Dos Tragedias

Oh no! TWO tragedies in one week! What to do?

Tragedy number 1: Gaulo is missing! The past 5 days that I have come to school, the corner that usually holds the friendly Gaulo and his red cart full of 20 Minutos papers has been mysteriously empty. The first two days I thought I was just too late for him, but the next 3 days I've come earlier, and he still isn't there. I wish I knew what happened to him. I guess maybe the powers that be at 20 Minutos decided to relocate him. But I'm sad. Because now I don't get a free paper. And I don't get to say, "Buenos Dias, Gaulo!" or recieve a friendly "Buenos Dias" from him.

Tragedy number 2: My favorite street in Sevilla is la Avenida de Jose Maria Martinez Sanchez Arjona. I happen to think that is the best name for a street ever. But do you know what they did? They changed the name of the street! Agh! When my family was here, we looked up one day and there was a new sign. Now the street is called "Esperanza de Triana." In my opinion, that really isn't that much shorter than the previous name. At least not enough shorter to make it worth it. But, the Ayuntamiento (city hall) didn't ask my opinion. If I knew Spanish better I would write them a letter. At least Matthew took a picture of the old sign before they changed it. I tried to include the picture in this blog, but Blogger hates me. Oh well.

But, in the grand scheme of things, I don't suppose that either of these "tragedies" are really that big of a deal. This week is going pretty well so far. I'm nervous about exams. But once those are done I'll feel better. And one week from today I'll be leaving London to head to Switzerland! That's crazy! I am thankful for all of these opportunities. It is good to be here.

Highlights of a Crazy Week

Contrary to popular belief, I have not indeed fallen off the face of the Earth. It's just that the past week has been pretty crazy. I'm sorry that I haven't been updating regularly while my family was here. That apology is both to all of you and to myself. It's to you because I've left you in the dark for more than a week. And it's to myself because now in order to bring you back into the light I have to remember everything that happened this week. That's going to be a little tricky...

In the interest of time and space, I'm going to just try to hit the highlights of this past week. I doubt I'll remember it all. In fact, I'll probably forget a lot and get it all in the wrong order and it won't make much sense. But, hey, a little bit is better than none, yes?

Arrival: So my family arrived on Saturday (the 21st). I met them at the airport, and it was so unbelievably wonderful to see them!!!! We rode the bus to the hotel, and then they were very quickly introduced to Spain when we headed to my house to eat a paella lunch prepared by Carmen. It was quite the experience. We had 8 people around a table that usually seats 3 (Fabi and Sergio were still here). I'm sure my family was overwhelmed, but I thought it was kind of fun. It helped to have Fabi and Sergio there because they know a little English, and my family could talk to them a bit. But still, I had to serve as the translator for everyone...a role I found myself in a lot throughout the week.

Soccer: This was probably Matthew's favorite part of the trip. We thought that Sevilla F.C. was playing on Sunday night, but thankfully we decided to go to the stadium Saturday, and we learned that the game had been moved to that night. I got to haggle with a scalper in Spanish which was quite the experience, but I was pretty proud of the fact that I could understand almost everything he said. Anyway, we bought the tickets (not from the scalper) and saw the game, and it was lots of fun. Sevilla won 4 to 1.

Um...this is harder than I thought it would be. I'm struggling to remember details. But other highlights included: visit to the Cathedral (I still LOVE the Giralda!), a flamenco show, a tour of the Plaza de Toros, Italica (Roman ruins that weren't so much a highlight for Matthew and I...but Dad liked them), a concert in the Cathedral, a daytrip to Cadiz, a visit to the Alcazar (gorgeous castle and gardens in Sevilla), etc. It was kind of fun to be somewhat of a tourist in my own "hometown." I did a lot of things that I'm sure I wouldn't have done if they hadn't been here.

