Tandem and Tarea

Today I worked on this huge literature homework project thing that was assigned on a whim a week ago and it was a big pain in the butt (excuse my English). I was not interested in doing it at all, although I understand the value, it just was not fun at all. Liz and I cooked lunch - Liz cooked pasta and I made my homemade cheese/cream sauce which I make up every time but that is quite good no matter what (I throw in a little of every kind of dairy, a lot of cheese, pepper, salt and fresh garlic), and I also made steamed broccoli with roasted salted peanuts (the best way to add something to steamed broccoli, I'm a 100% supporter of this idea). Yeah, it was a good lunch. Then Liz and I went to a Bible study tonight that meets on campus, that was cool, and it was good to meet more Christians on campus that I haven't seen/met yet. Then at 7:30 we went to a meeting called "Tandem" which was basically a group that met up once to pair people up from Mexico and international students and have them practice languages. I was scared. I was so unsure about finding someone cool but the guy that came up to me towards then end (we were like in 2 circles and I stood still while Mexicans moved around - sorry if that made no sense) asked me if I liked sports and I was like, uh, and I showed him my paper that had stuff written on it that I liked and he was like oh you like swimming and I was like yeah, I do. I looked at his paper and he had all these sports listed that he liked to watch/play and I asked him if he liked American football and he said yes, and I said what's your team? and he said....
the (fricking) Dallas Cowboys and so I said, I'm sorry I don't think we can be partners and he asked me why not? and I said I'm a steelers fan. He was like, oh, well I think you can forgive me right? I was like well maybe. Then he looked at the rest of my list and he was like, you like playing games!?!?! I love playing games and I was like okay, fine, we can be partners haha. I also would like to note that the last thing he had on his list was "Being a clown" (not like a jokester, a real clown, I'm pretty sure he dresses up in a clown suit, guys - hahahaha). So yeah, I talked to him a bit and it even turns out that he goes to the Casa Verde (the youth group/ministry that I go to) and he and I are going to meet up there tomorrow and eat lunch together and play games. He also told me that a bunch of the Americans go over to the football field afterwards and play flag football and invited me to play, so Liz and I decided we would go. I also invited Caleb and Matt (the oldest of the missionary kids) to come play because they're jocks so they'd like that and Matt was like, YEAH duh, haha so that's cool. I'm excited. Plus Liz and I get to go white water rafting with them this weekend, which is totally father (okay that's got to be explained later). Also! Mr. Basile (missionary dad) told us that there is like a 15ft waterfall that we get to go over in the rafts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I AM SO FRIGGIN EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!! I want the brothers in my boat though, or at least Matt, I'm scared but it will be so cool haha. I need to know there's someone in there that would literally push me over the edge if I tried to chicken out haha.

So yeah, I'm pretty psyched about life, mostly because I haven't been thinking about how I haven't read for tomorrow yet (heh) but I hear that no one has, so that's alright I guess lol.

Well, I should go. I wanted to talk to Pat tonight (I hope he gets on) and then I want to read my book (The Secret Life of Bees - it's the first time I have ever read a book twice that I can remember, both times being for fun) I started it about 3 days ago and I am 226 pages into it already. Just imagine how late I have been going to sleep...heh...

Also - How father is that - Here they use the word "Padre" (father) to mean cool. Qué Padre! is like saying, that's so cool! I just think it's funny. I like transliterating idioms because it makes no sense and it's fun.

Good night and lots of love,
Nora

hermanos x 4

So I had a lovely time playing with my Mexican brothers today. It was really great, I love friendly competition. They really do treat me like a sister, one was even pulling my hair today (and not the youngest either, heh). I added them on facebook, so now we're legit friends haha, and in addition they were trying to find pictures of Pat (don't worry guys, I warned them about how dead sexy Pat is, I informed them that some had been hurt by even looking at his photographs so that they should be careful). Overall though, that was totally awesome and I can't wait to hang out with them again this weekend when we all go white water rafting! YAY!

I listened to the song hotel california multiple times today and I really really miss Nolan. He can know it, that's fine. I have just been thinking about him a lot in the past week or so and like, I miss listening to him play guitar and make me feel awful. I miss jamming with him and singing with him. It's just weird, I never missed him at Eastern but I miss him now -- even more than I miss Kasey sometimes (and I miss her a lot). It's weird.

