I have been keeping the friends in Iran in my thoughts and prayers, especially on this day when the seven Bahá’í leaders in Iran were to have gone on trial for false charges. So one of my last prayers last night was for them, and I had an unbelievable dream…I think I was in Iran, although the setting actually felt like Green Acre Bahá’í School, with large, open green fields. There were the enemies- government of Iran, and those that are against the Bahá’ís, etc, and then there were the Bahá’ís and those on the side of the Bahá’ís. We were all spread out on this large open field and the enemies were shooting at us, kind of typical old fashioned battle style, although I don’t actually remember bullets flying and I felt like it was more of an abstract, mental battle. I didn’t really have fear of being shot at and killed- I just had an overall negative feeling of mostly sadness. Then the battle broke up momentarily and each enemy had been assigned one Bahá’í to sort of “watch” and make sure they didn’t hurt anyone I suppose, kind of like what they do in sports. So this blond girl, seemed to be American, kind of like me from the outside, had been assigned to me. Suddenly me and this Persian guy were standing facing a small group of these enemies and he begins to chant a prayer in Persian. I assumed he was a Bahá’í, although I was struggling to turn casually and look at his necklace to see which symbol was there, to make sure. When he finished, I began to timidly speak to the group in a kind, soft manner. “The Bahá’ís are not bad people,” I said. “They are not trying to hurt anyone. They are loving and kind and obey the government.” And the blond girl turns to me and says, “That’s a lie. I have documented proof here that they are spies for Israel, that they are against the Iranian government etc, etc” and she showed me this big black book that they all had which was supposedly the proof. And I said, “No, that’s not true. If you actually got to know the Bahá’ís you would realize the truth.” And that’s when I woke up, with the realization that there are always lies and that it doesn’t do any good to argue back and forth. The way to demonstrate the truth to such people is only by our example. The interesting part about the dream is that it appeared to represent the current struggle to defend the rights of the Bahá’ís in Iran, but it ended up being a broader, world wide issue, involving easterners and westerners on both sides. And I remembered that the Master and the Guardian foretold this future opposition to the Faith, even, and especially, in the West, and the “mental tests” that it would bring to the believers. I had not yet really witnessed this western opposition to the Faith or to its believers. Sure, there are those that have no interest in it, and there are those that argue against its validity, but all-out opposition, I have yet to see or hear about. And I certainly couldn’t imagine a westerner, or at least American since they are who I know, in support of the obviously and cruelly unjust attitude towards and treatment of the Bahá’ís in Iran. Until today. No need to go into the details, but it confirmed the prophetic nature of the dream, as do the following quotes.


"Let not, however, the invincible army of Bahá'u'lláh, who in the West, and at one of its potential storm-centers is to fight, in His name and for His sake, one of its fiercest and most glorious battles, be afraid of any criticism that might be directed against it. Let it not be deterred by any condemnation with which the tongue of the slanderer may seek to debase its motives. Let it not recoil before the threatening advance of the forces of fanaticism, of orthodoxy, of corruption, and of prejudice that may be leagued against it. The voice of criticism is a voice that indirectly reinforces the proclamation of this Cause. Unpopularity but serves to throw into greater relief the contrast between it and its adversaries; while ostracism is itself the magnetic power that must eventually win over to its camp the most vociferous and inveterate amongst its foes."

Shoghi Effendi, The Advent of Divine Justice, p. 35
(Compilations, NSA USA - Developing Distinctive Baha'i Communities)



"And yet, how often we seem to forget the clear and repeated warnings of our beloved Master, who in particular during the concluding years of his mission on earth, laid stress on the severe mental tests that would inevitably sweep over his loved ones of the West ... tests that would purge, purify and prepare them for their noble mission in life."

(Shoghi Effendi, Letters from the Guardian to Australia and New Zealand, p. 1)

I'm starting to really identify with the concept of crisis and victory woven throughout Ruhi book 4 of the history of the Faith. Now, I still don't know if the victory comes as a direct result of the crisis (as in passing a test), if it comes as a result of extreme prayers in response to the moments of extreme crisis, or if it is simply God's way of alleving the pain that would otherwise destroy us. I tend to think it could be a combination of the three, life being profound as it is. If I am counting correctly, I think last night was breakdown number 4 of Argentina, meaning an episode of extreme loneliness, depression, and feeling of purposelessness. When I get in that way, I send text messages to everyone I think cares about me telling them how I feel and to pray for me. It does help a little to receive nice words of encouragement. My friend (participant in book 2) sent me a message telling me the page of the prayer in her new prayer book that she had said, and it was quite a perfect prayer for the situation indeed. Then late at night Silvia and Micaela finally said they were ready to do Ruhi (we were supposed to do it at 8), and slowly my mood turned around. It really is all about service. Seeing their capacity for service, and laughing over some of the ridiculous questions, and finally singing, really lifted my spirits. Every day after we study, we play a couple of the children's songs from book 3 so that we can learn them, and usually Micaela (the 15 year old) just listens while she colors, complaining about how bad they are. They are pretty cheesy when you first hear them, but once you pretend you're a kid again, they are a lot of fun. So she starts out as usually complaining, while I am joyfully singing along, and once the song ends she says, play it again, and starts singing along in a low voice. Then she says, play it again, and she sings along with more feeling. Then she says with excitement, I have an idea everybody! We play the first verse of the song, then we stop it and try to sing it without the cd, then we play the second verse and so on. And we go on like this, with slight variations in the method each time under Micaela's instruction, until Silvia and I couldn't stand the song any longer! And the laughter all throughout...you couldn't believe. They are not used to singing at all, and seeing them progress from disgust, to shyness, to uncontrollable laughter while attempting to sing, to actually normal, nice singing...such a feeling of happiness and fulfillment for all of us. This family hardly ever does anything together, let alone singing, so it was a very unifying experience. There is nothing like seeing progress right before your eyes. I don't like cliches but...it's the little things in life. To round off the story, today I received a call from Sohrab Yazdani, the man who descended from heaven, and he says, how are you my daughter? And he asks me when I'm coming to Burzaco (his community, where I almost went several times but plans kept changing, and I had assumed that I would no longer have the opportunity). He was one of the ones I sent a message to last night and I had said that I hoped to see him before I left. There were a few other people that I wanted to say bye to as well, and a couple that even said they would come say bye to me in the airport if nothing else. So, it looks like I may be going to Burzaco for my last 10 days but I'm keeping my fingers crossed because you just never know in Argentina...prayers are always welcome. One thing I do know, is that things happen for a reason, or in other words, crisis is always followed by victory.

Weeelll, I guess there´s a first for everything. Today I went to my first wake. I kind of hope it will be my last. There is something very strange about getting together in someone´s living room, chatting, smiling, catching up, drinking mate, even laughing at times, not too different from the typical Argentinian get-together, but with a dead body in the middle of the room. A man handed me the mate and right after went to the dead body and arranged the feet or the covering or something of the sort. Lets just say I had a hard time swallowing the mate.

