When Life Gets Busy

Hello to my "fans" (as my mom likes to call you)! I know I have been doing quite a shabby job lately at keeping up on my blogging. But I've got to say I've been doing better than in France. Though my excuse there was that the internet didn't work, here its that I have just been too busy. Busy doing what you may ask? Well here is a list of things that are on my schedule weekly.

1. Classes (obviously) I'm taking five of them. There is a lot of homework...unlike in France...

2. Interest group meeting. This is to help round out my knowledge of Spain. My interest group is called "Other Spanish Realities" I know that title doesn't make much sense in English but I promise it does in Spanish. In the group we learn about other countries' influences on Spanish culture and our time together culminates in a trip to Morocco! (perhaps my true reason for joining the group)

3. I have an intercambio or basically a language exchange partner. We meet once a week so that I can practice my Spanish (as if I don't do it enough) and so that she can practice her English. Though to be honest we mostly speak Spanish.

4. I am teaching English classes twice a week to adults. I'll just say its an interesting experience that I am definitely going to learn a lot from, I could write a whole blog on this experience alone so perhaps I will. But today is not that day.

I think those are the major things and trust me they take up a lot of time! So now let me take you back 3 weekends ago to when I went to Granada for two days.

We arrived in Granada just before lunch time after a 3 hour bus ride. The lunch was amazing because it was buffet style!!! Finally I could take the amount of food I want not the extremely copious amounts of food my host mom gives me (again another post for another day). After the lunch we headed to the world famous Alhambra! This is the most visited tourist site in Spain next to the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. Despite the rain and cold the place was packed with tourist. Which I will not lie irked me a bit because people tend to ruin my pictures. But no doubt I accidentally photo-bombed a few as well. Here are some pictures of the Alhambra. It is just so beautiful!

Alhambra from afar

After we finished our tour our guides took us downtown and showed us how to get back to the hotel then let us free. We went and grabbed coffee and then did a bit of shopping. In the process of shopping we stumbled upon a dance in one of the squares (I have no idea why I didn't take pictures or video of this) but it was really fun to watch because it was mostly elderly people dancing ballroom style. Some of these couples were really good! We joked about joining in on the fun but anyone who knows me knows I can't dance so we headed back to the hotel to change and freshen up before going out for the night. We went out for Moroccan food which just got me totally pumped for that trip to Morocco that I mentioned earlier. 

The next day they took us out for a tour of the town which would have been awesome except that it was raining. Its the only time it has rained in Spain since my arrival and of course it had to be that weekend...anywho we made the best of it! After a tour of the town we went and did a bit of souvenir shopping and then finally ended our time with lunch and a trip back to Sevilla. Some pictures of the old portion of Granada. By the way Granada in Spanish means pomegranate. (No granada for you Briana). This also reminds me of the word grenade and I wonder if they named them that because they kind of look like pomegranates? Maybe that's stupid...Okay so I googled the French word for pomegranate and it is grenade and so yes that is why grenades are called grenades, because they look like pomegranates. I guess I'm not so stupid after all...anyways pictures...

I know this post is long but bear with me, it's almost over. The next weekend I went to Cordoba. The coolest thing about Cordoba is its cathedral. Now most of the cathedrals here in southern Spain were once mosques and were transformed into cathedrals when the Christian rulers took over (typical). The cool thing about this one is that it still looks like a mosque on the inside! Except for the middle which looks like your typical baroque cathedral. I thought it was incredible to see the collision of culture in such an evident way. I also thought it was cool because churches come in all shapes and sizes. It doesn't matter if the church looks like a mosque, what matter is the hearts of the people inside it. So here are some pictures of the cathedral.

What a contrast eh?

We also saw the one of the only two synagogues left in Spain. It wasn't really that exciting to look at but it was interesting to learn that a place that was once home to many Jews now only has two synagogues. 

Sunday of that weekend I went to church for the first time since coming to Spain. (I know shame on me right?) One of my friends here, his parents are missionaries from Brazil to Kenya, and the pastor of this church is also Brazilian and happens to be family friends with Matheus' family. So we went to church and enjoyed worship, food, and fellowship! It was so wonderful, I have missed Christian community so much. The service was great and it was as though God was speaking right to me! This week I might check out a different church, we shall see! That's all, but stay tuned because I still haven't told you about PORTUGAL!!