Camera Mortality

I predict a wet weekend. Our excursion to northern Uruguay should be fun, weather permitting. I'm actually going to bring my video camera. I know to watch out for lightning and all, but I've really thought about this: my camera is internally wounded. I know she gets her feelings hurt sometimes, but she always bounces back with some TLC. She also gets really cranky in humid weather. So, a mildly damaged tape deck due to wear and tear + humidity drawback = internally wounded camera before I even got to America del Sur. I'll make it last as long as I can. I'll just tell her to persevere and not to let me down.

I always have my digital still camera that will film as back up.

Beautiful Letdown

So, it's humid here. 

But it's also really cool to be surrounded by palm trees and beaches in February!

I guess that's a complaint: I'm literally sweating the humidity and it's making my video camera become full of  perspiration as well. My camera really doesn't do that well in a humid climate. Oh well.

School is also becoming more demanding. Intensive school assignments were expected but I neglected to be ready for a good dose of humidity. 

blah.

I've also kind of noticed that my vision might have gotten a bit worse. Seems like it got worse in the last few days. Unfortunate time to need an eye doctor appointment, if you ask me. I'm just wondering how I think my vision should be totally focused on God: that I should do pretty much everything to the best of my ability. Ha, I guess to bring cameras into this, my vision is out of focus (just as a lens is out of focus sometimes) I don't know. 

The real thing that is actually disappointing to me is that I don't think I'll be going back to the Dominican Republic after this semester. I really wanted to go. Not to go just to visit my missionary friends or hang out on the beach or go as my vacation but I honestly wanted to serve.

I think it may just be, as simple and juvenile as it is, God saying 'you're focused on the wrong thing! You can serve your neighbors right around you!' Maybe not the students here, but other Uruguayans who live here. I'm not opposed to that plan, I'm only a tiny bit disappointed at that change. It's really no big deal, I just know that I was hoping, praying and planning to do a bit of mission work over the summer and I still will. Only in a different place. 

;)

:)

IT IS SO COOL HERE

AND GOD IS SO GOOD

duh!

Argentina video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYT40FmnHFc

Joyful Apprehension

As our semester moves on, time passes equally as quickly. As I do desire to capture as many moments as possible with videos, pictures and blogging, I am moderately surprised that I already have our Argentina video finished, yet it comes as expected because time passes quickly here. Perhaps it is because I have much experience with editing documentary videos. Perhaps the realization that I and all the ACU students and faculty here have only two and a half months here left. Perhaps both. Shocking to know that a little over a month and a half has already flown by, gone forever. I already know that I will strongly miss this place, as other ACU students who have done study abroad here have talked about. I suppose now is the time to, as the movie Dead Poets Society stresses, 'Carpe Diem.' I'm only struck with the overwhelming realization that I had better make the most of every opportunity.

Besides this eschatological realization of this semester's short life expectancy, some good news elicits some joyful anxiety.

 We all have silent, interior monologues- a conscience, if you will. I think this nervous happiness comes from my conscience. This conscience is God's guidance, other times it's the Devil tempting and lying to me. I suppose this fulfills the classic stereotype of the angel on one shoulder, a demon on the other. Perhaps the angel on my shoulder is telling me to appreciate your life in any and every way that you can. Or, perhaps is simply me being observant of my time. I believe my observational skills (which, actually have surprised me how they've suffered lately) or my making tentative spring break plans or the angel on my shoulder is simply my conscience; God's guidance. I believe this divine providential guidance requires a bit of discernment. Discernment, in this context, simply including choosing the best doing the best with the time that is given to me.

In the middle of class, I thought of a particular passage involving discernment, and kept it as my interior monologue: a personal blessing that we all have. This discernment usually comes with age and/or experience. The passage that my conscience brought to me is Philippians 1:9-11

 

- 9And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, 11filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

The good news I mentioned earlier isn't necessarily new news. I believe it's official now that i'll be interning at Impact church of Christ VBS this summer. I honestly am very excited. I'll be in inner-city Houston, ministering to some of the congregation and loving on kids while I serve as a VBS intern. I'm happy and nervous at the same time. I guess it's like that Christmas feeling even though it's in the summer and I'm 21 years old. Christmas in July, anyone? Quite literally Christ mas as I will be making much of Christ serving him this summer. 

