my second week here has been even better than the first! it still feels like a dream to me, i don't know if it's ever going to feel real! here's what went down this week...
monday 7/5: finally changed levels today! stayed with virginia in level 5 for grammer, but after break, we switched levels. i'm in level 8 now. much better! now i'm not bored out of my mind! my level 8 convo teacher is luisa. let me tell you about luisa. she's a very loud, very opinionated, very intimidating person. but she's fun too. i have to admit, i was a little afraid of her in that first class. all my friends and i from level 5 are split up, which makes me very sad. alexa went to 7, i went to 8, david went to 9, and kathryn went to 10! ah well, i guess i just have to make new, new friends. after class, we came back and took a little siesta. we were still trying to catch up on sleep from the weekend, so a siesta was a must. on monday afternoons, we have spanish film "class". we don't have to go, but i like spanish films, so we went. we ended up watching "la lengua de las mariposas", "the language of the butterflies", which was about the before and beginning of the spanish civil war in the 1930s. it was a very interesting movie. quite sad, although most movies like that are. even though i like spanish films, this one had unnecessary nudity and sex in it. there was no point to it, and you aren't even warned! ugh. ever since fransisco franco died and the censorship was lifted, the spanish have just got hog wild. anything goes with them. it seems to me like they are in their hippie phase, like our 1970s, but with more technology, and no war to protest at the moment. everyone here smokes and drinks, and pretty much does whatever. they view life as one big party that we are meant to enjoy, in any way possible. i can almost hear them screaming "free love!" at me. my heart breaks for them. they are all looking for the something that's missing in their lives, they're scrambling to find something to fill that hole, but what they don't realize, is that it's a God-shaped hole, and nothing can ever fill it but GOD. and then there's the catholic church. don't even get me started on the catholic church. toledo is and has been known as the city of three religions: catholicism, judaism, and muslim, and is well-represented by each in architecture and style throughout the city. sunday night, haley was telling us about the conversation she had with her spanish brother david about beliefs and religion. he was telling her how much he and his family hate the catholic church and how christians are all hypocrites. she just tried to explain to him how she believes that it takes a daily and personal relationship with Christ Jesus our Savior. she said he seemed receptive, but at the end, he brushed it off as being interested in every religion. but as we were walking home, i got the idea to have my mom send me the spanish bible that i have at home. i got it last year on the mission trip to new orleans, and i've been hanging on to it ever since then, trying to figure out who i could give it to. and almost a year later, God places that someone in my life. i don't know if because of this, their family will come to accept Christ, but God has opened the door of opportunity, and i can't pass that up, not when an eternal life is in the balance.
tuesday 7/6: had my new grammar teacher for the first time this morning! ana made me feel very welcome in her class. she told the class that no one should worry about the pressure of being right or wrong when answering a question, because people make mistakes. she makes that class fun! convo is always interesting with luisa. she just talks, talks, talks, talks, talks. haha. after lunch today, elyssa and i didn't feel like a siesta, so we went out and walked around zocodover, and we stopped in the little cafe place and had batidos, which are basically just milkshakes, not my favorite here, but i guess they're fine. around 7:00, we had our dance class. i feel like i'm not that good at it, but it was a lot of fun trying to learn it! after dinner, we were itching for something to do, so we walked to zocodover.
wednesday 7/7: today did not start off well. i started getting a headache on tuesday night, and by early morning wednesday, it was really bad. when i get bad headaches, i need dark and quiet, so i stayed in bed. it was weird not going to class, but i knew if i did, i wouldn't be able to function later. at lunchtime, i went down and ate with elyssa and pamela, i don't even remember what we ate. spain played germany tonight, and thankfully, my headache was gone by then. i don't know how i didn't have one after, or even during, that game. it was quite a game! so nerve-wracking! but i knew espana could do it! haynes said spain would never make it, well look at who's in the FINALS! after the awesome win, some of our nabraska friends invited us to have drinks and tapas, like appetizers, with them at a bar close to zocodover. it was fun, we just chilled. we were exhausted, so we decided to go home and sleep.
thursday 7/8: class today was fun. we talked about don quijote and how he was such a huge literary figure in spain. luisa, my convo. teacher asked us to come up with a literary character that our whole country identifies with. it was so hard! i don't feel like there is one literary character that our whole country identifies with. when we finally decided on one, it was huck finn. i guess that huck finn as a character, and mark twain as a writer are important parts of american literature. thursday afternoon and night, us girls got together and decided what to do for our free weekend. we threw around a few ideas like granada, barcelona, and valencia. we finally decided on valencia and started planning things. there were no hostels in valencia with available lodging for friday and saturday night, so we started looking for a hotel. we found a pretty nice hotel for about 100Euros for both nights. the only thing was, it was a 2-person room, and we had 5 people. so we decided that we could fit 5 people in a 2-person room, so we booked it. then we got online to buy train tickets. we found cheap(er) tickets from madrid to valencia on the slower train, so we decided to go ahead and get them. well, when we were purchasing them, something went wrong with the website, and the tickets weren't bought. rachel and haley had to leave to catch the last bus so they could go home. so i spent the next hour trying to figure out what had happened and if we could find other tickets. the only tickets i could find were tickets for the high-velocity train, which were double what we were going to pay for the slower train. we were really bummed, because none of us were planning on spending that much money on this trip; we were trying to go as cheaply as possible. so i left the computer alone for a little while, trying to figure out what we could do. about 20 minutes later, i got back on the website to check to see if we could get the tickets, and they were there! those tickets had not been there 20 minutes ago! so we bought the tickets, and we were back to our original plan: take the bus from toledo to madrid, 5E; take the slow train from madrid to valencia, 23E; stay in valencia for 2 nights, 20E/person; slow train from valencia to madrid, 23E; high-velocity train from madrid to toledo, 10E. and we were going to the market to get some food to take with us so we didn't have to buy too much food once we got there. it was a great plan, i just wish it had gone the way we planned. but that's another story for another time. ciao!
