politicians...

The Presidential election here is at the end of October, so campaigning is in full swing. That corresponds with some mayoral elections as well. All of this resembles men dressed in business suits in a boxing ring, trading blows, many of them below the belt. It's interesting to note that in the US, the Presidential election campaigning starts extremely early (like stores starting to sell Christmas gifts like at the beginning of November). Here they just go for a 60 day push or so.

You see lots of cars and vans driving around for Presidents and mayors alike with a big image of so and so candidate, blasting through some huge stereo atop the car "vote for so and so..." I would have to say that for a lot of the voters here in Argentina, they'll be casting their vote in an image contest, that's all the Presidential election here seems to be. While it is that too in the US, not to the extent it is here I don't think, there's slightly more thought and information known about candidates in the US. That's why here, you see a million posters of the candidates around, posted on walls and telephone poles. Many of the images are quite comedic, the way the candidates are posing.

One of the cabinet ministers of the current President came out this week and said "what, there's no inflation in this country...it's a political plot from the opposition that that is being said." Right. Inflation is 15-20% here. Without a grasp of reality. I think that's a good way to describe it. Kirchener, the President, also wants wealthy nations to pay Argentina reparations for Argentina having saved, and taken such great care of the environment. What? What are you talking about? Are you trying to forget about your multi-billion dollar debt?

Politicians everywhere are ridiculous. Just publicly more ridiculous here in Argentina.

Disciplined & distractions

So obviously distractions are a major something that keep us from being closer to Jesus, at least I think. It's the little things that don't seem that important. I'll just go ahead and check my email again for the 43rd time today. Any new news going on in the world? Probably not, just checked 5 minutes ago. For me, one of my distractions is the computer, spending way too much time not really doing anything purposeful on a small electronic machine. I also get distracted by things that are new...I want to spend a lot of time figuring out whatever that new things is and how it works. Rather, I could be sitting down and getting into the Word. I could be praying. I could be serving someone.

One thing that I think really makes a difference is realizing that humans are creatures of habit. If that's so, ok, then it's time to implement discipline so that my habits and time spent is doing more fruitful things. Maybe I need to make a new rule, I can only check my email twice per day, at a certain time of the day, and if I go over that quota, I lose my bowl of cereal for the following morning. What's hard about that is enforcement, I'm not likely to enforce that on to myself. So ya, I feel somewhat distracted these days and am wishing for more discipline.

international week

This past week was international week at school. Its purpose is to learn about different cultures and countries around the world, and to recognize and share our own diversity. The high schoolers each did a specific project on a particular theme, while the elementary classes each focused on one country and learned about that country. On Friday, there was a program, and then a parent-student-teacher lunch. Here are some pictures from the week:

this song's stuck in my head!

The lyrics of this song are right on. If you listen to it, forget the video, forget the subtitles, forget the singer. Please just listen to the words.

It's awesome!!

I reaffirm that K-gartners rock

So this week is international week at BAICA. Each lower level class elects one country, studies it, and then does a presentation on that country. Kinder is doing Brazil, and one big theme is the soccer fanatacism that runs through that country. Here are some pictures of the kindergartners at lunch:

Why can't high schoolers be cute and have a desire to learn? K-gartners do!!

The growth of the cereal wall

Here's an update on our wall:

You can see the difference from a previous picture.

My roommate Craig is a big fan, lemme tell ya. When asked about the cereal wall, you can expect an extensive roll of the eyes from him.

good article on Master's degrees

An interesting article about Master's degrees.

I'm a fan of teacher's day

In Argentina, they have a school holiday in honor of teachers. It's really to honor Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, a former President of Argentina, and one of the first to place an important emphasis on education in this country. You can read more about him here if you wish.

Anyways, teachers day is great. We had the day off from school yesterday, and today 2 of my students brought me gifts! Gifts!! We're not talking a measly apple or anything (even that would have been great). From one of my students, who said it was from his mom, I was given a collared casual shirt, and one of my Korean students gave me a tea set, complete with two cups, a little tray, and two serving spoons. I just teach math. I don't deserve this. It was really nice of them, and I very much appreciated it. You could definitely say that I am a big fan of teacher's day.

great message today...

