Past e-mail posts

August 25

Things here are going great! I´m here at my first day of school, even though I don´t start class until 10:30, I am here at 9. Everyone else is in class, and I´m just sitting on the computer. It´s nice, because it´s quiet, and I can use the computer now, so I don´t have to use it when everyone else needs it. I timed it this morning, and it took Maggie and I 25 minutes to ride the bus from our house. We are going to ask them if there is any way that we can get another bus pass on them, so maybe they will feel bad and give us one. We are eating well, with lots of green tea and seafood. We have had lots of shrimp. Yesterday we mostly ate just leftovers from the week, but we got to hang out with Manuela´s other daughter, Lola (Lolita) and her finace Jose. The people here live very frugal lives,20which is very interesting. They don´t live to work, they work to live. People here don´t make as much money as they can, but rather enough money to survive. It is very different than the United States work ethic. People spend lots of time on meals, but there is nothing social that goes on in the home. For example, it´s NOT ok to bring friend over to the house, EVER. The home is viewed like a sanctuary. If you want to hang out with friends, you go meet somewhere. Also, you can go the there house and buzz up, and they will come down.... but you never have parties or anything inside the home. The little things here are very different. Yesterday, we re-arranged the furniture in the whole house. The furniture can move and fit every room. No room does only one thing. We also went swimming again, in a pool, which most people don´t have. It was fun last night, because Maggie and I went into the breezeway room, and set up a small lamp. Then we read, just the two of us, in scilence (as much as possible when you live 5 stories above a busy street and un parque de amates) and we just got to be. It was really fun.Maggie and I are getting along great. We have had some very deep discussions. We went to chuch yesterday, and it was very interesting. Not only was it Catholic Mass, but it was in Spanish, which made it even more confusing. It was fun though, because we were in a huge Cathedral. We plan on going every Sunday, just to have a cultural experience, and get a little connect with different churches. I have heard that there is also a protestant church (I think Baptist) somewhere outside the city, but nearby, so we might try to visit that church.Manuela y Ana don´t go to church, and Maggie and I both think that is why we were brought here. We are going to try to live a life that will reflect the way of the Lord. We are planning on inviting them to church with us in a couple of weeks. We are also planning on making them an AMERICAN meal, so if you have any suggestions, let me know. They have had hamburgers and pizza, so those are out. Let me know what you think. I don´t really know what else to tell you. Let me know if you have any questions. I´m just kind of going off what goes on here. If you want to recieve e'mails about what we are doing around town as a group, let me know what your e'mail is, and I will put you on the list. I love you all very much. I´m trying to avoid the crash of the culture shock, so I¨m trying not to love it here too much, or get too excited. I will e'mail again tomorrow, probably....Jessica