The Ruhi process is amazing…It seems to remove the distinctions between people, namely, the us and them phenomenon, and makes “becoming a Bahá’í,” if even an issue at all, not an event but a life-long process. The Ruhi sequence of courses puts people from all walks of life into contact with the Word of God for this Day and accompanies them in service to humanity so that they are assisted in remaining on the path towards God for all of eternity.
On a more specific note, already 6 people in Rio Gallegos have finished book 1 within 2 weeks, with several others in the process, and we have started book 2. A group of college students choosing to study the Word of God every saturday night. I don’t feel like I can put the experience into words…I tried to above, but it doesn’t cut it. That’s why I have hesitated writing in the blog. I basically feel more of service than I have felt since I arrived in Argentina. Last night, I felt the joy of teaching to the fullest extent with the added joy of learning, when we began book 2; the understanding and spiritual progress gained from the study of book 1 was notable in the participants. I believe that no matter how many times we go through Ruhi we can get something out of it. So often we get caught up in the machinery of the Faith that we forget what it’s all about, and these courses and the participants that are new to the Faith are especially good at reminding us of those things.
God has truly succeeded in making my life more and more unpredictable, and rewarding me for making sacrifices. I may be bragging but I also may be just truthful, which is the foundation of all human virtues. I spent a good chunk of money to fly to the coldest part of Argentina in the winter (I hate the cold with a passion) for what I thought would be 2 weeks, spent another good chunk for a whoooole lot of excess luggage (can you believe the limit is 15 kilos??), and now may end up staying here until I return home, but all these details have become insignificant.

This is the story of Silvia, who gave me permission to retell it only after I told her it would be inspiring to others...in what way it is inspiring, I think depends on who you are. Take from it what you will, but please, just help me fulfill my promise and be inspired. About 9 years ago, she became very spiritually and mentally sick. She didn’t go into the details about the causes but that generally it was severe stress. I have never heard anything like it…she ended up in an autistic-like state. She couldn´t read and could hardly talk because she couldn´t focus long enough on the meanings of words. If she tried to say more than three words, she would start crying. Silvia has always been a very strong Baha’í, always praying and relying on God in difficult times, but because of this state she was in, she couldn´t pray. She knew that if she could only pray, she would improve. And she didn´t know how to ask anyone to pray for her or help her and, being a fairly isolated Bahá’í, it wasn´t likely that any Baha'ís would find out about her condition. She went to psychologists and tried many different medicines, but nothing helped. She was in the supermarket one day and ran into a former classmate of her daughter. He asked the typical how are you? and she replied simply, bad. He said, you have to talk to my mother. She can help you. I will tell her to call you. So the woman brought her to a sort of house of worship where people said prayers in Japanese, and everyday after work she would go and listen for a while. She felt like they were saying prayers for her that she couldnt say for herself. One day a Japanese master sort of person approached her and said she had to go to Japan. She could only heal if she went to Japan. She said she couldn´t go to Japan..she didn´t have any money. He said, you must look for money. If God wants you to go, you will find the money. So through a series of miracles she was able to easily and very quickly take out a loan and obtain a passport, which she recieved only a couple of days before leaving. So she went with this Japanese master and a few other people to Japan for about a month. The purpose was to visit the home of Oyasama, a Japanese woman who was around several years before Baha'u'llah´s time and who claimed to receive a revelation from God of specific prayers with associated movements, for healing. People all around the world have apparently been healed through these prayers, and visit her home either to thank her or to be healed, as her home has the strongest healing power. So everyday Silvia, with this group, would visit the home and say the prayers, and at the end of this "pilgrimage," as she was getting on the plane, she realized she was cured. She was asked to commit to saying the prayer once a month thanking Oyasama as well as sharing the healing prayer for every sick person she would come across. Indeed, she is very thankful to Oyasama, she said through tears, for she led her back to Bahá'u'lláh. She wrote to the Universal House of Justice about the "Tenrikyo Society" of Oyasama, asking about its status, and they replied by forwarding a message written on behalf of the Guardian...



“Truth is found everywhere. It would be indeed difficult to find a creed or a doctrine of any sort in this world that did not possess some facet of truth; this is what Bahá’u’lláh believed and taught. But everything has a source or focal centre; the focal centres of truth are not broken up or distributed at random, but, like unto the sun, are concentrated in one mighty source whom we call a Prophet or Manifestation of God. What we find in each other, and in various creeds, are rays from this source—but the source is the all-important thing, and to recognize and turn to it gives one an infinitely greater degree of strength and enlightenment than to try to find its rays, one here and one there, scattered about among our fellow men.”

Life is really good. Every time I have a breakdown it is turning point and things dramatically improve. Things had been slowing down for me in Rosario. I had been feeling more and more like I should move on and could be of more service elsewhere, and I had been waiting for a while from a response from Junta, the national institute, as to where and when I was leaving. I was patiently waiting and wasn’t feeling any negative feelings but then I had a dramatically negative experience with my “family.” We basically fought like we never had and I was crying hysterically and went to a locutorio to call my dad and contact various people, telling them I needed to get out of Rosario ASAP. As a result, the process of my travel plans was expedited (is that the word?) and I left a couple days later. But by the next day, Barbara had already left me a note on the table saying she was sorry about last night and then we talked for a really long time later and resolved our differences. Really most problems are only a result of miscommunication or misunderstanding. Every time we have had conflicts, we seem to get closer afterwards. So I left Rosario on thursday afternoon on good terms with everyone, though I didn’t have time to say goodbye to everyone. I arrived at 3 AM in Rio Gallegos, the southern most city of continental Argentina, or in other words freakin cold! It had been pretty cool in Rosario as well, but incidentally as soon as I left the heat returned. Just my luck. So here I am in Rio Gallegos for 2 weeks. What a difference to be here and to feel from the Bahais that I am actually wanted! As I had known, because the reason I came was because the most active Bahai here had been at the National Convention and was crying, begging someone to come serve in her community because she can´t go on doing everything alone. There are very few Bahais here, even fewer active, but these few are really strong Bahais and really desiring to serve. The only thing missing then, was a tutor, and here I am. It´s almost pointless to say, but it is so much more worthwhile serving people that want to be served and that want to serve, rather than not…in Rosario it was like pulling teeth, as my dad would say. Rosario was the only cluster by the time of the national convention that was a goal cluster and hadn’t reached the IPG by Ridvan…and it was the cluster that I was in..and that´s what I felt like, that I was just there, because alas, you can´t force a community to pull together and organize…and I just couldn’t go on living there happily…incidentally, Barbara has sent me several text messages saying how much they miss me and that I am a part of the family and asking how they are treating me here.. So God really knows what was achieved by me being in Rosario, but at least I gained a new family and they gained me. And she also informs me of many advancements in Rosario in the last couple days. They are actually starting a teaching campaign in the Toba neighborhood and my two participants of book 7 are actually going to start tutoring! She says all of the tutors are tutoring now! I am in shock! I guess I really did have to leave! Another thing I did do right before I left was start a book 1 study circle with 2 seekers (one of which I met in an elevator) and one Bahai and another tutor took over for me and she says it is going great. Another good reason to leave. It is much better to give opportunities to serve to the locals.
Apart from having to leave Rosario, I really had to come to Rio Gallegos as well, I believe. We already started a book 1 study circle with the daughter of Silvia, Marcela, and a couple of her friends from college. It was wonderful and I can´t believe the progress we made..Almost half of the book in a couple hours but it didn’t feel rushed at all. They are just high capacity people. We had so much fun with the arts and we will finish next saturday. The participants were surprised how much they liked it. The secret…don’t tell them what you are inviting them for beforehand. We are also wanting to start another book 1 and a couple people need to do books 2, 3, and 4…we will see how much we can accomplish in a couple weeks. Already the granddaughter, who is 15, is asking if I can stay forever, but we all know it isn´t me, it´s the Word of God. It is helping unite the family.

