Retreat

The past few weeks have been typical school weeks--which means there's been nothing typical about them. That's the one thing I long for--to have a typical week. But it seems something is always going on. Fortunately we've had some interludes of rest in the midst of all the hectic activity. On the second weekend of September, the 8th and 9th we had our annual retreat at the Maturana House of Prayer. (The Maturana is a hilltop retirement home for nuns and also retreat center. The aged nuns stay in one building, the rest of the grounds consists of a number of buildings ideal for quiet, simple retreats). I love the picture above. The art work, the sunsplashed floor--this is what the retreat is all about. We do a lot of painting, praying, resting, and sharing. It's one of the few school activities that doesn't stress me out at all.

Some photos from the weekend:
Lunch time at the Staff Retreat. In true monastic style, Babs had us work together to make our Sabbath haystack lunch in complete and utter silence. Sabbath, September 9, 2006.

Some snapshots of a restful retreat. The staff lounges on the floor and couches while Babs leads us in another peaceful activity.



This is the exterior of the Youth Center where we ate, slept, and had most of our retreat activities.
Views of the Maturana, site of our annual staff retreat. Sabbath, September 9, 2006.


Guess what? I have whooping cough and I feel so third world. I was immunized as a kid but apparently the immunization can
"wear off" and here on Saipan a lot of people are not immunized, and it's been going around here on Saipan. It's been in the papers and whatnot.

Anyway, I went to the doctor last Friday, September 15, thinking I had walking pneumonia and the doctor ruled that out. No fever and that's apparently always a part of pneumonia. He said all the symptoms seem to line up with whooping cough (except for the "whooping" itself). So he put me on some meds and I guess I'll start getting better. The funny thing is the cough is not real painful or racking, just persistant and uncomfortable, particularly at night and in the morning. I'm still not fully well. I don't cough constantly, and most times it just annoying, but occassionally I have a coughing fit that is really awful where I have to take great gulps of air just to breathe. But that's rare. I finished the cycle of antibiotics the doctor gave me but don't feel like it's made much of a difference. The hard part is that my energy level is really low. I just run out of steam a lot quicker than usual. By mid-afternoon, all I want to do is just sit down. My threshold for dealing with stress and being too busy is just extraordinarily low right now.

Jesco is slowly but surely becoming part of the family. His manhood was summarily removed about two weeks ago, and he is rapidly becoming a house dog. He still goes out of the compound, snaking his skinny little body underneath the gate, but he is only gone for short periods of time and will usually be back in less than an hour. Despite the vet's instructions to keep him confined we've found it impossible to keep him from going outside the gate and have pretty much resigned ourselves to letting him go, just praying he doesn't get into any trouble or get hit by a car. He's still a very loving and a bit needy dog--he's a licker and he's constantly gaping his mouth at us,hungrily and desperatelyh trying to lick our faces, but he's definitely getting used to his new digs. Kimo is pretty much over any jealousy she might have had and enjoys having a regular playmate.

This past Sabbath, Sept. 16, we took the dogs down to the beach at sundown. A few picks below.

Sunset at the beach near Pacific Islands Club, about a three minute drive from our house. Sabbath,September 16, 2006.
Babs with Kimo



The A-Team. Babs is planning to use this picture for school PR stuff, but I've released it early right here at the Journal Online. This photo taken Friday, September 15, 2006. Back from L to R, Mr. Graves, Ms. Carmona, Ms.Layla, Me & Babs. Front L to R, Ms. Britni and Ms. Odiyar.

How far he's come! Jesco poses for his royal portrait. Doesn't he look like he's living the life?
Kimo with her new sibling.