Transformation

Presidential Festivities

2010-03-01T11:00:00.000-08:00

We have a new president here in Uruguay! As of a few hours ago, Jose "Pepe" Mujica and his vicepresident Daniel Astori took their oaths in the Legislative Palace and marched down the packed 18 de Julio right by my apartment, assuming their roles for the next 5 years. Currently, I am alternating between watching the action on TV and watchin the madness in the street from my balcony. The plaza where the new president currently is making his speeches is less than a block from my apartment, but I cannot actually see it from my balcony due to another tall building placed inconveniently in the way.

Uruguayans are quite passionate about their politics, and also like to celebrate, and this day is the perfect storm of both elements. It was interesting watching them setting up the stage in the plaza throughout the week; you could almost feel the excitement mounting as the days went on. As soon as all the formalities fnish up a couple bands are going to play (they were doing sound checks complete with recorded reggae music, loud speeches, and live music until about 2am last night) and I am certain the crowds in the street will be celebrating well into the morning hours. The day is actually an official holiday, so most businesses and operations are closed as well.

In recognition of the importance of the day, quite a few dignitaries have shown up including Evo Morales (Bolivia), Lula (Brazil), Cristina Kirchner & husband (Argentina), Uribe (Colombia), Chavez (Venezuela), King Juan Carlos of Spain, Lugo (Paraguay), as well as high ranking Peruvian, Nicaraguan, and Guatemalan officials. Oh yeah, and Hillary Clinton is here too, kicking off a regional tour including Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Costa Rica, and Guatemala (the local Communist Party made a banner for the event saying "USA out of the Middle East & Latin America!" -- not sure if that includes me or not). Its pretty interesting to have most of these people staying in a hotel less than a block from my apartment and watching them all hang out together, since many of them dont always get along -- Uribe and Chavez just had a big fight last week in Mexico.

Anyways, thats what is going on in Uruguay today!

Proyectos! And many of them...

2009-11-16T13:50:00.001-08:00

WARNING: This is a very long blogpost. Grab some coffee, get comfortable, and blink your eyes a few times because this might take you awhile to read. That, or you can take breaks along the way. Good luck! Ready, Set, Go!

I'm back! I've been planning on writing this particular post for quite awhile, but kept feeling like I was just about to find out more about a particular project and wanted to wait until I really knew where I would be focusing. I've finally reached that point so I'm finally writing the blog!

I came down to Uruguay having contacted one NGO in particular to potentially work with in my time here, but was leaving myself open to finding projects based on the needs I observed in the country. I've been working with that NGO and have really enjoyed the work and feel it is a very necessary and helpful organization, but have also observed great needs in the peripheral slum communities of Montevideo and have been wanting to get more involved there. I've been in a trial and error process of finding ways to accomplish that goal the past few months, and finally have been making some great progress!

I began teaching chess lessons to help out another Rotary scholar, Gabriel, and through that started spending more time in a community called Maracaná and getting to know an organization called Juventud Artiguista. The group was started by a couple guys who live in the community (the largest slum in the country), and they are trying to help their community by building up the local merendero, clinic, and associated community group (more details below). I've had a lot of fun helping them and am really excited about the opportunities I have at the clinic!

So, here it goes, a somewhat detailed breakdown of each of my current major projects.

Claves: Claves is the organization I spoke with before coming down here, and was my first major job and I still have been working there typically two times a week. I won't spend too much time on it since I discussed it in a previous post. Claves educates students, adults, educators, psychologists, social workers, etc in Uruguay and quite a large number of other countries in order to reduce levels of mistreatment and abuse. The weeklong annual campaign encourages adults to commit to listening to and believing children when they tell them something and denouncing situations of abuse when they are aware of them. I have found myself in the role of preparing the many materials we sell through local bookstores, and at times delivering ordered materials and picking up overstock. I've really enjoyed working at Claves, more than anything for the people I've met.

Maracaná: That's the name of the largest slum in Uruguay with between 1,000-2,000 families, and I've been spending a lot of time there lately! For a slum it's relatively nice compared to some I've seen here with gravel roads, cement paths over the sewer ditches, most houses with electricity, drinkable water, and a fridge, and few people working in "trash classification" -- o sea, the people that ride around all day in horse-drawn carts digging through the dumpsters, separating the trash, and selling what they can. That also means there are a lot fewer trash piles in the slum, which in some places I've seen tower high over the roofs of the houses. However, it's still a slum and the poverty is still evident, especially as I've been able to meet face-to-face with patients in the policlinica (few of whom eat more than one true meal per day).

