Europe, Please!

Hello readers!

I am just getting back from movie night with a lot of students we have been ministering to at Cartuja a faculty of the University of Granada. I am so encouraged. Many of the students I have met as a result of my great friendship with Sam, also the student we do a bible study each Monday. I can't tell you how much I love being with them all. I have learned one of their terrible professors accents and they make me do it all the time. It makes me happy that in my limitations with Spanish, I can still make these students laugh. It truly warms my heart to be apart of their lives and to feel so loved. Tonight, when I walked in they all cheered. If that's not an ego boost, I don't know what is!

At this moment, we are gearing up to say goodbye. My wonderful team leaders, Garrick and Dziu, are leaving in 3 weeks. I can't believe it. A part of me feels like my family is separating or something. My team has shared so much together in the last two years, and for me, this is not bittersweet. Its just bitter. I once again must mention I HATE CHANGE, and this is a necessary change. Basically the ministry is mine and Migue's. Luckily, he has promised me he will stick with me until I leave, so I don't have to do it alone. However most of the ministry stuff we do I will have to do alone because he wasn't allowed to be apart of it in the beginning due to support. As a result, I will continue pouring into my wonderful friends from the University, keep the Bible study going, and run English club.

This just brings up alot of issues that I have realized about myself. I can do it, I just don't like doing it alone. I LOVE ministry here, and I feel it is slipping farther and farther away from me because time is catching up with me. We still don't know the future of ministry here, and as a result, I am kind of in denial. As I mailed my acceptance to Grad school today, it was a little scary. It was almost like admitting I will not come back, and when I told Migue, he said, "it's real now, you aren't coming back." It made me sad!

I sit here tonight not wanting to go to sleep yet, mostly because I am the queen of fighting sleep and because tomorrow I only have one ministry obligation and that is at 8pm. I know for most people they would not complain, but for me, I LOVE it so much it makes me sad sitting around. I guess I will just have to go to the gym extra long tomorrow to relieve some of this stress and the weight added from eating lots of peanut butter M&Ms. haha

I hope my posts aren't depressing you all. In reality, its really amazing that I went from this time last year of counting days until I left to trying to forget about leaving. God really has done amazing work in me, and allowed me to let go of what was and look at the here and now in Spain. However, I find myself not wanting to forget Spain to move onto the here and now in America. Weird huh! I don't ask questions; I just do what I am told. In this moment, I really do hope and pray this is not the end for me here in Spain/Europe. I said I would go anywhere and do anything, but a little part of me is whispering..."let it be Europe, please." We will all have to wait to see what He decides!

Rainy Sunday.

Well, I am sure you all can tell, I am back to the world of blogging. I guess I have been a little blog happy. I don't know what it is but after 7 cloudy rainy days in a row I just needed a little outside of my life experience and posting can give that. Today, I went to church and saw the Romanian Gypsies Migue has been trying to help. It touched my heart so much. The kids came up to me and gave me such big hugs and asked why I hadn't been back. I just felt so loved. We all need to pray they find them an apartment soon because the government is threatening to take the kids away. It is just crazy to me. Please keep them in your prayers.

I have been listening to a sermon about the cases against Christ. The great thing about being here in Spain is I have missed this whole message about the tomb of Christ being found. I was shocked to hear there is all this stuff surrounding the Resurrection of Christ. It made me sad, but listening to the sermon really helped me to see that there will always be people who dont want to believe in Him, but the craziest thing is their theories require more faith to believe. We try to complicate things so much!

I understand this. I am already going through a little struggle because right now, I am struggling with questions of the future. You see, I am always the girl with the plan. I know my next three or four steps before I even venture out. However, God is only telling me one step of the way. As a result, I am struggling. I want to know what He has next for me because I like knowing, so that I have something to look to the future. Also, I just want him to tell me that the next transitions wont be as hard as my transition was to Spain. The last few days, I haven't slept well. I keep having dreams about certain things of the future and how they go completely wrong. It's silly I know, but when it seems to be re-occurring you tend to think you are doing something wrong.