We had a guest speaker at church today and He said some very insightful things and gave a great message. Robin spoke on a passage from the Old Testament:
Read Haggai 1:2-11

Robin pointed that we as followers of Jesus we tend to focus primarily on the New Testament. However, God's word in the Old Testament, while yes different in presentation, still has much applicable meaning to our lives today. God wouldn't speak or take action just for the heck of it, He tells us things in His Word, Old or New, for a specific reason and purpose. That was a great reminder.

The background for this passage in Haggai is important to understand. The brief summary: under King Solomon, the nation of Israel was prosperous and doing very well. The Temple that was constructed during Solomon's rule contained the actual living Spirit of God, and the nation of Israel made that their primary focus and found their identity in that, thus the prosperous and joyous times together as a nation.

After the nation's downfall and subsequent exile in which the people had become too complacent and lost their focus on what was primarily most important, the time had come back around to build the Temple again. This is what this passage in Haggai refers to. There is an emphasis on building the temple for God anew, and making Him the center of all. Verse 1:6 is particularly applicable to today's life and society. It is extremely similar to Matthew 6:25. As the verse in Haggai, there is a similar answer to what we should be doing: Matthew 6:33.

Today, we, even as believers, are more focused on building things for ourselves, whether it be fame, money, possesions, rather than building things for God. And this passage in Haggai encourages us to think about our current state as a result...verse 7 says "Consider how you have fared." Robin pointed out that we all too often don't really stop. Stop completely and examine.

For our life's primary focus, are we building a Temple for God in our lives, which will result in true prosperity, joy and wealth, or are we building temples for ourselves?

been a busy week

It's been a busy week around these parts. Tests in most of my classes and I'm running a lot more. These are some of the photos from this week: It's mostly Spring now, and the weather is great... Guys even get out and trailer their golf-club push carts around... and BAICA students get to go out and play more...I even got one of the BAICA students to put on this goofy helmet and pose for this shot, which is something Martín normally wouldn´t do... I´m looking forward to Spring. I signed up to do a mountain marathon in November, so that´s why I´m running more...I figured Spring would be a good time to train for it.

Siempre...

Siempre reinarás, siempre reinarás Jesús...
Siempre reinarás, siempre reinarás Jesús...

It´s true. Jesus will always reign. I´m convicted of this fact and have a great desire to share Him with others...but ah, that´s the tricky part. Jesus is too good for just me. At the very least, I´ve got to share Him with others. He did save me, you know. I so often think it´s up to me and my crafty ways and intelligence to figure out how to be successful in this. That´s my mistake. Complete abandon to Him is where it´ll happen. After all, He is the one who reigns forever.

Wal Mart Argentina

I ran to the Wal Mart today, they have a new store relatively close (4-5 miles away) as a test the water experience. I had seen all these ads up around for "precios más bajos"...would they really have the lowest prices?

So I went, and my verdict: probably not going back. They don't have the lowest prices by far, and I found the same customer service as in the states. Meaning not good. I asked at the counter how you could find a particular CD, if they had it in stock or not, because the CDs weren't organized alphabetically. The counter lady referred me to the aisle guy. So I went and asked the aisle guy. He referred me to the counter lady. OK, we're getting nowhere fast, no CD purchase. Aside from high prices, there were a lot of items missing on shelves...makes things hard to buy. So the only things I bought that were more economical than other stores: sweet potatoes, spaghetti and sugar. I spent 10 pesos. About 3 dollars.

So I was a little disappointed, yes. The redeeming part came when I was walking out of the store, and an older Argentine man (60s) approached me on his bike, and asked me a question out of the blue (which normally isn't par for the course for Argentines) "hey kid, they got low prices?" he asked. "No" I responded, "they sure don't."