Since I am once again living abroad, I thought it would be appropriate to re-start my blog. Not because I'm not a great blogger (clearly I'm not because it took me quite a bit of time to find my blog online not to mention the time it took me to figure out how to log into my account) but it's fun for me to process all the ridiculous things I have done, said, or experienced and perhaps something I write will be amusing at some point along the line. So here goes!
For those of you who haven't heard (or didn't realize I had left), I accepted a position as a director's assistant on a study abroad program that Westmont College runs in Santiago de Querétaro, Querétaro, Mexico. What exactly does a director's assistant do? Great question! Ask me again in four months and I will (hopefully) be able to tell you all about it. For now I have a vague description that involving caring for the professor's two sons, Miguel and Roger, 11 and 12, being an RA type of person for the 9 students from Westmont, and helping to organize the trip. But of course the whole things is a bit ironic because we found out yesterday that the boys were supposed to begin school today (and of course we haven't signed them up yet nor have we bought them any materials!), I don't know when the Westmont students arrive exactly, I just got the handbook for the semester, and while I am the go-to finance person I have no idea what the budget is!
As you may have noticed from that short intro, planning and Mexican culture are not stereotypically compatible. I often find myself using the phrase "hora Mexicana," which essentially boils down to the fact that nothing happens at its appointed time but can be expected to occur within a few hours, possibly days. For example, if someone says let's meet at eight, you will probably see them around ten or eleven. The Spanish word for "now"(ahora) can mean any time in the near future, which is no where near the punctuality that we are used to in the USA. When I first studied abroad in Ecuador, this drove me nuts. I wanted to know where I should be, when I should be there, and became quickly irritated when things didn't go as planned. But as time went on I began to appreciate the way people perceive time in Latin American countries. People don't let time control them, but rather they control time. It's not that people don't plan things; they most certainly do. They just don't hold onto their plans as tightly as we do in the USA. There is a general assumption that things will happen when they happen and with an (extremely general) agenda everything will be okay. As I began to embrace this way of thinking, I realized how much freedom there was in it. I walked at a leisurely pace and noticed more of the little things around me, as cliche as it sounds. I wasn't so focused on where I had to go so I fully engaged in whatever I was doing without expending half of my mental energy on what was to come. When things didn't go as planned- which was almost always the case- I called whatever I was doing an adventure and got excited (or at least did my very best to get excited) about how I was going to take part in something new and exciting, not knowing where it would lead. (And of course there was always the plus that I stopped wearing my watch so I got rid of my watch tan, but that is beside the point.)
Now that I have graduated from Westmont and have entered the "real world," this is what I want for my life. I want to intentionally go through life at a more leisurely pace, to notice the beauty God has surrounded me with. I never want to be so worried and focused on what is next that I miss what God has planned for me in the present. And most of all, I want to hold onto the general plan for my life that God has already revealed to me, but be ready to call anything unexpected that He throws my way an adventure and be excited to see the new and exciting things He has planned for me, not knowing how they will turn out.
I want to live out the idea of "hora Mexicana."
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