Halloween

Hmm... it´s been a long time. Yeah for not having much internet access.

It´s a holiday again tomorrow, so I have today off also -- this time a long weekend. I got to sleep in a bit this morning, and have been chilling around Isaac and Miriam´s house all day today. One would think I would be all caught up on emails and such, but it´s amazing how time flies.

I was, however, able to put some more pictures up, so check those out. I added a few more of Segovia, and there are even some more recent ones of the girls I live with and my living arrangements. We are still living with Grandma far away, but should be moving in the next week or so (for real this time!), so that will be nice.

All continues to go well, although I am currently a bit congested. The weather is gorgeous here, but I do miss the beautiful Fall setting of Greenville and Charlotte (which are practically the country, compared to the city of Madrid).

It's Halloween today, but it's not celebrated much around here (it's becoming more well known as the years go on, but trick-or-treating is still not common). We did do some crafts with the kids last week, cutting out bats and singing songs about skeletons that lose fingers. It's amazing how stuff like that can be educational -- learning body vocabulary and counting backwards. Haha. The joys of being 6 years old, when learning how to count 10-8-6-4-2-0 in English is practically the hardest thing you do all week!

Anyway, instead of trick-or-treating, I think we're gonna go see The Legend of Zorro, since it came out this weekend. My sister saw it already and said it was good.

Thanks for those of you who have sent me emails with updates from home. Makes me feel at least somewhat connected to the Anglo-speaking world.

Soli Deo Gloria...

Segovia

Hey guys!

One super thing about Spain is that their holidays don´t always purposely fall on Mondays or Fridays. For example, yesterday was a holiday and it was Wednesday.

Around 10am, Isaac and his friend Danny picked me up in Danny´s car, and we went to Segovia, a small town about an hour from Madrid that´s known for it´s aqueduct. You may remember the pics I took from 2 years ago. Haha.

Isaac took over the camera, so I got a bunch of pics. I put some of them up, but haven´t had time to put all of them or add captions yet... maybe this weekend. Danny took some of the 2 of us too, but he hasn´t sent them to us yet.

We toured the fort there in Segovia, had lunch, and overall just wandered around. On our way home, it started raining -- Praise the Lord! We need rain here very badly.

Soli Deo Gloria...

first week of school

I know, it´s been a long time since I last wrote. Sorry about that.

I started classes this week at the elementary school. Things are going well, but the other language assistant hasn´t arrived yet, so I´m spending all day at the school. Hopefully once she arrives, I can cut 1 hour off my work day. The biggest problem is that the commute is 2 hours -- each way. The good news is that it´s all public transportation, so I can listen to my iPod (best bday present ever!) or read my book (getting close to the end of the 800-page novel I brought with me) and keep occupied.

The kids are cute. I would note a slight lack of discipline (as in, they don´t like to be quiet and listen), but that´s probably normal for a group of +/-20 6-year-olds, especially since we teach completely in English, of which they know very little.

Things at the house are going fine. Don´t feel "at-home" kind of comfortable yet, but that´s ok. I sleep there, eat there, and work there... and spend my weekends with my friends from the church. The girls are totally spoiled and have some trouble with authority, but for the most part we get along fine, and I can already see an improvement in their English.

Yesterday was Isaac´s birthday, so we wandered around the city seeing new (for me) places and riding the cable car that goes over the city. In the evening was Bible study, and of course he got treated to dinner when we all went out afterwards. Today at lunch someone had made a cake for him and we all sang "cumpleaños feliz." 24... how ancient ;)

Tomorrow is back to the daily grind. However (one serious benefit of living in Spain) they have mid-week holidays sometimes. So... Wed is a holiday (I don´t know what we´re celebrating, but who cares?). I also don´t know what I´m going to do, but I´m sure it will include seeing my friends from church.

To those of you who have sent emails, keep them coming! I hate that I can´t usually respond personally, but with approx 1 hour/week of internet access, I can´t even reply to my own mother! So don´t feel bad...

Soli Deo Gloria...