Alma Mater

Tomorrow I return to my alma mater, the Franciscan University of Steubenville. As soon as I tendered my future resignation to Padre he told me right away to start looking for someone to replace me. And of course I would love for it to be someone from where I come from! So off I go to Steubenville to recruit at their career fair. In a way it's like Divine Providence that this all happened just in time to book a flight and a booth at the career fair.


I'm very excited to go back to Franciscan but I'm also nervous! I'm nervous because this just seems so grown up. I mean, it was only three years ago that I was attending the same career fair in hopes of finding a job (which I didn't). And now I'm returning, not as a perspective employee again, but as the EMPLOYER! How grown up is that? I'm not ready. But I guess I will be. I'm also hoping to be able to conduct some preliminary interviews with some of the students who are interested. Again, I can't believe that I have now become the interviewer. I'm also a bit nervous just because I don't know that many people there anymore. All my friends have graduated by now and the freshman from when I was a senior would now be seniors but I'm not realizing I didn't know very many of them.


Now onto what I'm excited about. I get to see some household sisters! At Franciscan instead of having fraternities and sororities (although there were a couple) we had the household system. Households are pretty similar to fraternities/sororities and yet totally different at the same time. My household is called Totus Tuus Maria (Latin for Totally Yours Mary... I'll go more into that in a later post) and at the time I graduated we had around 50 active sisters. These are sisters that I shared meals with, prayed with, laughed with, played sports with, lived with and did so many other things. My sisters and household community life is definitely one of the things I miss the most since graduating. So I am so excited to see the sisters who are still in the area! In fact I get to stay with one of them.


Other things I'm excited for:

• Seeing my professors and people I used to work for on campus
• Seeing the renovations they've made since I've been gone, including a brand-new friary for all the TOR priests!
• Going to Mass and being able to worship God "Steubenville-style"
• Seeing a couple of my friends and their families who transferred from Wyoming to the oil fields out east. They're going to drive an hour and a half to see me!
• Having a mini-reunion with four of the people who went to Chile with me the very first time!

Okay, now that I write out this list I am definitely more excited than nervous. Please pray that God will provide some really great candidates who want to move to Wyoming and work in our parish!

LOST

I know I'm a little behind the times, but life in Wyoming is bit rural. Thus when I moved here I lost my TV viewing privileges because you can't get ANY channels unless you have cable. And we've already gone over how I'm thrifty, so it's a safe bet to assume I don't pay for cable. Y por eso I have not been able to watch my favorite TV shows... including LOST!

Photo Source: http://www.beyondhollywood.com/uploads/2010/01/lost_season6.jpg

The good news in this situation however is that our wonderful county libraries have many series on DVD. Including LOST! AND they don't charge late fees. How great is that? Really great since I can't seem to return those types of things on time to save my life. I left off watching LOST at the end of season three. But my lovely mother, when she came to visit me for my first birthday in Wyoming, brought me what she had taped of season four. Have I mentioned that I have an amazing mother? (Seriously, my family rocks. They do so much for me and I love them immensely.) Last week I was able to get season five from the library and went through all of that AND NOW I'm on to season six! I am so close to discovering the secrets of the island and I am so excited. I have had so many questions from the beginning and all I have to say is that they had better get answered!

Photo Source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2Iwo-MoL_v21nd887jRkz4X0mEMYwMTZpzEX9BGZSuMd0qPnO-yJtKfsQv_26_GfJOSrtm2blAcuBwqYqKvEhWPwNiqXMS3UqEfKEWzoPAdDDbZCUdVAQh49LIF5GN9w6Lilj9w-gNCM/s1600/themenoflost.jpg

Now, I don't want to spoil anything for those of you, who like me, have not gotten to finish the show yet. The only thing I have especially noticed and will ask is: did you notice how broken all the men seem to be this season? Seriously, what happened to them? They need to step up and become men! Okay, that's all for tonight.

Change Already?

