October 15 (well, 16) - October 21

(Note: All pictures are from October 19 in Córdoba)

October 16, 9:08am

Soldier's quarters in the ruins we visited.

Yesterday I minorly freaked out after my anthro class while walking home with Aurora because I was venting a little about how I've been feeling stressed and how I lack time, and how I considered not going to my internship because I hardly slept.  I went and was super glad I did and got to go over the math exam, but yeah.  However, after lunch I got all my work done that was due for the day as well, and decided that I would go running after Spanish.  So after a very laid-back Spanish class where we played hangman the entire second half and chatted about the short stories we read, I booked it home, put on different pants, and did a quick 15-minute run that was much needed and super refreshing.  I was energized and then came back and had a salad and did my Spanish homework and made plans with people over Facebook for the weekend while also learning Spanish via my new friend from Ecuador named Cristian who lives here.  Sometimes I think he teaches me more than I learn in my Spanish class...

Now I need to go so I can pay attention in my internship.  Hopefully if/when I teach today it all goes well!

11:24pm

Palace gates at the ruins.

Before recess today in my internship I was assigned the task of working with Segundo, the special needs kid in our class.  I was given no direction, no training, no goal; Pablo handed me a book with some words and images and basically said have fun.  So for an hour I sat and tried to get this kid to color inside the lines and color so that there isn't as much white left.  Part of it was frustrating simply because I felt like I wasn't communicating myself well.  But I was glad to have been able to help and be able to have this kid do something.  And the hug he gave me after was probably the highlight of my day.  I then taught my chatty English class and I really hope they're learning something...

Besides that and y classes, it's just been an average and normal day.  Oh, I guess except for the fact that I ran into that creeper again at a different time walking a different route.  I got out of that situation semi-quickly though because I was reading while walking and so said I was a bit busy.  Speaking of, my reading while walking did lead to me running into a low tree branch right in front of a bench full of 30-something-year-old men after my internship...that was awkward...

October 17, 10:24pm

There used to be a mosque here, facing Mecca.

At my internship today, I basically sat around and finished the book of short stories Pablo lent me, then struggled with the copier for 15 minutes because it always has issues before laughing and giving up and returning to class.  At IES afterward before anthro, I played a little guitar (I'm slowly improving) and then went to class, walked home, and had a quiet lunch before a wonderful set of hours spent productively (homework, time with God) and semi-unproductively (fostering relationships via Facebook, looking up graduate schools and plane tickets, daydreaming while looking up music and videos...).  In my Spanish class we used an hour or so to discuss what movie we're going to watch tomorrow and the other part of the class to practice different phrases and practice gossiping... I kid you not.  I don't like gossip, but this was all fake and stuff, so I guess it was okay?  Then on my way home with Kassie and Mario we almost got hit by a car flying around the corner at like 50mph while we were using the crosswalk, which I"m pretty sure has a yield-for-pedestrians sign by it.  If not for Mario and Kassie yelling and moving all of us out of the way, I'm sure the car wouldn't have stopped.  Praise God we're all still alive and in one piece!  Yay!  :)  Then I went for a run.  Now here I am.  Haha, not sure what else to say.  It's been pretty good.

The cathedral-turned-mosque-turned-cathedral.

October 18, 11:04pm

So, last night slash this morning someone tried to sexually assault one of the girls in our program as she was walking home alone from wherever, and yeah she shouldn't have been walking alone and could have ducked into a store or something, but still, it freaks me out and it's also freaking out every other girl in our program.  I know usually Granada is a safe place and I trust in my own abilities, but still...

I didn't have much time to actually teach today at my internship since the kids have a math quiz coming up and need to learn, but I did get a lot of homework done for the seminar and I also began looking ahead to next semester to make sure everything pans out all right.  It's really exciting.  Apart from all that and thinking about life after college, we spent all of Spanish class watching a movie called Amantes del Círculo Polar and even though it's a romantic flick with some suggestive content, I loved it because as an independent flick the director did a great job with the plot and all the flashbacks.  It's not your typical romance film for sure; I actually highly enjoyed it.  Now I'm trying to socialize a little with people from back home as well as here.  Tomorrow I go to Córdoba with youth group later at night, and Sunday Pablo invited me to watch his race (or participate...haven't figured that out yet).

October 20, 11:54am

The pillars inside the building are from the
original cathedral; the arches are from the
mosque.  It's meant to look like a palm tree.

Why yes, I basically did just wake up.  I was up early yesterday to go with many of the IES students to Córdoba, where we visited the ruins of a palace and then went and visited a cathedral-turned-mosque-turned-cathedral (all happening over time of course) and itw as kind of neat seeing how different aspects of the old architecture was maintained.  I took lots of pictures and Javier talked to us about the history and the reasoning behind the architecture.  Basically it was a Catholic/christian temple at first, then the Muslim conquest occurred and all except some columns and other small details were torn down and the mosque was built, then the Crusades happened and the center of the mosque was torn down to build the cathedral.  When it comes to architecture, sadly here in Spain where different conquests happened a lot was torn down and lost.

Later I went to youth group where we talked for like three hours about cultural differences among all of our heritages (Argentina, Romania, Mexico, U.S., Honduras, Spain...) and we prayed over the spiritual battle happening here in Granada. Then Tito invited me for tapas and talked to me about tons of stuff, and in total I was out until 2am so just woke up basically, haha.

October 21, 5:14pm

New cathedral-style architecture inside the mosque.

Trying to show the combination of cathedral/mosque/new-
cathedral architecture.

Yesterday after relaxing at home for a while and getting homework done, I went with Cristian and finally got myself new flats (my old ones completely got destroyed from walking and rain) and then he and I went and watched the IES-Granada soccer game against IES-Barcelona.  We won 3-2, but just barely, and part of that due to having awesome girls and Javier's son Antón who's a 12-year-old bilingual kid.  Afterward, we went to CFC and I called Tito to get him to come over and we all with other from the youth group tried recording videos with messages for the church to use.  I definitely walked around Granada holding a "free hugs" sign, haha!  I slept in Cartuja at Cristy and Tito's apartment and this morning after a french toast breakfast and lots of music, I came home and had some paella with my host mom and sister, a previous student from Germany Eva, and a family Alvaro and Veronica and their sun Hugo who are somehow related to us.  Then I finally indulged myself in photoshop and created an edit to send to Gaby.

Basically: I probably could have been more productive this weekend, but what I did do was way worth it.