Retreat in El Quisco

Spent last weekend at the beach with Padre Mike at the retreat house in El Quisco. El Quisco is a little town that is located a bit south of Valparaiso on the Pacific coast of Chile. It was a wonderful opportunity to rest and relax and just to take advantage of a little time off after the hectic weeks that preceded with fiestas Patrias and my birthday. The highlights of the weekend would be the great conversations that we had and the time that was spent simply reflecting and reading, all the while being serenaded by the crashing waves coming off the coast.
The time there was great to be able to recharge my batteries and just to be able to take a moment to reflect on what I am doing here and the experiences that have occurred. I marked, during my time there, the medicinal attributes of water and how that just the sound of crashing waves causes you to simply to get lost in your own thoughts and reflections. It is interesting that the tumulus sounds of crashing waves allows one to relax, but the drone of everyday life causes one to get lost. It is something that is all too common today, especially for my generation, that our lives are just filled with noise. In our current society of texting, surfing, non-stop music and television we are encouraged to become addicted to entertainment. We want everything to be instant and we cannot bear the crying sound of silence. The silence can be all to piercing, it makes us take a look at our own feelings of solitude and loneliness. Yet, instead of trying to grow, to ask the difficult questions, and to improve our faith we simply flick on the TV/computer/cell phone and look for a simple entertainment.
I can see all to clearly the prominent problems that will be bourn by our society. A society of a thousand friends on online social networks but at the cost of direct human relations and the sharing of sentiments. A society where the only time we see tears, is in a corny Smiley or hug/embrace at the end of a letter. I know that I fit the stereotype and spend too much time on this type of entertainment, but I am trying to better about experiencing true friendships, and to know myself. I hope that all of you are able to take time out of your day to show love to those who you love. Also, that you are able to make time for yourself, to be, to reflect, and to grow.
I pray that you are all able to take time for what is truly important in life.

The last few weeks have been spent in celebration.
During the last two weeks i celebrated my 24th birthday (man just writing that makes me feel older), and Fiestas Patrias.
I will talk about my birthday celebrations in this post and the following will be about fiestas Patrias.

This year is probably the most i have celebrated my birthday. There were several different types of celebrations

1st we had a karaoke night with the members of the pastoral team. It was fun and it has become a custom for the members of Pastoral (Campus Ministry) to go out on each others Birthdays. As per custom, i went up to sing a song. Joe and I did a wonderful rendition of one of The Backstreet Boys classic hits.

Then next day i went to the Chile vs. Venezuela soccer game with Joe and a Chilean buddy, Alvaro. The game was fun to see and luckily the game ended in a tie otherwise i am pretty sure there would have been rioting. Plus the game was highlighted by a constant downpour that left all of the fans slightly aggravated. Most of the fans were pretty soaked and could be in a better humor. Yet, this experience was rather colorful and interesting because it was the first time i had come into contact with truly angry Chilean soccer fans. Again, very happy that Chile at least came out with a tie.

Wednesday during school i received a nice present from the 1st and 2nd graders that i teach English. They, with the aid of the assistants, sang happy birthday to me in English and then i received a Chilean flag made out of separate cards written by the students. It was pretty cute. I will not post the picture because it might be too cute for the internet.

Then for my birthday itself we had a nice communal dinner at home with the 5 gringos (americans, or our program) Father Mike, Padre Erwin and Oliver. It was a nice meal, with Brian making Chicken Cordon Bleu and Apple pie. So that was very nice. It was a very relaxing and quiet event. Which was nice considering the next week after was anything but.

So my birthday was celebrated on several occasion and by several different people. I thank you all for the birthday wishes that you sent and hope that you are all well.