Vive la Diferencia...
So the other Engage Students and I were talking about how we're all different...and ways we can tell. We decided to look up "You know you're from __________ if..." jokes. Here's the Eastern Washington ones...enjoy:)
You Know You're from Eastern Washington If...
You've never met a celebrity.
Your idea of a traffic jam is ten cars waiting to pass a tractor on the highway.
"Vacation" means going to Spokane (or Portland, or Seattle)
You measure distance in minutes.
You say pop instead of soda or soft drink.
You've ever had to switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day.
You think ethanol makes your truck "run a lot better."
Stores don't have bags; they have sacks.
You see a car running in the parking lot at the store with no one in it no matter what time of the day or year it is.
You end your sentences with an unnecessary preposition. (i.e., "Where's my coat at?" or "If you go to town I wanna go with.")
You know how to pronounce the name of the State.
You know how to pronounce Wenatchee, Yakima, and Spokane.
You know Walla Walla, Washington is a REAL town, not just cartoon!
All the festivals across the state are named after a fruit, vegetable, grain, or animal.
You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked.
You carry jumper cables in your car.
You know what "cow tipping" and "snipe hunting" are.
You know how to put on chains.
You think everyone from a bigger city has an accent.
The local paper covers national and international headlines on one page but requires 6 pages for cattle prices and sports.
You think that opening day of deer season is a national holiday.
You know which leaves make good toilet paper.
You know all 4 seasons: Almost Winter, Winter, Still Winter, and Construction.
You know the city of Pullman is named after a railroad sleeping car.
You traveled through hours of wheat fields or farms to get to the next city.
You know the names of the Tri-cities.
Your home town had more cows than people in it. (*Cough* Sunnyside *Cough*)
You actually get these jokes...
...Mis Compañeros de Clase de Español
I had my first two Spanish exams today. I thought it would be a good time time to introduce my classmates...as I breathe a sigh of relief and hope for the best.
Molina- Wisconsin
*Joan*- Canada
Soon- Korea
"José"- Korea
"Luis Miguel" y "Juan"- Korea
When The Going Gets Tough...The Tough Start an Exercise Program
This week the Engage in Missions program started a new baseline activity...exercising. A baseline activity is another way of saying there's no way out of it. Since so many people are fasting, Lorie (a missionary/ local fitness trainer) said she wouldn't get into anything too difficult. Well, her definition of "too difficult" and ours was like night and day...I guess that's why she's a fitness trainer (and come to think of it a missionary) though. All of the things we were doing was just using our own body weight...mainly our "powerhouse." If there was any doubt in my mind before, there isn't now. I have no powerhouse.
The worst part is the stairs. (Climax music inserted here.) Actually, going up isn't that bad...but coming down is killer.
Honestly though...this has been so helpful for me. I haven't had much insentive or opportunity to get any quality exercise in, and it is important to take care of the body God has given me. I wouldn't start/continue this on my own. I am not in shape at all...but I'm not alone in that. Everyone here knows I'm not a fitness expert...but they aren't either. It's such a reminder of the Christian life...we're in it together doing our best to follow Christ's example...sometimes sloppily at best. Lorie also brought up a very good point. Most things require discipline. Obviously, no discipline feels pleasant at the time, but we need it or we'll remain weak. (I've becom painfully aware of this fact.)
So that's a lot to think about from a stretching (literally) experience. I'm going to take some IB Profen and head to bed :)
...For this week
Today was when ministry was officially scheduled to start. We had a team meeting in the middle of last week and Steve Shoop, our director, told us that he felt God was asking to set aside this week for prayer and fasting. (One of my teammates had actually written the word "fast" on his hand earlier in the day, before Steve mentioned it to anyone.)
We were all encouraged to ask God what He would have us fast from this week. As soon as I heard about the fast, I knew God wanted me to give up makeup...obviously this is not something I would come up with on my own, so I knew I needed to pay attention. My church also announced prayer and fasting until Wednesday, and this was completely unrelated to Engage. So, I will be fasting two meals until Wednesday, and makeup for the rest of the week. We all agreed to fast from TV, playing cards, and secular music on top of our personal commitments. The focus of our prayer is:
- Another facility that will allow for expansion in the program. (There are currently 15 students. At our present location, there is only room for two more interns...and only if those two are guys.)
- Effectiveness in ministry for the upcoming semester.
- Good health and safety for the team.
