Clases, Colectivo y Comida!

Well, folks, it's been a while since my last entry so I apologize in advance if the length of this entry surpasses that of your local library's largest encyclopedia! But yes, there is much to tell...this past week brought the start of classes. Monday, we took a placement exam to determine which intensive Spanish class we would be taking for the next month. In the end, all five Grace students tested into Intermediate II, the class we needed to be in! Classes began the next day and I entered the routine that will continue for the next few weeks: get up to eat breakfast (toast and tea), meet Victoria for the ~45 minute walk to the university, attend the first couple parts of class, go to "Taller 4" to eat lunch (I usually have a delicious sandwich and apple packed for me by Ana), finish up class, hang out with Vic or return home, do some homework or take a nap, eat merienda, talk about anything and everything with Ana and Cacho, eat whatever deliciousness they have prepared for dinner, read and do devos, go to bed, then get up to start it all over again! Those of you who know me well realize that I am actually quite happy to have a routine now :)

Classes have gone really well so far - I'm learning a ton. I must admit, I love learning Spanish grammar, so this intensive Spanish class is a blast for me! Go ahead, call me a nerd - I take it as a compliment! Class usually starts with a quote that we are to discuss, checking homework, then beginning the day's new grammar topic. After five hours and two breaks, class ends after playing some sort of game that helps us practice the grammar or makes us learn new vocab. I really like our professor - Ines - who is a mere 27 years old but does a great job teaching and explaining the reasoning behind certain grammar rules.

Being in this class is a bit of a new experience for me, and not just because it's in Argentina. Since there are students from several different universities in our class, I am for the first time having daily interaction with a large number of nonbelievers, people with beliefs very different from my own. It's actually been a really cool experience because I really think through my responses before I voice an opinion in class, and I've been introduced to many different points of view. One specific example of this came with our discussion over homework this morning. To practice stating opinions, we discussed whether or not we believed cohabitation before marriage is beneficial. Now, my Christian worldview automatically said no because I believe God created those bonds to be for life (for our own good), but I knew I would need a solid defense in this class. So, when I was doing my homework the night before, I looked up some statistics about the probability of divorce after cohabitation. The crazy thing, though, is that when I shared my opinion against cohabitation, the professor seemed extremely surprise and asked, "Oh, is that a common view in the U.S.?" But the other students quickly showed that such a view is rather uncommon in the U.S. - no students except for those of us from Grace were completely against the idea of cohabitation, and most considered marrying before living toghether almost unthinkable. Like I said, this has been a new experience to me and it has taught me that I need to pack faith, intelligence, and grace into a single statement in hopes that I can well defend the truth I believe without the other students thinking I'm a judgmental and close-minded jerk.

Speaking of not being judgmental, Vic and I have discussed a dilemma we're encountering in our class. We want to form relationships with and be witnesses to the other students in our class, but almost all of them speak English when we aren't in class. Now, Grace students have to sign a covenant saying we will truly try to speak Spanish only while we are here because we know that if we don't, we won't be forced to use and practice it as much and we won't learn nearly as much. But is that a good enough reason to somewhat cut ourselves off from the other students? We don't want them to have a negative opinion of us (and Christians in general) simply because we are trying to stick to a rule. It's hard to know what to do since we can't know the future consequences of either action, but we are definitely hoping to find discernment to know how we can strike a balance between the two options.

Well, after a week of classes, the five of us Grace girls went to spend the night at Elisabeth Balasa's host home. It was absolutely a blast! The family consists of German, the dad and a pastor who is a little quieter than the rest but hilarious; Maricela the crazy mom who was cracking jokes from the moment we entered the door; Pablo the 20 year old brother who is at once the protective older brother type and the sarcastic brother who will mock you whenever he gets the chance; and Ivana the 16 year old daughter who is great and one of the few females here who actually likes to play soccer! All in all, the weekend was awesome. Friday we went to get helado (ice cream), played cards, had pizza night with the fam (um, I officially LOVE the pizza here), watched a movie, and got made fun of for falling asleep before two or three in the morning. The next day we slept in, made grilled cheese for Pablo and Ivana to try, watched some futbol (soccer), and then another movie before going to youth group. I have to say that the food and the jokes were the highlight (like when Pablo taught us the phrase "Descubriste America" which literally means "You discovered America" but is similar to our "Thank you, Captain Obvious). I definitely hope we get the chance to hang out with them some more.

Saturday night with the youth group was again a lot of fun, but I realized I was absolutely exhausted so I had a hard time interacting with them. Being naturally an introvert (some of you may not believe that), it really takes a lot out of me to constantly be with people, so there have been times here where I get to a level of tiredness that comes right before I snap. Thankfully, I made it through youth group without chewing anyone's head off, so that was good. And I'm also super excited for the first part of youth group which is a small group time. One young woman, Abby (who is actually from Brazil) lead off our time with some generic questions but quickly cut to the chase. She said, "I'm going to be direct: do you girls have devotion time? Every day? What are you reading? What are your prayer needs?" Although it's a bit uncomfortable (especially in another language), I've always had a desire to be part of a group that takes seriously the need to encourage each other in our faith and not be scared to be confrontational (but loving) about it. I really hope that this will continue to grow into a good relationship of people honestly seeking the Lord together.

After youth group ended, I again stayed the night at Vic's house so I wouldn't have to take a bus at night. But Sunday morning, I took the colectivo by myself for the first time ever! And I'm pretty sure all the people on the bus could tell, too, because I was nervously checking every street sign that went past to make sure I didn't miss my stop! I made it, though, which was good. After I got back and showered, we headed to Ana and Cacho's church for the morning service. It was a bit of a frustration, though, because I was still really tired and I could barely understand anything the pastor said because of feedback on the microphone adding to my lack of understanding the language. Plus, they didn't have the words for the songs up, so I couldn't sing along nearly as much as last Sunday. I'm just hoping that I can find a way to go to church not tired and that I understand more and more of the language so I can actually concentrate on what the pastor is saying! The rest of the day was spent eating with Ana and Cacho or working on a presentation for Spanish class.

Before I go, I have to give a little side note to explain all the amazing food I have eaten here. First, helado. If anyone tells you the ice cream in the U.S. is the same as the ice cream in Argentina, slap them in the face and call them a liar! Not really, but seriously the ice cream here is absolutely delicious! I've gone three times in the past week and I am still craving more! My favorite time was when Ana invited me out for ice cream and we kind of just had a "ladies night" sitting outside and eating helado. It was cool to hear stories about her life, stuff from when she was younger, even more personal stuff like her saying, "Yeah, it definitely takes me a long time to make good friends," and me realizing that is exactly how I am! But anyway, back to the food. The second thing is the empanadas. The little cafe across from the university has these delicious carne empanadas that I want to eat everyday! But I don't because I don't have that much money :) Next come the facturas. These kind of take the place of donuts here, but they're definitely very different. The kind I had Sunday morning are called "medialunas" and they are crescent rolls covered with some kind of sugar glaze or something...let me just say I think these will be served instead of bread in heaven! Finally, the asado and other steaks. Steak and beef are more common here than chicken, so I've eaten more good steaks in two weeks than the rest of my life combined! The other day I came to the table to find a steak the size of my head and a couple inches thick sitting on my plate - and let me tell you it was the most delicious morsel of meat that has ever encountered my molars! (Excuse the excessive aliteration). I just know that I will definitely miss the beef when I return to the states.

Well, I should probably go and catch some zzz's before a day of classes then a night at the movies with the youth group. Hasta pronto!