In my very first post I alluded to us having a plan. The gist of that plan is I go to Chile from August 2011 to June/July 2012. While there I teach English and he goes to school and works during the summer. Then I come back to the States for anywhere from 5 to 9 months to save money for a wedding and student loans. Andrés could come for the winter of 2012-2013 and possibly do an internship and hopefully that's when we'd get married. Then he'd return to Chile and I'd go soon after.


Now I admitted from the beginning that this was our plan and I've prayed about it but that God could have something else in store. I just didn't think that "something else" could come this soon! I don't want to give too much detail here but there's a possibility that the plan, or rather my moving to Chile, might be held off for a year. Padre is trying to work on a deal that could keep me in the parish and diocese for one more year and still get to visit Chile and Andrés regularly- meaning not going 6 months without seeing each other. 


On the one hand that would be really good financially for us. It would give me a lot more opportunity to save for a wedding and pay my student loans while on a U.S. salary. On the other hand, I've been hoping to move to Chile for over a year and it feels really weird to think that might be changing when I was finally able to really believe it was going to happen. Plus I HATE being apart from Andrés all the time. I just want to be on the same continent (who am I kidding? I want to be in the same country, city and neighborhood) as him for awhile. And who knows? Padre's deal seems almost impossible, yet at the same time he's serious about it and very resourceful. So for now I'm going to keep on saving money and preparing to move but keep an open mind and heart about this other possibility. I won't know anything for sure for probably a few more weeks, but I'll give an update when we figure things out.

Healthy Habits Challenge Week One

The other day my mom asked me, "What's up with this health kick?" At first I didn't know what she was talking about. But then I thought about it. I had just told her how I'd gone jogging for the first time in 6 years, plus I've been going to Zumba four to five times a week and we're starting a healthy habits competition in the office. The thing is that when I got back from Chile the first time (almost two years ago) I started losing weight without doing anything. What a blessing, right? Right. So then because it was happening naturally I decided I liked it and so I started eating just a little bit healthier and eventually started exercising. And from there it has just grown. Sometimes I worry that I'll become too preoccupied over my weight/healthiness/exercise, but I'm not near that point yet and I know that I need to keep a positive body image. So I will keep on exercising, trying new exercises and improving my overall health. I think that's okay.


And to help out with this, I introduce to you the Healthy Habits Challenge. I did this last year with my family and now we're doing it in the office. I guess the habits didn't stick with me from the year before, hehe. How it works is that we start off this week with three healthy habits: drink eight  glasses of water a day, eat five servings of fruits/veggies each day and exercise for 30 minutes at least three times a week. We're doing the challenge for a total of six weeks (each week adds on another healthy habit so by the end you have 9 habits you're doing everyday) and you get points for each day you keep the habit. The winner will be the person at the end with the most points. We haven't decided on a prize yet but we're thinking it will be cash! We tried to get my boss (we'll call him Padre since he's a priest) to give an extra vacation day for the winner, but he wouldn't go for it. So then I suggested that he should cook the winner an eight course meal and Padre replied that he would love to- with all the rotten, expired food that people donate to the soup kitchen and think the less fortunate want to eat it (they don't). It was a nice try.


The last thing I want to say on this subject (for today anyways) is that thinking ahead to when I'm in Chile, I hope I can keep this up. Well, I eat healthier there with a lot more fresh produce and pan (mmm, bread!) so really what I'm worried about is the exercise habit. When I read the gringa blogs about life in Chile, the only thing I hear about exercising is running/jogging or belonging to a gym. I know I won't have money to join a gym so that's why I want to take up jogging now- so that I can do it in Chile! And right beside the ocean! Also, from what I can tell, the Zumba craze has not yet reached the part of Chile where I'll be residing so I'm thinking maybe I should invest in the DVDs and then I can do that too. Will Andrés' family think I'm crazy as I'm doing Zumba in their living room? Probably.

Chile Gets a Visitor

In case you missed it in the news today, Chile has a visitor.

Photo Source: http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2011-03/60301814.jpg 

There are probably many things I could write about this (nuclear power, economic trade, the U.S. relationship with Latin America, etc) but I'm going to be self-centered and skip to the thing that might effect me personally.


The Visa Waiver Program.


