Well, unhealthy call me a slacker! It’s taken a while to get back and update on what’s going on. We have just a few weeks left in this trimester and I think spring fever is hitting us! We’re anxious to finish up this term and take a short break before starting again. In a couple of weeks we’ll have our echo, discount which from the best I can gather is a time to sit in front of a teacher and basically be given scenarios and questions to play out until they can stump you. Apparently they push you to your limit to see how far they can go. Sounds like fun!
So we’ve done a few things this past month. We had a week of Cross Cultural Counseling class. It was very interesting. Honestly I’m not sure I gathered a ton about counseling, but I learned a lot about diversity, racism, preconceptions, etc. It’s amazing to explore preconcieved ideas that everyone has about, well, I guess about everybody you come in contact with and how much society can impact your view of yourself and others. It was very eye opening. One interesting study we watched was a report from the 70s where a teacher wanted to teach her children about racism through an in-class experiment. It was an all white school, so she told the kids that they were going to try to understand how non-whites felt. The first day she told the kids that all the blue eyed children were smarter, cleaner, nicer, etc. than the brown eyed kids. The blue eyed kids received special treats, got to sit in front of the class, had extra recess, etc. The brown eyed kids received very little attention. That day the brown eyed kids had a hard time completing some mental activities, were sad and even one boy got in a fight because the blue eyed kids were teasing him for having brown eyes. The teacher was shocked by how the blue eyed kids instantly became egotistical and felt superior. The next day the teacher reversed the program, the brown eyed kids were now superior. The same activity they had done terribly on the previous day they excelled at the second day. I could write much more about this, but it was so intriguing how the responses varied based on what society told them their places were.
So that was one week! On another note we took a Saturday to go to the Parque de Diversiones, an amusement park. It was pretty fun! It wasn’t quite six flags, but there weren’t lines and it was incredibly cheap. Imagine a park where you can actually eat lunch for three dollars a person and get a drink for a dollar or less! Amazing! It was a nice break especially for Alex and Maggie. This is a picture of Maggie with her pal, Caleb, on one of the rides. By the end of the day Maggie had drug Corey and I, Caleb, his parents, and a few other adults on the rides until finally she couldn’t find anyone else who had any energy left to ride the rides with her. I think she would have kept going until she collapsed.
Last week was the Luis Palau Festival, but I’ll put that in a separate blog. It was incredible! So I guess besides classes and such the only other fun we’ve had is that Alex has been attacked by bugs! We thought at first it was bed bugs, but we’re pretty sure there was some sort of mosquito getting into his room. It was pretty bad. He’s eaten up on his arms, legs, face, back and chest. Apparently he was also having an allergic reaction to the bites. He’s been on allergy medication and a couple of lotions every day. His skin is finally clearing up, but we were getting worried that he was going to develop an infection from the bites. I spent this past weekend completely disinfecting his room and fumigating it. Keep him in your prayers that God will keep all the bugs away from his room!
Well, that’s it for now. Let me know you’re doing and if there is anything we can pray with you about. We have a prayer wall at school that we keep in front of the chapel so any needs that come to us that you don’t mind us sharing we put on the board for all the students and staff to pray for.
Dios les bendiga,
~Tona