But I'm getting ahead of myself; let me tell you how I got started there. As I mentioned above, Gabe has spent a lot of time developing a chess program to teach kids here, and also teaching others who are interested in teaching chess how to teach it (that's a lot of teaching)! My roommate Diego and I went to one of his teacher workshops, and then I later went with him to a meeting of a group called Juventud Artiguista that is working to help Maracaná in any way they can. Their approach is working with the merendero (a community center type place that functions as a preschool by day and a place for kids to get something to eat after school) and with the local civil association, trying to get greater integration from the local residents by offering membership in the association for about 50 cents per month in exchange for a variety of services. They're still working on hammering that out, but some of the services that will be offered are a lawn-mower so they don't have to hack at their grass by hand with a machete and a library (they already have ~1,500 books) that kids can check out to read. That, plus the chess classes we've been offering twice a week and some other classes they hope to develop are the base of their initial pitch. Another key part of their plan is getting people in higher class neighborhoods to become members for the same price (or a bit more if they wish), creating a network of support giving them greater resources to help the neighborhood and hopefully planning activities that bring the people of the two communities together -- something that might not otherwise happen in daily Montevidean life. They're also teaching chess in the elementary school, and I have a great time tagging along with that when I can. So far, my involvement with the Juventud Artiguista includes teaching chess two afternoons per week and helping on the weekends fix up the merendero. We've painted the outside, are working on the inside, started electrical work, and more!

Gabe the master teaching a couple of the girls what exactly the bishops do.

Probably my all time favorite picture I've taken in Uruguay.

Two of the Juventud Artiguista fix the bench!

Alberto the ringleader of J.A.

Lourdes chips away at the old mural. Take note of what the merendero looked like...

Outdoor chess lessons when the guy with the key to the merendero didn't show up.

Joaquin and Jose (2 more J.A. guys) paint the windows pink.

One of the girls knocked over some paint so we turned it into a sun!

Fernanda (the incredible Rotaract president) and some of the girls paint the other window. The expression on the littlest girls face never changed and absolutely cracked me up.

Marcos (another J.A./chess teacher guy) draws the circles for the bubbles we decided to paint.

Almost finished product! Quite the difference, huh? I'll have to take another picture now that it's completely painted, it looks incredible and sort of tasty like a birthday cake :)

The Juventud Artiguista (by the way, that basically means Artigas Youth -- Artigas is the liberating hero of Uruguay) also are working with the local clinic to see how they can help here, perhaps with cleaning and painting and electrical work as in the merendero. I've been going there twice a week (1.5 hour bus ride one way every morning leaving at 6:45am!) with another Rotary Scholar, Jessica, meeting with patients for 10-15 minutes each. I take their blood pressure and heart rate, and then we ask them some questions about recent sicknesses in their household, recent deaths in their family, hygiene habits, what they typically eat in a day, and other questions to create a general and statistical picture of the health and nutrition challenges in the community. The goal is to use that information next year to design seminars, classes, and the like to help out the clinic and improve the health and health habits of the barrio! It's been really enjoyable getting to know the people, and we already have some great ideas for workshops. We're also hoping to leverage the many contacts we have for potential resources for the clinic, as they even lack soap for the bathroom and paper to keep medical charts.

The policlinica! The chalkboard announces which days a particular doctor will be there/what service will be offered.

All in all, I've been making the 3 hour roundtrip bus ride 4-5 times per week, and it's been totally worth it! I love the work I'm doing in the neighborhood and it's fun to start to recognize more and more people each time I show up.

Rotaract: I just recently got involved with a Rotaract club here in Uruguay (Rotary for people 18-30 years old), and I wish I would've done it a lot sooner! The people are a whole lot of fun and the one project I've taken place in so far has been great! Right now there's a lot of communication between Juventud Artiguista and Rotaract and we're trying to see how the latter can perhaps get involved with the merendero and policlinica as well.

Last weekend we went to the cerro (big hill/small "mountain") in Piriapolis about 1.5 hours from Montevideo with a group of about 30 people including Rotaract, Juventud Artiguista, CouchSurfers, and Scouts. We made the somewhat difficult climb, and then started picking up what looked like not much trash. However, the small piles of trash turned out to be literally the tips of the icebergs (trashbergs?), and we ended up filling 50 large bags worth of bottles and other litter, and had to leave quite a bit up there when we ran out of bags! We then descended down the hill -- much more difficult, very tiring, and slightly dangerous with a giant bag in each hand. We made it safely with only one fall (she's okay!), and left the cerro cleaner than we found it. We're hoping to go back sometime soon to take down the rest, and hopefully we can put up signs or something similar asking people to pack out what they pack in!

The cross at the top of the cerro. Some of the guys climbed up and waved the Rotaract flag, though it's so high up you can't read what it says!

