Hidden Deep Down

  Living in Argentina requires my speaking Spanish. That's a given.  Being out of Mexico for several years has caused my Spanish to corrode.  So, I have relearned  simple words and phrases that belong to the Spanish language.  At the same time, I am learning a lot of expressions and idioms that are specific to Argentina (or just Buenos Aires).
  As my sister noticed the other day, my accent and pronunciation has changed after being here for three months.  Not that people don't still call me "Mexicanote" (big Mexican), which I don't mind.  But, lots of my slang I use is Argentine because that's what I hear everyday. 
  The interesting phenomenon that I have observed, is that I still have words coming out of hibernation.  Suddenly, a certain situation requires a specific word that I haven't said or thought of for years, and it comes out of my mouth.  I smile with contentment because I knew that word, but the Argentines giggle.  Suddenly, I break into a cold sweat, I was sure that I used that correctly.  Oh boy, I just said something bad.  So I ask, "Is that not right?"  The giggler often responds with, "Well, we don't say that here, but instead we say-" 
  So, I learn the Argentine expression, and try not to forget the Mexican one. But that makes me wonder, how much Spanish do I have stored in my brain that I have yet to rediscover? I mean, it's not that my Spanish was better before.  I speak Spanish more fluently now than I ever did in Mexico, but certain terms I haven't needed here yet. 
  This, in turn, causes me to ask. What else do I have hidden in my mind that just hasn't wanted to resurface?   Memories, ideas, feelings.  The possibilities are close to endless. What could be done with all of that information?  I'm sure a lot of it is useless, but it may be meaningful, may be hurtful, may be helpful. 
I think that I'm going to try to record more of my life, thoughts, and ideas so that I can look back. I'm not saying that it's healthy to dwell in the past.  But, 

Don't forget to remember. 

Borges y Yo

  I've talked about Jose Luis Borges a little bit, but now, I'm going to go into a little more detail.  Borges was born in Buenos Aires in 1899, but because of his father's health problems, he grew up in Switzerland (1904-21).  When he returned to Buenos Aires, he fell in love with the city, and he wrote a great deal about it; these writing are among the ones that made him famous.
   Certain things are always present in my mind, simply because of who I am.  I saw that Borges grew up in a country that was not where his parents were from, and immediately, I attributed his success as one of the greatest Latin American authors of all to time to his TCKness (Third Culture Kid)ness.
  When Borges returned to Buenos Aires, he realized that this was indeed where he belonged. He wrote that the time in Europe was non-existent; Argentina was all that mattered.  (Granted, that thought pattern isn't exactly typical for TCKs, but bear with me).  Because he hadn't grown up here, he could describe the city in ways that a native couldn't.  Because it was new for him, his perspective was vastly different.
   In other ways, he shows very strong TCK trends.  He thought that traditions were stupid.  Some Argentines accused him of being anti-patriotic because of this.  But, he didn't see the point of traditions and rituals.  His philosophy was to take the useful part of a tradition and leave the rest alone.  This carried over to his religious views as he saw the emptiness in the traditionalism of the Abrahamic religions.  Apparently, he showed interest in Buddhism because the ability to "pick and choose."  I thought that was really interesting.  "Picking and choosing" seems to be a TCK thing.  Because they have seen a lot of things (cultures, traditions, etc), a mix is the most natural result.
  Needless to say, I have become much more interested in Borges and his life, now that I know that he was a TCK.

Note on the title: Borges wrote a small work called Borges y Yo (Borges and I).  He talks about his seemly split personality. The public figure and the simple man.  I kinda played with that as Borges and I (Will).

Clippings, but not from the Newspaper

  If you've spent much time around me, you've probably noticed one of my many bad habits: biting my nails.  Well, I'm working on quitting, and tonight, I experienced a small taste of success:
  About a week or so ago, I decided that I needed to consciously make an effort to stop biting my nails and start using fingernail clippers.  So, every time that I would start to chew on my fingers, I would think "Stop it!"  Obviously, I didn't execute this as perfectly as I would've hoped.  But, I resisted biting my pointer fingers' nails.  The other ones did receive some tooth attention.
  I realized tonight, that my pointer fingers' nails were actually long enough to cut; I was a little bit excited.  (It's the simple pleasures, guys).  A year ago, I bought fingernail clippers, but I can probably count on one hand how many times I've used them.  So, it was almost the maiden voyage for this little metal device.  And I clipped my fingernails.  Hurrah!!
   However exciting this may be, it's not what I wanted to share.  While cutting my nails, I realized that I was really out of practice (especially with my left hand).  It just felt weird, unnatural because I never do it.  But, the weird feeling didn't keep me from cutting my nails because I knew that it was the right thing to do.  I knew by cutting them with the clippers would keep away the pain of biting off a nail too short.  Plus, they just look better.
   This made me think of life.  Many times, we need to discipline ourselves to do stuff that is weird and unnatural because it will do us good in the end.  Good things are difficult to do for our evil flesh.  We trust God because His rewards are a quite a bit better than what this world has to offer.  Once you get in the habit of doing the right thing, it becomes as normal as the bad habit used to be.
  The hardest part is that first step, that maiden voyage for the good habit.  Evangelist Mark Cahill shares Christ with everyone he meets (and he meets a whole lot of people) says that the first person of the day is always the hardest.  After that, they just come more easier and easier.

