February 23, 2010

Class again...luckily I took the opportunity to go outside during my break because it was beautiful for most of the day. After class we tried to watch the Office, but only the first half of the episode worked, so I need to figure something else out. Then we had lunch. We got a huge bowl full of peas with chunks of ham and pineapple in it. It actually was pretty good, just a lot of peas! I love peas, but here they cook them in oil, so I don't really like that everything is soaked and greasy! We also had an egg with it. But, it was a really good lunch time because we had some great conversation with our parents here. We haven't really talked with them too much lately because they are really hard to understand, but today we stayed at the table for about an hour after lunch and just chatted with them! It was really nice, and I'm glad we were able to do that, so hopefully we can have better conversation from here on out! Then we went outside and walked down the street to a little place where we sat and did homework out in the sunshine! Of course people look at us like we're weird, but oh well! At 5:30 I went with Jess to our service place. It went okay again this week. It's getting easier now that I'm starting to learn the routine, and also the different workers there. For dinner we had stuffed green peppers that have potato slices in them. The potatoes are good, but I just really am not a huge fan of the peppers. I ate them, but they aren't my favorite. After that I just got ready for bed. We're currently looking at information for a trip to Madrid for the weekend because we don't have class on Monday, so hopefully something will work out!

Verse: Isaiah 40:28 "Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary."

February 22, 2010

It's Monday! Classes went okay. I'm trying to change my attitude about some of my classes, and that's helping a bit. I really don't like my art or history class, but I have to take them, so I might as well just make it the best I can and deal with it! Now that my first exams are over for each class I have a bit of a better idea of what to expect on the next one. After regular classes I had a meeting with the kids that are in my service class. It was a good reminder of the story of David and Goliath, and how God always provides for us at just the perfect time. Even when we are nervous and feel uneasy about our service projects, God will provide us with the tools we need to get our work done. After that we had fish and mashed potatoes for lunch (they will NEVER, EVER be as good as homemade ones!!) Then I got to skype with more people! It helps so much to be able to do that! After, Carrie and I went running, and it was so windy that we could barely move! It felt like we were just walking in place, and then it started to rain a bit, and it was blowing so hard right into our faces! Later on we had flamenco class. It's so many moves to remember, but I think it's getting a little easier. When we were done we headed back home, and we started watching episodes of The Office. We want to watch episodes in our spare time, which isn't very much, but we'll try anyways. It took a while to find a website that we could watch on, because a lot of the U.S. websites don't work over here. After that we had a good pasta, but she tried to serve us those crazy red peppers again! We never eat them, so I'm not sure why she keeps trying to serve them to us! Oh well, the pasta was delicious! I just continued to do homework after that...

Verse: I Samuel 17: 46B-47 "The whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD's, and he will give all of you into our hands."

February 21, 2010

I woke up at 9:30 for church. It was about 60 degrees today, but once again it rained. The weather says rain for the next 10 days!!! I'm getting really sick of all this rain! But church was good. It is always packed, and I seriously mean "packed"! There are as many chairs in there as they can get, and there are even people that have to stand in the back door because there is no where else to go. It stinks for those that have to stand, but I think it's awesome that it is so full! After that we went home for lunch and their daughter and son-in-law came over for lunch again. I always get nervous when they come over because we normally end up eating some crazy fish type thing, but I like when they come because they are really nice, so I guess I can deal with the food! After dinner Carrie took a nap, and I decided to go for a run because it wasn't raining at the moment. It was actually pretty nice, though it did look like it was going to rain. I was able to run in shorts and a t-shirt for the first time, and it felt awesome! I decided to go for a longer run, so I went 5 miles. I'm hoping to increase a little each week in my training for the 10 mile this may. I felt like I could have gone longer if I wanted to, so maybe my next run will be longer. It's still winter here though, so even though it's 65 degrees and I'm in shorts, the Sevillan people are dressed for winter, and stare at me like I'm crazy! Besides getting stared at, I can say that we get hollered at/ called at/ whistled at/ or stared at at least 5-10 times per day. At first I thought it was funny, but now it's beginning to annoy me. The guys range anywhere from about 13-80ish that are doing it--gross! Anyways, all night I was very diligent, and got a lot of reading done for my classes. I also got to skype my family, and that's always good!

