the first week

Written: 24.2.13 (the way they do dates here)

The first week went really well ! We’re moving into the next one nice and sore. Haha. There are twelve of us in total, split right down the middle with guys and girls: me, Alisha (the other American), Angie, Esmirna, Andrea, Estela, Manuel, Jahir, Gustavo, Oscar, Eduardo, + Brayan. The oldest one here is 32, + the youngest is 18. I share a birthday with one of the girls here (crazy!), but she’s a year younger so we’re not twins. The first night here, the boys suggested we have a mini-devo outside, so we did, and sang worship songs until our room curfew, 8:30pm (so early for this American chica). It was absolutely wonderful. Since then we’ve all continued to connect really well, encourage each other, and laugh hysterically at each other. It’s kind of like being up at Fort, except half the time I don’t know what the hell anyone’s saying, haha. We exercise pretty hardcore on Mondays-Wednesdays-Fridays-Saturdays. On the 23^rd we went to the Cholula Pyramid Ruins (look it up the internet if you’d like) and more or less ran up and down it from 10-1, learning phrases of a Bible verse with each completion. A few of our hermanos made it up and down 15 times- ridiculous, because it’s super steep and long.

Our daily schedule differs from day to day, but we usually wake up around 6:30, give or take 20 minutes, shower or exercise, eat breakfast, then have devotional time (whether individual or group), where we worship (Jahir + Esmi play guitar, and Manuel leads singing), share whatever’s on our heart, and read a bit of the Bible. It’s always lovely. Then we might have classes, or time to study, or giving presentations. We eat lunch super late, at 2:30 (another thing that’s hard for this American to get used to), then watch the kids or have more classes or help out at a gathering at church. It really depends. Every Sunday we serve in some capacity at the church, whether it be greeting others, being an usher, helping out with kids/babies, etc.  It’s a teeny bit scary because I’m not super confident with my Spanish so I never know if I’m gonna fall flat on my face or what :P. But it’s starting to feel like home. Okay, a few highlights from this week:

·         one of the first nights, Josh, our [bilingual] leader, took us to apparently the biggest rock climbing place in S. America (don’t quote me on that), and we got to rock climb for four hours for 80 pesos (about 7 USD). Normally I like to fade into the background with pretty much any event and just watch, but they encouraged to me to climb so I did it twice, and surprised myself the second time by making it all the way to top, which was FIFTY FEET!!! Admittedly it was a bit terrifying, because it’s hard to trust the person who’s holding your rope and if they’re gonna let you fall to your too-early death. I misplaced my breath multiple times during the climb. There is something I pulled from it though, which is this: Climbing isn’t always easy, and it’s scary as hell sometimes, especially when you don’t have a strong grip on your next step. It’s kind of like life. Sometimes you’re not confident in where you’re going, and you have to do some backtracking in order to get farther than where you were before. Sometimes you lose grip and slip a couple feet, and sometimes you choke on your lack of oxygen and can’t think straight. But Christ is always holding your rope. It’s okay to just let go of the rocks on the wall and rest in Him. He’s not going to let you fall. And when you’re ready, you can either reach back to the wall and keep climbing upwards to the top, or share knowing glances with Him that you can’t do this anymore, lower yourself back down, and search out another wall to climb. ;)

·         there is a bilingual dictionary I have that has rando phrases in it, some of which no one in their lives would ever use, + which are absolutely hilarious… at night, when you’re in bed, tired and goofy as hell. Haha. So far we have at least six inside jokes from the dumb thing, referenced at least once a day. When we all got back at 10 one night from older people youth group, us viñieras ate our supper of rice, milk, and sugar mixed (it’s like Mexican oatmeal, + super yummy!), and were in tears at least half the time from the laughter. My Spanish pronunciation is mad crap a lot of the time, so they always make fun of me (glad we’re all that comfortable). I’m laughing as I write this, and I would tell what we said, but no one else is going to find it funny L haha. #insidejokeproblems

·         early in the week we played kickball with the kids, us versus them actually, and lost embarrassingly both times. But it was a good time of connecting and having fun with each other.

Other things I missed.. the weather here is comfortable, 70 to 80s everyday (don’t be fooled- it’s only for a couple hours in the afternoon!), barely any clouds, super cold in the mornings and night (like 40s..i know, not as bad as the Midwest right now), it doesn’t rain, and it’s frustratingly windy. 15+ MPH WIND IS MY LEAST FAVORITE WEATHER OCCURRENCE. Lunch is our biggest meal, and I’ve had to break vedge a bit (shhh.. don’t tell- I have to eat some meat, otherwise my hair will fall out!). Breakfast + supper we usually have pan dulce (bread with fancy toppings) and a bowl of something light. And lots of tea.

We have to keep our bed and closets RIDICULOUSLY organized- everything has to be stacked neatly, even toiletries + underwear! #what. Nothing can be on or under your bed (except my teddy ;)), and it must be neatly made. That’s been an uphill battle against myself, haha.

Finally, on a personal level, I’ve been doing well. Stretched, reminding myself to take deep breaths, but well. I haven’t cried yet, and I don’t feel lonely. Don’t get me wrong- I miss my friends + family in the Midwest, but these bones have been acheing for adventure for much too long, and it’s finally being shot into my veins. I’m struggling with understanding everything, the little things, the conversations- it’s fast, and hard to keep up, and I hate that it’s my fault that people have to keep repeating what they’re saying. But I know that that’s the only way to learn. I struggle even more with expressing myself, telling people that I can relate to them, and telling stories, which is pretty much everything, haha. I know that I just need to be patient, that I will be more fluent in time, and just to keep working hard at it. I know this week is going to be more difficult, because classes + homework start for real, and I’m gonna keep having to put myself farther out there, but I’m taking one day at a time. Moment by moment, baby.

Until next week !