No puedo creer que casi perdí una experiencia
tan fantástica en mi vida. En septiembre cuando llegue a España era un tiempo difícil.
Subí algo como 5-10 kilos en los primeros días. Siempre estaba perdido. Casi no
entendí nada, y no hice mucho mejor con hablar. Después de esos problemas, vino
el desafío más grande. No sabia que la junta ya tuvo citas para cada auxiliar
en la oficina de extranjeras y yo fui solo. Era un desastre y cuando regrese a
casa, hacia mis maletas y compró un billete de vuelta a los Estados Unidos.
Yo estoy tan gracioso que mi banco en los
Estados Unidos rechazó la transacción. Todavía
no era fácil hasta por lo menos el fin de octubre. Pero en eso tiempo empecé a
hacer amigos y no tenía que quedar solo siempre en la casa. Y ahora tengo
muchos amigos nuevos en España. Me he encontrado con algunos amigos desde mi
hogar. Y ahora, es muy difícil que
salir.
Despedir a los alumnos y compañeros de
trabajo era difícil. Despedir a algunos amigos hoy (y algunos más
mañana) era difícil. Y ahora que estoy concentrando en limpiar y hacer mis
maletas, mi mente sigue pensando en las ultimas ocho meses y la gente con quien
he estado bendecido. El mes pasado uno de esos amigos me dijo: “No es donde viajes, es la gente quien
conozcas.” También él me acordaba que siempre tendré un amigo en Sevilla.
Gracias a todos vosotros. Espero mucho
que nuestras vidas y caminos cruzan de nuevo. Si estáis in los Estados Unidos
un día, por favor, avísame. Y espero que pueda visitaros en España algún día
pronto en el futuro.
It’s hard to believe that I almost missed
out on such a wonderful time in my
life. In September when I arrived to Spain I had a very rough time. I lost
something like 15-20 pounds in my first four days here. I was always lost. I
barely understood anything and didn’t do a lot better expressing my own
thoughts. I had trouble eating; I had trouble getting a phone; and then the
biggest challenge came. I didn’t realize that the program already organized a
time for each of us to apply for our residency and I went on my own. It was
such a disaster I came home, packed my bag and bought a plane ticket for the
next morning to go back home.
I am so thankful that
my bank rejected that transaction. It was very difficult up until around the
end of October. Then I began making friends and not being stuck alone all the
time. And now I have made a lot of new friends in Spain. I have met several
from back home. And now it is hard to leave.
Saying goodbye to the
students and staff was difficult. Saying goodbye to some of my friends today
(and some tomorrow) was difficult. And now that I am really concentrating on
packing and cleaning, my mind keeps going over the past eight months and the
people I have been blessed with, in my life.
Last month one of those friends told me: “It isn’t a matter of where you travel, it’s who you meet,” he told
me, also reminding me that I always had a friend in Sevilla.
I thank all of you. I
hope that our lives and paths cross again. If you all are ever in the United
States one day, please, let me know. And I hope that I can visit you all in
Spain again one day soon.
Note: I have been attempting to write this blog for a week now and keep having technical difficulties.
I do not enjoy sitting down and reading a history book. Most of what I read I forget soon after a test. But I love being able to walk through a place where history happened. Recently I walked through place (although I am currently living in a place that was under that same empire) with a lot of history. I was walking in a city where people such as Julius Caesar, and St. Peter had been (just to name a few). And of course, what would a trip to Rome be without seeing the Colloseo?
One of the first major attractions I saw in Rome was Circus Maximus, the old chariot racing grounds, and nearby the Roman Colosseum. I wish we had payed extra for an audioguide or a tour guide. Later we went to Palastino and the Roman Forum. The entrance to all three of these places was paid for with the same ticket which was valid for two days.
I wished I had remembered more about the history of the Roman Empire from high school. I remembered very little from the text book. And unfortunately I did not have a lot of time to research the background of Rome before going. Instead I would have to look it up when I returned to Huelva.
