This has been my first opportunity to write! I am safe and all is well. I am very tired and get a headache each day from all the spanish. Mike and I are having a hard time with the language, but Linda and Paula seem to be doing great! We have been at the main clinic (Fomorrey 35)yesterday and today. We are staying at the Colegio Mexicano now, but we saw the house that they are intending for us to live in. It is nicer than I expected, and it is 6 houses away from two Sisters. We are looking forward to living there. We have had lunch at the clinic both days and went to the grocery store to get fruits and veggies and some other food, basic supplies, so last night was the first supper that we prepared together...a spinach salad and a fruit salad. Lisa and Melissa rode the bus with us from San Antonio to Monterrey and stayed 2 nights with us before leaving for Mexico City this morning. I received an email from the Sister of the Holy Cross (Hermana Mica) that is in Monterrey too. She is excited to meet up with me, and I am excited for the opportunity to get together too. Today we were given a cell phone for the 4 of us to use to be in contact with our contact people at the clinic, but not to use for anything else yet. I ahve been wanting to get on to be in touch, but just couldn´t until now. Once we are in our new house, we will have a cyber cafe a few blocks away that costs 1 dollar per hour, but we won´t be able to use internet at the clinic very much. It seems like we will be doing some hospice care in people´s homes. They want us to start a new program that they have been doing research for. Noone has gotten sick yet...(knock on wood), and we have hot water, and Culligan style machines for drinking water where we are staying. I have mixed emotions. It is challenging to be here, I feel awkward with the new people, but they are very welcoming, and I know it just takes time and patience.

Tonight when we got home, I took a little nap, then made scrambled eggs with onion, fried bread and avolcado for supper. I hand washed my clothes...Paula taught me how she does it...and then the four of us walked around the track behind the school for awhile. I felt like doing cartwheels..that's always a good sign that I'm feeling good about where I am. (The last time that happened was when I was in Ireland) We found a limon tree and ate a bunch of them...tasted kind of like oranges though. I'm excited to be back on the internet. It is a simple life and a quiet life...should be good for me. I'm looking forward to Friday: we were invited to the 23rd birthday party of the son of our main contact person...his name is Camo...I'm writing that here because I can't remember it for the life of me. It will be at a salsa bar...so I can't wait to meet some more people our age and go out dancing. My biggest challenge is being patient with myself. I appreciate your support and I hope to hear from you!

I have been tired all the time recently, but when I lay down at night, I have had a hard time falling asleep. Two nights ago, my mind was filled with excitement of potentially going to VCOM (Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine) and then, I couldn't stop thinking that I might become a Sister. I am always very torn whenever I get thinking about that. I loved spending time at the convent at Saint Mary's and on Saturday, we had lunch with the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word at their retirement center, and I was in heaven. Maybe I just like hanging out with older women who have done incredible things with their lives.

The past couple days, I have been incredibly homesick for Nicaragua. I looked at flights from Monterrey to Nicaragua today, and have been communicating as much as possible with Omar, Cole, and the 3 Saint Mary's girls who we sent to the island for the summer. I keep listening to the island music and looking at my pictures.

There is so much I can write, and I think the only way that I will want to write on this thing is if I don't edit what I write. So...it may be all over the place. I apologize in advance. I appreciate your care and support.

I received a little coaching from Jenn, a fellow missionary on how to make blogs, so tengo ganas a continue working on it. (Tener ganas is a spanish phrase which has no equivalent in english, but means something like...to feel like doing). My tactic is to look at the blogs of the others who are far more dedicated to it than I am, and use their ideas (like me in art classes). It is hard to believe that we have been here for over 2 weeks. I don't even know how to begin. I guess I should make an outline about what would be the most helpful for people to know...1)What the point of this blog is 2) Where I am now 3) Who I'm with 4)What we're doing 5)Why I'm here in the first place 6)Where I'm going and what I might be doing there. So, we'll start with 1.



1) I will be gone for at least 1 year, maybe 2, and in order to maintain some relationship with those of you at home (ie. Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, California, Indiana....or the other homes I have), I need to deliberately share about what I'm going through so you can care about me. In turn, I am also interested in what is going on in your lives, but I will have limited access to internet, so writing personal emails won't always be possible. So, this is an invitation to share in this journey with me and to share in that dialog, by commenting or emailing me. I realize this is impersonal, but I will do my best with it. I do love and care about you, so that is why I am making this a priority.



2)I am in San Antonio, TX for 3 weeks. We arrived August 2nd, and will leave for Monterrey, MX on Monday. It's been a roller coaster already. Sometimes I am very excited to just go down and live it out, and sometimes I wonder what the heck I am doing here. It's been really busy, but it is an adjustment for me to be in the same place, doing the same basic thing for 3 weeks. For anyone who knows me, I am used to packing as much as possible into my days, so this has been a slowdown already.

3)There are 8 of us beginning to be Incarnate Word Missionarires this year. I will give slight introductions to each of them. There will be 3 others going to Monterrey, Mexico with me. Two will be going to Santa Fe, Mexico City, and 2 will be going to Chimbote, Peru.

Chimbote, Peru

Marcelle: A registered nurse from Dallas, TX. She's in her eraly 30s and has great one-liners. She is an RN, and I apprecite getting to know her poco a poco.

Jenn: My roommate during orientation. She just graduated from SLU and is very excited about feminist theology, and has done traveling in Latin America. Originally from Iowa, but considers Saint Lewis home.

Santa Fe, Mexico

Melissa: Just graduated from Loyola, Chicago where she studied social work. She has loaned me some books during orientation, and she loves kids.

Lisa: She has a wonderful smile, and bubbly personality. She went to De Paul, Chicago and studied advertising. She is working very hard on her spanish, and although she struggles, she is still willing to participate in our Spanish-speaking suppers.

Monterrey, MX

Linda: In her early 50s, a bubbly, go-getter who is originally from New Mexico, but has lived in San Antonio for the past 30 years. She is always surprising us with new life adventures she has had. She has been wanting to do service abroad for a long time, so she is very excited for this opportunity, and we are thrilled that she will be with us.

Paula: In her early 30s, she hails from England, although she has spent some time living in New York City. She is a gentle spirit, and surprised me with her experience doing belly dancing. Her spanish is great, and she is already helping me to continue learning new words and phrases.

Mike: He is 24, graduate of Mizzou, but spent the last year doing the Jesuit Volunteer Service in a clinic in Cleveland. He is currently applying to med school, and has agreed to be the stand-in boyfriend to scare off any men who are being inappropriate with us in Mexico. His sense of humor has taken a bit to get used to, but I relate well to him.

4)What we're doing: this is the topic that could go on for a long time. I am changing plan mid-way through this posting. I am done with background for now, because I want to share how I am actually feeling about being here....

This post is long enough, so I will start a new one. Thanks for your love and support!

I can't believe I finally started one of these crazy pages where I can express my deepest feelings to a place where my soul is exposed to anyone...but I guess this is a good way for me to keep in touch while I'm in Monterrey for the next year or more.