I’ve been trying to post a video tour of my apartment for the past few days. Hopefully today it will finally go up. I have to admit, I’ve made my room quite comfortable. In fact, maybe it’s too comfortable. A few nights ago I woke up in the middle of the night, and I knew I was in my room. I just didn’t know which country my room was in. For a moment, cities like New York, Santiago, and even Tokoyo ran through my mind. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew it was Seoul, but I had a hard time believing it. I remember in John Leonard’s Missional Anthropology class (one of my favorites at WTS) that it is ok for missionaries in another culture to make their home a safe place. A place where they can be free to express their home culture. It came up in the conversation around the complications when marrying someone of another culture. Now, for those of you who have known me for a while and well, know that I was (and still am to some extent) intent on marrying a Chileno. Anyways, I’m getting off track…. The point is, my apartment is quite cozy to me. Very easy for me to live in. And to honest, the city itself isn’t that difficult either. I’ve picked up enough of the language to deal with buying stuff at the market and other little life stuff. So I think this year will be ok. As long as I can remember which city I’m in!
I live near a long thin park called Parque Forestal. It's really quite a nice park and it has a long stretch of a lane for riding bikes or jogging. And since I have a fear of riding bikes in this city, I jog. It's really pleasent. I usually listen to radioDisney on my mp3 player and jog along to Jonas Brothers, Beyonce, or Julieta Venegas. Great stuff. Yesterday on my jog I noticed that the trees were beginning to change. Fall has finally arrived and I am glad for the change. But as I was jogging through the falling leaves, I began to think about how much I like fall. And I had this special moment when I realized that I want to be here in Santiago, jogging through this park for many falls to come. After the past few weeks of cultural adjustment being a little more painful than normal, this was a nice thought to have.
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-Mom and Nigel