Last update before IGUAZU!

Just a few thoughts to share:

1) I have been TREMENDOUSLY blessed with my new familia here in BA. Everyday I just grow to love them more and more. The girls are so much fun to be around they treat me as their own sister. My madre is so sweet and is always trying to make me feel comfortable, and my padre reminds me so much of my real Daddy! Love them so much.

2) Worship + girls bible study on Sunday nights = favorite day of the week. So blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful people.

3) My two friends Lauren Herzog and Hannah Kenyon are going with me to Brazil in December and we booked our tickets today! Can't wait to spend time with Bryan and Jacqueline Bost and serve the people of Sao Paolo!

4) I'm going to Iguazu Falls tomorrow night with 8 other friends for a 5 day long weekend. I won't have my computer with me, so I'll post pictures and give an update when I get back on Sunday.



Besos y abrazos para todos :)

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me..."

Hospital

Thursday night,  a group of us went back to Hospital de lost Niños and passed out sandwiches. For some reason, I had a really hard time being there. My friend Taylor and I were passing out sandwiches and we came across this room with a girl who was about a year old and was bald. Seeing her absolutely broke my heart and I tried to keep it together until we left. Luckily, I did a good job of that and cried after we left. Seeing that poor little girl made me think about how blessed we are in the United States to have state-of-the-art hospitals and treatment for children. I wanted so badly for that little girl to be flown to St. Jude's and to be completely taken care of. After seeing that girl and many other sick kids, my friends and I were inspired to give them more than just sandwiches the next time we go. I'll keep you updated on what we decide to do, but for now, please pray for the children in that hospital.

Adulam

At 9:30 this morning, we all hopped on a bus and headed to the countryside. An hour and a half later, we arrived at Adulam. Adulam is a small Christian community where people who have no where else to go, can come and live and send their children to school. I had heard amazing things about this place before coming to BA, but I still didn't really know what to expect. Who would have thought that we would all fall in love with so many children!? Many of us played while others helped build roofs and did other forms of manual labor. I got lucky enough to play with the precious children! Three girls in particular stole my heart:

Deborah! Love her so much.

Millie! 

sweetest baby ever.

Despite the obvious poverty of Adulam, it is a place filled with happiness and you can see that clearly when you're around the kids. I hope that I have to opportunity to go back and serve them. It was such a blessing.

Besos y abrazos para todos!

This is the good life.

Today was a pretty fabulous day. I had two classes in the morning and was done for the day at 1pm. I got lunch, went home, did homework, then took a two hour nap. I then made my fifteen minute walk back to the Casa, and our whole group when out to our weekly convo dinner! This time, we took the Subte (subway) to a part of BA that I had never been to, and ate at an AMAZING gourmet buffet! Oh my goodness. I thought I ate a lot last week at Kansas, but no. That night didn't even compare. We were all prepared to be rolled out of the restaurant by the end of dinner. I think Pepperdine's plan is to send us abroad and get us fat. So far it's working. (pictures will be coming soon of our "food babies")

The best part of my night came after the amazing food. A bunch of students got together at the Casa to discuss a bible study for the semester. We had been wanting to put this together since the first day we got here, but school and being new to the city got in the way of that. Luckily, our wonderful Spiritual Advisor/Coordinator, Kasey, called a meeting together and it was AWESOME! It was amazing seeing so many of my friends come together and tell each other that what they wanted most from our abroad experience is to grow deeper in the Word and with God. How cool is that?! We decided that we're going to meet twice a week: once after Sunday night worship, and then again after Wednesday convo dinner. I am so excited to see God work this semester and I can't wait to deepen my friendships with people in the group. 

Please pray for us to grow in our relationships with each other and with the Lord. 

Besos y abrazos! :)

This is your life.

Last night, 13 people from Pepperdine went to a Switchfoot concert in Buenos Aires! We got there at 4pm, stood in line for three and a half hours, and prayed that it would be worth the 130 pesos (around $30). We finally crammed into the building at 7:45 and listened to Argentine opening bands for the next two hours. I didn't even know what to expect at a concert in Argentina, but it was totally crazy. People were ramming into each other and at one point, I looked over and found my friend Molly laying horizontally on top of people! The crowd just shoved everyone around until we were practically kissing the ground. After two hours of spanish music that I didn't understand, Switchfoot came on stage and totally stole the show. It was AMAZING, to say the least.

SWITCHFOOT!!

Too many people... but it was so worth it!

It was so neat seeing people from all over South America (there were some from Paraguay, Venezuela, Chile, you name it...) come to worship God in such a cool way: with an American band! This night was definitely my favorite night in BA. 

Favorite part of today:

 paying 15 pesos (around $3) for my laundry to be taken to the lavendaria (laundromat) and it looking like this:

^^washed, dried, ironed, and folded. 

I love this country.

Besos y abrazos!

Morgs

Fuego!

The past 24 hours have been a whirlwind. Last night, all 63 students, plus some faculty, went to an American restaurant called "Kansas". It was the first time in a week that I had had salad (or any vegetables for that matter) and it was kind of a disappointment because the salad was drenched in dressing and we could barely taste the lettuce. Luckily, the steak and AMAZING dessert made up for it, and we all left the restaurant full, happy Americans.

