I Lived to Travel Another Day

Well I'm pretty sure that everyone reading this already knows that I am back from Uruguay...Once we got back from our free travel time in Tierra del Fuego, things really picked up pace, like getting homework and projects turned in before we came back home.

And everyone knows how Christmas goes. Especially in our family, there is absolutely no time for blogging with all the present-swapping and game-playing. Speaking of which, I'm sure I'll have a hankerin for chickenfoot come August.

This last Spring semester was even more transformational than the Fall in Uruguay, if you can image that. I met some incredible people at ACU, people who are helping me to grow and to know God and His quirks :-) It's amazing how drastically your view on things changes when make a real effort to actively show love to people...I highly recommend it, even though it may come at a high price.

During the Spring, I took a class called Intro to Ministry and Missions, which is the pre-internship class for Bible majors. Well the time has come to do that internship, and where else to do it but South America?

TeamAREQUIPA has been gracious and accommodating in setting everything up for me to spend the next two months with them in Arequipa, Peru. Peru is going to very different from Uruguay and Argentina. For starters, their Spanish will sound different. In the Southern Cone, they pronounce the double-L and Y letters with a soft 'j' sound that almost sounds like a "sh." In Peru, the double-L and Y are both pronounced like English Ys. For example, the word for chicken, "pollo," sounds like "po-jsho" in Uruguay, but "po-yo" in Peru.

Another difference between the two South American countries is that I am going to stand out a lot more in Peru. In Uruguay, most everyone was caucasian, but in Peru, the general skin-tone is darker.

I have also been told that mountainous regions like Arequipa tend to be more traditional in their culture and mindset than coastal cities, like Montevideo, Uruguay, where the culture is much more open to change. This would be mostly due to the amount of seclusion in the mountains versus the constant visits from other cultures in a harbor town.

I'm excited to learn the small conversational phrases used in Arequipa. Not everyone uses "¿Como estas?" and "Adios." In fact, in Montevideo, it was mostly "¿Como andas?" and "Chao."

Well my plane for my first stop on the way to Peru is boarding soon. Check back for updates and pictures, and don't be afraid to leave comments!