Primer dia de clases

Well, I was all prepared to write a fairly encouraging post to let you all know that I had a pretty good weekend and am starting to feel a bit more peace. But, alas, upon arriving at school, my computer would not connect to the school's wireless (thankfully it is connected now!) so I got very frustrated. Then I got on a school computer to check my email and such and was so overwhelmed by the emails and facebook messages and other well-wishings that I began to cry. I am suddenly quite discouraged. I miss you all so much, and all I want right now is to come home.

But honestly, it was a pretty good weekend. The people at school said that the first weekend is always the hardest so hopefully they are right. They provided us with a list of sites to find for a photo scavenger hunt. Erin and I teamed up with our new friends Michelle and Sarah and spent most of Saturday and Sunday exploring the city. It truly is a beautiful city. I can hardly believe that the things I am seeing are real. There are so many beautiful buildings and little tiny streets. Saturday we went to some gorgeous gardens and the narrow streets of Santa Cruz. We were so thankful for the scavenger hunt because it allowed us to see so much more of the city than we would have otherwise. Last night we got slightly lost in a very dark part of the city, but thanks to our trusty map (courtesy of la oficina de turismo) we were eventually able to find our way back. I was a little scared during that time. I never really felt like I was in danger...but it was disconcerting to not know where we were. Honestly, the city feels very safe though. And we are starting to recognize a lot of landmarks. I can find my way to a lot of useful places now (the cathedral, the Chino-a dollar store type place, the school, the grocery store, the post office, etc.) It is nice to feel like I kind of know my way around.

Yesterday the four of us decided to go to church together. We had a list of Protestant churches and the buses we should take to them so we thought we knew what we were doing. We checked a map to find our stop and then hopped on a bus. Apparently, the stop had a different name than we were expecting because somehow we never found our stop. We ended up riding the bus for over an hour until we ended up right back where we had started. I really enjoyed riding the bus though, and now we feel like if we did it again we'd be a bit more knowledgable about how it is done. We think we will ask someone at school how to find the church.

Since we didn't go to church we went to a cafe for coffee and pastries and had our own little time of sharing Bible verses and such together. It was a really good thing to do. I am thankful for the friends that I am making here and for the opportunity to share Jesus together. He is here, and He is real, and I just need to keep remembering that.

Today is the first day of classes, and I am terrified. I have already had my first class (Cuentos=Short Stories). I think that one won't be too hard. However, my next class is Advanced Grammar, and I am sure that I am NOT ready for that. Lastly I have History and Civilation of Spain which should also be okay. I am sure that it will be really good for me to have a routine. And honestly, I always seem to feel better about life when I feel productive and have studying to do. But right now it seems so scary and overwhelming. I don't know if I can do this. One thing I am really looking forward to is studying in the public library! We discovered it during our explorations this weekend, but it wasn't open so I can't wait to explore it! Hopefully that will happen this afternoon! Yay! I love libraries! Another thing that I always look forward to is siesta! I think the Spaniards got things right when they built nap time into their days!

Hmmm...what else would you like to know? Oh, I almost forgot...food! Meals are always a surprise, and Erin and I are so intrigued by what we find! Yesterday we had paella for lunch. I believe it could probably be classified as the epitome of Spanish cusine. I loved it!!!! It was all yellow and was made of lots of rice and seafood (shrimp, squid, mussels, and other small shellfish). I love eating adventurously, and it was so yummy. Last night then we had some kind of awesome spinach and garbanzo bean stuff with our favorite kind of fried chicken. It was a good food day. Actually, I haven't yet encountered anything I don't like...except maybe those french fries! My favorite fruit here is something called a caqui (I had to look that up). It looks like a tomato, but is very sweet. Oh...I just looked it up in English and apparently it is the same thing as a persimmon. Huh...who knew?

So, plan for the rest of the day: class until 2:25, home for lunch, siesta!, devotions/other reading, venture out to explore the library and buy stamps, do homework, supper around 9, miscellaneous nothing/talking with Erin, bed. We've been going to bed fairly early which is nice. Perhaps I'll still do that when I come back to Taylor? Well, maybe not. But neither one of us are drinkers or partyers like many of the others in our group so it is good to just hang out in the house at night.

Ah, I feel like I should say more, but I need to go to class soon. Oh, I miss you all. So desperately much. I am not miserable here, but I want so badly to come home. I love you all.