Forgiveness...

The past week we have been on a mission to analyze and think theologically about forgiveness. We read The Sunflower, for Christianity in Culture, which is a biography about the Jewish man Simon Wiesenthal and his struggle with forgiving a dying Nazi soldier. The question he poses is very difficult, What would you do in his shoes?
The goal of this blog post has multiple layers: one, I wanted to let you know some of the cool things that we are studying in class, two, I wanted to pose this thought provoking question to all of you. And lastly, I wanted to use the subject to humbly beg your forgiveness for not keeping my blog up to date... :) I'll try to do better, I promise.
I hope everyone is well.

There is a Season, Turn, Turn, Turn...

Living in Montevideo has gotten me all confused: I went from skiing at Big Mountain in the middle of winter, to overheating in the middle of summer down here. As I'm typing this it is 9:30 at night and it is 80 in my room. And then I here from home that it's been below zero...crazy! It's one of those things that you grow up learning about in school: "The southern hemisphere is summer when the northern hemisphere is winter" but never really hits you until you experience it. Another interesting thing is that December, January, and February is like our June, July, and August and everyone is taking their summer holidays/vacations. Kids are out of school and the atmosphere of the city feels really relaxed. Not to mention all the Argentine and Brazilian tourists on the beaches( or playas in Spanish, for those of you who want to learn some new words ;P ). And then it's going to be weird when we move into fall and winter as we move along in the semester and I come back home to spring and summer. Culture shock...
Along the same lines is the time difference. I am currently 5 hours ahead of Mountain Standard Time and it really makes you think when you try to send a message home or see when someone is online. When I go to bed at 11, my family is probably eating dinner and when I get up at 7 the only person who might be up is mi hermana (Larkin) who should only be up if elle estudia (she is studying)!
All of this makes me stop and think about what make the world tick, what "keeps us spinning at our perfect 23" (from a Chris Rice song). It's incredible to see the amazing power and wisdom of our Creator who spoke everything into existence knowing that the earth would have to be tilted toward the sun and spin at a certain speed and rotate around the sun at a certain speed and at a certain distance. He is AWESOME for what he has done for us...for me. And it's my responsibility and my prayer to live my life for his glory each and every day.

Spanish Frustrations

Yesterday we went to church at la Iglesia de Christo which is actually right next door to the building in which we live and study. ACU and the church have a working agreement for the ownership of the entire building itself (which I’ve been told is complicated, and I haven’t pushed for more information). “Casa ACU” and the church are actually located in a refurbished coffee and tea (café y té) factory, which I’ll try to impart more information on that later when I give you a picture tour of the place. Stay tuned on CCCC2008 for that…!
But what I really wanted to talk about was some of my Spanish frustrations. It’s been rough not being able to communicate with anyone outside of our little “compound” here at the Casa. Even buying bread and meat is more of a chore. I guess I should have tried harder to study some Spanish before taking the plunge into a 4 month study abroad experience! (Mom, that’s your cue to say “I told you so…”) The grocery is the place that I’ve found is the most frustrating because it’s loud and busy and I feel that if I try to stumble through some Spanish, I’m wasting peoples’ time. Garrrr!
Going back to my first statement though, I had a much better experience with attempting Spanish with the people at church. People there were really understanding and willing to talk slower and repeat themselves. We all had to get up and say who we were and a little about ourselves and I felt like I did okay: Me llamo Colter. Soy de Montana y tengo una hermana. Se llamas Larkin y tiene 17 an(~)os… etc. The biggest question they ask all the girls is: “Tienes uno novio?” (Do you have a boyfriend?) and everyone laughs!
Then we started class today and we went to Spanish. I’m so excited to be in this accelerated learning environment and really picking up a bit of Spanish. I just have to get over my fear of messing up or seeming obtrusive as I develop my Spanish skills.

Money and Food (El Dinero y La Comida)

So a little interesting tidbit about money: Uruguay is basically a completely cash economy and therefore you don't use checks or plastic cards very much if at all unless you are getting money out of an ATM machine. The currency is the Uruguayan peso and there are about 20 of them in a US dollar. This makes it twice as freaky since your mind plays tricks on you seeing as how you are carrying around as much as 500 pesos around without breaking a sweat...it'll take some getting used to. The payoff is that you can relatively cheap food, which will also take some getting used to, as in finding the best deals and how to be the most economical while still maintaining a bit of healthiness (is that even a word, I definitely don't know what it would be in Spanish)?
The most interesting thing that we are finding out about the cash system is that their smallest coin is 50 centesimos, or half a peso. So, when I go to buy a small item for 9.90 pesos I give her a 10 peso coin and don't get any change back, or when I order a meal for 73.40 pesos I only have to pay 73. For a mathematically, Type-A mind like mine, this whole "give and take" thing gets a little frustrating...
To end, I'll list some of the food that I've had while I have been in Montevideo:
Empanadas (probably more about them later, they're like a meat-filled, folded over crescent roll...maybe)
A Chivito (they say it's just a steak sandwich, but the one I got came stacked with bread and egg and tomato and cheese, not to mention the thin steak cut... it was very tasty to say the least)
Chicken and rice
Corn flakes
Ribs and fries
Ham and cheese sandwich
They say that it's really easy to gain weight while down here, and I believe them!

We're here (Somos Aqui)!

Hello everyone. This is going to be a quick one just to let everyone know that we all made it safely and I believe everyone got all their luggage. We've all moved into our house and are settling in for the next 4 months. Soooooo exciting! Okay, more about the first couple of days later...

Last Day in the States...

This day has been pretty crazy, in a way. I really just sat around in more orientation classes but all the emotional activity has been pretty interesting... Plus those last minute trips to Mall-Wart jostling elderly women in the check out lines could qualify as crazy.
So this is a big experiment for me, the whole blog thing, and I don't know if I will be able to consistently stay with it, but I'll do my best.
I hope everyone who is reading this is having a wonderful time at home. Wish me the best as I flee the country tomorrow!