Everyday Life

First of all, I apologize for those of you who have been trying to follow what I am doing here in Spain through my blog. I don't have the Internet in my house. I have to pay to use the wi-fi at cafes which makes blogging somewhat difficult because it takes so much time. Anyway, I think I found a place with free wi-fi now, so hopefully it will be much easier!

Life in Spain is delightful. I was actually having a somewhat difficult time at first though. Most of my trips to other countries have been somehow tied to missions; however, this trip is obviously quite different. I told many of you that I had gotten in contact with some missionaries over here who said that they could hook me up with their church. Well, because of conflicts with schedules and general difficulty with using different modes of communication (i.e. not the Internet), I could not get a hold of them for the first week that I was here. I was really really missing my family and community back home. I felt very disconnected and spiritually like I was waning here. Luckily, two of the girls in my group live on a street where there is a church, so on Saturday we decided to just go there Sunday morning since we hadn't heard from the missionaries. So, we went. Lo and behold, it was the missionaries' church! Hooray! It was amazing! I have never been so filled with joy to be in the presence of other believers all worshiping Jehovah Jireh, the God Who Provides. :) We met the missionaries afterward, and they introduced us to Jota who is in charge of the youth activities. He told us he would get our emails and keep us informed about what is going on. He also said that they have about 140 students involved. They have services Saturday nights and Sunday morning and they eat meals together every week after both. Hallelujah! That is what I call communion. :) What a tremendous blessing this Sunday was for us. Before, I was feeling like these four months were
going to be long, but now I am sad that I am leaving in December! God is faithful. :)

General everyday life is great as well. We started classes last week. We are only in the intensive language course right now. This will last through the last week of September. It hasn't been to bad thus far. There are some things that are different grammatically here. They use the preterite perfect a heck of a lot more than we are used to in Latin American Spanish. They actually use it more than the indefinite preterite. That is taking some adjustment, but I'll figure it out at some point. I have actually been surprised with how much Spanish I have been able to understand. I still have a hard time producing language quickly though. I get caught up on the verb conjugations. :) Anyway, after this language intensive course, we have a week off during which we are going to Italy and France! So excited! We just booked our 5 flights yesterday, and it totalled under $180!!! Ridiculous! I can't wait...clearly. Anyway, I will be taking 5 Spanish classes after we get back from our trip. It shouldn't be too bad.

Home life is super fun. Our señora is so sweet and is such a wonderful cook! :) We do eat ALOT. But, I have tried to run at least a few times a week. We also walk miles a day to and from school, so hopefully it won't be too terrible. :) The Spanish schedule is the college student's dream. Spaniards don't wake up until 9, 10, or 11. They eat maybe some bread for breakfast, but have lunch around 2:30 (on the early side). They then take a siesta for about 2 hours partially because they are so stinkin' full and partially because it is so stinkin' hot! It is over or close to it 100 almost every day. It doesn't feel too bad; you just sweat alot. haha. Then they have dinner around 8:30 (again, on the early side), and perhaps they go out afterward. It's really a beautiful thing. Although I do feel like they days slip by, but all I did was eat and sleep. I need to figure out how to fix that! :)

Well, classes are going to start soon, so I have to get going. Thanks for reading and thinking of me while I am away. I really miss you all so much!