Sunday, June 30, 2013

Week 49--

Tomorrow starts finals week! (NoooOOOoOOOOOooooo!) That being said, this blog post will be written tomorrow after my Uruguayan History final. Prayers around 2:30-3 EST would be appreciated!

Welp, until tomorrow, here is a glimpse at my week(end) in pictures...

Slumber partyyyy!
Yummy desayuno.

Walkin' the rambla with some amigas!
Caminando pila.
Just a little pit-stop on the pirate ship...
Llegamos! Hola, Artigas!
 
See ya tomorrow--
 
Courtney


Sunday, June 23, 2013

Week 48--

11 months in Uruguay! Can you believe it!? 12 months - 11 months = 1 month... That means 1 month left in Uruguay left for this girl! Geez Luis...

This week I was siiiiiiick. I had (/still have) one of those dry, whooping, straight from the chest, can't catch your breath, feel like you're gonna burst a blood vessel type of coughs. Not very fun, to say the least. But through it all, I have been blessed with wonderful friends who have loved and taken care of me. 1. On Tuesday night I spent the night at my friend Pitu's house to work on our External Communication, Communication Plan project. All four of us girls in the group slept in one room, and I felt SO bad cuz I was just hackin' away. My friend Flor propped me up with more pillows, and they all assured me that "I wasn't keeping them up." Saints, those three. 2. On Friday night, my friends who are heading back to the U.S. on Thursday (wahh what?!!) had me and my three other friends over for a goodbye dinner/dessert/girls night. It is always so fun spending time with these ladies! Nicola, Shanice, and others even made Reeses Peanut Butter Cup brownies... sooo...yummy. After dinner, as we sat around and talked/figured out how people from different states say things differently/watched bad lip reading on YouTube, Abby rubbed my feet and Nicola my back. 3. A lady tonight at the bus stop, after hearing my voice (or lack there of) when I informed her that one of the buses had recently arrived, proceeded to tell me the ingredients for a little concoction I could make to cure my illness (honey, oil, and lemon). *These are just three of the many ways I felt taken care of this week, and I am truly so thankful that God has placed me in a city full of such wonderful people, Uruguayans and extranjeros alike!


Wonderful friends!
Girls' night!
Brownie baking!

Even the city has treated me well during my sickness! ...except for the fact that it's SO COLD, this week greeted me with blue, beautiful skies. Thanks for taking care of me, Montevideo! (Picture not in B&W so you can see how lovely the sky and colors were!)

Thank you for being beautiful, Montevideo.
 
In other Uruguayan news: Today the Uruguayans voted whether or not the law which made abortion legal back in the September would appear on the referendum in the upcoming mandatory elections (I think they're in October). Prayers that the Uruguayans choose life, for as we have seen in the United States... Abortion has disastrous consequences (1973-2008 + than 50,000 legal murders...). As the Uruguay's last president, a doctor, stated:
 
La legislación no puede desconocer la realidad de la existencia de vida humana en su etapa de gestación, tal como de manera evidente lo revela la ciencia [...] el ADN con la secuenciación del genoma humano, dejan en evidencia que desde el momento de la concepción hay allí una vida humana nueva, un nuevo ser. El verdadero grado de civilización de una nación se mide por cómo se protege a los más necesitados. Por eso se debe proteger más a los más débiles. Porque el criterio no es ya el valor del sujeto en función de los afectos que suscita en los demás, o de la utilidad que presta, sino el valor que resulta de su mera existencia.
 
Translation (I tried my very best!): The legislation cannot ignore the reality of the existence of human life during pregnancy, evident as revealed by science [...] DNA with the sequencing of the human genome, leaves evidence that at the moment of conception there is new human life, a new being. The true rank of a civilization of a nation is measured by how it protects those most in need. So it should protect more the most weak. Because the criteria is not the value of the subject depending on the affection that they arise in others, or the usefulness that they provide, but rather the value that results from their mere existence.  
 
Amen, Tabaré Vázquez, Amen.
 
I have a lot of thoughts on this, and I'll say just two (cuz as most of you know...I could go on for pages...) 1. A life is a life is a life is a LIFE, and we have to no right to deny anyone at any age the opportunity to live. 2. How come, in most U.S. states, if you kill a pregnant woman, you are charged with double murder... but if you have an abortion you are simply "exercising your right to choose"? How is the child in the womb sometimes defined as a child and sometimes not? Can we define life based on whether or not a woman wants their child to be alive...? I don't really get the rationality behind this... To me, the child is a child or it's not.

Annnnd, as I'm writing this, I just received a text from a Uruguayan friend saying that they didn't get enough votes for the law to appear in the referendum. Lord, help us.

Welp, off to bed with a heavy heart.

See you all soon!--

Courtney



Sunday, June 16, 2013

Week 47--

This is it: the home stretch till summer (winter) vacation! Just two weeks of class, two tests, and finals standing in my way! And oh boy is it getting difficult to gather up mis fuerzas to study...