February 20, 2010

I slept until 11 today, and got up around 11:30. It felt so good to catch up on sleep! After a very late breakfast, Carrie and I went for a 3 1/2 mile run along the river. I think it will always be my favorite place to run, for forever! After that we showered and had lunch. We had a barbeque type soup with some type of meat in it. Later Carrie and I really wanted to go back outside because it was such a gorgeous day so we went back to the river and painted our toe nails and did some homework. People were looking at us like we were crazy, but I'm pretty used to it, being that I'm a blonde american and all! That night we met Arielle and took the metra to Nervion Plaza. It was my first time on the metra there, and it was really nice. It's just new this year so it's in really nice condition, and it's very clean! The plaza was really cool, and the city outside felt like Chicago to me! We heard there was a TGI Friday's there, and we were craving some good chicago food, so that was the main reason we went there. However; the food was more expensive there than it is in Chicago. The burgers, after converting euro to dollar, would end up being around $17!!! There is no way I would EVER pay that much for a cheeseburger, so sadly we left and went to the McDonald's next store. We made up for it later by going to the starbucks and getting a piece of chocolate cake! After that it was getting late so we took the metra back. I had heard from some other students that there is free salsa dancing on the weekends at a local restaurant, Azucar, so Arielle and I met around 11:45 because we thought it started at 12. It actually ended up starting at 12:30, and we didn't see any other students show up. It seemed really cool, but I don't know how to salsa dance, so I wasn't all that eager to get up and start dancing without some lessons first. It was cool though, and we're hoping to go another time if we can get a bigger group together. We watched for a while, and then left around 1:45. I got back at 2 and was dead tired and went to bed!

February 19, 2010

It's Friday! Finally! Today was just one of those days...My classes were frustrating, and my teachers were frustrating too. Besides having a really annoying art class, I went to my grammar class, and I was so nervous to get my exam back. He told us that everyone did really bad, and he wasn't going to count them so that we could review it and do some more assignments to re-learn it. I was sad to hear that we all did so bad, but I'm glad that we can fix our grades! After classes we had lentil soup and shrimp rolled in bacon. After that we spent some time looking for flights to Paris and Rome and some others. It wasn't very successful. Then we went for a run, and it felt so good! It literally has poured rain for the last 9 or 10 days straight, and I was getting so sick of it! Plus, yesterday was laundry day, so all of our clothes were soaked and we don't have a dryer. They hang dry everything hear, so it will take a while for our clothes to dry, and I have no more pants! Anyways, after running we met up with our friends we met the first week, Kike and Paulo that are from Seville. Also, Arielle has a brother in her family that is 22, and he wanted to meet us, so we went with those guys to a local outdoor bar for about an hour or so. It's strange to me that the bars are open so you can walk in, order, and walk outside with your drink, but it's really nice. It's a lot of high school and college kids. That was really fun, and it's great practice because they speak Spanish but are learning English, and we are just the opposite, so we speak Spanish to them and they speak English back to us. After we went back for dinner and had this soup that has eggs in it. After we met up with Arielle and Jess and went out to an Heladeria for ice cream. I got chocolate, and it tasted sooo good! It was getting late after that, so we returned around 1:30 am and got ready for bed!

February 18, 2010

I finally had a day of classes without exams or projects, and it was great! After class I had prayer group, and it was really nice! My group is small and sweet, and I'm excited to get to know them all better! For lunch we had potato and carrot soup, which is fine, but she put fish pieces in there that literally feel the same as a piece of rubber! :( Around 5:30, or I guess 17:30 here, we went to school to make Abanicos which are the Spanish fans. We got to pick the color and decorate it how we want. I made two of them, and I'll load some pictures of them up on facebook soon. Later on for dinner we had pizza and flan! I love when she makes us pizza, it's so delicious! After dinner I skyped with my roommates back at school, and it was so nice! After that I just did some homework. It was a pretty good day!

