Guanabana

This morning, me and my running buddies Jeremy and Courtney were too tired to actually run, so we were walking. Actually they were. I was riding in a stroller. It was great. Then I woke up and had to actually run, but the dream was nice. On the positive side of waking up, CJ joined us for our run.

At UG today, I had discipleship with my wonderful roommate and discipler, Miss Jessica Abrego. My faithful internet service has alerted me with a red squiggly that "discipler" is not actually a word, so mayhaps I shall explain a bit. Within CRU, we value discipleship in discipler to disciple (or, as some say, "disciplee") relationships. While here, Jess is meeting with me to share, grow, and talk about God. In many ways, Jess and I are polar opposites, which makes our time together super fun and beneficial as we can see a little glimpse of life through each others' eyes. This time was just the restful break I needed after a long and somewhat exhausting week of sharing.

After a long time together, we went to talk to some students from English classes. Again, my heart was captured by more language students. We caught the beginning of the Vida Estudiantil meeting before walking back to the hotel. 

On the way back, I got jugo de guanabana (soursop juice [yes, the translation is actually soursop, the English word you never knew existed]) and deditos de queso (little cheese fingers). The fact that this trip is half way over makes me want to sob. There are so many things about this country, this city, and this summer that I am going to miss. One of the things that will be most missed by this gringo is JUGO DE GUANABANA. This juice that tastes like banana and pineapple in the chillest combination possible has quickly become my favorite.

At the grocery store tonight, I saw guanabana in real life, and was a bit disappointed to find it much uglier than in any of its glamour shots on Google images. While at the grocery, a fruit called granadilla made its way into the life of our team. It is roughly shaped and colored like a clementine, but with a smoother surface. The inside reminded me of passion fruit, and it demanded to be eaten with a spoon. The slimy interior was sweet, while the seeds had an almost nutty taste to them. I am a fan.

After the excitement of this new-to-us fruit died down, we exploded again into excitement as we saw fireworks out the window of eight-bro-uno, where we were having our project fun night. As they continued, a few of us scurried to the elevator and took it all the way up to floor 14 to get an unblocked view of the show. It was a lovely display, and brought a little comfort to those of us grieving that we don't get to see all of the 4th of July fireworks here that we would see at home.

Tomorrow, we take off for the beach, so I may not be posting on here for a few days. Then again, I may. I like to keep things mysterious and unpredictable, says the girl who has blogged every single day of the trip so far.

Love,

Jenna