I miss Pat, but dude, it really frustrates me when he's a jerk and that happens way more often here than at home (because the amount of time we talk is less, so he has less time to fill in his jerk quota? I am not totally sure). I really hope he grows out of it. Or that I just stop taking everything personally. Or that we both stop being jerks? I don't really know. This is irrelevant to any conversation about Mexico. Sorry.

Point is, I will be doing lots of stuff tomorrow: Get up, breakfast, swim, shower, class, class of death (Oral Translation), lunch, homework, sleep? something like that? Maybe I'll go swimming after class actually. That might be perfect. I think I will do that. I'll have more time that way, I am going to go talk to my suitie about that and make that happen.
I'll write again soon
Love,
Nora
p.s. I feel like my Spanish is awful, please pray for me so that I can get better...

Hermanos!

Yesterday Liz and I went to the orphanage with the youth group from our church. They were way more fun than the young adults group, so I might just go to the youth group instead of to the young adults group from now on, haha. I got to meet the oldest Basiles' son, Matt who turned 18 today (I gave him a card, because they drove us to church on his birthday and everything so I wanted to make sure he knew that I recognized his big day and stuff). I met him yesterday and he's totally cool. I love hanging out with that family because they are 4 boys (cough) Devlins (cough) but just go back a few years I guess haha, and they are 9 years a part (3-3-3 haha) instead of 8. They're really wonderful though, and on the way to church this morning I was just like smiling uncontrollably because it feels so good to have brothers again haha. I realize how much I really like to have brothers around. I want people who aren't afraid to tease me and with whom I can be competitive without hurting anyone's feelings. They are just so lovely. And I was baking cupcakes with Liz before going to the orphanage and while we were waiting for the cupcakes to bake I would go in and do cup-stacking with the boys and I beat Matt (which I'm totally psyched about) and I am going to keep practicing whenever I go over there, so that I can beat Steven and Caleb haha. I don't remember what my best time was, but I am pretty sure it was in the teens and so far I've only gotten to like, 20:?? So I will get better. Haha. I would like to go back to the orphanage more I think, and just play with kids and talk with them. Also, I am going to join the worship team for church and sing with them on Sundays. They are SOOO good, they're like a little choir, but the membership is not that large, so they're all really good. I can't wait, I'm really excited...I will probably be the worst one up there lol.

Also, after church today on the way home and stuff I was talking to the boys and we were just listing all kinds of games we like to play and they like named all of the games I love (they even have dutch blitz and settlers!!!!!) and I just died pretty much so I am going to play with them as much as humanly possible and I will force them to talk to me in Spanish without ceasing, haha. I can't wait. I think tomorrow I might go over between my two classes (12:15-5pm) and hang out with them. If I need to pack myself a lunch ahead of time I will haha, I just want to play games hehe :D

I guess since I'm going to spend like 4 hours there tomorrow I should get in some serious homework right now.
I love you all and thanks for your support <3
Blessings,
Nora

Sight Translation and Sleeping In...

Hey all,
Last night I went to bed around 1am and I didn't wake up until quarter 'til 11. Crazy!! I can't believe I slept so much. Oh well, I was tired. Today I need to go over to the center for language learning (CAL) and do my sight translation homework which is scaring the pants off me. I went to do it yesterday but I was so foolish and forgot to go buy a cassette to use for recording (Don't ask me why on earth we're going that old school when the building is mostly made of computers) so I went out and actually found a place that sells them (Thanks God!) and bought 2 because I got all nervous haha. But now I am going to get dressed and go in and do my homework. I did finish my reading for European Union so that's great, and I had a dream about talking to Aunt Zoya about it (she's from Macedonia) so I think I will try and work out a time to talk with her about it. I feel like Aunt Zoya knows everyone in Macedonia, so there you go Devlins, I have a whole additional country that I can link up with in my 5 degrees of Nora Barth haha. Also, she was an interpretor for Bill Clinton multiple times in like 1994 so I mean, I got a lot of connections there :p! So yeah, I will be doing that soon.
At 3pm Liz and I are going over to the missionary friends' house and helping bake cupcakes (YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and then we're going to go with the church youth group and play with orphans (OH MAN AM I PSYCHED!). Now, I know there aren't any babies, so I have already prepared myself for that, but I'm still excited to play with kids who don't get to play with adults much and I also just want to hug them, because can you imagine being able to count how many hugs you get in a week, or a month, or a year? *Sigh* I want to just hug those kids so much. Plus, they're cuter on average than white kids, so it should be a lovely time. I'll take pictures (they'll love it). I'll also bring lots of cards with me, and we'll play games :D

