Tk

One of Tk and my's favorite bands is called needtobreathe. P.s. You need to buy their cd Outsiders. Oh, and you should listen to this before you read anymore: Something Beautiful. Just click on the link, and then hit the back button when you are finished.

I have been walking around with my iPod in my ears. Needtobreathe is the soundtrack to my walk. I talked to Tk the other day and told him that he needs to just listen to this entire cd and walk around Spain. This is why.

I was walking home. Something Beautiful was playing, and the volume was all the way up. Loud. I could just feel God. I was walking along the Aquaduct on the back side of the college. For some reason it was just so easy to worship. I couldn't help it. I started singing in English, outloud. By this time, I was pretty much on one of the main streets. People started to shoot glances my way. I didn't care. I just needed to worship. Needed to tell God that I need him to touch me. That this place was so amazing, and I knew that His presence was all around me. But these people all around me looked so sad. So cold. I have noticed that so many people here walk with their heads down. They don't say hey, they don't smile. Sometimes they do, but for the most part, I find them alone. I just want God to touch them. Something beautiful just needed to touch them. I kept singing. I felt so pure, so clean, so loved.
I wanted Tk to be there. Desperately, I wished that he could have been walking beside me. He would have enjoyed it. He would have loved to have been worshiping with me next to the Aquaduct.

Pieces of Information

People say "Jesús" instead of "God Bless You."

I made a B on my first paper.

There were fireworks last night. The finally was bigger than any show I have seen in America, and the colors were red, white, and blue. We were screaming "El Día de Independencía" and "4 de Julio" for a while.

My throat hurts, shhhhhhh!

My madre has a tendency to overreact. I figured this out the third day I was here. I woke up with a cough, stuff in my throat...my throat just hurt, bad. So, I told her. More than likely just to make a conversation. In America, my mom would say gargle with warm salt water, go to bed early, and get over it. In Spain, my Madre plays nurse. First, she instantly makes me eat. She thinks I need to have food in my stomach for the medicine she basically shoves down my throat. She honestly sat on my bed next to me, persuading me to take it. She would not leave until I agreed. Believe me, I tried...she is, to say the least, persistent. Next, she will not let me have anything cold. Nothing. No icecream, no salad, no cold water. Nothing. It is part of the past history/culture/beliefs that cold things make throats worse. She about dragged me, physically, to the doctor. I finally acted out my American stubbornness...NO. I will NOT go to the doctor. 1. Not because of a sore throat. 2. Not in another country. 3. You are overreacting. It doesn't matter what I say, she knows I am sick, and I will catch a disease and die if I don't go. Regardless, I refuse.

My cough, my voice, and my throat have not gotten any better over the past 4 days. It actually is really hurting worse. Do I tell her this? OF COURSE NOT! Every day, no, every 4 hours, she walks into my room and asks me how my throat is feeling. My response, with a very large Georgia smile, "Much better, thank you." She then probes "Medi (She can't pronounce Mary all the way.)? Are you suuuuuuure?"
I reply "Yes, Madre, it has improved! I am feeling great." She shoots me a look, talks very quickly under her breathe and walks about. Four hours later, ""Medi?"
"Yes, Madre, it's fine." Padre gets home. Now, she is getting him involved. He looks at me "Medi? Your throat? How is it?"
I reply "It's good. Thanks for asking. So, what's for dinner?"

Dinner. She sets a glass down in front of me, goes to hand me water, but pulls it back just as I go to grab it..."Medi, you cannot have cold water. Only room temperature water. You have a sore throat. You cannot not have it." Crap. Why did I ever say anything!! This continues. Over and over. Day after day. It's hard to lie about feeling well when you cough all night long. Especially when she tells you the next day she was ease-dropping outside my room to see if she could hear me coughing. Yep, that's a cough. She STILL can't have cold water. Crap.

Today, lunch. My brother, Juaquin comes to join us. Madre and Padre are in the kitchen. I sit at the table with him alone. He looks over at me, and what do you think the first words out of his mouth are? Yep. I just put my finger to my mouth and as quietly and forcefully as I could possibly try, I whispered "Shhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!"

He just laughed.

