View
Rexburg, Idaho
Every morning I would wake up and see this from my dormitory’s window
Now, I wake up and see this:
Where did the temple go?
Roommates and my FHE Family
Rexburg, Idaho
Roommates
I don’t know if I mentioned before but my roommates are all from Bulgaria (Eastern Europe)
They really like techno music… they play it most of the time. They also like to cook a lot. When tey cook you could smell it from a block away!
They like their own space and they are not very social with the Americans…
I noticed that they don’t like to be called ‘gypsies’ or ‘no-Caucasian’ (So I do)
They are cool… sometimes though is frustrating when we all are in the same room and they start talking in Bulgarian…
(Trish, my roommates kaman, Ivan and Trish’s friend)
Or when they do something all together and they don’t invite me (they said they did… perhaps they did… but in Bulgarian!!!)
FHE Family
One my favorite traditions is FHE. Family Home Evening or FHE is when the family gathers together and do soemthing fun.
Here most of us are far from our families so our ward assigned us an FHE Family.
Every monday we get together and do something fun.We have’t really got to the FUN part yet but we DO something every monday evening so that’s fun.
Here for example each cooked something from where your last name is from. The best things were Pappa’s sort of quesadilla (Greek style) and ofcourse my sort of Argentine’s Alfajores.
(MMM it looks great and tasted even better! But not even close to waht alfajores are)
We also had a halloween’s pumpkin competition. (Who had the msot creative pumpkin)
I have to adit, they where very creative but they weren’t competition for the one that Pappa’s and I did.
We used a Water melon instead of a pumpkin (thas already creative) and we named it Hulk…
(Pappas and Hulk)
(Hernan and Hulk)
Work
Rexurg, Idaho
Smiles & married women (no no?)
I work at the Administration building known as the Kimball Building… it is very modern looking building.
I have cubicle and a computer where I do my work. I am basically the assistant of the person responsible of deciding if students are ready to graduate. (Degree Audit Clerk)
It’s fun
There are working in the office 9 girls and 4 guys (including me). Most of them are married and 4 of the girls are pregnant.
The only ones passing the age of 30 are the 4 managers. 4 of us are single and the 2 single girls are engaged.
My boss is one of the pregnant women. And I don’t know if it is because of her pregnancy or what but she never smiles. Ever.
Every time she looks at me I try to smile at her but nothing comes in return, not even a glimpse of a smile back. (Funny)
My friend told me that she might be thinking that I am hitting on her. “But she is married… and pregnant!!” I said
He said “In the conservative cultures of the US married women don’t even talk to the opposite sex” (Rubbish… right?)
Fall colors
Rexburg, Idaho
Ok it’s time for an update of what’s going on here in Idaho.
Fall Colors
Lately the weather has been very pleasant. Cold, yes, but with sunshine and blue sky that makes the cold not such a terrible thing.
I’ve noticed that the colors here are more pronounced, like the yellow of the hay or the red of the trees are more yellow or redder than in Utah.
I’ve been working at the Graduation Registration Office and I like it. I wake up at 6:30 every morning to leave home 7:30. Yes it takes me the entire house to get ready and it does take me almost 20 minutes to get there.
Most of the hour to get ready I use it to wake up. (I would get ready with out being actually awake… weird!)
Walking to work every morning is not fun. It’s really cold outside!
Here some pictures from the preparations to one of the weirdest tradition of the American culture: Halloween.
Limonade love
Rexburg, Idaho
Today I went out for a walk around the neighborhood and I ran into this two kids selling lemonade. I thought it was awesome so I asked them if I could take a picture of them, they agreed gladly.
I started counting 1, 2, 3 to shoot.
1… The boy put his arm around the girl,
2… The girl pushed the boy away,
3… (click) big smile for the camera.
Randomness from Idaho
Rexburg, Idaho
Randomness
I still didn’t get a job so I have nothing but time. I still don’t know many people here, so to kill time I work out a lot (a lot!) and I read a lot, (a lot!)
I read mostly books, newspapers On-line and blogs…I stated reading almost weekly this blog: Discover Buenos Aires, by a New Yorker named Dave who moved to Buenos Aires (Argentina) not so long ago.
My favorite part of his blog is the “Random Observations” where he mentions some things that we Argentinians or porteños do that he finds amusing.
Some times are things that also I noticed but in the other way around, for example when he said “Everything they (Argentines) sell seems to be much smaller than the U.S. equivalent.” I, in the other hand, found some how funny that everything they (Americans) sell in the U. S. seems to be extra large.
Here is some of his randomness that was interesting to me:
- “No one picks up after their dog and I mean no one. I picked up after Delilah and felt weird doing it.”