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Thursday, July 8, 2010
end of week one
the days are flying by and i've been so busy! let me catch you up on the last few fun-filled days here in toledo (and other places!)
thursday 7/1: we went to classes as usual, but during our second class, we went to one of the other university buildings to listen to the director of the cervantes institute (as in miguel de cervantes, as in the author of don quixote). it was boring, and she talked so fast that i couldn't understand much of what she was saying. after lunch, there was a big storm that seemed to come out of nowhere! good thing i was inside when it happened! we pretty much just relaxed for the rest of the day, did homework, listened to music.
friday 7/2: classes as usual. nothing too exciting. virginia, my grammar teacher, keeps telling me and my three friends that we're going to move up levels, but we still weren't going to change yet! it was so frustrating sitting in class not being challenged at all. after class, we went back to RUF for lunch and a siesta. after our wonderful siesta, haley, elyssa, rachel, pamela, and i decided to do a little souvenir shopping for our people back home. we at dinner at cafe toledo in la plaza zocodover, where we had pizza. i know what you're thinking. pizza in spain, what? i thought the same thing, too, but it was delicious! and after our delicioso dinner, we got helado (ice cream) from a cute little shop and took pictures around zocodover. so much fun!
saturday 7/3: this morning, we walked to meet the rest of our excursion group at the hotel cardenal. after waiting for 30 minutes for the buses in the cold rain, we boarded and were on our way to segovia! it takes about 2 hours to get to segovia from toledo, so most of us took an early little siesta. when we got to segovia, it was still raining, but that didn't stop us from having a good time. the first thing we did was go to the alcazar, which is spanish for castle fortress. MY FIRST CASTLE!!! and walt disney used this castle as a model for sleeping beauty's castle! my favorite! :D it was a little gloomy outside, but the alcazar was unlike anything i had ever seen. we took a tour of the alcazar, and it was very informative. "I-CAN'T-BELIEVE-I'M-IN-A-REAL-CASTLE" was what was going through my head the entire time. a real.life.castle. i almost peed. ANYWAYS... after the castle tour, we climbed what felt like 3456754678 tiny, narrow, spiral staircase stairs to get to the top of the turret. the view was breathtaking. there was a garden maze that you could see from the top, along with the famous royal gardens of segovia, right next to the river. it didn't rain the whole time we were in the castle, but as soon as we came out, it started up again. ugh. but it's ok, because that only lasted for a little while longer, and then it cleared up! we had lunch at a fancy restaurant next, and for dessert, i had my first spanish flan! i've had mexican before, and it's pretty much the same thing. elyssa and i got seated at the same table with these two guys from the university of nebraska-lincoln named ben and spencer. we kept them pretty entertained with our lovely southern accents. they were a lot of fun too. they hung out with us, well spencer went off with some friends of his, but ben stayed with us while we visited la catedral de segovia. after our free time, everyone regrouped and marched off to see the roman aqueducts. they were beautiful. they go as far as the eye can see. crazy to think that this was built BEFORE machines were invented, huh? i mean, manual labor, what's that? quite impressive. by this time, the sun was shining and it got pretty warm outside, but it was time to make the trip back to toledo. as soon as we got back, we went to RUF and changed into our futbol game attire. i didn't have a red or espana shirt, but they were selling them at the game, so i just planned on buying one there. we booked it back up to la plaza de toros. there were sooo many people there. and they were mostly drunk. we watched spain beat portugal 1:0, sending all the spaniards into a frenzy. you think football games are crazy? try being with hundreds of spaniards whose team has never made it this far in the world cup. talk about party. we walked home and all you could see was red, and all you could hear was the roar of the continuous cheers, "ESPANA! ESPANA! ESPANA!" what a rush. we stopped to eat dinner at a little outdoor cafe, where we ate pulgas de tortilla espanola. SO GOOD. definitely my new favorite here. we were still pretty hyped up from our exciting day, and some of our nebraska friends were telling us about the discotecas, so we decided to check it out. none of us had ever been to a club before, let alone one in a foreign country. so we hiked home and changed into something that resembles what girls wear, and took a cab to the disco. after we were dropped off, we finally found the discotecas, and we went in. they are all outside, which i think is cool, because everyone's not crammed into some building. we found out that at discotecas here, no one really dances, unless they're drunk, and then they dance very stupidly. most of them stand on the dance floor and talk. but we wanted to dance, so we jump out there and start doing our little white girl moves. it was fun, i guess. i'm glad i have that experience, but i don't think i'll go back. we got home at about 3:30 AM, and crashed.
