CCM Retiro

We had our annual MCC Bolivia retreat last week for three days. It was a good time to spend with all the people from the office, from the campo, from MCC projects, even one gal (Kelsey) from Paraguay.

The location was here in the city, but out towards the airport at a Catholic retreat centre. We left on Wednesday morning and returned back to the office on Friday afternoon. The weather was gorgeous, so everyone was thrilled that the retreat centre had a pool.

The rooms were great, though for a family of five, a little cozy....but we all slept pretty well. I was so excited about the break from washing dishes and Carl was thrilled with the break from making meals. The food was great, although there wasn't a pitcher of water in sight. We brought water from the office (because inside the 4th ring, the water in Santa Cruz is safe and the BEST right from the tap, but outside the 4th ring, it's better to boil) but that didn't last long with 60 people. So our meal beverage was church-type juice and our refrigerio beverage was pop. You can't imagine the underlying distress I had because all I wanted was a glass of water!!

During sessions, our kids (plus 12+ more) were looked after by two great ladies (although, their names slip my memory now). Of course, if the kids were hungry, they got treats, and so they were always hungry. And if the kids were thirsty, they got pop, and so they were always thirsty. Here we northamerican moms are trying to limit the pop to 3 bottles a day at the retreat, without being insulting or bossy (or for me, just plain clear in espanol!). So Asha didn't spend much time with me during the retreat. She knew who was going to give her fanta, and which mean, cranky, nasty, depriving person would not!

All the sessions, discussions, group work etc. were in Spanish, so my head started to hurt after a while. During the first session, I started to zone out after about 45 minutes, until my friend nudged me and whispered, "I think they want us all to share about ourselves based on what is on the board." I froze and panicked all at the same time. Me? Share? In front of all these people? En espanol? I don't even know what logros means? What am I going to do?

So before I could panic any further and throw up, I immediately started to introduce myself, talk about my family, my logros (which is accomplishments...I think), where I'm from. It was pretty pathetic, but I guess I managed because afterward people came up and asked me questions about being a teacher, so I guess I communicated something.

After that I was feeling frustrated at being out of the loop. It's hard when you don't know what is going on, especially with such complicated language. I wished there was an interpreter or someone that could at least whisper the main gist of things to me. Then at least I could get instant confirmation on whether I was understanding on my own or not. Carl wasn't always sitting with me or in the same group. And so I sat in sessions, catching a word here and there, and then being completely exhausted from trying to translate, having nothing left to talk to people outside of sessions. I wondered if people thought I was snobby standing there, saying nothing, smiling and smiling and smiling and then walking back to my room for advil. Oh, I'm sure they are used to it, not everyone at the retreat knew what was going on. There were 8 or so of us that would have been in need of a translator. And the national workers are used to northamericans coming who know zero Spanish. They are more gracious than I think in my moments of inadequacy.

There were some fun things that we did, like singing around a huge campfire and roasting marshmallows. And we had a talent night where our discussion groups put together something absolutely ridiculous. It was quite hilarious. Carl video taped our little contribution, and if I have the nerve, I might post it, because it's a gut splitter (although a little embarrassing).

In all, it was a good retreat. I heard from people that this retreat was a large improvement from last years, so that's always good to hear. Our kids, even though they were in a constant sugared state, had a wonderful time with all the people. Though I struggled to figure out what was going on, I still managed to gain something from the sessions, and a decent amount from the group work. When we got home, I was tired, glad that we had a retreat to build relationships, and am looking forward to next year.