The Visa Waiver Program, or the VWP as we like to call it, is the group of countries whose citizens get to enter the United States for business or pleasure up to 90 days without needing a visa. Currently, Chile is not on that list. But it could be! With Andrés obtaining his visa (on his second try) last fall, we definitely learned how sucky and expensive it is to not have your country on that list. And as I was researching it today, I came across this travel organization that has been petitioning Obama to add Chile, Brazil and Argentina to the VWP while he's visiting Latin America. A lot of people think that he's going to do it soon. And I hope he does. It could be the one good gift that he could give to me during his presidency, hehe.


And seriously, it would be good for the economy. From what I could piece together, before the restrictions that followed September 11th Chileans were allowed to travel to the U.S. without a visa. In this article it shows the economic impact of that:

US arrivals from Chile to the US totalled 127,000 in 2009, down 34 per cent from 2000, while during the same timeframe, total outbound long-haul travel from Chile to other countries increased more than 50 per cent. 

Chilean travellers each spent an average of $4,600 during a US trip in 2009 and directly generated a total of $580 million which supported 5,300 US jobs.

So because they have to go through the process of applying for a tourist visa in order to come to the United States, Chileans have been going elsewhere on vacation and supporting other countries' tourist economies. I say, let's open the doors of tourism and business to Chile!


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Side note: As I was thinking about Obama visiting Chile, I had a random question... Where will the first family sleep? In la Moneda (Chile's presidential palace, although Andrés told me it's not like the White House- President Piñera does not live there, he just works there), a fancy hotel, Air Force One??? Such an important question and yet I cannot find the answer by googling it!

The Bux

It's my day off and I'm hanging out in Starbucks writing this post. My first post from Starbucks! I feel like I'm a real blogger now! I don't know if blogging was started by someone sitting in a coffee shop, but that's the picture I have in my head. I can't wait to be in Chile writing posts from a cafe there. It probably won't be Starbucks. Not that I don't like Starbucks (I actually used to be a Starbucks barista!), because I really do, and I appreciate their existence since they are the only coffee shop in my town but I definitely prefer independently owned coffee shops that have their own unique little vibe. I think Andrés and I have been to three or four different cafes in Valparaiso and they were all really great. Good (but small in size) lattes and really good sandwiches. I look forward to finding more now that I'll have a lot more time to do so. Maybe that's where I can hang out and plan my lessons and blog. Ah, the life.

As for life here, as I said, it's my day off. Which is wonderful! When I wrote about daylight savings time, I didn't want to be a downer, but this week has been super hard for me. It was very stressful at work (Lent is my busiest time of the year) and I was just SO tired. So today I slept until noon. Noon! Who (outside of college students) does that?! I guess I do. And it was glorious. I feel well rested. And when I woke up, you know what I did? I watched LOST season five. And now I'm at Starbucks. Then I'm going to Zumba. Ah, the life. 

I hope you all are having a fabulous Friday. And if not, don't worry- it's your weekend now too! Disfrutalo!

Mi Amor

In case you haven't had the pleasure of meeting him yet, this is mi Amor

Forget Him, Stay with Me

We've been doing this song at Zumba for the past few months. Yes, I know that they look something like the Jonas Brothers, but I love dancing to this song. It just makes me happy. The dance we do is pretty easy, it's upbeat and it gets you moving. But what really makes me smile are the lyrics. It's a guy saying to a girl that her boyfriend doesn't treat her like she deserves and that he could give her so much more. Now I've never been in a relationship where I've been treated poorly but I love the songs and movies (like Win a Date with Tad Hamilton) where the girl finally realizes that all she ever needed and wanted is right in front of her eyes. Also, if I ever was in a relationship like that, I would want to have guy like this fight for me and have the guts to say something like this to me. And so I leave you with the lyrics to the chorus...


Olvidalo 
Aqui estoy yo
Para dar lo que el nunca te dio
Dejame entrar en tu corazon
Pegate pegate pe pe pegate


Translation (remember, it never sounds as good as in the original language):
Forget him
I'm here
To give you what he never gave
Let me into your heart
Stay with me, stay with me

New Blog Feature

Just wanted to let you faithful readers know that to the top right of my blog you can enter your email address and sign-up to have my posts sent to your email every time there is a new post. Or you can just check back here every once in awhile. Whatever you want! I'm very surprised that I've been able to post everyday but I hope to keep posting at least a few times a week.