The second full day I saw the Vatican. The journey began about 8:45 in the morning, standing in line to visit St. Peter's Basilica. Cost to climb the stairs: 5 euros. After descending the stairs exited into the Basilica. After walking around for a little bit there was a door with museum written above it. Thinking that was the Vatican Museum where the Sistine Chapel is located I paid another five euros only to find out it was the treasure room. Not something I wanted to pay for when I had seen the same stuff in other basilicas for free. After leaving the treasury and walking through the bible history museum (free) it was time for lunch. Very small amounts of food still cost a lot of money in Rome. Two of us ended up sharing food meant for one person so that we could bring the lunch cost down to 40 euros. A small plate of lasagna, green beans, potatoes and a bottle of water cost a fortune.
After lunch, it was time to seriously find the museum. It didn't take long and soon I was paying another 8 euros to enter. It was already 1 p.m. by the time I was seeing the museum. I just wanted too see the Chapel and look around quickly before leaving to see more of Rome. But they wouldn't have any of that. Although signs said, "Sistine Chapel this way" and pointed down a hallway, the path was always blocked. Instead they forced visitors through every one of the 7 kilometers of galleries. Or just about every one of them I guess. It was about 3:30 before finally getting out of the Vatican and heading back to Rome. Which brings me to a quick side note.
The first night in Rome I threw two coins into the Trevi Fountain. The legend has it that if you throw a coin in over your shoulder you will visit Rome again. And indeed, I left Rome to go to the Vatican and once again returned to Rome. But I hope that doesn't count because there is so much more that I have yet to see there.
Anyway, after heading back to Rome I wanted to see a film which was advertised on the tourist map and told some of the history of the Roman Empire. It would be nice to see the re-creation of some of the buildings I was seeing throughout the city. It was hard to imagine what the ruins I was seeing might have actually looked like 2,000 years ago. The movie helped and was definitely interesting. It answered some of my questions and left me with new questions. After the movie I made my way to several other locations but unfortunately it was after 6 p.m. and they had closed. As I said above, I hope I can go back to Rome some day. The following morning it was time to catch a flight to Milan.
The biggest attraction for me there was "The Last Supper," yet another famous painting. However, upon arrival I found that they only allowed 25 visitors per hour. That was about 10 a.m. and they had already sold out of tickets for the day. I was not able to see the painting but I guess I can say I have stood in the same building. The rest of my time in Milan wasn't of much interest. At about 9:30 p.m. I was getting off a train in Venice. And three hours later finally arrived at the hotel. Venice was a maze at night.
The next day is when I got my first real glance at Venice. This is the city I had seen in so many movies and had come to have a romantic connotation with it. I didn't know of a lot of things to do in Venice except for St. Mark's Square. I also wanted to find at least one geocache and visit the Hard Rock Cafe. And once again, what would visiting Venice be without a ride in one of the gondolas? Even better, I got a 40 euro discount from the normal 100 euro cost.
Thursday evening after sightseeing I got to witness a live concert. The tickets only cost 20 euros. The first piece was Vivaldi's Four Seasons. I had heard "Spring" many times before but never the entire work. It was nice.
Then Friday came and it was back to Spain where it was raining on and off, of course. But it was a great trip. Once I returned to my appartment in Huelva I was able to upload pictures and finally do a little more searching about the Roman Empire.
Here are two videos I found and enjoyed on Youtube:
And finally, here are a few other videos from Rome and Venice.
1. Musicians and other street performers are in no shortage in the plazas.
The dark, wet and narrow streets looked like a scene straight from a movie. All that was needed was a man in a hat or something. Luckily no such person appeared in the three hours it took to find the hotel. I felt like a lab rat, one of those who has to search for a piece of cheese at the end of a maze. The hotel was the cheese and I was the rat.
It was less than a mile from the train station to the hotel, but I have no clue how far we walked. It is impossible to walk a straight line because of buildings most of the time. But in addition to streets coming to an end at a building, we often ran into a canal without a bridge. If we didn't pay attention we would have been swimming.
We didn't have a city map to help, just the name of the hotel and my GPS which was not getting a good signal in the narrow streets. And finding a taxi was not an option because we hadn't seen a car since arriving. With all the water it was apparent there would be no cars, only pedestrians and boats.
It was a nice experience. Although the streets were dark and winding I never felt any kind of threat. I felt safe. I was just annoyed at having to carry my bag so far not knowing where I was going. We finally arrived at the hotel around 12:30 a.m.
Nunca había pensado que llamaré la comida de los Estados Unidos "comida internacional." Pero hoy, hago.