- “There are (almost) no obese people in Argentina. There may be some people with pot bellies or a few extra pounds, but you do not see people who are extremely overweight like in the U.S.”
- “You seat yourself at most restaurants.”
- “Pedestrians do not have the right of way. Taxi drivers drive much worse than they do in NYC. I’m really surprised there are not more accidents.”
- “Sidewalks here are maintained by the building owners and not the city, so as you walk down a block, the sidewalk can change over and over.”
- “Everyone who has met more than once kisses each other on the cheek when saying goodbye. I mean everyone: women kiss men, men kiss women, women kiss women, men kiss men…”
- “As you walk down the street here, you might notice some cars that have jugs half-filled with some type of liquid sitting on top of the roof. We’ve seen this many times and have finally figured out what it means. (Well, ok, we didn’t actually figure it out, we asked our Spanish tutor, Marco, what it meant.) Ready? It means that the car is for sale. Yep, that’s it.”
My own randomness
Rexburg, Idaho is the most interesting town I ever been to. I don’t really know why; maybe because I am not from a little town so all little details call my attention.
I will start school here at the Brigham Young University – Idaho or BYU- I in January, so until I find a job (which it would be really, really bad if I don’t) I’ll be a tourist here.
BYU-I is located in Rexburg, ID, a city about 212.1 miles from Salt Lake City, with a population of 26,265. 95 % of whom are white (0,5 %are Latino, Lowest in the nation?)
Rexburg, Idaho’s random observations: Week 1.
- People drive really slowly here, and they don’t seem to mind giving all the time pedestrians need to cross the street.
- People walk! When I came to the U.S., I found really weird that most people wouldn’t walk at all. In Utah, if the grocery store or church was 2 or 3 blocks away it was not a walk-able distance. Here though, people walk everywhere.
- People are very friendly. They wave at me when I am crossing the street and they are in the car. (Weird)
- A lot of rules. I always attended privet schools so I don’t mind rules at all, but I was very surprised of how strict Brigham Young University – Idaho is with the students. Some of the rules are from the code of honor that all students have to sign before being accepted. There students commit to live under the standard of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That includes no drinking, smoking, drugs, coffee, tea, extramarital sex, no vulgar language, no facial hair, modest clothing, and going to church regularly.
BYU-Idaho however appears to want the students to go an extra mile to achieve excellence:
-
- Hair cuts must be always modest and clean (crazy hair styles are inappropriate) Guys must follow certain hair cut style.
- It’s not allowed to wear On-campus, sandals, shorts, or clothes that looks like it’s showing underwear
- You can’t live anywhere that is not previously approved by the University.
- To be approved apartments must follow certain requirements like a safe internet connection that blokes all adult websites.
- Also the apartments must provided a cable services that doesn’t have certain TV channels (in my case they blocked MTV, VH1, HBO, etc)
- Curfew is another rule that apartments have to have to be approved housing: In my apartments it is 11 to 11:30. However Fridays and Saturdays one can be out until midnight.
- Girls are never allowed in the bedrooms and they must leave the apartment at 11.
- Apartments are all male or female apartments (not mixed apartments)
- The city of Rexburg has just one Movie Theater, and it doesn’t show rated R movies.
- Apparently, Rexburg is also an Alcohol-free city. All the rights to sell Alcohol are held by the University.
- The crime is almost inexistent here
Y Idaho?
Rexburg – Idaho
“It started out as a feeling, which then grew into a hope, which then turned into a quiet thought, which then turned into a quiet word… and then that word grew louder and louder ’til it was a battle cry”
How?
My computer broke so I couldn’t write before. Today I am really happy because I can write again.
In a few years I’ll be done with school, probably I’ll be married and hopefully with some kids of my own. I’ll grow old, I’ll grow wise. Some day my kids will be sitting around me and I’ll ask them “Do you want to know how I got into college?”
Well kids, the story includes a series of miracles, but begins way before I was born…
Genesis
My dad (your grandpa) didn’t finish high school and my mom (your grandma) didn’t even finish the elementary school. I don’t like to talk about this because some times describing the poor conditions in which my siblings and I had to live could overshadow the efforts and sacrifices that my parents had to do to gives us the best they could. However, in order to understand how far we have come already, I feel it’s important to know certain details about my family.
Exodus
My parents migrated from extreme poverty in Paraguay to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Because of their lack of education they struggled to find good jobs and opportunities to do well.
Understanding how important education was they sent us to the best schools in Buenos Aires. In order to get to a good school we would have to wake up every day at 4:30 a.m. travel for two and half hours by train, bus, and walking several blocks. We were in class from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; we wouldn’t get back home until 6:30 pm.
