Blogs from San Antonio, Texas, United States, North America - page 4

We have just completed two weeks of our program and orientation continues. We started the week with introductions and input from 3 presenters and also had a session on computers and a very generous invitation to attend a variety of sessions to brush up on skills. The hospitality everywhere and the generosity of staff is amazing. For most staff these offers are above their normal work commitments. The generous spirit goes beyond the Campus (see neighbourhood pic.) During the week we also travelled to St Mary’s (Marianist) university, where we are invited to improve our fitness. This followed individual fitness assessments - complete with information about individual stats, like calorie requirements, BMI etc ... (Our progress will be tracked and, before the end of our time in SA, there will be a follow-up assessment!) Not only ... read more

Today, Jan 21, marks one week since my arrival in San Antonio. Our group of 25 MtMers has now gathered, consisting of 11 women and 15 men. While most are American, 4 are from Oz - certainly an international group, including people from Africa (Tanzania, Gambia, Cameroon), Ireland, PNG, the Philippines and Spain.The first week has been spent meeting and getting to know each other and the staff who will be working with us. We have participated in various Orientation activities and are finding our way around the extensive and very attractive 41 acre campus, where The Oblate School of Theology, and other Oblate ministries are located. Our purpose-built home is the very comfortable Pat Guidon Centre. Nearby shops (Walgreens, Target, HEB, North Star Mall, etc) have been visited as well.We have been introduced to the ... read more

Today promises to be hot, but not as brutal as the day before, high of only 98! We decide to skip breakfast in the hotel after our previous dinner experience and head out to the Riverwalk to find a nice spot. We try to yelp somewhere, but are having trouble locating anything that’s open at 8am and eventually stumble onto a riverside place named Ostras. We have a very nice breakfast while fending off various finches that have obviously learned to mine a potential food source. We are complaining about the heat from yesterday and our waiter informs us it was the hottest day since 2013. It reached 105 with 40% humidity. After breakfast, we head towards the Alamo. It’s only about 5 minutes away and we exit the Riverwalk and head North a couple of ... read more

On nous avait dit que San Antonio était une belle ville, on pourrait même ajouter : 'très belle'! Très originale par la rivière qui la traverse et encore plus à notre goût pour sa superbe piste cyclable. La piste permet de rejoindre toutes les 'Missions' le long de la rivière San Antonio. La Mission San Antonio, devenu Fort Alamo, lors d'une bataille entre Texans et Mexicains, 200 Texans contre 1500 Mexicains. Les Texans voulaient devenir indépendants du Mexique. Ils ont résistés pendant quelques jours mais ont finalement été vaincus ou plutôt massacrés! dont Davy Crockett! Il y a plus de 2millions de visiteurs par année qui viennent voir ce site. Toutes les missions (il y en a 5) ont été établies par des missionnaires Espagnols dans les années 1700. Les missionnaires ont colonisés les indiens de ... read more

Geo: 29.4245, -98.4946Another three-plus hour drive today got us to San Antonio. We took the route west from Conroe through Montgomery turning south at Navasota to avoid the Houston traffic. It's the best way to go. We have had the gear shift fail to change out of park on the first try a few times during the last few days so we asked Shaun and Yvette to come get us for dinner. They picked us up, and we went straight down Broadway to Fratello's. Good Italian fare with an excellent waitress.After dinner, we went back to the hotel to visit and to look at the mementos we picked up from Paula yesterday. Shaun tried on Charles' army jacket and cap which fit almost perfectly. He was happy to receive them, as well as his coat rack ... read more