The Paris of the South

We left Montevideo for Buenas Aires early on Friday morning on a charter bus headed for Colonia where we would take the Ferry to B.A. Our first stop was this really random museum of world record collections of pencils, key chains, and perfume bottles. Personally, my favorite part of the place was the playground outside with some legit merry-go-round deals and a seesaw on springs. It was awesome. We got off the bus again to see an old bull fighting rink and to have a picnic by a beach. The bus trip ended in Colonia where we wandered down by a beach through cobblestone streets and then climbed a lighthouse where we could barely make out part of the skyline of Buenas Aires across the ocean. Whitney, Ben, and I went down to the pier and sat and watched the water and the ships, got coffee in miniature coffee mugs, wandered through an artisans market and simply enjoyed the relaxed pace of the town.Then we headed to the enormous ferry to go to Buenas Aires! We couldn’t figure out if it felt like we were on a plane or a bus or really moving at all the ride was so smooth.
After arriving in Buenas Aires we got on an air-conditioned bus to ride to our air-conditioned hotel. This hotel was literally in the center of downtown. There is a massive obelisk that marks the center of a 20+ lane street (one of the biggest in the world) that runs through downtown and our hotel rooms each had balconies overlooking the street. Buenas Aires is an incredible city with many many different interesting things to see and explore. Here are a few of my favorite parts of Buenas Aires:

La Boca- an old, beautiful, colorful neighborhood with lots of vendors, salsa dancers, painters, musicians, and restaurants.

Puente– a famous, white, modern looking  bridge over a beautiful river. The River walk is pretty posh and one night Brady, Ben, Whitney, and I went down to a little park to people watch and talk.

The Ferria- a street filled with a long market. There were beautiful embroidery crafts, colorful shoes. Whitney and I spent a few hours walking down the market and finding all sorts of beautiful things and trying to have little conversations in Spanish with some of the vendors.

The last thing I want to mention about Buenas Aires are the wonderful friends I made there. I met Marisa and Ashley at the church service in the morning  and then Whitney and I met up with them after we wandered the Ferria and they showed us a 5 story mall and took us to one of their favorite restaurants served family style. We had such a wonderful conversation about how the youth of different countries can represent Jesus to the world. The way that a common love and a common purpose can unite God’s people across countries is inspiring in a way like nothing I have ever experienced. It is a bond that grows stronger with differences and is more pure as it combines cultures. The love of our great God unites us and this friendship gave me a taste of the joy that will be ours when together with followers of Christ from all over the world we will all praise or King and spend every moment glorifying Him.  

Mas Como Mi Casa Todos Los Dios

Sorry for the time lapse! My blog was not uploading and then I had not had time to write but I think it is about time for an update on my semester! This entry was written a few weeks ago so if it seems a little out dated that is why! So many fun things happen every single day I wish I could have time to blog about it all but here are a few highlights of the past week: There is a beautiful park about 20 minute walk from Casa right next to the Rambla (and the ocean) that I am sure we will spend more time in as the semester goes on but I already have so many fun memories that I have to share a few. One of the first time we went was with Martin, his little sister Michaela, and some of the other people from the youth group. We just sat and talked, practicing the little bit of Spanish that I knew, and watching Michaela show off with her handstands and cartwheels. This 12 year old girl is adorable, energetic, and unafraid to try out her English and laugh at and with us as we try to learn Spanish. Speaking of Spanish, I am learning a lot! (8 hours a week plus homework and hearing it everywhere I would I hope I would be!) At the park there are signs explaining the algae in the lake or the various birds around or the monuments and statues (which are scattered allll over Montevideo) so Whitney, Amy, and I walked around translating them as best we could. I was excited that my French background helped me a lot with reading Spanish! Whitney and I have started carrying a little dictionary around with us most of the time we go out and try to talk in Spanish at least some of the time that we are out. One time we were walking maybe 10 feet behind an Uruguayan man, switching around between Spanish and English (and a little French) talking about the beach and anything based on what we could remember how to say. Needless to say our conversation probably seemed extremely random to someone who did not know what vocab words we learned that day in Spanish class. When we finally made a turn and parted ways he turned around with this hilarious amused look on his face and started laughing. Technically, it is improper to smile at Uruguayan men that you don’t know but we did anyhow. One way or the other I’m sure if he had a story to tell went he went home that night. One more thing about the park, there is a couple that sells these delicious doughnuts type things called “borrlas” for 4 pesos. We have gone there a few times already and we want to frequent the place regularly and make friends with the lady who manages the stand.