Today, we had our typical Thursday Asado (barbeque), which was delicious as always. At around 8pm, a group of 25 went to El Hospital de los Niños (a Children's Hospital that we go to once a week) to give out sandwiches to the families whose children were sick. I didn't really know what to expect the hospital to be like, but it definitely came at a bigger surprise when we pulled up to this run-down looking building and realized it was the hospital. I don't really know how to describe how it looked, but imagine a dirty looking building with old murals painted around the walls. All around the hospital, there were stray cats lurking about and when my group went to the 2nd floor to pass out the food, the rooms looked cramped and unkempt. I think we only saw one nurse on the whole floor. It was a very surreal and humbling experience for all of us to see what people in other countries have for their healthcare. I realized how blessed we are to be from a country that has incredibly well-known hospitals, that are kept in great condition. We all felt so sympathetic towards the sick children and their families, because we know that the majority of Americans don't have to be taken care of in conditions like that.

After the hospital, I was on my way home and was on the corner where my apartment building is, when I saw a huge group of people gathered around and fire trucks and ambulances everywhere. When I tried to get a better look at what was happening, I saw police tape and panicked. I froze, then turned right back around, called my friend Alexx in hysterics, and practically ran back to the Casa which is about a 10 minute walk away. All that was going through my head was, "Is my family okay? Was there a fire? A murder? I DON'T KNOW!" Alexx and two other guys from Pepperdine met me at the Casa and I broke down. By then, I had finally gotten ahold of my sister, Jesi, and all she had told me (or all that I understood) was "Fuego!", which means fire. She then said that I should stay at the Casa until she could call me back and it was alright for us all to go home. Thankfully, a few of my friends stayed with me until my madre called and said it was okay to come back, that everything was fine. My friend Taylor walked me home and when I got back, the firefighters and police were still there, but it was clear for us to go back into the building. My family probably thinks I'm some crazy American because I walked into the apartment, almost in tears, hugging them and trying to tell them (in spanish) how scared I was and that I'm glad they're okay. I still don't know exactly how the fire started or where it was, but I am so thankful that everything and everyone was okay!

There you have it! A crazy day in BA and I'm still loving it!



Besos y abrazos para todos! xoxo

5 Fun Facts

1. There are stop lights in the city, but NO stop signs anywhere...
2. My host mom soaks our salad in salt water, then proceeds to pour 1/4 of a cup of salt on top.
3. There is a street in BA that is 20 lanes long. 10 lanes each way.
4. There are about 13 million people living in they city of Buenos Aires.
5. I've eaten over 15 empanadas since I've been here. Uh oh.

Day 6

I've been using my trusty website spanishdic.com, for whenever I need to quickly translate something. Earlier, I was typing in random things just for fun, and decided to check and see if "que paso" meant "what's up". Clearly my spanish is not as good as I thought it was, because "que paso" means "what happened". So if you're ever wondering why my blog is titled "quepasobuenosaires", it's because I thought it meant, "what's up buenos aires?" not, "what happened buenos aires?".

 I'm going to keep it as is.

Anyway, the past few days have been mellow but really great. We started intensive spanish classes last Friday, then picked it up again yesterday. It has been pretty challenging, but I've definitely learned a lot.  In the very beginning, our professor told us she didn't speak english (which she does) and that she would only talk to us in spanish. It terrified me at first, but now I'm so glad she does.

I also had my first "Oh-my-gosh-I-live-in-another-country-and-am-so-far-away-from-home" moment yesterday. I knew it would happen but I was definitely expecting something more intense than it actually was. I was sitting in my room and it just dawned on me that I wouldn't be going back to America for a long time. Normally, I would have started crying. But for some odd reason, I just pondered the thought, freaked out only a little, then moved on with my day. It was very strange for me, but I definitely think it was God letting me know that I'm okay here. 

Here are a few pictures of what I've been up to lately:

I love my little sisters!

An old theatre converted into a bookstore!

Besos y abrazos para todos!

Life is so good.

You may think I'm crazy for blogging everyday, but not only do I need to keep track of all the exciting things I do, but it makes my mom and dad happy.

Today was another great day. A few friends and I went to a flea market in an area called San Telmo. What made that extra special was the fact that my home-stay sisters (the two older ones, Jesi and Eli) came with us!! They don't speak any english, so we all got to practice our español! They were also a really big help with getting around the city. I loved having them with us today.

After our little adventure, we dropped off Jesi and Eli at our house, then the rest of us went back to Casa Holden for Sunday night worship. Tonight was our first worship night and I can already tell that this is going to be one of my favorite things to do. I think it is so important to have keep worshiping and fellow-shipping while we are abroad. I'm so glad that so many of us are wanting to make this a habit and I am so excited to see what God has in store for all of us during that time.

That's all for now! And now I can add pictures :)


Besos y abrazos

I have fallen in love with this city.