Woooow it has been a month since I last wrote. What happens to time? Well time is certainly much less significant here so I guess it´s rubbing off on me, out of necessity mainly. A whole lot has changed in the way of my future plans, both in Argentina and in the States, to the extent that I basically have none..haha. And so we are back at square one, but actually every moment we are back at square one. I had been planning on going home a couple months early, in May, becuase I had felt I couldnt do much more here and that it would be nice to see my fam and friends again. And in the process of thinking about what day exactly to go home, I recieved an email from the community of Burzaco, which I have mentioned before. It is outside of Buenos Aires and it is basically the most active community in the country, no doubt in large part because it has the Yazdanis, the family that descended from heaven. So they requested the honor of my service in their community because they have just formed an additional Assembly and there is a lot to do. So I decided to take them up on their offer, or on my offer, and go there right about....now. Then I went to National Convention in Buenos Aires for the weekend because I had been asked to help with reception, and when I got there, not to my surprise, they were all set and didnt need any more help. But I was glad I had an excuse, perhaps a Divine excuse, to go to Convencion, which is open to anyone here. The whole weekend, I went in and out of the meeting hall, listening for a little bit, and then losing interest or not being able to pay attention and going out into the hall, where there were always the socializers. This was the third big Bahai gathering I had been to in Argentina/Uruguay, and every time there is an overwhelming sense of love and unity. There is always a great Divine power that descends in gatherings of Bahais which seems to be the same in every part of the world. So anyway, I was so excited to be around so many Bahais that I spent most of the time socializing and getting to know people. And many opportunities arose, complicating my future a bit, but perhaps making it more interesting as well. During the convention at one point when I wasnt there, a woman was crying, begging for someone to come to her community. She lives at the very southern point of the continent, just north of Tierra del Fuego, in other words, cold. Also, Tibisay, who runs the insitutute in Chaco, asked me to help with a campaign in Chaco for the month of June, visiting the different communities, and we are talking very rural, very indigenous, would probably be a very worthwhile service and experience, but very much dengue. We joked about it afterwards...I could go there, die from dengue, be a martyr and be burried next to May Maxwell! But all jokes aside, every place has its advantages and disadvantages, some more extreme than others, but in every square inch of the world there is service to be done, and how far (literally and figuratively) are we willing to go to serve the Cause of God? So these two opportunities arose, and I also talked to several people from Burzaco at the convention, and the message I got from them was that there are always things to do in Burzaco, so I should go where it is more urgent first (the lady in the south) and then go to Burzaco. And I slowly became more detached from myself and my need to know whats going on in my life and realized I just need to be focused on service. So it was very important that I went to convention for the reason of making these connections and plans. Also, I just love the Bahai Administrative Order, and I get really emotional during Bahai elections because I feel the Divine Presence. I happened to walk into the hall during the announcement of the new National Assembly members. They all went to the front and stood up when their names were called and I almost started crying because Tibisay was newly elected and was crying for a good 15 minutes. Later, two Irish guys showed up that are traveling around the world and speak no spanish, so I talked to them a while, along with the many other English speakers. One of them is a Bahai and one isnt but is close, and they are just traveling but do some service if an opportunity arises. A few of us have friends in common with them...the Bahai world is so small. They are supposedly stopping by Rosario next so I hope to see them again. The last day we went to the grave of May Maxwell, martyr, mother of Ruhiyyih Khanum, who journeyed to Argentina to pioneer as a way of thanking Shoghi Effendi for marrying her daughter. She was old, and not in the best of health, and the day after she arrived in Buenos Aires she passed away and was buried in Quilmes, about an hour away. I had been waiting for this day for a while, because it is a very significant spot, and because I had to fulfill my dad´s profecy that I would go and that it would be a very significant experience. This was a historical visit because it was the first time such a large group of Bahais had visited together. Representatives from each cluster said prayers for the advanvement of the Cause and we sang a couple of prayers together. It was very nice and I was sad to leave everyone and go back to Rosario, but such is life. Anyway now I have to focus on inviting people to the big party we are having this saturday for the launching of the IPG. It is going to be like an introduction to the Faith and and invitation to the core activities. It is very last minute and I hope it is a success. Peace.