A lot of our time together involved food. We tried a lot of really good restaurants while they were here (and a few not so good ones). This was really strange for me because I'm not used to having to go out and capture my meals since Carmen always cooks for us. In fact, meals were probably the most stressful time for me because I had to translate the menus, and I was the only one who could really communicate with the restaurant people. I think we confused a lot of people because it was obvious that Dad was the head of the family and the one with the money, but I was the only person who ever talked to the waiters. But for the most part we were okay, and I did feel pretty good when I could successfully order for everyone. Culinary highlights of the week included an incredible Morroccan restaurant, Italian on the last night, churros, a Cuban place, and of course lots of gelato. I also tried tapas for the first time. Yes, I know it is a bit pathetic that I have been here for 2 months and only just tried tapas (traditional Spanish meal that consists of small appetizer type things), but I maintain the excuse that I never eat out because I get free food. My favorite tapa by far was the fried eggplant with molasses. Yum! It was just really odd to me to eat in restaurants so much, but I did appreciate the fact that I was able to choose my own food. I ate a lot of vegetables and fruit this week!

Actually, the whole week was a little bit more stressful than I imagined it would be. It was kind of tough to balance school and life here with touristy things and spending time with my family. I was really worn out, and I basically neglected all of my studies which is something I am not used to doing. This all made me sad because I had been looking forward to my family coming for so long, and then I was almost too tired and overwhelmed to enjoy it at first.

However, the last several days that they were here were super great. I was so much more relaxed when I didn't have school to worry about. Also, I spent 2 nights with them in the hotel which was fun. It was really really good to see them and to spend time together as a family. Also it was good to show them a bit of what my life is like here. I am sooooooooooooooooo(etc.) unbelievably glad that they got to come!

But now comes the hard part: This week is going to be insane. I have a lot of studying to catch up on since I have exams Thursday and Friday. I never feel prepared for exams, but this time I REALLY don't feel prepared. Agh! Also, Saturday Erin and I leave for London/Switzerland, and we still have a lot of planning to do. Plus, I'd love to take some time to reconnect with some people, but I don't foresee that happening any time soon. Sigh. Please pray that this week won't eat me. I'm really afraid of it. Oh, and also please pray for my family. Currently they are in an airplane between Madrid and Chicago. They should get home around 8 or 9 tonight (Indiana time) I think. I really wish I could have gone back with them. I'm quite ready to go home. But right now I have responsibilities here. Hopefully the next 7 weeks go quickly.

Visitors!

I guess I haven't written in a while because not much has been happening. But things are happening now! Oh yes, they are! By the time most of you read this, my parents and my brother will be on the road. After a long day of travel they should arrive here in Sevilla around 9:45 Saturday morning. That's only about 24 hours from now!!!!!!! I am so very excited. Very very very very excited. It is such a blessing that I will be able to share this part of my life with them. Yay!

The other interesting thing is that our apartment with 3 people and a dog now contains 5 people and 2 dogs. Oh my. Yesterday afternoon Carmen's daughter Fabi and her husband Sergio (and their dog Tango) came. They are staying until Sunday I think. We hardly all fit around the supper table last night! It's so awkward to have them here...and it's especially strange to have a man in the house. But they are nice people. They talked to us a bit last night, and I could understand them much better than I can understand Carmen. It was kind of funny though because Carmen was telling them about how Erin and I aren't very picky eaters, and how I will try anything. I can thank my Dad for that...eating adventurously is great! But anyway, I guess we'll survive their visit. And starting tomorrow I'll have something better to distract me!

Classes have been pretty laid back this week after the exams of last week. That is a good thing because I've been pretty tired this week and not very motivated to study. Oh, here's something interesting: In Cuentos the other day, Jose was telling us about animal sounds. It hadn't really occurred to us that the animals in Spain speak Spanish too. For example, dogs say "Guau, guau," sheep say "Beeee," pigs say "Oing," and roosters say "kikiriqui." We got a little silly then and starting asking him about other animals like elephants and monkeys. I really wanted to ask him what a rhinocerous says. It was fun and interesting. And now we have all aquired the useful skill of speaking to animals in Spanish. Maybe I'll be able to understand Boli and Tango now.

