Not Twenty "Something".. just twenty.

Well my birthday is this week.. It is on thursday.. I am kind of nervous to be 20. There is something sad about losing the "Teen" title and being in your twenties (and yet it feels GREAAAT). Even though Im not sure 20 counts as twenties yet.. i dont know.. its like being 12.. you want to be a teen so bad but your just not there yet. I feel like 20 is the step to twenties.. like 20s with training wheels. I don't know.. hmmm... strange to think ive been around for two decades, 3 presidents (5 terms), lots of bad music, and most importantly have survived and learned from bombings, crashes, wars,wrecks, sicknesses, relationships, and the God of my life.

Life is something so strange.. who knew at 19 years and 361 days I would be sitting in Montevideo, Uruguay reeling from a long weekend in Buenos Aires, Argentina, putting off homework for a class in a university that would forever impact my faith and life. Who knew I would be in a relationship with the most handsome man ever (:P), have fantastic friends, and be enthralled by a God who knows this is what I was created for. Despite my few years I feel I have lived through a lot thus far.. and despite the hard HARD times, I would never trade a second of it for a "sunshine and daisies" type o life. I am nervous for twenty, but I am excited for another 10 years of Amazing, another few decades of His grace, and a couple more generations of "Perseverence brings Character"... cuz wow.. it is always worth it. Always. He is always worth it.

PS. I miss stephen a little today. I thought of our date at the zoo today and the giraffe that has to make out with the cement overpass all day. What a strange zoo Abilene has.

LONG weekend

So we went to Buenos Aires this weekend. It was a good weekend.. We got to see a lot of the city. Friday night we went to a Tango show with a tango band and proffessional dancers. That was fun and had GREAT food. Saturday we saw Evitas Tomb or whatever which was intersting and went to a feria and the Fine Arts museum. At the feria I found this AMAZING artist that makes beautiful paintings of tango dancers and music stuff.. I WILL buy from him. He gave me his card so I am going to order something from him. Dad you would LOVE the art down here. it is amazing. I will post the link to his site later.. After ALLLL of that we all got dressed up pretty and went to the Teatro Colon(Coolest old theatre! like 5 floors of balconies.. awesome!) downtown on 9 de Mayo (Widest street in the world like 20 lanes or so.. not that they care about the lanes when they drive.. scary).. and saw the Philharmonic Orchestra of Buenos Aires. It was a lot of fun.. although my shoes KILLED. I ran/limped back to the hotel and changed into more comfy stuff before meeting everyone around the corner at dinner. Its nice having our hotels in the center of town EVERY TIME.. go macaROANIE..
We went to the zoo too.. that was kind of depressing, dirty, and well tiring.
After that Alex and I raced to the bus terminal dragging poor ali and chery with us.. ran in searched for places that sold bus tickets to mendoza and purchased in a rush tickets for this week (fourty bucks! How cheap!). Its like a nice double decker charter with dinner, bfast, and snacks.. plus a movie and its overnight.. Im pumped for this week now! All we have to do is get the hostel and the Buquebus lined up and it will all be set! Good thing we have two full days to do it!hahah
It always comes together! It just does!

The Softest Nearness

I decided to write a song today:

The Softest Nearness by Phyllis Chill


Sometimes I wonder about you
I wonder how you know my heart is broken,
Sometimes I fall into your arms
and rest like I never have before
and Today My heart is in a million places.
But mostly its home with you Lord.


I could sing your song.. I could sing of your light.
And yet the darkness is where I find you near.
In these times when my heart is aching,
I find you.You wait. You are softest here.
And here I am again with you Lord.

Most say that everything I pray
Should be for the best and the most I could get
But all that I want from you
Is love and strength and to feel you again

I could sing your song today.
While my heart it is every place
I learn of the depth of you, it never ends.
And here I am with you, never alone..

How difficult to comprehend the majesty of You.

