A Little Like Home

Although there are so many differences between Ecuador and my life in the states, sometimes the little similarities pop through.

Last week, I was jogging in the park and I saw a (what seemed to be Ecuadorian) guy running the opposite directions with an OSU hoody. Surprisingly, not football (I think it was basketball). Regardless, this was a small part of home that I cherished for those brief seconds in passing.

Sunday, I went to a new church that ended up being the same denomination (Christian Missionary Alliance) as the church I go to in Grantham. Actually, I´m pretty sure I found the home church of the spanish pastor at my church in Grantham. (He´s originally from Quito...small world)

Yesterday, while enjoying (ok, maybe I´m lying there) my hour bus ride home from school, thunder clouds rolled in. Now, I LOVE thunderstorms. love love. love! but I figured that nothing would happen since I´m in the mountains and whatnot. Well, as I got on my second bus, the rain started. And then it was pouring... and then it was hailing!! Actually visible hail, like the size of you pinky fingernail. It was GREAT!!
So I stayed on my bus, face plastered to the window the rest of the way home. and then I got off at my stop, but still had a 5-10 min. walk home. Every other Ecuadorian was hurrying in to find shelter under the store front covers or ducking inside a restaurant, but not me! I pulled up my OSU hoody, and stepped out into the sidewalk. There was water everywhere... since it doesn´t really storm that much the drainage systems aren´t used to a lot of water at once, so the puddles were huge, the rain drops mixed with hail were coming down hard, and very quickly I was very wet. I can´t explain what JOY this cold, wet, gray, walk gave me. I was like the only one on the street. People from the inside of the stores were watching me with dumbfounded looks on their faces. ¨Why is that gringa out in the rain, and why is she smiling¨. The truth was that as the rain and hail came smacking down all around me, so did my nerves, my discomfort, my frustrations in language comprehension, everything washed away, and I was left living a memory of the times when I had so much fun being completely soaked at Messiah.

When I got home, my mom and maids and daddy were of course surprised at my well.. wettness. And made sure that I changed into warm clothes PRONTO. But all was well in Kimbo´s world. For a brief 10 min. I was back with my friends at messiah and not caring about silly things like clothes, homework, schedules, or future... just being joyful jumping in the puddles.

And so, when I feel like I´m in another world here, God sends me a thunderstorm, and I am thankful.

Thanks for reading,
Kimbo

Another Thing: I´m going to jog (maybe run a bit) in a 10k here on the 31st of Aug. check it out if you wish:
www.nikeplus.com