Jessica models the project shirt. Next to her and behind the rock Brandon is leaning against was an endless pit of trash. We thought it was just a few bottles but it was the first place we started digging and 2-3 hours later still had a loooong way to go when we ran out of bags :(

The bags pile up. The group in the background is digging behind the rock in the endless pit of trash.

Most of the group with a lot of the trash bags right before we headed back down.

Others: I had been hoping to help out with a local church's soup kitchen, but unfortunately it has closed due to lack of resources. They know that I am willing to help in anyway to get it re-opened, and I'm hopeful that may happen next year!

I've also been hoping to do more work with Techo's health group, but their meeting times clash with my schedule. I'm still in contact with them, and ideally I'd like to build on this health survey idea and combine it with the survey they have if it continues to go well in Maracaná.

Finally, I also contacted a group that I had found out about in Minnesota called Partners (or Compañeros here). They are a NGO that sponsors lots of exchange between MN and UY (I believe there is a similar NGO for each Latin American country and a different state of the USA), and have different teams working on projects in all sorts of areas here. I recently went one day and helped out with a conference put on by Compañeros and the US Embassy discussing human trafficking. It was quite interesting and I learned a lot! Not sure what more I will be doing with them in the future but hopefully more projects will come up!

So that's what I've been up to! I hope you survived to the end of the post, or better yet took breaks along the way. I'll be sure to keep you posted on how things develop, especially with the merendero and policlinica. Email me if you have any questions or comments!

chau chau

And the winner is...

2009-10-27T12:11:00.001-07:00

....nobody, yet. Pepe managed to garner ~48% of the vote, but you need a 51% majority here to win outright. Lacalle won an underwhelming ~29% and Pedro Bordaberry a surprisingly high ~17%. Others and the Independent Party both won in the neighborhood of 2-3%.

Now we head to runoff, one month from now. Unfortunately, that means another month of campaigning and focus on the elections instead of important issues that need addressing now. It should be an interesting month, however, because even if all of Pedro's supporters vote "blanco" (that is, Lacalle), the Frente Amplio would still have more of the vote. Assuming the vast majority of "colorados" do choose to vote blanco, it comes down to the Others and Partido Independiente to decide the election. Anyway you look at it, it is going to be close.

I find it incredibly interesting to listen to the critiques of my friends. Pepe is characterized as a folksy but inept candidate who allegedly killed people during the guerrilla struggle against the dictatorship, while Lacalle is characterized as a shady, potentially dishonest fellow who allegedly dealt corruptly in his previous presidency. Surprisingly, his past presidency is rarely touched upon during the campaign and in the media. You'd think having 5 years of experience with this man everybody would be racing to breakdown what he did or did not do during those years to see what he can and may do during another presidency (especially if he was perhaps corrupt), but for some reason that's not the case. In the roughly translated words of one of my Pedro-supporting classmates that will vote Lacalle in the runoff, "I'd rather have a corrupt than a murderer [for president]." Interesting perspective, especially coming from the USA culture of war hero candidates being greatly ballyhooed (e.g. John McCain), while even candidates who participated in war but allegedly were not that involved in conflict are deemed unsuitable (see Al Gore).

In the other major issues, neither of the ballot initiatives passed. The vote to essentially get rid of amnesty for criminals on both sides of the dictatorship struggle only received 46% of the vote, and the vote to allow Uruguayans in the exterior to vote around 37%. I find it quite sad that the human rights of the families and friends of those who simply disappeared without explanation during the dictatorship will continue unaddressed, while the implicit suggestion that there is an untouchable class of people not responsible for their crimes persists. Granted, the politics of actually persecuting those criminals so many years later would be quite complicated, but sometimes the easy things in life are not the right things. As for the voting from abroad, the result probably reassures some of the present populace that they will not be subject to taxes or other propositions voted through by the 15-20% of the citizenship not residing in the country & therefore not subject to the effects (I got the number wrong in my last post), but is disappointing for those people who are still holding out for certain political changes they want a voice in before choosing to return to their homeland.

Got any questions about Uruguayan politics after these two posts? Email me!

Election Day!

2009-10-25T09:53:00.000-07:00

Update: A NY Times article on the elections as they likely head into a runoff: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/world/americas/26uruguay.html?_r=1

It's election day in Uruguay! Presidential & congressional elections following non-stop campaigning ever since I arrived. I'll do a very minimal breakdown of the main presidential candidates, the electoral system, and share some of the idiosyncrasies of the campaign & election style here in Uruguay.

