November 26 - December 1 (well, 2)

November 26, 11:45pm

Yesterday evening, Jenny, Carli, and I went with Mario and our two new friends Alberto and Jaime to mass (because the first two are Catholic and the latter is seeking but wants to try new things) and then afterward Jenny, Alberto, Jaime, and I got tapas (empanadas) and had awesome conversation.  After that, we minus Jenny went dancing for an hour and then they walked me home (basically, my bedtime helped keep them accountable for their work days).

Today at my internship the kids got to have a talk by some police officers about the risks of using the Internet and such.  It's good that they have that, even if they weren't horribly interested.  I had class, lunch, and then worked on the anthro final essay with Mario and Carli before going to Spanish class where we debated over animal rights.  Then I walked Mario and Carli to the civic center in Zaidín and went back to my house...all in the lovely rain.  All my stuff is wet.  Oh well!

I've basically decided that I'm going to take full advantage of my last evenings here to build relationships and become better at salsa.  It's so exciting!  Oh, and praise God for the awesome conversation that comes from it!

November 27, 11:53pm

My water bottle from the kiddos!

It was teacher appreciation day today at my internship, so it was awesome because 1) the coffee machine was free all day, 2) there was pound cake, and 3) two of the sixth graders over in ESO came by and were real sweet and gave all the teachers water bottles!  So cute!

Besides the internship (teaching English and working on my anthro final paper), I had seminar and Spanish class.  Both were kind of boring but not terrible.  I think the seminar teacher may not be quite as nice as she appears (then again, who really is?) but that's okay.  The end of the semester is almost here, and really that's the only thing on my mind.  I have ten days left at my internship and 23 left here in Spain...that is, if Iberia doesn't go on strike and leave us all stranded here.

November 29, 9:30am

Jenny and Alberto, November 30.

Yesterday was just weird, haha!  I realized in my internship that in almost three weeks I'd be on a plane back home.  All morning I was just working, going to anthro (where we watched a film that felt like I was watching my own experiences teaching in the classroom!), and trying to keep a control on my emotions and state of mind.  I ended up stopping to converse with the accordion guy on the way home to siesta and also Jocelyn from church, which was fun.  I went to an easy Spanish class where I realized that I struggle in reading out loud, especially when it comes to pronouncing numbers, and then I went to CFC to spend some time at bible study before going out with Jenny to learn some more salsa.  Being a Wednesday night, then environment was pretty different: few people were "experts" so it was nice being able to have the teacher spend more time on certain steps simply so that I could learn more and practice the turns over and over (since it's different in heels).  I met a dance teacher from Madrid randomly and got told I speak like a Granadina.  I think that's good...?

November 30, 10:37am

Aurora and Jenny with the food at Jaime's, December 1.

In my internship yesterday I had a good day with the kids not only in English but also in their physical education class actually.  I told Pablo that I realize more and more on a daily basis that even though teaching isn't for me, that I feel much better prepared now for if and when I need to teach in the future, and plus I love those kiddos.  After coming home and having a quick lunch, I did homework (read: worked on projects with music turned up and dancing around my room like a crazy lady since I was alone at that point in time) and then met up with Kassie to walk to Spanish class together, where we watched the majority of a very risque movie that Antonio said wouldn't be that bad called Belle Epoque.  About halfway through Antonio got up and left to do tutoría with whoever wanted, so at around that point in time the rest of us just talked life and it was nice to just be there with them.

Afterward I got tapas with Jenny, Rorie, and Laura and her friends Juan Antonio and Serigo.  Alex and Abina also showed up later.  The best part was praying with Jenny and Aurora outside our apartments when we got home! :)

December 1, 11:05am

Yesterday/this morning was incredibly awesome.  In the morning I cleaned the apartment and did dishes and ran to the store to pick up toiletries and stuff, then I came home and had great quiet time that I had been missing out on for over a month.  Spending that much time, an hour, in the Bible really analyzing it is super filling for me.  After that I showered and had lunch with Emi, and she made these incredible burgers from ham and I don't even know what else, egg, tomato, lettuce... I had to eat it with a fork.  It was pretty darn tasty.

Rorie and Jenny. I love these girls so much. <3

Afterward Rorie and Jenny came over and we had an amazing time doing homework and laughing and sharing in each other's company; we also had Natasha over and we all ate food together and just had a great bonding time before Jenny, Natasha, and I went out salsa dancing with Abina, Claire, Jaime, Alberto, Jonathan, and Zach.  Jenny, Alberto, Jaime, and I all got to have spiritual conversation which was so awesome because I love hearing about what others believe an why and getting to share a bit of my beliefs, too.  We stayed there until we got kicked out and then all walked home together.

December 2, 12:45pm

Jaime being a goofball, as per usual.

So yesterday after doing homework a little, Daniel came over so that I could do his interview for my project and we ended up spending four hours chilling, talking, having some food, and just enjoying each other's company.  We also had spiritual conversation and I just feel ridiculously blessed because by the time he left (at like 5pm...LOL) the conversation was at a point where we could easily pick up the next time we hang out.

Later after some more homework I made rice and tortillas to take to Jaime's for a dinner we all had after the youth service at CFC.  Basically Jaime, Alberto, Jenny, Rorie, and I had a montón of food and tons of conversation for a good three hours, and after that the guys took me out to go dance a little bit and just share more time together.

I woke up late from having stayed out late, so that feels a little weird.  My game plan is to get as much work done as possible before meeting up with Carli and Mario to work on anthro and go to the service at CFC.  Let's go!