Stupid American Part 2

Last night I was about to go out with some friends. It is polite to say goodbye to everyone in the house before you leave, so I was trying to do that. It gets a little old saying all the same things so I tried to spice it up a little. What I was trying to do was explain that "everyday there are so many exciting things to do in your country". I'm pretty sure what I actually said was something along the lines of "You country is excited all days." I feel like the foreigner that comes to America, works in a phone store, and can't actually produce a full sentence in English. I may be hopeless.

I walked in the kitchen after dinner. Madre was washing dishes. She normally complains that I don't eat enough (how she can say that I have no idea, I'm pretty sure I get laughed at at home for how much I can throw back). She also always leaves fruit on the counter in a bowl so I can just eat it when I want to. Apparently I don't do it quite enough. So, after dinner, I walk into the kitchen. I throw my trash away, hand her my plate, and reach for a cherry. Wrong. She gasps, makes a very, ''not nice'' face and is completely grossed out/shocked. What? The cherries weren't washed. I may now have some serious, life-threatening disease; so she believes. But don't worry, us Americans are invincible.

This is one of my favorites, probably having to do with the fact that for once, it is not about me. My friend Christy, is a very pretty girl.



She is single and ready to mingle. Well, not so much mingle as ready to learn a language and fully immerse herself in the culture. But like I said, ''learn the language," meaning, she struggles just as much as I do trying to understand her family. So, one day, Christy and her madre were talking, and her madre brings up some guy. She canNOT stop talking about this guy. He is so so so guapo (handsome) and so sweet and oh gosh just so wonderful. She can't get over it. She continues to tell Christy all about him and how he is trying to learn English, and she wants her to meet him...just...just to help him with his English, of course. Christy has been telling us about this for days. She is getting kinda nervous. The more her madre talks about this guy, the more it seems like she is trying to set her up on a date...Christy freaks. She does NOT want to do this. Finally, after some good persuasion and realizing that maybe this could just be some fun thing for her to do, she meets him. The day went awesome for her. The only problem...he is one years old. Maybe there was some miscommunication?

Start of the Second Week

I am so tired. We walked a lot of Segovia. We found the crosses on the hill that we could see from the city. We took pictures. Long day. Too much Spanish. Oh, and I bought a purse and shampoo. Tomorrow is the day of Fiestas and Festivales. We might go to the fair on Wednesday night. Thursday is when all the sales are. We have waited to buy clothes til then.

Heidi and I booked flights to France. :) The weekend of the 23rd. Tomorrow is an excursion to Salamana and Ávila. They are within an hour of Segovia. We are meeting early at 8:15 in the morning at La Loba next to the Aquaducto. As for now, I need to get to reading my Bible. I need to catch up.

Sunday

I'm sitting here. Writing about my day and uploading photos from the river. My iPod starts to play Chris Tomlin's How Great is Our God. As the pictures roll past me on the page, my heart is overwhelmed. This God, my God made this. Gave me this. Gave US this. This planet, this earth, these trails, this river. He gave them to us. He made them for us. And we get to share in its beauty. Sometimes I let myself get carried away in experiencing fun, new things and just forget that God gave me this trip. This opportunity. This land of people so amazing, buildings so old, and culture so decorated. My God is so good. How great is my God.

I guess some people just don't go to church. In my family in the States, we go every Sunday. Here, it's not such a big deal. But I woke up. My madre went with me, but my Padre didn't. Fuen told me last night that she was baptized Catholic, but she doesn't practice anymore. Of course, we were late. Madre's sister came over and sat with us. All I remember is stand up sit down fight fight fight. haha No. There were no fights. But the only thing I could understand was the Lord's prayer. That is one of my goals before I leave here...I want to memorize it in Spanish.

There were boys sitting a few row ahead and to the right of us. They were probably about 10 and 12. All I could see was Joe and T.K. I wanted to laugh. The younger one, the one that reminded me of Joe, could not sit still. He just couldn't do it. I was trying to hard not to laugh. Ope! Stand up. Sit down. I looked at him again. This time the ladies were walking around taking offering...I guess he didn't think that the woman would see him standing there lifting his arm and waving his money, so he decided that it would be easier for her (by the way standing only five feet away) to see him if he stood in the aisle. So he did. I guess she thought he was annoying, because she ignored him and went to the row beside him. I though he was gonna freak out. This little boy WANTED to give her his money. He then preceded to chase her into the aisle behind him...she wouldn't let him drop his money in until she walked back to the row he normally sat in.

