Segovia and Other Adventures

Wow! It has been a busy week for me! Last Friday night I went to get burgers with a few friends from an hamburgueseria. They were HUGE. We knew they were called "Gigantes", but we weren't entirely sure how big they were. In the states a huge burger isn't that big. A lot of people decided to share between two or three people. My roommate decided she wanted her own, so we each got one.

Needless to say, I didn't finish it all in one sitting. It was probably the size of four burgers. Whew!

NOTE TO FUTURE TRAVELERS: Gigante really means giant in Spain!

Saturday was super fun, we had our first excursion to Segovia. We saw the aqueduct and toured around the town a little bit. The town was beautiful. We had an awesome opportunity to tour the Alcázar of Segovia too. It was the first time I had ever been in a castle! Although it wasn't entirely in the original condition because of a fire in 1862, it had been restored. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella were married in this castle, they lived here for a little while, and it served as a state prison for some amount of time. Seems like a pretty versatile place. It had been taken over by both Muslims and Christians at different points, but the decorations and the artwork have a very strong Muslim influence. Super beautiful.

On Sunday there was a Party for the Nations at our church. It was kind of like a pot-luck style dinner where everyone brought a dish that was from their country for others to sample. My roommate and I decided we wanted to make seven layer bars. FAIL. Spanish ovens are very different. We knew it was in Celsius instead of Fahrenheit and we were prepared for that, but we didn't know that Spanish ovens work in sections. There are three settings: top, bottom, both. Apparently we had it on top because it was burnt to a crisp on the top, but barely even cooked on the bottom. Now don't ask me why you would only want to cook the top of something, but ok whatever. I just do not understand that setting. Anyway, we had a lot of fun at the church and met a lot of new people. One lady shared her testimony with me. She was married at one point, but somehow became HIV positive and her husband no longer wanted anything to do with her. Through the process she was saved and God finally blessed her with a new husband who she is so in love with. What a great reminder of God's sovereignty. LOVE TESTIMONIES!

This week was really busy with coffee dates and planning for my spring break trip. Right now I am looking at touring through Switzerland, Italy, and Greece with a friend or two. We are super excited. We pretty much have Switzerland and Italy planned out, but Greece is actually a new addition to the trip. We want to walk Paul's footsteps and visit some of the places he visited on his secondary missionary journey. We will probably be in Greece for about a week, but aren't sure yet if we want to do join a planned tour through some sort of program so we can learn as much as possible, or if we want to just do our own thing while we are there and study it ourselves. If any of you have any suggestions or know of any resources or people who could help us out let me know!

I am still praying about what God will have me doing this summer, too, if you would like to be in prayer with me for that :)

Praise God for traveling companions!

Thinking of you all!

Tutoring and Intercambios

On Monday I started my tutoring job. It was a lot of fun. The parents actually speak English, but it is kind of broken and they both have thick accents. They said they want their children to learn pure English. Works for me!  Every Monday I will be going to their house to tutor their two little girls who are 4 and 6 years old. They are energetic and have short attention spans, but I think we will have a lot of fun. I am excited to hang out with some Spanish kids. I kind of wish I was tutoring more often, but they also have an English class in school. Plus, my time seems to be filling up quickly.
Wednesday night I went to a bookstore with some friends to pick up a textbook I need for my grammar class. While we were there, we encountered a young Spanish man who spoke English quite well. He told me that I was the second native speaker he has ever talked to, so I asked him if he ever did "Intercambios" (a conversation table program through the university). He did one time, but was much more interested in setting up a time to meet with me and do our own "Intercambios" thing. Well, I wasn't planning on doing "Intercambios" really, so I kind of avoided the question and asked him where we could find Spanish Bibles. He told us he had no idea. The young people here don't go to church, as he informed us. I remember something about "you won't be able to find anyone under 60 at a church in Spain." Well, there are a few young people at Comunidad Cristiana, but I imagine he is generally correct. He asked us if we were into church and when we told him he were I thought it would be a deal breaker for him, but he still insisted on doing "Intercambios". I ended up giving him my name and phone number so we could plan a time to meet. Of course, I won't go without my roommate and I will meet him at a public place, but it should be very interesting. He seemed very genuine.
Yesterday I met with a Navigators missionary for lunch at her house. *I was SO excited we had Mexican!!!* What a great family. I learned SOO much just talking with her about Spain.  As you can imagine, we ended up talking a lot about religion in Spain, which is seen through a VERY different lens. You see, religion here equals Catholicism and Catholicism is equated with Franco (the old dictator of Spain who died in '75). Religion is not to be trusted. Church and state are not separate here, and religion has always been institutionalized. It has been a means of social order; not exactly about God Himself. This gives me a whole different perspective of the separation of church and state issue in the states. It is so different here and I am really enjoying learning all about it. It's amazing what you can learn in just a few weeks!