A Day at CasaACU

I woke up today very tired. last night Ali was in my room as we were trying to do our spanish homework (up in the heavens in my bunk bed). After about three falls, a spilled coffee mug, a room smelling of butt and caffeine we called it quits with little work accomplished. Class was long this morning, but the bizcochos and coffee made me smile and I aced my quiz. After my morning nap ... ahhhh.... I woke up to our sauna of a room despite two fans and an open window. Ugh its like 95 degrees out.. Devo was good, we sang some songs in spanish.. fun times... and lunch was FANTASTIC as usual..... empanadas, rice and veggies, FANTA, and the beautiful faces of Raquel y Mariela. Sweet sweet women. I am sitting here procrastinating against my homework with a newly cleaned room, a shorter list of to-do's and a guitar playing worship songs in the background. What about this day makes me lazy? All of it... Warm, music, relaxed, at peace. After the horrible week I made for myself (due to emotional overload and procrastination of homework and "things to do") I am finally at rest. God is Good. We leave for Buenos Aires tomorrow morning. I am happy about that. Next week Alex and I go to Mendoza for the weekend while everyone goes to Paraguay.. I am glad we are taking an individual trip. I need a break from the group outings.. some silence and relaxation. Should be fun.

Siiiiggggghhhhh... Homework time.

Mix and Match

I feel like writing centered today.

I went shopping today

Bought some freakin awesome heels for Tangoing.

I look HOT. And TALL.

My mother is stubborn.

I love her dearly.

I talked to stephen last night.

A LOT.

Until like 3am.

Oops.

I just got into a conversation with the group about big rich churches

expanding their church, buying awesome stereo systems, etc.

I got riled up and ranted a little about how that is

dumb in my eyes. Im sure the poor man

down the street thinks the

decorations

look fantastic.

So do the hamburgers

that the construction men were

eating on the roof while building it. Oh well.

Maybe someday that man will get to go in the church

and get to taste and see how good the Lord was to the church

building. I bet his daughter will love the shiny cars

and the bathroom with marble sinks. I am

such a punk about this kind of

stuff sometimes. I

blame stephen

for always being in

agreement about this subject.

I agree that sometimes big churches have

the right ideals. Prestonroad in Dallas for example I

believe has their heads screwed on straight. I am all

for more and more people coming to church, to Christ. I am not

all about churches taking that as they found the "key to evangelism".

Maybe I am cynical of hearts in a community where people may not know the

person two pews away. Maybe I need to be open to God being able to

do amazing things with generous and united congregations. But

maybe American churches need to rethink their values

and how they go about putting those into practical

ministries. Maybe I need to start walkin the

walk along with all this talk. Maybe

I am getting sick of this

centered zig

zag crap.

Fine.

Sigh...

Romans 12

2.Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

4 Just as each of us has one body with many members and these members do not all have the same function
5 so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others

Man.... I just.. phew... I dont know what it is about Romans that sometimes you just let free in it and feel like your floatin around a big refreshing pool.

Those are challenges for me. To a lot of people they are fluffy little verses that are pulled out when people are being tempted, or are being selfish. To me ... they are HUGE challenges.

1. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world.
That is hard enough. this world is full of things I enjoy. Movies, music, indulgences, and most of all a comfy individualism that I sometimes thoroughly enjoy having ingrained in me. Not only does it say try not to fall into the worlds habits but moreso DO NOT CONFORM ANY LONGER. thats like now. Like stop... no seriously... stop. And as difficult as that is I not only understand but long to not feel like I am conformed to the pattern of the world. How are we as Christians, as lights, salt, etc going to stick out and show people we have something different, something Magnificent if we conform and blend in so well with the rest of culture. How then can we impact the nations? How can we show other countries that being a Christian doesnt mean being American, and being American doesn't mean being a Christian. Sadly those things tend to blend a little in the international and even domestic attitudes.

2. But be transformed
Ok.. stop conforming.... now be transformed. Well yes but how... How do we allow ourselves to be transformed from the ways of the world in practical, obvious but not "showy" or "look at me .. I love Jesus" sing songy ways. I don't want to be a WWJD wearin, devo devouring, tract toting psycho with a lot of words but no personal emotional spiritual transformation. It seems like people assume when the previously stated changes become noticeable one is a "good cool christian". Ok.. along with every other person in the culture who has their "style" but no passion for His children. I want my transformation to be apparent in how I react to situations, how I encompass Christ's passion for life, death and most importantly His resurrection of people. I see life come out of death all the time. Why cant our transformations include being dirty and smiling about it. What a challenge to become transformed in a way inspires transforming others.

