We've got tickets!! (Tenemos los boletos!)

Cailtin and I will be leaving for Buenos Aires, Argentina on February 13! Our trip begins in Albuquerque at 8:36 in the morning and ends in Buenos Aires at 10:50 a.m. the next day. Happy Valentine's Day! In Buenos Aires, the sisters will pick us up and take us to the Provincial House, hopefully to rest and shower. After 30 hours of traveling, I think we'll need it. Especially since from Buenos Aires we still have a 13-14 hour bus ride to Posadas, Argentina where the sisters in Paraguay will pick us up and take us across the border into Encarnación. Caitlin will be staying in Paraguay until May 15, and I'll stay until December 6 (except for a short break home for Seth & Lisa's wedding sometime in between). Next on the list this week, buying insurance and sending off for our visas.It feels beyond amazing to have all of this figured out, but at the same time a tiny bit frightening. These next 34 days are going to fly by. Beyond excited!

Meet my travel partner, Caitlin!

Our first photo together as VOICA volunteers!!

Caitlin arrived in Albuquerque today! I am so excited for the next phase of formation and to get to know the person who I'll be living and working with for the next four months (She's only serving until May). She's a fellow Midwesterner, hailing from Nebraska, just turned 23, majored in English and Spanish in college, is a vegetarian and has a passion for travel and service. Day one, it seems like we have quite a few similar interests and both have pretty easy going personalities. Yay! The only downside of her arrival is that Sr. Angela felt the need to bring up all of my bad eating habits again, our biggest area of conflict. The upside, Caitlin was pretty diplomatic and kind of even stood up for me. I like this girl already!

¡Mi cumpleaños!

Ahora yo tengo veinticuatro años. (Now, I’m 24 years old). I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday away from home. The sisters really showed me that I’m a part of their family today, and I am so grateful for all of the wonderful things that they did to make my birthday special. It started out with a bacon and egg breakfast, followed by a pedicure, my first ever (thank you Mary!), a trip to Barnes & Noble and lunch in Uptown, and to top it all off we had pizza for dinner and cake and ice cream for dessert!

My year as a 24-year-old is going to be filled with many new experiences and challenges. As always, please keep me in your thoughts and prayers. A huge thank you to everyone that made this birthday wonderful and for all of the messages, phone calls and wall posts wishing me a happy birthday. It meant a lot.

Love,

Hil

Getting our pedicures.

Birthday decorations and chocolate.

Getting ready for a classic Hiliary birthday meal.

Blowing out the candles. Got all 24 in one breath!

Sr. Antoinette, Sr. Marilu and Sr. Christina.

My cake!

Gifts from the sisters. Muchas gracias!

One of my birthday presents from Matt via Skype--After a year and a half, I finally got to see him in his glasses!

Home for the Holidays

My break from training got off to a very unwanted but eventful 5 hour delay. With snow flurries in Albuquerque, you might think that was the reason for my delay. Instead, it was because someone on our plane decided to say the “b-word” or “bomb.” I was actually reading a magazine and not really paying attention as our plane backed away from the terminal, so you can imagine my surprise when I saw several policemen board our plane and escort a high school student off.  I’m not sure how he said it, but I’m guessing it must have been more than a mere mention of the word. Eventually the rest of us had to get off the plane with our carry-on luggage, have our bags sniffed by a bomb dog, and spend about an hour or more inside the terminal while we waited for the FBI to arrive to check our plane. I wish I could have taken some photos, but it didn’t really seem appropriate after our pilot said that if he saw any electronic devices out we would be arrested. Definitely not as funny as the Ben Stiller bomb moment in Meet the Parents, but good to know they take those things seriously.

Despite the delay, I had an absolutely wonderful trip in Missouri with family and friends. Before Christmas, I took the train to St. Louis for a visit with friends from college. It was filled with St. Louisy things including the Anheuser-Busch Brewery tour, Imo’s pizza, Ted Drewes Frozen Custard, Gus’ Pretzels and a night out in Soulard. Obviously not the most healthy trip, but the fun we had was definitely worth the calories! 

The rest of my break was filled with family time split between Concordia and Kansas City. It was so nice to see my parents, sisters, brother, brother-in-law, future sister-in-law, grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles and nephew one last time before I leave. Knowing I won’t see most of them for almost a year, definitely made for some teary goodbyes. I love you all so much, and thank you everyone for the amazing gifts and for the time you spent with me. Both are much appreciated!!

 

The fam after Christmas Eve Mass.

Family bowling night!

 Skipping the bar scene this year, Matt and I started the night with a visit to Grandma and Grandpa Parks’ house, then a party with my best friends complete with a champagne toast at midnight, and we ended the night with my cousins at the Rellihan’s house.  Thank you to everyone who helped me start 2012 off right.

Matt and I on NYE

The girls

Now that I’m back in Albuquerque, it’s serious formation time. Caitlin (she finally arrives on Thursday!!!) and I will be departing for Paraguay between February 12 and 15, so the next 6 weeks will be filled with focusing on learning more Spanish, preparing things to help with kindergarten, exploring New Mexico on the weekends, buying our plane tickets, getting vaccinated (which is unfortunately going to cost me a pretty penny), applying for our visas, getting items and supplies for the students in Paraguay, finalizing arrangements for things back in the States while I’m gone, and packing and repacking so that I actually bring the things I’ll need. 

My toiletries for the next year! Thank you very much for my Christmas presents everyone!

Hasta Luego Albuquerque & Feliz Navidad!

