Toddler, Trips, & Track
7 years ago
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Our God of the Nations
I think it was about a month ago now that I got the chance to go back down to Purranque to visit my friend Carolina. Carolina just started her fourth studying law at the university and I met her through the Bible study I attend on Wednesday nights. I had spent a weekend at her house a while back, and they invited to come again to celebrate the baptism of her boyfriend Felipe. Purranque is only about 2.5 hours from Valdivia by bus so I left Saturday afternoon and got down to Purranque in time to watch part of a movie with Carolina and Felipe and then we went to their youth group survice they have on Saturday nights. It was really neat to be back here and see some familiar faces, and to just feel the warmth of a church family. Their church is a lot different than what I'm used in a number of ways but it still never ceases to amaze me how it still feels so similar and comfortable. It's a smaller church (about 50 people) and it's evangelical, which has a slightly different style than the CRC I grew up with :) . Even still, I reallyed enjoyed the service - we sang songs (with words on a projector, and some I recognized from their english versions!) and a lady from their church talked about staying involved in the church and contributing to its growth as young adults. Afterwards we dropped Felipe off at his grandparents house for the night and Carolina and I went back to her house. I really enjoy talking with Carolina. We're obviously not as open/close as I am with my friends in Michigan, but it's still been very nice to find someone like her to share time with.
Sunday they got up and went to Sunday school while I stayed behind to do my own devotions and then we met up again for lunch with Felipe's family. It still always amazes me how hospitable everyone seems to be here. Even though his family didn't know me at all (and to that, I was only the friend of his girlfriend! hah!), they invited me to eat with them and tried really hard to include me in the conversation - asking me about my studies in Chile and in the US and how I had met Carolina. I really enjoyed taking part in a "sunday family dinner" with them, although it made me miss being at home with my own family a bit.
Shortly after lunch (it's a 2ish hour process once you have el postre and tea) we headed back to church for Felipe's baptism. I had been looking forward to this for a while since I've always enjoyed watching people get baptised. There's something really powerful in the symbolism of it all, and after learning a bit about Felipe - who he used to be and how he's been changing - I was really excited for him to have this event to "mark" in a way his change and his new life in Christ. The service of course was longgg, but I loved it. The passion that the church has is evident, and because it's a smaller church they really do act like a huge family. For example, they start off with a time of prayer and they just ask people in the congregation to shout out/share prayer requests and updates. It's encouraging to be in this time of community again and to be reminded of the power and expanse of our God. He's not just a God in english, but also in spanish, french, chinese, german, dutch, etc... I loved praising Him in spanish as well - it just added to this idea that our God is the God of every nation, tribe, and tongue. The baptisms were at the end, and this was as enjoyable as I expected. Five people got baptized and it was very cool to see how everyone shared in their joy and excitement.
So, that was basically that weekend. I spent the night with Carolina again on Sunday and then we headed back to Valdivia on Monday. I see her every once in a while, but we've both been pretty busy so it's generally just at Bible study. We did get a chance to go out and get hot chocolate though on Tuesday which was nice to do to catch up and talk about family, school, etc... I'm hoping to go back once more to visit her and her family in Purranque and then possibly up to Temuco to visit her boyfriend (who lives and works there). Time is running out though, as I now have less than 3 weeks left in Chile.
One last thing that was especially neat about this weekend (and my time here in general) was/is seeing so many of the similarities that exist between Chile and the US. Even though I'm thousands of miles away, so many things here are parallels of traditions or customs in the US, but with their own Chilean twist (spanish, food, table manners, time schedules.. hah!). Like for instance the church, it's the same God with the same beliefs, but it has a different feel because of the surrounding culture. In that way, it's been incredibly interesting to contrast the two cultures and to analize the pros and cons of each one. There are so many things I love about the Chilean culture, but I'm also starting to realize more of the things that I miss about culture and lifestyle in US. Hopefully I'll manage to get a list going to share.
That's about it. I now officially have one week left of classes - which includes just two papers and a final project. I'm ready to be done! Thankfully I get to take a break a little bit this weekend since it's a long weekend (there's a holiday on Monday) and I'm going up to a city near Santiago with another friend to visit with her and her family. I'm excited to spend time with them, AND more importantly... I'm excited for the last Chile futbol game in the world cup - hopefully they'll win and then they will advance (along with the US who has already qualified - yay!) to the second round.
Ojalá que les vaya bien! Un beso - Chau!
Friday, June 18, 2010
Life goes on.
