What I'm Doing

My com boxes tell me I recently gained a new reader (a new Blogger blogger whose site is starting strongly), who has asked me to explain myself. My SiteMeter stats tell me I have a lot more readers lately than I thought I did. While I suspect 90% of those are my friends and family, this is none the less impetus enough for me to, finally, explain my current situation.

I decided well before I graduated from college that I wanted to spend the year following doing service work. My reasons for this are many, and more personal than I really want to get into here, but being intelligent adults you can probably guess about an idea. If you want to really boil it down, God said so and I said, "Well, alright."

In March and April, I was filling out applications to service programs like mad (a process I touched on here). While home for Easter, I looked over those applications and suddenly realized I wasn't really excited about any of them. Not that they were not good and worthy programs for one to be involved in, but I myself didn't feel strongly drawn to them -- and I've always been big on gut feelings.

I scoured the internet one more time, and found VIDES. Looking at the web site, I finally felt that little push, that little "Yeah, do that" that told me it was a good thing. This was in April, but it said "or until positions are filled" under the March deadline. I called Sr. Gloria and told her I what I was about, and she said that their school could use a volunteer teacher. That was more or less that.

Fast forward to almost-October, which finds me teaching grammar and writing to 5th-8th graders, who are already telling me not to leave next year, at St. John Bosco School in San Antonio, where people speak Spanish and say y'all in equal parts. I live at the school in the convent with the Salesian sisters, who take very good care of me and always make sure I get enough to eat.

There is, of course, much much more to it than that, but that's part of why I'm keeping a blog. Keep reading, or read backwards, and you'll get the idea.