Flu, Elections, Randomness

My soccer buddy Ezequiel.

Random musings:

I was in La Plata yesterday, accompanying a team of Brazilian missionaries that have started implementing the CHE principles. They told me about a little five-year-old boy, Dylan, that comes to play at their church plant/soccer field. The other day he said, "I need help setting up a house." When asked why, he said, "I need to move out on my own. My Dad doesn't love me." A few minutes later he poked his head in at the window of the house we were meeting in, which is next to the church and where the young married couple Reberson and Aryany live. He hung out with us for most of the rest of the meeting, alternating standing next to the two men in the meeting. Five years old.

Infections with the influenza A (H1N1) virus are overwhelming the medical system in Argentina. In the southern hemisphere it is also winter, and therefore also the typical flu season with A (H1N1) added on top. Some hospitals have stopped all elective surgeries, and one hospital has been designated exclusively for flu cases. The majority of the cases have been in Buenos Aires.

Big elections are coming up on Sunday, although not presidential. In my cell group we prayed for peace on Monday, as chaos is predicted depending on the outcome. See this story in the BBC news. It is also predicted that schools, churches, malls, and movie theaters will close after the elections due to the flu outbreak.

Senator Sanford's affair is big news in Argentina since his partner in crime is Argentine. Here's how yesterday's paper categorized South Carolina, "More than 90% of the inhabitants of the state are Protestant, in large part Evangelical. They live austere lives, normally arising at dawn -- in one of the e-mails Sanford says he gets up at 4:30 am - they go to church and pray before they eat."

So, when people ask me about Argentine culture, I hem and haw. How to explain things? How to know if after only a year and a half I even understand things here? When getting up early in the morning automatically means "austerity", how can we be sure we're even speaking the same language?

The view from my balcony at sunset, nice and autumnal.

Misiones Province

A few weeks ago I took a trip up to the northeastern province of Misiones. My friends Sara and Eva went to see the famous Iguazu Falls while I got together with a new contact, Ricardo. He is friends with a couple that I work with in Baradero (Buenos Aires Province) since they lived in Misiones for a time. The above picture was taken at a political meeting that I accompanied Ricardo to, a few miles from his home. Elections are coming up next week and a local politician gathered the people from the village seeking their votes.

This photo was obviously taken from inside the car. I love it when people appreciate where they're from, and this was certainly the case here. They said, "Take out your camera, as soon as we go over this hill you have to take a picture!" Pine trees aren't native to the area but in the past few decades have become a popular crop.

Above is the car we hitched a ride on to get to Ricardo's home. Isn't the red dirt beautiful?

A delicious meal with Emilia and Ricardo: chicken with manioc (cassava) and a salad. Emilia apologized that the chicken was so small. You see, it wasn't ready yet for the slaughter but it taunted one of their dogs and got into a fight with it. She tried to save it but it was too far gone, so it became our lunch.

Proof that I got some work done: a meeting isn't complete without sharing mate. We discussed the local area and the possibilities of training Ricardo's contacts with the CHE materials. There is a lot of poverty in the area, although the trick with CHE is that the projects undertaken are the ones the villagers decide on, not the trainers. For example, Ricardo thinks it's bad that everyone has latrines, not flush toilets. He thinks that everyone is satisfied with the latrines, and that's a bad thing. Of course I say the issue isn't the type of toilet, but whether or not hand-washing is done afterwards!

Ricardo and Emilia's grandson showing me the beautiful eggs from their chickens. See the green ones?
Time to head back to the city. How to get there without a car? Wait on the side of the road and hitch. Thankfully a neighbor came along. Tricky thing is that the back of the truck was filled with cow parts, grapefruits, etc.

This is a picture of a chainsaw, grapefruit, and a covered-up cow's head with its horn sticking into my sandal. It was kind of crowded in that truck.

But I still enjoyed the view!

And the company!

Fun facts:

• In Argentina, instead of saying, "every two weeks" one says, "every 15 days."
• A favorite verse for Argentines to quote is the first half of Psalm 92:12: The righteous will flourish like a palm tree. I'd never noticed that one before, is it used here because they actually have palm trees? Why don't we use this one more in California and Arizona, then?

Blessings

Eva and Sara hanging out at the Rio de la Plata looking at downtown Buenos Aires.

It was such a blessing to have my friends Sara and Eva come for a visit! I have been friends with Sara for 20 years, and became close friends with Eva 16 years ago after we became roommates. In addition to the amazing-ness of laughing and crying and talking about everything under the sun, they also really blessed me in practical ways. Sara brought a router with her and I was able to get wireless, therefore moving out of my dark, depressing hallway into the sunny living room! I've been planning on this move for six months now, and really love it!


Now granted, the only heater is in the dark, depressing hallway, and today it is 61 degrees (16 C) both inside and outside of my apartment, but I have a scarf and a blanket and sunshine!

Eva set up an incredibly helpful Excel spreadsheet which will allow me to track all expenses, both those where I receive advances and those I submit expense reports for. This week's work will be to work on the five months of back expenses....

Here I am walking with my soccer buddy Ezequiel, with Sara looking back at Eva the photographer. Not only were Sara and Eva game enough to play Ezequiel at soccer (three on one) but we also walked down to the San Isidro Sunday market with him.

Sara noticed this brand of burger, yum!

Vacation

Sara and Eva, good friends of mine since college, were visiting the past few weeks and I took some time off. I managed to get in some ministry, too, but I'll post those photos later. We went to a tango show with a friend of mine and her uncle, who's a big tango aficionado. Dinner was at 10:30 pm and the show started just past midnight. Here is a bit of an Argentine folk dance, the zamba:



Another traditional Argentine "dance" is done with the Argentine version of the lasso. When roping cows, Argentines used ropes twisted together with stones on the end, which twist around the cow's head. In this type of performance the ropes are separated.

Here are Eva and I drinking coffee and watching outdoor tango.

Here are Sara and Eva toasting each other on the bus ride to the Misiones province. It was a pretty swanky bus and they are enjoying a pre-supper whiskey!

Here is Patricia, the sister of some good friends of mine in Buenos Aires. She was an incredibly gracious host to us during our stay in Misiones. Here she is showing us the mines in Wanda.

Here are Sara and Eva next to the semi-precious stones.

Our first night there Patricia had a ministry activity, so we stayed home and played the piano. The next day Eva and Sara went to see the stunning Iguazu Falls while I went to meet new ministry contacts (more about that soon, including pictures of me and lots of cow parts sharing a ride). On Sunday we played and sang hymns with Patricia since her church shares a pastor with other congregations and there was no church the Sunday we were there.