February 17, 2010

I took my other 2 exams today. Art History was pretty hard, but at least it's over! I just relaxed this afternoon, and it felt so nice! After lunch, I loaded all my pictures up on facebook, and I updated this blog a little bit. That actually took quite a while. Then at 7pm we had Encuentro. It was set up differently for the lent season. They had rugs on the ground, and we took off our shoes and sat on the rugs. They had the lights off and candles everywhere. It was a time of reflection of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. We were challenged to think about something we could give up or change for lent. After we could go up to the front and they put ash on our foreheads. I've never done that before, and it's different than how we would normally start a lent season, but it was a good reminder. After Encuentro we went back for dinner and she made us the chicken burgers that I love! After that I got to skype my mom. It had been a while since I got to chat with her, and it was great! Tomorrow is looking like a good day so far! I'm excited for the weekend to come!

Verse: Matthew 26:28 "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."

February 16, 2010

I had a history exam and grammar exam today. Now, I'm continuing studying for Art History and my short story exams that I have tomorrow. We had our next serve night at the nursing home tonight, and it went much better than last week. There was a girl, Jackie, that is doing the same thing as me. It was nice to work with her instead of working by myself. I'm starting to learn more words, and also what I am expected to do while I'm there. We'll see what next week holds. Tonight, dinner was great. We were talking a lot and laughing! That doesn't always happen, just because they really like to watch tv, and not talk at the dinner table. It's just the culture here! Anyways, just getting ready for exams tomorrow. I can't wait to relax once they are over!

February 14, 2010

We woke up today at 6, and left by 7 am to start the next day. We had about a 2 1/2 hour drive to our first stop. We stopped at a small restaurant in the mountains, and it was gorgeous! However; the inside of the restaurant was not nice. The bathroom is definitely broken, and dirty, and nobody takes care of it obviously. We don't have those really in the U.S., and it made me realize how blessed we are! We kept driving, and went to our first town. There, everything is blue and white. We got a tour guide. He was really nice, and spoke multiple languages. He gave us a tour of the neighborhoods. The houses are all painted cement, and are done kind of messy. Also, the doors are very small. It reminded me of Dr. Seuss houses! There were little children peaking out the windows saying hi to us. Many kids were out on the streets just walking around, and begging for money. That city was called "chefchaouen". After that we stopped at a loom shop where they hand make rugs and blankets. They taught us about them, and we could watch a guy make them. I bought a small blanket for 25 euros. Then we had some free time to go to the shops. I didn't end up buying anything. For lunch we went to a small, private restaurant that looked just like a house. They served us salsa, meat, potatoes, vegetables, and fruit salad. After that we left to head back home. We were told that we would get back to Seville around 5:30, but it turns out that our ferry didn't leave until 6:30, so I didn't get home until after 10:30, and I still had a bunch of homework to do! But I got it done! It was worth the stress. I loved it, and will miss the beautiful mountains! God is so good! I'm glad that I had that opportunity!

