Winding Down

Oh my lanta, it's already December! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! As for us, we had four classes on Thursday but I'll get to the rest of the day later. 

UPDATES

Well I don't have any earth-shattering news, as it was a fairly routine week. On Monday, I had the opportunity to play in and win the basketball and volleyball championship at our school. I won a few cool shirts, and it was just a great experience to make Mexican friends through doing something that I love. 

I've been doing yoga lately. I enjoy its effects (more flexibility). However, I have heard that Christians shouldn't be doing yoga. Hmm.. Anyways, just a random thought. Another random thought is that we've been talking a lot lately about women's roles, especially in the church. Seeing that I'm part of the three guys in a group of 17, it's been quite interesting. Somehow (for the most part) we've kept the conversations very civil. Lots to think about.

I got a 65 on my last History test. Doesn't matter all that much because Angelica (professor) and I are pretty good friends, we hung out at the party which I will be telling you about shortly.

On Wednesday, Kara Besty and I made an apple pie and an apple crisp for the said party. They were a hit. I don't spend too much time in the kitchen actually making stuff, so it was a great learning experience. I think I still need some work:

Action shot, helping Besty make a delectable pie.

 Close up, real artsy (thanks Kara!)

The final products.

That night, I went to see Juegos del Hambre: En Llamas (Hunger Games part 2) for the second time. It was better the second time, no lies.

And then there was THURSDAY, el dia de accion de gracias, or Thanksgiving in layman's terms. I know it's cheesy and overused, but anyways here's a list of cositas that I'm thankful for:

• God and all He's doing in my life on this trip
•  My family (typical answer, but I seriously love them)
• My friends from home and Westmont (be seeing y'all soon)
• Gisela, my temporary mother. She is AWESOME, and she's been telling me to not leave
• Betel Church and my friends from there (see post from 9/29 for more details)
• The WIM group and Mary. I can't imagine a more fun-loving, open group and a more quirky leader to set the tone :)

Thursday night, we all went to Mary's house for pies and other goodies. There had to be 50 or 60 people there, including students professors families and friends.  It was honestly one of my favorite nights I've had here. First off, Mary decorated her house all Christmassy. Second, I splurged and had both apple and pecan pie... vale la pena. Also Shelby read, well translated too, me and Paula (Angelica's daughter) the story about Charlie Brown. Linus got it right, folks. Towards the end, we all (50ish of us) sat around and toasted thanks, followed by Christmas carols (in Spanish of course).
To top it all off, we danced at the end. It ain't a Westmont party without some harmless dance circles. We swung, cumbia-d, and even Mexican line danced (taught by Diego). What a night!

 

Me and Paula (she reminds me of my future bilingual daughter). She called me "hombre lobo" (wolf man) and petted my beard... melted my heart.

Angelica, our history teacher, and the three men of the WIM group (los guapos).

Notice the hand placement... classic.

I taught Dieguito "la shaka".

Friday night, we had a Thanksgiving feast at Luise's house. I had to cut the turkey and it was less than stellar (my cutting job, the turkey was fantastic. 

Saturday was church and Sunday we watched another movie and had Vespers. Ay 9 days!