I´m back. It really is hard to keep up with a blog and try to live my life at the same time, especially since I dont have a computer, I feel bad visiting people in their houses and using their computer for a while, and the computer place I was going to got robbed at gunpoint. (Luckily I wasnt there when it happened, but the guy that works there told me about it the next day, leaving me with little motivation to return..) Oh yea, I was trying not to tell people how common robbery is here so they wouldnt worry about me...Dont worry. I take the necessary precautions. It´s just one more reason that I am looking forward to going home. But anyway, in general I have been more content and emotionally stable. I think what helped was when Leonora told me that I should just look at my experience here as that...an experience, and not try too hard to feel completely at home because it doesnt have to be my home. It is just a stop on the journey of life..haha. And as much as we know that "the earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens" we all have different homes within the country. And Abdu´l-Baha says that when we go travel teaching and leave the post, we should wipe the dust from off our feet. I still havent decided when I´m going home and I dont want to until last minute..so I guess I am aquiring South American traits, as in no planning. Also what helped me was what my dad said the other day...that my expectations are too high- both for other people and for myself and what I feel like I need to accomplish here. So I have been choosing to look at the progress that is being made, no matter how small. As long as progress is being made, there is no reason to be unhappy, and there is always some form of act of service to be done at any given moment. One just has to be flexible because it might not be what we thought it was. It is also a matter of humility, because it is not humble to feel like I should be doing everything myself and have a big role in the progress. So I have been learning to appreciate the progress and contributions that others are making. If we are truly one, it doesnt matter who does what really, as long as it gets done, and we eventually, naturally, find our own personal place in the puzzle. One very important quality that I have is my accent. Many places that I go, mainly when buying things, if I send out a friendly vibe, the people ask me where I am from and why I am here, so I always have the opportunity to teach the Faith at least a little. I went to a Shell station last week and it was about the third time I had been there and the man working asked and we talked for a good few minutes. I gave him a Bahai pamphlet and then when I returned a few days later, he said he had read it and it was very interesting. He was talking to a friend so he told me to tell his friend about the Faith. I ended up inviting them both to the Ridvan celebration and gave them by number, and incidentally the second guy wont stop sending me text messages, but I told him straight up, if he wants to talk, we need to get together in person with another friend of mine...
In terms of activities, we almost done with the book 7 that I am tutoring, and our group is going to plan the Ridvan celebration. Shahla had the idea, which I think is great, that we have a couple people present a couple minutes about each Ruhi book, encouraging everyone to participate and signing them up. There will probably be many seekers there so it will be great. It is also the deadline to begin the IPG. In addition, I am tutoring book 6 almost every day with one guy, Sasan, and as a practice we invited his friend over yesterday. He just invited him over to have tea, and we started talking about Ruhi and the friend, Oscar was very attentive and interested. We showed him book 1 and he couldnt put it down! He practically did the whole course in an hour, reading almost all the quotes and asking himself and us the questions. It was a good demonstration of the importance of flexibility. I had sort of intended to do Anna´s presentation, but we only used it for the diagram of the Manifestations of God. Once he understood that, he acted like he was already a Bahai, going straight to the writings for all the answers and completely fascinated with what he was learning. And I dont think he had had much interaction with the Faith before. Sasan and I will reflect about the experience today. In addition to the fact the someone was put in contact with the Word of God, it was a direct practice of the study of book 6, so we are fulfilling the purpose of the study circle- developing our capacity to teach. I am also planning the feast for this wednesday. I am looking forward to my first feast in Rosario...and only my second feast in Argentina...how pathetic. But yay, progress...I will find a way to incorporate music. I really think a big reason for the lack of a vital Bahai community life is the lack of the presence of the arts. Ok I am at a loss for words now. I wont mention the fact that I dragged myself out of bed early today, took the bus all the way to Barbara´s work to pick of the paper I need to pick up my package from mom, took a taxi to the post office, didnt have enough small bills to pay, waited in the wrong line for 10 minutes, 10 minutes before they closed, went to the other line, waited for 5 minutes, when they finally told me they had already closed. I wanted to kill someone. So that is how I ended up finding a locutorio and using this computer. I am killing time rather than people, but really I´m glad that I wrote in my blog. And I guess I did mention what I said I wouldnt, and if nothing else, I hope you laughed. Much love.

Well, I think this is going to be another downer entry. I keep meaning to write in my blog and not having a chance to, so it would have been a happier entry if I wrote before. I swear, I am not always depressed. But I am now. I feel like I dont belong here and I really wish I had at least one close friend here who was always there for me and we could have deep conversations and help eachother on the path of service and we could understand each other. I feel like the atmosphere is too superficial and people dont listen enough to each other and people dont care enough about serving others. And I feel like people dont really appreciate me, or dont show it, and if I left tomorrow it wouldnt matter. Maybe I am being self centered, but the truth is, I really want to help others and I feel like they arent very open to my help and could live with or without me. I really need to meet new people and make new friends. I welcome any suggestions in that area. I want to go home often, but I am doing things here and slowly making progress I think. I also think maybe I should go to another community, or at least travel around a little for fun. I had a dream a couple weeks ago that I was in the most beautiful place in the world. There were mountains and flowers and water and I was with many loved ones and I felt like I was in Argentina somewhere but I´m not sure. I want to find that place. Maybe it´s inside me, I dont know.

Well, I havent been as cheery as I was last time I wrote. I still consider going home as often as twice a day, but usually end up convincing myself or become inspired to stay, or realize that I can make progress here. It seems like everything that can go wrong is going wrong. My debit card was captured several times in ATM machines and I finally called the bank today and found out that I was issued a new card a couple months ago for security reasons and that my parents threw it away...Now I need to wait at least a couple weeks for my new card to arrive in Argentina. Until then, I have about 2 dollars to my name, but I hopefully can borrow some money from a Bahai institution soon...So that is what my last few days have consisted of, retrieving my useless card from machines and traveling downtown and calling people... I actually did what I have always thought unimaginable for myself...for lack of thinking of anything better to do, and for pity for myself, and hopelessness, I escaped to my bed in the afternoon despite having gotten more than enough sleep already. The thought of me turning into that kind of person really scared me and I almost started crying at the thought of it, and luckily Barbara came into my room and tried to knock some sense into me...I said I wanted to die or kill myself as I always do when I get in a bad mood and feel hopeless, and she said, "Ok, kill yourself. Good idea. Baha'u'llah forbids it but do it!" And I started laughing and eventually got out of bed. If that woman wasnt so funny I dont know what I would do. I also have been saying I am fat lately because really I am gaining weight because they feed me too well, and last night she said, "si, sos una vaca!" (Yes, you´re a cow!) I usually dont react well to those kind of comments but from her I do for some reason. Anyway so when I got out of bed we sat at the kitchen table and made plans. We are both in agreement, along with my dad who knows everything, that we should focus wholeheartedly on the children, and we cant wait around for the adults to get their act together. We have to have 4 childrens classes before we can begin an IPG anyway and right now we have 2. We are going to visit the neighborhood of the Bahai center where we already have classes but they arent very well attended, and invite more families to participate. In the process, we can teach them about the Faith if they are interested, and invite them to study circles as well. We also want to open childrens classes in a second indigenous neighborhood as well as in a neighborhood of a seeker, in which several families have already confirmed their participation. Anyway I am really glad it is the fast right now because I really really need it. My relationship with God hasnt been as good as it was due to my feelings of hopelessness...Anyway I am fine. Such is life...it will improve. I feel useful right now because I am watching Emilio, the 11 year old who I live with (when he isnt with his dad). Everyone else went off to various places. I need to go because I keep thinking in spanish and I´m having a hard time putting the right english words together, or it just doesnt feel right to use english to refer to all of these things which are occurring in spanish. I am probably not even making sense. I dont feel good about this entry. Bye.