3. Renewing of your mind
Now this is even more interesting. I forget this part a lot. I stop doing this a lot. And then I go through times where I am doing things like this. Where a verse begins to become clear, practical and impacting. What all constitutes renewing. I don't think having a daily devo, and going to church every sunday is what he's talking about here. In my eyes it is things like going to places you haven't been, spending time with different people, spending time with children and older adults, learning new skills, getting involved in ministries, services, and non profits. Renewing of your mind seems more like getting yourself out of the groove youve made from pacing in the world. Right now I feel like Im in that process. Renewing myself through new experiences, challenges, and opportunities to praise Him.


God is so good. Today was a rough day but I feel like I have met some challenges emotionally that I have been ignoring for awhile. Thank you for renewing my mind and strength continually God. Its good to know I am not alone in this foreign country. Im glad you are experiencing life with me.

Punta Del Este

Well us girls finally got our weekend. We went to Punta for Friday and Saturday and had a blast.

We chilled out in town, checked in to our semi crappy but central Hostel, and went to the beach. Cristina Samanta and I went on a citi tour all over the town and got to see some cool stuff including CasaPueblo which I have pics on webshots of. Its this artist guys house. We were there for the sunset and they had a recording of a poem playing about the sunset that coincided with the setting and it was awesome. Beautiful.

We met a really cool guy from South Carolina that has been travelling for months in S.A. Hes gonna be in Montevideo this week so we're gonna show him around town.

Saturday we were at the beach all day and had a great time relaxing then headed to get some pizza and waste time before our bus got there at 11:30pm.

Great weekend, great girl time, girl talk and a chance to get to know each other even better.

Jamesy Poo

In our devo we were reading from first james about temptations and such and my eyes wandered up the page to the beginning of James one...

"Consider in pure joy my brothers whenever you face trials of many kinds.. etc.... The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position.... "

.... why dont people talk about these more often.. is it because we aren't in those positions.... is it because we feel like we are "blessed enough not to have to face trials". I face trials every day, some easy some hard. I can usually, post trial, take joyin it but I struggle with the different kinds of trials I face. It seems like people see trials as things like temptations, mourning, injuries, divorces, being poor, or otherwise.

I struggle with having money more than when I don't have it. I struggle with not feeling like I have enough courage to go talk to someone. I struggle with wanting to see you before seeing my family. I hate that to some those are petty, and maybe they are, but they are still struggles that I need to take PURE JOY in because they are shaping who I am as a person, and hopefully closer to Christ.

I think people ignore the verse about people in humble positions taking pride in it, because we are not in "humble" positions.. what do we do? be frustrated in our positions? Its something to think about. How can we have conversations with people about being excited not only when we overcome obstacles.. which is great, but also the struggle, the wrestle and as Phillipians put it the "working out in fear and trembling" of a faith that may have a good base, but poor structure. Anyway.. this is all rambling but its something I have been thinking about today... comments? questions?

Peaceful

I feel like today was a good day. I got a nap, a good lunch, classes went well, I got to talk to stephen last night... a main cool thing that happened today was it was a good spanish day. I feel like I generally undestood and could speak relatively well about what needed to be said. sigghh.. Ilike good days..

Last night we had our first Tango class. It was AWESOME. We spent a lot of it learning how to walk, lead and follow, turn, etc. It was so fun. we learned a lot in one lesson and we have four more left! I am so excited! My favorite part was when we had to dance and the girls had to close their eyes and feel where the guy was leading instead of try to guess or look at feet. That was really neat and felt refreshing to trust someone like that. The only bad part was I didn't bring any heels with me so I could only wear sandals.. It kind of hurt.. I need to go find a cheap pair of heels..

Tonight Cristina, Samanta and I walked around Ciudad Vieja and found a cool part of the shore with neat rocks to climb and stuff. I felt like home with the rocks in GH that we climb to the beach. A little more natural here, with crabs and stuff, but home nonetheless

Man it was good to talk to stephen last night. It felt like the first REAL conversation since Ive been here. Its so hard to have conversations when you can only talk for an alotted time. MSN is a godsend.....