I have realized a few things since I have been here. People laugh in the same language. My system has been regulated. I have a LOT of boogers. The water in the river here is COLD! Gypsys are not pretty. People all over the world smoke pot. It should be legal for 18 year olds to drink in the States.

I met my entire family today: aunts, uncles, cousins, my remaining brother, grandmother, nieces, etc. They were awesome. Nacho, Sara's husband, is really nice. He and my brother Joaquin really talked to me a lot. It's funny because they know a little bit of English, but they are really afraid to say things. I have to pry it out of them.

I tried to teach my Madre how to speak English today. AHAHAHAH. Can you say that was fun. We just laughed and laughed and laughed. I almost forgot that she doesn't speak English. I got excited and starting talking in English really fast; I about gave her a heart attack. Again, neither of us could stop laughing!



Went to the river. Amazing.

Standing outside of a church.

Chris got in from work really late last night, so I waited up til 4 in the morning to talk to him. We talked until some time after 5 a.m. I must have been exhausted. So, this morning when I woke up..I was just laid out in my bed. My Madre came to the door and knocked. I can still hear her voice ringing in my head, I leaned over and looked to the door as she peaks her head in and says in her soft, Spanish and playful tone, "?Mari? ?Tú sabes que hora es?" Her sarcasm gets me every time. I looked at my watch...yes. I did know what time it was. 1:30 IN THE AFTERNOON!?! Holy cow. Maybe I should not stay up so late. She preceded to tell me that she knew I was up late. She knew it was because of my boyfriend. And she thinks it is funny that I am so in love. She just laughed and walked out of the room. I am starting to think I am solely here for her comic relief. lol

We went to lunch after we both showered. Oh, and I met Sara's husband, Nacho. He was sooooo cute, but soooooo short. He looks like a good match for her. They are really happy.
When we were at the restaurant, just like every other day, in walks two Spanish/maybe American looking guys around my age. Maybe a little older. I heard them saying things in Spanish, but that accent was AMERICAN! They were having trouble ordering so I asked them if they spoke any English. Instantly we became friends. I told them what was good, helped them order, and then we talked for the next hour while we ate and discussed Spain. They are traveling Europe and this is one of their first few stops. They mentioned having to catch the train around 9 tonight, and it was only around 4:30 p.m. when we finished eating dinner, so I invited them to come with me and meet up with my friends. They ended up staying with us for a good bit. We just walked around Segovia. It started to pour raining so we ran to our favorite bar/restaurant and hid out for a few hours. We ordered some drinks and cake and just had a really good time. They are from Arizona. Carey just graduated from the University of Arizona and his younger brother Chrisman is going to be a junior. They seemed to really enjoy our company. They think that they might be traveling around in Italy and France about the same time we are going to be. We are going to stay in touch via facebook and see if we can meet up over there. It is crazy how much just a simple home country can unite people. We didn't even know them, but they are American, so now they are our friends.

After the boys left us to head to the train station, Derrick, Christy, and I decided that it was too early to go inside. We wanted to walk around more. We normally take all of the same roads to get to everywhere, but tonight for some reason we wanted to explore the back streets and corridors. We walked for a good bit and randomly decided to stop in front of this church. We looked to the top of it and there was a bell tower that we all wanted to climb. We looked at the door, but there was a sign that stated that it was closed until July 19. Man! We were bummed. So we just stood around leaning on the side of it, and I sat on the sidewalk with my back to it.

We just talked. Enjoyed the chilled air. All of a sudden these old women came up to us. They started to talk to us in Castillano. Remember, we speak only Spanish, not the local dialects. We were not doing so well at figuring out what in the world they were trying to tell us. Next, from around the corner an short, old man walked towards the church with an enormous iron key. He began to speak to us in Spanish, and we definitely understood what he was saying to us. He wanted us to come inside...WHAT!!! You have got to be kidding me. This sweet old man. Came out of nowhere. He turned the key in the large wooden doors and let us into this temple. I cannot recall a time where I have felt more overwhelmed by feelings of Tom and Huck in my life. This was so adventurous. The moment we walked into the door, I had goosebumps. I could feel my God moving. The only reason we were standing where we were was because our God loves to share in our joy. Derrick, Christy and I were freaking out with excitement. He began to show us around this small church. It was incredible. Some of the artwork and ceilings were from the 12th and 18th century. This place was old. We wouldn't get to the bell tower which was kind of a let down, but this man, Quirico, just let us enjoy ourselves.

