I felt like I should write one more entry, even if no one reads it. After a full day of traveling, we arrived safely at the airport in Dulles, and then drove in vans back to EMU. Many of my close friends decided to get up and wait for our return, and so when the vans pulled up there were a lot of screams, hugs and tears shed. After talking with them for an hour or so, I decided that I was a little tired from being awake for about 24 hours. The weekend was relaxing, and a good time to reconnect with friends. I also was able to call my family, which seemed a very strange (but wonderful) thing to be able to just pick up the phone and call them. Monday morning, we gave a presentation about our cross cultural in chapel. We sang, performed skits, reflected and shared pictures with the EMU community. It was great to be able to at least give a glimpse of our travels and our time abroad. We are also anxiously awaiting the return of the other cross cultural group from EMU this semester, the Middle East group. It will be interesting to talk about their experiences as well. Overall, I have felt very blessed by the welcome and curious questions that I have been asked by everyone.
Culture shock is a very strange feeling. Sometimes, it is almost like I am having an out-of-body experience. Most of the time, I feel farely normal, but occasionally those feelings hit me. Being with my cross cultural group and talking with them has made things much easier. They are going through the same things and know what it feels like. We all joke about the fact that we have been together for around 100 days straight and yet now we still always want to be together. There are definitely perks about being back, such as eating peanut butter, drinking from a water fountain, smelling the fresh air and flowers on campus, talking to friends and family I have missed and hot showers. I still find myself thinking in Spanish and catch myself starting to speak in Spanish. Today, our group split up to do a scavenger hunt around Harrisonburg. We were asked to find church services in Spanish, restaurants and have conversations with locals in Spanish. It was cool to practice our Spanish in a familiar community. One restaurant owner in particular spoke English to us, and his eyes lit up when we started speaking Spanish with him. :) What a wonderful thing to meet someone where they are at and bless them by getting on their level. I hope that I will be able to use my Spanish to connect with people and keep practicing it so that I don't lose it. I know that God has so richly blessed me through this experience and taught me many things. I hope that I can find ways to be a blessing to others and use what I have learned on this trip in the future.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Monday, April 16, 2012
I can't believe it!! Today is our last day in Puebla, Mexico! This last Friday, we had a banquet at a Brazilian restuarant. We first enjoyed mini tacos and my favorite, fried bananas!! :) Then, we were treated to a fabulous buffet, as well as a ton of different cuts of meat. We didn't really always know what we were eating, but that's half the fun of it, right? After the meal, we were presented with our certificates by the director of the university. It was a little hard to believe that we were recieving a certificate/diploma thing after only 4 weeks here. Too bad regular college isn't like that!! We had a relaxing weekend doing homework, walking around, watching tv and making our last purchases at the markets. One of my friends made the comment that we feel weird just watching tv, because that is something we have done very little of on this trip, which I see as a very good thing!
Tomorrow morning, we head to a camp in Valsequillo. We are not sure exactly what the camp is like, but we will have a full week there for sure. We will be having class, debriefing discussions, planning for our chapel service (that we have when we get back to the US), doing homework, relaxing, campfires and worship time. Our group is excited for this last week, but we can't help but be excited to see friends and family! Friday morning, we head to the airport and are expected to be back at EMU in Harrisonburg, VA at 4am on Saturday morning. Right now, I am just filled with gratitude for all of you who have supported me on this trip, and God for blessing me with so many wonderful experiences and new ways to see His work in the world! I have felt His love and presence in every step of the way. I hope I can share all of this with others and pass on the blessings I have recieved. Thanks for all your prayers!! See you soon!! :)
Tomorrow morning, we head to a camp in Valsequillo. We are not sure exactly what the camp is like, but we will have a full week there for sure. We will be having class, debriefing discussions, planning for our chapel service (that we have when we get back to the US), doing homework, relaxing, campfires and worship time. Our group is excited for this last week, but we can't help but be excited to see friends and family! Friday morning, we head to the airport and are expected to be back at EMU in Harrisonburg, VA at 4am on Saturday morning. Right now, I am just filled with gratitude for all of you who have supported me on this trip, and God for blessing me with so many wonderful experiences and new ways to see His work in the world! I have felt His love and presence in every step of the way. I hope I can share all of this with others and pass on the blessings I have recieved. Thanks for all your prayers!! See you soon!! :)
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Holy Week!
Time for another update! We left last on April 1 for our week in Mexico City. Sunday, we started off by visiting a traditional bull ranch that was complete with a bull ring, chapel, store and housing for all of the staff and family. It is a working ranch, and has been around since the 17th Century. It was pretty cool because many of the gear, carriages, and even food and stuff from the store were still preserved as originals. It was also nice to be out in some fresh air and open space for a while. After that, we visited Templo Mayor. Templo Mayor is home to some amazing pyramids of the Aztecs of Tenochtitlan. We were able to climb most of the pyramids and with a lot of the structures still there it was easy to do.
We arrived in Mexico City in time to eat a quick supper, freshen up and then we headed to the Ballet Folklorico at Bellas Artes. This was a ballet unlike any us had ever been to before, not that many of us had been to ballets before. The dancers included traditional dances of Mexico, ranging from Spanish to any of the different pre-histpanic cultures. Some of the dances seemed to be courting dances that looked somewhat normal, while another one was a hunting dance, where the leading man was deer. I can honestly say, I have never been more intrigued by anything having to do with hunting. The costumes were incredibly detailed and colorful and often the dancers were accompanied by a flashy mariachi band which put on a good show themselves.