Wednesday afternoon I was in a bad mood, but I rediscovered an old trick that certainly helped cheer me up. I was in the mood for some sort of fresh food (we've been eating a lot of canned fruit lately) so I stopped at a grocery store to buy myself an apple. But I couldn't figure out to use the scale so I sadly had to leave without my apple. However, when I passed the next grocery store, I decided to try again, and I met with success! The apple was okay. But the best thing was that the apple had a sticker on it, and I put it on my hand, and my mood improved tremendously! And don't worry, my First South girlies, I saved the sticker for you!

If you're interested, here are some things you can pray about: 1) pray that my family has a safe trip here and that we have a wonderful time together. And 2) please pray for continued adjustment to the roommate situation. I love Erin so much and would not want to live with anyone else, but the adjustment has been much harder than I expected it to be. So prayers are appreciated. Thank you so much, everyone! I love you all!

The Beach and Becoming Braver

It is Monday. And I am glad. Like always. But I think almost anyone could be happy about this Monday because this Monday marks the beginning of the week in which my family will arrive. Yay!

I feel like a lot happened this weekend. But that is a good thing because it kept me from getting bored. Thursday night I met with Pablo, and I actually enjoyed it! We just got coffee, but it was a lot less awkward than the last few times. We spoke in English which I guess was part of what made it better. But I feel like now it will be more comfortable to speak to him in Spanish next time because the relationship feels a little more balanced. I think it will be easier to ask him to help me now that I've helped him. And several times during the conversation he randomly said something about bowling. I think it would be fun to go bowling with him!

Friday was pretty uneventful although I was in a really bad mood. I think I was just tired mostly. The long week of exams and such finally caught up to me. School seemed pretty worthless because it was the day after exams and nobody wanted to do anything. The only good thing about Friday was finding a new ice cream store called Raya.

Saturday was a good day. I went to Cadiz with Sarah, Chrissa, and Anna. Cadiz is a town about an 2 hours south of here that is surrounded by the ocean on 3 sides. We rode the train there which was super fun (way better than the bus rides of last week). We wandered around the city for a while (and got a little lost), went to an art museum (where we saw paintings by Zurburan and Murillo...our next two painters in Art class) , ate our sandwiches in a plaza, and then spent the afternoon at the beach. It was a pleasant day and very relaxing. Well, I guess that's not entirely true. I had trouble relaxing because a) I felt like I had about a million other things I should be doing, b) my feet hurt because my flip flops are junk and not ideal for lots of walking, and c) I was super paranoid about getting sunburnt. But I applied sunscreen religiously, and in the end I was fine. The ocean was really cold, but we did get in for a while because we didn't want to miss out. And it actually felt pretty good after sitting out in the sun. Cadiz is much different from Toledo in the fact that it really isn't very touristy at all. Because of this, we had difficulty in finding a place that was open to get food in the evening. Finally we just ended up getting ice cream at Burger King. I don't even like Burger King in the States. But it did taste pretty good. The train ride back was nice, and we got home around 10:45. It was a long day, but I know it was very good for me to get away.

The most important thing about Sunday is that Erin and I were roommated. We came home from church and not only were there two beds in my room, but Carmen had moved all of Erin's stuff into the room, and rearranged my stuff too. Oh my. We laughed about it a lot yesterday. It is such a blessing that we get along so well! But we also felt like we were tripping over each other. The room is not very big. It's going to take some adjustment because we were both really enjoying having alone time sometimes. But we'll be okay. And I finally worked up the courage (thanks to some encouragement from some Taylor friends) to ask Carmen what exactly is going to happen in the other room. So now we know that her daughter and her daughter's husband are coming Thursday but only staying until Sunday. Then they are coming back during Semana Santa. Now we know.

I feel like I've been a lot braver about a lot of things lately. This morning I decided to ask the 20 Minutos guy his name when he handed me my periodico. He gave me a strange look, but he told me his name was Gaulo (I think). So I said, "Buenos dias, Gaulo," and he laughed at me. But now I'm going to say it every day. I was pretty proud of myself.

I'm also hoping that this newfound bravery will still be present when I return to the States. Right now I am sometimes so frustrated by my inability to communicate in classes or in other life circumstances because I literally don't know how to say what I want to say. I'm hoping that when I come home, I will be more willing to say the things I want to share because I'll actually be able to. I guess we'll see.