Friends, I hope you are all doing well. I love hearing updates on your lives too! Please, please, please feel free to send me a message or Skype me or anything :)

God Is Good!

This morning I got up to go to the market with some friends. It was pretty fun :) They could tell we were Americans though, so we didn't buy anything because they were definitely overcharging us. It was kind of far away so there weren't a ton of people. We saw some cool sights on the way, like this slide. It looks crazy super adventurous and fun! There's caution tape on it though... so we were trying to decide if it there was tape on it because it was new or because it was dangerous. Who knows?

This morning I attended a church called Comunidad Cristiana and it was really good. We even sang a song in English! I think it was because they met us before the service, though. It was still sweet. It's a pretty small church and it was very open and family like. We had some good laughs. There were nine or ten of us from different schools there, so we had a good sized group. After church I met a couple from Kansas City who are actually planning a church plant in Valladolid. It was really exciting to hear about what they were doing. Tomorrow I am meeting with a missionary from the Navigators that is here. I am under the impression that they are attempting to start up a Navigators program at the university, but are still looking for an in there. How awesome would that be if we can make connections between this great church and the missionaries and really get things moving?! All on God's timing. But I'm so excited for what He is doing here and I am eager to see how He will use each of us :)
I'm sorry I haven't written about food yet. I'll get there, I promise.

P.S. Go Packers!!!!!

Class!

We started class on Tuesday and I placed into the advanced grammar class. It's good because I'm proud of myself, but it's also more difficult. My roommate is in the intermediate class and she said she doesn't have to do much at all. But, at least it will be a challenge. I'm not paying for this trip for nothing, I want to learn something! Other than grammar, we also have history, geography, literature, culture, and art classes. They all seem like they are going to be pretty interesting. Yesterday in our culture class we learned that Spanish weddings and Spanish housing are both VERY expensive so Spaniards tend to get married very late and move out of their parents' house around thirty years old. There's a very different mindset about life here. It is especially different than my mindset personally, but I suppose that of the U.S. is too...

Monday we had a welcome dinner that was a lot of fun. We got to try a lot of traditional Spanish food and there was a band that came in and surprised us. It looked a lot like a Mexican mariachi band, but they use another word for the band and I forgot what it was.

One of the guys joked a lot about finding a girlfriend at

the restaurant because we were all Americans... and a girl

from my table got up and danced with him. (Top Right) 

So funny :)

He serenaded her and even got on his knees...

  

This is what a typical street looks like here in Valladolid. It is really beautiful. There are also elaborate cathedrals all over the place. It really is a wonderful place to be.

We walk around a lot here and we are all currently exploring. There are so many shops here. It's impossible to visit all the cafes and stores, but it is so fun to experience them. Last night my roommate and I went to a cafe with some other girls and had churros con chocolate. Second time trying churros con chocolate for me :)

I am having a lot of fun meeting new people and making friends with the other people in my program. There is a lot to keep us busy here. I thought I would have so much free time when I got here, but my time is filling up more quickly than I thought. I will have plenty of time here, though. It seems like we have been here for so long, but it hasn't even been a week yet. Thinking of how much I have learned in the past few days, it seems as though I will come back from Spain an entirely new person than when I came if I keep learning at this rate.

It's an experience of a lifetime. What a blessing.

Oh, p.s. I got a tutoring job! My host mom knows a Senora named Carmen who has two children (4 and 6). I will be tutoring them in English every Monday evening. It will be SO nice to have some extra cash from that. And Spanish children are soo adorable. I'm really excited to meet them.

I wanted to include this picture too, because it is so beautiful.

This is at La Plaza de Zorilla, very close to my apartment building. Nighttime is great for walking, and I have definitely been getting my exercise! This is why Spanish people are so skinny!

Tomorrow I will try and write about la comida espanola, but no promises, friends. I'm not entirely sure I will have time. Spaniards are very laid back, but everything seems to take more time for this very reason. Plus, there are plenty of things to do!

Hasta luego, mis queridos!

Valladolid!

