A few pieces of info. to fill in here and there

I've been asked a few questions by some people, and I thought I'd answer them a bit here, since a lot of you are probably wondering the same thing. Sometimes I write a post and it doesn't work and I forget what all I said in it later, or I talk about stuff in personal e-mails and don't put them here.

There are different "comunas" in the city of Santiago - something like 15 or so, actually, I think. There's Santiago Centro, which is downtown and has the biggest tourist sights, etc. , and I believe the airport is there as well - the Plaza de Armas, where I went the other day, is in Santiago Centro. I live in Nunoa (with tildes on the n's), which is a kind of middle-class comuna - mainly residential, with some restaurants at Plaza Nunoa and other shopping, etc. on the street that goes through the plaza, which is Irarrazaval. Providencia is where Paulina lives - it's more compact - with higher-rise apartment and business buildings, and shops, etc. closer together - more city-like. Las Condes is where the party was - a higher class area, with larger lots, a strip with American restaurants, etc. I've also gone out near La Florida to go shopping, and probably to other places without knowing it. Here's a link to a map of Santiago - you may need to zoom out to see the different comunas, but I have Nunoa highlighted.

http://www.mapcity.com/PloteoNew.asp?ciudad=santiago&Comuna1=NUNOA&Inicio=SI&Encabezado=SI&Producto=COMUNA&IdServicio=&GenRuta=&STransito=&TxtPer1=&TxtPer2=&opcbuscar=dire&icorigen=../images/botones/ico_estrella_ch.gif&icdestino=&icmapa=../images/botones/int-bt_color.gif&colormapa=color1&icono1=estrella&icono2=

As to what the heck I'm doing with my "service/mission" thing. My main purpose is to relieve Shana (the director of the workshop, who's temporarily also the "duena de casa" in the group home), by living in with Adriana and Alain here. I'm kind of a live-in babysitter - I prepare the bit of breakfast and dinner that they have (and I presume I'll cook some kind of bigger lunch when we're here at the house in Feb.), make sure they take showers and get dressed in a timely fashion, get to bed, deal with fits, etc. In the afternoons when they come home from the workshop, I'm to make sure they do some kind of stimulating activity - lately it's been a lot of cat/dog stuff. Today we went to the supermarket together. In February, they won't be at the workshop, so I'll have them all day. I hope to take them to a museum or two, etc. (Note - if any of you have any good ideas for things to do - whether a particular activity, or a tip at using an everyday activity for a lesson or inspiration, let me know - I'm incredibly new at this being in a parent-like position, not hardly ever having babysat, not being incredibly in touch with certain aspects of my childhood, and not ever having worked with adults with disabilities, other than the bowling trip I took with a group in Conway last semester). Also, this coming Saturday, a mission group from Virginia is coming, so Shana will be very busy with them - late nights, etc., and after that she's taking a week-long vacation - so I will be busier the next 3 weeks. This all sounds like a lot, but Shana has arranged things so that time is more broken up with different people - with Georgie the cleaning the lady, with Paz the psychologist, with Adriana's sister, with me, and with Shana. So, while Shana and/or I are here each night, we aren't with them all the time. If you were here, you'd understand - it can be a bit frustrating/draining at times, and seeing new faces is just better for them and the people with them, so that it's more enjoyable to be around each other. So - that said - Shana's been arranging it where both of us have had a bit more time off during this first part of my stay, since there will be more work later on, so I've had a chance to do some relaxing. And, I will actually continue to have quite a bit of time to go out and see the city or whatever, even when Shana's gone, because Georgie and Paz will be here. It seems so odd to come here to serve, and find out that I have lots of "time off", but as Shana says, it's a part of the whole experience of coming here - I need to learn about where I am, the culture, etc., in order to understand how A&A, the other participants, the staff, etc., etc. are shaped and where they're coming from. I've gone to the workshop to hang out occasionally, as well - mainly just "being" with the people there, and today I harvested some lavendar - they've had tons of it drying upstairs, and now they've got to get the smell-em-good parts off of it to make stuff with (and to get it all out of the way, so people can sleep on the floors upstairs). I hope/plan to work on the workshop's website as well - update the site in English and hopefully create a Spanish site. So, not all my "time off" from the house will be seeing the city, I don't think.

Anyway - so I hope that gives y'all a little better idea of what I'm "doing" here. I'm also supposed to be reflecting on my vocation, since this is a Lilly thing - that's the ultimate purpose. So, I've also taken some of my time to journal, etc. And, I'm looking for lessons to be learned. One of the big ones is learning to live in the moment, not worry about what's next, enjoy life more fully, rest deeply - all of which I began the process of on our camping trip. So, I'm in the process of putting this all together and usefully planning my time off - and so since I don't know how the rest of this thing is going to play out, I can't really tell you - but there it is. Oh - one more thing - a part of what I'm doing, simply by being me in a different place, is being a bridge between the U.S. and Chile. A little part of that will happen when the Virginia group comes - I'll be with them some of the time. I'm also seemingly constantly finding out more connections amongst the people I know in Chile and the U.S., etc. - networking, you might say.

Chao and buenas noches!