My time in Albuquerque has flown by. It definitely does not feel like it’s been six weeks. Although there have been some struggles, homesickness and growing moments, I’ve had a truly amazing time here and have met some wonderful new friends. But, I am definitely excited to be going home for Christmas for two weeks and to ring in the New Year with my family. I think this is the most excited I have ever been to go back to Missouri.

Since I’ve been slacking on the blog posts this month, I’ll try to give a quick update of what’s been going on.

An “Emergency” at the VOICA House

Sr. Angela saved a bird. Although I’m sure some people won’t find this story interesting, I thought it was absolutely hilarious, and it shows you how amazingly kind this woman is. I was downstairs studying Spanish when I heard Sr. Angela yell down to me, “Hiliary come upstairs. We have an emergency!”After telling her that yes, I do like animals but I have no idea what to do to save this bird, Sr. Angela took action. She got a towel to keep it warm, water for it to drink, we watched over it from the window and she even  suggested that I go outside to keep it company because it was lonely. She also asked what I thought a veterinarian would do. So, I thought about my father and the other veterinarians that I have met. My answer, " absolutely nothing. " Luckly, after about 10 minutes of shock the bird was off and ready to go. Thank goodness, because I definitely wasn't ready to put together a funeral.

Our Lady of Guadalupe

On December 12, Catholics celebrate the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, when Mary appeared to Saint Juan Diego near present day Mexico City, Mexico in 1531. Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patroness of the Americas and highly revered and celebrated in Mexico. Here’s a very short version of the story if you’re not familiar with it. According to the Archdiocese of Mexico, more than 8 million people make the pilgrimage to the Basilica of Guadalupe each year during the months leading up to the feast day and on the feast day itself. Because there is an incredibly large Hispanic population in the Southwest, there is a huge celebration here in New Mexico. Below are some images of the native dancers at the Mass at San Jose on the Sunday before the feast of our Lady of Guadalupe.

The dancers performing outside the church before Mass.

The mini dancer!

Inside the church performing at the end of Mass.

Sr. Marisa: Hero of the Week (Héroe de la Semana)

Each week the local Univision television station (Spanish) in Albuquerque chooses a Hero of the Week. Sister Marisa (or Hermana Marisa in Spanish) was nominated by the Catechism director at San José and was featured as last week’s Hero of the Week. She truly deserves it! And, I made the background footage!

Las Posadas

Las Posadas is a nine day celebration commemorating Mary and Joseph’s search to find a room in Bethlehem. Here in New Mexico and in other large Hispanic communities, Mexico, parts of Central America, Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador it is tradition to hold Posadas beginning December 16 and ending December 24. Typically, different families in a neighborhood will take turns scheduling a night for the Posada to be held at their home, starting on the 16th of December and finishing on the 24th. Every home has a nativity scene, and the family hosting the Posada acts as the innkeepers. The neighborhood children and adults go from house to house, holding candles and singing a traditional song about Mary and Joseph searching for lodging. At one house after the other, they are turned away (also in song), until the weary travelers reach the designated site for the party, where Mary and Joseph are finally recognized and allowed to enter. In our young adult group at San José we reenacted the Posadas on Wednesday and ended with a piñata and fiesta full of delicious foods and new candy!

My candle for the Posadas.

During our Posadas for the Young Adult Group at San Jose.

The piñata. It was definitely a lot more difficult than I remember for birthday parties as a child. There were guys on the roof holding the piñata and moving it around while people tried to hit it.

Inside my goody bag.

Tamarind flavored candy. I wouldn't say it  compares to Starburst or M&M's, but it was pretty good!

Christmas Plays
Nearly every night this week there was a some sort of Christmas play and/or party. I'm definitely not complaining about it. I had a blast. Below are some pictures from the plays at San José along with a few from the Christmas pageant for Saint Mary’s, the school where Sister Kay works.

The cast of the play put on by the older members of the youth group at San Jose.

Play put on by the Catechism teachers at San Jose. I absolutely loved the clouds!

Sr. Marisa talking to the Catechism students at San Jose.

The adorable cakes someone in our Kindergarten class brought in for the Christmas party.

Christina with our kindergarten students.

The pageant at St. Mary's School.

Christmas Pageant at St. Mary's School.

Breakfast with Santa

Mary's back in town for the weekend. Thank goodness! I needed to have some "20 somethings" conversations. Being around people my own age is definitely one of the things I miss the most about formation, and I'm guessing it's also one of the reasons that VOICA likes to send at least two volunteers into the mission. Luckily, Caitlin will be here in one month!

Mary, Sr. Angela and me posing in the backyard with the first snow of winter.

 
This morning we went to "Breakfast with Santa," a fundraiser for Casa Angelica. It was a wonderful event filled with delicious food, friendly people and fun activities for the "kids." Too bad I didn't actually take a picture of Santa. That probably would have been a nice touch.

Kids making Christmas cards. The boys was so cute--it was this long note to Jesus about how he hoped he had a great birthday.

Orbit, the Isotopes (minor league baseball team in Albuquerque) mascot.

Sr. Angela and Sr. Kay enjoying breakfast.

Mary making her card.

Saint Francis Xavier

Today, the Catholic Church honors St. Francis Xavier. He along with St. Thérèse of Lisieux are patron saints of missionaries! It sounds weird to call myself that, a missionary, but when you get down to it I guess that's what I really am. Here's a link to an article if you want to learn more about St. Francis Xavier and his life.