Todo En Su Tiempo

Wednesdays around here are sort of a "free evening" day because we only have morning prayer (so, if the Sisters wish to do something out of the daily work, they can take this evening). Today, September the 8th, is S. Maria's Birthday! She would not tell us how many years she has been alive but my guess would be about 50-55 tops. S. Maria is such a lively woman who speaks ridiculously fast in spanish. When she talks I literally just try my best to listen for key words so I can make out what it is, she is talking to me about. Then I repeat what I think she said and she'll say yes or no. Once, I told her that she speaks really fast for me and she looked at me for 5 seconds, raised her eyebrows, and smiled. She is a sweetheart too. One always knows when S. Maria is around because she whistles her way throughout the house, so you can hear her before you see her. Happy many Birthdays to you Sister Maria!
     Today at Colegio San Benito (how funny huh, english translation: College of Saint Benedict) was my first REAL work day! I had two classes come to the computer lab: one was math, the other narrative writing. With the math class, I sort of just supervised the students and made sure they were all playing math games. But in the narrative writing class, I helped with Microsoft Word editions 2003 and 2007. It was simply spell check, open file, save and print. The teacher (Ms. J. Morales) had given them an assignment to write their own narrative short story. As I walked around the computer lab, I read bits and pieces from the student's papers, some of them had titles like, "Violent School", "Biggest Loser, Gustavo", "Robot Mixer", and "Ms. Morales and her Puppy." Something I noticed right away was how meticulous the stories were. For example, "Biggest Loser, Gustavo" (more like BIGGEST LOSER, Gustavo!) went something along the lines of, "Gustavo is so fat. He wants to loose weight. So he plays a show to get fit. He weighs 3,000 pounds. He has to be naked because no clothes fits him. So he loses weight. Then he is happy because he is fit." Wow! I can really picture this Gustavo guy being really fat and sad, but determined to loose weight. So he participates in a game to help him "get fit". Sounds a lot like the TV show "Biggest Loser", but the fact that a 2nd grader can type this amazes me for some reason. I cannot complain, I had a great day in the lab.
     Then, I helped Ashley with Mrs. Velasquez class. I believe Mrs. Velasquez has the most kindergardeners out of the three classes. She has this one particular boy (whom I will not mention his real name and will call Bobby) who is a handful himself. He did not attend pre-school, and is the youngest of them all. So, Bobby said (because he didn't ask) he needed to go to the bathroom and I said no. There was about five minutes of class left and since he wasn't doing the "Pee-Pee dance" (you know when a child is holding their legs tight and swinging them from side to side saying, "I really need to go") I thought I could make him wait it out. But he insisted that he needed to go and started crying, so I walked him to the restroom. He went in, washed his hands and came out. As he was walking out, I told him that we needed to hurry up because it was already time to go home. Well, instead of hurrying up to the classroom, Bobby started running towards the gate (about a 50 yard dash). He ran all the way to the front of the gate, turned around, ran towards the classroom, then turned back around and ran towards the gate again, waited, then ran to the classroom (meanwhile, I'm running behind him the whole time scared to death that this little boy might actually exit the gate). I have to admit, its funny now, but I was worried. But he made it to class safe.

      After school, S. Mary Ruth and S. Vivian took Ashley and I out for a drive. We drove up to Naguabo (the next town East) and walked on the beach. The scenery was breathtaking, the water was clear, little fish were dancing around our feet, and the sun shining high like only the sun can. It was the perfect place to take the time to really see a part of God's perfect creation and feel blessed for having the privilege of just being there.
     I really am happy to be here, and truly am grateful for being able to experience what I have experienced so far. I know it has only been a week and 4 days and have a lot to learn, but not every 22 year old, just out of college grad has the opportunity to live in a Benedictine Monastery, with 10 wonderful Sisters and volunteer at a K-9th grade school where everyday is a learning experience. Yes, I could have been working for a salary or hourly wage, but would I be discovering who I am? Or who I want to be? Or how I want to be? With myself? Towards others? Probably not. And like my sweet Father always says, "Todo en su tiempo" (Everything in its time). And  right now that "tiempo" is about me and my spiritual, physical, and mental journey with the Benedictine Values and how they will define my values for the rest of my life.