:30. How pathetic is that?? But I decided to write this instead. So you see … I DO love you! Ha-ha.
I’ll post this when I can get to the cyber café on Sunday. Hopefully one will be open.
But for now … good night. This mission co-worker wants to sleep.
Oh … and I know that God has way more important things to take care of … but a small mention of ‘internet for the Pastoral House’ would be appreciated.
:o)
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