Jornada

So last weekend marked my 2 month anniversary in Chile! I really can't believe I have been here for over two months or that's it's almost Thanksgiving. It really feels like I just got here.

So to celebrate and to give us a little bit of reflection time on what we've been doing here and where we had hoped we would be versus where we are, we went for a retreat, Jornada, in to the Andes in Cajon de Maipo for the weekend. It was amazing! We stayed at this gorgeous retreat center right on the edge of the mountains. It was really so great to get out of the city and to be so close to nature and to have some fresh air again!! I like Santiago, but the smog and the hustle and bustle of a big city is just not my favorite thing.

We had a lot of free time to just relax and do nothing, which was amazing. I feel like I'm always trying to not waste time here and make sure I'm doing everything so it was great to just sit back for a bit. We also had some team building activities and reflection time which was amazing as well for many reasons.

The first being that a lot of time we get so caught up in the day to day stuff at the hogar that I forget what these girls have actually been through and that when they freak out on me over very small things, it's often because of something a lot larger that they are dealing with. We've also been going through a lot of frustration at the hogar because the new director (who was wonderful and wanted to improve the hogar and change things for the better) was just "asked to leave" because some of the older staff are so set in their ways that they were threatened by the changes. It's just so annoying because we work hard to try and make changes and do things there and then you remember how broken this system in Chile actually is. So we talked at Jornada about staying positive and focusing on what you can change and what you can do while you're here.

The second amazing part was getting to spend more time with all of the volunteers here, who have now become such great friends of mine. We were of course able to share experiences about our hogars and relate to each other about all of it because no one else really gets it. However, we were also able to leave everything behind and just laugh and enjoy each others company in such a gorgeous place. We even made s'mores!!! It was hilarious because the Germans and the Brits had never heard of them and were honestly not that impressed with them, but I was loving it!

Here are a few pictures from the trip......

Our retreat center for the weekend.

Hiking in Cajon de Maipo

Gorgeous views everywhere!

Jess, Nola and I on our Sunday hike.

The whole group at the end of Jornada.

It was amazing, but with that 2 month mark also brings the decision I need to make on if I'm going to stay longer than my 4 months. Oh life decisions! Never easy to make!!