well, check that off the bucket list

(this is my host mom, Ana, making a pot of huge corn kernels and 3 pigs' heads. yeah that's right. the pigs had blue eyes, someone called it a gringo pig, i was creeped out. but i still ate it)

can't believe it's friday already. can't believe it's NOVEMBER already! definitely doesn't feel like it. last week the temperature got up to 40 degrees celcius and muggy. since i avoided math/science classes like the plague, i don't understand the metric system and only knew it was dang hot. a few days later a friend told me that it had been 102 degrees F. i am definitely glad i didn't know that at the time, i think it would have made the days feel even hotter! but now its in the 70s and rainy, kind of a nice relief.

its been a pretty eventful week. one day we had a couple from sturgis, mi visit centro menno! turns out they're one step away from the amish, so they have cars and electricity but where traditional clothing. they gave me their address and i plan on visiting when i'm back home!
last week i attended a university graduation. the program said it began at 7:30pm, so at 8:30 the music started :) each graduate took about a minute to walk across the stage, hug the president and professor, and pose for a picture. i told my host family that at my graduation of 1,000 people we were practically running down the aisles. they replied that here they like things "tranquilo" and relaxed. well my host niece was the 10th person, so we left after an hour.

Monday was an official holiday in Santa Cruz because Sunday was the "day of the dead" when people remember deceased family and friends. my church always has a youth retreat in el campimento over the long weekend, so late saturday afternoon we packed the prado full of people and drove 20 minutes out of the city to a baptist camp. i spent the night getting to know the leaders of my youth group, listening to the praise team rock out (not an exaggeration) and played the usual youth group games. the next morning 2 SALT friends came out with my host family. we spent 2 mornings listening to sermons, a little tough when its hot and in spanish. since it was so hot we did a lot of relaxing in the shade and eating mangos that would drop as if attacking the whole camp. sunday night they set up a stage outside on the sports court and we had a mini rock concert of worship concerts accompanied with a mosh pit. On Monday we had the sports championships and my church was the volleyball champions! its funny because before every serve, either a teammate, audience member, or someone from the other team would yell out "vamos corrie" to cheer me on. i think they're all just happy i'm participating and trying to make friends.

(the loaded prado)

tuesday was my host dad's 71st bday, so late monday night a group of people serenaded him outside his window. we had a grand fiesta at lunch. i came home from work (i always eat lunch at mcc) and found our courtyard full of people and food. we had paella (a spanish seafood dish?) and che-cha, a drink made from corn. and cake. i ended up having cake for breakfast, lunch and dinner that day. pretty good day.

then the oddest of all on wednesday...i was a model. my host niece works in accounting for the local supermarket chain fidalga and the store is having a promocion or sale in their clothing department and needed people to show off the goods. so paola signed me up! i think there was 4 others girls, 2 guys, a news woman and a little girl. all the women had fancy hair, nails, and a ton of makeup on and i walked in with a light layer of dirt (happens is santa cruz. hot weather + wind + dirty city = importance of frequent showering), took my hair out of my pony tail and was ready to rock. down here whenever a woman is going to be in a photo, she strikes whatever pose she knows is the most flattering. i don't think that's the case in the u.s. at least not for me. so this was slightly out of my normal comfort zone. but i put on 5 different outfits, smiled for the video camera, made some new friends and 200 bolivianos! it's supposed to be kind of like an infomercial and shown at night, but i have yet to see it. access to a tv is a little hard for me because it is in my host parents' bedroom.

when i got home from that long day and told my host mom what i had been up to, she laughed long and hard. then she said "corrie, you have many adventures." the reason i gave was that here people say "vamos corrie," and off i go. i guess because i don't want to miss a thing. it makes me really busy and tired that sometimes i dream about just laying around. but then i think, nope i don't want to live my life lying around. i want to learn, try new things, met new people. i pray that whenever God says "vamos corrie," i will go and act without hesitation. i had a great email from my lil sis dana about accepting plans God has for us, even though they might not be what we want at the time. it may not be easy, but i am so thankful that He has plans, because heaven help me if it was only up to me!