This past weekend we went to Buenos Aires. We left around 3pm on Wednesday caught a charter bus at Tres Cruces then rode for about 3 hours till we got to Colonia. After we arrived there we immediately got on a ferry for about an hour to Buenos Aires. Then we caught a bus to our hotel the Posta Carretas. We then went out on the town and got dinner late that night around midnight. It's so crazy how everyone eats late and the restaurants stay up late. 
That night Jade and I were so excited we didn't go to sleep till about 4am. Bright and early the next morning we woke up and went on a bus tour of Buenos Aires. It was pretty much awesome and actually very interesting. 
As part of the art class and INTS we went to a museum. We visited the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires it had a lot of abstract art. Afterward a few of us walked back, and took pictures of the sights. Later that evening we went to a tango show. We learned about the history of tango and the dance was dramatized. The next day we went to the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (National Fine Art Museum) for our art class again. Then we went out to lunch with everyone paid for by ACU. Earl and I decided to share our meals. He got the Ultimate Lasagna and I got a Carbonara pasta, but the actual pasta was made fresh that morning from…dun dun dun…squid ink! 
Both were delicious and one of the best meals I have had in South America besides what Raquel makes. That evening we met with some students from the youth group and after singing some songs and have a devotional we went to play soccer. It was funny because everyone was like oh its right down the street. We ended up walking about an hour and half to a recreational center where they had a bunch of indoor soccer fields. It was a lot a fun and I realized how much I miss playing. Later that night Brandon, Abby, Meg, Jade, and I went to a Thai restaurant yes THAI!!!! 
It was absolute heaven in Buenos Aires. I ordered curry and Jade got Phad Thai we split the two. The level of spiciness was perfect. We didn't get back to the hotel till about 2. The next day was Sunday and we got up bright and early for church. While we were there about 30 study abroad students from Pepperdine University there are about 60 students studying abroad for a year in Buenos Aires from the school. The music was excellent and the Sunday school/ Bible Study afterwards was so encouraging. I think mostly because it was the first English sermon or message I have heard in several weeks. I met these two very sweet girls Maria Laura and Marissa; they took us to an arcade. There we played DDR which is a universal game of FUN! 
After rushing back to the hotel we began our journey back home. Yes, Home because even though we are so far away from our families walking into the casa felt "right".
Thursday, September 18, 2008
I Wanna Be a part of B.A., Buenos Aires, Big Apple!!
Ole Ole Ole!!!!
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
So I love soccer and last week we got to go to a World Cup Qualifie
r soccer game, Uruguay vs. Ecuador and it was AMAZING!!! Even though I know that neither is a particularly good team it was still super cool. We went with several members from the church so it was cool how they looked out for us. At one point there was this very sketchy guy who sat down by us and kept staring everyone in the group up and down.
They immediately recognized he might be a thief or police officer, but regardless we needed to be on our guard. The game was emotional but there was not a riot or anything like on TV probably because there was only about 50 Ecuadorian supporters and over 50,000 Uruguayans. The national pride was palpable and it was awesome how they would suddenly break into chants or songs to support their team. Unfortunately they never scored which really bummed me out. It was still 0-0 at the end. Overall it was a memorable and exceptional experience. And yes Eric they really do chant "ole ole ole" just like in the Ricky Martin song.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
My Prayer
It has been a while since I have written in this blog. This is for several different reasons. Partially because we have been so busy doing various things I have just been too lazy to actually type. However, another reason that may be more prominent is because there has been a particular issue I wanted to write about but was to emotional to type. Once I realized my words might be coherent I then thought about whether it was even relevant to a blog about my travel in Latin America and whether it would be appropriate and I believe it is. For those of you who do not go to ACU I am going to copy and paste part of a news article from a Dallas newspaper. Police are continuing to search for clues and attempt to determine whether a hate crime occurred when a noose was left last week in the office of the black president of Abilene Christian University's Student Congress. Student Congress President Daniel Paul Watkins, a political science major and senior from Fredricksberg, Va., found the noose in his office last Wednesday. There's still no indication whether one or more individuals were involved in the incident or whether it could be considered a crime of bias -- or a "hate crime" -- because Watkins is black and a noose to many people is a racist symbol that evokes memories of a time when African-Americans were lynched. The incident came at a time when minority enrollment is about 20 percent at ACU -- with blacks making up about 12 or 13 percent of the student body. He said the percentage of blacks on ACU's campus has doubled over the past decade. ACU's total enrollment is about 4,700 students. ACU has made significant steps in race relations over past decades, Money said, but the lesson Friday was "how far we have yet to go." When I first heard the news, I cannot describe the feeling as anything more than absolute shock. I felt as If someone had punched me and left me numb. As soon as I could get away from the people