Laughing Gas, New Clothes and Daylight

It went rather well at the dentist today. My MN dentist is great. I've been going to him since I was five and I think my dad has gone to him since he was something like 17. So when I found out that I had to get two crowns on my molars that had just had root canals, I went to my MN dentist first while I was home visiting my family. He did one crown (it's all I had money for at the time) in June and then I had to get this second one in Wyoming. Like I said, my MN dentist is great. But one thing he doesn't do is he doesn't use the laughing gas. The WY dentist uses laughing gas. Let me tell you, that makes it so much better. I still felt the Novocaine but I didn't really care! So that was nice. The other nice thing is that it was $100 LESS than they quoted me last week when I made the appointment. Honestly, I'm a cheap-o (we'll say thrifty) and saving $100 of this hard-earned money I'm trying to save for Chile was way BETTER than not being preocupada about the Novocaine.


The other thing is that my dentist is located in the mall. For most women this would be a problem. But for me, I'm strong (like I said, I'm a cheap-o). Walking through the mall doesn't really tempt me, especially since I didn't have any money budgeted for clothes this month. However, there is this new store and I decided to stop in and look because I wanted to see what type and price of clothes they have. And I saw they had a clearance rack full of pretty clothes! Now I don't quite understand how a new store already has clearance items, but since they were good clothes for cheap prices I didn't really care. I ended up getting a really pretty new dress and a pretty new cardigan for... wait for it... $14.28! My receipt says I saved $54.38 off of the original price. Who is the best bargain shopper ever?! Today, it was me. Now like I said, I didn't have money in the budget for this. But it gave me so much joy to get these pretty new things that I took it from my entertainment fund. The clothes will give me more lasting joy than a movie.


The last thing I want to say is that daylight savings time rocks and sucks all at the same time. I'm glad to have more sunlight later into my evenings, but seriously, it's hard for my body to adjust to the time change. Sunday I woke up just fine, but the past three mornings have been a struggle to wake up and even went into work an hour late two of those three days. It's okay because I have a somewhat flexible schedule but I also feel like that's a waste of my time I should be working so I don't have to work so late into the evening. However, it's worth it though because it also means that Andrés and I are an hour closer together! Hip hip hooray for daylight savings!

Grrrrrrrrr... I'm Going to the Dentist

When we definitively decided I would be moving to Chile, Andrés and I made a list of all the things I need to do before I get on the plane. The list is kind of long. One of the things is to go to the doctor and dentist because I'll be without health insurance for a little while (hopefully not over a month) so I want to make sure I'm as fit as a fiddle before that happens. I'm going to wait to go for a check-up at the doctor until closer to the leave date, but I know what needs to happen at the dentist so I already made the appointment.


Tomorrow I go to the dentist. Please feel bad for me. Since I turned eighteen I have had a couple cavities, three wisdom teeth removed, three root canals, three crowns and tomorrow I will be receiving my fourth crown. Not fun. I don't know how I got these weak teeth and I don't think it's fair. Also, that's a boatload of money that the dentists have made off of my parents and then me in the past eight years! If you want to make money, choose your profession accordingly. Okay, enough with the self pity. I will stop complaining now, especially since it's Lent.


I'm going to be brave and endure the Novocaine shots and I'll give you all an update later. Maybe you'll even get a picture of my pretty new smile! Actually, it's a molar that's getting worked on and you won't even be able to tell. Please pray for me! 

My Potater-Tate

Today I got a nice little Facebook surprise. My sister-in-law Jill left me a nice little message about my niece (we will call her P). This is what Jill wrote: 

So P said the cutest thing today... she was talking to her friends and told them how her new uncle lives in Chile... it was too cute! I asked her if she knew something I didn't know (wondering if you guys secretly got married...) She said no but hopes he will be her uncle someday. :)

Don't worry P, it looks like your hopes will eventually come true! And so that answers the question: no, we did not secretly get married. Although we definitely thought about it many times! Hehe.


