Sunday, May 25, 2014

Estoy Aquí!


Hola familia y amigos,
     I would've written sooner, but my schedule has been packed since I arrived on Thursday morning.  For the first four days of our trip, Emily and I explored the capital city, Santiago.  Now I'm in Viña del Mar (or in English, vineyard of the sea).  What to write about first?  Everyday feels so long because so much happens in only one day.  For this post, I will describe my time in Santiago.

     Tulsa is not necessarily a small town, but in comparison to Santiago it seems quite miniscule.  To give you an idea of the size of Santiago has a population of 6.027 million people, which is roughly 35% of its total population of 17,643,916 in an area of 291,930 miles.  Tulsa is only 186.8 square miles with the low population of 393,987.  It’s amazing how every new city I live in makes me appreciate good old T-town more and more. 

During this trip I started writing a diary so when I become a teacher I can remember my experience and share what I learned here with my students.  To fill you in faster, I will let you the entry from my first day:

I’m in Chile!  It’s such a surreal experience.  After the longest flight of my life (9 hours 45 min), Emily and I stepped off the plane and smelled the farm/cow manure smell of Chile.  Today feels like 48 hours crammed into one.  It’s only 7:19pm and technically 6:20pm Tulsa time and it feels like midnight or later.  Thanks to college I’m used to staying up late and getting up early, but sleeping intermittently on a plane and getting up at 5:50 to breakfast and off the plane at 7:40 is not normal for me.  After we got off the plane Emily and I muddled through the crowd to find immigration and customs. I was able to use my Spanish skills to say that I’m from los Estados Unidos, but I could not comprehend what else the woman was asking me.  Finally I realized she was asking if I flew in from Miami or Dallas.  So it was Chilean English I didn’t understand. Next Emily and I wrangled our baggage that had been thoroughly sniffed by various drug dogs.  I have never seen so many drug dogs in one place in my life.  After getting our luggage scanned, we were greeted by one of the ISA directors, Lizette Arredondo, with a hug and a beso (kiss).  Then we were led to a group of ISA students.  I did not know how small the Veritas program was, so I assumed that some of these students would be Veritas, but none of them were.  Emily I and later found out that we were the only Veritas students currently in Santiago, but our final companion and roommate will be joining us tomorrow.


After showering, we met up with some other girls on the trip and went to a restaurant called “El mesón de abajo” or in English the lower inn or old-style restaurant.  I had a strange soup, noodles, meat with pickles and onions and an odd salad.  I love how even the simplest of things have become new and exciting. 


After lunch and a quick siesta, the group headed our for our first tourist adventure.  We went to a place called Cerro San Cristóbol, named after saint that is the protector of travelers.  We were able to see the statue of Jesus, Mary, and go into a catholic church. It is sad to see only gruesome pictures of Christ dying or dead on the cross.  While the crucifixion should never be overlooked, I do think that focusing on his life, his ministry, and his victory over death should not be forgotten either.  Seeing the gory images of Christ, I was reminded of a poem I read in my Spanish literature class called La saeta de Antonio Machado.  In this poem the poetic voice is saying that the Christ of the gypsies always had blood on his hands and nails coming out of his hands.  He goes on to describe this Jesus of Andaluz, a Spanish town, but ends the poem with a twist.  He reveals that he does not like to see Jesus in agony, he prefers the Jesus that walked on water (as do I). 

¡Oh, la saeta, el cantar
al Cristo de los gitanos,
siempre con sangre en las manos,
siempre por desenclavar!
¡Cantar del pueblo andaluz,
que todas las primaveras
anda pidiendo escaleras
para subir a la cruz!
¡Cantar de la tierra mía,
que echa flores
al Jesús de la agonía,
y es la fe de mis mayores!
¡Oh, no eres tú mi cantar!
¡No puedo cantar, ni quiero
a ese Jesús del madero,
sino al que anduvo en el mar!

    


By the time we were back, Emily and I were tired and dehydrated, so we went to a grocery store called Santa Isabel and I bought a TV dinner, cracker, cheese, and apples.  Emily tried to buy milk but ended up buying raspberry yogurt in milk consistency.


As these photos show, living in another country makes everything more exciting and new, even grocery shopping.  I can't wait to tell you more about our trip so far, but first I need to do homework.  Hasta luego!!










Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Mi aventura viene

Hello friends and family,
     I've always wanted to start a blog, but never felt that my life is exciting enough to read about.  Thankfully my life is about to become an adventure, so I am starting a blog to document it.  Tomorrow my friend, Emily Elkins, and I leave for Chile to study the language that we love, learn about the culture that intrigues us, and grow in our faith.

     Since I haven't gone to Chile yet, I will tell you a little about my life now.  I just finished my sophomore year at the University of Oklahoma as a Spanish Education major.  College has really helped me to grow as a person and follower in Christ.  My freshman year, I was basically in a selfish, survival mode.  I just wanted to get straight As and get through those tough two semesters.  It wasn't until this year that I allowed myself to take the blinders off and experience college life.  This year I have  had the privilege of becoming a "big" sister in my sorority.  To become a big, you have to go on temp little dates and get to meet many girls and then choose your little.  Through this process, I had the joy of meeting girls that challenge and encourage me. I also got my sweet little, Lauren.  Being able to meet other girls and help them through the same struggles that I've been through was such a rewarding experience.

     I chose my major last year, but this year has reaffirmed it.  Spanish Education combines the two things that I love and value.  First, I wanted to do something that involved helping others, building relationships, and mentoring.  Then the only subject I enjoyed more than others in high school and college was Spanish.  I combined both of these things to get Spanish Education. This semester I prayed for some opportunity to use my Spanish skills and I ran into a couple of closed doors, but then I was presented with the opportunity to tutor a precious, 2nd-grader who flipped my world upside down.  I had always pictured myself teaching high school, but the joy and intrinsic motivation to learn was breathtaking.  Teaching someone who devours everything I teach and retains more than I expected is what I want to do with my life.  The question is what age group to teach?  I love teaching little ones because of their enthusiasm, but I don't know if I can keep up with such a high energy level.  On the other hand, I could also see myself teaching as a professor, but that would require more schooling and there's still the chance of getting apathetic students.

     What I do know is that I think high school is no longer an option for me.  For one of my education classes, I had to observe a high school and I loathed every one of the 20 hours I spent there.  In this particular school I was shocked by the lack of effort and just the lazy attitudes of both the teacher and the students.  This observation taught me that I don't want to be placed in a school where all my time and effort is wasted on students that only take Spanish out of obligation.  I have also realized that all three of my high school Spanish teachers are no longer teaching.

     I don't know what the future holds for me, but I hope that God reveals what I should do when I in the future while I'm in Chile.  My perfectionist personality wants to be able to say what my exact plans are, but thankfully Jesus was very specific about his feelings toward us planning out every aspect of our future when he said, "Look here, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year.  We will do business there and make a profit.' How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow?  Your life is like the morning fog--it's here a little while, then it's gone.  What you ought to say is, 'If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that'"--James 4:13-15.  For this this reason, I have no idea what God has for me in the future but I know that it is good and I can't wait to see how it unfolds.