around me I went to my room and just started crying. Then I called my parents. After about 30 minutes the tears were no longer wet with pain and hurt but, were burning against my face thriving only by my anger. I came to ACU last year with the intention of going to a Christian university where my race would not be a central theme but my faith. I lived my whole life as a minority rarely even having Black friends yet most of the people I was surrounded by loved the Lord and that was all that mattered. When I moved to Japan I found a school that was full of people who shared my ethnic background people who did not stare at me or think I was weird, make negative comments about my mixed heritage, or even exercise ignorance on the subject and it was in a word, Refreshing. For the first time in my life I visually fit in and didn't feel the need to prove myself based on a ridiculous stereotype or expectation. Yet in the midst of forming lifelong and concrete friendships I found something missing. Very few people shared my faith in my school and I found it difficult to be a Christian. It was something I had to work at. Alone. Before people had stared at me because of the color of my skin now people stared at me because I was a Christian. They watched every move I made to see if I would slip up. Although I can honestly say they never actually pressured me to do anything; I found the scrutiny to be somewhat stifling, because their constant observation of me was not disguised. It was in this experience that God revealed to me that the unity of the spirit crossed all cultural boundaries, all racial boundaries, and all physical boundaries. He was not God of division or separation but, of love. I longed for a community where those physical characteristics would not matter not because it wasn't weird or different but, because God had washed over each soul with his mercy and grace transforming each one of us into his image and by being transformed we are each equal in Christ, every man, woman, child regardless of whether they are from Texas, Rhode Island or California, Black, purple, pink, white, yellow or blue. Soon after God revealed this to me I felt him leading me ACU, when my parents also felt God l leading me there as well my decision was finalized. Soon after I arrived I began to have a different experience than I had expected. I am not going to use this opportunity to list every offense I experienced at ACU. However, it is suffice to say several times a month an incident occurred, on a small scale from someone making a comment or joke about black people that was not particularly offensive in of itself until they noticed I was in the room and would suddenly begin to whisper amongst each other uncomfortably, to people who used the word black but would glance at me and then not complete for example stating "My neighbor is blaa………(glances at me)…….he smokes", to those who told me my family was in sin because, my parents were interracially married, to those who believed there was nothing offensive about a noose or saying you wanted to hang a black man because racism did not exist in our society, to a larger scale where certain people actually used the N word in reference to those Black people they considered "less than people". I was overwhelmed and engulfed in a society of hate that I am sure relatively speaking was incredibly miniscule compared to what my grandparents or even parents had to go through. But to me it was shocking, incomprehensible, and painful. I felt the burden of constantly needing to educate others, give patient responses, and to continue to love those whose words had cut into my very being. When I say it was shocking it was not because I had never experienced racism or lived under the delusion that it did not exist; but rather I had not expected from a Christian society, without a doubt I had higher expectations. One of the main reasons I wanted to study abroad was to escape the constant questions, comments, and statements, I had to deal with. I needed to get away from it all and just live. I wanted to just be me. I needed to be free from a society where I felt constantly judged. The anger I felt not even an hour after I had been broken hearted by the hate that was still alive in our society was livid. I cannot recall feeling so mad in my life. If I had not been so mad I may have laughed at the irony, I had gone halfway across the world and was still affected by what I was trying to escape. A week before in Uruguay I had seen a lighter that had a confederate flag with a young black boy in the center with a sword through his skull and blood pouring out. It seems that no matter where I go this simply has to become something that I have deal with. They always say once you lose your innocence you can never get it back. I can no longer believe the world is a safe place and that there are mostly good people. In one of the YouTube videos below someone said that the point was not made graphic enough, and because of this the majority of the population would not have the same initial reaction as the minority who were raised in a culture where a noose wasn't just a rope but, a symbol used to inspire fear and communicate hate not only to the person who was hung, or threatened but, to the entire community. According to the representative from the NAACP he said the actions were learned by years of silence and tolerance. This silence and tolerance is from the entire community black and white. I said at the beginning that I was hesitant to post this blog. The reason is that I have rarely been this candid with anyone, even my closest friends. But I am done being silent and I am done tolerating. I have constantly made the excuse for the actions of others and I have attributed it simply to ignorance and naiveté, but where does that line cross. When is ignorance admissible and hate irreconcilable. I no longer know. For the past year I have been in a dilemma concerning why God led me to ACU. I am not claiming to understand just why yet but, maybe