Holaaa amigos...As usual, a lot is goin down around here, or should I say a lot isnt goin down...I think I will be staying in Rosario for the remaining 5 months, due to the fact that no other community has requested the honor of my presence as of yet, as well as the fact that there is a whole lot to do here and I am actually doing things, little by little, and we have to start an IPG by Ridvan, Holy Jesus! I have sort of wanted to stay here all along, but had been trying to be detached and going with the Will of God, especially having noticed in myself that I have matured as a result of travel and uncertainty of plans. So the funny thing is, as soon as it was pretty much decided that I would stay here, I received many Confirmations. The last few days continuously, I have met so many people randomly and been able to teach the Faith. This is something I have been wanting to do all along,and which I always did back home and I dont know if I wasnt able to due to lack of confidence, lack of not feeling at home here or what have you...Perhaps it is the Will of God because it makes more sense to meet new people and make connections since I am staying here...three of the people I met were when I was waiting for buses, and one was at a department store yesterday when I was with Barbara (my host mom) and we were laughing and having a good old time and I gave the woman my contact information. She was cool because she had just recently come across the Faith at work and had been interested in it. I know in the U.S. nowadays many people have at least heard about the Faith, but here that is still very rare.
In other news, I am still visiting the inactive believers, and I just love it! I always feel so good about it and that we have mutually benefitted. Today, Nazly and I visited Mr. and Mrs. Paniagua, a wonderful couple I think about 70 years old. The whole time, we happily listened to them, as I had intuitively predicted we would do. They became Bahaís 50 years ago when there were only 30 Bahaís in the country, and were taught the Faith by members of one of the first Bahaí families. It was so interesting to listen to them. I also found out from them that Hooper Dunbar lived in Argentina for several years and they were very close! Made me think about how small the world is because my brother-in-law was like the son of Hooper at the World Center...Today was a busy day and it still isnt over...We also had 2 different childrens classes and an Ayyam-i-Ha party, and many many issues associated with them, and with activities lately in general...It is really hard lately to not backbite and to be positive...I never had such a hard time before, but there really are a lot of problems lately with organization, and God knows what the root of the problem really is but things are difficult. But it is yet another Confirmation that I need to be here. Last night I didnt know whether to scream or cry or sleep or get on a plane to the US, as I feel about every few days lately.. Today I felt really of service and therefore happy, despite many issues, but Barbara actually broke down and cried and threatened to not participate in any more activities...great, another inactive believer to add to my list...good thing I live with her so its not too hard to visit. Excuse the dark humor. Despite it all, I am happy because I have love in my heart, at least for now, and I know what needs to be done and little by little, we will make progress. It is a Promise, after all.

Holaaa. A whole lot has happened since last time I wrote...I went to the summer schools in Cordoba, Argentina and Uruguay, making my continued stay in Argentina legal for now since I left the country after 3 months...The summer school in Cordoba was a very good experience. It was in a very pretty rural setting and it felt just like the Baha´i summer schools and conferences back home because it had the same Baha´í spirit :) If you dont know what that is, it is the wonderful feeling of love and unity that envelops everyone and everything. Sounds cheesy, but its true. I met lots of people and got to know others from Buenos Aires that I never exchanged more than a greeting with, including the secretary of the LSA who I was exchanging so many emails with before I came. Perhaps what made it so awesome was the presence of Sohrab and Lida Yazdani, who live in Burzaco, near Bs As. (they are the parents of Badi, the handicapped boy for whom I went to the birthday party) They literally are angels that have descended from heaven and they light up everyone and everything around them and make you feel like solid gold for just existing, and surely they are the reason that their community is the most active and on fire in the country. The best part of the summer school was when Sohrab sang Karaoke to some popular Argentinian song and was so incredibly into it...he is such a perfect combination of funness, funnyness, and pure love and dedication to the Faith.
After Cordoba, I returned to Rosario for a few days and then went to Buenos Aires, the thought of which now makes me sick, as it was an absolute kilombo, for lack of an appropriate english word...I spent an ungodly amount of time just trying to arrange how and when I was getting there and who was going to pick me up, and the plans changed approximately 37 times, and culminated in me breaking down and crying in the Rosario terminal as I finally confirmed my ticket. I finally made it and was able to spend a little bit of time with Tamara, who is the girl who lost her boyfriend and I dont know if I mentioned it, but also lost her aunt recently in a tragic car accident in South Africa. She is in such bad shape, still not believing in God or the afterlife and very angry with her life, for good reason...please remember her in your prayers if you can. In keeping with the Bs As theme, when I returned from Uruguay by myself, I walked several blocks by myself in the dark in the middle of a section of the city I had never been, trying to find the bus stop so I could make it to the Khorsandia´s house, and I then walked several more blocks, which nobody had EVER let me do on my own in the dark when I was living there...I wont mention the less than welcome welcome that I received when I got there, and the fact that I pretty much lost the people that I considered my family in Bs As...The next morning I took a taxi to the bus station to return to Rosario, and it took about an hour of stand still traffic to get there. I literally felt an undying need to get the heck out of that city and never return, as I breathed nothing but exhaust, saw nothing but cars and people squished together, and basically complete abnormality that made me realize why people there are so crazy. I literally felt extremely sick- physically, mentally, and spiritually. So lets just say I think I received more than sufficient confirmations from God that Bs As is NOT for me, and it took leaving and coming back to realize that... But the ironic thing is, when I arrived in Rosario, a woman was following me and sneakily unzipped my backback and was about to steal something but I caught her just in time...
Oh yes, I did actually go to Uruguay, and it was a nice summer school, but I didnt feel the same spirit for some reason, although I did meet and get to know some great people. I definitely felt the pull to get back to Argentina... There were 2 Brazilian counselors there, one of which was persian and gave all of his talks in portuguese with a persian accent. Needless to say, I understood nothing, but it was very entertaining. After the summer school I stayed at a friends house and a group of us went to the beach and the water was so perfect! It was like pool water and we stayed in for a long time.
So now I am in Rosario and tutoring book 7 every day for a couple hours and trying to figure out what else to do with my time. I have been talking to several people about teaching and sort of reached the conclusion that we should focus on children and junior youth. They are way more receptive and are the future generation anyway...Tonight we have convention. I think I will teach the kids. Therefore I should go. Much love.

I wanted to write a poem to convey an emotional experience that occured several days ago, and also because it has been so ridiculously long since I have written one and I feel the craving...but nevertheless that side of me seems to be somewhat on the back burner. So I will recount the experience in a more or less normal fashion...

As I was walking to the bus stop, I watched the bus pull up and pull away at a distance just far enough that if I ran as fast as I could I would have just missed it. Already being late for my engagement, I anxiously sat on a barren doorstep waiting for the next bus, which I predicted would arrive in about 20 minutes. I sat stressing about how late I was while continuously telling myself that time doesnt matter in this country, that everything always starts at least an hour later than planned, if it happens at all, but yet also reminding myself that this isnt really a good quality and that I should try to change it through my example...I always erred on the side of arriving exactly on time to a minute or 2 late, which where I come from means one of the last people, but it is foolish to arrive on time to anything here, unless you feel like twiddling your thumbs by yourself for at least an hour...I am wicked digressing here but I have been thinking about this topic a lot...Is it even possible, or is it even right, or is it even worthwile to try to change such a characteristic? I know the Guardian did say that punctuality is important. Which leads me to the topic of myself, and who I am. Haha..big topic. I dont actually know who I am anymore. Well I know the most important part of my identity, the part that everyone has in common- servant of God, but when I try to think about myself and who I am as an individual and what traits I have, I am at a loss, because I feel like who I was is not who I am now. Part of it is, like I mentioned with the time issue, that the difference in culture makes me reside in a different part of the spectrum, as well as the fact that we are made up of our reactions to situations, and the difference in situations here makes me react in different ways. For example, I used to think of myself as talkative and outgoing, but Argentinians talk so freakin much that there is literally no space to say anything, and they end up all talking at the same time, and I end up completely retreating from the conversation and entering into my own world and feeling like an introvert...of course part of it is that it requires more effort to understand spanish when they talk a mile a minute and all at the same time, and part of it is that often the conversation doesnt interest me. But thats not backbiting right? I love Argentinians!

