strength for the journey.

before leaving for my mission this year, i attended MISO (Maryknoll International Service Orientation) in Ossining, NY, and i had the opportunity to meet some other missioners, who would also be serving all around the world. it was an amazing blessing to have other friends, also serving on mission this year (some for the next two years, just like me! yay solidarity!)

salesians, JVI, mercy corps, GSV...here is a compilation of some of their blogs. all of our experiences are extremely unique, especially given the international context, and it is so wonderful to see how God takes many shapes in each of these countries...united, we support one another. and we're doing this together. :)

it's pretty remarkable. enjoy!

* let me know if you want me to include your blog here. :)

Angela in Bolivia
Marcos in Bolivia
Monica in Bolivia
Joe in China
Jon in Brazil

Josh in Ethiopia

Ashley in Guyana
Sarah in Guyana
Magdalena in Malaysia
Charles in Micronesia
Mary Elise in Rwanda

no more subways

so today must have been the day of transportation for crystal. ok, let's begin with the day.

first off, i woke up with my heart pounding SUPER SUPER FAST. my room was still super dark, so i was angry that i was awake. i hear the roosters, but moreso, i realized my heart was beating super fast...to the beat of the club-like, trance-like music that was blasting from the jeepney outside that was waiting to pick up passengers!! oh HECK no. that was the first thought that greeted me at 5:10am. soooo thank goodness i was able to get back to sleep!

so then i woke up around 6ish, so that i can greet my taho man...i told him to come this morning at 6:30am (his usual time). well...he didn't come. ok, so i was ok with that. but then, as i was getting ready for my shower, i hear, tahooooooo...like, 4 times. literally. so then i was like, ok, he'll just go away when he sees that i don't come...and then...after telling him NOT to do this last week...he rung the doorbell! haha i got my money, greeted him downstairs, and then, he said his usual, "good morning, ma'm!!" with his super big smile. soooo i only gave him a small filipino talkin' to. it was really nice too because i forgot my mug, and so i was gonna go back into the house, and sure enough, estella met me with a mug in hand. :) such good community! haha...she's also the one who told me, the other night she had a dream that i was so happy with my taho. hahaha, she's having dreams about me and this delicious delicacy! haha!

ok, so then...in the am, i get on two jeepneys to get to work. the 2nd jeepney to work, i hopped into it so quickly, without noticing first there was no one in it. that's like, rule #1. do not get into jeepneys without anyone in it. oops. but i really liked it, and i actually was able to observe my surroundings along the route, a little better. it was like a private vehicle, for the price of a communal vehicle. awesome! i also almost missed my stop, cause i was distracted by the vendors and the people outside already, so early in the am!

work was nice today. i think the biggest challenge today was teaching fractions...in tagalog. YUP. haha, how do you even do that? it didn't matter - i think i got through to them...a little bit. :) that is all i can do! soon i will be teaching them english and how to write essays. awesome!

2nd transportation story...on my way home from mass, i waited about 25 minutes for a jeepney (of course, they were ALL full!) cause it was pouring outside. so then, i was already like, ahhh i'm late for dinner! so i walk to the other loading zone for jeepneys after a failed attempt to get a taxi (i was desperate!)...i was literally dodging the walking traffic, i was walking like i was in new york. and filipinos here walk SLOW, like, dawdle status...i saw heads turn, i heard people like, making noises as i zipped past em, haha, but i did not care. i was hungry, and i didn't want my community to worry about me (it was already dark!), and it was raining. bad combination!

so then, i get to the loading zone, and of course, no jeeps were going to where i needed to go. i squeezed onto one, then had to get off after he said he wasn't going where i needed to go. then i hopped onto another one, caught my breath, then was told i had to get off cause he wasn't going to my place. booooo. so then, i basically had to go to EACH jeepney lined up and ask them if they would stop where i needed to go. FINALLY, i got a yes, ok. immediately, i hopped into the front seat. i did NOT care. pretty bold move, crystal! i looked back, and saw ALL men, probably except for one female, cramped in the back. and then me, having a full two seats to myself in the front. hahahaha, i laughed inside, and after realizing the fact that i jumped in the front and claimed it as my own, i saw the driver do a little smirk to himself. hahaha, and then, some guy jumped in the front next to me. there i was, sandwiched between the driver, and some kid to the right of me. as if we were all family. haha!

hahahha, jesus was sitting on the front engine. i knew it. hahaha...i was actually thinking of a quick escape plan, in CASE of an emergency. there were so many cars, it was raining, and i was not in a good space. hahaha...eventually, i got home, changed really quick, had a delicious dinner, then a beautiful holy hour with the community. even though i got home, and i was like a soggy dog (cause it was POURING), the conclusion of the story, is that i got home. :)

today told me, crystal. nice work. yessssss. jeepneys, i got you.

she said i was "kikay"

today i met a girl named noelle. she is 6 years old. she was sitting at the entrance of SOSCFI, on the soft couches, next to the wooden furniture. the first time i saw her, i was heading out, and so i did my thing, came back, was about to sit down at my desk, then i said to myself, NO crystal.

so then i sat by noelle, asked her what she was reading (in english), and after she gave me this blank, awkward, "why are you talking to me?" stare...i said it in tagalog, and the next thing you know, we were reading the book together! it was so fun!! it was an alphabet book, with 6 words that all started with the same letter...we started with e, and she read, egg, and elephant, among others, and then we went down through to z, where she read zebra and zigzag, and other complicated words that started with 'z'! it was pretty awesome to see how random questions would just come to my mind - additional questions i could ask her about the objects, just to expand her vocabulary a little bit...and at the same time, she would describe the objects in tagalog, or answer my questions in tagalog, which selfishly, and yet, mutually, helped me too. :)

we had to stop mid-way, so i could help someone on the computer, and so i told her i would be back. i didn't really think she even cared or was having fun - i felt like i was having more fun than her...and i ended up taking kinda a long time with the computer project, and the next thing you know, she peeks her head into the doorway, as if to remind me that i was not yet finished with her. it was awesome! haha, and then i turned on music, and i started dancing. and then she was out in the hallway, hiding from me, and dancing too. hahaha! if i have this much fun with a 6 year old...i am more than interested to see what it will be like on saturday when um, A LOT of kids come. :) woohoo!

i was asked if i spoke tagalog, and i said yes, a little bit - cause it's true...i can understand more than i can speak it, but it's starting to roll off my tongue! which is great! yay! but basically i think i'm going to have to be teaching lots in tagalog...and seeing that some of the worksheets were written in tagalog, i was like, uh oh! hahaha, so i have to teach essay writing (subjects: history and science - which, by the way...will be interesting, to say the least!) and other types of values education in tagalog...which is such a parallel to the fact that i am to speak perfect english in casa cabrini because the young women really want to excel with their english skills...sooooo me saying girl, dang, shoot after every other sentence, is NOT going to be helpful for them. hahaha! soooo i need to perfect at least ONE language.

if i had a script of all the thoughts that were in my mind throughout this entire day, i think it would consist of many quotes i heard from MISO training (key nuggets of wisdom!), a lot of internal verbal reflection on cross-cultural experiences and entering new communities, especially on mission, an internal verbal dialogue with gina, my director, mary, and michelle (processing events and my thoughts), and then a quick reminder from sister grace telling me that "rome was not built in a day."

i also thought to myself, boldness. mother cabrini was bold. she had zeal. and i love that. what would mother cabrini do? she had a mission, she did not know where all of her paths would lead...but Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam...for the greater glory of God. in everything. two years. let's do this. together.

thanks for listening. glad we had this talk. :)