Summer is in full swing here and while things seem to be slowing down in the city, I feel like I have more to do inside and outside of my "assignment." A pastor who works Buenos Aires, but is originally from Montevideo is on vacation here with his family. I got to spend last night with them and Wilma and Alvaro. They also have two boys (9 and 4 years old) who asked me if I knew how to play poker, and when I said yes, I had friends for the rest of the night. We also played soccer, hide and seek and tag. While I was not being a child, I took part in an interesting conversation with the three pastors and Pastor Gustavio's wife, Sandra. They were talking about the difference in being a Christian in Argentina and being a Christian in Uruguay. I was amazed that countries so close geographically had such a different response to Christianity in the community.
When Gustavio was attending school in Montevideo, they were prohibited to wear anything that symbolized Christianity. If they were wearing a cross necklace, for example, they would be asked to wear it under their shirt. There is also a hymn in Uruguay that talks about Artigas (national hero) almost like he is like a god. They were saying that they had to sing it in school. Some of the words include "Our Father, Artigas, Lord of our land..." Uruguay is now seeing more acceptance of Christianity. The President of Uruguay now meets with the pastors of churches to work cooperatively to assist the citizens of Uruguay, where before churches were not recognized on a national level. Uruguay has changed a lot since Gustavio was in school. Christianity is more accepted now, but still not like it is in Argentina.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Wedding in Uruguay
I have been "adopted" by my friend, Analia's parents. They live about a 2.5 hour bus ride from Montevideo, but I have stayed with them three times. Every time they receive me like I am their third daughter. I love the town they live in. It is a lot more laid back than Montevideo, and almost everyone in town heads to the beach every evening to spend a few hours drinking mate and watching the sunset before heading home for supper.
I just returned from this town, Colonia del Sacramento, Sunday evening. I was there for six days helping prepare for Ivana's wedding. Ivana is Analia's older sister. Saturday was the wedding and it was hotter than any day I have experienced in Uruguay. It was in the 100's all day and impossible to think about putting on more clothes than a bathing suit. The wedding started at 9:00pm, but unlike the United States, the time on the invitation was the time people started arriving. Uruguay is in the middle of a horrible drought, all of the farms are suffering horribly from the lack of rain, and of course at 8:55 the skies opened up and it rained harder than I have seen since I have been down here. No one could complain about the rain though, because it is so terribly needed here and it cooled off significantly. There were more smiles than grumbles about the rain. When the rain let up around 9:45, we went outside for the ceremony and it was a gorgeous starry sky backdrop to have a wedding. The ceremony was not much different from that in the United States. After the ceremony, we went inside to the reception.
The reception went a bit like this... appetizers, everyone dancing, more appetizers, more dancing, asado, dancing, pasta, dancing, dessert, dancing, bride and groom putting on big hats and bringing out whistles and masks for everyone and spraying foam everywhere, dancing, all of the single girls pulling rings out of the cake (the one who pulled the gold ring is the next to get married), cutting cake, eating cake, dancing, dancing... and leaving when the sun was coming up at 6:30 in the morning! I was told they were supposed to serve coffee and breakfast, but they ran out of time. I now understand why we took time out on the wedding day to take a nap!
I just returned from this town, Colonia del Sacramento, Sunday evening. I was there for six days helping prepare for Ivana's wedding. Ivana is Analia's older sister. Saturday was the wedding and it was hotter than any day I have experienced in Uruguay. It was in the 100's all day and impossible to think about putting on more clothes than a bathing suit. The wedding started at 9:00pm, but unlike the United States, the time on the invitation was the time people started arriving. Uruguay is in the middle of a horrible drought, all of the farms are suffering horribly from the lack of rain, and of course at 8:55 the skies opened up and it rained harder than I have seen since I have been down here. No one could complain about the rain though, because it is so terribly needed here and it cooled off significantly. There were more smiles than grumbles about the rain. When the rain let up around 9:45, we went outside for the ceremony and it was a gorgeous starry sky backdrop to have a wedding. The ceremony was not much different from that in the United States. After the ceremony, we went inside to the reception.
