Acelerar

Good afternoon from Maryknoll, where I have been hanging out today. I stayed after morning classes for Eucharist at the chapel, celebrated by the Korean priests, Padre Pablo and Padre Juan de la Cruz. I had lunch at a nearby buffet and returned here to pray, write in my journal, and read a few pages from the Spanish-language edition of National Geographic. The June 2018 edition has a cover feature on our world of plastic, and wow, are we in a world of trouble. There are more than 50 pages of features and photographs on this theme. I have until next Tuesday to read and reflect. I have to read only one article, but I want to go beyond. I will read as much of the content as I can, including photo captions, graphics text, and sidebars.

Classes went well this morning. They would have been better if my mind was not so sluggish. It is the sleep medication. I stopped using it while I was sick last week and resumed my small dose last night. In the first days when I was on the medication, it felt like there was a blanket covering my brain. This was one of those days again. I was waiting for my mind to wake up and be alert. But it never did, not after the first period, not after tea with sugar, not after the third period. As I write this post in mid-afternoon, still I am running slowly. Oh, well. My body will adjust once more.

I read my vocation biography for Profesora Karla and handed it to her with satisfaction. Now she will have to sit and wade through six paragraphs and correct all my errors!

Listening continues to be a challenging exercise. Now Grace and I are hearing conversations spoken much more at normal speed. After three listens, I remain unaware of more than half of what was said. This calls for persistence. This calls for endurance. In fact, the pace of class itself seems to be accelerating. (Or is it the medicine?) We seem to be moving from one exercise to another more rapidly. I have been told to try to reduce the length of pauses in my speech. That is hard, because I like to think slowly before I speak, whatever the language. Our digressions into chatter get cut off more quickly now by the teachers. For example, I was giving an extended description of a Capuchin friar, trying to fill out the profile, when Profesora Liliana interrupted me to correct errors. When she was finished, I asked her if I should continue, and she said it was time to move on. So that is interesting. So many things to learn, and so little time! More and more I am glad I decided to study for six months instead of only three. More time to learn, more time to acquire, and more time to integrate.

And more time to discover Bolivia. I have wanted to visit the great salt flats of Uyuni. Joshua began to explore tour options a few weeks ago. You need at least three days and two nights to get a full experience. With trips to La Paz and Oruro in sight, I could not fit in Uyuni during recess, two weeks ago. Grace would like to go to Uyuni, and she is getting estimates on travel by airplane and on the tour itself. June 20 and 21 are national holidays, Corpus Christi and the Aymara New Year, respectively. We could leave for Uyuni the evening of June 19, a Wednesday, and return on June 23, a Sunday. It can be done! Stay tuned as plans come together.

Back to the magazine until it is time to take a taxi-trufi back downtown. Dinner with the Mennonite volunteers is on at last!