Good Boy, Good Valentine

I came back from class today to find a rose on my desk with a card inscribed with a crazy hebrew name, an I love you of sorts and all sorts of sweet nicknames.. I instantly knew I had been surprised by my sweetheart. and I MEAN SURPRISED.. I had been relatively mopey all day because I knew I wouldn't be talking to stephen, that I was a hemisphere away, that everyone would be singing "love is in the air" and I would rather die. Plus after sending my present to stephen last night.. all I got was a "thanks, hope you have a good day, bye" .. three emails later I finally got fed up with no Happy VDay. I got one eventually but in the back of my mind I kept thinking he's either an IDIOT or he's up to something... I was hoping for the latter but assuming and forgiving the former.. He's busy..

Needless to say I am a smiling blushing girl...

Good work love...

Fun Stuff

www.datetosave.com
(compliments of Alex Morstadt)
http://www.tinyurl.com/4yx2z
(compliments of my mother)

I hate Valentines Day

Ever since a stupid boy decided to break up with me on this very special day, my hatred for it has increased year by year. Last year was quite possibly the closest I have had to a "good" valentines day and that was only because my back home boys called to say hello. Well that and a DTR.
I always seem to have high hopes for Valentines Day, that is until the loom of death arrives at approximately 12:01 when I realize I am probably wrong about these high hopes. It is nothing against my special someone.. whomever that might be.. in this case my loved stephen. Its just that I ruin the blasted holiday for myself. I think of the most romantic and virtually impossible things that could be done and am disappointed when something perfectly romantic occurs yet doesn't meet my highest hopes. I am an idiot.. that or just female. Its not for lack of trying not to do these things. I spent much time last night trying to downplay Valentines day. Talking to my roommate about it didnt help much. She just kept saying things like I was thinking but didn't want to admit. I just told her.. "There is NO way he is coming to Uruguay.. dont even think about it.. I would kill him.. not happening". Among other retorts.
The other part about this years Valentines day is that I am in another country. This is probably the first year I could be excited about it. Stephen is fantastic, I am a happy camper, dating a man who is beyond incredible. And yet I ruin it by leaving the country.. perhaps fleeing the country is a better description though I vouch that I did NOT plan to miss all the fun stuff.
Well, now here I am. This morning the boys did an awful but sweet vday serenade at the god awful hour of 7am. Thanks boys you are too kind!! The girls also received roses from someone anonymous and they smell beautiful and look it as well. Tonight we have a Vday bash. Cristina and I were up til about midnight baking cookies. I made my grandmas recipe from scratch and memory. They turned out well though the texture is strange due to the Uruguayan ingredients.
I plan to make this day worth smiling about. I hope it works.

Chicken

I feel like today didn't really exist. I woke up about 11am after sleeping through church. Read my CS Lewis reading on Christian Marriage, went with Haley to the hamburguesa stand and got cornered by martin and jose.. after that its all a blur. the bast 4 hours didn't exist. I was trying to read for art but kept passing out in the process, literally every paragraph. I just took a shower but I feel like a zombie. Oh well, I think i might cook something fun tonight. Not sure what but its so easy to cook here cause NOTHING is instant. Makes me want to.. which is happy.

I realized something about all these crazy marriage happenings as of late.

I feel sane. but I feel like I don't think like normal people.. well.. the majority..

I also realized today how being cranky can increase your faith by forcing you to swallow those mean comments, by smiling when you dont want to bring someone elses day down just cuz yours is, and so forth. ALthough that sort of seems like making something unattractive noble to make myself feel better since Im still cranky. I don't know... Im babbling cuz Im bored now.

I miss home some today..

The Austin Miller Band

I was swept out the door last night at approximately 12:50 AM after making a late dinner of Amazingly good Pancakes, French Toast, and my own homemade syrup. I was in a fluster as I heard words flying by about a band, a concert, flyers made a few minutes, and the designated time of 1:45am. With guitars in hand, as well as an orange garbage can, with unique drumming quality, we continued on to the bus stop on Dieciocho. All 30 of us climbed on the already packed bus headed for Ciudad Vieja, still in wonderment. Apparently Jeremy and others decided to make flyers for their very own Miniconcerto in Ciudad Vieja.. The Flyer looked as follows:

ENVIVO!!!! ENVIVO!!!
The Austin Miller Band

DONDE: Cerca Don Peperone en el circulo
CUANDO: 01:45

VEN!!VEN!!VEN!!VEN!!

So ofcourse we all got there, they were rushing to get to the designated area in order to play at their newly advertised concert. Meaning we.. the girls and Cameron.. attempted to pass out flyers to people while they walked by.

