Psalm 40

"I waited patiently for the LORD; 

   he turned to me and heard my cry. 

He lifted me out of the slimy pit, 

   out of the mud and mire; 

he set my feet on a rock 

   and gave me a firm place to stand. 

He put a new song in my mouth, 

   a hymn of praise to our God. 

Many will see and fear 

   and put their trust in the LORD."

Psalm 40:1-4 (NIV 1984)

What an incredible way to start my day today! I started reading through the Psalms a few days after I arrived in Argentina, and I found them extremely relevant to whatever had happened to me that day. When I was struggling and stressed, David's words were so helpful! And now that I GOT INTO MY LITERATURE CLASS, David's words are even better! Praise the Lord that things are starting to work out for me. Thank you to everyone who has been praying for me in this stressful situation of working out classes and credits!

I can barely remember what's been going on the past few days. The stress definitely overtook me and consumed most of my days! BUT yesterday we took a trip to El Tigre! El Tigre is, I guess you can say, a river town! All along the river, there are houses and little camps. I had quite the startle yesterday morning! Bot and I had planned on meeting at my subte station at 7:45am. Apparently I had been snoozing my alarm clock up until about 15 minutes before I needed to meet Bot. For me, 15 minutes is simply not enough time to get ready. But, Bot's text telling me that she was 15 minutes away, woke me up and I frantically began packing my bag and brushing my teeth to meet Bot. Thankfully, we made it to the train station with plenty of time to spare. Meeting the 80+ other students from our group, we took an hour train ride to Tigre. (Just a little prespective: it cost 1.35 pesos to take the hour train ride. 1 US dollar is approximately 4.30 pesos...so, all that to say, our train ride was SUPER cheap! If only amtrack worked the same way!) After arriving at the train station in Tigre, we took a half hour boat ride to a Campo de Recreo (recreational camp). We had the whole place to ourselves. There was a soccer field, pileta (pool), playground, and just hang out spots. 

We spent the whole day here, just relaxing, chatting, and having fun. Lunch was fantastic! For a meat lover like me, I was in heaven! We started with bread of course, followed by chorizo sausage and blood sausage (which I am not a fan of). Next came more meat, followed by pollo (chicken), and then steak. It was great! 

Gordon girls <3

Sam and I on the boat ride back

Me, Erica, and Sam just acting like kids on the swings!

After getting back to the city, Erica, Sam, Bot, and I headed to Plaza del Mayo to grab some smoothies at a coffee shop and relax a bit more. Afterwards, Sam and Erica headed home and Bot and I walked around before choosing Pizza Roma to eat dinner! Our Italian girls (Lyss, Drey, & Getz) are all visiting Rome now, so we thought it was an appropriate choice! It was a pretty low key night after that, Bot and I chilled at the obelisk for a little while, taking off our nail polish with the nail polish we had bought at a pharmacy. 

I came home and Rossana was out eating dinner at her daughters apartment, so I watched some good American TV: SEINFELD--coincidentally, The Puffy Shirt episode, which reminded me of my brothers (Ryan, Jeffrey, and Eric) who I miss very dearly! ((Kramer: Jerry, - this is gonna be the new look for the 90's. You're gonna be the first pirate!)) 

Since sleeping in this morning, I've had really good devos as well as iChatting with my parents and Eric and his friends visiting Long Island for Spring Break. Bot and I and a few friends are gonna meet up in a few hours to check out a fair in the middle of the city. Looks like it's gonna be a weekend filled with some homework too, as this week begins our second week of classes!

Everyday I'm getting more and more acclimated to Buenos Aires! Still missing friends and family from the States though. But I know God has big plans for me while I'm here! 

-C