The Candidates:

1. Jose (Pepe) Mujica: Pepe is the leader of the "Frente Amplio" (Broad Front), a very diverse coalition ranging from the conservative Christian Democrats to the much more liberal socialist & communist parties. He was a guerrilla fighter under the dictatorship, and one of the most frequent objections I hear from people who don't want to vote for him is "He killed people." This is interesting to me, since it seems so important to so many in USA elections to vote for somebody who has been in a war. Though I haven't seen a lot of poll breakdowns on these lines, judging by the neighborhoods I've been in and people I've talked to, Pepe is much more widely supported among the "clase obrera" (working class, blue-collar lower wage) then the middle and upper classes, though there are obviously exceptions. Pepe is leading all polls, but if he doesn't win 51% of the vote there will be a run-off between the top two candidates in November, and most analysts and Uruguayans seem to think it would be hard for him to attract many more votes in that runoff.

2. Lacalle aka Qki ("cookie"): Lacalle was president a few terms ago and is running again with about 35% in the polls. He's the candidate from the "blancos," one of the two historically dominant parties. I don't know that much about him, though he is most likely to win if the election goes to runoff. He has a bit of a reputation among some people I've talked to of being a bit secretive or potentially corrupt from his last term, but I really don't know much about the truth of those claims.

3. Pedro Bordaberry: Pedro is the candidate from the "colorados," the other historically dominant party and 15% in the polls. He's the son of the former dictator (now in jail), but as one of my classmates told me (a supporter of Pedro), "He's got a lot of baggage because of that, but he's completely different" than his dad. Pedro doesn't have any real shot at the presidency, but will probably get a few representatives in congress to be a minority opposition voice or an important part of any potential coalition government.

4. Other Issues: So these aren't candidates, but there are two other important issues on the ballot today.

A. One is whether or not to allow Uruguayans living outside the country to vote. Up to 10% of Uruguayans left the country during the dictatorship and few have come back, so those outside the country have a pretty big potential voice. One of the fears I've heard is those ex-pats will vote in place large taxes that they aren't affected by, not realizing their ramifications.

B. The other is whether or not to annul the "ley de capucidad," a law that says the executive power must approve any judicial proceedings on crimes from the dictator era, which essentially becomes general amnesty for all crimes on either side during that era. Just like in every other country where this law has been debated (Argentina is the only one to annul so far), the debate is between whether it's worth it to open these old wounds & isn't it time to just move on, or whether the principle of allowing the executive branch to un- constitutionally check the judicial branch on this issue sets a principle that influences the culture negatively, both not giving closure to the families of the missing and showing that some people aren't accountable for the crimes they commit. It's a difficult issue, and needs 50% + 1 vote to pass, and latest polls were in the mid 40% with 10-17% undecided.

The Electoral System

This system is quite a bit different from that in the USA, as voters don't vote individually for each open seat, but instead vote a party's "list." Each list has the same president/vice-president combinations (that's set in stone), but then for each president/vice-pres combination there are seemingly endless options for the various representatives, etc. However, all these combinations are still within the same general party, so it is impossible to vote for a senator from the colorados and Pepe for president, as they would never be found on the same list. The vote is also obligatory here as in most Latin American countries (or you have to pay a $100 fine), though you do have the option to vote blank -- not choose. Voters from the interior of the country living in Montevideo have the option to re-register to vote here, or, as many do, go back home for the weekend to vote.

Idiosyncrasies

As in many areas of life, Uruguayans are passionate about their candidates, and spend hours in the streets waving their flags, handing out their lists, and blaring their horns and music. It's a semi-party, semi-annoying atmosphere way different than anything I've seen in the U.S. Candidates were officially required to close their campaigns 48 hours before election day, but supporters were still strong in the streets, waving the flags and blaring the cumbia (since they can't play official campaign music in the last 48 hours), and honking at others waving the same flags. Surprisingly, today it's really quiet. Everybody going out to vote, but no more party style campaigning. Beside the 48 hour ban on candidate speeches and campaigning, restaurants and stores were no longer allowed to sell alcohol after 8pm last night, apparently in an effort to keep people from dancing all night until 6am (as is usual for Saturday night) and showing up to vote with a less-than-clear mind. A somewhat interesting rule in my opinion, especially since it's always possible to buy earlier in the day and save until that night.

I think that's most of the differences I've noticed, I'll keep you posted on the results once they come in!

Un Trato por el Buentrato!

2009-09-29T17:03:00.001-07:00

Update: Okay, so I've finally got a way that I think will reliably let me upload photos, but my first time using it for some reason it cropped the photos weird. I'm just going to leave them for now (I'm a bit busy!) and try to fix it in following posts. Thanks for your patience!

Alright, as I've been promising in the last post or two, I'm going to update you all on what I've actually been working on so far down here. I've been working with a group called CLAVES, a division of Juventud Para Cristo (Youth for Christ) that works for the prevention of mistreatment and abuse of kids & adolescents. My first few weeks there were spent preparing all sorts of materials for the campaign we had last week, which is essentially the culmination of their work each year.