Haha now to return to my original story...So I was sitting on the doorstep watching many cars going by..the majority always being Peugeots, with some random others thrown in the mix, most of which are not common in the States..and then appeard my dad´s green van in the distance! I was so taken aback by the familiarity of the image...In all the more than 2 months I have been here, I can´t really remember anything else that has reminded me of home and family. Of course I think about them, but this sight made me so homesick and emotional that I almost started crying. And I strained to see who was in it and to make sure that the license plate was Argentinian...And I immediately thought of how often my dad mentions the emptiness of the couch where I always sat, and how not even the cat sits there anymore...not to mention my dad doesnt even have the green van anymore...

I apologize to all those who have been patiently waiting for a blog update. I don´t have computer access where I am living so I have to use public computers and when I do so, I usually spend a long time emailing individuals or checking emails and I feel like there is too much to say to even begin. But alas, I will again try to hit the highlights. I am in the city of Rosario, which is my dad´s middle name and the name of his favorite uncle, so we think I might be meant to be here, although for now, I am leaving around the end of this week I think. Life is a constant adventure, in the sense that I never know what is around the next corner, due to the unorganized and very relaxed nature of this culture perhaps. It is hard for me to get used to but it is helping me progress. We are in a teaching campaign here, which for this community means presenting an introduction to the Bahai Faith to friends that have shown interest. In addition, I am visiting some inactive believers and a new believer, and trying to help the Bahai community in various ways. I really feel like I am supposed to be here right now. I think I am equally learning and progressing myself as helping others progress. This community, and the culture in general, is veeerry relaxed and time has a completely different meaning, and life revolves around socializing, not around work, as it does in The United States. Now I dont mean to stereotype or put down another culture. I actually think that these characteristics are very good, but when combined with other characteristics, such as we have in the States. In other words, my purpose is to try to achieve a happy medium. I basically feel like not enough is being done, such as teaching and such, but the community, at least the active members, are extremely united, partly due to the fact that they are mostly all part of one big persian family. But even in other communities in Argentina, people prioritize time spent with others socially. In contrast, in the States, where life revolves around work, at least for many, there is a very strong work ethic and sense of responsibility and discipline. People are very organized and plan everything, and these characteristics often bring positive results. The downside, in my opinion, is that we dont socialize enough. I, at least, dont feel completely united with other members of the Bahai community in the States. I feel like there is a somewhat business attitude towards Bahai activities, and that we are not close friends, as I feel we should be. Now, I know I am being frank, but it´s ok because I am equally pointing out the faults of both cultures right? Like how the Simpson's (which is a religion here) is ok because they make fun of everyone. Imagine if we combined the good qualities of each culture, which I am sure exists in places to certain degrees... I definitely felt that in North Carolina at least. Anyway, to make a long story short, I feel like this community and I can really help each other and I already feel like progress is being made slowly. Dont get me wrong. Although I have felt like I was going crazy several times, gotten angry, and very frustrated, I really love the people here and they love me :) Now to just briefly mention one specific highlight... Today I visited the newest Bahai in the community, a single 49 year old woman from Belgium who has also lived in England and the U.S. She heard about the Faith when she was young because she lived in Haifa for a few years right next to the Terraces! She has been in Argentina for 5 years and has never had good friends here and she wanted to connect with others, especially to find like-minded people that could help her start a project in her community to help the lonely and poor people. She remembered the Bahai Faith and after a long search, found the contact info for the Bahais of Rosario and became a Bahai on her first visit. We had a really good and long conversation about the Faith and what it means to be a Bahai, among other things, and I feel like it was a really profitable visit. Ok that is all for now. Chao amigos.

I will now provide an answer to the question that I proposed two entries ago, since no one answered and since I found the answer myself soon after. I was wondering when charity was appropriate and how it fit in with teaching the Faith, etc. I read in Ruhiyyih Khanum's book, A Manual for Pioneers, that unless you have a "red sweater" or whatever the case may be, to give to every member of the village, city, country, and really we are talking about the world, here, than you shouldn't give one to anyone. The only gift that really keeps on giving because it is infinite and because people can keep on passing it to an infinite number of people, is the Baha'i Faith. Of course, among the teachings of the Baha'i Faith is generosity and caring for the poor, which is where it gets a little complicated, but for now I will be content with knowing what I need to focus on and let my intuition guide me with every individual encounter.

A friend recently wrote on my facebook wall that she appreciated all of the images in my last blog entry. I was happy to hear that but surprised because I had left out so many details which I had intended to write as an attempt to capture the imagery of the experience at the institute which my lack of a camera could not do. I am also not the most poetic or gifted of writers, so I really feel like I can't do it justice but I will write about what I saw and you can look online for the closest representation. :) Let me start with the most exciting thing of all, and the most regretable that I didn't have a camera. I saw monkeys in the wild for the first time ever!! They were right outside my window and there were 3 of them and we just stared at each other for like a half an hour. I didn't want to leave. They are such fascinating creatures...the most similar to humans. They started throwing sticks and stuff down on me and my friend, I think because because they were annoyed with us staring at them. It was hilarious. I never did see those monkeys again, but apparently they are around quite often...In ADDITION, on the institute property, there is a record breaking anthill. It was about a third of the size of an average igloo, to be exact. Very big. And there are several pathways leading from it with millions of ants carrying leaves about 10 times the weight of them (anyone remember the statistic on that?) It was quite fun to take the leaves from them and see if they could find them again...(see, the biologist in me was really coming out) I also saw gigantic frogs- lots of them! They were kind of scary actually, especially when they were in the bathroom. They also have these big flying insects called chicharras (look it up online) and they mostly live in trees and they pea on you!!! The dogs love to catch them and trot around with them in their mouths so they can listen to the cool buzzing sound they make until finally....they eat them. I was also quite afraid of these insects, and everyone laughed at me because of that. On the more pleasant side, there are many beautiful horses and people use them to pull carriages of vegetables, which they sell. It is quite adorable. People also ride bikes with baskets! Ok, that is sufficient for now I think. I won't mention the unpleasant things.

