We spent a few days on retreat at a beautiful retreat center located in the middle of thriving forests and farmland. One day we were even able to walk a few miles to see several clear blue lakes and enjoy the gorgeous warm and sunny weather. Days and evenings were spent doing workshops, listening to stories, getting to know one another, cooking and eating together, and relaxing. Soon enough we headed to Seaside Heights on the New Jersey Shore--the location of another Franciscan friary. We walked the boardwalk, ate Jersey pizza, played in the ocean, laid on the beach, and shared more time together in community. When the hurricane warning was announced, we decided to flee from Irene and leave early back to Syracuse. On the way back, we visited a Franciscan convent, where the nuns gave us a warm welcome and shared some of their insights with us. Then after what should have been a four hour drive, which took seven due to the hurricane evacuation traffic, we got back to the Syracuse house late at night. The following day, we finished up our retreat work and celebrated Mass in the Syracuse house with just our community in our living room. The retreat ended with a lovely dinner at a local hole in the wall Italian restaurant with delicious pasta and wine.
The Syracuse group began work at their ministry sites on Monday! The five of us who will be working in Costa Rica put our muscles to work by moving the FrancisCorps office to a new location. Then we cooked dinner for the Syracuse group who got home after work and shared their exciting and crazy first day stories with us.
From here on out for the rest of the week, we are having "Costa Rica Specific Orientation", with plenty of time to relax and prepare :)
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