Shudie

It´s been a couple months but it finally occurred to me to let ya´ll know the Ecuador blog address.  Oops! Here it is!
www.bonitajulita.blogspot.com 
This is where I´ll be until February!  Chao!

In 48 days I will be leaving good ol' Gilbert, AZ and heading off to Ecuador.  Wow?  Isn't that something? Me doing something so exciting and adventurous.  Generally, I am the kind of person who likes adventure.  I like getting dirty and getting really involved in something, which is good because this program requires that.
For those of you who don't know yet, I'm volunteering with an organization in some orphanages in Ecuador.  I'll be there from August 12th to January 1st, and I am thrilled for two reasons.

1. I've wanted to do something like this for as long as I can remember. Humanitarian, foreign country, children, different language...  I love it, all of it.

2. I have a life goal to learn Spanish, and what better way than to jump right into it. Whoo-eee!!! Terrifying, yet deeply satisfying feeling that I am working toward a life goal, because I know it is going to take work and mucha practica (alot of practice).


Awesome things about learning Spanish:

• It is great in job searching and on a resume.
• I may get a career opportunity that opens up or career idea because of it.
• My three oldest brothers speak Spanish. That means the 4 oldest kids in my family will be bilingual in the same languages.
• I feel like I'm 10 years old with an exclusive (blanket fort) club that you must slip the password on a piece of construction paper under the (towel) door or knock the secret knock (On a blanket, of course.  What else would you knock a secret knock on?) before entering, and I will know all the passwords. 
• It will make playing card games and such more interesting at family gatherings, for example, Pit: "Dos naranjas bajo de la mesa!" (This is where you "scratch your leg" while not looking anyone in the eye.) "Huh? Oh, I said, 'My leg really itches!'" We could have a black market and there is no reason to suspect any of us who are simply exercising our second language. 
• I can order in Spanish at Mexican restaurants.  (Was that a little smug?)
• Marriage-ready RM's find it incredibly attractive when a girl sets a goal and then does it.  

If I have forgotten anything on this very official list, feel free to comment below and let me know!

First, I have two more "firsts" to add to my year of firsts list.  Saturday I attended my first pro baseball game.  It was actually my first pro sports game ever.  The stadium was much cleaner and less crowded, the parking situation better, fans not as beer saturated, and the view not as far as I expected them to be.  The weather also happened to be perfect for an outdoor evening. As an extra plus some of the players are kind of cute!  Who knew I would have had such an unexpectedly pleasant experience going to a pro sports game?

Also, today I ate sushi for the first time.  It was pretty good, and I can see how people would go out of their way to find a restaurant to eat it, but I don't know that I am converted and would order it over, say, a burrito enchilada style, a thick steak, or say, Filiberto's when given the choice.  My choice of words about it after saying that I thought it was alright was, "Well, I wouldn't eat it for breakfast." People were probably like, "Duh you wouldn't eat it for breakfast.  It's fish."  Hey! I heard they do it in England or somewhere European like that! So anyway, two things I never thought I would like, and they both exceeded my expectations.

Second item of business.  Did you see this video on msn.com? This lady is crazy and genius at the same time.  I was laughing out loud by the end of it.  And POSSIBLY thinking how I could be so creative.

http://thebubble.msn.com/#/video/?id=9b94514a-2324-462b-8081-20c587209178

Anyway, I hope you are having a great day!  See ya'll soon!

Wanna read something that will make your day? (In case of the event you are out searching for something to read that will positively ruin your day and make you miserable. Just thought I would clarify that seemingly circular statement, because it does happen some days that people (me being "people", so I'm assuming it may happen to you too) look for ways to feel miserable, so if this is one of those days this entry will not have maximum effectiveness. (Are you parenthesis overloaded yet???))  Check out this link the lovely, talented, very qualified, and soon-to-be member of the AAC (Arizona Accordion Club), Stacy Maynard showed me. This is a book written by an 8 year-old boy and it is adorable! Stacy and I agreed that our favorite part is the "tips" at the bottom of the pages. 

• Comb your hair and don't wear sweats.
• Control your hyperness (cut down on the sugar if you have to)
• Don't act desperate

The Link
"How To Talk To Girls"

***Post edit: I actually bought the book.  It was a great cliffhanger after the sampling here. It was very entertaining and I highly recommend it.***

"This is one of the miracles of love: It gives a power of seeing through its own enchantments and yet not being disenchanted."

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.”

"Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point."

"Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important."
 
"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else "

“You don't have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body.”

“There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, "All right, then, have it your way.”

"If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair."

"Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither."

"The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of 60 minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is."

"It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad."

"What saves a man is to take a step. Then another step."

"We are what we believe we are."

"Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it."

I get these e-mails that are work-out/healthy-eating encouragement. This is from the one from this week. After extolling multiple benefits of eating dark green leafy vegetables, this comes up.

Introducing The Green Smoothie: While the evidence for eating lots of greens continues to mount, who really wants to chomp through a pile of spinach everyday? The solution is as convenient as it is efficient: the green smoothie.

You know how some days, you just feel happy...
or your hard work is showing results,
or your prayers seem to be in the process of being answered,
or that you know you have the best doggone friends,
or life is full of opportunities for your picking.

Today is definitely one of those days.

I feel so blessed right now.  One thing I'll say about my experience is this: Change your habits; Change your life. I had a middle school teacher who would always talk about "the baby philosophy".  If it stinks, change it.  Ha ha.  Still sticks today.  You know what's fabulous?  We are not what we dress in, what we do for a job, how much money we earn, our mistakes, or successes.  We can change who we are at any minute, so it makes sense that we are our choices.  Life is like running in a marathon.  If the runner found out he was running the wrong direction, he would turn around! What matters is what direction we are going, wherever we are at in the race.  I'll admit, I'm hardly perfect, and I'm the least qualified person for recognizing my faults. But that is hope and faith to me that I can eventually reach the ultimate goal, just keep pluggin' in the right direction even though I make mistakes, and I think that's the way the man upstairs meant it to be.  "...And he that can recognize his faults and take action to change them, has great power and influence." <---Another goal on the way.