AUGUST 28

Hola Todos! So I have officially completed my first week in Spain! I can´t tell you all what I have been busy doing, because that would take forever, so I will hit the highlights...I have a "job" working at a local nursing home, which is run by nuns, which I will beginning next week. I´m really excited about it. I saw some nuns yesterday getting on the bus with me. They aren´t Sound of Music nuns, because they wear white, instead of the dark blue, but other than that, they are exactly the same!I took my first dance class this week! Although Flemencos is the offical dance of Spain, we will be learning Sevillano, which is the regional verson of the same dance. This one is much easier, though I must admit, is NOT easy. It´s fun though. We have 28 people in our group here, and I think 20 of them are doing the class. It´s a cardio workout, plus LOTS of laughing at the guys who have never done an actual dance step before.... (hahahahaha)Tomorrow we are going to Ronda, a city not too far from here. We are going to see one of the highest bridges in the world. It´s a beautiful city, and when we are done, we are going to the beach! Then Sunday we are going to a bull fight, which I´m super excited about. Although we missed the regional Tomatilla (Festival of Tomatoes) we will still have fun. The festival was yesterday, but it was about 7 hours away, and we all had classes. Bummer... But we got to watch=2 0lots of clips of it on TV. Sevilla and Spain are very concerned and paying very close attention the the coming up election in EEUU (The United States). It´s interesting to talk to people here about it. They definatly have an opinion... too bad they are ALL wrong... hehehe. Maggie (my housemate and good friend) and I have had the pleasure of spending lots of time on the bus. We will call this a cultural expereince, but it has been really interesting to observe how this culture really works. We found out just a day or two ago that our hose sisters boyfriends, who we have had meals with and met on multiple occasions, both speak English... FLUENTLY... So we were shocked, and a little mad, because we didn´t always understand, and then we would ask them questions in spanish. We would then say "Como se dice wetsuit" (for example) and they would pretend like they had no idea what we were talking about. Then we found out they spoke English, and we were REALLY mad, because they had understood us telling eachother, "I have no idea what´s going on..." and had kept talking. Jerks. It was funny, though. We love our family.Maggie, Jennifer and I are going to be having a Bible Study once a week in a local park. We plan on it just being us, but we are praying for God to provide the opportunity to share it with someone else. Our host family knows how we feel and what we believe, I think. We are going to try to get Ana to come with us maybe, be cause we are going to be studying the Proverbs woman. We also feel as though we have opportunities to minister to the people here in our group. I know we have one Mormon and one guy who doesn´t believ for sure, but I don´t know where everone else stands. We are finding a fun mix between experiencing the culture and being a light in the world. It´s interesting, you know, because the culture here is VERY different from the United States. Here are some cultural differences that I have noticed..-No one ever enters the house, unless they are family. A house is a sanctuary, not a local place. If you want to meet someone, you go out.-Everyone here takes public transportation-You only eat food that is healthy, that way you can eat more-Kids live with their families until they get married... no exceptions-There is no "bad words" in the home. Everything is just kind of out there-When Americans come to Spain, the spaniards talk FASTER, (if they don´t know you) so they can test your language skills-People don´t really want to know English-Spain is about 7-10 years behind the united states in TechnologyI will let you know more later, but I´m off to class, now!Te Amo!Jessica

SEPTEMBER 2

So we went to the most romantic city in the whole world this weekend. At least what part of the world I have seen, it´s been my absolute favorite....The city is called Ronda, and it was built many years ago. It started out as two cities, but they wanted to merge. These two cities happened to be built on the top of 2 mountians. The city is connected by a bridge, a HUGE bridge, that goes across the gourge between the two cities. From far away the city looked like Greece, with white buildings. The view from the bridge was magnificent. All the was very classic.... I will send a few pictures later. We then went to the city of Marbella. This is one of the most touristy places that we have been to. Most people spoke "English" there from England, I guess. We were on the coast of the Mediteranian, and so we got to swim in it! That was lots of fun. The beach was beautiful as well. It was nice for a change being able to look like you fit in somewhere. I seriously think there was more money here than in Hollywood, no joke. Classes have been going well. I had my first day of work with the Nuns yesterday. It went ok, but I´m not convinced that I ever want to go back there by myself. I didn´t really catch everything that was going on. A group of us is going tomorrow so that we can all work together. I´m still really excited about it though. I talked to a resident of the nursing home, Rosario, for over an hour yesterday. It was fun getting to know her! Here are some more interesting facts about Spaniards....-When riding the bus, which everyone does, they always stand in second position. (that´s dance lingo for their feet slightly closer than shoulder width apart)-Some of the grandmothers will swim with thier grandkids without a swim suit top on, and it´s no big deal-Cuss words here are not really offensive. They are thrown around A LOT... but no one seems to be offended-Everyone sleeps in until at least 8. Mostly 8:30 or 9, and then they work late. Siestas are my favorite part of the day-Time is a liquid thing, because of the public transportation that EVERYONE has to wait on....-Spaniards live with thier parents until they get married. Then they move out. Once thier parents get too old to live on thier own, they move back in with the married couple. -Everything here is much smaller than it is in the states-They don´t have A/C, and if they do, they don´t use it... I don´t know why.-They are all extremly enery efficent. They turn off lights EVERYTIME they leave the room, even if they are coming right back. They turn off the water heater after every shower....- In Sevilla, they quit building things underground, for example parking garages, because every time they would start digging, they would discover some ruins. They didn´t want to get evicted by the people studying it and the government, so although everything is built on some sort of ruins, they choose to ignore it, so they can continue to live in their houses...Just a little glimpse into my everyday life. I´m sure I will have more to tell later...I love you all! Keep me in your prayers....We (Maggie, Jen and I) are starting to get pretty deep into this God stuff...