Eventually Cristina and I found a corner to observe the commotion from afar and try.. desperately to be able to point out ONE cute guy. She was unable, as well as I. They try too hard, they smoke, they drink.. and worst of all they Ogle like nobody's business.

Well soon the concert began.. They sang that Limp Bizkit song "Faith" starting with the Uruguay drumbeat.. which made people clap in confusion at why a Candombe group was in Ciudad Vieja. It drew a crowd that sadly but quickly dispersed when the song stopped fourteen times, and then was played a second time but with new words which meant nothing to them anyway.

A few of the fans were pretty funny, one forty year old drunk was convinced he was playing the Grateful Dead, and began singing and playing airguitar wildly behind me. He spoke english, though slurred by the effects of apparently too much alcohol, and I told him to go sing with the band. He replied: "Ohhh.. Naht toonahght honeeyyy... Ahh Donnnt do thaat soortta thang"

A few other english speakers trickled in and started conversations, one guy had lived in Michigan for 5 years, but it was his friend who was talking and not him so the convo ended quickly.

We came home to our quiet house approximately at the hour of 3am. I slept, didnt wake up for church, and am now about to go get hamburguesas and do homework.

Ummm strange

Well, we just got back from going to see Closer which is a horrible movie I would NEVER recommend to anyone I had the slightest respect for, and yet I still kind of liked it.. Should be rated NC17... but otherwise once you wade throughALLLLLLL the sex its a good movie.. sort of..


Once we got back I walked into a house full of chaos. A few of the guys were getting dressed, in dresses upstairs.. one with Mimi like makeup on, while girls were changing into guys clothes. Apparently spoons/truth or dare got a little crazy...

Interesting group we have here.. thats for sure..

I miss stephen a little tonight.. Im overwhelmed..

Postponed

Well last night when we got back from chillin in Ciudad Vieja we came home to a bad weather report for Punta del Este. Apparently we chose a rainworthy weekend. So today we decided to stay in Montevideo. Raquel and Mariela came and cooked lunch for us... sweethearts. And we are going to try and leave tomorrow instead. Today I think we're going to go to the mall. I want to buy a pair of shoes, that is if they have them in my size.. I hope.

I got to talk to my momma last night. I miss her a lot. We got to talk for awhile and she said she's gonna send me my bday present!! WooHoo!! Im excited. I asked for pb and j, a mountain dew and some special items I dare not disclose. heheheh.. You Rock Ma!

We got valentines in the mail yesterday which made me excited. I already know what stephen is getting for VDay..I just have to find the time to make it. I hope you enjoyed todays edition kid!

Irazu, where have you been all my life?

So Im feeling a hundred times better than before... I went with Lucas and Daniel to Irazu a coffee shop in Ciudad Vieja that is AMAZING. I pigged out on sandwhiches two lattes and amazing cheesecake.. we all shared stuff.. the apple pie was REALLY good too.. and all incredibly cheap..

Now Im chillin online after finishing homework chillin with a caffeine buzz to some DMB and talking to RM phil online.. Everyone in the house is relatively quiet other than the stupid boys above us who cant stop stomping jumping and rocking their beds.. arg..!!!! thats right alex and andy! WE HEAR YOU!!!!!

I am excited for Punta del Este this weekend. I already need another break.

I miss brooke.. a lot. and shyle, and lyd, and russ and bryant and my mommy and dad, and berz a lot.. and drew... and mitch.. and RM.. and Erin... and my cats... and peanut butter.

Vday will be lonely on monday.. sad. oh well. we're havin a party..

Good morning...

Just got back from Fine Arts class. We just finished our literature section today and we had some great discussions. I am really enjoying that class. I have learned and actually retained a good amount.

Authors Read:
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Borges
Vorgas Llosa
Onetti
Quiroga
Perri Rosa
Rulfo
Dario


All of which were pretty interesting. I am excited for the music section. Should be fun

Sick

Tired, Achy, Cranky, Emotional, lw fever, nauseous, ... Ineed a nap.. again


it was Camerons birthday today. What a unny kid. Raquel made frid chicken and mashed taters for him. Hes such a funny lil country boy.

