Weeks One and Two: Building Relationships

Well, we have been here now for almost two weeks now and I can tell the remaining six weeks are going to fly by. I am starting to make friends here, which is great. That is the most meaningful part of traveling for me:  making meaningful connections with people and communities and nurturing those connections after you leave. This is one of my biggest goals for my time here and after:  build and sustain relationships. In my past travels I have made meaningful connections, but I have not done as well with sustaining them after leaving. One reason for this has been the language barrier, but I am determined to not let this deter me anymore. Another goal of mine is to practice practice practice speaking Spanish.

This first week of classes has gotten off to a slow start. Out of my five classes, I only had students attend two of them. Sister Peggy said this is always how it starts off and as more kids hear about the classes, more come. I am excited for this next week, to meet more of my students and to also go out to two schools en el campo on Tuesday and Friday.