January is almost come and gone, and I’m now well into my second year as a Jesuit Volunteer in Nicaragua. The last several months have been a whirlwind, but now life is settling back into the normal routine of work and community life and the weeks seem to be slipping through my fingers.
After hosting JVC staff members here for a yearly evaluation, visit and retreat, there were a few short weeks before we were going to the airport to pick up the new JVs who would be joining our two communities here. They all arrived safely and ready to hit the ground running, so we kept them busy with all kinds of “In-Country Orientation” activities. This included safety talks, history talks, homestays with families in our barrio and in a rural community, language school and a community retreat.
Somewhere in there, we said goodbyes to the JVs finishing up their two years (good luck Christine, Amber and Patrick!) and then I started having family arriving to visit after going over a year without seeing them! My sister Katie came first, followed by my brother Danny, and then the family was completed with the arrival of my parents and sister Claire soon after Christmas. We took time to catch up after so much time, travel around Nicaragua, see my work site and meet the other Jesuit Volunteers and friends here. A highlight was taking them all to a small rural community in the mountains where we have done retreats before. We rented a cabin and all stayed in one room together. The electricity was out, but we were happy to sit around together playing guitar by candle and flashlight. It was the first time I had spent with my entire family since I started this journey, and it will be close to another year until that happens again, so I made sure to relish the moment.
My family stayed around until early January before heading back to work and school commitments. Soon after they left I started up again with work (I had most of late December and early January off). I’ve now been doing that for a few weeks, and like this time last year it’s been a bit of a slow start for getting activities going. That hasn’t necessarily been bad though as it’s given me time to adjust back into the work mode and get to know my new community mates. Heather and Megan are new in our house, and Adrienne, Bianca and Tony are new in the Ciudad Sandino casa.
