What A Weekend

Last weekend brought quite a few changes...the first being WARMTH! After sleeping late, I took advantage of the running trail outside my apartment building on Saturday. Running beside the river that follows the path of the Andes most definitely brought beautiful scenery, but also a long lost friend called sweat. I never (NEVER) thought I'd say it, but, oh, how I have missed sweating. The area was full of families taking advantage of the día lindo. We had bikers, runners, walkers and little children playing on the jungle gyms. I learned a few things along the way. 1) I'm out of shape. 2) Nike shorts are not the norm around here. I felt very out of place. 3) Motorcycles also drive on the running paths.
Later that day I took the bus to the Mall Alto to finish the day American style. SUBWAY! On Friday, Cotty took her nephew (who I found out really isn't her nephew) and me to the mall to eat Pizza Hut. Try to imagine my smile when I found myself surrounded by Pizza Hut, TACO BELL, McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Subway and Dunkin Donuts. The funny thing is Pizza Hut and Taco Bell both sell French fries with their items; so the three of us contently ate pizza and fries. Beautiful! Then we attended a 3-hour church business meeting. Yes Baptists, you read that right, 3 hours. Anyway, I brought myself back to the mall on Saturday to complement my run earlier in the day. Exercising followed by unhealthy eating = story of my life. Just the way I like it! I went with a foot long turkey sandwich from Subway. It tasted like peanut butter but I enjoyed it nonetheless. After browsing around the mall (which is one of the nicest I've ever been to), I went to Dínamo, which is the youth group here (ages 15 - 25 years). It was the most chaotic experience I've had since being here. It consisted of all but not limited to the following:
1. Little boys running around blindfolded
2. Same little boys drawing pictures of their father going to the bathroom on the whiteboard (parts included).
3. Couples cuddling
4. Youth arguing for an hour and a half over the 3-minute skit they were to perform in church the next day.
5. Adults discussing a topic very loudly.
6. A couple that tied a scarf to their wrists and were walking around the room tied to each other.
7. Me sitting in a chair observing, laughing and being confused.
Sunday brought Father's Day and this church was in full force celebration! The service lasted 2 hours, but the sermon was only 15 minutes! Singing, skits, praying, more singing, special speakers, more skits, more praying, more singing, special music, and the list goes on. I loved it! The choir sang "It is Well" in Spanish! I sat with Kelly Hale. She is a missions director of a church in Kentucky and was visiting for the weekend to make a partnership between her church and Parque Apoquindo. Members from Parque Apoquindo are missionaries/pastors of a Hispanic church in Lexington, so Kelly was visiting with Pelusa, the mom. After church, I joined Kelly's host family (Pelusa's family) and Kelly for Father's Day lunch. We had empañadas, guacamole, shrimp risotto and cake! Monica, the sister, asked if I wanted to come to her house to make cupcakes. Monica works at her father's restaurant and sells her desserts to the restaurant. While wearing a chef's outfit, I made cupcakes, apple bread and rice pudding! It was right before I was to begin icing the cupcakes that Cotty called Monica. Five minutes later I found out I would be moving in with Monica and her family the following day!

Line for empañadas


The mountains get me every time


Snow snow snow!