Vivo en el centro de Huelva. Casi todas las cosas están aquí, pero hoy, después de trabajar, fui al otro lado de la ciudad para buscar una especia especial a los Estados Unidos. Estuviera bien con la comida preparada que había encontrado en la red del mercado también.
Llegué al otro lado de la ciudad y encontré el mercado Carrefour. Es muy grande adentro. Creo que es mas grande que Wal*Mart Supercenter en los Estados. Bueno... Encontré ambos, las especias internacionales y las comidas internacionales. Ninguna local tenía la comida para que estaba buscando (salvia o rellena de salvia).
He buscado cinco mercados ahora sin suerte. Y después de ver un mercado tan grande sin la especia, no tengo esperanza de encontrarla aquí en Huelva. Ayer compré un boniato, cebolla y judías verdes. Por lo menos puedo comer dos comidas típicas por el día de acción de gracias.
I never thought I would be calling food from the United States "International Food." But today, I did.
I live in downtown Huelva. Almost everything is in this area, but today after work I went to the other side of the city in search of a spice special to the United States. I was O.K. with the prepared food that I had found on the markets website also.
When I arrived in "north" Huelva, which is really EAST Huelva (they turn the map with North being in the west, making east be north), I found Carrefour market. It is very large inside. I think it is larger than a Wal*Mart Supercenter in the States. Anyway. I found both, the international spices and the international foods. Neither location had the food I was searching for (sage, or sage stuffing).
I have searched five markets now without any luck. And after viewing a market so large without the spice, I don't expect to find it here in Huelva. Yesterday I bought a sweet potato, onion and green beans. At least I can eat two typical foods or Thanksgiving.
I love traveling. I have traveled since I was pretty young. I've been on cruises with my family. I've been to different parts of the United States with family. I went on a ski trip with my church group and a mission trip as well. In 2006 I went to Spain with a school group. And now I am in in Spain again.
When I came here at the end of September I had visions of seeing Europe. During weekends and/or holidays I was planning on going to England, Germany, Italy and France. My plan was to spend Christmas break in Germany. However, all the festivities wrap up around the 23rd of December. So I was thinking about just traveling Europe over break. But something is different this time. Every time before when I have traveled, I was with friends or family. This time I am all alone.
Spain has been very boring. Part of it I think may be my location-- I am in the Southwest part in a small city. I am an hour west of Seville. I am four hours by train (80 euros) or eight hours by bus (25 euros) from Madrid. Here, there isn't a whole lot to see. Without friends, life is generally boring. I actually don't look forward to the weekends; they generally consist of days like today:
Go to bed at 11ish on Friday, sleep until 12 pm on Saturday. Get up and watch a little television and eat lunch. Go to bed for another two hours. Watch a little TV, play on the computer, eat dinner, be bored.
I am still planning on going to England for a long weekend that is coming up. Hopefully I will get to see Stonehenge and some other sights there. But I am reconsidering the traveling during the holidays...well Europe that is.
Vacation starts at 2 p.m. Friday, December 23. It ends on January 6 (but that is a Friday). So if I leave on Friday and return on Friday the 6th, it could get pretty expensive. If I were able to find a hotel in each location I stayed for 50 euros per night, i would spend 700 euros ($960). That does not include transportation to/from destinations or food.
When I looked for round-trip tickets to Arkansas leaving on the 24th and returning on the 6th, it costs about 800 dollars before taxes (so about 1,000 after taxes). If the airline charges a fee I can carry my smaller carry on suitcase and bring back some clothing and items I don't need (saving on the expensive mailing procedures). All that said, I have to make a decision here soon whether I want to stay here in Europe bored for the holiday or just come back to the USA for two weeks.
Reading, Writing, and Arithmatic... Thats what they say in school, although I may not be the greatest or have the greatest need for the last part. However, I am already using the skills that I learned during my four years in college.
Graduation was one week ago, tomorrow, May 7, 2011. I began my internship at Heifer International's Headquarters in Little Rock, Ark. on Monday, May 9, 2011. The first day I spent in orientation sessions, and when I was not in those, I worked on writing scripts for a video series our team is making from stories from the field.