Anyway, I miss you all, especially when my Spanish sucks and I just wish everyone would just let me speak in Englsih. Oh well, I'll get better soon.
On the bright side, the thing I have to translate is in Spanish :) so it'll be going into English which is less hard by a lot.
I might practice a couple times before getting dressed and heading over to CAL. We'll see. My prof said it would take me at least an hour, so I should probably get my butt into gear!

I love you all and thanks for your love and prayers!

Prayer Requests:
1) I opened a new bank account, so prayers that all of that stuff will work out
2) I am going to go white water rafting next weekend, but I still haven't found someone who can go with me, so please do that, other wise I am paying 800 pesos for no one to go with me (yikes).
3) My homework is more than a lot of people who have more classes than I do (I'm in 2 400 level classes) so prayers that I will be motivated and not get discouraged.
4) Involvement in the church would be a blessing and that Liz and I can bring blessings to the church as well.
5) Liz and I have the opportunity to live differently and show the people around us that there is something different about us (besides that we're so white).
6) That our trust in God would be overwhelmingly visible to everyone.
7) That Liz and I don't get sick of each other and can be encouragement and love when we feel alone or hurt.
8) The orphans that we will be going to see today, that their hearts would be prepared for a lovely day where we can meet with them on a fully human level.

Thank you so much for everything! I know that your support has been helping me throughout these pretty difficult past two weeks. I have been feeling really stressed but I know that your love and prayers have be helping me through. I have been reminded many times of how blessed I am.

Also, last night I finally finished the book: No Future Without Forgiveness by Desmond Tutu (Nobel Peace Prize Winner, arch bishop of cape town south africa), and it was so beautiful. If you have any interest in social reconciliation, forgiveness, counseling, political forgiveness, etc. I highly recommend this book, and if you have interest in understanding yourself as a person more, please read it. I would like to leave you with some beautiful food for thought, as I know that I need to hear these words every single day as well:

"We shouldn't underestimate the power of conditioning. That is why I hold the view that we should be a little more generous, a little more understanding, in judging perpetrators of human rights violations. This does not mean we will condone what they and the white community in South Africa did or allowed to happen. But we will be a little more compassionate in our judgment as we become a little more conscious of how we too could succumb as easily as they. It will make our judgment just that little less strident and abrasive and possibly open the door to some being able to forgive themselves for what they now perceive as weakness and lack of courage. It might then persuade them perhaps to be a little more willing to acknowledge their frailty and make them more ready to accept accountability.l And it might make us say to ourselves as we sit in judgment, 'There but fo the grace of God go I'" (252-253).

"There is no longer Jew nor Greek, male or female, slave or free--instead of separation and division, all distinctions make for a rich diversity to be celebrated for the sake of the unity that underlies them. We are different so that we can know our need of one another, for no one is ultimately self-sufficient. The completely self-sufficient person would be subhuman" (265).

I just love what he says there, and I love the way he describes ubuntu as well (page 31). I think this book is a must read, but there are definitely parts that are so real, you'll be crying and trying to move past as quickly as possible. But isn't that the kind of book we should be reading? A book that teaches us to love and forgive despite the horror of the stories that are being told? He talked a lot at the end about the holocaust and how hard it has been for Jews the world over to forgive and how hard it has been the newer the generation to feel that they have the right to forgive on behalf of the dead. What Tutu says is that these perpetrators need forgiveness to help them to move on and forgive themselves. They don't necessarily need forgiveness from the particular person they wronged, because a human rights violation is more than an attack on one person - it's an attack on humanity itself, and on the perpetrator as much as the victim. Forgiveness must come from someone to allow for a future, and why shouldn't it come from you? or me?


Deep stuff, man.
I am going to get ready for the day. We'll see what God has in store and I'll write again soon.

Sending lots and lots of love <3

Norita

How does the EU do this to me?