Helloooo people. Yea so there havent been many opportunities to update my blog for a looong time. I dont even know where to begin, so I will say that it just rained horses and cows here. (For those who dont understand my amazing humor, that means it just rained harder than I have ever seen in my LIFE...that means a lot). Speaking of horses and cows, there are a lot of those around here...especially horses that get loose and just galavant around town on their own. Its pretty awesome. In case you didnt guess, I am not in Buenos Aires anymore. I am in Corrientes, which is right by Resistencia, Argentina, which is much farther north. It is sort of a small city kind of place but with very country towns very close by. I was at the only Bahai institute in Argentina for the past week, in a very country setting, although many of the people there did not consider it country...I had no idea what I was going to do before I got there but I ended up tutoring a book 1 study circle with a group of 4 guys, with a cotutor. I was pretty nervous beforehand because of my spanish abilities, or lack of, but it ended up being very perfect. There were about 50-60 participants that came to the institute and almost every junior youth book and ruhi book was offered. Many of them were from the Com, or Toba indigenous tribe, but there were others as well. For the Com, spanish is their second language so many of them have difficulties with the language, and in general, the education system in these parts is subpar and many people are not fully literate, including the white people. So, needless to say, I soon gained much more confidence in my language abilities and improved a lot since hardly anybody there spoke english. Overall it was a very worthwhile experience. It was the most valuable service I feel like I have done here so far. None of the participants were Bahais and their prior knowledge of the Faith was very little, but at the end, one of them officially became a Bahai and the others said that they were not ready but that one day they would be. It is amazing how easy it is for many people to recognize Baha'u'llah. Even my cotutor was not a Bahai, because he isnt ready to obey all the laws, but he definitely believes in Baha'u'llah and feels the need to teach the Faith to others.
It's just a completely different world up here than everywhere I have come from. I have to share the most emotional experience of the week. One day, many girls, like junior youth age, came from Resistencia just for the day. I hadnt really met any of them or said anything to them yet, but I was on my way to the bathroom to brush my teeth and they all started following me, like 10 of them. I started brushing my teeth and I had stage fright because they wouldnt stop staring at me, and they started making comments about my toothbrush. I realized they were in such awe because the toothbrush is really big because it is electric, but I couldnt believe the length of time which they were fascinated. Then they all wanted to feel the moving bristles and they got the biggest kick out of it....Its the little things in life for them. They realized spanish wasn't my first language and they started asking me how to say everything in english. It was a good time. I said I was from the United States (Estados Unidos) and they hadn't even heard of it! When I was done, they followed me out of the bathroom and said I was pretty (I guess because I'm white) and they said they were all ugly. I said about 3 times, nooo you are very pretty, all of you! Then they had to ask for each person, is she pretty? is she pretty? I guess this is one of the many symptoms of the opression by the white people...Then I was walking outside and one of them stopped me and asked if I had a gift for them, and I realized that one of them had asked me that earlier too, only I had thought she said that she had a gift for me and I was asking what it was...She asked if I had a bike, a stuffed animal, a doll, a ball...As the items decreased in terms of rank I became more and more emotional and almost started crying right in front of them. These poor kids dont even have a ball, and resort to admiring white peoples' toothbrushes for entertainment...And they are the sweetest, friendliest, purest kids...I immediately desired to give away almost everything I had, and start wearing the same 2 outfits over and over and handwash my clothes everyday...anything so that I wouldnt feel like or appear to them to be any better or more fortunate than them...I never carried that out though, but I did try to interact with them more. I wish I could adequately convey the feeling. We have all heard these kinds of stories but when you experience it it is completely different...It got me thinking a lot about social and economic development and what is the priority- spiritual education or making sure that there is food on the table and a ball to play with...Comments? Answers?

Life is interesting. I think it's pretty obvious that the quality that I am supposed to be developing is flexibility, aka "going with the flow-ness." I either do it or go crazy. Strangely enough, I feel like I am passing the test...so far. I won't go into the details. Actually come to think of it, it can be more broadly defined as "submitting your will to the Will of God," which I think is what life is all about.
Last night I went to a party for a young man who just reached the age of maturity, 15 years old. I wasn't sure if I was going because the ride situation was complicated (it was an hour away, in Burzaco) but at the last minute a space became available in Ariel's car. The party was absolutely inspirational. They were beginning the program when we got there, which involved prayers, stories, and some nice words spoken by members of the family and friends. The touching part, which I didn't find out until I got there, was that the young man, Badi, was in a wheelchair and appeared as though he couldn't do much of anything by himself. His mom and another woman were on either side, stroking his hands and showering him with love. I already had a very good impression of this family but this experience elevated them even more. The father, who is an Auxiliary Board member, is one of the most loving, radiant people I have met. He spoke a lot about the importance of the age of maturity for Bahá'ís, about how several spiritual obligations come into effect, including the daily obligatory prayer. He takes advantage of every opportunity to teach the Faith, but he does it in such a genuine, loving, and natural manner, like he really is offering a precious gift. He also spoke of how his son almost died several years ago, and how he wrote to the Universal House of Justice to ask for guidance. They told him that the whole family, including Badi should pray about it, which was amazing because Badi was unconscious and barely hanging onto life. He said it was a real reminder that the soul is exalted above all infirmaties of the body, and that it would be so much more free and happy in the next world. I could tell that he really believed that, and that he probably wouldn't be very perturbed is his son passed away, as much as, or because of the fact that, his heart overflowed with love for him. The importance this family placed on his turning 15 was very inspirational. Clearly, he could not fast, and he probably could not do the obligatory prayer without assistance, and maybe even would be exempt from doing it, in his condition, but the family saw beyond all of that to the true mature soul that Badi was. There were many people at the party and at the end there was an applause and Badi smiled broadly and was wheeled away to go to bed, while everyone else began to eat and socialize for a couple more hours.
Another significant part of the party was when Sohrab, the father, introduced me to his coworker and family. They were very friendly and asked me lots of questions about myself and what I was doing there. I eventually found out that the young lady, Tamara, that was with them was not their daughter, but their son's girlfriend, and that the son had passed away. Tears immediately began to form in Tamara's eyes when this came up and thus began the conversation about spirituality and life after death. She doesn't know what to believe and since this happened, she began to search for the Truth, as so many people do in that situation. I felt so much overflowing sympathy for her and the parents, but especially her. I felt like I could see right into her soul and all the pain and all the longing and searching. I think they are all planning on participating in a book 1 study circle, which will be so good for them. I got Tamara's contact info and we plan to get together. I really hope we do because I really want to help her. Man, I wish I could write better so I could adequately describe the whole experience. Ah well, I think I should go say the long healing prayer.

