Pictures of you...

wow, it's been a good long time since I've posted, hasn't it? Sorry. I tried last weekend in a coffee shop, but the internet there kicked me off and lost everything I'd written, so I got discouraged. haha.

So, for this post, I'm thinking I'll give you a quick life update, then do some pictures with explanations attached to them. That way, if you just want pictures, you can scroll right on down and ignore the words. :) Otherwise, enjoy the stories!

Life right now.... is pretty great. I went through a bit of a homesick spell, but I'm pretty sure it's because everything was simply unfamiliar. I miss my family, friends, home, knowing I can fix my own food when I don't like what there is to eat, etc. haha. But I'm over it.

My host mom: Maria (like most of our host moms' names). She is an artist. She actually does shows. I'll put up a picture or two of her stuff. She's EXTREMELY absent minded. haha. She's always asking "what's missing" at the dinner table, and it's usually an entire place setting... or three.... or just the plates missing. I love it. She tends to talk too fast for me to catch most of what she says, but she's getting a bit better at slowing down. Usually it's ok if I don't hear everything, though. She tends to ramble. haha. however, when I'm listening to her husband, she never fails to just start talking right over him and expects us to listen to her. He's very patient.

My host dad: Enrique. I love him to death. He is honestly what kept me sane those first few days when I was homesick. He is very attentive, speaking slow enough for me to understand, checking for comprehension, finding other ways to describe new words, etc. He's very kind. They are both grandparent age for me, for thier children are grown and have kids of their own. He owns his own winery, so he goes to work... but he can take time off whenever he wants. haha. I tried their wine, but it's still wine, so I hated it... :/ but my roommate loves it! He tried explaining the process of his wine making once. I caught a lot, but it was a bit complicated. I think he's going to let us go their one day, though. :D

As for me, I'm pretty good. My legs don't hurt anymore when I walk places (feet, depends on if I have to walk more than 45 minutes...). I wore a hole in my first pair of jeans, but they were already pretty worn. I'll have to hit the mall soon. I take the bus to church (well, I walk 30 minutes to the bus stop first). The pastor is from L.A., originally from Mexico, so I can understand his accent!! I love it. It's a little youth-service-like, but that's because there are very few old protestant believers. Almost every church is catering to new believers. Any Christianity other than Catholicism is often considered a cult here, but people are not eager to talk about their beliefs and practices here. Most would consider themselves Catholics, but very few are practicing.

I'm also leading a prayer group for the students in the program. I'm excited for that. We should be meeting for the first time this coming week. I'm on one of the praise teams, too. Every wednesday night, we have a service where we sing 4 songs and then have a message, so far delivered by our spiritual life coordinator (or whatever her title is), Katie Wiggins; picture to come. All in all, I'm doing pretty well. Classes are great. I love, and can understand, my professors. My roommate and I get along well. It's going to be a good few months. :)

And now, for the promised photomania. Love you!!

Well, I can't see the pictures that I've "uploaded" onto here. let's hope they work. Otherwise, you can find pictures on facebook soon! :D (these will be included, if you want the stories behind any of them)

Love you guys!! Until next time....

Let's paint the town red

"As in geology, so in social institutions, we may discover the causes of all past changes in the present invariable order of society." ~Henry David Thoreau

So, I'm starting this blog at 2:00am. Wanna know why?

Well I'm going to tell you anyway. :)

Tonight was our first real night out on the town. Most of us went out, just in small groups. My group had around 8 or 9 people (1 guy) initially. Before I go on, let me explain the accepted culture here. In Spain, THE thing to do is go out with friends for drinks and tapas. Tapas are just like apetizers. Often, the younger crowd (yes, us) goes to a discoteca afterwards (a dance club). Tonight we didn't, but that's mostly because we have no idea where they are. hahaha.

Instead, we went to a bar called "Chile." Almost all of us tried a different drink, mine being the "cuervo pasion." It was tangy, but good. The wine here is cheap, so I tried a sip of a friends... yeah, I still hate wine. This bar was awesome. It was very relaxed with plenty of space. We sat on the outer covered deck, so it was nice. As we were waiting for our drinks, though, this spanish man decides to mosey on over and start talking to us. He asked us where we were from. When he heard that we were from the US, he actually spoke a bit of English with us. He was very much hitting on some of our girls, offering his drink and everything. DON'T WORRY, we declined. We're not about to drink somebody else's beverage with who knows what in it. But it was a funny highlight of our night. Later, he was trying to get with all the ladies in the bar... tsk tsk. He should have just gone home. You know it's bad when you strike out with the Americans.

Anyway, after our first drink, we decided to walk around and try a different bar so we can see what's available. We walked for probably 45 minutes to an hour and the group just kept going! Then half split off to go home and the remaining four of us went to the Phoenix Pub. We saw another group of students from the program there so we joined them. We had the house special, the mojito, which I must say was pretty tastey. This bar was far more packed and loud. *interesting note: all the bars play american music. Most people here actually listent to american music. However, it's usually a decade or so behind us. haha. Walking home, we heard eminem blasting from a car. If I recognized it, it's old. haha.* Anyway, we stayed and chatted for a while, then I knew I'd be tired tomorrow, so I left a little after midnight. All in all, it was a fun night with a fun group of girls. I really do feel as though my feet might fall off, though...

