My post this week is titled "Hometown Glory." You're probably wondering why that is. Well, as it turns out, this is the first weekend that I didn't do any traveling. So...I remained here in my lovely pueblo of Segovia all week. So, naturally, my entire post is going to be encompassing the events that all occurred within the hallowed walls of the historic center of this pre-Roman city (ok, and maybe outside of them too...I actually left the interior of the city and went outside, but more on that later).
So, where do I start? I guess I can start with my beginning of the week, Sunday. It was a very straightforward day. This sunday was a lot less active as it was the previous two weeks, but still very engaging! My friend Alec and I have started to feel less and less awkward each week we go, and this week continued to follow that trend. We are starting to remember names, get used to the routine of things, and even start to actively participate in all of the messages and studies that are going on. So, all in all it was a very solid morning! We talked about Matthew chapter 18. It's the story about when Jesus is telling his disciples about how reliance upon God is very similar to the qualities of children. In order to truly feel connected with the Lord, we have to return to these very qualities that often society leads us away from: innocence, humility, caring, and sincerity. We may possess these qualities, but we often lose our focus on those things and go towards the very opposite. But, we have to remember that it's ok to be reliant upon someone else. DEPENDENCE is a good thing! The Lord has it covered. That's what matters the most. And it's something I need to be reminded of every day. And it's something I have to think about and focus on COGNITIVELY. Because honestly, it's really hard for me to relinquish that control of my life. But when I do, life feels so much lighter. After that time, I went back to the house and had lunch with the family (as customary in Spanish culture). The rest of the day was very chill. I worked on homework, took a nice nap, ate some more for dinner. It was a good day.
Classes continue moving along very smoothly. I continue to progress through the material, and I think I'm finally starting to get a routine down. My art history class focuses a lot on visual guidance and powerpoint, with very sassy lecture from my art professor Elena. The class I'm taking on Spain and its importance in the European Union has been a lot about understanding the backstory of Spain's political history as a backbone for the current things in the EU today, and throughout the weeks we have taken many small trips around Segovia (weather permitting) to gain more perspective on the rich history that Spain has experienced. My literature class has been all about reading the novel "árbol de la ciencia," a very modernist (and frankly very pessimistic) Spanish novel written by Pío Baroja. The system of the class is we read for the class daily and then discuss those chapters during the class, connecting the themes of the book to the overarching theme and setting of the author's life at the time when he wrote it. The nice thing about this class is that there are no surprises. The hard thing about the class is that sometimes it can be a bit difficult to stay connected with the conversations we have during the period of time we're there. The last class I have is my business class, and that one is always something else. We start off every class by talking about random things going on in our lives here in Spain, geography (which I don't mind), or talking about the latest trends. For example, this past week we spent 10 minutes debating whether or not it was more valuable to read the Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings books before watching the movies. It was great. But in all seriousness, we are learning a lot in a very short period of time, seeing as this class only happens for one month of the four that we are here, so we have to get everything done quickly. But it's working out.
But you're probably wondering how I'm doing in my classes. Well, I would love to tell you, but...I haven't actually gotten any grades yet. To put it in perspective, I have been in classes for four full weeks now and just this past thursday I got my first assignment that I actually am going to receive a grade for. It's great, but it's stressful. Why you ask? Well...because even though I know the classes are not meant to be crazy ridiculous in difficulty, I still feel like that's what I should be experiencing because that's all I have dealt with for the last four and a half years of college. But...I'm still learning a TON outside of the classroom, and that's the best part of language studies. You can actually do that! Study abroad for the win.
Now, time for updates with all of my volunteer activities! This week, the wheels really got in motion. First, I will start with my meeting with Beatriz. The reason I'm doing that is because...well...I didn't meet with her this week. To recap, she is a student that is getting ready to have an interview for a scholarship that will allow her to study in the US for a month and a half, and I'm helping her develop some English before she goes into this interview. We didn't get a chance to meet, because as I mentioned before, she's an track and field star at her school in Madrid, and this week she had to train really hard for a competition she had this weekend. So...that happened. Praying that she did well though! We plan on meeting again this week to continue helping her along with her studies.
