I love Sundays. They are consistently my favorite day of the week. I love going to Trinity on Sunday morning in Columbia and I've enjoyed trying new churches while in Europe. This morning I woke up kind of late. I had every intention of getting up, going running and then going to church but just made it to the run part and missed the church part.
A bunch of my friends went hiking through the forest this morning at 4:30 am. i was invited and didn't go for a lot of reasons. Maybe you can say that this country makes me nervous, because it does. It is just so different from the States, and I know enough language to get by with lots of thing but not to bail myself out of trouble. So instead of scared I'm going to use the generic word Respect. A respect for the environment that you are in. Respect. Respect. It's SO important and it's even more important if you are in a location where you don't fully understand the language and culture. The whole thing through me for a loop. I was just so confused about how this seemed like a smart idea. So I'm sorry I'm ranting on the blog but your one take away from this point is you can't go to Peru and drink the water out of the tap like it's the US. You're going to end up with the shits.
So needless to say I spent a lot of today a lone. I went running for a long time. Sundays are my favorites here because they shut down the road in one direction. I love seeing the people of Rio. I like to see what they wear and how many people run marathons here (by the t-shirts of course), and how comfortable they are with their bodies. They are embracive of their bodies and others. It's a really cool thing and you can tell people are running because they enjoy it and it makes them feel good. Not to be super skinny. The beach is beautiful and it's nice to spend the 40 minute run looking around.
SO Then my mom sent me this podcast. SIDE NOTE: I love podcast. This american life, planet money, On being are my jams. In the car when i'm alone I listen to podcast. Anyways this one was one 'On being' and was about the spirituality associated with running. How spiritual or meditative people will spend their time running as a form of meditation instead of meditating. I think I found my answer in that moment. my mom always tells me to meditate and sorry mom but I don't like it. I'm no good at it, it doesn't make me less stressed. It's just blah. But meditating while running is something I do naturally.. you can pick the pace by your mood and you just go and think, or go and think nothing at all. Complete blankness. I love it. I think I might have found my solution to destress during the school year... if I'm not too tired from the 17 other physical activities I do a day.
They also talked about this spiritual connection to God that people have found through intensive training and races. In those moments when you don't think you can push through a barrier, you call on him to lead you and guide you through the end. People who run really long distances told their stories about how they used their running as a source of spirituality. What a cool idea, and I feel like this can be moved over to anything you do. School. Running.... Diving maybe..
Okay so this isn't supposed to be a blog about running, but take up an activity you love and use it to refresh yourself. I feel like we get so caught up in the watching TV that we don't take time to unwind. But there are so many productive ways to do this. Run, Read a book, paint a picture, write a poem, do a blog. The world of positive opportunities for your life is calling YOU. you've just got to pick something.
I did a tour of the city with my class on Friday and it taught me something really important. I do not like tour guides. I spent this whole time in Europe going around, seeing what I wanted to see and then I got here and got put on a schedule. The lady was annoying and we didn't truly get to marvel at anything bunch lunch. (see my travel by yourself blog for more information). But seriously Rio is a marvelous city and the tour ruined the sights for me. I could of spent 3 hours looking at Christ the Redeemer in his glory but instead 30 minutes. (but below are all the pictures of the tour so you can see the city).
I hope you all are having a wonderful week. In 14 days I will be headed back to the states after a pretty intensive two and a half months. I have so many mixed feelings. Some of nervousness, some of excitement. I have so much more language immersion that I hope to take in, but Luciana and I are trying to talk in portuguese most of the time now. It's going well, but I went to church today and couldn't follow much of the sermon, which made me a little disappointed.
&& heres the part where I've been putting shout outs. So my Grandpa Norm turns 9 this week (once you turn 50 you start counting backwards) so I just wanted to send him all the birthday love I possibly can. I'm sad I can't be there but I love you so much Grandpa!! Happy 9th Birthday. In Brazil we would say parabens & felicidades on your birthday so parabéns and felicidades! Eu te amo!
xx,
Marissa
A bunch of my friends went hiking through the forest this morning at 4:30 am. i was invited and didn't go for a lot of reasons. Maybe you can say that this country makes me nervous, because it does. It is just so different from the States, and I know enough language to get by with lots of thing but not to bail myself out of trouble. So instead of scared I'm going to use the generic word Respect. A respect for the environment that you are in. Respect. Respect. It's SO important and it's even more important if you are in a location where you don't fully understand the language and culture. The whole thing through me for a loop. I was just so confused about how this seemed like a smart idea. So I'm sorry I'm ranting on the blog but your one take away from this point is you can't go to Peru and drink the water out of the tap like it's the US. You're going to end up with the shits.
So needless to say I spent a lot of today a lone. I went running for a long time. Sundays are my favorites here because they shut down the road in one direction. I love seeing the people of Rio. I like to see what they wear and how many people run marathons here (by the t-shirts of course), and how comfortable they are with their bodies. They are embracive of their bodies and others. It's a really cool thing and you can tell people are running because they enjoy it and it makes them feel good. Not to be super skinny. The beach is beautiful and it's nice to spend the 40 minute run looking around.
SO Then my mom sent me this podcast. SIDE NOTE: I love podcast. This american life, planet money, On being are my jams. In the car when i'm alone I listen to podcast. Anyways this one was one 'On being' and was about the spirituality associated with running. How spiritual or meditative people will spend their time running as a form of meditation instead of meditating. I think I found my answer in that moment. my mom always tells me to meditate and sorry mom but I don't like it. I'm no good at it, it doesn't make me less stressed. It's just blah. But meditating while running is something I do naturally.. you can pick the pace by your mood and you just go and think, or go and think nothing at all. Complete blankness. I love it. I think I might have found my solution to destress during the school year... if I'm not too tired from the 17 other physical activities I do a day.
They also talked about this spiritual connection to God that people have found through intensive training and races. In those moments when you don't think you can push through a barrier, you call on him to lead you and guide you through the end. People who run really long distances told their stories about how they used their running as a source of spirituality. What a cool idea, and I feel like this can be moved over to anything you do. School. Running.... Diving maybe..
Okay so this isn't supposed to be a blog about running, but take up an activity you love and use it to refresh yourself. I feel like we get so caught up in the watching TV that we don't take time to unwind. But there are so many productive ways to do this. Run, Read a book, paint a picture, write a poem, do a blog. The world of positive opportunities for your life is calling YOU. you've just got to pick something.
I did a tour of the city with my class on Friday and it taught me something really important. I do not like tour guides. I spent this whole time in Europe going around, seeing what I wanted to see and then I got here and got put on a schedule. The lady was annoying and we didn't truly get to marvel at anything bunch lunch. (see my travel by yourself blog for more information). But seriously Rio is a marvelous city and the tour ruined the sights for me. I could of spent 3 hours looking at Christ the Redeemer in his glory but instead 30 minutes. (but below are all the pictures of the tour so you can see the city).
I hope you all are having a wonderful week. In 14 days I will be headed back to the states after a pretty intensive two and a half months. I have so many mixed feelings. Some of nervousness, some of excitement. I have so much more language immersion that I hope to take in, but Luciana and I are trying to talk in portuguese most of the time now. It's going well, but I went to church today and couldn't follow much of the sermon, which made me a little disappointed.
&& heres the part where I've been putting shout outs. So my Grandpa Norm turns 9 this week (once you turn 50 you start counting backwards) so I just wanted to send him all the birthday love I possibly can. I'm sad I can't be there but I love you so much Grandpa!! Happy 9th Birthday. In Brazil we would say parabens & felicidades on your birthday so parabéns and felicidades! Eu te amo!
xx,
Marissa
Comments
Post a Comment