En Route

On my way home! Can't really explain the mixture of feelings I'm having right now, but I can definitely pick out the tired one. I'm in Madrid now, staying with some missionaries for the night. I head to the airport tomorrow morning. Good thing this week there is a worldwide Catholic conference in Madrid called World Youth Day and everything is crazy and chaotic and there are foreign high schoolers running around everywhere... aaaaaaaaaand the Pope flies in tomorrow, just after my flight leaves. Hopefully I'll get to the airport early enough to get rid of my bags before the chaos there begins :)

I land in Washington around 2pm and get to Chicago at 8. I'll spend the night in Milwaukee with Britt, then head home Friday morning and begin my crazy life again.

Thanks for your prayers! See you all soon!

Ronda and Sevilla!

These are where our latest excursions have been! Ronda is a beautiful place, famous for it's gorge or "tajo" in Spanish. Sevilla is most famous for it's cathedral, which is the third biggest in the world.
We had fun at Ronda, it was just a day trip, but nice to get away from the camp for a bit. Basically we just saw the gorge and then went shopping. It's a pretty touristy area because of the gorge, so they had some good stores. We went to the bull ring too, but it cost money to get in, so we didn't see that. We didn't really do much, it was just more of a relaxing trip for us.

We did climb down the gorge part of the way... which was kind of funny because we were all wearing really cute sandals that were terrible for hiking. But it's ok. Nothing broke. I found a really cool hole, though.

Sevilla was exciting... probably one of my favorite trips. It wasn't nearly as relaxing and we walked for hours, but we had a blast. First we saw the cathedral, then we walked around some gardens by the Plaza Espana. The Plaza Espana was pretty exciting because (besides the fact that they filmed some scenes of Star Wars there, which is not very significant to me because I don't even think I have seen that movie,) there are little mural thingys with for all of the provinces in Spain. So I took a picture with each of them that I have been to. That was fun. Later we went to the shopping area, which was a little too high class for us, so we took a little break before we headed across the Triana bridge to find a tapas restaurant. The one we found was EXCELLENT and had the best sangria I've ever had. It was a great authentic Spanish culture experience for the girls from Nebraska. We spent the night in a hostel and on Tuesday we finished up our list of sights. We stopped by Torre del Oro as we headed to the Plaza de Americas where you can pay a euro to feed pigeons. Man, was that an experience. They never landed on my head, thank goodness, but at one point Kaylee and Anna each had a pigeon on their heads. We did get pretty scratched up from them landing on us, though. Totally worth it.

Let's see, from there we headed up to the San Leandro Convent to test out some authentic "yemas", as Sevillan treat. When you go to the convent there's this little window and when you ring the bell they say to you "Ave Maria Purisima" and you respond with "Sin pecado concebido" and ask for what you want. You put your money on the turnstile and spin it for the nun to pick up on the other side and on your side  you recieve your treat. It's an interesting exchange. Thank goodness for the internet, or we wouldn't have had a clue! Next we found a plaza with a whole bunch of fountains in it that we ran through because it was very refreshing after so much walking, which brought us to the closure of our trip. We headed back on the bus and returned to life at camp.
This week GBU is here for camp. GBU is the same organization that my Bible study in Valladolid was through, so I know a few of the people. There are only a few here from Valla, but I know some of the people from that conference I went to in February or March or whenever that was. It's exciting to be around people our age again and to see some "old" friends. Everyone is new these days.

I'm ready to come home, but I am trying to keep myself present here. God still has me here for a reason, so I'm trying to focus on that. I will have plenty of time to be home when I am home and then I'm sure I will miss it here. Please pray that I can keep taking advantage of being here while I am still here.

See you all so very soon!

June Flies

Alright, so that one just flew right on by... and I've never seen so many flies in my entire life. I mean, it doesn't help that we are kind of out in the country, but man oh man are they terrible. So, anyway. Let's see here. We have been to Cordoba and Granada already. Super fun trips. We saw La Mezquita (the mosque) in Cordoba and went to La Alhambra in Granada. Otherwise, we have pretty much just been hanging out here.

For my birthday we went to Taco Bell. It was about 5 days before my birthday, but that was when we could find time. They just put a new Taco Bell in one of the malls in Malaga. It was a fun little gift from God. A nice little taste of home :) Well worth the wait.