All this goes back to complicating things. My dad always tells me to keep things simple. If I truly lived like that I would be blessed to realize all the things God has worked out for me to go back to the states. Although, I think I need to reapply for a position at the UofA, I know everything will be fine. I have a house, a roommate, a car, a prospective job, and a direction (to GRADUATE). However, I am not satisfied. I want to know the little details like; will I struggle a lot when I go back? Will I feel lonely alot? Will I miss Spain and the people here so much it is unbearable? Will I have moments like I did last year but at home? Will my family and I get along? Will I feel completely socially awkward? Will I keep speaking Spanish or will I lose it?

Lots of things to consider; however, not things to give me nightmares.

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Just a few Paris Pics

My entire week in Paris.

Well, as you all know by my pics I sent out, I went to Paris. I have to say, if you ever get a chance to come to Europe go to Paris. A little factoid, Paris has the most tourist of any city in Europe. The number a year is close to 20million. Officially, I understand why. That city is amazing. You have culture, art, monuments, shopping, CREPES, PASTRIES, coffee, french music, the river, bridges, grass, trees, and TULIPS!

I was in love the first day. Of course, it is called the city of love and lights. When you get there you understand. The first day I babysat with Mindy while the normal spring rain sprinkled outside. At first, it reminded me of London because of the clouds and drizzle weather, the metros, and trains.

Saturday, I indulged an American love of mine. I made Mindy take me to Starbucks and an English movie. A chick flick to be exact [Music and Lyrics]. While we were at Starbucks, I was enjoying my Vanilla Cappucino when this sweet French girl approached me to do a survey in French. I responded quickly in bad french with "I dont speak....english." Yeah when you are trying to speak a different language your brain does funny things. The girl walked away, but then came back and in her saturated french accented english began the survey. My first day on the town, and I am in the research findings of a french student's thesis. COOL. Then, we grabbed some dinner a greek sandwich with awesome fries from one of the nicest guys who worked in the store. He felt so bad he couldn't speak English. This shocked me. Spain, they think those who don't have the privilege to speak Spanish are at a loss each day, and many refuse to speak english.

Sunday, we planned to go to Versailles since it was free on the first Sunday of the month. We slept till 9. Were on the train by 10. We step off, the line to get in is FOREVER long. We decided, we would try somewhere else. I decided I would go back on my own later in the week, when not all 20 million tourist were there on one day. Then, we ate crepes for lunch. It wasn't the best, but still very interesting in comparison to Spanish food. Mindy and I decided at that point we would walk the city. Check out the Eiffel Tower and I was able to get into the last part of Mass at Notre Dame. I apparently have made all the main pilgrimages for Catholics. I hit the Vatican for Palm Sunday last year. This year Paris' Notre Dame. I will for sure get into heaven now. :) Finally, we ended the day with Subway sandwiches. [Look! I haven't had that in ages, and its good!] The cool thing was we ate it sitting infront of the Seine river, looking out the window. GREAT!

Monday, I took it to a new level. I explored the city on my own. SO FUN!! I was actually really nervous because I HATE doing stuff on my own usually. Only because of the nerves, but Mindy wrote out my train and metro instructions and I was set. I had no problems. Got into center Paris at 9am. Had a Croissant and a Cafe Au Lait on Champs Elysees. (Love it because each morning alone I did that) I sat in a cafe enjoyed breakfast and watched Parisians rush to work. Then, I headed out to the Arc d'Triomph. It was beautiful. I bought my museum pass and climbed to the top. I was able to see all 12 streets that shoot off from the circle around the Arc. It looks like a star. Then, I walked down Champs Elysees. Stopped in the Jardin d'Tuilleries (TULIPS) to read and rest. Next stop the Louvre. I walked past the Concord and the crowd waiting at the Louvre (Because of the Museum Pass) Got into the Louvre and wandered for 2 1/2 hours. I saw the Venus de Milo, Roman sculptures, etc. etc. and the Mona Lisa.

I had a very angry security guard staring at me at the Mona Lisa because I thought since everyone else is taking a picture I will to....well, of course when I do something wrong I always get caught. Plus, the best is that I went to take the pic and a woman walked right in front of me. For that reason, There are angry guards at the Louvre because of me AND I have a great pic of a woman's head. For me, it doesn't pay to break the rules. After thescary man, I booked it out of the Mona Lisa room. I was actually sad. I thought the Mona Lisa was bigger. Plus, all the people ruined it for me. I dont like crowds at ALL! After the Louvre, I went to eat at Minims a french restaurant where I undoubtedly got something not french. I don't know what is wrong with me, but I got a club sandwich. I figured it was good. It cost 12 Euros! Food in Paris is GOOD but expensive. Then, back to the Tuilleries where I sat and read a book. It was a beautiful day.