I realized I am not very good at blog writing and things are not in order but that's ok because I like to write whatever I am thinking (just like how I talk :) ) and I don't think sequentially. First I wish to tell of my dreams last night, of which there were several significant ones. The first thing I remember is I was in a restaurant or some public place walking by and this little girl made some innocent, actually rather endearing comment which for some reason greatly angered her mother, who preceeded to verbally and physically abuse her. With her mother clutching her, she looked lovingly at me and I at her and I rubbed her cheek and said, "I love you" and walked slowly away. I feel like this dream is very significant because I have been thinking about children the last couple days. Leticia, who I live with, usually goes to an orphanage every saturday just to volunteer and be with the kids. She is looking for one closer, in the city, that she can go to and I hope to go with her. Yesterday Bayan and I visited a young couple. She is Bolivian, he is Chilean, and the baby is Argentinian! What a Bahá'í family! After that Bayan started going on about how I need to find some children and start a children's class. First, I was like, how am I supposed to just find children? Here in the capital, door-to-door teaching is not done much or at all, mainly because it's impossible because all the apartment buildings require keys to enter and many also have security guards. I have yet to see a regular house, though they probably exist in the wealthy neighborhoods, but rather than locked doors they probably have locked fences. Aaaannnyway, I am sure there is a way to reach out to children, and I am sure there are several children who are already in the "circle of interest" of the Faith. Back to the dream though, the message I got was that there are children out there who aren't even loved, and that is the worst thing in the world. No matter how far we can get with spiritually educating them, we at least need to reach out in some way and show them love, whether it be by just playing with them in an orphanage. It also got be thinking why neighborhood children's classes really work. This may be stereotyping, but they are often in poor neighborhoods and the parents work a lot and the children aren't properly supervised, so the parents are either glad to have someone watching them and doing something with them, or perhaps they just don't care. In either case, they are aware that their children are learning about the teachings of the Bahá'í Faith, and though they may not care at all about the Faith, they either don't care whether their children learn about it, or they actually appreciate it. Overtime, they usually appreciate it because they see the difference in their children.
In the next dream or part of the dream the Bahá'í institutions or one person, I can't remember, wanted to send me to Spain to serve their instead. In real life, I usually have a very strong intuitive feeling regarding where I need to be or where I would feel the most at home. In the dream, I had such a strong feeling against going to Spain, and of course part of it was probably because I'm getting used to living here in Buenos Aires and I have made all of these connections and such. So anyway in the dream, they sent me on a bus to the airport and I purposely didn't bring any luggage with me because I was just so against flying across the world. I can't remember the details but when I arrived at the airport I think, some friends were there and took me back to BA and I was so happy and everyone else was too. I think it ended up being some sort of misunderstanding or disagreement among different authorities. Indeed, my life is up in the air and there is talk about sending me to some other city but nobody seems to know when or what is going on. Before I was stressed out about it and didn't want to leave, but now I am like, whatever. I welcome some interpretations of these dreams.
Now I would like to point out some interesting details about life and culture in Argentina, and I mean nothing negative by these comments :) When you meet someone new, see a friend, or say goodbye, you kiss on one cheek. Everyone does, except sometimes men shake hands if they don't know each other or it's more formal, but often they kiss each other too. As an aside, last night, I went with Leticia to this cool dance performance. I don't know what it's called but they were suspended from ropes. It was cool. After that we went to this cafe with a bunch of people and I didn't meet or talk to most of them, but when we left, I kissed every one of them. I wasn't sure if it would be worse to kiss them or not to so I just did cause everyone else was. It felt awkward but I don't think it was for them at all. Another nice detail is that it feels about 100 degrees every day and it is humid year round. Did I mention people don't use air conditioning here? I think most people have it but they wait until it's actually life-threatening heat I guess. This includes all the public places too. The best part is when you are on a bus or subway in which you can't even move due to the amount of people and on top of the heat, you accidentally grab someone's butt. I did that yesterday, haha. Luckily it was a girl. Oh, I also mentioned before that you are an outcast if you are vegetarian here. Well, I guess the peer pressure is influencing me because I ate fish the other day!! I was hungry and Shahla had made it and I was like what the heck, it looks kinda good. And it was good! And I'm proud of myself and I didn't get sick! I then picked around the chicked in chinese food later! I actually thought about eating the chicken but that would have been a lot for one day. So now, my sister and I have stopped being strict vegetarians around the same time. Ok one more thing and I have to end this record length entry. When you finish university, you get attacked with eggs, mate (tea), flour, oil, ketchup, mustard, and any other disgusting substance that your closest friends and family members can think of.

    Hi everyone!  Well, I have been getting several comments about the greatness of my frankness, so I will try to keep it up and maybe even be more frank!  I actually still don't really see my frankness, but I know this next comment is going to be frank....I have been constipated for like 4 days!  I wasn't going to tell you but since you appreciate this quality of mine I thought I should.  Anyway, don't worry.  It's getting better.  It's just weird cause it's like never happened to me before.  Since I brought it up, feel free to offer your thoughts and advice on the matter.  There, now I am changing the subject. 
    In other news, I have moved into a new apartment.  I have a good routine going...new house every week.  Now I am with a 35 year old woman who also speaks no english.  I think they are doing this to me on purpose, but it's definitely a good thing.  But it's cool cause she's younger and I feel like I have more freedom and no curfew, which is good because night here doesn't even begin until dinner time at 10 or 11, and then proceeds from there.  The other lady wanted me home by 11.  Sooo, I have met some more people in the park and taught them about the Faith.  The other day I went teaching with Sahba and 2 people that were selling things in the park accepted the Baha'i Faith.  We have yet to have some follow up visits.  One of them was a 19-yr old girl from Haiti whose spanish is worse than mine so it was great talking to her!  Yesterday Sahba and I went out again and shared some prayers with a woman at a shoe store who loves them.  Then we went to visit the new Baha'is and the man was there reading the Baha'i material when we got there but said he was too busy to talk to us.  The Haitian girl, Kentia, was not there, but it's funny cause Sahba had run into her on the bus that morning and she said she would be...ah well.  Then we went shopping, which was kinda random!  Sahba and I are great together because his english level is like my spanish level so we speak some serious spanglish and really help each other learn the languages.  I was supposed to start cotutoring some study circles monday and tuesday but they were postponed for various reasons.  I think it's good because we will hopefully get some more participants in the meantime.  I think the coolest thing that happened recently was the other day when I went out to go to the locutorio and found that it is closed in the middle of the day and was going to open in a half hour.  So I went to the park to kill time and sat in the shade and started reading.  This adorably little 2 yr old girl came over to me and handed me a piece of paper and we started chatting and she picked up my books and started flipping through them.  I gave her the visual aid for the introduction to the Faith and she seemed very interested.  Her mom started calling her over to stop bothering me and eventually I walked with her over to them and said she was interested in reading my book.  So we started chatting and they were playing cards and invited me to join.  There was quite a language barrier but eventually I learned how to play and then I taught them how to play some games I had just learned.  Afterwards the subject of the Faith came up and I showed them the book and rather than me trying to put it in my own words we just took turns reading it and they seemed interested.  They come to the park every sunday so we planned to get together again and I have their number.  yay!  I felt connected with these people.  There was a little baby too and I was holding it for a while :)  Ok I have to go with Bayan to his school.  He is taking his last test of medical school yay!  Chao amigos.  (we don't say adios in Argentina)