And...I guess that's about it. I'm not really sure what this week is going to hold. I think that classes are going to be fairly laid back so hopefully that will give me time to catch up on all the other things I haven't been doing. And I'll have more time to be excited about my family coming!!!!!

Prayers in a Package

Whew. I survived. Well, I suppose that remains to be seen. But the important thing is that the tests are done. That's good for sure. What is bad is that I still have about a gazillion things to do. I have some more homework to do that I've been putting off with all my studying and such. I have to meet with Pablo tonight (I'm not completely dreading, but I'm certainly not excited about it. Actually that might be a lie. I might be dreading it.). I have a list of no fewer than 11 people that I need to email. And there should probably be more people on that list. Also, travel plans should be made soon. Ugh. I guess I should just keep reminding myself that I would feel a whole lot worse if I didn't have things to do. And I'm not miserable...I'm really not. I truly am relieved that I conquered those tests once again. Now I'm halfway done!

The highlight of yesterday was that I received a package from my beautiful ladies of First South English!!! It wasn't as much of a surprise as it should have been because I sort of accidentally found out that a package might be coming and then spent the next few days trying to convince myself that it also might not be coming. But anyway...I don't have to worry about that anymore because it came!!! It was full of lovely letters from my girls. I read them all after lunch, and I cried really hard. But that was a good thing. I cried because I'd been feeling a bit lonely/lost/forgotten lately, and the letters made me feel so loved.

I was incredibly humbled by the fact that nearly every letter said something to the effect of "We pray for you everyday!" Wow. That's a lot of prayer. And I know that a lot of the rest of you are praying for me...not just the girls of First South. That's a lot lot lot of prayer. So I'm thinking that if all these people are praying for me, I shouldn't be so scared. I should just trust. And I should do this right. Because I don't want to fail you all. And I don't want to fail God. I want Him to be glorified in this. And I am thankful for your prayers. Please never stop praying.

As I read the letters I missed Taylor so so very much. But still I am overwhelmed by this feeling that I am supposed to be here. I am not supposed to be there right now. And that scares me yet again. Because I know that if I was there right now I wouldn't be happy. It wouldn't be better than this. And I wouldn't be able to make my friends happy or fix any of their problems. In fact, sometimes I wonder if some of their problems have been alleviated because I am not there. And though it is a good feeling to know that I belong here right now, it is not a good feeling to know that I don't belong in one of the places I most want to belong. And I fear coming back. What if I can never belong at Taylor again?

And while I'm rambling aimlessly, I'll also say that I have randomly been thinking about high school a lot lately. Last semester I didn't miss high school at all. I never even thought about it. But now suddenly I think about people I haven't seen since graduation, and I miss them. And I'm sad that this weekend will be the first time I've missed the SA musical since probably elementary school. It's strange. It's almost as if my whole United States life has gotten all lumped together, and I kind of forget which parts are Taylor and which parts are Berne. The good thing about this is that I do miss Berne and my family a lot more than I did at Taylor. I say that this is a good thing because I feel like I've actually been in better contact with my family than I was last semester. And I like that. Also I like that fact that they will be here in just over a week!!!!!

Sorry. This post is really random. And I'm not sure if you all would rather read things about what I'm doing or how I'm feeling. Because I fear that all this introspective emotional stuff is not what some of you have bargained for. But I guess I can't help all these emotions that I have. If you don't want to read about them, feel free to offer suggestions on more tangible things I can write about. Anyway, I'm done with exams, and I can now move on with my life. Maybe I'll find some ice cream today...

Toothbrushes y la Otra Cama

Well, I'm still glad that today is Monday, but I will admit that this past weekend wasn't really too bad. In fact, most of it was pretty good. I feel like it's been a while since I've posted so forgive me if this is a bit scattered. Also, I'm getting kind of behind on emails, postcards, etc. so if I haven't responded to something you've sent me, just hold tight. I should have more of a life after this week.

I guess that's a good place to start: this week. I'm scared of this week. Tomorrow I have a history presentation. Wednesday I have a history exam. Thursday I have Cuentos and art exams. And also Pablo....ugh. And Erin and I need to make a bunch of travel plans. I have about a zillion people to email about various things...included a possible summer job. Okay, so I guess that doesn't sound like quite as much once I write it out. But I'm still a bit afraid that this week is going to eat me.

