Sexy, Innocent Child-Woman

Manic Monday to the nth power

Forty-eight down, thirty-three more to go.

I'm referring to the final grades I need to compute. I just turned in the final grades for one of my classes, after grading exams and last-minute extra credit reaction papers like a maniac the whole day. (That's what I get for putting it off, haha.) Now I have to check the final exams and late papers and compute the final grades for my other class. Good luck na lang sa akin, especially since there's more red tape involved in submitting the final grades of my students at the other school where I teach. I need to turn in their attendance records, too (para silang high school students).

My only consolation is that I'm leaving for Honduras soon. I have so many things to take care of before I leave--work options to choose from for the coming school year, teaching loads to finalize, chores, bills to pay, and other last-minute errands. But I'm looking forward to my trip. I desperately need a break.



Despite the many things on my to-do list, I'm not as stressed out as I usually am at this time of the year. I even went somewhere yesterday, instead of just slaving away at my desk.

Where did I go? I visited the Maryknoll Sisters, who live on the south side of Chicago (kabilang dulo ng mundo [at the opposite end of the world], considering where I live). For the past couple of months, I've been corresponding with Sr. N, the vocation director, who is a Filipina based in New York. She was in town last weekend, so she asked me if I could drop by their house yesterday, before she returned to New York. It was so nice to finally meet her in person yesterday.

It turned out Sr. N knows my friend, Sr. K, the vocation director of the Grand Rapids Dominicans in Michigan. It's so funny because just last Saturday, Sr. N and Sr. K attended this workshop. Sr. K told Sr. N that she once referred me to the Maryknoll Sisters and told me to get in touch with Sr. N. Sr. N told Sr. K that she would actually be seeing me the following day. What a small world.

I thought I'd just talk to Sr. N, but I ended up meeting and hanging out with the other sisters, as well. I joined them for prayer and listened to everyone's vocation stories. One of the candidates [novices] is also a Filipina; she knows my Pinay (slang for Filipino) nun-friend here--small world talaga. And I actually met their other candidate [an American] in passing last year, at a Native American spiritual center that I once worked with (she volunteers there at the moment). It was good to see her again. I had a good conversation with her, as well as another sister, Sr. S.

For some reason, while talking to the sisters yesterday, I felt like I'd known them for a long time. And they remind me of the congregation where most of my nun-friends are from, my erstwhile Groovy Sisters, in so many ways. Hmm...I wonder what that means.

I'm happy I have new nun-friends. They invited me to visit them again, and I'll be happy to do just that. For now, I'll just live the questions that have been running in my mind--and heart--until the answers crystallize.

found herself @ 4:35 PM