My excitement is not coupled with ignorance. I know fully well that it won't be a walk in the park this summer although I know I'll be going to some parks for VBS field trips. I think simply knowing and considering that proves my level of discernment. I know it won't be easy all the time but I also know there are good times to be had.

Hey, maybe I'm over analyzing this and making all this too serious:

I get to spend a semester in Montevideo, Uruguay, hopefully go to the Dominican Republic for a couple weeks and then I get to hang out with some cool kiddos!! WOO!!

In addition to being aware that I have a lot to say at times, the most important thing I must do is pray. A lot. I have no doubt that prayer works and answers always come in different ways. I must pray for a continuing good (but humid) semester, TJ & Holly McCloud's continuing success in the D.R. and for my summer I know will be full of good work.

Okay, very muchly a sidenote: the Spanish words for thing pancakes is 'panqueque.' 

HAHA!

I don't care who you are, that's funny right there.

Peace

Dark Joke

Before overdosing on drugs, Heath Ledger (playing the Joker in the Dark Knight) showed absolute dedication to perfecting his role.

The Joker's character is based on his first two appearances in the comic books, as well as his portrayal in the graphic novel "The Killing Joke." To prepare for the role, Heath Ledger lived alone in a hotel room for a month researching the character and developing his performance, which he claims is based upon Sid Vicious and the character of Alex in A Clockwork Orange (1971). Ledger found the role extremely difficult, and suffered insomnia as a result.

from imdb.com

Pretty excited about this movie.

Heath Ledger's sudden death on January 22, 2008 prompted immediate speculation as to the state of this film. Late the same day, Warner Bros. released a statement declaring that Ledger had completed all his scenes and post-production work, thus making the Joker the actor's final completed appearance in a film.

http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1160026112/tt0468569

comida bien (good food)

It is unfortunately rather difficult to post any multimedia. This blog and more likely this internet doesn't permit me to do so very well. I'll keep trying.

This morning (esta manana) My breakfast (mi desayuno) was (son):

eggs, toast, pancakes, corn flakes with bananas and orange juice.

(huevos, pan, panqueque, cereal con bananas y jugo de naranja)

My breakfast this morning was very good.

(Mi desayuno esta manana estan muy bien)

Because it was a really good breakfast and I ate a lot of good food, i'm not hungry at all as it is 12:42! P.M.)

Pleasant Visit

I BOUGHT A (stuffed animal) MONKEY IN BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA!!

Despite conversation concerning smuggling a live monkey over the border and that it would be silly to do so, I settled for a stuffed animal monkey whom I will name B.A. (for Buenos Aires) and he shall be my B.F. (best friend) I knew I could have smuggled a monkey over the border though…

We had a weekend excursion to Buenos Aires, Argentina this weekend. It was AMAZING! I thoroughly loved the trip. We took a 2-hour bus ride to the Rio de Plata where we caught a short ferry into Buenos Aires. Most of the way to B.A., I read a book set in Montevideo and the surrounding area but was distracted when I got on the boat by how cool this glamorous ferry was. We got into B.A. and checked into our hotel that was very nice. I stayed with a couple other guys in a 2 story  room on the top floor. We went to a tango dinner where we watched some dancing while we ate some very nice meals. Yes, that is where I ended up eating 3 desserts: chocolate pudding, lemon ice cream and fruit ice cream. (long story) After we watched some tango, we went back to our superb hotel to catch a few winks before our short city tour.  We got back on our bus to stereotypically tour the city while getting off at various view-worthy sights. One of our stops was Evita’s (Eva Peron) house named Casa Rosado. She lived and made her famous speech to the people there. We went back to the hotel for a bit of free time which consisted of an elongated lunch before and a siesta afterwards. That night we had another fine dinner at a nice restaurant followed by a pleasing return to our hotel. On Sunday, a few of us went to the zoo where I cared about nothing but my hearts’ desire: monkeys! I had high hopes before entering the museum and I had those hopes playfully met. Then, we went to an outdoor exposition mall where there were several small tents situated slighty squeezed yet simultaneously side by side. I bought a couple knick knacks there and others bought their own Argentina treasures. By cab back to the hotel we went where a journey to our departure by a similar ferry awaited us. And now, here I am going through various multimedia (blog, pics, video) of our Argentina adventure!

Cinematic Seduction?

New Indiana Jones trailer out!

http://www.indianajones.com/site/index.htm

Don't read the rest unless you're prepared for a motion picture upset:

Also, skip all the way to the bottom to read something of worth:

Okay,

I knew you'd read this anyway.