But how cute is it that my niece talks about Andrés? I think it's so sweet. Andrés is the first boyfriend that I've brought home for my family to meet and I was really curious (and a little nervous) to how everyone would get along. Especially my nieces- would they warm up to him? But everything went wonderfully and smoothly over Christmas. Andrés was able to see where I come from and the family that formed me- which includes all of our awesomeness along with all of our quirks too. I'm really happy about that, it's like he knows the "real me" more now that he's seen how I am with my family. And I'm glad too that P and D (my other niece) got used to him being there- and that they liked him so much they talk about him with their friends!


I love you, P!

What I Will and Will Not Miss About Sunday Mornings

Sundays are supposed to be for worship and rest... however, when you work for the Church, that doesn't always seem to be the case. Think about it, Sundays are probably the busiest days for priests and pastors and those who work for God. Sunday mornings are also usually very busy and often times stressful for me.


Take today for example. On Sunday mornings I have Religious Ed (CCD) for our K-5th graders, but today I also had to be at 11am Mass for the 2nd Rite of RCIA (the process adults go through to be baptized and become Catholic). So after losing an hour of sleep due to daylight savings, I'm rushing between the church and the parish center to get both events ready. Only, in the parish center there is a bird flying around! And then I also find out that one of my catechists is sick and won't be able to make it- but I can't take their class because I'll be at Mass! And then when I'm at the church, because everybody knows that I'm an employee, people are coming up to me and asking me questions that I just didn't have time to deal with. Stressful.


I will not miss the Sunday morning stress. And I won't miss having to work on Sundays. I look forward to getting to choose whatever Mass time I would like to attend and to taking the rest of the day to relax, spend time with family, nap and pray.


Yet, God is good and it all worked out. I eventually got the bird shooed out the door, a parent volunteered to watch a Veggietales video with the catechist-less class, and I kindly either had to help the parishioners or set my boundaries and let them know I didn't have time at the moment to answer their questions.


I will miss RE/CCD classes, I will miss all the kids, and I will miss the wonderful families and catechists. 


Even with all the stress though, I still had a good Sunday morning. I got to receive Christ in the Eucharist and I got to celebrate the Rite of Election and Call to Continuing Conversion with all the WONDERFUL people in RCIA. I love RCIA and all the people who go through it. Their faith always evangelizes me and inspires me to go deeper. It's amazing to get to be with them as they receive the Sacraments for the first time.


With all the different aspects I do as a parish catechist, I may miss RCIA most of all.

Zumba Gets Me By

I had a great workout this morning. And that workout was Zumba. As you get to know me more, you will come to understand that I have a great love for Zumba. I first went to a class over Memorial Day weekend last year and since then I may or may not have become an addict. For those of you who don't know, Zumba is a Latin-inspired fitness class of dancing done to music like salsa, merengue, reggaeton, African beats, etc. And I love it! It's seriously fun and an intense workout at the same time. Their tagline is "Ditch the workout, join the party" and a lot of times, that's what it feels like.


I think one of the reasons Zumba stuck with me and why I like it so much is because it reminds me of my life in Chile. When I'm in Chile my life is different and I think some people would be surprised at how I live my life there versus how I live my life here. Now, it's not that I act like a totally different person there, I'm me (and I'm proud to be me) wherever I am. But when you're in another country, of course you're going to lead your life a little bit differently. In the United States, no matter if I'm living in Minnesota, Wyoming, Ohio or wherever, I don't go out very much. I don't go to bars really or clubbing. But in Chile... I love going out! I love being part of the big(ger) city nightlife and I LOVE TO DANCE! Especially with Andres. And especially reggaeton. 


The music is just fun, the beats are awesome, and the atmosphere is a little invigorating. I will admit, sometimes the lyrics can be a bit dirty and so I'm thankful that I don't understand most of the Spanish that they sing so fast (I guess I'll have to come out of my naivety and deal with that once I start understanding the lyrics more). But for now, I just really enjoy staying out until 4 or 5 in the morning, dancing all night. And I think that is what is surprising because I never do that here in the U.S. But I do miss it. One thing is where I'm living now, there's not a whole lot of places to go out to. Another thing is that I don't really have people to go out with here. So I have to bide my time and wait to go dancing until the next time I go to Chile. And sometimes waiting for that is surprisingly hard. Tengo ganas de bailar! But until I have that chance to go out dancing all night again, Zumba gets me by.