February 13, 2010

Africa is absolutely amazing! The culture here is so crazy and different, but I love it! Being here makes me much more grateful for what I have, because there are some really poor people here. They live in shacks, and all are trying so hard to sell things. We had breakfast at 8:30 at the hotel. We got sweet rolls with juice and hot drinks. Once we left we saw African flags everywhere because the King is staying there right now. It rained this morning, but it stopped for the most part after that. Also, there are animals all over, up and down the road, like cows, horses, lambs, etc. Every time we were driving we would see the mountains! They were beautiful! All through the mountains are houses and shops. I think they mostly travel by donkey and burro. The main color in the cities there is white. All the buildings and things were only white. As we were walking through the markets, you see food that has flies all over it, and meat hanging everywhere. Also, there were chicken coops, and they were waiting there to be slaughtered. The overhangs over the shops were just pieces of metal. At one place we stopped, they showed us how the Arab women dress there, and we got a demonstration of how to put the clothing on. After, we went to an herb shop and got a demonstration of their man made medicines, and how to use them. We could buy some herbs if we wanted. I ended up buying some things at the local market instead. For lunch we went to an authentic African restaurant, and had soup and cous cous. For dessert we had these delicious chocolate filled pastries. They did African dances, and a small show for us. It was so fun! After, Arielle got a henna tattoo. It was nothing like I thought it would be. When we finished, we walked some more through the markets. This one guy followed us for like 20 minutes trying to sell things to us. It was so annoying! Later we went to Grotte and into the caves that are between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterannean Sea. It was really wet down there. We went down lots of stairs to get there. Just like "A walk to remember" I got to stand in two places at once! Later, we made a stop where Arielle and I rode camels! It was so crazy, and I loved it! After, we went to a photo stop where the ocean and sea meet, but we didn't get out of the bus there. We headed to Tanger after that, and went to a Bazaar. Then we went to our next hotel, Tanjah Flandria. It is much nicer than our first hotel. We relaxed for a bit. The Winter Olympics started today, and we had a flat screen TV in our room. The Olympics were in English on one channel. We watched that, and I took a short nap. We went down for dinner at 8 pm, and had potato soup, fish, fries, and fruit. We went back up, and just took showers after that. It was Arielle's birthday at midnight. We didn't go out since it's not very safe there to be alone, but we'll celebrate soon! Since there is a time change from Spain to Africa we could celebrate at 11 pm. We didn't do much then, just went to bed, but it was a great day!

February 12, 2010

We had the day off school today. I slept until 9:30 and then woke up and worked on some homework for a few hours. At 2:15 we walked to our stop to get on the bus for Morocco! It was down pouring, and pretty windy. Our stuff got soaked,a nd my pants and shoes got really wet too. It was miserable, and we waited there for a long time. Finally our bus came. It's supposed to rain all weekend, and not be very warm either. We had to take a ferry across the ocean to get to Morocco. The ferry was really nice. It was like an airplane on the inside, and holds hundreds of people. It took about 45 minutes. Then we took another bus to get to the place where they check our passports. That took a while, but we finally got through, and crossed the border into Africa. I could already see that a lot of the places were run down. We are staying at a 4-star hotel, which I expected to be like the Hilton downtown. When we got there it looked nice from the lobby. The lobby was decorated very much with Arab culture. We went to our room, and it's definitely not a 4-star in my book! There was not even a shower curtain! I'm not sure why, but it made showering a little bit strange, and everything in the bathroom got soaked! It was strange, but then we went for dinner in the hotel. We had potato puret, and some really good chicken! It was delicious! Then we had flan, but Carrie and I didn't really like it so Arielle ate ours! After, we went back upstairs to get ready for bed. We wanted to watch a movie or something, but we were so tired. Tomorrow is a big day in the streets of Africa! I still can't believe I'm actually here! I hope I find some really cool things at the markets!

Matthew 6:31-34

February 11, 2010

Last day of class for the week. After school we went to the grocery store to get some water bottles since we can't drink the water in Africa. All afternoon I did homework. At 7:30 I went for a run, and it felt so good! Then I packed for the weekend, and had dinner. We had vegetable stirfry. It wasn't my favorite, but oh well. Then we met up with our friend Arielle for tintos at Phoenix, a restaurant down the street. Now I'm just getting ready for tomorrow! We leave at 2:30!!!

Matthew 25:40 "The kind will reply, 'I tell you, whenever you did this for one of the least important of these followers of mine, you did it for me!'"