Blanca and Jaime continue to be teenagers. I meet with them twice a week for an hour to simply have conversations with them in English. It gives them a chance to develop more skills with hearing my voice, but also using theirs to speak English. This week was interesting because, like all of the other weeks, they continued to be preoccupied with very 14-year-old things. But...the more we get together, the more comfortable they are to talk with me about all kinds of stuff. And, if I ask them to do it in English, they do. :) That's something I'm really thankful for. They really are a great pair of kids. They just can be quite distracted sometimes. But here's another fun fact: Jaime is actually going to be going to Madrid this coming weekend to take his English exam to see if he will be able to travel to the US for a year to learn English. If you could pray for him, that would be cool. He's really excited about the opportunity, and I am too! I think he's going to do great, but a little bit more encouragement is always a good thing.
Qudos, the English school I work at, continues to be a blast. Of all the experiences I'm having here in Spain, I would say that I'm really learning a lot about myself personally from this one. The reason I say that is because the more I lead out classes and get to know the staff more, the more I feel like this is something I could do for a full-time job. The internship continues to be really helpful for just being active in the lives of others that are trying to better their lives through English. And, honestly, it's really inspiring for me. I love being able to help in any way that I can. I have started to realize that I appreciate the English language more now that I live in Spain than I ever did in the United States. English is so valuable to so many people here, but it's so taken advantage of in the US. And, even after studying language education for as long as I have, I still am guilty of taking advantage of my own language. It's been really eye-opening, and I hope that it continues to be that way. I love being able to interact with so many interesting people, get to know them personally by conversing with them in English, and also learning about myself in the process. It really is quite amazing. And I love working side-by-side with a Spaniard, a Brit, and an American. It really doesn't get more interesting than that. The interesting thing that happened this week is actually something that happened through my co-worker Luke. See, Luke is from Britain and, until a year ago, had never learned English. So...when he came to Spain to teach English, he dived in head first by living among the Spanish people. But, where he lived in Segovia was too expensive, so he moved. Where did he move to? Well...he moved in with a woman and her 10-year-old son and is now their flatmate. It works out well for all of them, because he has a cheaper place to live, she has help paying the bills, and the son has another guy around the house!
Where am I going with this? Well...this lady (Mónica) actually has a real knack for helping people learn Spanish more fluidly. Essentially, she is really good at cracking the whip, but in a very loving way. She works at a local coffee shop that's actually less than a block from her house, and Luke and I decided to stop there after work one day for coffee. We hung out, shot the breeze, and found out that she's actually very good at assisting us both in our Spanish. See...she too moved here knowing no Spanish. And another fun fact: she's 100% Polish! And she speaks fluent Polish. So...after being here 10 years and working and raising her son, she has become very much a native. So, it's cool to learn from a person who has truly picked it up by just living it. And it's inspiring. And ultimately it's encouraging, because often times I feel my ability is so poor, but then I remember that I have been studying the language for 9 years. And I was blessed with the opportunity to take classes to understand another language better. I'm always being reminded of just how well off I really am and have been most of my life. As I mentioned before in another post, being here in Spain has been nothing but a humbling experience. And Lord, I'm thankful for it. It's nice to learn the ropes and be more cognizant of the subtle blessings within life.
The last part of this week is probably the most interesting. As I mentioned last week, I had the opportunity to talk with the professors of English at the local military academy about possibly getting the chance to help the students and also the officers with their English. And, this week, that started to happen. The way it works is that the internship I will be doing with the cadets and the officers will happen in two parts: one hour in the morning, and one hour in the afternoon. The morning hour will be done with the cadets (the students in the Academy) and the English professors, having lessons and conversations with them in English. The afternoon consists of classes for the commanding officers and non-commission officers that work at the Academy. So, basically what that means for me is that I simply attend the lessons in the morning and speak with the students while the professor is there. In the afternoon, I plan activities to do for an hour with them that allow them to work on all aspects of the English language: reading, writing, speaking, and listening.