Lately, we have had camps coming and going on the same day. There was a church here from Algeciras starting on the 24th of June. They left on the 27th I think, right after people from the Frontiers group started to arrive. We had zero time to clean the bathrooms and the dorms before they got here, but it was fine because we just did not let them move in until we had everything cleaned. So the missionaries with Frontiers (most of them are missionaries in North Africa/Morocco) are here until Sunday after breakfast, but a kids camp comes before lunch on Sunday. I think they are here for a week and then we have a 24 hour break before the next camp comes.

Throughout all the craziness, however, we did find time to have a celebration on my birthday. Sue made me some wonderful cherry pie, and since the other girls don't like cherry pie she made an apple pie too. They have been so good to me, I really couldn't ask for more. Even after taking us out to Taco Bell for my birthday, they got me some peach rings AND a really cute belt I had my eye on one day at Blanco. Sue remembered which belt it was and bought it for me, knowing that I wouldn't have bought it for myself. Those are my FAVORITE kinds of gifts :)

Monday is the fourth of July, which we all completely forgot about until about two days ago (being in Spain and all). Kaylee, Anna, and I are going to have the day off even though we have a camp that day. Sue and Glenn are sending us to the Malaga Media Center for a tour (it's kind of like the ministry center for all of southern Spain) and then we are joining them for a fourth of July barbecue. After lunch we are heading in to downtown Malaga where we will probably be doing some shopping. And by we I mean Kaylee and Anna, since I have zero room in my suitcases.

Odds and Ends

So. Quick update because the camp just got here, I want to go to the pool, and I don't know how long the internet will last. We haven't had internet for the past five days because we discovered that the internet is powered by the wind on top of a nearby mountain. Well, there's almost no wind here this time of year. Genius idea, right? Hahaha, so they are planning on changing it to solar power this next week some time.
1. Shared my testimony on the radio in English and Spanish last week. It was intense. And it went great. I'm going to try to get a copy from Bea because she recorded it and I should be able to. What an experience.
2. The girls from Nebraska have arrived! They got here on Friday the 10th and were JET-LAGGED. So I've been getting to know them, and it has been really good. I think it will be good for the transition back to the states. Might not help too much, but it should help at least a little! The other day we gave each other temporary Hannah Montana Tattoos. Mine didn't work out so well, but it was super fun. They came free with our popsicles. YUM! :)

It's getting hot. About a hundred degrees the last two days. We are working on getting our air conditioning working in our tin roofed double wide but it still gets cool at night, which is nice. Um. I don't have much else to say. It's hard to blog about my life at this point. It's all so normal to me. Let me know if you have questions I guess... I forget that things are different!

On the Radio...

Remember that German lady's birthday party that I went to? She runs a radio station in this area. It's actually the local radio, but they don't care what she plays on it so she plays Christian music, testimonies, and other Christian programs. What a blessing! So yesterday I spent the day with her. Mostly we drove around to different villages posting flyers for the radio station, but we also stopped at the radio and I got to see how some things worked with it. It was fun!
Next week I am going to be doing two different radio programs, one in Spanish and the other in English. At first Bea just wanted me to share my testimony, but after hearing it decided to make it into a sort of interview to fill an entire hour long program. For each language. Whew! My work is cut out for me! The last time I tried to give my testimony in Spanish at Bible study in Valladolid, it was a grammatical disaster. I'm surprised they could even understand what I was trying to say!
Another thing I will be helping her out with is listening to Spanish children's radio programs to discern whether they are applicable to the Spanish culture, since they are American programs that have been translated into Spanish. Should be interesting.
The last thing Bea asked me to do while she was driving me home yesterday is put together an hour long program on purity in Spanish. Woah. Sue and I had just been talking the other day about how purity is something that is kind of unheard of in the Spanish culture. Even in Christian circles there is no sense of emotional, nor physical purity. I've noticed it because purity is something that is so important to me, personally. Still, this is kind of a huge thing for me to take on. I don't want to be the American girl that is coming in and "trying to tell them how to run things" or push "my culture" on them. I am praying that God will help me to not make it seem that way, but to show them what the Bible says for all cultures. Whew. This is a big one for me. But I'm SO excited that God is choosing to use me here!

Right now, there is a group here from Nebraska. They just got to Spain and are doing some training for a few days before starting their mission trip for six more weeks. It's so interesting to be around Americans again. At least Americans who haven't been here for a while, like Sue and Glenn. Things are just so different, like personal space. I was talking to this girl for a while and couldn't figure out why she kept backing away from me. I almost asked her where she was going. Finally, I remembered the cultural difference and laughed to myself. Silly me!
Things will be pretty interesting coming back... that's for sure!