February 10, 2010

Today was a crazy, busy day. It was okay, there was just a lot to do in little time. Classes went fine, and after that we headed home for lunch. We ate really late today. I had to meet with my group for my history presentation due monday. It has to be 50 minutes long, so it takes a lot of preparation. We want to get it done before the weekend, since we'll all be gone. It's kind of stressful, and we have a lot to do yet, so we'll see! At 7 we had Encuentro (worship time). We had some speakers talk about being Christians in Spain, and witnessing to others. It seems kind of scary since we aren't fluent in their language, but we never know where we'll be led! God's plan is always bigger than ours! After Encuentro we stood around and talked for a while. For dinner Maria Luisa made us pizza again! I was so grateful! It's a good reminder of being home...I love pizza! Also, she makes this cream stuff for desert sometimes that is SOO good, and we got that tonight! We try to tell her what we really like, because she enjoys making that stuff for us. She's really nice! Also, during dinner there was a spanish version of "Dancing with the stars", and we watched that. I got my homework and brought it back in there after dinner so I could watch more of it with her. Tomorrow is our last day of class for the week. I need to get a lot done before we leave, and I also really want to get a good run in. It's been way too long. I wish I could go everyday, but that doesn't really happen. Oh well!

Job 5: 8-9 "If I were you, I would turn to God and present my case to him. We cannot understand the great things he does, and to his miracles there is no end."

February 9, 2010

I woke up feeling a bit stressed out today. I just have so much to do. I have a big presentation due monday and two papers, and then I have exams the next two days, and I'm going to Morocco this weekend. I'm not really sure when I'll get that done. After school, we had those shrimp things, but they definitely didn't look cooked. I'm getting better at eating the things I don't like though. They didn't taste as bad as they looked, thank goodness. Later Jess and I had our first real visit to Hermanitos de Los Pobres, which is our service place. We couldn't find any Estancos (basically a drug store) to buy our bus passes because they were all closed for Siesta. Finally we did, but when we got on the bus we didn't know where to get off because it doesn't say anywhere on the bus what stop is coming up. We ended up getting off at the right stop, but we walked the wrong direction, and got lost for probably 30 minutes. We tried calling our leader, but she didn't answer. We asked 2 or 3 people for help, but it was really confusing to understand in Spanish, and nobody knew of the place that we were going. We finally found it, and ended up arriving about 20 minutes late, but it was okay. We are helping prepare the people for dinner, and helping feed the residents of the nursing home. It went okay. It was kind of frustrating because I couldn't really understand them that well. Hopefully that will get better. Also, I didn't actually do that much tonight. Even though I felt that I didn't get to do that much, I know there is a reason why I get to go there. God put me there for a reason. After I got back I just did homework...Another very busy day tomorrow. Morocco in 2 days!!

Deutoronomy 10:12 "And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul."

February 8, 2010

This mornings started off pretty well! We found out the Maria Luisa had bought us strawberry Jam for our toast! We haven't had any, and have just been having it with butter everyday, which gets kind of old, but now we have this! Classes went okay today. I feel like there is never enough time in the day, and that I am rushing to get everything done. I'm still trying to get a schedule going. This afternoon Carrie and I went for a run to the "We Love Spain" office, which is a company that sets up group travel trips. We went to sign up for the trip to Morocco for this weekend! On the way there I rolled my ankle because of a dip in the sidewalk. It will be okay though. Tonight we had flamenco lessons again. It's actually harder than I thought, but hopefully with time I'll get better at it! After I just went home and did homework. I'm feeling overwhelmed with getting things done, but it always gets done, so I shouldn't worry about it.

Philippians 4:12-13 "I have learned the secret of being content..."

February 7, 2010

I love that our church here starts at 11! We still can sleep in a bit. I really enjoyed church today, and I was able to understand a lot of it. We were able to talk with some people that we had met previous weeks, and catch up a bit, so that was great! After that, I seriously did homework all afternoon. Later on I skyped with my parents. My Dad is signing us up for the 10 mile race at Soldier Field on May 29! I'm so excited, and now I have some good motivation to keep working on my running while I'm here! Other than that, not too much has gone on. I'm going to miss the superbowl tonight, which I am NOT happy about. It doesn't start until 1 am here, so I wouldn't get to bed until after 5 am, and then I'd have to get up for class at 7:30. That doesn't sound very fun to me. Oh well. There's always next year!