This week I didn't have any morning classes, because the cadets were out of Segovia working in another site. But I did start working with the officers in the afternoon, and it was quite interesting. My friend Andrew and I both have our own groups. Andrew works with the more advanced students, while I am working with the lower levels. So...for me, I am working with people who know a little English and how it works, but have never really gotten the opportunity to work with the language. And...that's a daunting task. At least, at first, it seemed that way. But, of course, I was pleasantly surprised to see that most of the students really are a lot farther along than they think. This week we started with the basics: description of people. So during class, the students worked with using basic descriptive adjectives to describe themselves. Later on we worked with learning the different members of the family and trying to describe them. It was really cool to be able to start from the very beginning, because that means they are very moldable. They are in the same boat as first year students learning Spanish in the United States. But, there is one major difference: these students all actually WANT to learn. And, they have grace for me and my teaching. See, teaching English is not as easy as it seems. Because unlike Spanish, I didn't learn the language from a textbook descriptive point of view. So...it's harder to make things simpler to understand for those who have not studied the language before. I'm really thankful for this class and their compassion. It makes it a lot easier to break the ice. And after a week I can see they really desire to learn, even if it's just trying to remember basic vocabulary and sentence structure. We have two months together. If they can learn even a little bit more than they knew before, I think we will all be quite happy. :)
So...that's my life from the volunteering aspect. And I've just realized that so far there have been no pictures posted for this post. Well...have no fear! I'm about to put some on. Of what you ask? Well, remember how I said that I didn't leave Segovia to travel? Well...I didn't mention that we may have traveled to different things within the city. And with more free time from travel during the weekend, there was a lot of opportunity to explore the city that we actually call home. And, let me just say right now, it's really beautiful. And, I want to make sure I share some of that beauty with you.
This past wednesday, our program has a really cool excursion through Segovia that took up a total of three hours! And, it replaced our classes for that day (well...all of them that started after 11 anyways, but for me that's three out of four!). Anyways, this trip took us to the outskirts of the city to the Casa de Moneda de Segovia. In English, it's the Segovian Coin Mint. Below are a couple of pictures.
This is the front entrance to the mint. Before entering we got a brief backstory of the place from our literature professor, Paco Otero.
Within the museum part, there is a small model of the mint. We actually traipsed through most of this building, its two levels, the exterior, and also the bridge and courtyard around the outside. It was quite fun.
This is just one of the many examples of the hydraulic power mechanisms throughout the museum. It may not be used for money production anymore, but it's still really cool to see!
Fun fact about this place: it was the first industrial business in the WORLD. Yes, folks. In the world. It was build in the mid 16th century, during the reign of King Felipe II. It was generated to form currency for the country of Spain during his very powerful reign. The reason it was created at this time was because, in this period, Spain owned literally most of the world. So, what better way to demonstrate power? Create money of course. I mean...they had the resources. So why not?! But we spent a lot of time seeing all of the history, the ins and outs of the factory style of the building, and we got to see the exterior. Now, it isn't used to produce money (obviously). There are other mints that have been created since then. But the mechanisms used to generate the money are still very much put to use. Now, as a museum! We got to learn all about the hydraulic power that they used from the Erasma River right outside of the building, learn about all of the previous kings and queens of Spain and the types of money they produced, and see the progression of the city with the passing of time. It was quite great! And the walk back from the mint was fabulous. :)
After the mint, we took a stroll (tomamos un paseo) through the fuencisla (courtyard) of the old castle Alcazar after finishing our tour and stopped by one of the more prominent churches here in Segovia (outside of the Cathedral of course).
While walking around outside we got to see ducks! And, there was a guy having a smoke outside and throwing break to them. So, when he saw us, he handed us the bread and decided to finish the job. Definitely a fun moment.
And, as per the usual, I took a second to take a shameless selfie with the castle. It's just too majestic to not do it.
The church was called the church of San Juan de la Cruz. We got to hear the backstory of the place and take a peek inside it before it closed for siesta. Below are a couple of pictures I was able to snap.
And that wasn't the only excursion I was able to take this week. Since most of the group was traveling to other areas of the country (or even outside of it), there weren't many of us that stuck around Segovia. But for those of us that did we decided to take our own adventure! So...what better place to explore than the landscape? For most of us, the first weekend we were here was the opportunity to learn all about the interior of the city. This time, especially now that it is a little bit warmer, we took the time to explore the outside of the city and even some of the hills! Total, we walked almost 15 miles, climbed all kinds of hills and had the chance to see a lot of really cool buildings and sights. Here's some pictures of what we came across:
This is the probably one of the best photos I took during the adventure. After scaling the many hills, we stopped to snap a photo of the entire ring of the city. On the left is the first gothic monastery, the Parral. In the center is the Cathedral of Segovia. And on the right, Alcazar. And then, there's everything in between. It's quite the sight!
