becka lippy

So the bus to the airport is picking me up in a few minutes and I can feel the emotions rising through my body adn settling just below my throat. Everyone is gone, all my goodbyes are said, and all my bags ready to go. And I can feel all teh emotions coming. I refuse to cry right now. Not that I would be crying out of pain or hurt, or really anything. But I feel this all so much that if I let myself dwell, I will cry. ahh.... I think I will just go ahead and wait for the airport shuttle downstairs... Peace out. See you all soon!

So today is the day i leave to return to the good ol' US of A. I can't believe I amleaving. really I think it hasn't hit me yet. I have packed up everything and repacked my bag (I am brinigng more gifts than clothes!) An airport van is going to pick me up at 5:20 and my plane leaves at 8:40 tonight. I will arrive in New York tomorrow morning and be greeted by an old friend I haven't seen in years (THANKS DIANA!) Anyways, here are some of the highlights from the past few days... Saturday- went to an Irish friends birthday and met her mom and sister. WHile talking to her mom I was confused when she kept saying, "it was fain". I thought, now what inthe world could that mean... fine! oh, now I understand! We went out dancing after that but never acually made it inthe club. Instead we went to get some drinks and then we headed to burger King where we hungout until 3am. Sound like we are 16 or what? Sunday, our new friend Humberto (from Bolivia) came to church with

So we went out to see Pirates del Caribe last night. Our group was oncece again quite international: AShlee and I (California), Seba (Argentina), Nathan (New Zealand), Yessy (Chile), Umberto (Bolivia), Mely (CHile) and another gringo I picked up off the street named Cody (I literally just heard him speaking to English as we waited in a store and i walked right up to him and after intorducing myself as a fellow gringa, asked him if he would want to go out to the movies with my friends). So the eight of us completed a group raro (wierd). Some of us didn't speak and Spanish and others didn't speak English. SO everything had to be translated. But good practice, right? Anyways, we made it out to the movies and saw Pirates of the Caribe. It was okay. I was sitting next to Nathan and we laughed through much of it. It was a nice night, very much like something that we might do in high school in the states, good stuff.

I have been storing up little thoughts on the people here in Santiago, and I would like to share them now... There is a man who works in an apartment building near mine that has the same huge lower lip that my grandpa has. I walk by him everyday on the way to the gym as he is sweeping up the leaves off the sidewalk and I always want to hug him (I haven't given in to that urge yet). There is another viejito (little old man) who washes cars along one of the streets that I take who gives me a huge smile everytime I pass by. I get a cheery buenos dias senorita and I smile back and return the greeting. Just thinking about him makes me smile... Yesterday on the metro a man was correcting the classified section of the newspaper with a red pen. Another man in a business suit was looking at some song lyrics on a piece of paper and eventually he began to hum then, which led to him singing them outloud on the metro train. I was amused, the man correcting the newspaper was not. It is supposed

The past 6 months I have been sleeping in a bed size "Talla 1 1/2" which is probably smilar to a queen size, or a little bigger. I have never had a big bed before, always a nice little twin, so this big bed was quite a treat for me. But I noticed that sleeping in a big bed made me so aware of the fact that I was sleeping alone. Everytime I stretched my arm out and found empty bed area, I felt like something, or someone is missing. This isn't a big deal, but last night for the first time in 6 months I slept in my new smaller bed. And as I was falling to sleep I noted the difference. I felt content to be sleeping alone. Granted, the bed is so small that no one else could fit even if they wanted to. But that gave me a feeling of peace. No one is missing from my bed. Some day if I get married, I will get to have a big bed, and I will get to share it. And the moments of stretching out my arm will find someone lying next to me. but for now, the smaller bed is perfect.

Sp I have been floja and I haven't written anything down in here for a while. So here we go... Thursday- went to work at CEP again (that is the sweet theological library job I wrote about earlier) and I love it. I love having those four hours in the morning to deal with the books. Tim told me about a website for a library in Brazil that might help, so I looked it up and was really impressed that I could understand enough portuguese to get around the site. That night we went out to pizza. The party included: AShlee, Paula (our roommate), Nathan the Kiwi, Sally the Aussie, Susan the Yankee, and me the wannabe chilena. We went out for NY Pizza and ended up sitting around for about 3 hours just talking. Poor Nathan had to endure a lot of girl talk, but he was a good sport about it. Friday- The school in Reñca had a party to celebrate the end of the semestre. We had tons of candy for the kids, fresh made empanadas for lunch followed by a HUGE cake and even a piñata! The kids were so cu

It has been raining so much these last few days. A few nights ago there was a thunder and lightning storm. I LOVE thunder and lightning. I could watch them for hours. There is just something so majestic about the lightning. I can see why in the ancient world the ligthning was attributed to God. Anyways... Last night the wind was so strong that it blew the wooden dividers that protect our deck right off the hinges and six floors down into the parking lot. I don't htink anyone or anything wa hurt, but I am not sure. Part of me loves rainy days. i love going to sleep when it rains and I love reading books when it rains, but I don't like waiting at the bus stop inthe rain. I don't like having to dress professional when it rains. Oh well. I will try to focus on the parts of the rain that I love.