There were so many cool things we did and saw in Mexico City, so I will just highlight a few. We visited the highest building in the world (it's the highest technically, not the tallest, because of the altitude). We had just started to take pictures at the top, when everything started swaying a lot!! At first, I thought, "wow, I need to drink more water, I'm really dizzy!" or "Wow, the wind is strong!" but soon the workers began calling us to the center of the building because it was a tremor! I was pretty calm, but it certainly freaked some people out. Actually, it is one of the safest buildings to be in because it has been one of the few buildings to survive really strong tremors. Sooo...mark that one off my bucket list, be in the highest building in the world during a tremor. We also went to a street where mariachi bands play during the evenings, and were serenaded which was pretty cool. We also visited the Museum of Anthropolgy and the Modern Art Museum later in the week.
The second part of our week was spent with the Mennonite Church in Mexico City. They were overwhelmingly hospitable and we all enjoyed many conversations and laughs with them. They had a drum set, guitars, a bass, a keyboard and mikes which drew all of us music people in right away. They asked us to sing 4 songs for 3 different services and we did some as a group and some with just a band, in which I was singing. We did a couple in Spanish but mostly in English, and they sang some in Spanish. It was a lot of fun!
On Good Friday, we watched a re-enactment of Jesus' trial and walk to the cross. It was very powerful, and included a real crown of thorns and beatings with a whip and you could see the blood on his face and at the hill, he was tied on the cross. You really cannot just run and hide from the truth when you experience something like that. They had medics there to care for the people participating, but I had to think "Jesus had it so much worse and He didn't have a team of medics, or water and breaks". On Saturday, we went to a park with waterslides and pools to celebrate a baptism of a new member of their church and relax. It was a nice day and we even played volleyball on a sand court for a while, which made my day! When it came time to say goodbye to our brothers and sisters at the church on Sunday, we were all a little sad but grateful for the new friendships we have there.
It is hard to believe we only have 10 days left on this trip!! Next week, we are spending the week at a camp at Vasequillo debriefing and relaxing. A week from this Friday, we will be on a plane back to the U.S. I'm going to make the most of my last days here (even my 2 presentations I have to give in Spanish class) and I can't wait to see all of you when I get back!! :)
We arrived in Mexico City in time to eat a quick supper, freshen up and then we headed to the Ballet Folklorico at Bellas Artes. This was a ballet unlike any us had ever been to before, not that many of us had been to ballets before. The dancers included traditional dances of Mexico, ranging from Spanish to any of the different pre-histpanic cultures. Some of the dances seemed to be courting dances that looked somewhat normal, while another one was a hunting dance, where the leading man was deer. I can honestly say, I have never been more intrigued by anything having to do with hunting. The costumes were incredibly detailed and colorful and often the dancers were accompanied by a flashy mariachi band which put on a good show themselves.
There were so many cool things we did and saw in Mexico City, so I will just highlight a few. We visited the highest building in the world (it's the highest technically, not the tallest, because of the altitude). We had just started to take pictures at the top, when everything started swaying a lot!! At first, I thought, "wow, I need to drink more water, I'm really dizzy!" or "Wow, the wind is strong!" but soon the workers began calling us to the center of the building because it was a tremor! I was pretty calm, but it certainly freaked some people out. Actually, it is one of the safest buildings to be in because it has been one of the few buildings to survive really strong tremors. Sooo...mark that one off my bucket list, be in the highest building in the world during a tremor. We also went to a street where mariachi bands play during the evenings, and were serenaded which was pretty cool. We also visited the Museum of Anthropolgy and the Modern Art Museum later in the week.
The second part of our week was spent with the Mennonite Church in Mexico City. They were overwhelmingly hospitable and we all enjoyed many conversations and laughs with them. They had a drum set, guitars, a bass, a keyboard and mikes which drew all of us music people in right away. They asked us to sing 4 songs for 3 different services and we did some as a group and some with just a band, in which I was singing. We did a couple in Spanish but mostly in English, and they sang some in Spanish. It was a lot of fun!
On Good Friday, we watched a re-enactment of Jesus' trial and walk to the cross. It was very powerful, and included a real crown of thorns and beatings with a whip and you could see the blood on his face and at the hill, he was tied on the cross. You really cannot just run and hide from the truth when you experience something like that. They had medics there to care for the people participating, but I had to think "Jesus had it so much worse and He didn't have a team of medics, or water and breaks". On Saturday, we went to a park with waterslides and pools to celebrate a baptism of a new member of their church and relax. It was a nice day and we even played volleyball on a sand court for a while, which made my day! When it came time to say goodbye to our brothers and sisters at the church on Sunday, we were all a little sad but grateful for the new friendships we have there.
It is hard to believe we only have 10 days left on this trip!! Next week, we are spending the week at a camp at Vasequillo debriefing and relaxing. A week from this Friday, we will be on a plane back to the U.S. I'm going to make the most of my last days here (even my 2 presentations I have to give in Spanish class) and I can't wait to see all of you when I get back!! :)
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