To start this post off, I wanted to just throw out a serious shout-out to the Lord for the experience he has been blessing me with since landing in Spain. Even though things haven't necessarily been all gumdrops and rainbows since landing in Madrid, even those difficult and stressful experiences have been continuously showing me the beauty of God's love and grace in all situations. And I can already start to see things changing about the way I see the world. It's a really cool feeling, and I'm excited to see the continued path that He is going to be forging through all of these amazing experiences this semester.
Alright, so. Week two. What a week! So much happened (well, at least I felt like it was a lot!). The week started with a really interesting Sunday. After spending all of my Friday traveling around the province of Segovia seeing all of the crazy amazing castles, the weekend continued moving forward with a lot of interesting experiences. Since my first weekend was a lot of recuperation from jet lag, I decided that I wanted to try out the nightlife here in Segovia. Something you should know about Spain is that it is known for fiesta (parties). So, naturally, the evenings of the weekend days are festive. And saturday, we spent the evening at a local club. It was fun to see just how dynamic the Spanish people are here. They are definitely all about "no pasa nada." Roughly translated, it means "not a big deal." And the phrase is used very commonly here, so you can probably imagine just how life is here. It's very lax. And if you combine it with the daily siesta, then you really have it made!
Sunday morning was probably one of the biggest game changers of the semester. While hanging around the house on Saturday, I did some research into local churches in Segovia, just to see what kinds of things were out there. Something else you should know about Spain: it's predominately Catholic, and very Catholic at that. The cities here in Spain are riddled with ancient cathedrals that extend back centuries in history. Actually, we visited one of them (I will get to that in a little bit). But, while researching, I found a local congregation that is actually Protestant, and very similar to my church at home. So, my friend Alec and I decided to try it out. And I'm SO GLAD we did. From the time we set foot into the building to the time we exited, nothing but a warm welcome was felt. The pastor and his wife took the time to scope us out, introduce themselves, introduce us to the college aged members of the congregation (including their kids), and made sure that the congregation knew that we were from the United States. What started as nervous breakdown walking in turned into one of the greatest answered prayers I've experienced this semester: a community. A loving community to help bear the burdens of living in a completely new world, away from the one community I have known for the last four years at Ball State. God really does have it under control.
Later that day, I also got the opportunity to meet the rest of my host family. And let me just start by saying that it is NOT small. I live with two people here in Segovia, but they are the grandparents and patriarchs of the family. Sunday afternoon, for lunch, I had the opportunity to dine with not 2...not 4...but 12 SPANIARDS. Yep. Two grandparents, three kids and their significant others, and two of the five grandchildren. With me, that makes 12. And I can't tell you how much I loved it. I may not have said much during the meal, but I learned a ton. Another fun fact: Family is UBER important in Spanish culture. And, lunch is the biggest and most important meal of the day. So, put them together, and you have a party! Oh yeah...and I had my first ever AUTHENTIC paella, complete with langostinos (jumbo shrimp), mejillones (oysters), almejas (clams), and bacalao (cod). It was interesting, for sure. The most interesting part? I had never eaten any of those things before either. So, needless to say, it was a learning experience. The night ended with a group of us planning our first overnight weekend trip in Spain. The next weekend we were planning on going to Toledo, Spain. And...after a couple of hours, we had the travel itinerary, the hostel booked, and the enthusiasm of world travel on our own! It was a good day for sure. :)
The school week, like the first week, consisted of long days and a short week. Monday, I was approached with two more excellent opportunities. First, I was asked to help another girl with her English. As I mentioned before in my previous post, I have been spending two hours a week with two 14 year old students (Blanca and Jaime) and helping them converse in English more. This girl, named Beatriz, is another student who is currently in her third year at a university in Madrid. This summer, however, she is applying to go on a program for 5 weeks in the United States, but she needs to complete an oral interview to get the scholarship. But, the interview is in English, and she has never really spoken English (even though she has been studying English for almost 10 years). See, in some ways, Spain and the United States don't differ a whole lot in the ways in which they teach foreign languages to students. And for me, being an education major in Spanish, I find it fascinating just how similar the two are. She can read and write very well. She just never has the chance to converse. It's no different in the United States. Students, when asked to converse in a foreign language, freeze up because they never get a chance to practice. So, it makes sense that almost all 16 of us in the AHA program are helping local students with their English. Because, contrary to popular belief, English is actually really important to people in this country. We may get weird stares sometimes for our English in public, but it's actually something that people notice because it's not the norm. But many people actually WANT to learn it. That's something that the United States does not have in common.