Derrick was in the back of the church sitting in the pews talking with the older women. I noticed he had something in his hands that wasn't there before. When we finished, Quirico walked us out and locked up behind us. Christy asked if we could get a picture with him, so we got one in front of it. The name of the church is Iglesia de San Sebastian. Quirico walks one way, we walk the other. Probably one of the most amazing moments in my life, and then Derrick shows us the bag. Helena, one of the older women, gave him bread for us to share. Three pieces. One for each of us. God must have known we were going to be meeting up with her so she would have had the right amount of bread. The bread was sweet with sugar, and it tasted of licorice. Our hearts were full, and the only thing we could do was laugh.

Warning!!

Someone please explain to me how this could happen:

Last night while I was waiting to get a skype call from Chris on my computer, I fell asleep. The computer was next to me on the bed. I woke up because my arm was hurting. I feel my arm and there is a welt on it. I turn it around to see a huge burn across my arm. My computer burnt me.

Important information if traveling abroad:

Some doorknobs are in the middle of the door.
Keys do not always work very well. It might take you four or five minutes to open your door. Therefore, do not run home with a murderer chasing you hoping that you can get into your house quickly. You cannot.
The tank to the toilets are above your head.

Stupid American

Let's just go ahead and start the list:

1. My Madre does not want dirt tracked into her house and does not want us walking in her house barefoot. She gives me house slippers to wear at all times. I accidentally wear them out in public...she no longer allows me to wear them inside the house, so she had to go out and buy me new ones. Cool. I already feel dumb. Let's make it worse. It rained today. I come home wet. Hair wet. Clothes wet. Feet wet. So? I take my shoes off. I walk into the house barefoot, and I go to the living room to finish watching the game (P.s. Chile v. Spain - Spain WON 2-1). She instantly gives me a "what-about-wear-your-house-slippers-do-you-not-get?" look. Crap.

2. I guess our customs are just really different than theirs'. I get home from school and place my backpack on my bed. I sit down to do something on my computer. She walks in to ask "?Qué tal?" She sees my backpack on the bed, grabs it, and then very politely explains to me that, no, bookbags do not belong on beds. Crap. Crap.

3. The first day I was here, my Madre asked me before I went to bed what time I wanted to wake up. We agreed on a time, and the next morning she woke me up. The next day came, and we did the same. She asked me what time I wanted to wake up, and the next morning she woke me up. Apparently, two days of a routine does not mean that the third day will go the same. Yesterday, my Madre asked me when I wanted to be woken up. I replied with an answer. This morning rolls around....and no Madre. I woke up - God only knows how - to look at my watch that reads 15 minutes til class starts. My walk to school is 17 minutes long...Crap. Crap. Crap!
Now, I was feeling pretty badly for my Madre, because I could only imagine how bad she was going to feel when she realized she had forgotten to wake me up this morning..the key word in that sentence is "was." I get back, expecting an apology (I had prepared all morning my response to her apology so I was grammatically correct.) but no. All I get was "María, what happened this morning?" (In spanish.) At lunch, later in the day, my Padre asks the same thing. He just laughs. I am guessing they are thinking this was my fault???
All I know is that on Monday, I am setting my OWN alarm.

4. Gestures are different, too. The way you greet people is different. I know this. In Spain, it is customary to kiss on the cheek twice. Left first. Then Right. Today, (I guess today I was just off.) Fuen and I went to the store to buy food for the family. Just us girls, simple little walk, fun. We run into her very respectable looking cousin. Handsome. Successful. Spanish. She introduces me. And I guess the American in me just couldn't help but come out. I went to shake his hand :/ but he came in for the kiss (a greeting kiss not a romantic kiss). You could imagine this. He leaned in, I lifted my hand, he stared at my hand, I stared at his kissy face, he leaned back, I leaned in, he looks stares back. CRAP!

5. Like I said earlier, Fuen and I went to the grocery store. Everything in that place is different...no...OPPOSITE of the States. Finally, we finish getting all of our groceries with the exception of the fruit. We walk to the fruit. We look at the fruit. Everything is fine. We discuss the fruit. We are still fine. Fuen picks up a plastic glove and puts it on her hand. She explains to me that they are not supposed to touch the fruit with our bare hands because of germs. She then begins to feel, pick up, and put fruit into our basket with the gloved hand...I look at the fruit she is choosing. Man, does the fruit above these suckers look cool. I picked one up and smelled it. Oh. my. gosh. AMAZING!! The shape was so weird. It felt like a peach but looked like a UFO. I was in fruit bliss until....Fuen freaked out! ""MARÍA NOOOOOO!!!" Not fine anymore.
Remember that time she told me not to touch the fruit and then ten seconds later I did? Stupid American.

