Week 40!? Geez! I feel like I was just writing week 4...
I spent the majority of this week outdoors and/or with my friend Lindsay (or Lichi, if you will).
The weather was BEAUTIFUL almost every single day. Not too hot, not too cold... juuuuuuust right. Very fall-y.
Speaking of fall... and to have a little play with words here, cuz that's always fun, I was reminded this week of how wonderfully things have just fallen into place here:
This weekend Lichi and I had a "marathon" (as Lichi called it) of "fun time with amigos" (as I call it). On Friday night we went to a tango exhibition, with music, singers, and dancers, with our Uruguayan friend Marce. Afterwards we all met up with our other two Uruguayan friends, Flor y Nati, to have a "semi-sleepover." Side note: Semi-sleepovers are when people stay at a "sleepover" until the whole "sleeping" part...then they leave. So it's more like an "over." The whole concept of "full"-sleepovers doesn't seem to really exist here... Anyways, we all stayed up chatting and laughing away until about 3 or so. After staying the night at Lichi's (I stayed for the full-sleepover), Lichi and I woke up to go volunteer at UNIDOS, met with some friends at a café, and then relaxed at her house until meeting up with our Uruguayan friend, Gastón. He had prepared a delicious dinner--little pita pockets with veggies, chicken, and meat with PHILADELPHIA CREME CHEESE (I know, right!?), and lots of other yummy things. His little 11-year brother, Alejandro, also joined us for the evening. After dinner and some conversation, we all walked down to an ice cream place, ordered some ice cream, and ate it in the plaza. After some more conversation, Lichi and I returned to her house for another full-sleepover, and so our marathon of fun time with amigos ended.
This weekend, in our little marathon, Lichi and I had such a wonderful, normal time (I hope you don't mind, Lichi, that I am speaking for you on that... but I'm pretty sure you had a good time). And by normal, I mean... easy. As in... it felt natural? If that makes sense...
On our way home from Gastón's I said to Lichi that our little mid-night ice cream in the plaza reminded me of Cook Out milkshake runs back home in NC. Easy, relaxed, fun! And scrumptious! And then Lichi said something along the lines of, "It's just so cool that we have friends here with whom we can do stuff like this." And I couldn't agree more. It is just neat that we have made a life for ourselves here in the last 9 months. It is such a good feeling to recognize that our lives feel normal here. That we can have fun time marathons with amigos... and to do so just feels easy. It just feels natural.
And looking back, (it helps that I re-read some of my old blog posts this week, already feeling nostalgic for Uruguay... and I'm still here...) it's nice to see how things all worked out--how things fell into place. Such as: taking an exchange student class where a guy (my now friend, Seba) came in and talked about a weekend retreat, sitting next to Lichi on a bus home from a field-trip and being encouraged (I don't even know if she knows this) to have the courage to go on the retreat, going on said retreat which was held in the church Las Esclavas, going to Las Esclavas and being asked to take up the collection with a woman who introduced me to Viki (who works at UNIDOS) who then introduced me to others who invited me to a young adults group, attending the young adults' group, hearing more about the mission trip in February through the young adults' group, attending the mission (which was an incredible experience), fortifying friendships through the mission and in the young adults' group... etc., etc., etc. Many things like that... which have led me to semi-sleepovers and pita pocket dinners.
I have had so many experiences here in South America, and still so many more to come. There are so many places I've been, and people I've met, and things I've done, which have not only made my life feel normal here, but have (more importantly) helped form and grow me in many different ways. And all of this "falling-in-to-place-ness" I see as a true blessing from God.
"I sought the Lord and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears." Psalm 34:4
And on that note: Happy fall! (Or probably spring in your case...!)
Happy Fall!
Les mando un abrazo fuerte--
Courtney
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