Okay so I'm doing my homework on the E.U. (reading until I die, essentially) and I'm listening to this wonderful CD that Kris gave me called "Beyond the Missouri Sky" (I guess that'd be the Kansas sky, heh, never thought of that, cute one Kris) - btw I highly recommend this CD it is totally wonderful - good jazz guitar/bass. In any case, I'm doing my homework and I am thinking, oh, I wonder if Denmark still uses their own currency or if they have actually switched to the Euro (because the book I'm reading from is a couple years old now, maybe even 5 years old). So I look it up and so I'm reading about denmark on europa.eu and then it says their staple dishes as part of their diet, one of which is boiled cabbage. And BAM I am hit with a truck of culcanan desire and now all I can think about is how badly I want culcanan. So I think that when I make lunch today I am going to make some legit mashed potatoes and boil some cabbage... and then put on obscene amounts of butter and see if my Mexican Suities (hehe isn't that cute? I came up with that for my suite-mates haha I love it) like my Irish food...We'll see.......

In the mean time I am going to continue reading until I die...<3 amor,besos, y abrazos

Nora

Tortillas, Tostadora, Tacos, Tarea, and Translation!

Hey all,

I don't even remember the last update I made but hopefully it wasn't too long ago...heh.

Classes started awhile ago, and my classes are good so far. I have four courses that I am taking:

Interpreting (like translating orally) - this is my elective, I know, a bit masochistic. It's been ridiculously hard so far and we haven't even been graded on anything or given hardly any homework. I'm presenting with this guy Jon tomorrow so we'll see how we do, but for the most part it's fascinating and excruciatingly difficult at the same time. Lovely combination for a competitive driven individual such as myself, no? haha.

European Union - This is a 400-level International Relations course about the EU and regional integration - it's crazy interesting. It's taught in English by a Dutch professor with red hair and I am going to write my 10-12 page term paper in Spanish. Somehow the head of the Spanish dept. at Eastern decided that this would count for my Spanish civilization requirement (God only knows why), so that's cool.

Society and State of Latin America - this is my other International Relations course, but it's only 200-level, so that's easier. I am enjoying it so far, the class is taught in Spanish but the book is in English, haha, so it's cool and not cool at the same time. The professor is really cool because he talks like he's young (curses more than most for sure, but it really isn't offensive when people curse in your second language - like at all, or at least not for me), and he's also really passionate about latin america. He's not so cool in that he makes fun of religions and makes Mexican Catholicism equivalent to Christianity in general (which is a crazy thing to do IMO) and his excessive use of slang at times makes it really hard to understand him. Haha. But I think over all he's pretty wicked neat. He's so smart. In my reading for this class I found myself so upset by a story in the book that I actually cried, like legitimately, for awhile. And I think if I were to tell that to my prof, he'd be like, dude, it's cool, I cry all the time when I read stuff like that. And then I'd be like, you da man. He also speaks like 7 languages, it's nuts. lol. I might have exaggerated, but a lot.

19th Century Mexican Literature - This is a pretty chill class. The only thing that really frustrates me is the book situation. Here in Mexico the students do not buy their books. They go to the local copy center and buy copies that the professors have asked be made for the students. It's pretty awful. I am not going to lie though, it's really hard to buy the books here, so I mean, I guess I get why they do that(?). In any case, he tells us to like buy some books because I mean, the man's a lit professor how could he live with himself if he didn't tell us to invest in literature and personal libraries and what not, and I would love to do so, but it's like, where? Where do I get these books that you want me to buy? Because let's be honest, buying books in Spanish is ridiculously difficult in the U.S. (if you want a certain book) and the only place it could possibly be easier than Mexico would be Spain, but who goes there just to buy books? I mean really? No Americans. I would go there to see my cousin and Aunt and Uncle, but books? Especially not for just this class.

So yeah, that's been a struggle.

In other news: I will be going to an orphanage with the youth group from my church (high school age) and the missionaries that live near by on Saturday, we are going over early to make cupcakes (EEEE! :D)

The following Friday and Saturday I am going to go with the missionaries and a mission group from (you'll never believe it) Church of the Vineyard in PA (like right down the road) on a white water rafting trip, so that should be totally fun. I am going to bring one of my suitemates with me, because Liz didn't want to go.

Last night I went to "LA CASA VERDE" which everyone's been telling me about for years, and it's basically a youth group for college kids and it's totally fun. I liked it a lot, and then you get free food afterwards, which is the best ever. So that was awesome. And they also have lunch for us on Thursdays, so that's exciting. And the house is open everyday to go in and hang out and play games and do homework and whatever. (I think I could even use their oven to bake sometime if I wanted) They gave out brownies las night to the new comers and they were literally to die for. Seriously.