Songs and ''How are you's''

Life lesson/reflection of the day: Be appreciative of the simple.

Let me explain. I wake up. Madre asks "Qué tal?" - This means what's up, or how are you?, or things of the sort. I go to class. I come home from class. Madre asks "Qué tal?"
I go out shopping. I come back from shopping. Madre asks "Qué tal?" I shower. Madre asks "Qué tal?" I leave for the night's fiestas. I come back. Madre asks "Qué tal?" I always assumed she was just seeing what her little American girl has been doing. As though she was supposed to obtain information to report back. Wrong.
Fuen gets home from work. Madre asks "Qué tal?"
I am not the only one Madre asks this question to? Nope. She asks Fuen. Madre actually cares about what we did that day. She wants to know what we bought. What we ate. Was it good? Where did you go? Were your classes good? How are your friends?
It's strange, because at first, I was getting overwhelmed with her questions. Thinking that I needed a new sentence formation and that she expected the grammatically correct phrase instantly, but each time she asked "Qué tal?" she really just wanted to know how I was doing. Genuine.

Songs: I got in the shower later today. After classes and shopping. The radio was on. And my Madre was sitting in the kitchen cleaning leather shoes with leather soap and singing. The kitchen is right next to the bathroom, and the walls are paper thin. So, while showering, I hear the radio get louder. Shakira came on.
Madre sings. It made me happy. Maybe that's weird. But the though of my mom (not the real one, but the presence of a mother) singing just lit up the house.Even if it was in Spanish. Maybe that doesn't seem like an eventful happening, but to me, I can't get it out of my head.

What in the world does she think of me!?

So..my madre. She is great. We get along well...but...maybe a little too much honesty?

First incidence - I woke up late. I got to school late. Therefore, I did not shower. I braided my hair. So, I asked..."Madre, does this look okay?" (In Spanish of course.)
Her response..."Üm. Not very good. But...not too bad?" Yep. That's right. I was officially not attractive and my older Spanish mother even knows enough to tell me so. Yeah...not such a great start to my day. haha

Second incidence - We are walking home from lunch from our restaurant. Madre wants to stop by the local fruit store that is right below us next to the dress shop. So, Madre, Fuen, and I all walk in. There is a nice young man at the counter. Madre and he talk about what to buy. Fuen and I talk about the differences in Spanish and English names for fruits. Nice young man hears us speaking. Nice young man asks "You speak Spanish?" (Again, of course in Spanish.) My super, splendid, and ever-so-blunt Madre responds..."HA! No." Seriously? Madre. For real? "No"?
I am stinkin in SPAIN! Living in your house and still ALIVE!!!!! I'm sure I know some Spanish... :(
Good ole Fuen backs me up. We both shout back "No? Sí! Yo hablo Espanol!!" "No? Sí! Ella habla Espanol!!" (You can get the gist of it.)

At least Fuen thinks I can. :( haha. I guess my madre just thinks our laughing conversations are insignificant...haha. Oh well. I guess I need to tell my Spanish 4000 level professors that I no longer speak Spanish.

(p.s. still love my Madre.)

Fire Jumping

People used to get the town together and jump over fire. It's tradition. Too bad they don't let us do it now. :(
Because of the summer fiestas (parties) that have been going on, we have been going out every night to see what is going on in this town.

Last night was Las Hogueras de San Juan. Thousands of Spaniards (and us) gathered around this barricated fire pit. HUGE! Probably as big as my Jeep, if not bigger. We thought people were going to jump it, but nobody ended up being allowed to. : ( Sad day. That could have been funny...or sad?
But what we did do was also part of their tradition. At the Hoguera, you are supposed to write down a wishes and regrets on separate pieces of paper. Then you can either throw it in the fire yourself, or you can hand it to the firemen, and they will do it for you. So, we did. But I had no regrets. At least none that were worth my effort in acknowleding, so I just wrote my wish on un papel and gave it to the nice man.