Here I am! We got here at about 3:30pm (about 7:30am Wisconsin time) and met with our host families. My host mama's name is Mar and she is really nice. She gave us somewhat of a tour of Valla, then we came home, ate and unpacked. My roommate Jessica and I share a room and we have our own bathroom, which is super nice. Plus, there is a bunch of stuff in the bathroom that other people have left here. We also discovered that we have WIFI in our house. Awesome! Skyping can happen much more often with WIFI :)

I never ended up going to Segovia and Toledo with the family in Madrid because it was rainy every day, but perhaps I can make it there another time.

Tomorrow we have our placement tests at the university and they are having a welcome dinner for us at night. It's nice to actually be able to settle in. I miss home, but everything is still so new here, especially with being in Valladolid now. Today is Sunday, so everything is closed, but tomorrow we will begin to explore. Aaaaaand Jessica and I will start to speak to each other only in Spanish :-/

I'm reallllly excited to get involved with La Comunidad Cristiana, which is the church I have been recommended to go to by many people. Can't wait to have that community! I'm also looking into being a part of the Navigators here at the university. Who would have thought they would have Navs in Valladolid, Espana? I think I am most excited about the fellowship and the WORSHIP. Some of you know that my computer is still broken and I am using my mom's while I am in Spain, but all my music is on my computer and I have none on here. I was just going to use the internet, but the connection is slow and kind of patchy, so it doesn't work at all. But, if anyone wants to send me a cd with awesome worship music on it, I would not complain...

Prayer Requests:

• Easy adjustment
• Tests tomorrow go well
• Make good connections with other students in my program
• Most people are Catholic here, but mostly Sunday morning Catholics. It has been hard for me to explain to them what being a Christian means to me and that I want to give my life to Jesus, but not join a nunnery or anything like that.
• Learn a lot of Spanish!

Thank you all for your thoughts and your prayers.

P.S. I would love to send postcards, so if you would like to receive one you have two options:

1. Send me something in the mail with a return address on it. (I have a craving for Andes mints right now. Spanish people don't like mint things.)
2. Email me or comment with your address.

Love love love!!

Kimberly

Madrid - Days 1 & 2

   It's about quarter to two in the morning here now, so I am going to try to make this as brief as possible, but I wanted to update you all on how I am doing, since I know you are all dying to hear ;)
   The flight was LONG. For all of you dreaming to go to Europe, I don't recommend it. The Europeans definitely got the better end of the deal. Everything is cheaper for them in the states, and they arrive in the states around the same time they left Europe like they didn't lose any time at all!
   Anyway, the girl sitting next to me on the flight over was from Valencia and she was super nice. She let me use her cell phone to call the people who were picking me up and invited me to come to Valencia and everything. I also met some girls who are going to be studying in Valladolid from UW-Stevens Point. They were so nice. Can't wait to get to know them better when we all get to Valladolid!
   Once I got here I was too excited to go to sleep, so I ran some errands with Cristina (the girl I am staying with in Madrid until Sunday) and saw some of Espana. We got back and crashed because she didn't get much sleep the night before either. I overslept a bit. They were going to take me to the parade for el dia de los Reyes, but I didn't wake up until 6pm. I ate a bit, then Cristina and I were off to downtown Madrid. Here are some pictures of the palace and the beautiful cathedral next to it.

We walked around downtown Madrid for a few hours. Ooooh I almost forgot! Cristina took me to the most famous place for churros con chocolate! They were so good!!

   This morning I slept until 3pm. Whew. They had already left to have lunch with their family an hour before, but left me a note to help myself to food. These people are so generous. God has really blessed me on this trip, let me tell ya. It was nice to kind of sit around for a while today, just to get oriented. I was able to write in my journal and read for a bit before everyone got home. I have had some great conversations with this family :) Oh, p.s. they all speak English, which is nice for me. Not so much of a shock right away.
   Anyway, so the plan for tomorrow is hitting the shops for sales, since it is like the day after Christmas sales for us because today was el dia de los tres Reyes, which is like Christmas for them. Then Cristina's mom mentioned wanting to take me to Segovia and Toledo. I'm excited! Her dad also mentioned going to the Prada museum too, which would be really fun. We shall seeee!!!
   I need to get up at nine am, so I should go. But, since all of you are asking, the weather here is great. It has been in the high forties, low fifties. And it is b-e-a-utiful!
   Also, my address for when I get to Valladolid, in case you want to send me awesome things to remind me of home ;)

Kimberly Zander
C/ Gabilondo 1, 10º
Valladolid, Espana 47007


   Thinking of you all!
         Kimberly