Chronicles
We didn’t have a gas nor a water system installed in our house, so we had to hit water and put it in a container to take a shower. Electricity failed more than often, so some times we had to do homework under some candle lights.
My parents were often criticized or praised for all the sacrifice they went through or that they made us go through.
When I was 11 years old, my parents transferred my younger brother and me to a private school 45 minutes away from my house. Though we were attending a much better school, I remember how my mother struggled some times to provide food for us.
Education was always important goal in my family, even if to achieve it was necessary to give up certain things.
New Testament
What my parents wanted the most for us was a better future. They knew that learning good values was as important as any other kind of education. My mother especially, encouraged us to pray to overcome troubles. I was always very sick when I was a child; most of my memories include a big deal of childhood being in the hospital. I remember when my mom would hold me really tight and pray so hard while giving me comfort.
Blessings
I am convinced that because of her… because of both of my parents, God is blessing my sibiling and me so much. They all found their porpoise on life; they all have a beautiful family with beautiful and healthy babies. They are awesome.
Some times I felt that I wanted that too, but I couldn’t deny though that I was being spoiled with blessings too.
Lucky
I was “lucky” enough to get a sponsor who gave me an opportunity to study English at Brigham Young University. Then, again, I had some other sponsors who felt that it was important that I went to College also. Some times I thought I would never get my associates’ at the LDS Business College, but I did. And I thought it was over, I thought that I was time to go home. I really missed my family.
“Stay!”
The problem was that I didn’t even have money to go home. And here is where the so called miracle happened.
Both of my parents felt really strongly that it was important that I finish school here, in the US, the land of opportunity. And it truly was, at least for me…
The good news were that I was accepted to Brigham Young University-Idaho YAY! And the
bad news was that The U. S. Government required me to pay tuition for one year before receiving the scholarships. That’s $4,000 dollars! AND it has to be paid by Friday, September 12, I remember well because that was 2 weeks from the day I found out that I got accepted. How in the world would I come up with $4,000 dollars in less than 2 weeks?
“200 times 20″
One night I fell asleep praying, asking what should I do to get the money on time. The next morning I woke up with the phrase “200 times 20″ in my head.
I had the opportunity to go to BYU- Idaho to get my bachelor’s degree in Communications with an emphasis in advertising. The only obstacle standing between me and my goal was the $4000.
So I did what I thought was very embarrassing, you see kids, here was when the “200 times 20″ inspiration came in. If 200 friends will each donate $20 I would be able to meet the U. S. government financial requirement.
I didn’t have anything to loose, so I sent an e-mail to every single friend I had. I didn’t have 200 friends though, so I also sent the e-mail to co workers, people who I met here and there, to friend of friends, to everyone.
And the money kept rolling In (and in)
My parents were the first one to sent their part, they sent $800, which in Argentina is a lot of money (especially for them), and I had saved $500.
Many people laugh at the idea, and told me that it would be impossible to reach the goal of $4000 in such a short time. But the money kept coming.
It kept coming from people I haven’t seen in a long time, from close friends, from lost friends, from people I never met before, or maybe I met once.
From…
One time a friend got the mail and started reading from the envelopes the places from which they were coming, she read Ohio, Florida, Alabama, Michigan, California, Utah, New York, Colorado, Washington, Maryland, Arizona… and then asked me “Do you know people from all this places?” “I guess so” I said.
Piggybank
Part of my savings were part of a piggybank, some of the coins were foreigner money so I put everything in the carpet and started separating the dollars from the pesos and the pounds. When Jo Ellen and Ema Lita saw that, they both brought their own piggy bank: hundreds of coins. We guessed how much money we had, we all guessed between 50 to 60 dollars, but it was 111 dollars!!!!
Causalities
A friend of Jo Ellen heard the story and told Jo Ellen “May I give these 20 dollars I found yesterday to him?”
I was so close to the goal so soon that it was so overwhelming to me. I didn’t want to think about it because it made me want to cry, and also feel over-blessed. With $400 needed to reach the $4000 a really good friend of mine said to me crying, “My husband and I were helping a kid to pay for his mission and yesterday we received a letter from him telling us that he got enough money for his mission so he returned us this money, and we want it to be our contribution to you: $400!
Even BYU Idaho got the e-mail! (Not from me though) They waved $500 that I had to pay when I started working there, in Rexburg, Idaho.
And that’s how I got into College… as I said kids, nothing but a series of miracles, one after another. Why? Why me? Why Idaho? I still don’t know.
