Thankful for Orientation

 Happy Thanksgiving, Friends!

Pictured from left to right: Francis, Jaclyn, Liz, Megan, Laurie, Louise, Kathy, Josh, SueFenny, Bob, Andy (me), Deirdre, Vicki

Maryknoll Cloister

The thanksgiving break is upon us and I could not be more excited! I cannot express how excited I am to celebrate my last holiday season in the states for 3 years! First of all, I want to wish all of you a glorious thanksgiving filled with friends, food, and fortune. I thought I would take this time to talk about orientation (so far). We are given the opportunity to stay in Ossining New York at Maryknoll headquarters for 8 weeks for a comprehensive orientation. The thanksgiving break is week 6- so we are *well* over half way through. 

The orientation for me has been a whirlwind of experiences. 90% of those were amazing! However, there are always things in life where you have to take the good with the bad. There has been a lot to take in over the last several weeks- a lot of thinking going on up here in NY! 

Overall this has been an amazing time- but the whole point of a blog is to go beyond a Insta post of ‘having a great time’ and explain why. What made the time so great? Why am I saying I has so many amazing experiences? What were the slight downfalls? Real life stuff. (At least… that’s the point of this blog anyway)

I have learned a lot- we get to know each other in the day to day and even though there have been a lot of long days, the weeks go by so fast. One of the biggest lessons I have learned about this group specifically is that- there are never enough puzzles. Day to day, this is how we fill our free time. Pictured are Josh and Jaclyn as we finished this puzzle in under an hour!

People:

The main thing that made this such an incredible time was the people. Absolutely everyone in my class (everyone starting their mission in January 2022) is amazing! So, I thought I’d do a little run down of everyone- what country they are going to, what makes them so special, and how you can also follow along with their journey if you are so inclined or have a particular interest in a country or region they are headed to. 

(Ps- I didn’t ask them what they wanted me to say, these are just my personal observations) 

Tanzania: 

Me (obvi)

Jaclyn- Jaclyn is a super cool 28 year old from the Seattle area. She is going to the same place I am (Musoma, TZ) and we will most likely be rooming together and I am sure you will hear a lot more about her. She is a trekie and into all that cool stuff like Lord of the Rings and ….. She also loves to run, read, and loves cats (and dogs too). IG:

Laurie- Laurie is the other lovely lady going to Tanzania with us. She will be living in the city of Mwansa. She is an amazing Yoga instructor and been leading us in sessions after all of our meetings throughout the week. She was a fundraiser by trade and worked with a ton of cool music icons! She is a cool mom of 3 from the New York area. IG:

Kenya:

SueFeeny- Susan was a super good Lawyer in New Jersey! She worked in tax law normally and did a bunch of cool pro-bono work for her community. Sue is also super involved in her parish and is very knowledgeable about the church. Sue has the cutest dog, Dublin and as a class we have all decided to strive to become him in our next life. He gets (doggy) chocolates on his pillow every night like the Ritz and she cooks him amazing meals for dinner every night. He already has an advent calendar waiting for him. Dublin is not going to Kenya but she got a dog sitter for him! Don’t worry! IG:

Francis- Francis is a former Kentuckian! He lived in Owensboro growing up and lived in Maryland a lot of his life, as well. Francis is our oldest member of the class at 70! He has served with Maryknoll before and even became a Maryknoll Brother! He was also in the marine corps and is a great handyman! He can fix your car, your house, and your smile! Francis has a great sense of humor and a LOT of stories! 

Megan - Megan claims a lot of territory but as far as I can tell she is from mostly West Virginia and spent a lot of her time in Baltimore. She served with the peace corps in Albania and most recently with the Franciscan Mission Service in Jamaica. She also started an art center in Baltimore for street children. Megan also has a lot of stores and a lot of innovative ideas (like keeping your veggie sheds in the freezer for stew and like not putting your finger in an immersion blender) 

U.S. / Mexico Boarder:

Deirdre- Deirdre is a Lovely soul who seeks justice in our world and would do pretty much anything to see that happen, I think. She speaks highly of her mentor and her wrap sheet and is striving to fill her footsteps. Deirdre is a Sister of St. Joseph from Springfield, Massachusetts and is very into her Irish heritage- she can play beautiful songs on the Irish flute and enjoys Irish Step dancing! 

El Salvidor:

Josh- Josh is a 30 year old Jock who has worked with inner-city kids sports teams in Montana, Detroit, and Pittsburg. He is a Pittsburg Stealers fan and he likes to play squash- which apparently is kind of like tennis or racquetball. He is a drummer and often drums our meetings away. He is a super cool dude who is looking forward to playing pick up soccer games when he gets to El Salvidor. Josh also has an amazing laugh and it is super contagious! You can’t really be upset around him. IG:

Bob & Liz- Bob and Liz are our only married couple and they are the cutest couple ever!!! They started dating in High School and now have three grown children. They are from NYC and lived in Boston for the last several years. Bob is very outdoorsy and likes to run marathons and play in the grass. Liz is super loving and will take care of everyone. 

Bolivia:

Louise- Louise is originally from Maryland but moved to New Orleans! She has a bunch of cool stories but she says that Mardi Gras isn’t worth it, but the jazz festivals are pretty cool. She is super good at puzzles and has a great sense of humor. Louise worked with the elderly in her past job and loved it! She is one of the most loving, kind-hearted people you’ll ever meet!

