Jornada! Argentina! Progress!

As much as I love learning about Chilean culture and slang, sometimes the highlight of my day is learning a new British term or custom from my dear co-worker at Entre Todas, Chris Wiggins, or as we've taken to calling him, Lord Wiggins. "Oh look, that car is driving with its bonnet (hood) up," he'll say, or "You Americans are so obsessed with peanut butter, I just don't understand it!" His hates the way we say "awesome" so much and insists that things like a dish of ice cream or a choice '80s pop song simply cannot be awesome. This weekend, however, when a group of us headed to Mendoza, Argentina, Chris allowed me to use "awesome" to describe the scenery we saw from the bus along the way. The road cuts right through the Andes, so everywhere you look you see raw, rugged beauty. It's always good to be reminded of just how awe-inspiring nature can be. Here are a few shots from the drive:

Lovely parks and outdoor cafés fill Mendoza, which is also one of the eight wine capitols of the world (according to whom, I have no idea). We relaxed, ate good food, perused an artesan market, took tours of two wineries and an olive oil factory, and enjoyed the challenges of coordinating multiple groups of people in a foreign country with no cell phones! We spent two and half hours in a long line of buses at the border on our way back, but we managed to make our own fun:

The previous weekend also took place in a beautiful spot, Cajón del Maipo. The entire VE family headed to a beautiful retreat center for Jornada, our weekend retreat that takes place about a month and a half after each new class arrives. Over the course of the weekend we worked in groups, both large and small, discussing why we had come to Chile and VE, as well as relevant issues such as poverty and social exclusion. We also had time to ourselves to reflect on our experiences thus far. Sitting on a bench surrounded by mountains and flowering trees, I thoroughly enjoyed this opportunity to get my head on straight. We also participated in various group-building activities and challenges that brought me back to the days of summer camp, youth group, and a singing group a bunch of my closest friends and I were in throughout junior high and high school. It felt really great to revisit this type of activity where people are made to be a bit vulnerable but are therefore more open to learning about themselves and each other.

There was also plenty of time for enjoying the relaxing atmosphere of the retreat center and, of course, the pool! No shortage of silliness here:

On Friday night, right after midnight when it was officially my birthday, three of my friends presented me with a birthday Jornada survival kit including a loaf of gluten-free bread, a gluten-free cake mix, a pack of Starburst, a mix CD and two cards made by Entre Todas girls! I was pretty much floored and felt completely happy to be where I was. On Saturday night Brooke, one of the volunteers who cooked for us all weekend, made the cake which was presented to me complete with birthday candles and a roaring rendition of "Cumpleaños Feliz." Happiness.

My favorite activity of the weekend came on Saturday night at the last meeting of our smaller groups. We took turns holding a candle, each person making affirming comments to the person holding the candle. My group had great energy and zest from the get-go, so although this activity was really just a formal version of what we'd been doing all weekend, it was a wonderful time to share together.

On Sunday morning we took the traditional Jornada group pictures:

Woot!

Finally, in Entre Todas news, I've been feeling really pumped about the progress we've been making. This past week we implemented a few of our projects quite successfully. On Tuesday Chris and I took six girls to a large park with a soccer ball and frisbee in hand. Though the girls weren't all participating the whole time, each one participated at one point with a smile on her face! Taking the girls out of the hogar always garners positive results to some degree, but to see them running around, throwing a frisbee, etc, was really exciting. They had a blast running through the sprinklers set up to water the fields at the park and at one point all eight of us played a fierce game of Monkey in the Middle with the soccer ball.

On Wednesday we held the first installment of our cooking project with three girls. I started by telling them we would be making chocolate chip cookies and asking them to brainstorm on a piece of paper what ingredients they thought we'd need. To my surprise, they did this quite enthusiastically! After I handed out copies of the recipe, we had a discussion about why certain ingredients are important. As we calmly discussed the purpose of baking soda, I marveled in my mind how patient and engaged the girls were being. When we moved to the kitchen and began the actual cooking, I was shocked at how well the girls listened to me and how they allowed each other to participate equally. They were absolute gems throughout the whole process, and although I couldn't eat the cookies, Chris informs me they were "absolutely lush!" There was drama with some of the other girls who didn't get to participate--a couple of the girls who never, ever give us the time of day came up to the kitchen window and yelled at us for not telling everyone about the project. It shook me to have them yell like that, and we're still in the process of figuring out how to choose the other group we'll work with in the kitchen, but I know I need to not let their uneven emotions get to me. I have to remember that for those three girls, it was a brilliant day.

On Thursday, Chris and I stopped at a grocery store on our way to work to buy cookies and juice for a silent reading hour. I made a little sign for the door of the room where we read that said "Zona de Leer" (Reading Area) and for over an hour (!!!) we had three girls reading silently with us. They were excited about the juice and cookies, but they stayed long after the supplies had dwindled. Two of the girls even thanked me when they left the room! After the reading hour, the girls practiced a couple of their dances for the upcoming VE Art Festival. At one point they made me get up and dance with them which, of course, resulted in me getting made fun of a lot, but it felt really good to be silly with them in that way. I danced around for a long time with the six-year-old, spinning around on the floor, etc, generally giggling and being crazy with her, which she loves. After we danced she was clingy and snuggled with me for about twenty minutes--when she's sweet, she's unbelievably sweet, and I'm reminded that she's just a six-year-old who needs to be hugged. At Jornada I thought a lot about human touch, a theme I've frequently considered for a few years now. It's so complicated with these girls who live outside a family setting and don't have access to the kind of nurturing physical touch they need. They also most likely have had negative experiences with human touch and therefore have walls up to protect themselves.

Things have been feeling better, overall, though. A few of the girls I had trouble interacting with at first have really warmed up to me and a couple of the girls now greet me with hugs everyday. It's not perfect, of course, but for the moment I'm in a good place about it. Next week we'll be going on vacation with the girls for four or five days, so that will be a completely different experience, but I'm excited about it. Keep the progress coming.