The new teaser trailer is disappointing. This was the summer movie that I was looking forward to the most. Yeah, new young star Shia Le however-you-spell-his-last-name is in it, which really wasn't on my short list of excitements. It's obvious how and why Shia got to be in this movie. Summer 2007's hit movie 'Transformers' had Shia as the lead human role - executive producer: Steven Spielberg - Shia is now in Spielberg's next movie. Pretty sure they met and Spielberg pitched the offer of being in his next movie over to Shia which I don't think anyone could refuse. Besides Shia being in it, there's not much else that excites me about this movie. Literally, the first half of the teaser trailer comprises a montage of Indy clips from the previous 3 films. I don't really have a problem with that, I'm just describing how disappointing the trailer is. The latter half is of new footage. 

Sarcastic woo.

The new footage is... cool... I guess. I just got skeptical, bittersweet excitement from watching the latter half coupled with a crisco-flavored mouth from the foreboding taste of over-buttered movie popcorn. Blah. May have to go brush my teeth.

Anyway.

Yes, he's old. Indy is old, that's the truth. Born in Chicago, 1942, his age must be used to favor his character in this movie. We'll see. I actually find it quite entertaining to watch a moderately elderly Indy punch people and such. I do remember a few years ago joking with some friends how it would be funny if another Indiana Jones was made. Imagining Indy punching people while sitting in a wheelchair was humorous then; punching people after swinging into a moving car is just plain entertaining. The music in the first half of the teaser trailer is NOT John William's style. The stereotypical Indy music plays in the second half, but something seems different about the music. I don't know. The crew is nearly the same, which gives me a small amount of comfort (Lucas, Williams, etc). Many familiar Indy sound effects also give me pleasure. The classic punching sound and the explosion notes are music to my ears. 

This second half of the preview is far too Hollywoodized for Spielberg's style. Do I doubt that he really directed it!? Certainly not! His name is on it, so it is a 'Steven Spielberg Film'. I only suppose that the special effects, make-up and even some cinematography are influenced too strongly by the magical Hollywood. It just doesn't seem like Spielberg's own, genuine work.

I'm like, offended.

Almost...

In the middle of this dissatisfying second half, what to my wondering eyes should appear?

IGUASSU FALLS?!?!

It seems as though a shot of the massive waterfall connecting Argentina and Brazil either snuck into the teaser OR it's just a shot of some big collaborative waterfall in Hawaii (where a lot of this movie was filmed) OR it really is Iguassu Falls! That's some surprising excitement right there.

So, what's the final verdict?

Aside from Harrison Ford playing an old Indiana Jones, some sketchy evident filmmaking styles, some questionable Williams' music, some hesitant expectations and a REALLY weak, are you serious? title of 'the kingdom of the crystal skull', I reluctantly look forward to this May 22nd movie. Hey, I think Spielberg just wanted to have fun making this movie. I bet Lucas had some say in that persuasion as well. I mean, he was at the top of his game with Jurassic Park and Schindler's List and he knew it. I think I was reading how War of the Worlds was supposed to be his 'masterpiece' anyway. This bittersweet tease only previews a movie made out of excess jubilee between movie makers. Hopefully, I'll be pleasantly surprised after watching this movie about the catastrophes of a kingdom involving crystallized craniums.

I'm just expecting the bittersweet aroma of Americanized buttered popcorn to fill my nostrils when I see it on opening day (in Houston, Lord willing)

STOP!

If you've skipped this far, you must have passed over my passionate tangent about Indiana Jones. What's more important is that I watched my favorite movie tonight: the Jungle Book! It was so cool! Hey, it's a cool movie with a quote from the Bible and some vultures representing 'the Beatles'. And we're also leaving for our weekend excursion to Buenos Aires in the morning!

Woo!

-P.S. May 2nd's 'Iron Man' actually looks kind of good...

And, of course, there's always 'the Dark Knight' July 18...

umm...

Yeaaaaaaaa... that was kind of freaky. While I innocently got a hot dog ("pancho" here) the girl who is trying to seduce me definitely said 'i miss you' when I told her how we were going to Buenos Aires this weekend. 

Uruguayan seduction attempt!

That's okay though because a pancho here is 16 pesos which is equal to 80 cents in the states-

Score!

Update

As a resurrected internet service serves us now, we are always given the option to serve a resurrected Christ. Internet here is fickle so I am not always given the option to post on here as much as I'd want. All is well though.

