A normal week in the life of Angie

Well, things have settled down now that we're done with our two trips. We don't have any that I know of until at least the beginning of next year. I have been here two months now and am starting to get into somewhat of a routine. I thought I would take you on a tour of what a typical week looks like for me...if there is such a thing...

I start work at 8:30AM, which means I leave my apartment around 8:30. It takes about 2 minutes to walk to the office. Everyone at the office meets in the entry way and we pray together! This is a wonderful time for me because out of all the Spanish that I hear, I usually understand these prayers the most! I work at the Regional Office for South America! This office oversees all of South America, from Venezuela all the way down to Argentina! The people that work here are wonderful and I admire them greatly! After prayer, we greet one another. This means that I make my way around the room and touch cheek to cheek with each person while making the kissing sound. This is the greeting here and it's considered rude and unfriendly if you don't greet someone when you see them. After greeting everyone, I go upstairs to our office. It's Robin's office, but I'm sharing it with her while I'm here. I have my own desk and a bulletin board. Robin and I usually start the morning off by chatting for a while and then we start working. So far I have made two brochures for the trips that we've gone on, two power points, a Work and Witness blog, and a brochure for Sunday School ministries. I'm currently working on making Sunday School books to sell to churches and different groups. So I've made 100 copies of three different books and then correlated them together. Now I'm binding them with covers and a spiral spine. I almost finished 100 today! 200 more to go! (P.S. You can check out the Work and Witness blog at www.wwargentina.blogspot.com)

Lunch is from 12:3o-2. I usually go back to my apartment and eat, do dishes, or sometimes sleep! Then I go back to work from 2-5. Robin only works mornings because she needs to be home in the afternoons to take care of her girls. So I usually work alone in the afternoons. After work I, well, I don't really have a usual thing that I do. Sometimes I go to downtown Pilar with a friend and walk around, shop, window shop, and maybe get empanadas! Sometimes I go to Robin's house and play with her girls or talk to Robin for a little bit. Sometimes I go back to my apartment and check email, get on facebook, or watch a movie. During the evenings I make and eat dinner between 7 and 8. Then I talk to my parents, to family, to friends, play guitar, email, get on facebook, and then go to bed around 10:30 or 11. Or I go out with friends to a restaurant, to a movie, to play pool, or to someone's house or church. If I go out with friends, I usually don't get back to my apartment until between 11:30 and 1:30! Argentines stay out usually 'till 1 or 2 in the morning. It's hard for me to be on that schedule because I need a lot of sleep and when I don't get it, I barely function in English, let alone in Spanish! But, we usually have fun whatever it is we're doing until the wee hours of the morning, so I guess it's worth it! Usually it's just sitting around talking, which is one thing I really enjoy about this culture. Relationships and spending time together is the most important thing here!

On Wednesday mornings instead of meeting for prayer in the foyer, we meet upstairs in the board room for devotions. We pray first, like every other day, and then the pastor from church gives a little devotion. This Thursday I did something new; I went to a class at the Seminary! It's a class on writing and communication in Spanish. Carlos and Robin both go to it and Carlos suggested I go to practice and learn more about Spanish. The professor is Elena, who I went to the zoo with a couple weekends ago. She's from Peru and we've become pretty good friends! It was cool having her as a professor, and seeing her in that role! She's good! I learned a lot and I plan to continue going every week. It's from 8:30-12 every Thursday. I think I enjoyed it so much because I'm a visual learner and actually seeing what she was saying made a huge difference in my ability to understand and remember words and such. I took notes and participated in some exercises where we had to apply what we'd been learning. I did pretty well I think! I wasn't sure how I'd feel about being back in a class room now that I've graduated. I've really been enjoying life without school, so I didnt really want to go back just yet. But, I really like this class and I think I'm going to participate a little more than I thought. I don't want to take tests and study, but I'm not sure I'll mind that much with this class. Some words I still don't understand, which hinders me a little on assignments and quizzes and stuff, but I hope to work that out.

I have done something really fun and exciting every weekend I've been here! I've gone to many places. I've been to downtown Buenos Aires three times. I've been to Tigre, which is a part of the city that is like an island and everyone gets around on boats. I've been to the zoo and to a farm show. This past weekend I went to Rosario, which is a city about 3 hours north of Pilar. It's a pretty big city and they have a monument there for the flag of Argentina! We walked around the city, walked along the beach (although it's winter here and a little cold, it was still beautiful!), went up in the monument, shopped at the sidewalk markets (like hippie markets), and took lots of pictures!

I've gone to two different churches here so far. Carlos and Robin go to one that's about 30 min. away and I've gone with them a few times. I've also gone to the one that's down the street from where I live. A lot of the regional office people and seminary people go there. They have a class of young adults that I've gone to once and I really like it! I've only been to the class once, but I've hung out with that group several times for birthdays and stuff! Every Saturday night they get together for a devotion, worship, and just to spend time together.

That's kind of a glimpse at what my week looks like! Some weeks are busier than others. Sometimes there's something going on all the time and sometimes I have quiet evenings at home in my apartment. It's good to have a balance, especially with the Argentine schedule:)