The second opportunity was something that entire group got to experience. See, in Segovia, there's this really cool academy that exists near the famous Aqueduct. The catch is it's a military academy (an artillery academy to be more specific). And, it's compared often to West Point in the United States. In other words, this school (and especially the students) are a big deal. And it's very prestigious. And, as mentioned before, they have a very high necessity to learn English. So, the director of my program met with the English professors there, and decided that it would be a good idea to meet these students and have an exchange with them. So, that's what we did after classes ended. We traveled as a group across the city to the Academy and met these amazingly devoted students. The school is pictured below. It really is quite spectacular. It's also the only picture I could take, because photos are forbidden. But, let me just say, it's quite the place.
Each student in our program was placed with two from theirs (they only have 30 students total). The point of this exchange was to talk: us practicing Spanish with them, and them practicing Spanish with us. They gave us a tour of the building, described the history, and even bought us coffee at the end of the hour session! That really made it a win in my book. The best part? We were bridging two worlds together at the same time: we spoke in two different languages the whole time and understood exactly what each other meant. We spoke in Spanish, and they responded in English. It was pretty much epic. And it definitely won't be the last time we see them I'm sure. And a special shout-out to my two tour tour guides: Gonzalo and José. Thanks guys!
During the middle of the week, I continued my meetings with Jaime and Blanca. These kids...they're something else. I don't think I can say how much I love conversing with them. They may not have much experience with English conversation, but they are a lot farther along than even they think. The common thread with most of the people I converse with say that they are terrible with speaking English. And every time, I kid you not, I'm blown away by how far along they are. I suppose starting English from the age of 4 has its perks. ;) Maybe America might bode well with having some earlier instruction of second languages? Hmmm...just a thought.
This week also marked my first meeting with the girl I mentioned before, Beatriz. This meeting consisted of quite a bit of groundwork. As you know, she has an interview to prepare for. But, she's never really spoken English. So, we have some work to do. But, thankfully, she is extremely intelligent and extremely determined. So, combine that with her knowledge of the written part of the English language, and we have something! So, during our first two hours, we spent a lot of time doing basic pronunciations of words and brainstorming ideas of potential questions that she might be asked in an interview. Eventually, the hope is that we can create a sort of mock interview that can prepare her for as much of the unknown as possible. I know she's got the skill! We just need to refine it. :)
I would just like to take a moment to thank you all for your patience thus far. I know that my posts tend to get a little long, but it's because I really want to make sure that you have all of the details (that are feasibly possible) while I'm abroad. A lot is happening, and the Lord is definitely working and moving all of the time. I'm truly blessed to have such a supportive group of people in my life. I love you all. :)
Along with my classes and trips this semester, I have been blessed with an amazing opportunity to work an internship this semester while I'm here. This week I actually got to start it! And, I'm so glad I was able to be placed where I was. It is called Qudos, and it is an English school designed to help people learn the language through direct use of the English language for its primary purpose: communication. In the language teaching world, we like to call that the "communicative approach." I know...creative right? :) I have the opportunity to work with all kinds of levels of English and all different ages: teens (10-14), and adults (from college age to seniors). The best part is that I get to combine two very essential skills in this internship: fluency in the English language and a background in language education. It really is going to be something special! And, I get to work with someone who is originally from Great Britain. Who knows, maybe I can perfect my British accent a little bit while I'm here too. ;)
The end of this week's post is actually quite a treat. Remember that trip I mentioned at the beginning of the post? Well, it's finally here! Friday and Saturday six of the students from our program took a nice weekend trip out of the mountains of Segovia and into the valley of Toledo. Below is a map to help show you all what I'm talking about:
Focus on the part in the middle that's green. That's the province of Madrid (with Madrid as its capital city). If you look above that part and to the left, you can see Segovia, and below that space and to the left you can see Toledo. Sorry all, I'm a bit of a geography nerd. So, I like maps. I hope this helps!
It was about 2 hours more or less by bus and metro. We took one bus early in the morning from Segovia to Madrid, took the metro from one bus station to another in Madrid's underground, and then another bus from Madrid to Toledo. The trip back was exactly the same (minor detail).
Because so much happened this weekend I want to say it all, but for the sake of this blog I'm just going to hit the major points of what we did and also what we were able to learn through the experience. What was interesting about this trip for us was that we went on our own, without the guidance of our directors. So, we were able to experience the city in a different way. And what we learned was (like in most other places in the country) is that two days is simply not enough to experience all of the history of the city. I suppose that means that I'm going to have to return there at some point later in my life. ;)
You may have heard of Toledo before, but probably in the case of the small city in the northwestern section of Ohio. This city is so much different. For those of who you don't know, Toledo is famous primarily for many things: Don Quijote and Sancho Panza, it's supreme swordsmanship (that actually helped to develop all of the materials for the Lord of the Rings movies we all know and love), and being a city rich with history of three very distinctly different cultures (Christianity, Islam, and Judaism). Also, if you're into art and literature, Miguel de Cervantes and El Greco were from there. And, if you walk through the city, you can see all of it! There are essences of all three cultures on every street, with sword/jewelry shops and Don Quijote statues on every street corner. I will be post a few pictures at the end.