Seriously though, Buenos Aires is the coolest city ever. Pepperdine gave us a list of about twenty different activities to do, and we had to chose five of them, so today we had planned on doing four but ended up doing only two. A group of about eleven of us took the subway from Casa Holden and went to the Japanese Gardens and had sushi! It was a pretty far walk from the subway stop to the gardens, so we got to sightsee a little. After that, we went back to the Casa then my friend Melissa came over to meet my family! We watched the final game of the Women's Field Hockey "World Cup" tournament, and Argentina beat the Netherlands 3-1! It was a very exciting game and we all got really into it. It was also really neat for me to introduce my friend to my new family. I feel so blessed to have such great new "padres" and new sisters, so I love showing them off whenever I can :)

Here in Buenos Aires, people don't usually eat until nine or ten, and then they go out to café's or bars at midnight. My sister's, Jessica and Eliana, and I ordered in empanadas and then I went out with a group of friends. We usually all meet at the Casa and then go as a group to the café or bar. Tonight, there were sixteen of us and we all had to get on the same bus to get to this café that is half an hour away from the Casa. All sixteen of us got on the bus that already had about twenty or twenty five people on it, and all the locals looked at us like we were lunatics. When we finally got to our stop thirty minutes later, the bus driver stood up from his seat, and shouted for us to get off! We all leaped off that bus like it was on fire! It was one of the funniest things that has happened to me so far, and it made me realize how crazy Americans can look in foreign countries.

After all of the madness, we got to this wonderful café called "Café Tortoni". We stayed there until 2ish, which is actually when most young people START going out! However, we Americans have not gotten used to that and were exhausted by 2 am.

It was yet another wonderful day in the city of Buenos Aires and I am continuing to thank God for this amazing experience.



Besos y abrazos para todos!

Second day in this wonderful city

Hola!

Today was our second day in Buenos Aires! We got to the Casa at around 9 am and went on a bus tour of the city. BA is a beautiful city with gorgeous architecture and tons of people! Our first stop was in the downtown area and we went inside a beautiful cathedral (I can't remember the name), and then we our next stop was La Boca, which is so far, my favorite place in BA. It is a very colorful area. Almost every building is yellow, blue, pink, or any other bright color you can think of. There are lot's of little shops and it's just a very fun place to walk around. My mistake was thinking that some things were free. We got of the bus and I spotted one of those things where you stick your head in the hole and there's a body cut-out and you take a picture with it. My friend Taylor and I stuck our heads in to take the picture, and this lady grabbed my hair, put a flower in it, and said "ah okay, 10 pesos!" Haha Taylor and I didn't have time to say no, so we took the picture and I'm so glad we did! (look in my "about me" section!)

After the city tour, we went back to the Casa and ate delicious empandas! Then, I went with a few friends to buy a pay-as-you-go cell phone. NOBODY speaks english so it was quite an experience, but the man was very nice and helpful, and we all ended up with phones!

At the end of the day, I was walking home with a friend who lives in the building next door to mine, and instead of the 10 minute walk that it normally is, about an hour later we finally got home! We got so lost and eventually found a police officer who didn't speak english, but thankfully, was standing with a friend who did. He then called my friend's "madre" and she told him where to tell us to go. I finally got to my building, but then couldn't open the elevator and the staircase didn't have any lights! Fortunately, this little boy opened the elevator for me, looked at me like I was a crazy person, and I finally got into the apartment!

All in all, it was a crazy and fun day, and I'm looking forward to more adventures!!

God is GOOD!

My new home

After being in and out of planes and airports for 22 hours, we finally arrived in Buenos Aires! Unfortunately for me, I fell asleep on the ride to Casa Holden (Peppperdine's house) and didn't get to see much of the city. We did, however, spend a few hours in the Casa and it is beautiful! We had our welcome orientation and then "Asado", which is Argentine barbeque. Argentineans eat lots of beef and bread, so I cannot wait for all of the meals! At around 4 pm. my host mom came and picked me up from the Casa, to take me to my new home for the next 8 months. Despite the language barrier, Cristina (my "madre") is wonderful and made me feel so welcomed in her home. She and her husband, Roberto, have four daughters: Jessica (16), Eliana (13), Jazmin (8), and Briza (6). These girls are absolutely precious and very excited to have me here. The youngest, Briza, is fascinated with my blonde hair!



My room is about 5x7 and it's been really hard trying to fit my things in it, but it's really comfy and secluded from their tiny apartment... except for the pigeon cave outside my window! We're on the fourth floor and looking out the window, it looks like a giant cave with pigeons flying around! I'm not in suburbia anymore, that's for sure.


Tomorrow we are going on a city tour then starting our Intensive Spanish classes, which I so desperately need.
Thank you all for the thoughts and prayers!



Besos y abrazos xoxo

THE DAY HAS FINALLY COME!

Tomorrow at 1:20 pm, I, along with many other students, will be departing from LAX to Lima, Peru, then to Buenos Aires! I still cannot believe that after months of anticipation and preparation, we are finally leaving! God has truly blessed me with amazing people to share this journey with and I can't wait to see what He has in store for us. Please say a prayer for all of us who are traveling to Argentina, and for the others who are traveling to Heidelberg, London, and Shanghai!

Muchos abrazos para todo :)
(lots of hugs for all!)