just a little this and that

As I said awhile back, I will give you a bit of insight into my iglesia Espanola. Well, I really do love this little church. This morning, actually, (I type this laughing and smiling) the pastor asked if I wanted to sing a song soon at church! Haha. I said okay. WHAT?? Lol. I am going to sing and my friend, Hanbil, who is Korean and from my school, is going to play piano. Ohhh, gosh. I will let you know how it goes. There are about 20 people who attend this church. It is crazy each time I think about how few Christians there are here in a town of 50,000 or more. But it is beautiful because they don’t have hopeless and overwhelmed hearts, instead, I there is so much joy in them and it really does radiate even from their eyes. Even though I know 10% of whatever is going on (although there was a time that was closer to 25%), I love worshipping together with them.

Okay, now I will back track to talk about my friend Hanbil. Friday night I went to have a cervesa with a friend from my class, Pil and her roommate Hanbil. Though activities with the school over the past couple weeks, we’ve shared time and experiences that have let us grow more fond of each other. So the other night when I was with them, I found out Hanbil is a believer and we go to the same church! Haha. We just did not know because the weeks she was there, I was gone. Today we were there together, though J

I have to add this, too. Neither Pil nor Hanbil speak English so our common language is Spanish… haha! Ah, you should hear us talk. It is broken and choppy at best, and my English accent and their Korean accents make whatever it is we speak far from a “romance language.” Oh man, how are we friends?! It works, though.

Well, in other news, it has been a bit since my last blog and much has happened! I have made a few more friends, been on a few more adventures, and grown more familiar with the streets of Ronda. It has been more difficult than I anticipated to make friends with the locals here because this town is neither young nor liberal, for lack of a better word (in the sense of the arts, culture and openness). Traditional is more defining of this culture. No complaints- the tradition here is so beautiful, it just simply makes it harder to connect. But, although conversations are more difficult to start/maintain because that common thread of interest is lacking, I should note that the people here in no way lack friendliness! I am continuously greeted with generosity and sweet smiles so I never hesitate to start a little something with an Hola (followed by a no hablo espanol bien). Haha. But, okay, when I do get beyond that or find someone with shared interests it is so great! For example, yesterday I spend the day walking around and vending artwork with two new artisticos amigos espanoles! They were in town for the day to sell at a market here (a girl and guy)! It was really great because we communicated very well, had so much in common and just were back and forth in talking about this thing or that. I think we shared conversations about everything from music to lives in captivity to traveling to the simple life. It was refreshing for my heart and I was so encouraged in talking and connecting in Espanol! Yay! I think it was a lot easier to chat, too, because they didn’t really have an accent. Here in Andalucia, words are pronounced SO different. It is like, Texas to the max, then that times 25! Haha. So, when a woman said “adios hija” to me the other day, it sounded like this: odd-e-o-eea. (as opposed to odd-e-ous-e-ha) What? Lol. But anyways, back to my friends, I was glad to share that day with them…I kinda just feel like it was really significant for me. And, they were totally hippies (one of which had dreads, lived out of a camper, and had two scruffy little dogs). I loved it.

Okay, one more update- I am moving! I am changing houses on Tuesday and really looking forward to it. I will let you all know how it all goes after. The family I am moving in with is a woman, who teaches culture at my school, and her husband. They live in a completely different part of Ronda, closer to the campos (the country). For any who don’t know, there were just a few little glitches in my other living arrangement. No big though, and there is a lot of peace about moving.

Wellllp. I love you guys. I will post my new address on here when I get it. To all who don’t know--- Alyssa is leaving the country on Tuesday for an 11-month journey around the world. Wow. More on that here: http://alyssarainbolt.theworldrace.org/