While we were there a lot happened. We traveled all throughout the city for two whole days, walking almost 20 miles in two days on foot. We stayed in a hostel that was very cheap, very comfortable, and found right in the center of the city. While in Toledo, in that time we did the following things (in no particular order): took a bazillion pictures, ate at a local McDonald's (yes, there was one of them, and it was right next to the local Burger King), took a train tour through the city and went up to see the city from one of the most picturesque viewpoints in the hills, tried the local delicacy mazapan (a Muslim sweet treat that originated in Toledo), browsed what seemed like hundreds of shops filled with the most dazzling (and sometimes expensive) bling, explored the numerous roads through the city, got some SUN (because sun does not really exist in the mountains during the winter months), traveled to the outskirts of the city on the way back to the bus station the second day, hung out at a park and watched a rugby game, I dropped my iPhone and my first ever crack in the screen (that mysteriously rehealed a couple hours later), all sorts of things. It was probably one of the best decisions we could have made to do. Everything was so great. And what stunned me most of all was the landscape. As you will soon see, it's a city that really blows minds as far as the architecture goes. But what makes it MORE interesting is how they used the somewhat hilly landscape to generate such a bustling and festive place. And to know that the city was originally generated in the name of the Lord was really guay (cool). I'm truly thankful that I was able to experience that city. And I would love to go back sometime very soon.
Alright, everyone's favorite part! PICTURES! Here are just a few that I had from my arsenal of almost 200 from the weekend. Along with the photos are some brief descriptions of what's going on in each. :)
Above is the crazy amazing view of the outside ring of the city of Toledo (well, one of the parts of the ring). The landscape there is so rich and there are so many hills! Indiana has got NOTHING on this. This view was where the group staked out to eat lunch the first day we were there, and it was only about 5 minutes from our hostel.
This is the original Alcázar of Toledo. It was the original home to the King of Spain before the reign of Felipe II. Fun fact: Felipe II, one of the most powerful kings in Spain's history (aside from the Reyes Católicos), moved the capital city from Toledo to Madrid. Another fun fact: Toledo was the original capital city before it was moved to Madrid. Another fun fact: this building is now a public library and a military museum.
Like in Segovia, Toledo has another very prestigious military academy. This one however is the academy for the infantry. The academy in Segovia is the artillery academy. Both are extremely important. And flat out beautiful to boot!
This is the Cathedral of Toledo. It is one of the largest buildings in the city, and probably one of the most photographed things in the city. This shot actually shows up on almost every coffee mug and key chain that is sold within Toledo. It's a pretty big deal. Another fun fact: our hostel had a pretty good view of this building, so it was nice to see every time we walked out of our room onto the balcony. :)
So, I came across this guy a lot while we were in Toledo. I feel like he kept following me...oh well, I guess I can't complain about one of the most famous caballeros having a friend crush on me. But seriously, Don Quijote was everywhere! Oh, and Sancho Panza too. We actually had quite a few photo ops with them.
This is probably one of my favorite photos from the weekend. The historic center of the city on the left, the natural boundary of the Tajo river in the middle, and the military hill on the right. It's one of the most picturesque views of the city, and we got to take a tour that led us right up to it! Need I say more?
Alright, to end this post, I want to also make a point to mention the things that the Lord has been putting on my heart lately. As I progressed through this week, I could see nothing but subtle parts of his guidance throughout each experience. As I progress farther into the semester I can see just how much the Lord is building up more courage and determination within my heart. With each new experience, and being here is almost DAILY, I am slowly realizing more and more that even though this area of the world is different from the States, we really aren't all that different (in reality). It's cool to see so many differences and to learn so many new things, but it's also nice to know that people here are human too, and care about the same things we do: relationships, love, joy, spontaneity, excitement, and most of all: adventure. And being here, every day has the potential for every single one of those.
My post now comes to a close with these prayer requests:
- That the Lord may continue to be the center of my life and the life of those here in Spain
- That we may see the Lord's work and rejoice in each day
- That every experience (whether simple of extremely trying) may be an opportunity to learn more about the Lord's will and His plan for my life
- That the Lord's will may be done in all parts of the world (Europe, the United States, everywhere)
As I have mentioned before, I can't tell you how extremely blessed I am to have such an amazing group of people in my life. And as I live in Segovia longer and longer, I am realizing just how much that community is continuing to build here. I know this post was super long, but I am a man of many words. My next post will come very soon. I will continue to be praying for all of the things going on in the States, and I'm excited to see what has changed when I return. Before I know it, it will be here. But each day is a gift, and is certainly worthy of our enjoyment. I will leave you with this verse, in hopes that it will bring encouragement, just as it has for me.
"Trust in the Lord with ALL of your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." -Proverbs 3:5-6
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