I have not gone running a whole lot since I’ve been here which is driving me a little crazy! But the times that I have gone running are so much fun. Running on the Rambla and playing soccer on the beach are dreams come true. Seriously. I was planning waiting for things to settle down to a rhythm to get into a running schedule but everything here is still so new and there is so much to explore and since I am coming to Dallas for Steven and Abbey’s wedding on Wednesday, I think I’ll wait for things to settle down to a rhythm here in a couple weeks. We have been to 4 different beaches, two along the Rambla, Carrasco, and we went out to Raquel (our wonderful cook) house for church, beach, burgers, and helado. She is such a gracious, generous, beautiful, servant-hearted woman I love having here in Casa 5 days a week! Many times before meals Wimon or Rosalinda will pray in Spanish or in both Spanish and English. I love hearing it and although I only catch some of it, I love thinking that God can hear us all the same, there is no language barrier between God and His people. Since “yo estudio patelogia del hablar”, this has a special meaning for me, sometimes language barriers can occur even in the same language when people cannot communicate what they need or want someone to know. With the kids that I work with at Joni and Friends, my heart aches to help them learn to express themselves and I love knowing that God has absolutely no difficulties understanding every child that the world finds hard to understand. Our God “is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth” (Psalm 145:18)

Oh yeah, annnd classes! How could I forget? There is a ton of reading and writing homework, and plenty of Spanish memorization. Balancing time between wanting to journal, blog, have alone time, go to class, do homework, explore, spend time at the beach or the city, and just be with people around Casa is so hard but it is teaching me to prioritize and to be diligent about scheduling my time. My goal is to blog about once a week but they will be shorter than this post!

One other thing that I want to mention is the Carnival Parade that we watched on Friday night, the parade marks the beginning of carnival month (leading up to Mardi Gras and ending on Ash Wednesday. The Parade had tons of singing and dancing, kids dress up in costumes and run around, ducking under banners, joining in this the dancers, running alongside the floats, and convincing their parents to buy things from the vendors that walk up and down 18 de Julio right alongside the parade. We arrived at 8 and the parade picked up speed at 9 o’clock around sundown. We left at around midnight but it continued for at least another hour after we left. Last night Cory, Ben, Whitney, Brady, and I went to the grocery store and to get some supplies for taco night. One night we made macaroni and cheese which was delicious! The next night we had taco night with most of Casa. We made our own flour tortillas and we had so much fun preparing it all! It is a whole new world buying things in kg and measuring in grams but I’m a pro at guesstimation and everything turned out great! For me, cooking with these people makes them feel even more like family. I have countless wonderful memories of my mom and I baking and cooking, trying new recipes, taste-testing, being excited with successes, laughing at failures. Also, at Kamp the girls that I worked with in the kitchen were my Kamp family, we saw every high and low together and developed unique friendships because we virtually were never apart. washing dishes and cleaning up after meals makes me feel like I am at Kamp again. But the best part about my family, my Kamp family, and the people I am studying with here is that we all have a common focus and a great desire to serve the Lord with all we are and to learn to love Him better everyday. I miss my hometeam Bible study and my heart to heart talks on walks back in Texas, the numerous honest and God-centered conversations that I have had here are so encouraging and make me excited to see how God will work in our group the rest of the semester.

If you hadn’t heard, I went home this past weekend for Steven’s wedding and although the travel was long, everything went smoothly all in all and I would’ve done the travel ten times over to be a part of their wedding again. Everything about the ceremony and the reception fit their personalities so perfectly and it was incredibly beautiful! And I finally have a sister!

Alrighty that is all for now but I will be posting some more here in a day or too all about our trip to Buenas Aires and Tigre last weekend!

“There’s more of the Spirit and more of God than any of us are experiencing. I want to go there—not just intellectually, but in life, with everything that I am” –Francis Chan, Forgotten God