Dappling in a Downer

So I think my least favorite thing is coming to my blog and finding zero comments. I know this is irrational since one of the only people who actually comment is stephen.. sometimes julie, my mom, etc. Once I pout because I am commentless I pout because I pouted.

I don't feel great today. Grumpy, tired, and just not good. Sad.

I did my devo today. Everyone does one or two over the semester and I did mine this morning.
I think I did pretty good. I did it over Phillipians 2:12-18, one of my favorite passages. I talked about some of the images in it:

1. Working out our salvation with fear and trembling.. letting myself wrestle around ideas and theologies that I have trouble with. The past few weeks has been rocking my world emotionally and spiritually and knowing that we are SUPPOSED to wrestle with our faith is great, to also know that I am allowed to be scared about it is an encouragement. Cuz I often am.

2. Making the choice not to complain or argue for the sake of being blameless and pure in order to "Shine like stars in the Heavens". .. This is something I have tossed around a lot the past few weeks. I have been cranky and irrational a lot, and realizing that those things aren't what give me "attention" from God and others, but rather deciding not to, being patient and kind, etc are what makes me Shine Like A Star. It is true though. I think of shyle when I read that, and Lydia. Very rarely do they complain or argue, I mean we have had our days of ranting, but in general they shine so bright because you NEVER hear them complaining. Thats neat to me.. Thats what I want to be.

3. Feeling good about being "poured out like a drink offering"... I feel like that today. That God has poured out all my reserves of joy, patience, energy, etc. Yet it feel soooooo good because I know He will fill be back up with purer joy, longer patience, and I will once again be energizer bunny until he does it again. I would rather be poured out and refilled every hour on the hour than sit and settle, and stew in myself. Yuck. no thanks.

After talking about all that and relating it some to our experiences here, I whipped out Romans 5:1-5 about actually taking joy in sufferings for perseverence, character, and hope in the Love of God. I was glad I was able to talk about that to the group. It is something that has been on my heart a lot the last couple of months. Stephen and I have talked about it some as well, that it is amazing that Paul rarely rejoices in getting money or friends but rather in suffering for Christ, in the deaths of Christians for their sacrifice, and other things along those lines. I wish I could have a heart like that!
I think but moreso hope that that is why I am so excited for this summer with youthworks. Because it will be fun yes, but mostly a draining, tiring, challenge that will require sacrificing a lot of myself for the sake of the kids, the other leaders, and the communities. I am so excited to be able to share in that sacrifice it gives me chills to think about. Gets me excited for future life possibilities.. definitly reminds me that I dont think I could sit by and watch the world pass me through an office door or window. I want to be out there gettin my hands dirty, working hard, being exhausted and poured out... I hope I can keep that zeal for self sacrifice. Stephen hold me to it.

So anyways.. I think I did alright today.. I liked feeling like I was talking about things that are real and helpful for our situation in Uruguay. I dont mind lovey dovey stuff, but theres a point where it feels fake. Im not doggin anyones devos.. for those of you who read this, Im just saying it felt good to talk about things I hope people could take with them. I know I got a lot from doing it.

Mis Aguilas estan perdidos.

Watched the game with the crew last night and had a blast. Cristina made cookies and brownies.. of which we frosted with massive amounts of Dulcedeleche (caramel type syrup). Plus we bought tons of pizza... chips, soda. We had the projector playing the game on the wall in the TV room. Despite having spanish commentators and fuzzy reception the night was rather homelike. Which I think we all savored a little. Saw some pretty cool stuff.. which didn't include the commercials because we didn't get them on our Fox Sports VIVO channel.. dang.

Earlier yesterday we made our first home cooked meal of Mac and Cheese plus Hotdogs and lots of steamed veggies. Best mac and cheese ever, it was so much better than kraft... I mean wow.

Today and tomorrow is Carnaval holidays so EVERYthing is closed including the Catholic Universtiy so we wont have Pensamiento. Thats exciting.

We do however have all our other classes.. yuck.

I have to do the devo tomorrow morning and I haven't thought about it much yet. I will have to pull something out tonight.. Shouldn't be too hard. Ive done enough in my life to get er done.

