shouts of joy

I find myself comparing Argentina to India on a regular basis. In my head or to the people around me. But it's like comparing mustard and ketchup. Some people have a preference, but you can't really separate and compare them. And sometimes they go together. I enjoy the pace of both, but today I'm missing India's free-spiritedness, creativity, color and spice. Missing it so much I started calling the peso a "rupee." We just got back from our second trip to Paraná, a city 1.5 hours away by bus. We haven't started school yet due to all of the holidays. Rumor has it we start school next Tuesday. Until then we'll be getting student visa's from a place 6 hours west, near the boarder of Uruguay, probably play some fútbol, volleyball, basketball, slackline, pass around mate or tereré, and enjoy siestas. So many things to do, not enough time to compare mustard and ketchup. Trying to cross in the middle. When we do it's going to be a big deal. Vid...

Dia del estudiante. They had a fair and picnic for the national holiday, Student Day. An archery activity, jumping houses, slides, trampolines, face painting, and food. A great student day! After hitting the bull's eye with Johnny and Darrell. Sabbath afternoon hike to the Puente Negro. More of a trailblazing-mosquioto-fending race. El Puente Negro en al fin. Today is un feriado, a holiday. This means that nothing is open, including the library, the gym, and all other buildings on campus or off-campus. I went running this morning at 7:30 and only saw 3 vehicles. Breakfast didn't start until 8:30. So this is how they celebrate. Today is un feriado, then again on Wednesday there is another feriado. So much free time, but somehow it gets filled up so fast.  Last night I made a phone call from the pay phone in the girls dorm lobby to one of my favorite people, my grandma. The line connecting me to her was weak, and the doors closing me in were f...

ACA coordinators - Heraldo & Alicia I've always known that repetition is one of the keys into the memory. There's one phrase I remember being repeated over and over as a kid:  If you can't say anything nice ... don't say anything at all. Some days I find myself saying that same phrase to myself and thinking how much it sounds like my mother's voice. Today, I noticed that our American group is extremely loud in this culture, but thanks to my mother the loud American's won't hear too much from me. But this week I've heard a lot of phrases repeated. And often I've asked for repeats over and over and over, until it's clear. I remembered this morning that someone once suggested to carry a small notepad around and write down words I don't know. At lunch I took them to my room and looked up definitions and began repeating them to myself. Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever have enough time to repeat ALL of the words I need to know in order t...

The library. I hope I haven't worried any of you by not posting, like I have my poor mom. After a whole day of Spanish, my brain just doesn't feel like writing in the end. We arrived to La UAP (Universidad Adventista del Plata) late Monday evening. There are about 56 ACA students who came from all over the United States - Oakwood, La Sierra, Andrews, PUC, Union, Southern and WWU. Tuesday we spent the day working on forms for student visas: from 9:30 to 11, then again after the siesta from 2:30 to 4. Today, we took our placement test in the morning and toured the school and la villa de Libertador San Martin in the afternoon. I believe there are approximately 2,000 students studying at La UAP this includes the School of Medicine and the School of Theology. It's not what I had expected, but in many ways it is exactly what my friends told me it would be - slow, easy going, maté (tea), helado (ice cream), cool mornings and evenings, fútbol, different foods, besos (kisse...

"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,  Courage to change the things I can, And wisdom to know the difference." This last weekend I was in Walla Walla a place I call home, because I would like for it to be my home someday. Yes, someday. The University Church on campus held their first church camp meeting, and I would say it was a grand success, mostly because they didn't hire in any speaker, but gave the responsibility to our church pastors, who I would pay to listen to every Sabbath if I had to. So, I went to all six of the meetings that were based on the first 6 chapters of Joshua, with the weekend theme being: Courage in a world of change. In the first chapter of Joshua the Lord speaks to Joshua and tells him, "Be strong and of good courage ... I will not leave you nor forsake you, so only be strong and very courageous ... Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you g...

Currently, I'm staying in Loma Linda for the next 4 days with my friend Emily. When I woke up this morning Emily had left bags of groceries with yogurt, coffee and bananas before she ran to one of her many jobs. After I read a little bit from Henri Nouwen's book, Lifesigns , and a quick shower I followed directions from my cell phone to my newly-wedded friends, Ashley and Nolan's, house. Spent the morning chatting with Ash about life as a housewife, then went with her to pick-up her hubby, Nolan,  from class for lunch and they shared some wonderful left-over rice and curry with me. I love spending time with my married friends, watching them interact and love each other is such a wonder to me. Also, it's crazy to think that kids are the next step for them. After lunch I spent the afternoon catching up with a long lost friend, Pamela. The last time I was in Redlands area I stayed with her for another friend's wedding, whom I plan on catching up with later this week. B...

So, there's this magazine that has been appearing in my mailbox this summer called Title Nine. I don't know where it came from, but it's addressed to my address with my name. I sort of flipped through the magazine that's full of overly-priced women's outdoor/athletic wear. Cool stuff. Big price. So I put it back down. Then started thinking how something like that got sent to me. I looked through it again, instead of gaping at the prices of these pieces of clothing, I looked at the pictures. I noticed that the pictures of the models were normal looking women (not the typical skin and bones, but curvy and strong). Next to the picture was their name and what they do for work, vacation, advice, etc. I'll share with you a few. Meet Macy -   Last Adventure: Part of a two-person crew on a 90-foot yacht; San Francisco to NYC via the Panama Canal.   Her Duties: Navigation, cooking, adventure planning, and finding the good surf spots. Meet Charli - ...