Wow, it's been two weeks already since my last blog post, it's amazing how fast time goes by and gets filled with various activities. There's still some events I want to talk about from a month ago, but I think I'll focus today on recent events and will try my best to put up some of the other stories/thoughts later.
To begin with, this week has been pretty crazy - filled with a few new "firsts", celebrations, and important dates. I'll start with last Saturday and work my way through my week....
Saturday was the first US game in World Cup in South Africa, and as luck would have it, we played England - significant because there's a large group of "gringos" (Americans) here and we hang out with one guy from England so a bunch of us went to a local bar to watch the game. It was basically empty except for all of us so we had fun watching the game, especially since we tied (most of us thought we would lose). After the game, I ran around town to finish buying an outfit to go to a wedding. I met an english professor here through the British guy (Greg) and especially during my first month here, spent a lot of time with her (Alexia), her fiancee (Floris) and Greg. Some of you might remember me talking about them in an earlier blog post I think. Anyways, their wedding was this past Saturday and they had invited Greg and I to join in celebrating with them. I ended up buying a completely different dress (my third one of the week actually, hah!) but had fun trying on clothes with the sales ladies who were super helpful. I ran home and changed to go to the wedding. The ceremony was at 7 in the Lutheran Church here and was short but very nice. In many ways it was similar to American weddings with a flower girl and the entrance of the bride with her dad, but it definitely had a slightly chilean feel. For example, the bride and groom get ready at their houses and then drive to the church, and the ceremony basically starts when the bride gets there (which, she always arrives "late" on purpose). Then, after the ceremony the real party starts. They had the reception at a really nice restaurant just outside of town. It was a smaller reception (about 70 people) but one of the funnest weddings I've been too. It was a very relaxed setting, and everyone seemed to have a great time. This too had some similar elements like the first dance, cake cutting, and bouqet toss along with some very "chilean" aspects - the two main ones being that a "good" wedding lasts until at least 5 am, and that half way through the reception the bride and groom bring out cotillón. This surprised me since I had never heard about it or seen it but it was a lot of fun. Basically, cotillón includes varios party hats, masks, ties, whistles, horns, etc... (similar stuff to things at a New Years Eve party). Everyone had a blast putting the things on and dancing to all the reggaeton! Oh, and of course the food was delicous.
Sunday through Thursday were filled with a lot of homework and classes it seemed - I can definitely tell that it's the end of the semester (two more weeks left!). I'm getting a little stressed with everything that I have this week, but once I get past Wednesday I'm in the last kick which I anticipate will feel really good :). Memorable events included Chile's first world cup came, leading Bible study Wednesday night in spanish, "celebrating" four years of dating with Jake, passing the "one month until I'm home" date, and then of course... my birthday! I didn't get to do anything special with Jake (obviously) but we did get to talk and as always I enjoyed looking at where we've come from. This year was extra fun too, because we can look forward to a life full of the memories we've already been making, something that makes me really excited. Realizing I only have one month left here is a weird feeling. In many ways, I'm ready to be home - I want to see my friends, family, fiancee, and could REALLY use a good dose of sunshine, daylight, the beach and summer break. At the same time, I've loved my time here and have developed some really good friendships that will be hard to leave. Especially knowing that I don't plan on returning to Chile in the near future. Then... my birthday. The day itself was normal (and busy with school.. first time ever, and I can say I definitely did not like it!). Then at night I had a special dinner with cake with my host family and afterwards I went out with a group of gringos and a few chileans to a local bar that was showing the final game of the NBA playoffs. It was fun to just hang out and talk and they even bought me a cake and balloons! There was also a music group playing who came over and serenaded me in spanish and english! Afterwards we went out dancing at a local disco. It was a fun way to spend the night with some good friends here. I laughed A LOT and will definitely remember my first chilean birthday.
So, that's the past week. I think I managed to keep it somewhat short even. :)
Chau!
To begin with, this week has been pretty crazy - filled with a few new "firsts", celebrations, and important dates. I'll start with last Saturday and work my way through my week....