Vicki- Vicki is from the central coast of California. She worked for her county for her career and is now looking to do something more. She initially wanted to go to South America for a couple of months to get her Spanish back up- she majored in Spanish in college, but when she found Maryknoll she thought it sounded like an amazing opportunity and is now going with all of us for a couple of years! Vicki was part of a big family (oldest of nine) and that has made her a very responsible and loving person. She knows how to take care of things and do it with Love.

Brazil:

Kathy- Kathy is a cool, quite woman who is very interested in human trafficking awareness and rights. She worked as a software engineer for a living but she said it just didn’t feel right. She served for a year in Cambodia and wanted to get back into service so she is going with Maryknoll, this year. Kathy is from Korea and cooks amazing Korean inspired dishes for dinner sometimes! 

Chapel where we have our sessions

The cohort I am a part of is super great! But we all wouldn’t be here without the amazing staff as well- Vicki and Irene have been fabulous as well. Vicki has been with Maryknoll since the beginning- she served in Hong Kong and in Thailand. She has a lot of amazing insights and understands the organization better than anyone. She is also the author of Singing to the Dead. Irene is also part of the recruiting and admissions staff and has lead a bunch of college trips worldwide and has a lot of cool insights.   She is a very strong woman with a lot to offer, if you are thinking of applying or would like more information on Maryknoll she is a great person to talk to. If you would like the contact information for either of these lovely ladies, just let me know! :)

Favorite Sessions: (so far)

Orientation as a program has been full of reflecting, discerning, and praying. It is a lot of thinking. The logistical stuff has been a bit under the radar but still good. I would say, as far as the actual orientation programing it is pretty hit or miss. Some of the sessions have been amazing- for example, my two favorites so far have been the Enneagram workshop with Sr. Teresa and ‘Social Justice and Voices from the Margins’ workshop by Professor Kevin Ahern. (more info below) Some of the other programing has been quite redundant- such as the need to have one-on-one conversations with locals once we get to our host country has been discussed multiple times by multiple different presenters. And there has been some conflicting messages coming from the Advancement and Communications department about the methods used for fundraising (which is why I chose to have a personal blog and why you are here, instead of on the Maryknoll website). However, as I said, there were some great presentations and here is the low down on my two favorite ones so far- 

Sr. Teresa’s Enneagram Presentation: Sr. Teresa lives in the Maryknoll convent next door and has done amazing mission work throughout her life, mostly in South East Asia. The enneagram is kind of a personality test (almost like myers-briggs) that helps you understand how you act and react in different situations and the differences between you and others that are different types. I am a type 4. If you are interested Sr. Teresa has wrote a book on the subject and you can find many resources online. 

Dr. Ahern’s Theology Presentation:  Dr. Ahern is a professor at Manhattan College. He is a theological ethicist and public theologian. Kevin taught us about theology and said that eveyone is a theologian of the first order and that professionals are of the second order- which means that we all have a responsibility to pursue the Truth. He also taught us what Catholic Social Teaching is and how it relates back to Catholic Social Thought. One of the main things I got from his presentation is that there are four sources of revelation in the Church- Scripture, Tradition, Reason, and Experience. 

Extra- Sr. Ronny: Louise was also able to arrange for Jaclyn and I to meet with a retired Sister who lived and served in Tanzania for over 40 years and lived nearby. We learned so much from her and she showed us a lot of pictures and, I think, had a great time reminiscing with us about her time there and all the great work she did. Myself, Louise, Sr. Ronny and Jaclyn are pictured in her apartment, where we had lunch to the left.

For Fun:

At Orientation we have a lot of fun! We have been trying to continue to be very Covid-Conscience because 1) we do not want to risk delaying our departure dates any further than they already have been and 2) we live on the same campus as all the Maryknoll Fathers, Brothers, and Sisters and a lot of which are very elderly. So, one of the first things we did for fun was to go on a ‘hike’ this ended up being a little sidewalk trail that was less than half a mile, but it was very scenic and we walked down to the Hudson River after that. See us pictured to the right on the sidewalk, taking a selfie. (Pictured left to right- Andy, Kathy, Megan, Jaclyn, Josh)

We also have come up with a cooking schedule and we picked partners to cook and clean with. This, I think, has worked out very well. SueFeeny is my partner and we have made a verity of things including, quesadillas, soup and sandwiches, among other things. We have a lot of great cooks in our group and a lot of vegetarians and vegans as well, so it is always fun to try out new things that we have never had or never cooked before. We don’t have a lot of picky eaters in the fam, so that is very good! 

More recently for fun we have gone out to a local tavern with a lot of house brewed beers and losers. We all got different kinds the night I tagged along and it was great fun! They also have all kinds of bar food to eat! I got a bison burger with chipotle salsa on it! They serve all kinds of interesting meat options such as- Elk, Bison, and Boar! If you are ever in the Sleepy Hollow area of New York, I would recommend Bridge View Tavern (and for the covid-conscience, they have a great beer garden (outside) with lots of heaters! Laurie, Louise, Vicki, and myself are pictured to the right. 

Overall: 

Taking a comprehensive look at orientation (thus far) is has been good. The people are amazing and that’s what counts. I hope this thanksgiving you too, are able to surround yourself with amazing people and have some pecan pie! I am sending all my love to you and your family- chosen or blood. 

“May the Lord make us truly grateful for all that we will receive”- Fraulein Maria, The Sound of Music

Storm King (outdoor gallery) 
Pictured left to right: Laurie, Megan, Jaclyn, Vicki, Josh, Me