sunday 7/4: we all slept in today, since saturday was a forever-long day for us. we slept till about 1:30 pm. !!! we had lost half a day! elyssa, pamela, and i decided to shower and go find some brunch. we ended up at el cafe de las monjas (cafe of the nuns) and had blueberry crepes. mmm. blueberries are my favorite. we went to haley's host home for make a 4th of july dinner for her spanish family. when we got there, we read scripture with each other and prayed, and had a pretty intense conversation about what each of us believes and pretty much our testimonies. then we cooked dinner and ate with haley's family. we ended up staying too late, and the buses weren't running anymore, so we walked home. it took us about 25 minutes to walk all the way home, but it wasn't too bad. by now, we're kind of used to walking everywhere.
saturday 7/3: this morning, we walked to meet the rest of our excursion group at the hotel cardenal. after waiting for 30 minutes for the buses in the cold rain, we boarded and were on our way to segovia! it takes about 2 hours to get to segovia from toledo, so most of us took an early little siesta. when we got to segovia, it was still raining, but that didn't stop us from having a good time. the first thing we did was go to the alcazar, which is spanish for castle fortress. MY FIRST CASTLE!!! and walt disney used this castle as a model for sleeping beauty's castle! my favorite! :D it was a little gloomy outside, but the alcazar was unlike anything i had ever seen. we took a tour of the alcazar, and it was very informative. "I-CAN'T-BELIEVE-I'M-IN-A-REAL-CASTLE" was what was going through my head the entire time. a real.life.castle. i almost peed. ANYWAYS... after the castle tour, we climbed what felt like 3456754678 tiny, narrow, spiral staircase stairs to get to the top of the turret. the view was breathtaking. there was a garden maze that you could see from the top, along with the famous royal gardens of segovia, right next to the river. it didn't rain the whole time we were in the castle, but as soon as we came out, it started up again. ugh. but it's ok, because that only lasted for a little while longer, and then it cleared up! we had lunch at a fancy restaurant next, and for dessert, i had my first spanish flan! i've had mexican before, and it's pretty much the same thing. elyssa and i got seated at the same table with these two guys from the university of nebraska-lincoln named ben and spencer. we kept them pretty entertained with our lovely southern accents. they were a lot of fun too. they hung out with us, well spencer went off with some friends of his, but ben stayed with us while we visited la catedral de segovia. after our free time, everyone regrouped and marched off to see the roman aqueducts. they were beautiful. they go as far as the eye can see. crazy to think that this was built BEFORE machines were invented, huh? i mean, manual labor, what's that? quite impressive. by this time, the sun was shining and it got pretty warm outside, but it was time to make the trip back to toledo. as soon as we got back, we went to RUF and changed into our futbol game attire. i didn't have a red or espana shirt, but they were selling them at the game, so i just planned on buying one there. we booked it back up to la plaza de toros. there were sooo many people there. and they were mostly drunk. we watched spain beat portugal 1:0, sending all the spaniards into a frenzy. you think football games are crazy? try being with hundreds of spaniards whose team has never made it this far in the world cup. talk about party. we walked home and all you could see was red, and all you could hear was the roar of the continuous cheers, "ESPANA! ESPANA! ESPANA!" what a rush. we stopped to eat dinner at a little outdoor cafe, where we ate pulgas de tortilla espanola. SO GOOD. definitely my new favorite here. we were still pretty hyped up from our exciting day, and some of our nebraska friends were telling us about the discotecas, so we decided to check it out. none of us had ever been to a club before, let alone one in a foreign country. so we hiked home and changed into something that resembles what girls wear, and took a cab to the disco. after we were dropped off, we finally found the discotecas, and we went in. they are all outside, which i think is cool, because everyone's not crammed into some building. we found out that at discotecas here, no one really dances, unless they're drunk, and then they dance very stupidly. most of them stand on the dance floor and talk. but we wanted to dance, so we jump out there and start doing our little white girl moves. it was fun, i guess. i'm glad i have that experience, but i don't think i'll go back. we got home at about 3:30 AM, and crashed.
sunday 7/4: we all slept in today, since saturday was a forever-long day for us. we slept till about 1:30 pm. !!! we had lost half a day! elyssa, pamela, and i decided to shower and go find some brunch. we ended up at el cafe de las monjas (cafe of the nuns) and had blueberry crepes. mmm. blueberries are my favorite. we went to haley's host home for make a 4th of july dinner for her spanish family. when we got there, we read scripture with each other and prayed, and had a pretty intense conversation about what each of us believes and pretty much our testimonies. then we cooked dinner and ate with haley's family. we ended up staying too late, and the buses weren't running anymore, so we walked home. it took us about 25 minutes to walk all the way home, but it wasn't too bad. by now, we're kind of used to walking everywhere.
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