What's in a Name

One of the hardest things about starting this blog was coming up with a name. I wanted the perfect name for me... and I think I found it. However, my boyfriend disagrees somewhat. I guess "Contenta con la Vida" doesn't quite resonate with him. In the end though, it's my blog and it highly resonates with me, so I went for it.

The title of this blog comes from a quote by the Chilean Saint, San Alberto Hurtado. During my first stay in Chile I came to learn a great deal about Padre Hurtado and he fastly became one of my favorite Saints. He was a Jesuit priest in the first half of the 20th century and he was  a social worker who had a great love for the poor. He's the one who founded Hogar de Cristo which has now even spread to the United States. Padre Hurtado lived a rather short life. He died at the age of 51 from cancer and if I remember the story correctly, when he was diagnosed he said the words "Contento, Señor, contento." Basically it means "I am content or happy Lord." But to me, and I think to many Chileans, it goes so much deeper. He was just given a diagnosis of death and yet he says he is okay, happy, content... because he has lived a life for God and he trusts in God's plan for him.

From the first time I heard this quote, it hit me hard. I thought it was a great attitude to have and a great way to live your life. When I was learning Spanish by immersion, I had major struggles- with the language and not being able to communicate at higher than the level of a toddler, with adjusting to some cultural differences and even some differences in the Church. It was worth it, but it wasn't easy. And one of the greatest compliments I ever received from Andrés was when we were still friends and getting to know each other and he said that I reminded him of that quote by Padre Hurtado! It made me feel good to know that even though I was going through difficulties, people on the outside could still see I was giving it my all and trying to be joyful.

"Contento, Señor, contento." This is how I want to live. Whatever comes my way, I want to be contenta. Contenta con Dios y con la vida. Hence, the name for my blog. I want to always be joyful in the gift of life God has given me, whether I'm going through happy times or if I'm really struggling. Right now I'm very contenta because soon I'm going to be joining Andrés and we'll no longer be separated for months on end. But I also know that it's highly likely that in a year we're going to have to part for awhile again. I also know that I will go through more suffering in life. And my hope is that my blog title will remind me to always try to be contenta. To keep trusting in God's plan for me and that He will work for my good.

It All Starts with a Plan...

Welcome to my shiny-new, first-ever blog! After waiting months, maybe even over a year, I am finally able to start this new chapter in my life. I'm moving to Chile!!! In June of 2009 I went to that long, skinny country to learn Spanish for six weeks. I came away with a good hold on the language (although I still have a lllloooooooooooonnnnnggggg way to go) and a pololo (Chilean boyfriend). I didn't count on that happening but Andrés has been one of the biggest blessings in my life.

Since returning to the States in August of 2009, I've been back to Chile twice and Andrés came here this past Christmas. I'm working, he's going to school, and we've managed to keep our relationship going- and even growing- thanks to skype, msn live and gchat. But now it is time. It's time to trust in God and our love and move to Chile! Honestly, we've been thinking about this and trying to plan for it for a long time. There's been money, work, family and school issues to consider. I've spent a lot of time in prayer trying to understand God's timing and asking Him what His plan is. And now it looks like it's really happening! And I'm happy, contenta.

So the plan is that in the middle or end of August I will make the move. That means I have about five months to get prepared: renew my passport, get all my financial bizzness in order, finish up work responsibilities and say goodbye to all my family and loved ones here. I'll admit sometimes I'm so excited and other times I'm scared out of my mind. When I first started considering moving, I googled it and found a ton of gringa bloggers living in Chile. Their blogging has given me so much info and stories and has just been fascinating reading. I'm excited to join their ranks and I hope you'll join me as I experience all of this for the first time with my blog. I hope to keep you updated with preparations and then my new life in Chile. Thanks for reading!