Last Latin entry...(for a while)

Christmas here was awesome! Very different, as predicted. The party began on the 24th and very much resembled a New Year´s event in the UK, with the complete absence of any kind of firework regulations. They were set off about 2 metres away from us and then sparks would go flying around in all directions, causing general hysteria. I spent a fair bit of time hiding for shelter screaming "It´s Christmas and we´re all going to die." It was all great fun though, especially making a meek attempt to keep up with the Latins´ salsa dancing. We got to bed in the wee hours of the morning and got up pretty late the next day. Christmas itself was spent lounging around in the sun - which is definitely a first! I also more or less got my packing done for South Africa, which feels good. Any fears of lack of food were allievated as there were plenty of leftovers from our Christmas dinner the night before (which was a deliciously odd combo of chicken, tuna pizza, potato, and cookies and cake!)

Funny how when you are far from home at Christmas you suddenly get the urge to watch the Queen´s speech. Well, I´ll speak for myself, anyway. I borrowed someone´s computer and watched it in the morning and it brought about a reassuring connection with home.

From here on out it is going to be full-on getting ready to leave. Tomorrow will be our last full day at the base. Internet use looks likely to be more limited than it has been here, so will update the blog when I get the chance to! See you in Africa!

Happy Christmas!

Happy Christmas everyone (and Happy Birthday Mum!)

Christmas this year will be slightly different as it starts with a party at 9pm, and apparently people dance all night and sleep through tomorrow... We were casually told that after tonight we wouldn´t be getting any food here over the next three days so Christmas turkey tomorrow is out and Empanadas are in!! It was a bit of a surprise to us Westerners, but apparently Christmas day celebrations aren´t the same here.

Apart from that we have finished the theory part of the school now and are getting ready for Outreach. The school ended on such a high note with the National Director of YWAM South Africa teaching us all week on ´God´s Heart for the Nations´. He was one of the funniest and most inspiring people I´ve ever met, and spoke a lot on forgiveness - which he as a black South African growing up under apartheid has had to exercise a lot of.

It´s pretty sad realising that the people who´ve been my family here for the past 3 months are all going to be parting ways in a few days´ time for 2 months. I kind of want to capture time in a bubble but change always gets in the way.

Having said that, we can hardly wait to get on the plane to South Africa. Due to different reasons, only 6 of us are now going... so a revised picture of the team will hopefully appear before I go. We are going to be spending the first 2 weeks in Pretoria near JHB, then off to Bethlehem and then Durban.

Hope you like the pictures below, finally managed to find a computer that would let me post some!

I hope you all have an AWESOME Christmas. Goes without saying that I miss you!

Photos

Ale and Laura rocking out to some of Alejandro´s Chilean tunes

More photos

More mate...

Andrea, Adan and Mate

How will I live without Mate in Sud Afrika? We sip this throughout the lectures and the afternoon and the evening...

Bienvenido a Uruguay

A glimpse of Uruguay

At our 'Cena de Amor'

Every month we have a 'Cena de Amor' or 'Love Feast' (very Latino-language) for the students on Sat night. This was the first one, where we glammed it up. The second one was beach-themed, where flip flops were the order of the day.

A place called Moron - seriously!

The name of this place might appeal to some...

Our YWAM base

Buenos Aires Pink House

Buenos Aires

The Street Where I live

Return of the blog

This blog has been so sadly neglected for so long that I don´t know what to write any more!

I´m currently in a shopping mall on my day off and thus am in a place where there are Christmas decorations and even the odd Christmas song playing out... my first taste of Christmas approaching! It´s quite refreshing to be away from the usual hype and commercialism surrounding Christmas, and I´m certainly not complaining about the fact that it´s T-shirt weather! At the same time, though, I do miss the aura and build-up to Christmas...

My mission to get photos on this blog continues, and continues to fail. One day, I´ll find a way...

Preparations for South Africa continue, only 3 weeks to go now...about to get zoned out so will write more soon.