unfortunately i was sick nearly all of last week. i had la gripe (the flu) and was sick from Monday until Saturday. when i woke up on sunday, i finally felt better. i pretty much was a bum all week, because i simply didn't have the energy leave the house too much or stay up really late or anything like that. i went to orientation meetings when necessary and then just slept a whole lot and took a lot of random OTC meds. it's really tricky to find medicine when all the packaging is in spanish. and i have no idea what the active ingredient is in cold medicine. so it made for a very interesting discussion with the man in the pharmacy, me trying to describe my symptoms (by demonstrating) and he trying to suggest meds based on my horrible acting.
for these first two weeks, speaking in spanish has been pretty difficult/frustrating. i have had so much trouble conjugating verbs and remembering vocab, etc. and its especially hard here because portenos use different words than the rest of the spanish speaking world for so many different things (like veggies/fruits, other food, clothes, etc).
but last night during and after dinner, i was having a hilarious conversation with my host family. it was one of the first times where i felt like i wasn't struggling the entire time to communicate with them. of course i still was having to think a lot about verb conjugations and my choice of words, etc. but i was actually able to communicate! it's also taking some effort getting used to how fast my host family speaks (especially Ignacio and Sofi). Sofi (like many other teenagers) just talks really fast and kinda mumbles, so i always have to ask her to repeat stuff. and ignacio simply doesn't move his lips when he talks. sometimes i have to ask him to slow down, but i can understand him so much better than i could when i first arrived!
this past sunday, i woke up fairly early and went to church. my friend meg pittman had given me the name of a church here in buenos aires and suggested i check it out. the church is called Rey de Reyes. so i woke up early, got ready, then took the subte to belgrano, the neighborhood where the church was located. i got there around 10 because that's when i thought the service was starting. well, it turns out that it didn't start until 10:30, so i was super early! the church was actually very similar to KPIC (my church in Durham). however, it was even longer! the service was 2.5 hours long, due mostly to the fact that we sang about 10 worship songs. (which i did not mind at all).
it was so beautiful to be standing in a room of about 2,000 people and worshiping God in spanish. i knew the english version of all the songs that we were singing (it was a lot of hillsong and other similar stuff). at the very end of the service, we sang "fuego de Dios" (the spanish version of fire fall down). and i love it even more in spanish. the chorus goes:
"fuego de Dios, fuego de Dios, consumenos. Te anhelamos, fuego de Dios, fuego de Dios, consumenos."
i had no idea what "te anhelamos" meant, except for that part in fire fall down was "as we seek you, Lord." so when i got back to my house, i looked up that word "anhelar", and it means "to yearn earnestly for, to long for." the verb yearn always implies a persistence and a diligence in the action of seeking. it is by no means a passive verb.
here is a youtube video of the song. it's powerful.
this week and next week I will be trying out a bunch of classes and trying to sort out my schedule. It has been kinda stressful for me. I have a hard enough time with registration at UNC. So add in: 1)everything is in spanish, 2) i'm taking classes at three universities, and 3) my indecisiveness, and it would seem like a recipe for disaster. However i am trusting that God is leading me in these decisions. We make plans, but God ordains our steps, right? so as i'm sorting out my classes, i really have nothing to worry about, because God is leading me. Once I do get my schedule sorted out, I'll let you guys know what I'm taking!
i miss all of you and I hope you are doing well. tell me how i can be praying for you. or for ENCM. or the campus. you all are in my heart and on my mind, and i pray that God is revealing himself more and more to you each and every day.
love, caro.
p.s. watch this video. it is a song by brooke fraser, called "desert song" that was just released on Hillsong's newest worship album. the song and this video are very powerful and a testimony to the greatness of God. no matter where we are, or what we are going through, God is still God. And he is faithful and good.
1 comment:
you are awesome. and i miss you. and i love reading about your life in BA! WOOHOOOOOO!
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