Saturday was the first US game in World Cup in South Africa, and as luck would have it, we played England - significant because there's a large group of "gringos" (Americans) here and we hang out with one guy from England so a bunch of us went to a local bar to watch the game. It was basically empty except for all of us so we had fun watching the game, especially since we tied (most of us thought we would lose). After the game, I ran around town to finish buying an outfit to go to a wedding. I met an english professor here through the British guy (Greg) and especially during my first month here, spent a lot of time with her (Alexia), her fiancee (Floris) and Greg. Some of you might remember me talking about them in an earlier blog post I think. Anyways, their wedding was this past Saturday and they had invited Greg and I to join in celebrating with them. I ended up buying a completely different dress (my third one of the week actually, hah!) but had fun trying on clothes with the sales ladies who were super helpful. I ran home and changed to go to the wedding. The ceremony was at 7 in the Lutheran Church here and was short but very nice. In many ways it was similar to American weddings with a flower girl and the entrance of the bride with her dad, but it definitely had a slightly chilean feel. For example, the bride and groom get ready at their houses and then drive to the church, and the ceremony basically starts when the bride gets there (which, she always arrives "late" on purpose). Then, after the ceremony the real party starts. They had the reception at a really nice restaurant just outside of town. It was a smaller reception (about 70 people) but one of the funnest weddings I've been too. It was a very relaxed setting, and everyone seemed to have a great time. This too had some similar elements like the first dance, cake cutting, and bouqet toss along with some very "chilean" aspects - the two main ones being that a "good" wedding lasts until at least 5 am, and that half way through the reception the bride and groom bring out cotillón. This surprised me since I had never heard about it or seen it but it was a lot of fun. Basically, cotillón includes varios party hats, masks, ties, whistles, horns, etc... (similar stuff to things at a New Years Eve party). Everyone had a blast putting the things on and dancing to all the reggaeton! Oh, and of course the food was delicous.
Sunday through Thursday were filled with a lot of homework and classes it seemed - I can definitely tell that it's the end of the semester (two more weeks left!). I'm getting a little stressed with everything that I have this week, but once I get past Wednesday I'm in the last kick which I anticipate will feel really good :). Memorable events included Chile's first world cup came, leading Bible study Wednesday night in spanish, "celebrating" four years of dating with Jake, passing the "one month until I'm home" date, and then of course... my birthday! I didn't get to do anything special with Jake (obviously) but we did get to talk and as always I enjoyed looking at where we've come from. This year was extra fun too, because we can look forward to a life full of the memories we've already been making, something that makes me really excited. Realizing I only have one month left here is a weird feeling. In many ways, I'm ready to be home - I want to see my friends, family, fiancee, and could REALLY use a good dose of sunshine, daylight, the beach and summer break. At the same time, I've loved my time here and have developed some really good friendships that will be hard to leave. Especially knowing that I don't plan on returning to Chile in the near future. Then... my birthday. The day itself was normal (and busy with school.. first time ever, and I can say I definitely did not like it!). Then at night I had a special dinner with cake with my host family and afterwards I went out with a group of gringos and a few chileans to a local bar that was showing the final game of the NBA playoffs. It was fun to just hang out and talk and they even bought me a cake and balloons! There was also a music group playing who came over and serenaded me in spanish and english! Afterwards we went out dancing at a local disco. It was a fun way to spend the night with some good friends here. I laughed A LOT and will definitely remember my first chilean birthday.
So, that's the past week. I think I managed to keep it somewhat short even. :)
Chau!
Thursday, June 3, 2010
mi cumple!
This is a short public service announcement for all of you faithful blog readers....
As you may have noted, we have now moved into the month of June. Not only is this a great month due to the warm weather it brings to Michigan (although, it's going down in my book slightly because of the gross weather it brings to Valdivia, but that's beside the point) it's also right in the middle of the year (crazy!), and most importantly.... It's my birthday month!
And today, marks exactly two weeks until my birthday. YAY.
And you should also know, that I really like receiving cards with hand written notes for my birthday (more than chocolate even!). And it only costs about $1 to send a card here to Chile, and it only takes a week to get here to my house (giving you a whole week to write it and go to the post office and mail it).
And, finally, to complete my shameless plug, here's my address for those who may have forgotten it.
Las Lengas N°641 - Isla Teja
Valdivia, Chile
All that being said. I'll still love you even if you don't send me a birthday card. :)
As you may have noted, we have now moved into the month of June. Not only is this a great month due to the warm weather it brings to Michigan (although, it's going down in my book slightly because of the gross weather it brings to Valdivia, but that's beside the point) it's also right in the middle of the year (crazy!), and most importantly.... It's my birthday month!
And today, marks exactly two weeks until my birthday. YAY.
And you should also know, that I really like receiving cards with hand written notes for my birthday (more than chocolate even!). And it only costs about $1 to send a card here to Chile, and it only takes a week to get here to my house (giving you a whole week to write it and go to the post office and mail it).
And, finally, to complete my shameless plug, here's my address for those who may have forgotten it.
Las Lengas N°641 - Isla Teja
Valdivia, Chile
All that being said. I'll still love you even if you don't send me a birthday card. :)
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