Verse: John 16:33

February 6, 2010

We slept in again today until after 11, and didn't do much until about 1 pm. Carrie and I went running along the river. It over over 60 degrees and full sun! I ran in a t-shirt, and it was absolutely gorgeous! After lunch we went to Parque de los Principes to do homework. It was the perfect day to be outside, and it made doing homework not seem quite as terrible. After that Carrie and I went shopping quickly because I really needed some shoes and tights. I wish so badly that I could go back and re-pack, because I would do it very differently! After that we met up with our friends Arielle and Jess to go "tapa-hopping". Many of the restaurants here have tapas, which are smaller portions of regular meals for about 2-4 euros, so people go get them as snacks, but we decided to make that dinner. We went to 4 different places to get tapas. We wanted to get sangria, but nobody really had that, so we settled for our tintos. While we were walking from place to place, we encountered some strange high school boys. I think that they must have been drunk because they were out of control, and were following us, and it was really creepy. Thank goodness we were together. We ignored them for about 5 minutes, and finally they left us alone. Also, while we were walking around looking for our next restaurant we saw our Senor, Miguel, at a bar, so we quick ran the other way because we didn't want to have to stop by him and his friends. That would be awkward. There were so many funny and random things that happened that night. It would take me forever to write them all down!

February 5, 2010

We started the day much earlier today than usual. At least it felt so early since when we normally get up the sun doesn't rise until almost 9! We took a coach bus to Cordoba. It's about a 2 hour ride. We stopped at a cafe on the way. When we got there, all the art students split and took a tour with our teacher, Carmen, for her to tell us about the mezquita (masque) since we just learned all about it in class. It was really pretty inside. After our tour we had about 3 hours to eat and walk around the city. We ended up walking around with 3 guys from our group for that time. They are all really nice, and we hadn't gotten much chance to hang out with them before since we don't have the same classes. While we were walking around we stopped and got a sangria for all 3 of us girls to share. I had never had that before, and it was quite good! Throughout the city, there are gypsies on a lot of the streets, and sometimes in Seville too. They want to read your palms, and then they demand that you pay them a lot of money. Otherwise, some of them will have a friend that tries to take your money/belongings while you are distracted by her palm reading. A few people in our group had no idea what these ladies wanted, and fell for it. Luckily they didn't get anything taken from them, but when they refused to pay the ladies, they would get really mad. The culture here is so crazy! They city was really old and beautiful though! Everything was very antique looking, and I enjoyed it a lot. It was cold and rainy in the morning, but the afternoon was actually almost hot, and the sun was out big and full! I loved it! We just stood on the bridge over the river there with the guys and chatted for over an hour. It was nice to relax. Then we drove back, and we were so tired. We wanted to do something since it was a friday night, but just had no energy. We decided to meet up quickly at McDonald's again for an ice cream cone, and just headed back to go to bed. We plan on going out for some fun tomorrow night!

Verse: Psalm 23:6 "I know your goodness and love will be with me all my life; and your house will be my home as long as I live."

February 4, 2010

Well, we had our last day of classes for the week. They went pretty fast today. I went to a grocery store today to buy some snacks, and bought these "galletos" which means cookies, but they are more like crackers. They were only .88 euros, and they are completely delicious! After lunch, Carrie and I just relaxed, enjoying the fact that we didn't have to do our homework for the next day since we have our trip. At 5:45 ( or I guess really 17:45 here!) I got to meet up with my cousin Katie, who is also studying for the semester here! I only saw her for about an hour, but I was glad to see her. I'm sure I'll see her around again very soon! Plus, thanks to my Auntie Jan, Katie brought me face wipes! I seriously haven't been able to wash my face in the morning because the water is so ice cold, that I just can't bring myself to do it! But now I can! At 7 I had to meet with my History group to work on a project. We have a 50 minute presentation due on the 15th, so we needed to get a start on that. For dinner, our senora decided to serve us the fried peppers again. We didn't eat them...I will eat anything else, and I have, but I just can't eat those. She also served us these wrap things, which looked like seaweed rolled up, and I was a little scared at first, but she had fried them with potatoes in the middle, and you just cut them up. They were surprisingly quite good! Other than that, I've just been trying to do some homework tonight. We go to Cordoba tomorrow, and then it's the weekend!