Another more vivid pic of all of the crazy awesome sights in Segovia. The blue roof is actually the same mint I mentioned above.
While exploring, we stopped to take a break to ingest all of the beauty. While doing so, my friend Becca and I decided to be adventurous and get a shot of her sitting on the edge of this mini-cliff. Don't worry, there was a pool below to break her fall if she fell off. ;) We made sure before we decided to do it.
Another selfie with the castle. In my opinion, I think this one was better.
So many hills. So many angles. So many opportunities for great photos. I think I'm going to use this one for a postcard in the future.
This is the path that we took on the way back from the hills. We passed the castle, all of the rocks below it, and of course, the river bridge. It was a great end to a beautiful afternoon.
To finish this post, I thought I would continue the process of sharing what's been going on in my life personally. Honestly, since I got here a month ago, I can't really believed all that has really happened. Every day, I wake up thinking to myself just how lucky I am to be here. I think about all of the things I have already experienced, the things I'm going to continue to experience while I'm here, and I don't think I can thank the Lord enough for all of it. But, this week, the experience really started to sink in. And, in some ways, the struggles became a bit more real. Last week, I mentioned that the "honeymoon phase" of this study abroad semester had ended. This week brought about another level of realness, and in some ways it really struck me in a tough way. I started to think about just how much I really had to do. I am volunteering with three students, working two internships, and taking classes. Some would say, "yikes." And this week, so did I. The thing about all of this is that it all happens in four days! I don't have any commitments friday, saturday, and sunday. So...in ways, the whole thing is very unbalanced, with four days from the hot place and three of absolute tranquility. There really is no balance. Now, don't get me wrong. I have been LOVING all of the experiences I have been able to have here in Segovia. The imbalance is more time than difficulty. Those four days sometimes I think to myself that there aren't enough hours in the day. But then, at the end of the day, I feel like I could do this all the time. It all depends on my perspective.
But, all things aside, what has really been a struggle has been my personal walk with the Lord. With the list of things I do each day, I find myself putting the Lord on the backburner during the week. And I'm sure that's where my instability has been coming from mentally. The few instances I get to have with God during the day are so great, but they are heavily outmatched by the laundry list I have during the week. But even in this, I am still learning. This time, it's the importance of time management and even the importance of down time by myself. Since I don't get it that much during the week, it is essential that I find a way to make it happen then. Because I have experienced great relief when I am reminded just how much easier things are when I am in fact not in control. God's got it. He always does. And he has shown that in so many instances, even when I have been pulled down to my last straw. The interesting thing is that that's where God does his greatest work within me. And I'm sure that this process will continue to develop more and more as the semester goes along.
Prayer requests:
- A stronger sense of time management in the long list of things during the week
- A stronger desire to make time to spend with the Lord
- Energy and joy through all of the experiences that I have with others here, so that His will may be edified in every situation
- Greater understanding of the culture I'm experiencing and living here in Spain
This week has been all about experiencing the wonders of the very city I live in. As I go through the next few weeks, I am going to be doing a lot of traveling, working on a lot of things that will affect me in the future part of the semester, and really trying to engage more and more with the Lord in what he really wants me to learn while I'm abroad. I'm constantly experiencing culture in new ways here, and every day truly is a learning experience. To end, I will leave you with two verses that have been speaking to my heart a lot in the last few days. One I have been reminded of almost daily, the other I just stumbled across this morning when I was sitting with the Lord. They are a reminder to me that the Lord is the ultimate stress reliever, and ultimately because of him all I can do is give him all of my praise, because that's exactly what he deserves. Thank you again for your patience and your desire to continue following all of the things that are going on here in Spain. I love you all and I'm so thankful for each and every one of you!
"Come to me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." -Matthew 11:28-30
"Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation." -Isaiah 12:2
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