Anyway...Toledo. (For those who don't know...Toledo is a city an hour or so from Madrid. It was officially an "art class trip," but everyone else came too.) Toledo was pretty good. We left at an unreasonable hour on Friday (6:30 am), and it took us about 6 hours to get to Toledo. I had hoped to get some homework done on the bus, but I didn't even try, and I still felt sick. That was not fun. The highlight of the trip there was stopping in La Mancha to see Don Quixote's windmills. That was pretty sweet actually.

When we got to Toledo we settled into the hotel and ate our sandwiches, and then we all marched over to La Iglesia de Santo Tome to see a painting by El Greco. I continue to be fascinated by these opportunities I'm having to actually see the things that I learn about in class. I'm thinking this has got to be much better than taking Art as Experience at Taylor when all we'd get to do is look at pictures in books.

After the tour we had the rest of the evening to wander around. Toledo is much different from Sevilla because a) it is very (very, VERY) touristy, b) it is very hilly, and c) it was a little chilly. It was fun though to explore a new city, do some shopping, get lost in the crazy narrow streets, etc. We also tried some very yummy pastries.

Friday night/Saturday morning in the hotel were highlights for me because being in a hotel with a bunch of girls reminded me so very much of being back on First South. (Oh, girlies, I miss you sooooo much!) We were assigned rooms randomly, but my room was right across a little patio from Sarah's room, and we could cross between the rooms by climbing through the windows! Anyway, Friday night there were about 7 of us sitting around in the room playing silly little middle school slumber party games to find our "soulmates." It was ridiculous, but it was also a lot of fun. One of my very favorite parts of the whole trip was that Sarah and I discovered that we have the same toothbrush, and we use the same kind of toothpaste. We got to brush our teeth together Saturday morning, and that too reminded me of living in a dorm again. I really miss living in a dorm. We had breakfast in the hotel, and I had cereal for the first time in nearly 7 weeks! I love cereal!

The main event for Saturday was a tour of the Cathedral where we got to see another Greco painting. That too was neat, although in both churches we all felt kind of silly wearing our goofy headset things that helped us hear Carmen better. The somewhat discouraging thing though was that hearing Carmen talk about all these things just made me think of how much studying I need to before Thursday's test. Agh!

Saturday afternoon involved more wandering around, more shopping, more getting lost, more eating. It was a good day, and the weather was great. And then around 4 we left to come home. It was another long bus ride that felt like wasted time because we couldn't do any studying. But then we played goofy word games and such so it was as fun as a 6 hour bus ride can be I guess.

It was so weird to come "home" to Sevilla. In a way it was nice to be back in a comfortable place. But in a way it wasn't nice to have to come back to what has become "real life." It's such a weird feeling. I don't really know where I belong anymore. But the good thing is that Saturday night I had a dream and part of it was in Spanish. I've heard that you can tell someone's true language by either what language they dream in or what language they swear in. And since I don't swear...I guess I've got to count on dreams. (I've certainly got plenty of those!) In my dream I was in the library (that's pretty realistic), and I was talking to the library lady half in Spanish and half in English. So I guess I'm starting to feel at home here. Or something.

Yesterday wasn't a super day. I was feeling really overwhelmed because it just seems like I have so much to do this week. In church I was just feeling really worn down and totally lost...as far as my relationship with God. And I missed people so much. I felt so broken. But I think that brokenness can be a good thing. And as a song I love says, "If I wasn't drowning, I wouldn't need Him to save me." I do need Him to save me. And I seem to learn that more every day. At least...I hope I'm learning that more every day.

Yesterday afternoon Sarah and I studied art by the river. And then we went to Pans to get Intenet so I could work on my history presentation. That was okay except for the fact that Sarah's computer still hates her and so we were both just really frustrated. After supper I still had more to do, but Sarah and I decided that we needed a treat so we got gelato with Erin. That cheered me up a bit.

