Latest food experiences

I have not stopped cooking since I've gotten here. Mostly, the food is akin to that we in the States would normally make, only slightly more from scratch. Pizza sauce, spaghetti sauce, or other things you'd rely on Paul Newman or Prego for (I even made a peach vinaigrette with the right combination of smashed peaches, vinegar and salt) have all been undertook. I have some perfecting to do, but in general if all you have are some left over pasta, veggies and spices (and only a gas oven and stove), we can make it happen.

I had wanted to do something even more special for our German friends who came over last week. My cooking day is Wednesday, the day of their arrival. Could I possibly make some enchiladas? After a quick run to Wal-Mart, we found some spicy peppers and shredded cheeses other than Cremoso that happened to fit in our budget, gracias a Dios.

So.. three hours of tortilla and sauce prep leads to the above picture. I think they liked it, which is comforting. The better news is I hope to make more in the future, and when I get home I'll use more exotic meats like chicken! hehe. (Chicken is too expensive here, so we settle for beef, which is still good.)

I've also learned another magic trick to which I don't have a picture namely because I have already gobbled it all up. Oops :P

Eggplant. Introduced to me in middle school when my aunt Dulia prepared some for us, I have enjoyed other dishes including this vegetable especially on my trip to Greece. We've prepared a few meals with eggplant and most people don't seem to like it. It bugged me, because I still liked it, but I knew I had tasted better.

So today, I looked up how to prepare eggplant. A-ha! There is a process!! You're supposed to dice it and then place it in a colander, spreading salt on the surfaces. After about 40 minutes or an hour, you'll find all of the bitter flavors oozing out, and something else about clearing out air holes. I don't know. It's science.

After preparing said eggplant, I decided to take some of the leftover veggies in the fridge as well as dice up some parsley (I've read parsley brings out the flavor of eggplant), sautee and bam. Delicious. You can definitely tell a difference, and I look forward to preparing more eggplant in the future! Ahh, how I love learning more tricks of the trade!

Chau.

Adventures in bus riding

First, it was Ari who wanted to leave. She was afraid of being late to be picked up by Andrea as we were on the other side of town enjoying a delicious meal from our favorite Colombians. I reminded her not to worry as Andrea and Raul are almost always late (on time for Uruguayan standards), but nonetheless Ari insisted on waiting closer to the bus stop. When the bus came, I waved it down, and gave my quick beso to my dear friends so I could get on the bus.

Only, Ari took a little too long to give a hug to Johanna and so the bus left without us.

Then when we finally got on the bus, Sarah noticed a man staring at her from another. She turned to me to explain this information, so I looked at him directly and began to wave. He smiled and waved back while the bus parted ways from ours.

I love riding the bus. Seeing people, especially the teenagers, that I know in random parts of town. I had nudged Samuel, our director, at one point, after seeing him take the R8 with us. It wasn't until afterward that I thought how awkward it could have been if I had mistook him for a complete stranger.

Then there's all the slipping and sliding around. Not only when you're standing, but when your sitting too, the seats are so slippery. I always have to readjust to make sure I'm sitting somewhat erect. Good times, great oldies.

Chau.

I survived the Ministerio de Migraciones

While I wait to talk with my sister-in-law and nephew on Skype, I thought I should tell about the adventures of the day. Mainly the morning. Because today was the first time for me to deal with renewing my visa.

I've had a visa before, but someone else obtained it for me. I even have a tourist visa for Argentina, but there's something about having to renew it every 90 days, even when the visa says it's good for travel up to 10 years, that I don't understand. Therefore, today marked my first time to figure things out on my own. Like a fish out of water, talking with birds. Because birds speak a different language, and often like to eat fish. ahem..

Thankfully, I was not alone. Jonas and I woke up at the crack of dawn to arrive at the Immigrations office and find--no line! Well, we waited five minutes only to find out we needed to go to another section of the building where once again, there was no line. Except there was no one to help us either. We were told to go to an office, but it wasn't specified which office that was. So we waited.. and decided to just knock on a door and figure it out for ourselves. We knocked on the right one on our first try, and handed over our information. He told us to wait outside.

After about 20 minutes, Jonas busted out the Truco cards. If only we had brought a maté to make the occasion even more Argentinian. In total, we waited an hour, and came in to fill out some paper work and explain what exactly it was we were doing here. "Volunteers," we told him. "We volunteer at certain institutes and hogars."

"No, we don't get paid."

"No, we are not students."

In English we flashbacked to some of our experiences at the GO Conference and we thanked God that we live in a country more open to people in our line of work. How hard that must be to deal with Immigrations if you don't have a more practical alibi.

But that wasn't all. Then we had to take a sheet of paper to get stamped at the bank where we paid the 300AP fee to extend the visa. The bank was "only 6 blocks away," but I kept thinking that it's still a silly process.

It's also a natural process; difficult for anyone in every country.

Then we returned to the same office only to be told that he needed a copy of our passports. Okay, we'll go across the street to the kiosk. We return. "No, no," he says. "I need your picture AND your stamped page of when you entered the country." Back and forth. By this time we just laughed about the process.

"Wait outside."

Thirty more minutes later and we were free to go. I rejoiced to see that I have exactly until my birthday to leave the country. haha.

But the kicker was even better. We walked outside to find ourselves in the middle of a protest for employees. They were shooting off fireworks and singing as if in a futbol stadium. This is Argentina. Chau.