The second day was better, as was the third. The fourth, Thursday, was probably the best because it was busy. But my responsibilities this far have been editing stories, posting them to the web, writing those scripts, and other tasks. I may have the opportunity to help with multimedia projects as well. I have already used photoshop to resize images for the web and add background color to graphics.
Although it is Internal Communications, I am using the skills I learned at ASU. Although it is Internal Communications, I feel like I am making some kind of difference.
I had an interesting yet fun hours tonight. It was not an average night by any means. A friend and I took off about 8:20pm and got back to campus at 12:20am. We took a 9.5 mile hike, but not in the mountains or hills or even in the woods. This was a far more dangerous hike. This was a hike across busy roads, down dark roads, and roads without sidewalks. This was a hike from Arkansas State University, down Matthews to Stadium to Harrisburg Road to S. Caraway Road and back to ASU.
Once we got to Stadium Blvd., the fun began. Many areas don't have crosswalks. Some have crosswalks but no signal lights. Where there are signal lights, as soon as they tel you to walk, they start flashing the red hand to stop. They don't give enough time to cross a road. Of course, in Washington, D.C. we just ignore the signs all together. If there was no car coming we went. I'm not sure how Jonesboro Police would feel about that around here.
I don't even know how many ridiculous things people were doing. Countless cars blew their horns for no reason. Even more had their windows rolled down and started to yell at us. I don't know what they said. It was annoying is all I know. The weirdest was when we were almost back to campus, someone yelled my name.
There were a few times I was walking on the shoulder of the road-- NOT a turn lane-- and a car tried to run me over. Of course, there are almost no sidewalks in Jonesboro so we had to walk through ditches, yards, in the road, and on the shoulder of the road. Jonesboro needs more public transportation but I think they need to work on some major sidewalk and pedestrian improvements first. Even if we had the transportation, there is nowhere safe to walk. Yet there are students and other people around here that have to do it almost every day.
I’ve been having a rough time this semester. Emotionally I have been pretty low lately and there are several reasons why, I think. One is I am having to spend so much time in the library studying for all of my Spanish that I very rarely see my friends. The other is that I am supposed to graduate in May.
I don’t regret double majoring in Spanish. I think it is a good decision and will open doors down the road. The thing is, I am a slow reader in English. When I have to switch over and read in Spanish it takes me hours to get through a page or two. Most of the time I have to study alone to get anything done. Other times I study with a friend and classmate who pushes me to work harder, but it is still too much time in the library.
I don’t mind spending time with my friends in the library, but I miss when I was able to hang out with more than one person there. And I really miss being able to hang out outside of the library. I fear I may lose some friends this semester because I am never around. I miss going to the park. I miss hanging out every night on the weekend. I miss those late night McDonald’s runs. I miss the occasional eating out. I miss movie nights. I miss sitting around the dinner table for an hour and a half.
Then there is the graduation thing. Most people look forward to graduation. They look forward to being done with school and getting started in the “real world.” But I see it a little differently. Don’t get me wrong, I am ready to be done with my studying, but I also see the positive side. I am off on the weekends. I get holidays. I make a lot of friends. And when I graduate I see what I am going to lose. I won’t be able to take classes with my friends anymore. I won’t see my friends very much because we will live in different places, eat in different places and generally be doing other things. Or worse, I will have to move off to find a job. There may not be any opportunities in Jonesboro.
Even if I do stay in Jonesboro to start out, a lot of my friends who are also graduating will move away. The friends who are still in school will eventually graduate and most of them will also move. Many of my friends I fear I will never see again because once they graduate they will probably be on the other side of the world in Africa, Asia, and Europe. I will miss them. I try to tell myself that thanks to technology we will stay in contact, but it doesn’t help. I know from experience that when we go separate ways we begin to lose contact, even with our closest friends. Thinking about not seeing my friends again hurts.
What hurts more is thinking about how many do not know Christ and who I won’t even get to see in heaven. I know the most important thing in the friendship is to share the gospel with them so that they might believe; and pray for them. I want to see them know Jesus.
We are all sinners. There is no one reading this that can say they are not a sinner. Just taking the ten commandments and what Jesus said, I don’t think I’ve kept a single one of them. I have borrowed and not returned (stolen); I have looked at a girl with lust (adultery); I have lied; I have hated (murder), and the list goes on. All it takes to be separated from God is one sin. He is the great, fair, judge. A just judge wouldn’t let someone off the hook when they used the excuse, “I only did it once.” They do the crime, they do the crime.
