Week One Completed!

On Tuesday, I arrived at the room where orientation for the Haitian Creole Summer Institute was to take place in a particular building on the campus of Florida International University.  A woman sat down next to me and we began to chat.  After initial introductions, I told her I would be going to Haiti to work as soon as the program ends.  She asked where in Haiti, I responded, "Port a Prince."  She asked, "where in Port a Prince?"  I said, "At a hospitality house."  She said, "Matthew 25?  Sister Mary told me you would be here, but she didn't tell me your name."  Anne a woman in my class volunteers a couple of times a year to go to Haiti; she is involved with the parish twinning program and has often stayed at Matthew 25, and therefore knows Mary, the sister I will be staying with.  Anne is a recently retired nurse and midwife, who was in religious life at some point in her life.  She worked for years in Tanzania.  It seems people everywhere know Mary  (when I was on vacation in New Orleans earlier this month, I learned that Fr. Tony the pastor of the parish where I attended liturgy when I volunteered in NOLA also knows Mary!)

The group of students who are here to study Creole is quite diverse.  Some students are academics for whom learning Creole will help them with thesis or dissertations.  Some are interested in the arts, others in linguistics.  Other students have connections to Haiti, like a young woman who was born there but adopted at a young age and raised in Canada.  A couple of students are studying law and hope to reach out the Haitian community in Miami.  Others of course are interested in doing humanitarian work of one kind or another in Haiti.  I am the only social worker.  The ages, backgrounds and experiences of the students is quite varied.  It is a great group of people; I find that I really like my classmates.

We are in class from 9:00 am until 1:00 pm, and again from 2:00pm until 4:00, Monday through Friday.  We have homework to do every night at well.  There is a professor who teachers in the morning, and an assistant professor who teaches in the afternoon.  Both are native speakers of Creole.  The classes are for the most part enjoyable and interesting.  The teacher in the afternoon uses almost no English at all when he teaches.  I understand that this will help us learn, but sometimes it is frustrating too; I don't remember the last time (if ever)I consciously thought about whether or not I was using a definite article in English, and yet I am supposed to understand an explanation of where to place a definite article in a Creole sentence, when the entire explanation is given in Creole!  I am so glad that I took that free Haiti Hub on-line class; otherwise I would probably be really lost.  By the end of the afternoon class, I find that I am mentally exhausted and physically restless.  Not to worry though, there is the perfect treatment for such a state, and it is very near the dorm where I am staying, a swimming pool!  

I hope that you are doing well.  If you have any questions or comments or updates to share with me, feel free to post a comment on this blog, or email me if you have my email address and would prefer.  I did get behind on responding to emails, but am using this weekend hopefully to catch up.  Take care.   Many Blessings!
-Kathleen                 


  

A thank you note and brief update.

IThank you to so many people for big and litle things recenlty.  Thanks for prayers, cards, thoughts, etc. 

Thank you for all who have sent emails, I know I have gotten behind in replying to them, but I do appreciate the support of so many.

Thank you to my congregtion for your support, for allowing me to study Creole in Miami, for your prayers and love.

Thank you to Marie and all of the provincilate kitchen staff who prepared the delicious Haitian meal on Friday.  It was a wonderful surprise!  Thanks too, to all the people who came to the celebration.
 
Thank you for all who assisted me with my preparations for Miami in any way.  Thank you Angelus Community.  I will certainly miss you. Thank you Linda for the ride to the airport; I did make it to the gate with plenty of time to spare.

Thank you to my family for your loving support.  Thanks dad for looking up information on the computer for me this morning.  

I am filled with a sense of gratitude.  It feels like a privlege to have this time to learn the creole language and culture.  Thanks to so many of you and Thanks be to God!

I arrived safely in Miami yesterday.  Today the Haitian Summer Institute started with orientation.  I am settling in and looking forward to classes starting tomorrow.  I have more I want to say but it is getting late. 

With Gratitude, 
Kathleen  

Seek Other Shores

There are Sisters of the Holy Redeemer visiting our provincilate from Tanzania and Germany for meetings this week and last week. Most evenings last week I attended the evening prayer there, so that I could be with our sisters before I go away.  Last week, at one such evening prayer, when we began to sing an opening hymn, the fact that I was leaving suddenly felt real.  The song we sang was "Lord You Have Come to the Seashore." This song has had a lot of meaning for me ever since my first year in Redeemer Ministry Corps (our volunteer program lay,) when it was sort of a theme song during orientation.  At that time the words that resonated most with me were "Lord You Have Come to the Seashore" probably because  I grew up by the ocean.  Since then it has had a lot of meaning for me, and was sung during liturgy on occasions such as  when I entered, made first and final vows.  During my retreat last month I repeatedly sang the song to myself and to my God as I walked along the beach.  Now the words "at your side I will seek other shores" feel more real than ever; the words, "Be the resting Place of my restless heart" touch a cord as well.

I happened to tell the person who choose the song that it touched me and disclosed that I cried a few tears  during that evening prayer. The same person chose the music for Sunday liturgy and decided to play it again.  I mentioned to my local community that it had touched me during Tuesday evening prayer, and that I believed that the sister intentionally chose it again on Sunday, knowing that doing so could possibly lead me to cry.  That evening we when we prayed in our local community, the sister leading vespers decided that we would sing "Lord You Have Come to the Seashore" in Spanish.  So, we did, but not very well, (so not well that I did not cry, because I was trying not to laugh.)   

Yesterday morning, I brought the car that I drove, and some of my belongings to be stored to the provincilate. The sisters in the international meetings took a break to say good-bye and participate in our province farewell ritual of standing on the steps waving tissues at the car containing the person going on a trip, while the car circles the parking lot.  The presence of sisters from Tanzania and Germany really gave me a sense that I am being sent not only by our American Province but by the entire congregation.  As we circled the parkinglot the sisters sang (in English):
"Lord You have come to the seashore, seeking neither the rich nor the wise, desiring only that I shall follow, oh Lord with your eyes set upon me, gently smiling you have spoken my name, all I long for I have found by the water, at your side I will seek other shores."  

Vacation was wonderful.  Mostly I visited and walked, sometimes both at the same time.  I was fortunate that I was able to visit with many friends and relatives in several different locations.  I returned to Philadelphia on Thursday feeling rested, energized and grateful. 

Now for the tasks of  organizing, packing, preparing, while more importantly spending time with community and friends here.  One of the things on my list of things to do is to send the link to this blog to those who might be interested.  Once I am away, I will write more frequently and about more interesting things.