Each Saturday and some weekdays leading up to the campaign CLAVES put on workshops training groups of teenagers about mistreatment & abuse, steps they can take in those situations, and how they could participate in the campaign. They also put on workshops and retreats for educators, lawyers, psychologists, and the like. These workshops take place all over the country, and they have also expanded the program internationally.

The week of the campaign involves a bunch of youth going out into their neighborhoods and joining us in downtown talking to adults and asking them to sign a certificate promising to listen to, believe, and protect children as well as denouncing situations of mistreatment and abuse (silence and believing nothing can be done is a widespread problem here). If they agreed, they were given a piece of candy as their "vaccination" against mistreatment, and then had the opportunity to talk with us in the tent for more information.

The crazy supply table staff....we had a lot of fun & attracted a lot of attention.

Look up...

...and see this giant hand that says "What do you feel with a hand raised above you?" Some of the kids in one of the workshops came up with this idea and so we added it to the tent.

This is Victoria hard at work keeping up the stock of certificates, vaccinations, and stickers. This volunteer supply table is where I spent most of the week.

"Peace begins at home"

Some of the groups of kids came and performed in the plaza outside the tent in order to promote the campaign. This was a step/dance type group.

The little kids corner of the tent! Lots of coloring and face-painting going on here.

One of our vaccinators hard at work. Before this campaign (the 7th annual) they had "vaccinated" something like 300,000 adults, and though I'm not sure of the exact numbers this year it must've been close to another 100,000 throughout the country. It's really cool how a one-room office of 5-6 paid staff (mostly part-time) plus random volunteers can put on something like this! Hopefully the ideas will begin to stick in the minds of politicians, parents, and others who were informed and the country will be a safer place for kids to live.

Un Trato por el Buentrato!

2009-09-25T12:07:00.000-07:00

Update: So for reasons unbeknownst to me the photos I'm uploading seem to disappear and reappear at random. I'll have to figure out another way to upload them since the one I found is obviously not reliable.

The crazy supply table staff....we had a lot of fun & attracted a lot of attention.

Look up...

...and see this giant hand that says "What do you feel with a hand raised above you?" Some of the kids in one of the workshops came up with this idea and so we added it to the tent.

This is Victoria hard at work keeping up the stock of certificates, vaccinations, and stickers. This volunteer supply table is where I spent most of the week.

"Peace begins at home"

Some of the groups of kids came and performed in the plaza outside the tent in order to promote the campaign. This was a step/dance type group.

The little kids corner of the tent! Lots of coloring and face-painting going on here.

Finally!

2009-09-22T13:12:00.000-07:00

Updated Update: Woohoo!! All the pictures are finally loading and even are clickable to see bigger versions! Finally!!! It seems I have to upload during the day for best internet signal...now I'll work on starting the next photo blog to show you what I've actually been up to instead of just photos of all these random South American apartments!

Old Update: So, the problem isn't quite solved. I should have the issue fixed and the pictures to accompany the captions tomorrow, but until then let your imaginations go wild! :)

I finally discovered a workaround to upload pictures to Blogger with a shaky internet connection, so here's a photo blog of my new apartment which I've been in since the beginning of the month.

The view from my bedroom window. I could hear this guy playing the violin ~1/2 block away even with all the street noise! It was pretty cool.

The poorly lit living room.

Seems like I'm always drying clothes when I decide to take blog pictures. I was actually wanting a picture of the grill that's in the background -- a typical wood-burning parilla. Unfortunately, when we tried to use it for the first time Saturday night it was very windy and the fire wouldn't stay lit.

Looking from the balcony down the street to the port -- see the cranes in the distance?

Looking down the street in the other direction toward the boardwalk -- we essentially live on a peninsula part of Montevideo ~6 blocks from the water (but not beaches) either way.

I had a picture of this building in an earlier post -- I find it incredibly cool and am quite pleased I have this great view of it from the balcony. It was the tallest building in the Americas when constructed.

Looking straight down from our 5th floor abode.

See the Asian alphabet on this sign? The port area is the only place in Montevideo that I've found with an Asian influence. There are lots of Asian restaurants and even a Korean karaoke place nearby, none of which I've yet had a chance to try.

These convenient little key-copy stands are everywhere. They can even copy your remotes for your cars in those little booths!

These "carritos" (literally, little cars), are on just about ever corner downtown and serve pretty decent, fast meat sandwiches -- sausage, hot dogs, hamburgers, etc.

That's it for now! I'll work on uploading some pictures from the anti-mistreatment/abuse campaign the organization I work with put on last week to have up in a few days!