But God loves us. He wants us to be with him. None of us have done anything that is too bad for him to forgive, through Jesus. He sent him, he lived a perfect life. He was tempted just like any other human, and then sentenced to die on the cross. He died for OUR sins. After they took him of the cross he was in the grave for three days before he was raised from the dead. He conquered death. He died and he rose again! Through faith in Jesus, we too will be raised. We will have eternal life with God, which is good. Being separated from God would be torture enough, the other stuff of Hell I don’t even want to think about. But Jesus paid the price so we didn’t have to. The world needs to know this.
This morning, God showed me another reason why I felt the way I do. He is preparing me. I keep saying that I don’t know what I will do when I graduate. I say I would like to stay in Jonesboro to work for a while so that I can stay where I actually know people. I don’t want to leave and go somewhere I don’t know anyone. But I also have an opportunity to apply to go to Spain for a few years and help teach English, which is only available right after I graduate. I want to do this. Then there is graduate school, seminary and/or working somewhere outside of Jonesboro and maybe Arkansas. I don’t know what to do.
Well, this morning at church God spoke to my heart. Several missionaries from our church that had returned from the field shared their testimony about what God was doing. The first told us about spending two years in the Journeyman program. (I need to look into that a little more.) She was in France for those two years; sometimes there were teams, other times they tried to build relations with those in the area.
That is when God starting bringing some other scriptures to my mind. He reminded me of those who wanted to go back to bury their family member first to which Jesus responded, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God,” (Luke 9:60 NIV). He also reminded me of the man who wanted to say by to his family. “Jesus replied, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” When I gave him my life, I was giving him my entire life. My life is no longer my own. That means if he calls me to go to a far-off country where I don’t know anyone; I don’t know the culture; I don’t know the language—I am supposed to go. He will go with me. The question is not an if he sends me; it is a where will he send me.
I began studying Spanish so I could use it in missions. It opens up Spain, Central and South America as places I can communicate. But I am willing to go wherever. Through my time at ASU God has placed a lot of East-Asians in my life. We have become friends and I have had the opportunity to get the gospel in many of their hands. There are other opportunities I have missed. But God has really put them on my heart. I wonder if he is not only preparing me to leave all of the familiarity but maybe even calling me to China or Japan.
I will be honest: the thought of going to be a long-term missionary in China, a communist country, scares me. Japan scares me simply because of being a different culture and language. But should I start trying to learn those languages from friends right here at ASU? Which one? God definitely showed me that he is preparing me to leave my friends and my family this morning. I don’t know how. I don’t know where. But I want to do it, filled with joy. Life is a journey. Life is an adventure. It is a good thing that I am not supposed to be the pilot.
Please pray for me that God would ease the stress some and that I could enjoy the friendships while we are right here together. Pray that he would give me the opportunities (and that I would take the opportunities) to share the gospel with them. Please pray that God would tear down the walls in their hearts and that he would grow the seeds. Please pray for me, that God would show me exactly where he wants me to go, when, how and all of that good stuff.
Well this post is just a little late but here it goes anyway.
Friday night (part 2, Part 1 will not be explained) we went to rent some movies because the weather was going to be bad. We rented: Free Willy: Escape from Pirates Bay, and Hachi. We get back and are about to watch it when we find out a tornado is supposedly heading our way. We go downstairs to the lobby. We were in for a very interesting night, but it was cool.
When we got to the lobby there were two other people there. We sat down there and more and more people showed up. Five or six international students from Chile were there, along with some other Americans. The Chileans were speaking in Spanish and once I heard them long enough to understand it was definitely Spanish, I said to them, "De donde son ustedes?" A friend with me said they looked shocked/surprised/scared when I spoke to them in Spanish. I've wanted to do that for a while.
Also building 4 of NPQ was struck by lightening. Some students had minor injuries. But one of the international students was videoing the storm when it happened. Half an hour later the fire department shows up with 3 fire engines and 2 regular vehicles. They start shining around the building. I went out and said, "I don't know if this information will help you any but lightening struck that corner of the building," and pointed. They asked if I could tell them a little more. I told them I didn't see it first hand but there was a video of it. They looked at the video. The student became very popular.