Oh, but the really ridiculous thing about last night? You may or may not remember my story about the time when Carmen rearranged the furniture in my room, and Erin and I thought we were going to be roommates. Well, every day we would come home from school expecting to see the beds moved, but nothing ever happened so we assumed that I had misunderstood her. Well, I guess I understood perfectly when she said "Otra cama aqui." Last night Carmen came in and told us that soon another bed will be moved into my room because her daughter and her daugter's husband are coming to stay in Erin's room. Oh my. When she left, Erin and I just cracked up! We were right all along! We will soon be roommates. We don't mind that. What we do mind is the fact that there will be other people in the house and we might have to share the bathroom. We haven't yet figured out if they are just coming for a visit (they live in Madrid), or if they are coming to stay. I'm sure it will be fine, but life is about to change quite drastically.

Um...finally. I think that is about it. Ugh. Life is ridiculous. That's not a bad thing. But it's a fact for sure. I'll appreciate prayer for this week's tests and such. I love you all and pray all is well!

La Giralda...and return to normal feelings

Lest you erroneously presume that all is sunshine and roses here in Spain and I'm so happy to be here that I'm never going to come back...you may now rest assured. I'm definitely coming home in May. Monday and Tuesday were awesome days. I was just in a super joyful mood. But yesterday...not so much. Yesterday was another one of those days when I was just sort of melancholy, and I really missed people. Especially people from Taylor. Yet somehow, the melancholity (that has got to be a word, right?) was sort of comforting. It felt normal and kind of comfortable. So I don't think it was a bad thing.

And there were good things yesterday. The best thing was that we went as an Art class to the Cathedral. Sarah and I had gone by ourselves a couple weeks ago, but it was so much better when we had Carmen (la profesora) to explain things to us. The building is huge and beautiful, and we got to see sweet things like King Ferdinand's flag and Christopher Columbus' remains. It was really great.

And the sweetest part of the whole thing? We got to go up La Giralda! For those of you who don't know, the Cathedral of Sevilla was built on top of a mosque. The only part that is left of the mosque is La Giralda, which is the tower that the guy would go in to call the Muslims to prayer. It's huge and beautiful. Instead of stairs it has ramps because back in the day they used to go up it using horses. I'm glad we didn't have to do that. Scoops was enough last semester. I don't plan to ride a horse again any time soon. But anyway, the tower was incredible. We could see the whole city, and it was beautiful. I really hope I get to go back again.

The good thing about today is that I received some very encouraging emails. And tomorrow we go to Toledo! I'm so excited about getting out of here for a while. And staying in a hotel. That will be fun. The thing I'm not looking forward to is exams next week. But I survived them once, I supposed I can do it again. Yep. I'm no longer gushing with joy. But I'm okay.

Helado en la Lluvia

I might be a bit crazy. Yesterday was a Monday. And it rained all day. And I loved yesterday for both reasons. Yesterday was a very good day. I am happy.

I suppose school wasn't that special yesterday. I was just glad to be back in the swing of things. And I was happy because it was Monday. Then right after lunch I went to the library. But on the way I decided to stop at McDonald's for a cheap ice cream cone. It was pouring rain, but I decided ice cream was a good way to celebrate a Monday. Eating an ice cream cone in the rain is an incredibly pleasant thing to do. I am of the opinion that everyone should do it at least once in their life. It's probably better if the rain is in Spain, but I suppose any old rain will do. The library wasn't quite as productive as I had hoped, but it was okay. Maybe I'll go back today!

I went to the nursing home again last night, and it was probably the best time so far. As I was walking there, I decided that I was going to be much more intentional about talking to people. And it worked! I had a pleasant conversation with a 91-year-old woman who warned me not to get sick when my feet are wet. And I also had a nice talk with some women who were sure I couldn't be older than 16. That really made me feel at home because some of the people at the Upland nursing home think I look like I'm 12. I guess this crazy time difference is good for one thing: it's helped me age 4 years!