Technological Difficulties

2009-09-16T09:53:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody, sorry for my incredibly long silence. I was out of the country for a week and have had quite a bit going on, including moving into a new apartment. I've been trying for the last week to upload a bunch of pictures to the blog but the internet just hasn't been cooperating, and it's not any better today. It should be fixed by the end of the week so I'll hopefully get that posted soon! Thanks for your patience.

Focus

2009-08-16T12:23:00.000-07:00

Just to warn you, this blog isn´t going to tell you what I´ve been up to recently, or what´s new in Uruguay. Rather, it´s a collection of thoughts and ramblings, a sort of stream of consciousness, if you will.

One of the things I´ve been thinking about and learning, re-learning, or remembering recently is the difference between our (my) focus as I live this life on the third planet from "our" sun and the focus of God. When I start to have questions or face difficulties, when things become uncertain or the future is unclear (aka always), I often start to wonder why God isn't being clearer, or start expecting specific answers to questions I want answered. That is, in times of uncertainty, difficulty, or suffering, I want God to come through for me. I am self-focused.

But that's not God's focus. Not to say that He doesn't come through for us or doesn't care about us, but rather that our self-focus is not God's focus. There are numerous examples of this in the Bible, and the ones that have been on my mind recently are Job, Paul, & Jesus.

First, Job, just because I listed him first: Job basically goes through what we would likely consider a living hell. He loses everything, from his property to his family, and to top it of is subjected to some tortorous diseases. That alone makes most of my "sufferings" seem fairly minor. Understandably (meaning I would feel the same way), Job is confused, upset, and even a bit righteously (self-righteously?) angry with God. He does not understand why in his faithful service to God (the beginning of the story identifies him as perfect!!) he has suddenly been subjected to all of this horror. God lets him ramble, yell, and philosophize for awhile, and then sort of ignores everything Job said in His response (that is, he does not respond specifically to much of Job's questioning). Why? Focus. God basically tells Job, look, I am the Creator, you are Job, and you cannot in the broken world you live in understand or see my will and ways. His response is one that reminds of how awesome He truly is, and leaves us worshipping, glorifying, and repenting of our self-focus. It's true that Job did not deserve what he got and his righteous anger at God was not without justification, but that is all from a paradigm of self-focus. It is not about us, it is about God, and when we are focused on Him, no matter the circumstance we are left in awe and wonder, glorifying His name.

Next, Paul: Paul talks about in a number of places all the things he suffered, but always follows it up by saying how wonderful those things were (though he clearly suffered and was not just deluded, able to live smiling without pain through all of his intense physical distress) because they glorified God! Paul's focus on God is so fixed and steadfast that no matter how much abuse he takes from cynics and doubters, no matter how many shipwrecks, imprisonments, and beatings, he is able to glorify God. It is not that Paul is some sort of superhuman or that his pain receptors were not quite as sensitive as ours, but rather that he was not self-focused. He was God focused and that made all the difference.

Finally, Christ: Right before He is about to be crucified, the full knowledge of what He is about to experience really hits Him, and this knowledge puts Him in a place of anxiety and stress, such that He sweat blood! Perhaps you´ve seen one of those videos detailing the physiology or crucifixion, or read one of the medical accounts of how it would have been. Probably one of the most unpleasant things man can experience. Christ, being fully God, knew all of this, and being fully man, could translate that knowledge into the intense pain He would experience, and that did not leave Him leaping for joy. Yet, He was not focused on Himself, so His prayer was that He would not have to experience that pain, but if there was no other way, that His Father´s will be done. And it was, and it was not pleasant for Him. So unpleasant that He cries out in agony asking God why He has forsaken Him, the Son. Intense suffering. Yet in it God was glorified and the world and each of us were given the chance for true healing.

All of these examples remind me how silly it is when I encounter difficulties to be constantly expecting God to swoop in and just fix it all, because that is nothing more than a religion that is focused on me, one that worships and glorifies me and my "right" to comfort, not God and His perfection. In a more general sense this is easily seen when people with faith in God experience great suffering or trials, and as a result their faith weakens or disappears. Our own self-focus tells us that because we worship God and pray to God He is compelled to make that sort of intense suffering go away. Of course, that is not the case and He did not even do that for His Son, but all in the purpose of His greater plan. When we are focused on Him we can see that greater plan, and can move away from a religion focused on self. My focus definitely isn't there yet. It is very hard to have that perfect God focus because I do not always trust God and His grace.

