Hi Everyone,
This week, I thought I'd share about some aspects of my apartment.
But first, my prayer requests, because this is a long email (but lots of photos!)
Pray that I have continued opportunities to talk about spiritual journeys with three men who have lunch together- Brian, Juan Jose and Jamie. Last week we had a good discussion about this and I hope for one-on-one opportunities in the future (or did I share this last week anyway?) Brian, a non-church going Catholic, Juan Jose who has his own take on spirituality, and Jamie who has converted from Catholicism to yoga in the last three years.
Pray that I will have new opportunities with the new people who are in classes and/or private lessons and/or work in the mall/live in the community. that would include Caesar and Maria from the pizza shop (see below): Pilar, Alejandro, David, Gloria, Claudia, Stella and her husband Jose Luis (all private lessons), and David- a high student who travels 90 minutes one way on the metro to come to my class! I'd like to move him out of the class and give him a couple of hours of free private lessons to make it worth his while.
Pray that I would have continued opportunities to encourage the men at the church, not only through the Friday morning meetings, but personal meetings as well. That would include Alejandro, Victor, Jorge, Santiago (young adult), David and Andres.
Pray that I have capacity to take advantage of all opportunities and put boundaries to protect my time with God and for myself. The apartment is not a restful retreat for me (... trying to write a nice segue to below...)
Living Surrounded by Community
You can see by the first photo taken from the church on the 5th floor of the mall, that my apartment is really close, just a block walk. It couldn't be more convenient, really.
Here is a really bad, disproportionate drawing of the floor plan. Good space with three bedrooms, a small living area, an even smaller kitchen, even when there were four of us. But if you can see on the floor plan there are these areas called "light shafts" that extend the height of the building. These are designed to bring in light and (maybe) air to the apartment because these low rise buildings are typically abutted to each other so except on the front/street side, windows are not included. The apartment is hot and can be stuffy, but thankfully the two floor fans help (re)circulate the air.
So here's the "window" into the shaft from the "living room." The lattice brick design is "purdy", but doesn't access air flow. The second photo shows that it is open all the way to the first floor and each apartment has windows open to it. The third photo is looking up to the skylight, just one floor above me.
So, everything that goes into the light shaft is ...er... "shared" with all the other apartments. That's sounds and smells- showers, hair dryers, flushing toilets, radios, tvs, dogs, conversations; cooking, laundry and other odours. I pretty much know the routines of the neighbours and thankful that the baby on the first floor only visits on the weekend (you don't have to be a father to know the difference between crying out of need and crying for attention.) I sleep in the bedroom at the top left because it's the relatively most isolated. A fan provides air circulation and white noise.
But it's all worth it!....
The new teaching schedule has freed up three days instead of small bits of time through five days, and I can get more done, spend longer periods of time with people, have time to travel if necessary... like yesterday, having a "private lesson" with one of the church members and spending a couple of hours with him while we drove into the city and he ran errands at the university. Or today, when I shop with Eliana and Andres and we cook a Chinese meal for Claudia, Diego and Jairo (church staff), depending on what groceries we can find... or just to do personal things like cook, clean, shop, prayer walks, extended time with God.
But there have been some cultural challenges- school went on break last Friday for the next four weeks so the class attendance is down- holidays or babysitting children/younger siblings. World Cup is stopping the world worse than the Stanley Cup... but then the games here are in the day not the evening (so far.)
I have some returning and some new students this new semester and it seems I now know most of the security guards, cleaning staff and food kiosk owners in the mall. Language? No, just a smile and a badly enunciated greeting.
This is Caesar and Maria (a Christian) who own the pizza shop at street level and, despite the language barriers (thank you Google Translator and wifi!), they and their coworkers like Hamilton! ("why this name?" "My father liked someone famous with this name." hmmm... George Hamilton?) are becoming good friends, always a place to sit and enjoy the rare cool evening breezes after teaching, sometimes feed me (too) late at night, and now an invitation to their home before I leave.
And I've connected with friends new- like Alejandro and his family, and "old"- like Efrain and Johanna and their (way too cute) kids.
This is part of the Friday advanced group of 14. I choose a topic (Sunday's national election for example) and they have free discussion. I correct English as I hear it. Last nught was a good lesson on pronunciation as I discovered the discussion wasn't about the US military's "eggplants" but "airplanes" and building "heawars"?... no "headquarters"; they will go "voting" not "boating" for Sunday's election; there is a pronunciation difference between "gorillas" and "guerillas"; between "shoes" and "choose".
Yeah, this was a long update. I hope the more you know, the more you envision as you pray. :-)
Truly, as much as I love it here, I do miss you! (but not the Edmonton weather.)
Thanks for your support!
Bob
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