Anything that begins with ice cream will be great

You know it. Because who's going to say "no" to ice cream? Boys and men out there, if you're struggling with an idea for a first date, just stick to good ole helado.

Any way, this was our plan for our first day back with the boys at the institute. I was nervous, because this would also be a first for us to visit without Javi. Javi is the one with the longest standing relationship not only with the boys, but with the directors of the institute as well. Thankfully, JD and Jonas came with us, so it wasn't just us girls trying to control the three. And yes, you should be afraid of the number three at this institute, as each boy can be a handful.

But praise be to God! We had a great time with them, as we had gone to a nearby shopping area that had the next best thing to Grido--Freddo. The boys were able to have an M&M's chocolate ice cream cone, and afterward, enjoy a beautiful view of the city.

Funny times included them pretending to run away, but always coming back. I think they've realized that we won't chase after them any more, because we know they need to have their space, especially after being locked up in a building for most of the day. Good times included talking with Fabrizio again. He was surprised that I remembered a few things about his life from the last time we had talked. I mentioned that I was praying for his dad, Diego, and checking up on school stuff for him. Bad times... can't say that there were any. Esta vez ;)

It was also hilarious to see them all with new haircuts. In fact, I didn't even recognize Fabri without his hair covering his face. ha. And Rodrigo sported the faux hawk which served him well. His mouth is still pretty dirty, but it was adorable when he asked how my knee was doing. That caught me by surprise, and I just kept thinking about the blessings from God for building these relationships! Chau.

Why I love it

It's so gimmicky ;)
It's made up by Hallmark for a profit.
Why can't every day be Valentine's?

So I'm just going to get my argument out there on the table again. Valentine's, despite some of the opposing views listed in the beginning, is a great day! And this comes from someone who has only shared one Valentine's with a "significant" other in her life.

Sure, it helps that I've had a father who almost always gets me flowers on February 14. This year it was a little difficult considering the whole living in another country thing.

But let's talk about church. Wait, what? That's right. Church. Why do we go? Isn't it a little silly to go every week, when really we should be loving God and each other every day of the week? What's the point? I can read and even effectively study my Bible on my own. I can plug in my iPod for some of the recent Hillsong jams. I can even invite some of my Christian friends over and we can discuss what we're learning about God. Whenever. I. Want.

But it doesn't work that way, does it? When left to our own freedom, we don't read, we don't praise God, and we don't meet corporately all that often. We need a day to remember.

I've been working on memorizing some Scripture, and I'm currently meditating on this seventh day of the week. God blessed it and made it holy, because on it he rested from all of the work of creating he had done. Not only is the Sabbath our chance to remember, but it's our chance to rest. There's something about rest too, that allows us to enjoy our time of remembering.

Perhaps we can view Valentine's in this way. Sure we can show each other love any way, throughout the year, but why not set aside one day (out of 365 days guys--it can't be that bad!) to remember and rest in our love for each other? To spend a little extra, to be a little more intentional with our time together?

Of course, I greatly encourage spontaneity, but give Valentine's Day a little street cred every once and awhile.

Love,
sharayah.

chau.

Challenging thought of the day

I finally got around to listening to Paul Washer. Someone from the conference in Holland suggested I have a listen, and now five months later, I have to say...

Wow.

I will sum up what he said that made me think, so that you too, may dwell:

Many of us desire to be completely free of God. We want to make our own decisions. We want to live the way we want. And yet, when there is so much pain and suffering in the world, all happening because of the freedom man has to do what he/she wants, we demand that God step in. We even question God's love for the world when it seems that He doesn't. Could it be that we can't handle the freedom we desire? Do we see how our one decision to turn away from God can snowball into the death and demise of the innocent?

And we call God unfair.

Retiro

What do you get when you mix 7 North Americans, 3 Germans, a Dutchie, a Mexican, 2 Uruguayans, and 7 Argentinians? I've been MIA for a couple days due to a retreat with my OM peeps. Wow, I just used peeps for the first time in.. well.. ever. It was a relaxing, fun-filled time, spent in Villa Bolsa, Córdoba province, Argentina.

(Córdoba is not just a city, but a province. Geography trivia: Argentina has 23 provinces, and they serve in a similar way as the different states of the US. My goal is to have touched soil in all 23 provinces before leaving. As of now, 7/23.)

We drove in and immediately Eze said, "Oh, it looks just like Narnia!"

"Umm.. not quite," I laughed. But I did think the green grass and giant trees were akin to the Shire. :P

As we gathered for the first evening of discussions led by Don Hammond, I realized that the foreigners outnumbered the Argentinians. Nonetheless, it was great to intentionally practice more Spanish with all those serving in Buenos Aires and Córdoba. I think I had more time to hear life stories from my teammates at this retreat than I've heard in the past 5 months!

The speaker taught us about the various gates of Jerusalem, per Nehemiah. It was fascinating to look at the symbolism behind each gate, just as each part of the temple is intentionally pointing toward Christ.

On another note, I loved getting lost in nature. The campsite location was close to a little river that had several paths one could take and enjoy a meander under grand trees. I even climbed one, but as soon as I saw a giant spider in my face, I figured it was a good time to get down.

Then there was Truco. Now, I'm losing in terms of matches, but when I win, it's always big. Jonas told me I should never play for money though. haha.

All right, time to finish laundry! Chau.