This week was a weird mixture of rest and work. A lot of nights I would say to myself, "Courtney, you will go home and study for your Organizational Culture test." ...but then I would find myself looking for good music, on Facebook, or reading other people's blogs (ohh how I have a love/hate relationship with social media). BUT just because I wasn't studying does NOT mean I was wasting my time. Through Facebook I stumbled across a band formed by three guys I went to high school with. Watching their new video with their new song, it really took me back just how GROWN UP they were! Plus... they sounded amazing! So that was productive... AND I got to reading a blog that my friend Abby passed along to me called "My First Love." If you're a woman, in or out of a relationship, I recommend it. It applies to men too, the overall concept at least, but it's definitely geared more towards women. Anyways... 'tis very convicting... about loving God as you would a spouse, and even more so... more than anyone or anything, in fact! There was so much to think, pray, and reflect on that Abby and I had to (/wanted to) take a whole Friday afternoon to discuss it (and eat some cheesecake that wasn't actually cheesecake, but looked like cheesecake and had cheese in it...)! If the blog doesn't show up when you click on the link, it'll be on the right-hand side, if you scroll down a bit to "Popular Posts." There are four shorts parts.

Some other things I did:
- wrote a long email to my Ecuadorian host family... Finally!
- made a list of all of things I want to do before I leave Uruguay
- met with my two Uruguayan friends, Gastón y Flor, to set some dates for some of the things on the list (this was actually their idea, and I'm so grateful to have friends like them who are so organized and made it a priority to get these things on the calendar! Muchísimas gracias a Uds. dos!)
- played fútbol and had a fun sleepover afterwards (exercise and friend-time wrapped into one night!)
- met with my group for my second test in External Communication/Marketing/Public Relations (which is the group "Communication Plan" project)
- babysat 4 little boys
- taught an extra-English class in addition to my usual English classes
- ate lunch with my friend Marce's family, which is always such a treat!

...And last but not least... wrote my faith testimony/presented it to my young adults' group tonight. I've been putting this off for a long time... Practically a year now...(cmostly cuz of nerves, which I hate cuz they are all my friends and it's not like they're grading me...) But I finally did it! I'm so glad I was able to share such a huge part of who I am with them. Thanks be to God!

Welp, off to bed so that tomorrow I  will have the sense to say to myself, "Courtney, you will study for your Organizational Culture exam today" and so that I actually have the energy and 'ganas' to do so.

ALSO--Happy Father's Day to all the fathers reading this blog, to all of the husbands of the mothers reading this blog, and (of course) to my incredible, God-wife-&children-loving father. Thank you for all you do; I sure do love you lots!

Abrazos--

Courtney

What the non-cheesecake that looks like cheesecake?!
Nothin' quite like Fun Friend Fridays! (& half/American Girl Doll smiles).

Babysitting & playing The Game of LIFE... but in Spanish...


Sunday, June 9, 2013

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



Monday, June 3, 2013

Week 45--

Sarah came to visit me in Montevideo all the way from the U.S. of A.!!! (note: that rhymed)

Here's a quick list of things we did (not in order): walked along the rambla, ate churros filled with dulce de leche, went to McDonald's (three times...), watched movies, strolled around the museum of art, saw a cow in the park, explored the old part of Montevideo, ran-hiked-walked a 21k race, talked about God, life, and the future, ate delicious food with friends, sang The Sound of Music... etc, etc.

What a wonderful week.

Sarah and I realized that we have never been in the same class, are rarely in the same city...let alone state (nor, more recently, in the same country), and for the majority of our friendship  our schedules have caused us to spend only short, sporadic periods of time together. But we have been friends now for 12 years-- and every time we see each other it feels like we had just seen one another the day before. I'm sure you've heard it said that true friends can just pick right back up where they left off... and that's how it is with my friendship with Sarah. What a blessing!

It is neat to see how our relationship has grown and evolved throughout the years. We are no longer the little nine year olds sharing recess together (although Sarah would usually be playing football with all the boys while I was probably making up a dance somewhere...or having my teacher braid my hair...), nor the awkward eleven year olds showing up on the first day middle school in matching red-pin-striped Gap capris (on purpose), nor the (arguably even more awkward) fourteen year olds helping each other get ready for their first homecoming dance. Of course, we can still be as goofy as we've always been (you should have seen us running the 21k singing The Sound of Music), but Sarah pointed out that it took SO little time for us to start talking about very real, profound things in life: our faith, our future, our worries, our personal and spiritual growth, our relationships, etc. Sarah said it perfectly: "It's not like we have to try to talk about these things, but it just happens." It's nice when a friendship can just be real...naturally. The real beauty of our friendship is that it is built on the foundation of Christ, and I think that is why it is so easy... and I know that's why it's lasted for so long.

So thank you, God, for Sarah AND thank you, Sarah, for coming to Uruguay.

And now... embarrassing photos! (Sarah... don't kill me.)

Cerca 2003.
2003.
2007.
2008.
2009.
2009.
2010.
2010.
2011.
2012.
2013.
2013.


Sunday, June 2, 2013

Week 45--

Sarah and I have been quite busy today conquering a 21k (half-marathon)!

YESS! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

4 minutes, 10 seconds, and 43 milliseconds! NEW RECORD! USA!

That being said... we're beat and will be retiring early to watch a good ol' Netflix movie. This week's blog post, therefore, will be posted tomorrow when Sarah leaves. Thank you for your patience!

Nevertheless, here's a small glimpse into our week through pictures...


Traveled all the way to Montevideo just to eat Mc-y-dees for din-din.

Casual cow in the park...



Rambla!
 
More to come in a bit!
 
Until tomorrow--
 
Courtney