Verse: Matthew 11:28-30

February 3, 2010

Another day of classes. I really, really don't like my history class. I don't like history class in English, so I certainly don't like it in Spanish! It's hard to understand him, and it just really takes extra effort for me to be able to do well. But, I know I can do it, so I'll continue to do keep trying at it! I love walking home from class because by then the sun is fully out, and it is gorgeous outside! Plus, we have to cross a bridge to get to our neighborhood, but most of our classmates do to, and my friends and I always stop there to chat before we head to our houses, and more students always end up stopping to chat too. It's kind of a chance to talk to people that aren't in our classes, so it works out well. I've already met a few new people, and gotten to be better friends with them just because of that! Anyways, later on we went for a run, and we took a different path that goes right next to the river! It was completely gorgeous, and I look forward to running that many more times! There are people that take canoes and kayaks on it, so we might look into doing that because it looks really fun! The river is huge, and I know I would be kind of scared to do that, but I really want to try it. Later on we had Encuentro (praise and worship), and I just love it! It's a chance to meet up with all the students and just relax for a bit, with some great worship! We also have people give testimonies or small sermon type things, and they are really good. For dinner we had something, that I still don't know what it was, but it was terrible. It made me feel sick all night. After that I just did more homework. It was so hard tonight, and I got a little frustrated, but I have to do it anyways, oh well. Just one more day of classes this week, then we go to Cordoba on friday!

Thought from Encuentro: How do I define myself? When I talk about myself, is God my main point of definition? hmm...

February 2, 2010

Went to school again. I've been a little nervous to participate in class lately just because there are other people in my classes that are much more fluent, and better at speaking Spanish than I am. It's kind of intimidating, but today I finally decided to contribute a few times, and I felt okay. So hopefully I'll do that more now. After school we went home for lunch, and my senora had made chicken and mashed potatoes! I LOVE mashed potatoes, so I was so thankful for that! After lunch, I just did homework for a while, then I had to leave because I did my first meeting for my service class at "Hermanitas de los Pobres" which is kind of like a retirement home. Some of the people are pretty capable of doing things themselves, and some cannot do anything and need a lot of help. We are going to be going there during the dinner time, which for them is around 6:30, so I'll go every Tuesday night from 6-8 pm. I am so nervous! I really don't know enough vocab, and I'm really scared. Everyone there today was talking really fast, and once we start we will be working with a lot of the people. Some of the residents are going to be very difficult to understand, especially those that no longer have their real teeth! That is hard enough in english, let alone trying to do it in Spanish! I'll do my best, that's all God calls me to do, and that's all that I can do. I'm hoping it will be a good experience, and hopefully it will help me become for fluent too! Also, tonight was my first time using transportation here. We have walked everywhere. People do drive, but it is absolutely crazy here! Much more crazy than anything I have EVER seen in Chicago. People drive like maniacs, and there really isn't speed limits, and if there is a red light, but pedestrians aren't crossing you can just go through it, so pretty much...there are no driving rules! My friends and I have had way too many experiences of almost getting hit by drivers/bicyclists/motorcyclists, etc.! You have to be careful around here, they don't stop for anyone! But anyways, I'm hoping to figure out the bus system a little better, so we don't get lost! On our way back from the place Jess and I stopped at the grocery store, and I bought peanuts and m&m's to make the family "special dip"! I'm very excited to have that as a snack! Since I got home I've just been doing homework and relaxing...nothing too much.

Verse for the day: I Peter 5:6-7, 10

vs. 7 "Leave all your worries with him, because he cares for you."

