Almost the end of October

So, it has been awhile since I last updated. Things have changed a lot. Finally, more kids have showed up and I now I have up to TWENTY KIDS!! It can be extremely over whelming because about 1/4 of them do not know English. Then there is the other 3/4 that do, so my new challenge is how to come up with activities to fit both groups. My solution is to have a simplier version of the activity that I plan for the other kids and I have the college volunteers help the kids that don't know English. Two weeks ago, me and the other Jesuit volunteer assisted with a program called refugee academy, which helps refugee from elementary to high school ages learn about school in America. We helped the high school kids learn everything from the different rooms to opening a locker combination. There were some that knew very good English and some who knew English but were extremely shy. One day we went to one of the inner city schools to give them a tour and it was very different from my suburban high school. There were HUGE security guards and kids walking around the hallway as if it is their break in between classes.

This past weekend we went on our fall retreat to Buffalo. We left Thursday night and came back Sunday late in the afternoon. It was an excellant chance to regroup and to get some tension out in the air that has been stirring up in our house. I really think we got to reconnect as a community and to come back to improve on what we were lacking. Saturday night we played a murder mystery and I was the murder! It was a lot of fun because we all had to be in our character, and my character was a shady lady who owned an exclusive club. Then Sunday we went to CANADA to see Niagara Falls. It was a GREAT day and we caught a glimpse of the finish line of a marathon and got to go on the maid of the mist. Then after we went to Anchor Bar for some buffalo wings, which were very good.