It is now Sunday, 2 days since I flew out from Jackson to Alcala. Needless to say, I have been up to more than a little bit. The journey from Jackson to Madrid took somewhere around 15 hours. The flight across the Atlantic was actually pretty awesome. I was quite taken aback when they offered people in 2nd class wine for refreshment. It served as a sort of welcome to Europe for me. Though I did not sleep much, I had a great time talking to the very cool Delta flight attendants.
I had been nervous for quite a while about my host family. For you unawares, I will be spending my two months in Spain with a random family that takes me in. My worries were completely unfounded. When I was introduced to the family, we all had a great time. There are three people in the family: the mother Gema and her sons Daniel and Carlos. Daniel and Gema picked me up from the bus. I was quite surprised when Daniel started speaking to me in fluent English. Turns out that Spain has a pretty good educational system. We discussed philosophy (which is a mandatory high school subject in Spain) all the way home where Daniel entertained me with his guitar playing. Unfortunately I left my piano back home so I couldn't serenade my host home. On a more positive note, I did get to make up words to a flamenco song Daniel played. I loudly sung about my grandfather (first word I could think of in Spanish) to the family. We had a really good time hanging out and being goofy together. Gema then cooked an exceptionally good meal of Spanish rice, beans, chicken, topped with olive oil and vinegar. That night Carlos invited me to play soccer with him that night. Needless to say, I have a the best host home in the whole world.
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| My new family: (l to r) Daniel, Gema, Carlos |
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| Why yes, I do know that I have a farmer's tan. |
That night I got to go hang out with some friends and eat Spanish food. After spending an inordinate amount of time buying cell phones, we went to eat at a Tapas Bar. Tapas are places that serve appetizers only. We all ate a bunch of good Spanish appetizers and enjoyed life together. Lots of good times to be had by all. That night I got the first good night's sleep in a long while. By that time, I had only slept one hour in the past day and a half.
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| Me taking a nap in Movistar phone company. Unfortunately for me, Europeans traditionally do not fall asleep in phone stores. |
Sunday morning I got up and went to a Pentecostal church with Daniel. Daniel became a Christian 4 months ago. He told me that most of the Spanish youth are Christian in name only or don't care about religion. When he converted, he lost most of his friends because of his faith. After hearing all of this, I was amazed at 1) how joyful he was despite this and 2) how much he loved Christ regardless of what others thought. As a Christian, I felt more than a little bit challenged to be live my life completely for Christ. In church, I was largely clueless as to what was being said, but I did catch understand all of the scriptures. Whenever the pastor would read something, I knew what the passage spoke about because I have read through the Bible in English.
I got out of church and Bible study at 5pm. I was surprised about that too. Though It was long, I was very glad to be there. The main service lasted from 10 until 2. At 2, Daniel, a friend of his, and I went to eat food. His friend was wearing a shirt in Spanish that said that he had survived a roundhouse kick to the face by Chuck Norris. Chuck Norris is revered worldwide it seems. After lunch we had a bible study from 3 until 4:45. After church, I mostly just talked with my family. As it is 2:15 and I have class tomorrow, I think I will call it a night.
Hasta la Vista,
Ottpocket
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