Days 23 & 24

6/30/13

Day 23

Yesterday was a whirlwind of beauty. After meeting up with some relatives at Magaly's house as per usual, we began the process of reuniting with our Palabra de Vida compatriots. First, we got dropped off at a bus stop where the sweet, wonderful little Paola was waiting, and bought some goodies for the picnic and waited for another sweet friend, Javier, to come to the bus stop. From there, we rode the bus together to the park, Javi and I talking in English (he's studying to be an English teacher, but says he'd actually rather do something else with his English) on the way. Alexis (another student) and Mireya (a leader at PDV) both met us there. First, we sat under a little canopy thing and told our 'stories of the past three years'. It was so great to hear a nice, thorough update on the happenings in my beautiful friends' lives, especially the parts about what God had been teaching them. Full up inspiring. I was supposed to go last, but half of us needed a bathroom break, so we decided to walk down to the public restroom, where a male attendant manned each doorway-- both male and female sides-- and sold TP for 15 cents. I'm used to this kind of thing by now, but it's occurred to me that it might be of interest. Then, we went to a restaurant, where I bought us a pizza and shared my lil story. After ice creams, we decided to go to Centro Historico, where all the fancy old buildings and fun night happenings are. We had to part ways with Paola, who had other things to do, but met Petato in Centro after he got off of work and motored over. The group has a running joke that we are secretly in love with each other, which I assure you is only a joke, but he's a fun kid. I just have no idea what to do when they joke like that-- every reaction is taken as evidence! Wandering around downtown was awesome-- especially when we encountered a museum/art magic place where all of the walls (and there were many) were covered with really unique modern murals. It was heaven, and inspired my eventual interior decorating plans. From there, we walked around and enjoyed the beauty, and caught maybe 10 minutes of some really interesting absurdist street theatre. Definitely one for the books. We poked around in shops, etc, until it was time to hitch a ride with Mireya's dad to the bus stop where we would meet Andrea's uncle and Alexis and and Javi would catch the last bus to Alexis' house, where they'll both stay til this morning until Javi can get another bus home. Beautiful day.  

7/1/13

Yesterday was a weird mix of fulfilled, delayed, and dissolved plans. When I called in the morning, I found that the whole Matute household was sick with something coldish/fluish, so our outing will wait til next week. However, I finally got to accompany my friend Josue to the church where I met him three years ago. My original connection to the church was Palabra de Vida folks, and it was nice to see several of them again. A group of wonderful gringos was there with Palabra de Vida, so Priscilla Gonzales, daughter of ministry heads Daniel and Ana, made an appearance too. It was nice to talk to her and the conversation was pleasant, especially considering our long series of unpleasant miscommunications in the past. The missionary pastor, a pleasant husky Southern dude with a heart that seems to really find fellowship (rather than a damsel-in-distress) in the country of Ecuador, said he'd let Daniel Gonzales know he ran into me. It was also nice to see the church pastor and his long-time Ecuadorian resident Canadian wife. After the service, there were delicious goodies in celebration of the former, who has just finished his master of divinity-- funny, considering Andrea's church was in the middle of celebrating Santi's graduation from seminary. By the time I headed home, the latter celebration was over, but that took the pressure off of me to buy a  'default' gift of chocolates or something on the way home, and actually make or buy him something significant. I'm thinking of searching for a Spanish translation of anything Chesterton. Something makes me gleefully, subversively happy about supplying a Baptist pastor in a divisionist culture with the writings of a badass Catholic theologian. It's my little way of making the world a better place. Speaking of, when I got home, a whole bunch of family that was over, and when I got social clausterphobic, I went to my room and continued poking around BadCatholic. I know this isn't the only modern theology blog out there, but it's the first one I've encountered, and I'm really excited for the implications it could have for my studies in religion and social change, especially with my literature/language emphasis. Another notable is that when the girls were dying their hair (a popular middle-class Ecuadorian pasttime), I decided to take a small plunge and dye a red streak into my hair, near the front. It's in a 'sublayer' under the blonde, so it's subtle in a way that makes me happy. At night, we were supposed to go watch a movie with Andrea's dad, but it didn't work out. We did, however, look back through a bunch of our trip photos together as we rode across town to drop Angelica's ex-ex-boyfriend back at home. I somehow stayed up til 2am uploading and fixing photos and then reading and writing an awkward 'hey, what you're doing is of academic and personal interest to me' email to Marc from BadCatholic. This unexpected lateness made me sleep in til 8:30 this morning, at which point I did my morning exercise and reading routine, cleaned the kitchen, helped the grandmas to the car so that they, Naty, and Angelica could go to their house, and left a message at the church asking Julio to call me when he gets in so we can go rent the risers for painting. He seems to be delayed, though, as it's past noon and he's still not in. This is part of a wider trend of just feeling like my days could be put to better use. I think it was just the way the trip shook down-- there are a lot of great, beautiful things about staying with friends, but the family does have a prestructured life, so the structure simply isn't in place to facilitate my trip goals, as it would be if I were staying with a ministry. I'm trying to make the best of it and dig in deep to the relationships and such that I have until I go to Los Rios to be with Betsy's family and join their ministries. I'm trying to forge beautiful relationships at all times, though. Absolutely no complaints.  Just learning opportunities.