A teammate mentioned something that I had overlooked the other times I had fasted. (The same teammate who wrote "fast" on his hand.) When a person is fasting, they should replace the time they usually dedicate to the other activity and dedicate it to prayer. This seems like an elementary principle, but espcially in the case of food, I would replace my eating time with thinking about how I really wanted to eat.
I have been feeling a sense of urgency in drawing near to God. It has been confirmed by the theme God has been using in speaking to many peoples lives. I am very excited about this week, and I hope you will remember us in your prayers.
my first day at Autonoma Universidad...and other lessons
Today was my first day taking spanish classes at Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara. I enrolled in the first level. There are two parts to the course, Gramatica y Conversacion. (I'm not sure how to put in acentos but there should be one above the "o" in Autonoma, the second "a" in Gramatica, and the last "o" in Conversacion.) There were seven other people in my class. Three guys were from Korea, a lady in her early 50's was from Switzerland, one girl was from Canada, and two other students were from the United States...both were from states in the south. Since the class is taught only in Spanish, I was a little nervous about it. However, I found that I could understand the majority of what my professor's lectures. My brain felt well exercised by the time I went back to the house.
I haven't experienced "culture shock" yet. The most culture shock I've experienced is moving from my home/ family to college aged interaction and life. I have found out some interesting facts about Mexican (at least Guadalajara's) culture that I didn't know before.
Here are a few (Holly, I hope you enjoy these):
- If a guy is walking with a girl, and the girl is by the street, it can mean the guy is...well, basically a pimp offering the girl's services. (That was a good one for me to know.)
- Most guys who shave their heads and are wearing shorts are gang members.
- Greetings are rarely handshakes (unless it includes a foreigner). People kiss each other lightly on the cheek. (Most people go left)
- If your bus ticket numbers add up to 21, then it means you are entitled to a free kiss from the person of your choosing. (Not that I'm planning on using that one. It's just interesting information.)
As I find out more random facts, I'll share them.
...mY sUnDaY
So, I could use the excuse that I've had an unreliable internet connection here to explain why I haven't updated the information on my blog about what's been going on for these past few days...(Which is really true. It took me forever to post the last one because the connection kept shutting off so I couldn't save the pictures.) That would only be partly true though. The other reason is that I've been feeling very homesick and frustrated. Pretty much like I didn't fit in anywhere and had nothing to offer sort of stuff. (Yes, sad but true.) Anyway, I've just been praying...and praying...and praying...but still sort of feeling sorry for myself.
Today, I went to my new church Agua Viva. I was very nervous, but also excited to meet my new church family. Before I left I read in my daily devotional (My Utmost for His Highest) that people don't necessarily receive a special calling, but it's more about having your ears tuned in to what God needs accomplished. That got me thinking that I must have done something sort of right because I actually heard God's calling. So I decided that I could be brave and drag myself out the door. forty-five minutes and two bus rides later, my roommate and I arrived at Agua Viva. (Someday I'll do an entire post just about the bus rides.) The pastor was not there, and there children's pastor, Ruben, preached the message. It was about faith. He used Hebrews chapter 11 for his scriptural text...the WHOLE chapter. (Yeah, we didn't get out at noon, or even 12:30pm.) The part that really hit me hard was when Ruben got to the part about God telling Abraham to leave his home country. He asked, "Can you imagine what it would be like if God asked you to do that?" Yup, I could relate. I looked at my roommate and we both smiled. I couldn't believe it. I mean, I would never compare myself to Abraham, Moses, Rahab, Jeffery Portman:)...but it gave me an entirely new perspective on "being surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses." The people there were very warm, and I felt very comfortable.
*I didn't take many pictures today, because I didn't want to seem to gringa, güra, tourista...ish.
Next thought...I bought my flash drive today. 1 gig! So that pretty much finished my school shopping. Woohoo! Tomorrow I start español classes...and my other SAGU classes too since my books will be arriving. I just realized that I've practically lived at Wally World since I've arrived here. I saw the biggest tres leches cake ever when I was there. The milk was dripping all over the floor, and it smelled amazingly good.
Last, I really need help with my interior decorating, as you can see. I'm pretty much organized, (which isn't the huge since nothing's officially started yet...but it looks kinda bad. My uncle and aunt gave me the calendar with the creepy cat. I can barely look at it (something about the human eyes and teeth), but my roomates think it's cute. I took the thingy off the light and used it to hold my pens/pencils/highlighters. There was an old Darth Vader mask people were going to toss out, so I rescued it. I spent some money getting the pictures of my family developed to put up and on my green melon candle, but other than that, not really. If anyone has any good and economical suggestions, let me know:)
Nutshell...