Tuesday, I was solo again. I had the usual croissant and Capuccino. I started the day off with a freezing wait to climb the Notre dame tower. It was worth it, but I was so cold I had lost some of my motor skills and so climbing the 455 stairs was tough. Once at the top, I took my pics but scurried down. I am really afraid of heights and when it is really windy and cold. I like to do my sightseeing quickly. Next Musee D'Orsay. I love that Museum. Renoir, Monet, Manet, Van Gogh...the list goes on. It was amazing to see original works of people I studied when I was young. Then, I was off to Versailles. Versailles is AMAZING. It was a city. That is all I can say. Plus, OH THE CROWDS. In some parts, I could barely breath. I wandered the Gardens for 2 hours. Beautiful! To end the day, I went to a cafe and had chocolate Chaud (hot chocolate) and a crepe. The man was super nice to me. I am telling you, if you try to speak french in any form, they will bend over backwards to be helpful. I was amazed. For this, I loved Paris more.

Wednesday, was my day to visit Moulin Rouge, Sacre Coer, and MontMartre. I went with Mindy's roomie. We took three walks in Montmartre. Ate in the Cafe Amelie was filmed. I had a large coke and an amazing pineaple upside down tart. It was good! We saw the Moulins. The Moulin Rouge store that had our mouths dropping at replays at the shows. Guys stay away...thats all I can say. Then, I saw the Sacre Coer, a beautiful white church on the highest point in Paris. The Ferris wheel from Amelie. Three Gypsies get questioned for not having paperwork. The art district where I bought two simple pictures from the sweetest old french artist who had a sweet yet chubby dog. He tried to speak to me in French, and when I said I didnt understand he began to use sign language to tell me his dog eats too much! I am so glad I stopped to buy from him. Then, We saw Van Gogh's house, beautiful flower shops. A few bad shops I wont mention...if you knew the history of Montmartre you will understand why the main street is not a "nice"one. Going back into the coutryside, we saw the last vineyard in Paris. The club where Van Gogh and other artists hung out. It was along another street, I saw a great little cove of benches flowers tress and street posts. It was infront of the Musee d' Romantique. We didn't go in because it was closed but I understood why women love this city. When they devote whole museums to love and romance...its a wonder all woman dont make a trip there. Then, I bought a sweet tea set from a cute little store for only 23 Euros!! Grabbed some take out and headed home.

Thursday, I hung out with Mindy, and I went with her to a literacy class for Muslim women. I helped Mindy with the kids. I was so happy to be able to go. I think it is important to see the REAL sides of the city and its needs. It is a huge need for Muslim women because many have never been educated before on how to read and write in French, while many do speak french because France colonized most parts of Africa. After that, we treated ourselves to a little Hard Rock Cafe with FREE REFILLS. I got three Root Beers. I loved it!

Friday, my last day in Paris. I only wanted to see the Eiffel tower at night, so Mindy and I met up after her class. I had a Crepe. Shopped. Checked Internet. Went to see another English Movie [The Namesake]. Then, headed into Central Paris where we sat along the Seine and talked. We saw the sun go down, and I took a million pics of the Eiffel tower. Then, we headed home. I packed.

Saturday, I left at 9am to get to the Airport. I got there, and my flight was delayed. I didnt realize it would be delayed 4 hours. I missed my bus in Madrid, so I had to wait 3 hours in the smelly bus station of madrid for a bus at 11pm. It put me in Granada at 5am. It was a long day my friends, but for Paris it was all worth it!

I will forever love Paris! It is beautiful, and a city completely of its own charm. It can't be copied.

ummm! New hair cut

Well, the story goes...I went to get my haircut today. I only wanted a trim because I wanted to grow my hair out. I went to have a little more shape to my growing, long straight hair. I said... swoopy bangs with long layers. This is what I came out with.
Before:


She cut off 2-3 inches. I was speechless with first cut and my friend Cortney who went to make sure I spoke correctly just kept saying..."I'm sorry." 1 benefit...no one can tell I am an American. I look officially spanish now. 2. Hair grows. The only thing was it was an accident. This is living overseas. I know its not that bad. I really shouldnt complain. Its just a little frustrating.