If it all ended there, this might be kind of a depressing thought, because on the one hand it is not at all about us, it is all about God, and when we suffer in this life we might not always get the comfortable result we want, because that comfortable result is not a truly perfect result, it only seems so in our focus. On the other hand, despite it not being about us, this perfect God loves each one of us so incredibly much that He sacrifices for us! That is why He allowed His Son to go through that intense suffering (can you imagine allowing the person you love most be tortured to death in such a way?), out of His unending, unconditional love for us. In fact, that love is so great that not only did He die for the world, but He died for me individually, for you individually, and He would have done it for just one individual. Talk about reckless, wasteful, incredible, amazing love. Grace. So even though we cannot see "The Plan" and struggle to move beyond our self-focus, God sacrifices for us, giving us the chance at a true change and transformation, the offer of guidance and relationship, and unending, unconditional love. Wow. And to think my response is to wonder why He won't fix this problem I'd like to see go away. This doesn't really have anything to do with the post, I just really like this picture, and the building being reflected is one of my favorite in Montevideo. I guess maybe you could get deeply philosophical and draw some connections between reflection, seeing in a mirror, focus, and the like, but I'm not going to do that here, this post is already too long

If you have responses to this post I would love to hear them. I wrote it off the top of my head just based on stuff I have been thinking about for the past few weeks, so I apologize if my paraphrasing of Biblical stories is not 100% accurate. If you have questions about any of the theology I can give you some of the specific verses I had in mind, and I'd love to hear any additional thoughts, comments, questions, or corrections. bradenmog (at) gmail (dot) com.

I was going to give some real-life examples I have seen of our self-focus that I have personally witnessed, but this got way too long and I will do it in the next post, so depending on how much you liked this post, skip or wait patiently for the next.

Classes started last week! Wait, no, this week...oh, next week you say??

2009-08-04T12:36:00.000-07:00

As you can perhaps tell by the title of this post, the start date of my classes has been a bit, well, ambiguous. I initially came down mid-July because according to the university website, classes for the Facultad de Enfermería y Tecnología de Salud at la Universidad Católica del Uruguay (College of Nursing & Health Technology at the Catholic University of Uruguay) were set to start July 27, and I promised to arrive a couple weeks before to get everything in order in a timely fashion.

Apparently what I saw was not actually the start of classes, but when the school reopened from July vacations (think winter vacation without Christmas or New Years) & the various professors & directors returned to their offices. I was then told classes would begin the week of August 3 and I would receive my schedule by email shortly. August 3 arrived without any further word, so I hopped on the bus and went in search of my school. Armed with nothing more than the address, a few pesos, and my Mexicano Spanish I went to find this Sr. Ferreira and find out what was going on!

I found the building, but it looked like nothing more than a house from the outside other than the sign announcing it for what it is, and a few girls were outside smoking. A bit intimidated and not wanting to walk announced into some sort of university living room I strolled by and continued around the block to the main building of the university, which actually looks like the place of learning it is. I asked for Sr. Ferreira, and was directed back to the little Facultad house type building I had chickened out on entering the first time.

The sign identifying my Facultad.

The Facultad. See? It looks like a house! Though it opens up to a very nice courtyard, classrooms, & even a little coffee shop type place.

Slightly encouraged, I head back and after asking one more woman who did not at first understand me (I keep forgetting the Spanish "ei" sounds the same as a very emphasized long "a" in English), but then directed me to the right office. Turns out Sr. Ferreira was just about to email me, and is in fact a very kind, helpful person who answered all of my questions. Classes did start this week, but he is going to Paraguay for the rest of the week, and wants to be able to accompany me to the first classes (awkward new kid moment!). He also mentioned that the first week is largely review of the previous semester, and I would probably be lost trying to jump in on concepts only being halfway explained as a semi-review.

So, I start classes next week! I still do not have my exact schedule, it is supposed to arrive THIS WEEK by email, but I am going back to the school on Thursday to meet with the Director of Nutrition. I also met the Director of the entire Facultad, and they were all very kind and helpful. I'm very excited for the opportunity to study there, and will be taking a number of undergraduate level courses in Bioethics, Nutrition, Anatomy & Physiology, etc, and will also be participating in Post-graduate level seminars on a variety of health-related topics. I'll also have the opportunity to visit hospitals & various neighborhood clinics. It's going to be really great & they're doing an awesome job of setting everything up for me and jamming as much into a year as possible, and I'm glad I finally know when exactly (well almost, I still need the schedule...) I'm starting classes.

On a side note, given that it's largely a nursing school, I noticed when I was there that of the ~30 students I saw, there were 3 guys. So, not only will I stick out as the North American with the accented Spanish, but I'll be even more noticeable simply because I'm a guy! I should've assumed that would be the case, but it was still a bit surprising.

Tomorrow I'm going to interview with Juventud Para Cristo, a non-profit family & social development organization that I'm really interested in working with. I'll post more about that when I know exactly what I'm doing there. I'm also looking for another apartment to move into August 21, filling out med school secondary applications, and working on a presentation, so I'm plenty busy even without classes.