So don't hesitate, Stop the bad, Start the good. 

Christian Teapots

  Yesterday, I was helping a friend make a video for youth group.  We had drunk some cappuccino, and the teapot was a still on the table.  I thought to myself, "Self, I think you'd like a little swallow of hot water."  So, I poured myself a little bit and drank it.  To my surprise and disappointment, the water was not hot at all, but just room temperature.  I could've poured myself a glass from the regular pitcher if I wanted lukewarm water!
 One would hope to find hot (or even boiling) water in a teapot. And when one finds a teapot full of lukewarm water, he asks, "What's the point?"
   About that time, I realized that a it's not really the teapot that makes the water hot.  It's the stove that teapot sits on.  Without a stove (or some kind of fire), a teapot is simply a metal pitcher.
    Christians are like teapots: When they've been away from the fire, you can tell.  They're laking in passion; they're not really fulfilling their purpose.  They're not being used because they're not available.  They may have the right stuff inside, but it's not heated to the right degree.
   In order for a teapot to be able to pour hot water, it's gotta sit on the stove.  In order for a Christian to be effective, he's gotta spend time in the Word, in prayer, and with other believers.  It's not worth pouring cold water out of a teapot.

Learning in Circles

Language learning

Language learning must be done in circles: It’s impossible to learn it all the first time around.  You need a second lap.  

  But more than that, by studying more things in a language, you learn stuff that you didn’t get last week in class.  

  In addition, every student is different, so you can’t count on Student A to learn the  same stuff as Student B in a given unit.  

So the million dollar question: Why don’t you just slow down and teach it bit-by-bit?  Because that’s neither conducive to communication nor profitable for class time.  The blanks that inevitably will be left in a student’s mind will be filled in in the lessons that follow.  

One student can’t grasp the entirety of Concept 1 without learning Concept 2.   However, his friend completely understood Concept 1, but didn’t wrap his mind around Concept 2 until the end of semester, when he saw it  compared to Concept 8.  

Am I making sense? 

To accommodate learning styles, circular teaching is necessary.  Teaching incomplete concepts is pointless because the students leave the classroom with nothing that they can hold on to.  The same topics need to be looked at again at a later time in the course of the semester/year/or whatever.  

I basically got this idea from Prof Jacqueline Schram, I’ve just added a little. 

An Average Day in the Life of an Average Will

  I started school this week.  As you can imagine, it's a little different than Grace College and Theological Seminary.  For starters, I live an hour away from campus by bus.  In general that's not a problem because on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays I don't have to be at school until 1 o'clock in the afternoon.  But on Fridays I have to be at school at 9:40 and Wednesdays at 8:00 am!  That's a problem.

  As of now, I'm taking 4 classes here, all in Spanish.  Three of them are classes in the international student program and one class with Argentine students.  The international classes are Latin American History in the 20th Century, Argentine Political Economy, and a lit class that is a study of Latin American cities with Buenos Aires as the model.  The regular class that I am taking is called Theory and Practice of Communication part 2.  Down here, there aren't any electives for regular students.  For each major, there is a set schedule that you follow every year.  So, I inserted myself into a group of communication majors that have already been together for a semester. (We are in second semester down here, thus part 2).

  The professors here make me smile.  I have one professor who is classic a Argentine.  This means that he was placed on this earth to tell the world why Argentina is the best nation in the world.  On the other hand, I have a teacher that describes this country with words that I shan't repeat here.

  I'm also playing basketball with the university team.  We practice twice a week, and it's pretty informal: whoever shows, practices.  And the coach picks who plays in the games.  Our first game is August 27th.

  I don't know what you all want to hear about, so let me know.