February 1, 2010

Well, I started up my second week of classes today. I'm really realizing that my history and art classes are going to take some serious extra effort on my part. History has never been a favorite of mine, and now it's taught in Spanish, so I have to pay extra attention! All of my classes are taught in Spanish though. I can tell that it is slightly becoming easier to understand other people. I can understand my professors and other students pretty well, but my senora is very difficult to understand. She kind of slurs her words together, so I don't understand her half the time, but I'm working on it. It's getting better as I expand my vocabulary, and continue practicing conversation. Today I also had my first "Accion Solidaria" which is a service class. Every tuesday, starting tomorrow, I'm going to a nursing home from 6-8 pm to do service work. I'm really nervous because everyone is only going to be speaking Spanish, and I will be helping care for these people. If I don't understand them, it could be a problem, but I guess it will be some very good/forceful practice for me! For lunch today we had a plate full of spinach. Now, I was open to trying it, because I have tried everything my senora has given me, but his seriously looked nasty! Carrie likes Spinach, and she even said it looked bad! It looked like a pile of grass and mud that was run over by a tractor and mixed together on a plate. The texture was just terrible. I could actually handle the taste, but it was difficult to look at it, and still want to eat it! Oh well, we finished it with a little help from the bread on the table :) Anyways, tonight I started taking Flamenco dance lessons. It was only 50 euros for 8 sessions that are 1 1/2 hours each. It was really fun, and we started learning the basic steps. I'm already looking forward to maybe purchasing a flamenco dress at the end just for fun! Other than that, I didn't do too much tonight, just homework. My senora did serve us pizza again for dinner! Yeah for American food!

Verse for the day: Psalm 102: 25-27 "long ago you created the earth, and with your own hands you made the heavens. They will disappear, but you will remain; they will all wear out like clothes. You will discard them like clothes, and they will vanish. But you are always the same, and your life never ends."

January 31, 2010

Another Sunday here in Seville. I really do like the church I'm going to, Prosperidad, but today I was really struggling to understand the message. Also, there were a lot of distractions, like kids screaming throughout the service. That was kind of frustrating because the parents didn't do anything with the kids, just let them be noisy, and the church is very tiny..and I really do mean tiny! They can fit maybe 35 people in there. I really do like it though, so I'll definitely give it another try. After the service I went home for dinner, and their other daughter and husband came over with their two daughters. They didn't really talk to us much, so it was kind of awkward, but oh well. We had that paella con mariscos again- the potatoes, soup, and random fish foods (we never know what they are!). The fish pieces taste a lot like rubber, but I ate it, and I'm still alive! I'm getting more used to it though, even though I don't like it. I just did homework all afternoon. I'm still trying to get in the swing of doing homework again, especially on the weekends. I didn't really do too much tonight, just went for a run, did homework, and tried to relax a bit.

Verse for the day: 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

January 30, 2010

Finally the day has arrived that we got to sleep in! I slept until about 11, but Carrie was still sleeping so I decided to stay in my bed and go on my computer. I think I just stayed there until almost 1 pm! If felt so good! I really needed to catch up on sleep. Carrie and I, once we finally got out of bed, went for a run through Parque de Los Principes, and it was a gorgeous, warm, sunny day outside- perfect for a run! We came back and had lunch, and our parents' daughter and son-in-law came over. Then we went shopping again because I desperately need more warm clothes here! It's still way too cold in our house, and the mornings are still very cold. It probably will be about this temperature for a few weeks yet, or so I've heard. After shopping we were going to get tapas (appetizer sized snacks) from a nearby restaurant, but it was already almost time for dinner so we just stopped for drinks instead. We got the tinto del veranos. I'm still not sure how much I like them, but I guess it's a taste I will get used to. They're pretty good though, and not very strong, which I like. After that we stopped home for dinner, and then went back out again. We went to McDonald's again to meet our friends to play cards. I know that sounds ridiculous, but family's here don't invite people over to their houses, they just go out, so every time we want to meet our friends we have to go somewhere. This can become an expensive habit..so McDonald's for cards it is! There was a group of high school students sitting next to us, and apparently they've never seen people play cards in McDonald's because they were making fun of us and laughing. We figured this out, and quickly ended our game so we could move away from them! It was pretty embarrassing, but at the same time, I'm never going to see them again, so I don't care. Oh well, that will be the last time we play cards there! Once we finished we just got some ice cream. I got a cono kit kat, which was so delicious! The ice cream here tastes a little different, probably because the milk is different, but it's still pretty good. I laughed a lot today, and have been this whole trip so far! I'm so blessed to be here!

Verse for the day: Isaiah 40:30-31