I found this mural on a building in Pocitos pretty neat.

Went there Saturday for a feria (market).

La Intendencia. Located in Centro (downtown), this is sort of like City Hall.

Random picture downtown. This isn't the greatest image to show it, but there's some great architecture here & I really enjoy just walking around and staring.

Plug for a friend: Samantha Behymer is an INCREDIBLY talented singer/songwriter I met at Pepperdine whose CD just got released on Amazon. Check it out & maybe even buy it if you like it! http://amzn.com/B002JOGC84

Finally, I disabled comments on my blog because I prefer to hear from & respond to people personally via email. Email me at bradenmog [at] gmail [dot] com

Uruguay in Winter

2009-07-28T11:06:00.000-07:00

Well I've been here long enough now that it's probably about time to blog.

Before coming down here I was following the weather, and it was typically in the high 50s-low 60s during the day, and down into the high 40s at night. However, the day I landed it was so foggy I couldn't even see the city as I rode to my hotel, and the following week was the worst they had all winter (invierno, in Spanish). Temperatures were in the low 40s and down in the 30s at night, which doesn't seem so bad coming from Minnesota until you realize three things:

1. Montevideo, located on the coast, is humid. Humidity makes cold worse.

2. Storms off the ocean bring lots of strong, cold wind. Strong, cold wind makes 40º feel much colder.

3. There are hardly heating systems anywhere. Most restaurants have them, as did my hotel, but since I spend my time in my unheated apartment, the bus, walking around outside, and in other unheated buildings, I never have a chance to warm up...and permanent cold feels a LOT colder than you would think.

In summary, it's cold here! Luckily, mate (pronounced ma-tay) is readily passed around at most gatherings (look it up on wikipedia, or wait for me to do a post on it later) & I brought Under Armour & enough clothes for me to layer & stay mostly warm.

One of those very cold days it also rained very heavily, as in an all day long deluge, and it made me very glad I had a waterproof Columbia jacket & waterproof hiking boots as I had a number of errands forcing me to spend ~3 hours of that day outside.

As I mentioned, I'm living in an apartment which I came to after 3 days in a nice hotel downtown (Centro barrio/neighborhood). My host counselor (or tutor being the preferred word here) arranged for me to meet one of the other scholars who has been down here most of the year, and I ended up going back to her apartment for dinner & meeting two Uruguayans, Diego & Quique (pronounced kee-kay). Diego mentioned there was a room for rent in the house he lives, and the price was about what I paid in two nights at the hotel. I went and looked at it the next day, and moved in a day later.

Let's take a tour:

The house as seen from outside the gate. Looks like something

from a horror movie, no? You should see it at night!

House entrance. Seriously something out of a movie.

Looking into my room from the doorway. A bit

messy as I was doing laundry. All furniture came included.

My bed, two tables, chairs, "puf" (beanbag), &

clothes hanging from the ceiling. Efficient, no?

My big window/storage corner. That's how all

the cold air gets into my room. It's great for

people watching though.

The communal kitchen. Three fridges, a sink, a

small gas burner, and the table. Behind me is a

wall of small lockers we each use as a small

pantry. The site of many entertaining conversations

& late night dinners (usually between 9-11pm, normal for here)

My laundry flapping in the wind after some good

old-fashioned washing in the bathroom sink.

I've rented a month here & have the option to stay longer, but will probably start looking for something central to where I'll be spending most of my time once I know exactly where that is. I start classes next week and probably won't have the schedule for a few days, and am working on setting up my volunteer work. It looks like all of my locations are going to be fairly spread out in the city, so I'll be riding the bus a lot. For now I really enjoy living at this house as the other 14 people who live here are a mix of students, working people, and a couple older ladies, so I get to learn a lot about Uruguayan culture & day to day life, and also get to practice listening to the crazy accent, grammar, & vocabulary they have here! A lot of days I feel like I don't even know Spanish because it's so different here.

Also, I've got a local cell phone so email me for the number if you want to Skype me with random text messages (or calls!) to surprise me! I also yesterday went to Claro (one of the local cell companies) and bought a USB internet modem, basically meaning I can get internet anywhere in the country I care to bring my laptop....which is how I am able to sit on my bed right now surrounded by my camera, Uruguayan leather wallet, mate, and thermos writing this blog.

That's all for now, but keep checking back, or click "Follow" on the right hand side to be emailed when I update. Thanks for reading!

As a side note I've decided to disable comments for my blog, preferring to stay in contact with people more personally by email. If you want to send me a message or respond to one of my posts please email me at bradenmog [at] gmail [dot] com & I'll do my best to respond soon. Thanks for reading!