Bienvenidos a Uruguay

Week 46--

In honor of the month of June (although I've already written in June), here is a song I like. (0:43-0:44)

I've been thinking throughout the day today: "What the heck am I going to write my blog post on?!" Life is just feels so normal here now... and I don't want to bore you! And to be honest, I still don't really know what's going to come out of this blog post... But here it goes!

You know when you miss class in elementary school cuz you're sick, or your family goes on vacation, or you deside to give yourself a personal day (hehe...just kidding...), etc. and everything just feels so right with the world as you think of all of your friends at their desks doing their morning worksheets while you're tucked into bed or stopping by the McDonald's drive-through on your way home from said vacation? And then you return back to school the next day...and the "everything just feels right with the world" comes to a screeching halt as you're handed... dun, dun, duuuun... your make-up work. Welp, that's kind of how this week was for me: quick, scramble and get all of your work done that you didn't do during week 45! But you know what? Although I won't pretend that I didn't stress out at all, I tried keeping what my dad always tells me in mind, "It'll all work out," and I definitely didn't let all my schoolwork overwhelm me. It twas' a good feeling. 'Bout time I figured it out!

On Friday I had a test in my video production class in which I had to do things like look at twelve different versions of the same picture but with different lights (apparently) and match the lighting with the corresponding picture... I also had to memorize the names of the connectors, lights, cables, draw camera plans, etc. Yeah, I don't think I did so great. But fingers crossed! When I got home, I bundled up and walked down to the beach for some much needed, SO peaceful, reading for pleasure. I am (still) reading "La Sociedad de la Nieve," a book about the Uruguayan rugby team whose plane crashed in the Andes in the 70's. 16 men ended up surviving, after battling for their lives for 72 days in the mountain range, overcoming two avalanches, and making the tough decision to resort to cannibalism. It is an incredible story of faith, positive attitude, and community. I highly recommend it, although it is in Spanish. My dad read an English book about it... I think it's called Miracle in the Andes. If you know my dad, maybe you can ask him if he recommends it! So anyways, I enjoyed a cozy, little read/thinking time on the beach, and then relaxed at home for the rest of the night--caught up with my cousins and mom and got to bed early... my kind of Friday night. Am I 81 or 21?

On Saturday I met up with some Uruguayan friends to start working on a hUgeee goup project we have that counts as an exam grade--we have to make a whole plan of communication for a company of our choice, complete with a month to month game-plan for different stakeholders, a budget, analysis of the company/product... things like that. It was actually fun though! I remember looking around the room at one point, smiling, and thinking to myself, "Wow... this is just so normal!" I know I've written about this before (aka, in the second little paragraph in this very blog post), but I just have to write about it again...because I just find it so fascinating.

Sidenote acutally related to this: My friend Anneka, who is studying in Buenos Aires, and her friend Brittney came to Montevideo for the weekend, and we were talking today about how cool language truly is... something I think I've also written about before (so sorry if I'm boring you by repeating myself!) But that's a key part of what made my "study session" with my Uruguayan friends so normal: we were just 5 girls, hanging around, laughing, taking pictures, drinking tea, writing a paper... all the while communicating through language. What a wonderful thing, language. To think, 11 months ago, there's no way on earth I'd be able to feel normal in a setting such as the one I just described. But throughout my time here, I have grown so much in the sense that I can feel normal and comfortable ... and soo much of that has to do with knocking down the language barrier one block at a time! It's still not all the way knocked down, but it's gettin' there. Gracias a Dios.

Speaking of Dios, my friend Ariel from my church young adult's group gave his testimony tonight (I'm giving mine next week! Eek!)... and he said something that really stuck with me: "I figured out that without God, I could go through life on my own. But I figured out that I didn't want to go through life on my own." (something along those lines) He pointed out that with the Lord comes a sense of fullness... and I couldn't agree more. Sure, without God my life is "doable"... but do I want my life to be just doable?

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." (John 10:10)

During Mass today, as we sang and I looked up at the crucifix, I just felt a sense of peace and belonging. The Lord died, and rose, and promised "never to leave us orphans" (John... at it again!... 14:18). Gracias a Dios!

And so this is where my blog post has arrived... bed time for me! Cinco horas hasta que tengo que levantarme para empezar la nueva semana: week 47! Vamoo0O00ooOs!

 Saturday.

 

Have a wonderful Monday (or whatever day of the week it is as you're reading this!)--

 

Courtney