The reception went a bit like this... appetizers, everyone dancing, more appetizers, more dancing, asado, dancing, pasta, dancing, dessert, dancing, bride and groom putting on big hats and bringing out whistles and masks for everyone and spraying foam everywhere, dancing, all of the single girls pulling rings out of the cake (the one who pulled the gold ring is the next to get married), cutting cake, eating cake, dancing, dancing... and leaving when the sun was coming up at 6:30 in the morning! I was told they were supposed to serve coffee and breakfast, but they ran out of time. I now understand why we took time out on the wedding day to take a nap!
Monday, January 12, 2009
Long Overdue
It has been way too long since I have shared what has been happening in Uruguay. I am happy and sad to say that I have been staying very busy and have not had much time to spend on the Internet. As far as WHAT I have been doing, I can say A LOT. It is summer here, so everything is pretty much closed down in the city, La Obra Ecumenica included. I was told to get out of Montevideo after Christmas or I would find myself with nothing to do. That was easy since I had visitors coming to Buenos Aires on December 26 and 27. I spent from December 26- January 4 with Laura, Anne, Josh and Megan. I got to show them a little bit of Montevideo and we explored Buenos Aires. I was very excited that they got to share with me probably the best asado I have had here at the house of one of the members of Nuestro Salvador. I introduced them to some of my friends in Montevideo, and it was great to see them interacting... with me sometimes acting as translator. I was sad to see them go after a wonderful time we had here.
I stayed in Buenos Aires until January 6 when I took my GRE then left directly for the bus station to take me to Parana, Argentina for a camp with the young adults of the Waldensian church in Argentina and Uruguay. There were 110 of us total camping in tents for a week. It was a nice getaway with friends and it reminded me of Camp Luther only for old people like me. I really enjoyed listening to them sing camp songs (even though I couldn't join in, because I did not know the songs they were singing.) I get overjoyed to see people praising God and his work in another part of the World.
With the arrival of my visitors from the US, came an overwhelming amount of school supplies for La Obra Ecumenica. Unfortunately, I have not had a chance to deliver the supplies to the director since we are on summer vacation, but I just wanted to say thank you to those who collected and donated.
I also requested quite a few things for myself including salad dressing, maple syrup and some clothes that I decided I missed from home. I got spoiled for Christmas a couple days late. :)
I have reached the halfway point of my adventure in Uruguay. While I get excited to think about returning home to see all of my loved ones and give everyone big hugs, I know it will be hard to leave my life in Uruguay. Halfway through this journey, I know God still has a lot to teach me through this whole experience. It is hard to keep my eyes open and take in all of the new experiences and reflect on what I am learning through it all. It has been a whirlwind five months, and I hope I can take time to find the words to share with everyone my thoughts and feelings on this whole experience. I thank God for the continuous support I receive from everyone at home. It is so encouraging to receive the e-mails, letters and cards from everyone.
I stayed in Buenos Aires until January 6 when I took my GRE then left directly for the bus station to take me to Parana, Argentina for a camp with the young adults of the Waldensian church in Argentina and Uruguay. There were 110 of us total camping in tents for a week. It was a nice getaway with friends and it reminded me of Camp Luther only for old people like me. I really enjoyed listening to them sing camp songs (even though I couldn't join in, because I did not know the songs they were singing.) I get overjoyed to see people praising God and his work in another part of the World.
With the arrival of my visitors from the US, came an overwhelming amount of school supplies for La Obra Ecumenica. Unfortunately, I have not had a chance to deliver the supplies to the director since we are on summer vacation, but I just wanted to say thank you to those who collected and donated.
I also requested quite a few things for myself including salad dressing, maple syrup and some clothes that I decided I missed from home. I got spoiled for Christmas a couple days late. :)
I have reached the halfway point of my adventure in Uruguay. While I get excited to think about returning home to see all of my loved ones and give everyone big hugs, I know it will be hard to leave my life in Uruguay. Halfway through this journey, I know God still has a lot to teach me through this whole experience. It is hard to keep my eyes open and take in all of the new experiences and reflect on what I am learning through it all. It has been a whirlwind five months, and I hope I can take time to find the words to share with everyone my thoughts and feelings on this whole experience. I thank God for the continuous support I receive from everyone at home. It is so encouraging to receive the e-mails, letters and cards from everyone.
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