Here begins what will hopefully be an extensive series of entries about my experience as an associate layperson (laico asociado in Spanish) of Holy Cross in Santiago, Chile. My housemate, fellow teacher, and partner in crime John Power and I arrived Sunday, July 28^th.

Before leaving the States we spent one night and part of a day in New York City. Highlights of the stay in Manhattan included seeing Norah Jones live at a bar thanks to one of John’s friends, visiting St. Patrick’s Cathedral, meeting up with some friends from the Maryknoll orientation , and perusing few works at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Then, we flew out of LaGuardia to Toronto, and from there direct to Santiago. The flight went by without any incident other than a rather fussy baby. Once we landed, though, we found that of the two pieces of luggage that we each had brought, only one of mine and one of John’s arrived. Thankfully, they did show up at our house late Monday night.

So, you may be wondering what the house is like. Well, after Fr. Mike DeLaney (Holy Cross’s district superior in Chile) and Michelle Fitzgerald (former Holy Cross Associate and current English teacher and international study program coordinator at Saint George’s College, another colegio in Santiago) met John and me at the airport, we went straight to the house. It is located approximately one block from the colegio where we work, in a small street called Pasaje General Armstrong (a very common Chilean name, of course). The neighborhood is, to cite a frequently spoken Chilean phrase, “más o menos,” meaning more or less. Our house, like the rest in the area, has bars over the windows that face the street and two dead bolt locks on the door. Most people advise us not to go out alone after sunset or at all late at night. Up till now, though, the neighbors we have met are friendly and besides loud music and a dog fight we haven´t run into any problems. Besides neighbors in our pasaje, we have also been introduced to some other families who live nearby that have connections to the school, the parish, or the former Holy Cross Associate program. Like most cities in Chile, there are a lot of stray dogs around here, since the people of Chile believe neutering and putting animals to sleep are unacceptable methods to deal with the flourishing canine population.

The inside of the house was very pleasantly furnished before we arrived, thanks mostly to supplies left over from the former Holy Cross Associates program and a few new items which the Congregation provided for us. There are two floors; the first is comprised of a living room and kitchen separated by a counter and cabinets. Then, beyond a door in the back, there is another small room , off of which is the laundry area and a modest bathroom (read: toilet). The small room will serve primarily as space to dry clothes. We do have a drier, but since they take so much energy we will try to use it sparingly. Upstairs are three bedrooms, one each with a regular bed, bunkbeds, and a bed with an additional roll out underneath. I have chosen to live in the room with the roll out, since it has a window that faces Cerro Renca, a hill to the north east which I saw often last year and has a cross on top of it. At the end of the hallway is a bathroom. With my next post I hope to have some pictures of the house, but have decided to wait until John and I are settled in.

John and I came to Chile with the understanding that the first week or two would be a time of orientation, meeting the Holy Cross priests, brothers, and other workers here in Chile, defining what we will be doing at the Colegio and in the other apostolates of the Congregation in Santiago. Well, most of that has happened. The only change from the original plans is that we began working at the Colegio on Monday. So, John and I jumped into the deep end in a sense. However, being it the first week, we worked primarily with introductions, to get to know the students and to get a feel for their level of English. The strangest part for me was that the teachers just left us with the groups without much in the way of instructions or consultation about what they expected. For the workshops, John and I are the only teachers listed for those classes. All considering, though, the classes have gone well. We try to speak only in English, with mixed success. With the younger students this tactic is nearly impossible, and we have resigned ourselves to the fact that we may have to implement games working with vocabulary and basic sentences. In the classes from middle school to early high school, some students grasp most of what we are saying, which so far has been limited to introductions and questions about their family and what they like to do. For the upper grades, especially 11^th and 12^th grade, the small groups have been able to at least make an effort to speak exclusively in English, and some students know quite a bit. For most all of them, though, this is their first opportunity to learn with a native speaker. This means that attention levels have been surprisingly high over all age groups.

What with meeting the teachers, students, priests, brothers, and neighbors, the past week has been a bombardment of names, many of which I have already forgotten. I can only hope that people will understand that while I appreciate their effort to distinguish between John and me, I may take a bit longer doing so for them, as they are a bit more numerous.

Well, seeing as I must stop sometime, I will wrap up by saying that I have not covered many important parts of the past week. I think that is something good to keep in mind for this first entry in Chile especially, as well as for future entries. Please, feel free to write me with any questions, or if you think there is something I neglected to write about but should include in future entries. I would also like to thank all of you for your support. If there is one thing I have learned over the past month with orientations and beginning to work it is that this next year and a half will be a challenge I will not be able to meet alone. I have received immeasurable support to bring me here, beginning long before I even heard about this program. My only hope is that some I will be able to be a good influence on someone’s life here as so many people have been for me before now and more will surely be over the next year and a half.

For now, I bid you farewell. I hope you’ll return, and please write with questions if you have them. Coming soon: more frequent entries.