he wanted me to grow. Not in the way I wanted to but, according to a different plan that I am still clueless about; maybe he wants me to get a small taste of what's to come, or he's preparing for a greater course, I have no idea. What I do know is that this trial has made me stronger. I realize more than ever that I cannot rely on others but only on God. I selfishly wanted other Christians to fall back on, to be able to trust. People will let you down but God is the only fixture in my life in which I can completely rely. It is my constant prayer that as I seek his will he will reveal himself to me. I pray that he gives me the courage to confront others not with anger or animosity but with the love of God and that I will live out loud for Christ being vocal in my words and actions and no longer silent. Since tolerance seems to equal acceptance and acceptance equals permissibility I pray for the ability to show the love of Christ while still condemning what is wrong. The phrase Let go and Let God seems so simple and straight forward so easy to follow. Right now in my life everything seems foggy I cannot even begin to understand anything. I am an unstable whirlwind of emotions, thoughts, and ideas, the thought of letting it all just "go" scares me. Yet I know that I cannot move forward until I let God take complete control of my life and work through me, only by living through him can I even begin to make sense of what is going on in my life. There is no conclusion; I don't think I have ever been so confused in my life. I can only pray. In my distress I cried unto the LORD, and he heard me. Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue. What shall be given unto thee? or what shall be done unto thee, thou false tongue? Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper. Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar! My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace. I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore. Amen (Psalm 120-121) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE9cGQo5YuY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJKrU9kR3ZY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBsltWjTf1Q http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBsltWjTf1Q http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQ029p480rw
Friday, September 5, 2008
Going to The Museum of History y La Rombla
For our art class we went to a museum of History before Columbus. We were able to go through it in about 30 minutes. It was pretty boring. I guess I am a bit spoiled having been to so many museums. I was disappointed because there was so little about Uruguayan history.
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Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Exploration of 18 de Julio
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Church was very different. The first thing we did was greet everyone in the church with a holy kiss. A few of the songs we sang I recognized the melody but could not remember what song it was. However, worship was my favorite part because I was After church on Sunday, Jade, Kelly and I decided to go for walk. We walked all the way down to t
able to participate. It was interesting because first w
as worship, then communion, then the sermon, then offering. This setup is a contrast to what I have been accustomed to. The sermon was difficult to understand and I am sad to say I just began zoning it out and thinking about other things. It became monotonous and I got super tired. Then after service there was a Bible study which reminded me of Sunday school. That was pretty cool because everyone participated with our limited Spanish and their limited English. Aft
erward we went to get lunch, and were served by the youth at the church. They are all pretty cool and very sweet. Towards the end we each had to introduce ourselves in Spanish and say our major, where were from, and whether we had un novio o novia. Everybody's introduction went very smoothly and a few got very creative. Jade said she was libre, and everyone burst out laughing. She was confused so later she asked about it and it turns out that Libre can mean free, let go from bondage, or more typically as the signs on many of taxi cabs insinuate "open for business". Finally, we sang two songs and afterwards began to help them clean then walked across the hall in the sanctuary and went back to casa. (The church and the Casa are connected)
he old town. The old town is the original boundary for the city before people started building up around it. As we walked I just took picture of everything.
This is a video I made of downtown :)
We then had two somewhat interesting events occur one of which was the old woman who followed us (not really) and the men who said HOLA….in a very suggestive way.
La Feria
,
scarves, sweaters, jeans, ties, kittens, puppies, purses, shoes, boots, socks, and of course Hello Kitty.
I have noticed that Hello Kitty is universalJ.
They had a lot of underwear booths. I don't think I have ever seen so much lingerie before in my life. I bought two scarves for about ten dollars. I think they are really pretty though, one is pink and the other is orange.
The weather was great; it reminds me so much San Diego. There was a park with a seesaw and swings and a jungle gym.
I have not seen one like that in a very very long time. Jade and I got on the see-saw and it was crazy fun.
Then Jade bought some flowers they smelled amazing! For lunch we went to McDonalds. I got a burger for about $1.75 or 35 pesos; it was ok…there was a thin piece of meat and a piece of ham on top of that. The cashier was really nice and helped me order and even knew a little English. Later that night, we met with the youth from church and had pizza. The boy I sat next to was 14 and we had a VERY hard time communicating. He later dumped me for the more animated opposite side of the table LOL. Overall, everyone was incredibly friendly and patient and I think several people in the group made friends.
