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!!!!!