We had a blast.

P.s. It is crazy how much Espanoles (Spanish people) dance. They are always dancing. Little girls with their daddies. Little boys acting cool. College students with each other. Even the older generation. Young and old alike just dance to music in the streets. They have such a good time. The people are always out on the street! Which reminds me, today was the first day of classes :/ lol but something my culture and civ teacher taught us what that "En Espana, la vida está en la calle." (In Spain, life is in the street.) It is so true. People are just outside all day long. And the weather is PERFECT! Cooler at night. Nice during the day. And their clothes are the best by the way. Anyhow, yeah. Life is in the street. People just hang out in the streets. It's so easy for them to do because the buildings are so close to the roads and the stores are all connected. There is always something to buy or eat...

Catedral y Castillo (Cathedral and Castle)

Today, my madre walked me to school. We were one minute late. :) Oh, and she made me breakfast: cookies, nesquick, two muffins, and fruit. Not bad if you ask me. I took a shower, which was super tiny, and I had a hard time keeping the temperature right. Oh, yeah. And I blew the fuse already. BUT I WAS USING A CONVERTER! Oh well. I will just use theirs from now on, or maybe buy one.

We didn't have class. We went on a field trip.

First, La Catedral. HOLY STINKIN COW. Let's talk about take your breath away. And, yes, pictures do not do it justice, but here we go anyway...


After this stinkin awesome place, we got to go home. On our way home, a few us stopped and got some treat and water. Then window shopped. Finally, we saw six others from our group eating and having a drink. We sat with them. Had some sangría and pan (bread).

I went back to mi casa to upload more photos, but then my madre decided to take me to OUR RESTAURANT!! haha I love it.
P.s. When we got back from eating, she had fruit on the counter and put some in a napkin for me to take back to my room, so I wouldn't get hungry. haha This is the place for me!

This is mi Madre y mi Padre. :)

Pictures of the Streets and My Room!

MY BED. IT IS REALLY COMFORTABLE TO SLEEP ON.

MY NIGHT STAND BESIDE THE BED. THERE IS A PICTURE OF MY AND CHRIS ON IT. MAKES IS LIKE HOME.MY DESK. IT SITS JUST IN FRONT OF MY WINDOW, WHICH LOOKS DOWN ONTO THE STREET!!

LOOKING OUT OF MY WINDOW AND TO THE RIGHT. SOME SMALL CAFÉS.


THIS IS THE VIEW OF THE STREETS (LAS CALLES). THE ENTIRE TOWN IS CORRIDORS. I FEEL LIKE I AM IN HARRY POTTER. :)

First Day in Spain!

So we finally got here. Wow. I don't even know where to start.
So...let's start with the plane ride.

Atlanta, USA to Frankfurt, Germany. I sat on the window seat with a very nice old man. His name is Alexander. He is from Russia and is 67 years old. For the most part, we didn't talk. But we TOUCHED. haha. He would fall asleep, then I would fall asleep. I would wake up and accidentally kick his leg. He would fall asleep and accidentally hit my elbow. This went on for the entire 9 hour plane ride. It was funny. He is a retired man who has been in the States for some 20 or more years...no, has to be longer than that. But regardless...he was on his way back to Russia. He has a house there and in the States. He is retired, so he just gets to do what he wants. lol I enjoyed my ride with him. He even remembered my name when he said goodbye to me.
P.s. They do NOT id. Some of the kids in our group were a "little" tipsy on the flight to Germany. haha. Not to mention, they serve unlimited alcohol on the flight. You do not have to show id, you do not have to pay, and you can get whatever you want. Weird. Definitely not America.

Second flight from Frankfurt, Germany to Madrid, Spain. I had the last seat in the entire plane. Nobody sat directly next to me, but in the third seat of my tiny row a girl named Stephanie sat there. She is from an all-girls high school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was great. She is 16 years old. We talked a good bit. She was really nervous about driving a car. Apparently you cannot get your permit until you are 16 in Philly, then you have to have it for six months before you can get your license. Glad im in GA. That flight was only two hours, but they fed us again!!!