Superbowl Sunday... Apparently

So its sunday morning, I just got back from church.. at which I zoned out of the spanish sermon and into my bible.. Read some interesting things in Ezekiel. Never read that book before. Strange and out of context... Read my next psalm for the week .. Psalm 7. Its like honey.. Read a lil bit o John, a lil Isaiah, a lil Jeremiah, a lil Job. Felt good to putz around. I feel like I have read more of my bible in the past few weeks when I zone out of the sermons than I have.. ever. Feels refreshing.

Stephen called last night. Kind of a frustrating phone call.. I think you would agree stephen.. Lots of distractions on both ends, phone fuzziness, and then our card ran out mid conversation. It was good to talk for a few minutes but possibly more frustrating than not talking at all. Its becoming clearer how difficult it is to talk when we aren't just secluded in rooms or something. Although the emails this week have helped a lot..

I havent talked to my bro or sis YET since I have gotten here. I kinda feel bad and don't know how to get a hold of them. The easiest way is email but Ive gotten zero replies.. hmmm.

I am more tired today than normal. I think its all catching up with me. Sad.

Candombe

Yesterday was a lot of fun.. a LONG day. Lucas and I went shopping after and amazing lunch by Raqul.. Fajitas with homemade tortillas and Ice Cream.. mmm... Got some pants, a shirt, a belt. My first official purchases for me other than like toiletries and food. Felt good. Found some cool stores at the mall, and some cool shoes but NOONE has them in Lucas or I's size.. which is REALLY annoying. Im gonna go lookng on Dieciocho today for them... All I can do is hope.. heeheh

after that we went to the park for some Ultimate Frisbee.. A Lot of fun allthough the field SUCKED cuz it was actually a hill with glass bottles and bumps all over. Despite that it was a lot of fun. After THAT.. we all got ready to go out to the Candombe parade. We left about 10 and got there to HUGE crowds and no way to get to the street to see. So we ended up gettin shoved a bit. Some of us joined the people hanging from the robbery bars on windows to look over the crowd. We met a cute lady who had a newborn a four yr old and a 6 yr old. Cameron and Jeremy put the girls on their shoulders and we tried to get to the front of the crowd without crushing the baby. SHe was a younger lady, and that baby I swear was like 4 wks old. And so cute. It was intereting... staring at backs got old pretty quick so I just talked to the lady and the girls some. Overall it was pretty cool.. but I wouldnt go again without gettins seats early. to actually SEE it.

After that we went to the club. We got in FREE this time and it was a blast. The girl that sang before the dance music was AWESOme.. she sang a lot of english covers including "yesterday" which was interesting. Then the music came on. A lot of latin music and then like techno. A lot of crazy people who tried to hit on us but we just gave Jeremy and Cameron the eye and they would come dance with us to ward off any creepy people. Our heroes. Theyre so funny. Our big protectors. We got home about 4:30 and I only now woke up (2:30 pm... ahhhh..)

Lots of homework and chillin out to do today so Ill be off. Feel free to call today .. Ill be around the house for most of the day and night.

Murgas

Today was a good day, I got to spanish Convo a little earlier than the others and succeeded in a conversation with our teacher. I felt relatively proud that I didnt cop out of questions. She is such a sweet heart. We talked about Yemanja and Christianity a little. Interesting conversation. After class Cristinita and I went walking around to go find a place called INJU an organization that gives away student discount cards.. we couldnt find it but we did tour the University de Uruguay a little and it was an awesome building. There are buildings throughout the city but the main one is downtown on dieciocho de julio... After that we went to a Santeria shop for our class. It sells all the candles incense and statues for spiritism, and yemanja.

Later we went to go see the Murgas downtown at Playa Ramirez in Parque Rodo. It was awesome! First they had a group that had four singers in front and then an amazing dance troup. Beautiful costumes and every tuype of dance from meringue to salsa to hip hop to modern to all sorts of stuff. It was cool. Then after that... the first Murga started. It is basically a singing group of about 20 people in crazy costumes.. singing and doing like skits and stuff. I didnt understand much of it but it was still hysterical. Their dancing was pretty frantic and it was awesome.

Now some of us came back to the house for helado and chillin time. Im exhauseted and we'll prolly chill with a movie. Itll be my first chance to just chiince we got here.