It was so encouraging to be able to understand people more last night. I feel like I'm learning so much Spanish. There are still un monton (That's my new favorite Spanish word. It means "a whole ton" or "a bunch") of words I don't know...a lot of things I can't say, but I feel like I'm understanding more every day. That's a good thing. Sometimes in class I don't even realize that the professors are speaking in Spanish. I still have trouble understanding Carmen, though. Guess I can't have everything...

Another encouraging thing is the way that God provided a really good time at the convent last night. I feel like I'm learning to trust Him more. He is so good. I've been thinking back to last semester and all the times that I seriously considered not coming here. I'm so glad that Jesus didn't let me back out. This is not at all to say that things are perfect here. It's still hard. I still miss you all so much. So very very much. But I am glad to be here. God is good. And He is teaching me so much. I feel like last semester I had such a small view of life. I was so caught up in a lot of things that made life seem so small. But now I feel like God must have some sort of bigger plan. I don't know what it is. But He is good.

Alergias

I've figured out the problem. I'm allergic to weekend. There are a few things that can be used to treat this allergy: pizza, gelato, bus rides, the Echo, writing letters/postcards, Catch-22, and chocolate frosting. But the only real cure is a Monday. Yay! It's Monday!

It wasn't really a bad weekend. It's just that yet again, the weekend brought this tremendous flood of missing people. Yet still amidst all the homesickness, I still feel like I'm supposed to be here. And there were even several times this weekend when I was happy to be here. Yep. That's right. I'm happy to be here. That doesn't mean it's easy. But hopefully that means that I'm learning to trust Jesus just a little bit more.

Anyway, the plan for Friday was to eat in a pizzeria by Sarah's house and then go to a movie. But go figure, the pizza place was closed when we went at 7. (Because nobody here eats supper until around 9). So we hiked out to the movie theater instead, but when we couldn't agree on a movie, we just wandered around the mall. That was the time when I was feeling really allergic to the weekend. I just got in kind of this weird funk and missed people from home so much. But when we (Sarah, Erin, Chrissa, Kaitlyn, and I) finally came back and had pizza, that cheered me up. The pizza was AMAZING!!! Sarah and I shared a vegetable pizza. Yum! That definitely helped me feel better. Plus, it was just fun to eat out of the house with friends for once. I really miss that about Taylor...the whole eating together as a wing thing. And the whole getting to decide what you want to eat thing.

After pizza, Sarah and I went to get gelato. That also cheered me up greatly!!!! I love gelato! After that we didn't feel like going home. But we also didn't feel like going to a bar or a cafe. So we decided to hop on a bus. We jumped on the first bus that came...had no idea where it was going...it was great! We felt like we were going so fast (probably because it was the first time in weeks that we'd been in a moving vehicle), and it was so much fun! But then, we got out to the other end of the city (close to the movie theater) and the bus driver turned the lights off so we had to get out. And we walked back once again. It was really funny and lots of fun!

(Oh, also, Friday afternoon was really relaxing because I spent it sitting by the river, reading the Echo, and writing letters. How nice!)

Saturday was nothing special. I slept in which was good. And then I got really sad/irritated again when Sarah, Erin, Chrissa, and I went out to study. I just missed people again I guess. I was sad and exhausted and went to bed early that night.

Sunday was not bad. Erin and I met Sarah in the park before church to listen to a sermon in English. And then we went to church...the same one we've been to the past 2 weeks. That was really good because there was a guest speaker who was so easy to understand. I took a long nap after lunch and then I did some studying. Later I just had to get out of the house so I went for a walk and sat in the Puerta de Jerez to read Catch-22. That was relaxing. When I came back, we had supper which included cake with chocolate frosting leftover from the neighbor's birthday. Yum! That was the last thing that helped cheer me up. And now it is Monday so I am currently very happy!

Sorry that was very kind of haphazardly written. I just wanted to kind of spit everything up here. I always get really spastic with my computer time on Mondays because I haven't been online all weekend. And this weekend I hardly even saw my computer since Sarah was borrowing it because hers wasn't working. So hopefully this makes at least a little sense.

Things I am looking forward to: the library this afternoon, La Torre del Oro tomorrow, La Catedral on Wednesday, Toledo this weekend, and my family coming in less than 3 weeks!!!!! I miss you all. But I am glad to be here.