Ramblings: August 2008

The soccer stadium

This section was crazy. It turned into a mosh pit...on an incline.

Rafael and his family

I tried but I just couldn't get it to fall on Shastin

This is at the Paraguayan equivalent of the white house.

There have been so many things that I have experienced in the last few weeks that it is hard to know where to start. First of all, I'm still completely overwhelmed by the Spanish language but slowly I'm starting to be able to understand bits and pieces of conversations around me and more of what is said to me directly. I still only catch a little bit, which makes work interesting, but it's exciting to be able to understand even just a bit. This last week both Shastin and I started work full time. We each have our own schedule of hours that we work. She is working during the mornings and I'm working during the evenings, so we don't see each other that much. It's good for learning Spanish though. I use working in the loosest sense of the word (at least in my case) because right now it is hard enough to understand what needs to be done, let alone do it. The whole nursing system is completely new to me as well. I can truly say that these first few weeks have been very humbling. I find myself feeling useless at times, but I know that comprehension will come (with God's help). All of the people here are extremely kind and hospitable. There is not a Sabbath that Shastin and I have not been invited to lunch by two or three people. God has blessed us with many new friends here. One particular circumstance that I count as a blessing from God happened last Friday evening. I was in my room (which was dubbed "the place where batman lives" by the people that work here because it is perched up on the third floor all by itself) studying something in Spanish grammar (probably one of the myriad of verb tenses!) and getting ready to have my own little Friday night vespers. I'll be honest, I was missing home and all of the Friday night traditions that we have there and being with family and friends. I suppose you could call it homesickness but I prefer to call it nostalgia :). Anyway, right then one of the guys that works as a physical therapist showed up at my door and invited me to his house that evening. God had provided for me even before I asked anything of him. The evening was great! He and his wife are both Argentinian and both have a sense of humor that remains hilarious even through my blundered translation. They have two beautiful girls, one around 8 and the other just over one. The one year old is quite the character. She is constantly on the move; pulling CD's and cassettes out of drawers, moving car keys so that leaving the house becomes a treasure hunt, and even getting on the wrong side of the stair railing and giving us all a scare. We had worship and then had a supper of the perennial Paraguayan food: pizza. Who would have guessed?
My next new experience came the next morning as I was showering. My bathroom is an interesting contraption. I estimate it to be about 3 feet by 6 feet and includes a toilet sink and shower. It's quite functional if a bit cozy. As I was taking my shower Sabbath morning, minding my own business, I was suddenly jolted out of my musings over the correct conjugation of some Spanish word by a loud popping and sizzling. I looked up to see that some wires in the wall above me where shorting out and showering sparks downwards. You wouldn't believe how fast I jumped out of that shower (hoping not to be the latest testimony to the affects of massive electric shock to the heart). Fortunately it stopped almost immediately and the wires settled down to a nice comforting reddish orange color. Fortunately that is fixed now.
I also had my first experience with South American soccer this week. One of the people that came down with the doctors from the states is a med student from Loma Linda named Victor. He has family here and is staying here for a total of about 3 weeks. He's been an amazing help, taking us to his aunt's and uncle's houses for meals and this last Sunday he invited us to a soccer game: Olimpia vs. Sol de America. It was a really new experience. It's somewhat like a football or baseball game in the states but the fans are incredibly devoted. Most of the fans at the stadium were fans of team Olimpia. One side of the stadium kept up a constant round of fight songs and chants the entire game, except when the other team made a goal. Whenever Olimpia made a goal, the whole stadium would spontaneously erupt in a chant. Unfortunately for them Olimpia lost. There were a lot of unhappy Paraguayans that night.
They other mildly amusing thing that happened this week involves my absent-mindedness. I still don't trust tap water so I've been drinking the filtered water that they have in the hospital. One evening I went to get some water and I left my keys in my room. That would be fine because my doors were unlocked but there is another door that always stays locked that I have to go through on my way out. I left it open but the wind closed it while I was gone. I ended up having to climb onto the roof and then find my way to the right part of the building and let myself down. It actually turned out to be pretty fun!
Please keep me in your prayers as I will keep you in mine!