Can't wait to see you all!

P.S. 25 days until my 21st birthday!!!!! Woooo!!

P.S. These are the bees that fly around out here.

Yup. It's a monster.

Malaga

My kitchen

Living Room

My room!

I'm at camp! You probably could have figured that, though. I'm having a lot of fun. There's a lot to get used to, but it's good. Sue and Glenn are really nice and they have been very good to me. I am reminded constantly of Nebraska and the Matz's, making me miss them even more. It's so funny that these missionaries I have found in SPAIN know the families of my adoptive family in NEBRASKA! I just can't get over that.

My house and the view from my front window.

So today is Thursday and I got here on Sunday morning. Let me just give you a low down of what I have been up to since then. Sunday there was a group here that was just leaving after lunch. I help set up for lunch, ate, and had the rest of the day free to settle in to my little double wide. Monday there was a little British woman here named Rowina. She does some gardening for the camp. I hung out with her and did a lot of weeding and pruning. Perhaps I'll learn more about gardening this summer :)  Tuesday was a day of painting. I hung out with the guys all day, stripping the paint off the outside of the house and the office then repainting it.

Surprise Cake

Whipped cream and wine cake.

Tuesday afternoon I went to a little town about twenty minutes away with Sue and Cristina (the maintenance man's wife who is absolutely hilarious) to attend the birthday party of another missionary. She is German and apparently birthdays are a pretty big deal in Germany. She made 3 cakes. AND her husband special ordered her one as a surprise. Whew that was a lot of cake. One of the cakes she made was a mixture of whipped cream and wine and it was super interesting. Another was apple and walnut, which would have been AMAZING if it had just a bit more sugar in it, and the other was a sort of cheesecake but made with yogurt instead of cream cheese.

More faceta.

Faceta we painted

Wednesday we made a day trip to Malaga (since the camp is actually in a little pueblo called Antequera). They showed me around a bit, we got some churros, did some grocery shopping, and went to see the fourth Pirates movie. There was a theater that was showing it in English and 3D, so it was super nice to be able to understand everything and not have to turn and ask the person next to me to clarify. Sometimes I have to remind myself that I'm in Spain here because it's kind of like we are in our own little world here! That might change once camps start coming, though. Anyway, today I cleaned all the dorms and bathrooms because there is a camp coming tomorrow afternoon from Gibraltar. I'm excited.

Rebeka

I have a follower, many of you will be pleased to know. The maintenance man, Fernando, has a four year old daughter named Rebeka. For some odd reason she has fallen in love with me and refuses to leave my side. She doesn't even want to go to school in the morning. She just wants to help me work at the camp. It's funny because her dad has been working here for years and she never helps him. Hahaha!

The language is very different here. I can still understand the majority, but sometimes I get confused because they tend to just drop off the ends of words, especially when a word ends with a vowel and an s. Instead of "nos vamos a Malaga" they say "no vamo a Malaga." That's not terribly difficult to understand, but let me tell ya, it gets difficult at times, especially when they get talking really fast and there are more conversations going on. My brain just checks out.

The hat the guys gifted to me today to
 "protect me from going crazy in the hot sun".
They were really worried about me being out
there without a hat on...

This post is turning out to be insanely long There's just so much to tell you about my new place! The other girls arrive here on June 10th, so that will be super fun. My internet access is a bit limited here. My house is about a 3 minute walk from camp, so I don't have internet there. I have to bring my laptop down to use internet which is kind of a pain, but it's ok. I just don't have a ton of free time in the first place. I'm here to work, right? The biggest thing, though, is that I don't really know when I'm going to have internet access, so it's hard to plan Skype dates and such because I really have no control. I can honestly tell you that I have no clue what I'm doing tomorrow or any day for the rest of the summer for that matter. It's so nice and freeing, but puts a bit of a damper on knowing when I'll be free. Right now I generally have free time from 12:30-2:30pm your time, maybe a little later. That could all change when camps start coming, though. Actually I'm pretty sure it will. So if you want to chat, you'll just have to send me an email or leave your Skype up so I can chat you when I'm on! Ok? Ok. It will be great.

P.S. Sue is a great cook! Praise the Lord for good food!