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!