When we arrived we didn't have to go through Customs. That was weird too. I have never not had to do that. Yes I know, double negative. Whatever. We instantly got on a bus. The drive from Madrid to Segovia was about an hour and 15 minutes. Not bad. Once we got to the bus station...our parents were lined up!! It was crazy!!! I have never felt so nervous in my LIFE!! Imagine...you and your 34 not-closest friends all standing around with three bags of luggage each, trying to see which set of parents belonged to them. I couldn't decide if I felt like an orphan standing at the orphange gates praying that God would make one of them take me, or if I felt more like I was standing in a kickball line praying I didn't get picked last.

Finally...Felisa walks up to me. And let me be the first to tell you, she speaks ZERO English. ZEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. You could imagine our first conversation. A lot of head nodding and "mmm hmmm"ing to things I had NO idea about. lol Filisa is probably in her early to mid 60's. She lives with her husband Joaquin. I only met him once, and only briefly. She has three or four children. I can't figure it out. They are all in there thirties but only one of them, Sara, is married. And only recently. Nobody had babies yet. haha I met Sara, she is really pretty. Then after I came back from meeting with my group, I met Fuen. She was way cool. She set up my internet for me in my room, which we will get to in a second.

Just before she set up my internet, I walked into the kitchen to bring Felisa some gifts I brought her from the US. I brought her mostly candy from the check out aisle at Walmart. My professor Suazo said that it is customary to bring them gifts. And they often wonder what our candies and things are like. So I brought her one of every kind. Every kind!! She was blown away. Then I tried to explain to her what they were and what was in each of the candies. That was funny. This is the first time I actually felt relief and my extreme anxiety went away. Before this, I had been FREAKING OUT. On the inside. But nonetheless really really not okay.

To be honest, as soon as my madre walked me home to our new casa, I was alone. I started to freak out. The language barrier was too much. I new that I should be understanding what she was saying, but I just could not get it. We now speak to each other in third-grade level Spanish. But at least it works. So, I started to tell her what was in each candy and we just kept laughing. She keeps calling herself fat and that she should not be eating all that candy. But then she laughs. Oh well. I also brought her some Splenda, decaffeinated hot tea pouches, and ChrystalLight packets. She LOVED those. That was a great idea...(Thanks Momma for letting me take those, even though you don't know that I did...lol)

Okay, so...the last thing for tonight. Mi Casa. Or for those of you who do not speak Spanish, my house. We live next door to the frutería. Which is the fruit store. Everything in Segovia is in corridors. The people live in apartments above the stores. The walls go up about five or six stories. I live on the Fourth Floor on the left. 4 Izquierda. We live on Roble Street. It's pretty cool. I am getting good with street names and I have not even been here 24 hours. Anyway, I will post pictures so you can understand. I have my own bedroom: two beds, a dresser, piano, desk, and night stand. It's AWESOME! I even have my own bathroom. It rocks too. I will post the bathroom pictures tomorrow. I can't describe it. So you will have to see it. Anyway, I have everything to myself. It really is like I am there child.

Felisa is waking me up tomorrow at 8:30 a.m so that I can get ready for school. She will walk me to class twenty minutes before 10. We have an excursión tomorrow. Classes start thursday. Im actually pretty excited about those too. Hopefully it will help me with my really not so good Spanish that I thought I knew so well.

Keep me in your prayers, and keep up with me on here. I want to tell you guys all about it. This is really a life-changing experience.

I leave tomorrow.

I just got back from Florida. It was AWESOME!!!

I leave for Spain tomorrow...so excited. But, I will have to say, I am getting pretty sad about leaving my Chris. I think my heart will not handle this very well. Six weeks is a long time to be away from him.

I still have not packed. :( But at least my mom already washed my clothes for me, so that is a little less "packing" that I will have to do...now it's just a matter of getting everything together.

Leaving for the airport around 1ish tomorrow. Flight is around 5:40 p.m.

Cocoa Beach, Florida

Today we are leaving for Cocoa Beach!

I have a lunch date with Kelly and Caitlin at 11:30 or 12. Then Cait and I are hanging out for a good while.

Chris and Jake will be here around 4 (maybe lol) to pick me up. We are headed down tonight. Kristina (and maybe Nathan) will leave from Valdosta tomorrow evening and meet us down there. On Friday night we are staying the night at Chris's family's house and then waking up SUPER early to go deep sea fishing on their boat all day.

We are gonna have a blast! And vacation is much needed for the boys. We are headed back home Sunday morning so I can pack for Spain the following day. My summer has been jammed pack.

I'm gonna miss my dog :(

CRAZY SUMMER HERE I COME!