¡Visita del Padre General Adolfo Nicolás, SJ!

It was such an honor today to have Father General Adolfo Nicolás SJ visit Colegio Roberto Clemente. It is not everyday that the Father General comes to Nicaragua. It may be the only time he passes by this way. He spent about an hour and a half here at school where he took a short tour and met with student and faculty representatives from the four Fe y Alegría schools in the area. There were a number of short speeches and cultural acts, including an amazing violin and guitar acompaniment by one of my students and her father. For me the highlight of the morning was hearing the Father General's short talk. Instead of preaching to the students he walked in front of the podium and began to ask them questions. In his few, but impactful, words he emphasized the role of education as a means to joy, faith, tolerance toward non-christian religions(!) and service to others, en todo amar y servir (In everything love and serve). Fe y Alegría as a project of the Jesuits serves over one million students worldwide. Colegio Roberto Clemente was chosen to receive the Father General because it was the first Fe y Alegría school in Nicaragua, founded in 1974. After spending the past ten years studying or working in Jesuits insitutions it was such an honor for me to meet the man in charge. As he was leaving my friend Yamil and I ran to get a photo with him. For being such a powerful and influential man in the Church he seemed, above all, like a genuine and humble man.

Here are some highlights from the morning:

Students waiting to welcome Adolfo Nicolás with flowers

Adolfo Nicolás SJ sitting with students from Colegio Roberto Clemente

Nicolás walking around campus with Roberto Clemente student, Fernando Cardenal SJ, national director of Fe y Alegría is seen in the background.

Yamil in front of the newly painted front wall in honor of the Father General's visit

Andrés a Swiss volunteer with Fe y Alegría, Adolfo Nicolás SJ, and me

Prof. Ena, me, Prof. Bertha, and Prof. Magaly from Col. Roberto Clemente

The Catch Up

I know it's getting bad in the blog department when my mom starts comparing my blog to that of Christine's. I know it's been sparse. The past month or so has been incredibly busy. We've had tons of guests, a week off for Holy Week, community retreat, and things at work keep me busy. Over Holy Week or Semana Santa we had three volunteers from Belize come down to visit. After about 6 buses, a boat, and a couple taxis they arrived at our house. It was great having other JVs in the house. I have to say, they were the easiest guests we´ve had. They knew just how to pitch in and how to sit idly in front of the fan with no need for entertainment. But in all seriousness, they are great girls and it was really special to share experiences of being a JV in two very distinct places. While the Belize JVs were here we took advantage of the Jesuit community's house at the Laguna de Apoyo. During Holy Week the beaches and lakes of Nicaragua are FULL of people. Sadly, many people die of drunken swimming and riptides. The lake where we went was happily chill with almost no one in sight, and gracias a Dios no one drowned.

Yesterday we returned from our first retreat of the year. Although it came a little late for us, the retreat was much needed. We were all feeling a little stretched thin. The first years are starting to get over the honeymoon period of being in love with Nicaragua, and I know at least I have been feeling tired and stretched thin. The second year experience while easier in many respects has many challenges. One of those challenges is staying present. For me it has been challenging to continually renew myself and continue to fall in love with my life here. Luckily, the theme of our retreat was Falling in Love. The theme comes from a saying of Pedro Arrupe, SJ.

“Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in a love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the mornings, what you will do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything.”

I really needed this retreat. It helped me get some perspective, cool down, and in a small way re-fall in love with Nicaragua.
Work lately has been up and down. I don't know what happens but sometimes my students are amazing, wonderful, brights little people, and sometimes they are horrible and devilish beasts. I can't explain what happens. I'm sure it's a combination of my own energy levels and presense in class and how much sugar they ate at recess, among other factors. Today was one of those days when, in the middle of class, I thought to myself: What would happen if I crossed the street, packed one bag, and took off? Those feelings always pass. I know that I freely choose to be here everyday. There is something liberating in that. I do love my students, but man some days it is hard to love them.

Well, that's what I have for now. I am currently reading The Brother's K by David James Duncan. It's really good so far. There's a lot in it about this thing called Baseball. It's apparently some kind of sport. They say people like it... (Yes, that's for you Joe.) It's a modern redering of the Brother's Karamozov and most importantly by the author of The River Why.