Where to start!? Well, I arrived safe on Sunday afternoon, and though one of my bags was still in Buenos Aires, I got it back on Monday afternoon, so I have both of my suitcases right now!
Today was my first official day of work, and I fixed brouchers all day long. There was a line missings, so I stuck stickers on the page. Someone had to do it. :) But yesterday I went with 2 of my co-workers, Cynthia and Ryan, so visit the campamentos (low cost lodging). There was aWe beautiful monastary that is going to host some people, Uncle Tim, you would LOVE it, there's so many mosaics and every door in the place has a different picture carved into the whole door. It's incredible! On our way back we passed a tuck strike, they're just beginning here in Paraguay. The truckers all pull to the side of the road, and refuse to drive for 2 reasons: 1. The gas is too expensive 2. There isn't any gas. We had to stop 3 times before finding gas, but that was in the country, not Asunción. It will be interesting to follow and see how things are affected world wide.
Everyone here is so nice! I wish I could spend enough time to tell you about each one, but I don't, so I'll do it one at a time. Magali, is the office manager at MWC, and she is just so much fun! She's Paraguayan and speaks 3 languages: Spanish, Guaraní (the only one who works in the office, who speaks the indigenous language), and English. But everyone here, helps me with my Spanish, instead of relying on English (because all but 1 can speak English).
Tomorrow, I'm taking my camera to work to take pictures of the office. :)
That's all for now... take care!
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
Pictures from around Akron
It's the last day here in Akron, so I figured I should post some pictures from around the MCC center! I wish I could've gotten these posted sooner, but better late then never! :)
Each of MCC's guest houses are named and decorated after the continents. I stayed in Asia house, which you can see above.
My roommate never came! :(
The bathroom- complete with a squigie for the floor!
The living room of the Asia house.
Orientation is finished, and I signed my life away to MCC today! Haha, not really, just a covenant for this next year. :) These past 2 weeks went well, but there was just so much information to soak in, and it leaves me feeling pretty wiped out right now. Some of that may be the cold that is going around here. I did fine until this afternoon, and my throat and head started to ache. Don't worry, Mom, I'm taking my vitamins and took some AirBorne, so I should be fine! :)
Another good thing that happened today: I GOT MY VISA FOR PARAGUAY! ...And not a day too soon! For some reason, though I really wasn't worried about not getting it. I knew that it was going to come, and if not, something would work out. I can smell the beginnings of a campfire, so I'm off to check that out!
Each of MCC's guest houses are named and decorated after the continents. I stayed in Asia house, which you can see above.
My roommate never came! :(
The bathroom- complete with a squigie for the floor!
The living room of the Asia house.
Orientation is finished, and I signed my life away to MCC today! Haha, not really, just a covenant for this next year. :) These past 2 weeks went well, but there was just so much information to soak in, and it leaves me feeling pretty wiped out right now. Some of that may be the cold that is going around here. I did fine until this afternoon, and my throat and head started to ache. Don't worry, Mom, I'm taking my vitamins and took some AirBorne, so I should be fine! :)
Another good thing that happened today: I GOT MY VISA FOR PARAGUAY! ...And not a day too soon! For some reason, though I really wasn't worried about not getting it. I knew that it was going to come, and if not, something would work out. I can smell the beginnings of a campfire, so I'm off to check that out!
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Orientation is already half over, which means that on Saturday (notice I don't even have to say next Saturday) I'll leave for Paraguay! How exciting, right!?
Yesterday I went to New York City and walked around for the day, just seeing different parts. Some may think that it's not the smartest thing to do, to go walking around NYC by yourself, but really, I'm going to be doing that in South America, so why not start off in a city that speaks English? Needless to say, I was fine. :)
At church this morning, the pastor talked about peace being a central belief of Mennonites. I think most of us here at MCC (Mennonite Central Committee) in Akron agree on that, myself included, but I learned a lot when we were discussing it later on in a small group of us. From what I understood, I learned that pacifism isn't central to what it means to be Mennonite, to the Mennonites around the world. This was completely new for me, and I'm sure that, by volunteering for Mennonite World Conference, I'll learn a lot more about this topic and really what unites us as a global Mennonite Church. Any thoughts?
A few minutes ago, there was a group of MCCers that got together so we could figure out this whole "blogging thing." It was great! I now know how to set up boxes to show the countries of people who look at your blog and how to add slide shows- the whole bit! :)
Yesterday I went to New York City and walked around for the day, just seeing different parts. Some may think that it's not the smartest thing to do, to go walking around NYC by yourself, but really, I'm going to be doing that in South America, so why not start off in a city that speaks English? Needless to say, I was fine. :)
At church this morning, the pastor talked about peace being a central belief of Mennonites. I think most of us here at MCC (Mennonite Central Committee) in Akron agree on that, myself included, but I learned a lot when we were discussing it later on in a small group of us. From what I understood, I learned that pacifism isn't central to what it means to be Mennonite, to the Mennonites around the world. This was completely new for me, and I'm sure that, by volunteering for Mennonite World Conference, I'll learn a lot more about this topic and really what unites us as a global Mennonite Church. Any thoughts?
A few minutes ago, there was a group of MCCers that got together so we could figure out this whole "blogging thing." It was great! I now know how to set up boxes to show the countries of people who look at your blog and how to add slide shows- the whole bit! :)
Monday, July 7, 2008
Hello from Akron, PA!
Wow, this is finally happening. Ever since I was in Zimbabwe for Mennonite World Conference (MWC, I'll try to explain the acronyms that unfortunately the Mennonite Church is famous for) volunteering for the next conference was just a dream, and finally it's right in front of me! I have 2 weeks of orientation, and then on July 19th, I'll fly out of Philadelphia, for Asunción, Paraguay. Until then, I'm in Akron, PA for orientation with MCC (Mennonite Central Committee).
Orientation starts officially tomorrow, but those of us on the Latin American and African teams had to be here today for meetings (so we all came sunday afternoon/evening) and had 2 meetings today and plenty of free time. The next couple weeks look like they will be more structured, which will be nice.
I'm already making so many connections with people here who know people from different stages of my life, it's great! The learning curve will be steep over the next... (oh dear, probably a long time), but I'm ready for the challenge! :)
Orientation starts officially tomorrow, but those of us on the Latin American and African teams had to be here today for meetings (so we all came sunday afternoon/evening) and had 2 meetings today and plenty of free time. The next couple weeks look like they will be more structured, which will be nice.
I'm already making so many connections with people here who know people from different stages of my life, it's great! The learning curve will be steep over the next... (oh dear, probably a long time), but I'm ready for the challenge! :)
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