Saturday and Sunday rolled by as usual - lots of phone conversations with Kevin (the young man from home who has melted my heart), a basketball game with Stephanie, homework with Anamaria, and visiting in the community room. Let me elaborate on Kevin: we have been talking for several months now, and our relationship has grown deeper and become stronger even over the distance of 4 states. I have been learning how to love out here in Washington, both from the sisters and from him. I promise a longer post about this soon!
Ok, back to my insane week. Monday was busy with running errands and making sure all the work was done for class. As I came to the end of the day, I finally returned the car keys to their proper drawer and headed to my room to talk to Kevin and read. I was reading The Unbearable Lightness of Being when the lights started to flicker. I looked up from my book and noticed the very strong wind blowing against the trees and the house. S. Mary knocked on my door to make sure I had a flashlight, and then the lights went out. I left my lamp on so I would know when the power was back in the middle of the night and didn't think much about it as I fell asleep.
Well, my lamp never turned back on. I woke up in a cold, dark room and ran to see if I could still take a warm shower. Luckily, we have a gas water heater! I bundled up and ventured up the pitch-dark stairs to see if I could find some coffee. Luckily, we have a gas burner in the kitchen, so we could heat water and have instant. We had morning praise in the community room, which has a wall of windows and was lighter than the chapel. Just before praise began, I was talking to S. Monika, and we both heard a vase on the table rattle and the floor vibrate. We looked at each other, wondering, and found out later that it was an earthquake! Then I took S. Anamaria and Redempta to school for the day so they could have internet and power (and so I could charge my phone and do some work). Redempta and I stayed until about 3:00, when we figured the power must be back on. We drove home only to find chilly darkness awaiting us! Luckily, it wasn't raining, just cold and cloudy. The sisters canceled mass, and we had to use flashlights to read our prayer-books at 5:00. We had a candle-lit dinner, and Stephanie decided to go home early since the phones weren't working. Finally, after 21 hours, the lights came back on! I have never been so happy to see a functional lightbulb. After dinner, I went to pick up Anamaria from class and told her, very enthusiastically, that the power was finally back. She gave me her little look and said, "Every night in Africa we have no light." I was abashed. I take so many privileges for granted.
The next day, Wednesday, I worked in the library and the kitchen - fully lit and heated. It was a nice long day of using my youth and energy to help the sisters. Then, at 4:30, I took S. Redempta and Anamaria to school so they could cook for the Taste of Cultures festival which would be held the next day at St. Martin's. They had bought all the groceries and thought they'd be done in "couple or three" hours. ("A couple" always means 2 for them.) I talked on the phone a bit, read my book, and, when I hadn't heard from them in 5 hours, called the sisters. They said they would still be a while, maybe an hour, because "it takes long time to wash dish." I said I'd come get them in an hour. So 10:30, my usual bedtime, rolled around, and I took the car over to the university. S. Redempta met me outside and took me to a dungeony, cold little kitchen. They were only done cooking a third of their sambusas! They were making a traditional African food - meat and vegetables wrapped in an egg-roll shell and deep-fried. So I attempted to help, as per my job description and my tired eyes so we could all get home and go to bed. My "help" ended up drying out the wrappers so they didn't seal well and the shells exploded in the oil...whoops. But Anamaria was endlessly patient and particular about resealing them and making sure each one was well-shaped and would stay together. Redempta fried them all, adopting the American attitude of "just do it." We finished at midnight, and as I drove them home, they both started talking about how hungry they were and how much they had to go to the bathroom - they hadn't eaten anything or taken a break since I dropped them off almost 8 hours earlier! I asked WHY on earth they hadn't done those things, and Redempta told me, "Every minute is precious." I was struck speechless. I don't think I've ever taken a task so seriously I didn't stop to use the restroom.
Their hard work paid off - the sambusas flew off our table at the festival yesterday. I felt very privileged to stand next to S. Redempta as she distributed the fruit of their labor to hundreds of college students and community members. Here's a picture of us:
After the festival, I took a nap and then spent the evening working with S. Anamaria on her final graded lesson plans of the semester - we practiced with me playing "second grader" so she would be prepared for her professor's observation today.
I also got to talk with my fellow volunteers in Puerto Rico yesterday, and we talked about how different the sisters' priorities and ideas of time are than ours. The lesson I have learned this week comes from thinking about that. As I work with the African sisters, I have realized how differently each person sets up their priorities. For S. Anamaria, doing whatever she is doing to the utmost best of her ability is always most important. If she's eating, she is only eating and thoroughly enjoying eating. If she's working, she's totally working and not taking a break to do anything else. She does everything well, fully. And when I tell her to eat something, she says, "I will." But she won't until she's finished. S. Redempta wants things to be done well, but she also wants them to be finished. She is willing to do things a bit more simply, like only wrapping her sambusas once instead of three times like Anamaria. She sees the big picture and tries to make sure all the parts are being accomplished so the finished product will come together efficiently. And me: I like to get things done, check things off my list, and make sure everyone is comfortable - bathroom breaks and regular meals included. I am learning to live more fluidly here, to let things happen as they happen and not have to plan out every second of every day, but it's still hard to let that go. We heard a reading a few weeks ago that said, "God is the journey." I'm learning to find God in everything here, in doing things instead of getting them done. I am trying to see God in the process instead of in the ending, because nothing is really ever finished - everything stays with us as we walk along the path of life. And God is with us in everything.
Peace and love!
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