I made it to Guadalajara safely...here's a little bit about my journey here. The trip from Pasco to Seattle to Houston was relatively uneventful. It consisted of sleeping, an old guy with an iPod Nano who refused to speak to me, and a little bit of motion sickness.
I visited with my family in Bedias and Galveston Texas...so a couple road trips through Houston ended up being part of the deal. I haven't seen my Nana (dad's mom) since I was very young. She was very sweet and I was very blessed to see her. This was my first real visit with my Uncle Bud and Aunt Lisa. They showed me around the island and took me to the marina where my uncle works. I absolutely loved the time I was able to spend with them...and it definitely came to an end too quickly.
The flight from Houston to Salt Lake City was delayed for an hour and a half. I was worried, to say the least, since the time I had between connections was 45 minutes. Sitting beside me was a retired Vietnamese Lawyer. His name was Doan Than Liem. (Liem means honesty in Vietnamese, and he pointed out how ironic people must think it is to have a lawyer with that name.) He shared some of his incredible life story with me. His very impressive list includes: meeting Robert Frost, learning Latin, French, German and English, and being imprisoned by the Communist government in his country for 66 months (10 of which were served in solitary confinement.) He wrote many works of poetry and essays relating to his time in prison, a few of which have been published. He currently involved in a group called VAVA (Vietmanese American Voters Association) which is working on solutions to stop human trafficking in Vietnam. The passion with which he spoke not only of the past, but of his present efforts in ending injustice was so inspiring. One of the things that he brought up over and over again was the motto by which he strove to live his life:
I arrived in Salt Lake with 7 minutes to catch my next flight...and it was on the opposite side of the airport. I ran through, with a few dirty looks from security. There were quite a few other people who were running as well because Salt Lake is not the final destination for many people. (After seeing it, I can understand why:) I missed my flight by one minute, and there were at least 40 other passengers who were in a similar pickle jar. I was tired, hungry, and not very happy at the thought of spending the night at the Salt Lake City airport alone. Thankfully, a Delta airlines representative recognized me as being one of the people who missed my flight. I knew he was tired and had just dealt with 39 other unhappy travellers. He set me up with a paid motel room and meal...and with a smile on his face. I thanked him, but he said he was, "just doing his job." I think I could do my job with the right attitude much more often than I do.
The trip from Salt Lake to Guadalajara was also relatively uneventful...other than the heavy amount of snow fall. I ended up sitting by a guy from Pasco. Which was where this story started. We talked about Eastern Washington kind of stuff, and I felt very much at home.
Well, that's all i can cram into this nutshell... I'll be posting again soon.
...Some Crunch Time Ramblings
I've been working on a list I've appropriately labeled my "crunch time check list." I should have it finished by tomorrow...Woohoo! I started packing and wow, I have a lot of junk. The thing is, I have some sort of emotional attatchment to it, so it's
really hard for me to just can it. Maybe I'll just leave it in a pile and ask my brothers to do something with it after I leave. I don't think they'd go for that though.
The days seem like they are flying by. (This is an extremely overused metaphor, but I'm not sure how else to describe it.) I remember wondering what it would feel like to be leaving home. It seemed so far off, and now I am only five days away from that reality. I remember my Grandma telling me that life was sort of like a train. It took a while for it to get started, but once it did start, it couldn't stop. (Alright, so I've used flying, a train, now I just have to say something about life is a highway, then my right of passage on the oceans of time...and I'll be well-rounded with the traveling analogies.) Now, as I look back on the section of my life I'm leaving behind, I am struck with the realization of just how much I have been blessed. There is so much that I could say, but not adequate words to express what is in my heart. I only hope that I have in some way touched the lives of those who have so greatly touched mine.
Oh, I found out two amazingly cool things having to do with my travel arrangements. I will be flying from Pasco to Seattle with Dennis and Jan McDonald, the pastors at the Grandview Christian Church. That was enough to make my day...but it gets better. I'll be flying from L.A. to Guadalajara with some other Engage interns. One of them has been helping me with getting all of my paperwork in order and answering questions I couldn't find the answer to in the handbook. So, I won't have to go through Immigration and fill out the paperwork all by myself! It's the little things like this which serve to remind me that God is always looking out for me.
That's what my name means by the way...Jessica *or Jessika means "Jehovah beholds" and Nicole means "Victory." Babcock means something like "barbarian" or "thin bean farmer"...but I'm not reading too far into that.
Well, I'd like to end my random-ness by saying, "Lord, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for this incredible opportunity You've given to me!"
