My Home Away from Home

I thought you might like to see where I am staying in Borongan.  What I didn't get pictures of, yet, are the roosters that crow at 2am (someone needs to fix their clock) and  the dogs that bark right outside my window at all hours of the night!!  Aside from that, it is a very nice home that I enjoy going back to each day, knowing that the work day is over and I can eat a good dinner and rest in the evenings.  I didn't take pictures of the bathroom... forgot that... I still take bucket baths, but they are a welcome refreshing break from the constant heat here.  There is still damage from the typhoon last year in the house due to flooding (yes, the second floor was flooded to the ceiling!!!)  The sisters have worked hard to repair other people's homes are just getting around to fixing up their own, in their spare time, ie. hasn't happened yet. 


Here is Nazareth Home where I live.  We live on the second floor.  On the first floor there is an Oikos pharmacy, where any poor person can come and get medications for free, and there is also a place to wash and hang laundry along with a space for the formation meetings of the college students.  It is about a 2 minute walk from the church.






The following are pictures inside Nazareth Home and of my bedroom.  It is a bright and sweet home, and the best part is it reminds me of my sister Margaret's home, in which the room are pretty much the same color of yellow.  There is just something comforting and familiar about it.  :-) 

Here is the "living room."  There is a view of the river right outside the windows.  Most of the furniture was lost to the flood, not that there was much to lose.  But it is a great big room, perfect for sleepovers if you want to come here for a visit!!!

The picture above is still a part of the living room. We invited all the sisters and priests working on Vocation Jam over for lunch the day of the big event, so we had extra tables set up.

Here (to the left) is our dining room where we eat breakfast and dinner... essentially, they are the same meals.  For both meals we have rice, fish, some other kind of protein and vegetables.  The food here is really good, but I miss my Greek yogurt in the morning!! 



And this is, yet again, more of the living room,
seriously, it is really big!!  There is a nice area
for prayer here.

I am blessed to have my own bedroom!!  It is nice after a busy day to have some time to myself to read, write or drop down on the bed and let out a great, big sigh!

 

And here are some photos of the Oikos Sisters in action!!

 

Here is Sister Minerva with the smallest Oikos beneficiary: Abby who is really sweet but still shy of me!!! 



Here is Sister Clarissa who is trying to get a picture of me off guard... hahaha...It didn't work, I gotcha!!



This is Sister Aileen and an Oikos Scholar, Grasilda as they prepare food in our kitchen.
 



Sister Minerva and Sister Aileen are preparing for Vocation Jam 2015!



Sister Minerva and Sister Ethel are on stage with other sisters singing We Are The World!  These multi-talented sisters had a solo!!!