I also have been toying with the idea of joining a worship band, either at my church or at la casa verde. The only thing is I'm not used to singing with an acoustic drum set, which makes it really hard to hear yourself (this only applies to la casa verde) and so I would be scared I sound bad. But I think it would be a really good experience and would totally stretch me. We'll see.

Pat and I talked a lot yesterday/last night. I am glad we did, because I think we both had the opportunity to kind of get our lives in order and figure out what we're really going to focus on during this time apart. I think we're doing well, at least I hope so. :o)

I opened my new bank account and I think it should all work out as planned (I hope so).

So yeah, that's my life. In 20 minutes I am meeting with Jon to work on our Interpreting project, and then at 7pm we have a meeting with our RA (equivalent, lol).

Tons of love! Besos y abrazos,

Norita

Woops, haven't written in awhile

Well, Happy Saturday all!

Today is a special day because it is the first day that Liz and I are not in the same place at the same time. Weird, right? I should recap and explain how this happened.

Monday after my night class I met a sweet girl from Massachussettes named Daniella. She's a total doll and she has actually been here since her freshman year in college. She is Jewish, and lived in Israel for awhile, and her first language is Hebrew (CRAZY right? the girl is so language savvy, I'm a little jealous, yeah). Anyway, she and I talk for awhile and she tries to buy a new computer online while we're talking but it doesn't work out. Fast forward to Thursday. Thursday Liz and I went over to La Casa Verde, which is a green house (no kidding!) right across from our campus where they hold bible studies and other fun Christian meetings. I had been told about it by two different professors from Eastern and multiple students who had studied here before, so Liz and I knew we needed to go. So we went there and hung out with people and met some nice people and whatever, and then came back to our rooms. I texted Daniella later that night to see if she had gotten her computer and she said yes, it worked out and by the way did I want to hang out with her this weekend - she was going to celebrate her 23rd birthday. Of course, I said yes that'd be awesome, because I need friends (lol) as we all know. So then Friday I did hardly anything at all because I have NO classes on Fridays (which is sweet because my weekend starts on Thursday at 12:15, you know that's awesome). But at around 1:30-2pm my suitemate and I cooked a big lunch for everyone in the suite. It was carne (beef) which had been marinated 2 days (mmm) really thinly sliced and then seared. Sauteed portabellos with onions, pasta and cream/cheese sauce (cheese, milk, sour cream, garlic, pepper, salt). I was in charge of pasta and sauce and Andrea was in charge of beef and mushrooms (I helped too though). It was awesome. Everyone loved it, so we totally felt like chefs and good ones at that. So that was a great time.

After we ate our suitemates decided to see a movie that looked really awful, so we decided to hang back. We kept in mind that one of the guys at church on Sunday had told us that the young adults group meets on Friday nights (8pm) so we sent him a text asking if he could take us to the church. He said he would so we (after a little difficulty) met up with him and went to the service. It was fun and nice to meet some more people. Also, they invited us to go on a retreat with them, but like I said, I had told Daniella I would celebrate her b-day with her tomorrow (Sunday) after church, and also I had homework to do (about 60pages of reading or so) so I said I couldn't go. Well Liz got all bummed out and I was like, dude, Liz, just go without me. And she looked at me all bug-eyed and I was like, what? This is the new you, go without me. So she decided she would. Pretty cool right?

Then we were invited to eat "supper" with some people (3 of whom had just gotten back Sunday from working at a camp in Iowa all summer, so they had really good english and were funny). So we did that, but first we drve around for like an hour to drop this girl off who didn't feel well and then were pretty confused on how to get the heck out of her little town haha. In anycase we ate food and Liz and I paid less than 4 dollars to split 2 tacos with beef and cheese and we each got a mango juice drink in a bottle. Isn't that nuts? the food was great too. Such a good find. So the brothers that were in Iowa (there was also a girl who had went but she was at the other end of the table so we didn't get to talk to her too much) were really nice and cool. So yeah, they brought us back to campus and then we went to bed. When I woke up, Liz was gone so she's at the retreat and I'm here, avoiding my homework and chores. lol. I guess I should get on that now, but thanks for listening to my rant!

Love,

Nora