Volcan Irazu

This week has been all about getting acquainted at school school. The students have been coming for just two hours each day so Giselle, the new teacher I will be working with, can meet with parents to learn more about each students' needs and abilities. We will have nine students in the group this year with an even wider range of ability than last year. Most are blind and visually impaired but some have perfect vision; most have limited mobility but some can walk and run faster  than me; most are nonverbal but some can hold full conversations; most are pretty calm but some are really active or aggressive. Since the days are so short, only a couple kids have been coming each day. This has given me a chance to get reacquainted with them and work one on one with them, which is always fun.

At home, it's been pretty quiet. Literally. With only four people in our fairly spacious house, it seems a bit empty. Plus, Molly has been away with her parents for most of the week so it's really only been three of us! On Tuesday night we celebrated "El Dia del amor y la amistad" at the friary. Friar Jorge, who was visiting from Rome, made a delicious dinner. He is originally from Argentina and dazzled us with all sorts of Argentinean-style BBQ.  It turns out that he is the Assistant General of Latin America, which basically means that he is responsible to the Minister General in Rome for all the Conventual Franciscans in Latin America. Big deal! We were excited to be able to share a little bit about FrancisCorps with him, since (as far as we know) we are the only Franciscan volunteers (within the Conventual order at least) in Latin America.

Volcan Irazu

Yesterday, Molly, Nicole, and I, along with two of our new student-teacher friends, took a bus trip to Volcan Irazu for the morning. It was a really easy trip from San Jose to the national park, where we spent a couple hours enjoying the view of the crater lake. We met some interesting folks - other tourists, local nuns, etc - and were really happy to finally see a volcano without a view obstructed by clouds! (Pictures below!). Hope all is well with you at home!