Okay I never do this, but I have been in such a hopeless romantic mood recently, that I have to... I have heard this song on the radio tons of times, and I liked it but didn't really understand all of it. So I looked up the lyrics and found out that it is an incredibly romantic song. Now my roommates are tired of it being on repeat. So for all my 14 year old teeny bopper fans... Reik Yo Quisiera Soy tu mejor amigo, Tu pañuelo de lágrimas De amores perdidos... Te recargas en mi hombro Tu llanto no cesa, Yo sólo te acaricio... Y me dices porque la vida es tan cruel con tus sentimientos Yo solo te abrazo, y te consuelo Me pides mil consejos para protegerte De tu próximo encuentro, sabes que te cuido Lo que no sabes es que... [Estribillo] Yo quisiera ser ése por quien tu te desvelas y te desesperas Yo quisiera ser tu llanto... ése que viene de tus sentimientos Yo quisiera ser ése por quien tu despertaras ilusionada Yo quisiera que vivieras de mí siempre enamorada Tú te me quedas viendo

So I teach the Louis Vuitton executives here in Chile and one of my students recently went to Canada for a big international Louis Vuitton Hoopla. So here is her story... She finally gets to the airport in Canada and as she is coming off the plane, a security guard pulls her aside and informs her that she will need to be searched and questioned. She has been taking English classes for years now and can hardly speak a word. And the whole thing is in English... great. So they take all her luggage out (all five pieces of luggage for a 5 day trip!) and as they are searching through her belongings, they find 8 pairs of shoes. And they become very suspicous. My guess is that they thought she was trying to get into the country to live there. What person brings 8 pairs of shoes to a 5 day trip?? So they are asking her and asking her, and she is trying to explain in her broken English that she works for Louis Vuitton and of course she has to have a pair of shoes for the day and one for the nigh

Hey everyone, not much to tell. This week is going by quickly, which is really nice. Here are some fotos from the last month of craziness. (Notice the amount of pink I wear? I swear, I wear pink much more than I should!) Ashlee and I at good ol' Starbucks. Birgit, Seba, Nailah, Me and Alison Allison, Ashlee, Nailah, Silvia, and Me

My good buddy Birgit took some fotos of Santiago recently and I thought I would share them with ya'all. And yes, that is snow on the mountains...

Yeah, not really. About two months ago, a guy who I had seen often on the streets selling illegal videos approached me and asked if we could be friends. Well, he asked if we could go out sometime, and I explained to him that while nothing more than friendship would ever exist between us, that I am always open for making friends. He is really a nice guy and I am sure we would have fun if we went out for a drink. Anyways, we have never actually hung out, but we talk every few days when I run into him along the street. So anyways, I ran into him on the street again tonight. We started talking and he told me that he had missed me this weekend. I laughed and replied that he couldn't have missed me, he doesn't even know me. And as we talked tonight, I realized that he thought he had a chance with me. (what gave it away?? I think the big clue was when he basically pulled me in for a hug and then started kissing my neck- BIG wake up call!) And I explained to him very clearly that ther

By the way.... today is my 10 month aniversary here in Chile!!! Wow, the time has flown!

A friend of mine made a comment the other day about how I am totally pro-denominations in the church. And I was for the last few years, but I would like to restate my opinion. As many of you know, I am a fairly black and white person. I have a hard time being comfortable in grey areas, especially in theology. But I find that many of the answers in life are less black and white and more grey. So I am learning to accept the grey that life offers. Anyways, last night as I was talking to another friend about denominations, I realized that after experiencing the church down here, my opinion on denomintions has been modified. I grew up in a fairly non-denom world and it wasn't until college that I came face to face with the issue of denominations. I would always boast about the fact aht I came from a non denom church. I figured that denominations only bring division and that isn't good. Then in college I found a church that offered the strong Biblical theology and community I needed.