I am also sad to say I got a virus on my computer. Joy from Barnes and Noble often sends me through IM and email pics and funny things. SO today when I recieved three sent things through IM i downloaded one. I stopped cuz I had to go to class and later found out I had downloaded a virus that continued to send the "pics" to all my friends on my buddy list. Many assuming it was me sending something opened them to get the virus.. SORRY GUYS. I hope things end up ok. My anti virus stuff didnt get rid of it. I uninstalled and reinstalled MSN and so far it looks to be ok. I am scanning with symantec now to see if anything is left. I hope not. But i bet so.

Yemanja

Tonight we went to a Spiritist ceremony called Dia del Yemanja.. or day of the sea goddess named yemanja.. It was really interesting. There were thousands of people on a beach a 1/4 of the size of GH or less... Many dressed in old white dresses, or white outfits.. those people went out into the water to bring offerings to Yemanja, or be baptised. Many went through cleansing and possessions, throughout the night. Lots of drumming, dancing, spinning, passing out, talking, telling of futures.. Lots of candles in the sand as altars.


VERY INTERESTING..

Pensamiento

So we started our Pensamiento Literature class at the Universidad Catolica yesterday and today. It is an all spanish course on Latin American Literature. We are reading a lot of Quiroga and Marquez, doing presentations... in spanish, a 2000 word paper... in spanish, and all sorts of other crazy difficult things. It is going to be a huge challenge, but we are all pretty up to it. When she first started talking I was oh so very confused becuase she was like speed talking, but once we kind of told her how much spanish we knew she slowed a bit, and we were able to get through the class with little to no difficulty. Last night we had to read a short story called A la deriva.. or "adrift.. by quiroga and it took a cumulative or 2 1/2 hours to get it done, even when it was all 6 of us doing it together.. plus we had to write a short story in spanish for class today. I hope we wont have to read it outloud..

I have a TON of humanities reading to do, lots of homework for Spanish Convo. and no time to do it in. Whoever said semester abroad was easier academically was ON CRACK!!! This is going to be BY FAR my most difficult semester.. even after last semester kicking my butt. plus we have trips and culture events and a country to explore. ARG.. oh well.. I know I have already learned SOO much and it will be totally worth it in the end if I just stick to my guns and get it done.

EXCLAIM!!!!!!!!!!!

So yesterday or so I recieved an email from youthworks after inquiring because I hadn't gotten an email from them regarding the possibility of my employment with them this summer..

I AM EMPLOYED!!!!!! I get to be the Kids Club staff for this summer.. I don't know my location yet, and won't for another month or so until all staff are hired, but I am SOO excited. Mostly because I have wanted this since I heard about it, two because I really need a job, three because it is PERFECT and four because it will be an AMAZING challenge!! I can't wait to struggle and wrestle and work hard and be exhausted and see amazing impacts in the lives of young people. All I know is I remember how those trips changed my life over and over again and how much I wan that to happen for them. Mostly I want it to continue to impact them after their trips! Oh man I am excited! I exclaimed to the group here cuz I have been so worried about it and they were pumped too! I do wish however that I could just call everyone everywhere that knew about it so that they could exclaim with me. for now email blog and messenger are getting used like crazy!!!

I got to talk to Erin, last semesters roommate, yesterday. I miss that girl. I am sad she transferred though I am happy to hear it is going ok. I hope she feels like last semester was survivable. I don't think I wouldve made it without her last semester at all. I miss whining about shaena and astronomy and Int. Comms. and all sorts of other crap. Plus our outings and dinners and Nasty ROSAS. yucky. Girl you are great and I hope to see you next semester when you are in town!

I have been teaching the girls here the shades tryout routine I learned last year. I kept getting it stuck in my head and wanted to figure it out and they asked to learn it. Now we are slightly adapting it and probably doing it for our "talent show" that we are apparently doing in march. I am apparently also doing a stewart skit with alli. heheh.. hmmmm.. that should be interesting..

Jeremy got a tattoo yesterday. And although it sounds fun and I teeter on the edge of wanting another one, or getting another piercing in my ear, I think I have decided against it. I have considered touching up my tattoo just cuz the sun has bleached and faded it a bit. But i dont think I will get anything new. Although I saw a cute gecko design I liked, but it had no significance so unless i can unrealistically convince myself it signifies Uruguay.. Prolly not.. hehehe

So no worries stephen and padre, I wont be anymore marked up.. If I can remain strong against the tumult of temptation in my mind.