GENERAL SPANISH LIFE DETAILS
Just FYI, I thought I'd share some fun tidbits about what I'm learning about the culture here. :)

As I said in the last post, Sevilla is much like any other big city with it's huge buildings, busy streets full of crazy drivers, and tons of walking. However, since drinking is such and accepted and traditional way of life here, there are bars on EVERY corner and some in between. And they're always serving somebody, even in the middle of the day, because people grab beers and tapas then (not me, I have class. haha). It's interesting to watch people socialize.

Also, spaniards are very blunt. They have no qualms about blatently staring at you as you walk down the street. Along with that, they are honest. If you go get your hair cut, you may come home to your senora and she'll say, "I liked your hair better before." or if your of a larger size, she might say, "estas gordita, no?" (you're a bit fatter, no?). to them though, that's not rude. It is honestly their way of saying that I care enough about you to notice you. It's simply how they express themselves. Also, when you walk down the street, nobody smiles at you because that's their way of investing, with a smile. They don't invest in relationships with people they don't know. But when you know them, they're very loving.

As my final little tid bit (for this post), I'll talk about the acceptance of PDA. Apparently most Spaniards know each other most of their life. They grow up in the same neighborhood, get married and move a few blocks away, then they raise their kids in the same neighborhood. It is not customary for kids to have friends over, especially of the opposite sex. They also will live with their parents until after college and after they get a job that they can support themselves with (which can be hard). This often takes until about the age of 28. They also refuse to get married until they can support the family in their own home, around that age. Thus, without being able to invite their significant others over and never having a place of their own to go, like a dorm room, there is nowhere for young people to be... we'll call it close. Thus, it is widely accepted for people to be very intimate in public, like in parks, on sidewalks, on the bridge you're crossing.... (yeah, got to see that today).

Well, I have to get up in six hours in order to walk around the city for hours again.... so I'd best get some sleep. More to come later. Don't worry, they'll get shorter. I just feel like I have so much to share right now!

!Chau!

"A journey is like a marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it." ~John Steinbeck

Welcome to my first ever blog!!

I hope this everything is in English on your end. It's all automatically in Spanish for me. Let me know!

This is my first blog, so it's going to be a long one. :) Stick with me if you will. I'll divide it into sections.

THE FLIGHT
I flew by myself the first leg of the journey. That's where I started to feel nervous... I was mostly scared that I would miss something, you know, like a flight connection. ;)
I had a super long layover in Chicago, so I hung out in the airport by myself. SUPER fun, let me tell you. However, I did meet a couple flying from D.C. to China for the woman's son's wedding. (follow that?) They were hilarious. The man was making bomb jokes and talking about when he almost flew with bullets in his pocket like it was no big deal! I hope he makes it!
The second couple I met was an elderly couple using the man's miles for a vacation to Hawii. They were cute. She was appalled that they don't teach cursive in the schools anymore.
I also found out they don't have free wi-fi in that airport.... super. But I found my group and all was well

After we made it to Madrid, we had another long layover (6 hours, I think). This one was much better becasue I could play nertz and mafia with the group members. However, I accidentally packed my chapstick in my suitcase, so I went to buy one in the airport. Now, keep in mind this airport is not like ours! Where we sell nick-nacks (key chains, t-shirts, etc), Madrid sells diamond necklaces, Gucci products, etc in their airport.... yeah. So, when I finally found a simple chapstick.... it was the most expensive chapstick in my life. It cost 7 Euros! Which is roughly $9... and I still prefer Burts Bees. :) Ah well.

Once we arrived in Sevilla, we got our luggage and got on a bus to our host families!! well, I got my luggage, but my roommate's was lost until today. :/

FIRST SPANISH ENCOUNTER
Well, I should mention that the first experience was on the airplane. The stewardess asked me if I wanted chicken or beef in Spanish, looked up, saw me and immediately switched to English without giving me time to answer. I must scream American. :)

The second was at the Sevilla airport. The bag checker asked me "Hablas Espanol?" and I copped out, responding "Enlish..." hahaha. I'm a pansy. sorry!

But, the first real encounter was with my host mom. We got off the bus (the second stop) and met her. She talks so fast and has the Spanish lisp... oh man. I honestly would have was extremely nervous and overwhelmed, but my roommate does not speak Spanish quite as well as I do, so it falls to me to translate. For the most part, it works out, but I have a long way to go.

The best part is that my host mom and dad cannot say "Heather". They couldn't even remember it! Thus, I have decided to go by my middle name, Diane, for the duration of my stay. That name has an actual translation, "Diana." They seem to be able to say that one, so I'm trying to use that. It's harder since I first introduced myself to the majority of the group as Heather, but it will catch on, I'm sure.

FIRST IMPRESSION OF SPAIN
It is basically like any huge city. There are apartment buildings all over (we live on the 6th floor of ours). However, not many people drive here. They walk everywhere. That is our mode of transportation, too. On our first day, Senora Maria (my host mom) dropped us off at the hotel our orientation was at and left.... Well, we hadn't actually made any plans on what to do after that, so after orientation, my roommate and I looked at a map and found our 30 min walk back (she had to roll her suitcase behind her the whole way! Poor thing). Then we didn't have a key so we waited for somebody to leave the building to let us in. After that, we got our keys right away so that didn't have that problem again. After that, We walked another 30 minutes to the school, took a 3 hour city tour, then walked the 30 minutes back home... I'm going to wiegh nothing when I get home!! That, or my legs will fall off.

Anyway, it is late (1:00 am here, 6:00pm for you guys), so I'm going to get some sleep.

Unitl next time!!