One day, only 24 hours, or was it an eternity? One day, this one day, has been an explosion in my mind. What I know, what I think and hold as reality has all been turned around.
The things Les, our ministry leader, confronted us with represent complete shift in thinking, not even from the Western perspective, but from what we view Central America as. He caused us to realize our Western worldview was superimposed even on the Latin American culture we thought we were observing! Our solutions of Fair trade laws against child labor are not universal ideas, but our answers to what we see as a real need! We failed to see the ?perceived? needs of the Guatemalan people. This is what our text, Make Haste Slowly warned against: we must focus on perceived needs or else the solutions we offer will not benefit the people, and in essence, will not be effective in their purpose.
It is interesting though, that through all of the mind-transforming issues Les addressed today, the thing that sticks out is holding the hand of 9-year-old Maria, as we hiked the infamous hill that everyone complained about. Funny thing though, I was so focused on talking to her that I didn?t notice the hill half as much. When she placed the flower in my hand and gently set her hand in mine, I was transformed. I experienced the Guatemalan worldview; I embodied it. At that point, time became relative; nothing mattered but this single relationship between Maria and I.
Maybe for a brief second, on flash in my existence, I did step out of my Western worldview and took one shy, half step into the Guatemalan world. It may have been only this one-second, but I know it will have an eternal affect upon me.
Wouldn't it be loverly?
I've been reluctant for a little while (alright so 3 months) about blogging. This is because I have been thinking about what I really want to say, the energy I want to put into it, and if I even like blogging.
I go back and forth between wanting to just post pictures and tell fun stories, to writing about more serious things, to quoting beautiful writings and scripture that i have been reading. So finally, I've just decided i'm going to do it all. This is going to start with thoughts from my most recent adventure in Guatemala. For one of my classes, i was required to keep a daily journal of reflections of stuff we'd seen, problems we'd had, and the observations we made of such a different culture. This process was everywhere from intriguing and interesting, to downright aggrivating...but the result was much more than I had expected. I'll give you one every day (perhaps every other day) just to keep your appetite wet ;).
Much love from the top,
Jennyfer
Bjorn had told me to leave an hour free in the afternoon. I didn't really think we were going to do anything that big, which was fine. I didn't mind either way. Well, was I ever wrong!!
The night before Bjorn told me we were going flying. I couldn't quite comprehend this at first, and then when I did, i went so crazy that I made Bjorn carry me around the living room with my arms in spread-arm, "airplane position" to prepare for the next day. It was a beautiful day, perfect conditions minus a bit of wind.
We were stoked, well Bjorn was a bit nervous getting into the plane (it was cute). Caleb, who had just a year ago gotten his pilot's license, was a professional. Once we were in the air, and Bjorn and I had our first "ooos,aaahs" and "wows", Caleb looked back and said, "Welcome to my world."
I replied, "Caleb i love your world." We really got the best of everything: the day was perfectly clear, air traffic was free so we got to fly over downtown Vancouver, and then out to Horseshoe Bay, and of course over our houses and TWU. (I waved to everybody there and was quite upset that none of my friends bothered to wave back! ;)) It was fields, mountains and skyscrapers--honestly, what more could a girl ask for?!
The whole ride there were a couple of bumps and hops due to the wind...not a big deal I thought, until the ride back. Caleb whipped out a bit of a fancy turnaround (gave the sensation of a roller coaster), and that's when the feeling began. It was a slowly growing stomach sickness.
The rest of the trip back was spent with me silently watching the beauty and trying to hold on. It didn't too bad in the plane, but by the time we were back on ground...i knew i wasn't doing well. Luckily there was no vommitting, I just couldn't drive and had to sleep off the feeling for an hour and a half. A minor event in the mix of an incredible adventure.
I've haven't spent anytime bragging in peoples' face about my boyfriend, but after this, I think it goes without saying: Bjorn proved himself again to be one freaking cool guy.
Some of you probably heard what happened already with my car. If not check out Peter's blog. Many of you can imagine the range of feelings I probably felt: Anger, frustration, confusion, hopelessness...the list goes on. Actually though, I wasn't THAT upset about it. I think a lot of it had to due with how awesome the weekend was up at Big White. It was a beautiful time up there: good food, good company, beautiful mountain, incredible view...so really in comparison crappy car put into the mix can't cancel out all the fun.
But when the car crisis did occur (Monday morning around 10 am), I had to get my game face on. I called Langley Chrysler and gave them a piece of my mind several times. Luckily my car was not permanently damaged, but as I found out today the total bill @ Kelowna Chrysler was $707.55 CDN (including the tow from Big white, which was only $200). This was disheartening for sure. Around 10:30 this morning I went into Langley Chrysler to discuss why I hadn't been told about needing a coolant flush.
After 30 minutes of discussion, a couple of tears later, the service manager, Mike Williams coaxed Kelowna Chrysler to give him a discount, bringing it down to $576. He said they'd pay the bill for now, and then wanted me to pay half of it later ($288 CDN). Well, I wasn't quite pleased with this result. They did NOT take full responsibility, because it had been recorded in the back by a technician as needing coolant. Mike told me that some one had mentioned the coolant flush while talking to me over the phone. I hadn't authorized it, so they just dropped it. The weird thing is though that I talked to Andre three times after that, and asked him what was important to do on my car and he took me through a list of 10 things, but never mentioned the coolant again. My dad, who took the news rather well, couldn't understand why they would let me leave the shop in the middle of winter, with a coolant that was the consistency of water.
I couldn't either. I finally called back and after a 15-minute discussion/argument with Mike about their poor communication, he agreed to me only paying $200. I agreed to this because the coolant flush alone cost $120, which I would have had to have paid for if I had originally got it. Talk about an ordeal and a lot of time.
My dad gave me an A on my work...he was quite impressed. I am too, but I am so glad it's over. I hate arguing with people.
Bjorn's birthday isn't until the 12th of February, but Rocky Votolato, His FAVORITE (w/o overstating!) artist was only in town last Saturday...so we celebrated then. We went to the Cliffhouse restaurant in Bellingham. It's actually right below WWU, and yes, it is on a cliff. Bjorn said he felt like the restaurant was going to fall the whole time, because it was on stilts. I was a bit nervous about the food because Michael, Bjorn's uncle, had made it sound pretty bad. Thankfully, it was delicious.
Rocky was awesome. Bjorn had suspected we were going to see him, but he was still excited when he saw it was true. We saw three of Bjorn's highschool friends at th hie show, an added bonus. His repetitve comment after the show was, "Jenny, I love Rocky."
The night was a lot of fun. Bjorn wouldn't let me say "Happy birthday" because it wasn't actually his bday, but he did allow me to say "Happy Bjornday." So, Bjornday it was.