It is noteworthy to know that we will be leaving for Buenos Aires, Argentina in a few days. I believe we'll spend a few days there and then return back to Casa ACU in Montevideo. Although exciting, we are left with various assignments and readings to complete.

So, I actually bought a McDonald's hamburger a few days ago. I invested in a quarter pounder combo number four...or five and I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of McDonald's here. The beef is good here so I kind of had high expectations before chewing the pleasurable goodness. Basically, McDonald's food is good here. But man, dessert is expensive!! Anyway, we also went to a Subway where they had things on the menu that they didn't have in the store. Disappointing. We still ate Subway despite our gloomy but humorous experience. 

Some of us also went to something Friday and Saturday night. It was so cool!! I suppose it was comparable to 'stomp'-but in the streets. It was energetic and intense. It was awesome!

consuming journey

I went back to that grocery store. As the internet here is fickle in service, I will shorten my consuming sccount:
I saw Juan (pronounced Sean) again and met Gladys and Gonzaga at the grocery store. I ended up buying a good looking chocolate candy bar out of impulse and then went to buy dinner. The girl who likes me was there. The feeling still isn't quite mutual, so I took my hot dog, "pancho", and left.
peace

Fishy Seduction

Wooooooooooooooooooow Haha-

Where do I start?

Well, i'm better now. Forgive my graphic chunky language but my diarrhea is over with at the present moment. Water is my friend. It always was though. Unfortunately, another student here has contracted it. To make things worse, like I already said, anyone who already had this virus is at risk of getting it again. Yeah, it's a no-immunity virus. 

Sounds painful, doesn't it?

Alright, alright no more woe is me nonsense! On to some actually funny stuff-

Haha

Wow. So I set out on a mission: buy ramen noodles. I thought that it was a familiar, simple food and that I could easily buy some at the local grocery store. 

I thought wrong.

See, I knew ramen would be at the grocery store because I saw other students coming back with some. I knew some was there. I was going to buy several!

After 30 minutes of looking through the aisles of this grocery store in Montevideo, I came to the conclusion that I was far too tired and a small percentage (5%) of icky-sickness still remained in me. That percentage consisted of feeling dizzy and being tired. While stumbling through the aisles in a dizzy daze of dozy-ness, I finally ran into an employee named German (pronounced with a silent G) who kind of understood my broken Spanish. I said that I wanted ramen noodles-that it was similar (see-me-lar) to all other past but in plastico.

That didn't work

But I made a friend out of it! German is a cool guy. I didn't ask his age, but he looked about my age. Anyway, finally a woman who knew a little bit more english was introduced to me and I told her what I wanted. 

'Ramen Noodles' I said as I realized there were Ramen Noodles staring me in the face on the aisle facing me. 

Frustrating, I know. But it does leave me with a funny story and a priceless Uruguayan smile. 

On my way back to Casa ACU, I stopped to get some Pepsi at the burger stand very near the house. 

Haha-to let you know, my fictional game plan, if you will, was to strategically seduce a latin lover (in christian love). When I stopped to get a pepsi, I knew that this employee, 19-year old Chantida (sp?) would want to talk to me for a while about... well, things in Spanish that I don't quite understand yet. I figured, i'm on a roll with crazy/funny things happening to me, why not get a pepsi here and talk to this girl I barely know who likes me. (the picture above is not of this girl. It's of me and a friend. Just a friend)

Really, all that happened was that I promised, like I did in the grocery store, to return tomorrow (manana) and say hi. So, I have two appointments tomorrow: one with German and Juan (other employee) at the grocery store and one with this hamburger stand girl who likes me (don't worry, the feeling isn't mutual).

I'm back at the house now, writing this, eating my shrimp flavored ramen and smiling as I type all of this.

I don't even like shrimp that much. Cause it's like fish.

So, what? I'm paying tuition to be lost in grocery stores and be seduced BY a Uruguayan girl? ha- maybe i'm paying tuition to make friends here and come away with some pretty good stories.

Whew. 

I guess i'll call it a night and be thankful I was blessed with two funny stories and two new friends. 

God Bless you

(Dios te bendiga)

H2O

Oh yeah, and water. Lots of it.

B.R.A.T.

Bread, Rice, Apples and Toast are what's helping me out right now. Oh, and two Uruguayan ladies (angels!) reinforced telling me not to eat anything with sugar in it.

Near Punta Del Este