Sooy en España: Monday, Tuesday

Sorry for the delay. My next post won't be for a couple days. I do not have Internet where I am staying right now.

Monday- Today I went to church. The church was at the YWAM base (even though it's not part of YWAM). We started off with songs, but there weren't words, and I didn't know the songs. Then we sat in a circle (there was about 12 people who attends the small church) and Marylin had the sermon for this week. I'm not exactly sure what it was about, everyone talks so fast I can't really understand anything. Something about the Passover and blood. It was different, but a good experience.

Since Marylin had a meeting afterword, so I just hung around. There is a store right across the street from the base, so I went over and I got a piece of candy that was really good! I also headed over to the park behind the base. I tell you what- their parks are so much better! Wow!

Tuesday- Today was the start of my trip of WYAM. The team of 15ish people were in two cars, and traveled 4 hours to Castalla, Spain. This is where the real learning began. So, 3/15 people sort of speak English, and 2/15 can actually speak and understand it well. Everyone else is total Spanish. Now imagine yourself in a car with 8 people, and only one who speaks English. Now imagine them talking really fast, and laughing. You, of course, have no idea what is going on! I am one day into the trip and I know what is going on only about 10% of the time. Haha! Oh well. I am actually getting some great Spanish practice! Even though I can't understand most of the time, when I am talking with another student in the group, I can understand and actually make a decent conversation! Which is really encouraging to me. When we arrived at Castalla, we were greeted by the pastor and his family at the church. They are all very nice. After introducing everyone, the leader of this trip started to speak (in Spanish of course) really fast so I didn't understand. Then everyone dispersed, and started to do things. I WAS SO CONFUSED! (This happened the whole night....) haha- 0_o. One thing I will be better at is dealing with awkward situation (because I get myself into them ALL the time). Compared to here, home is a breeze! For example, The hosts here are talking to me in Spanish, but because they are talking too fast- I can't understand 99% of what they are saying! I don't want to be rude, so I just smile and nod like I understand what they are saying and hope they aren't talking to me about how their daughter just died or something like that. Another example is just talking with people. Just meeting them for the first time, they greet me in ways that I have never heard. So I either say "what?" Or "como?" If I say "what", they assume I don't speak Spanish, so they try to ask me the question in English, but since they don't speak English, I still have no idea what they are trying to ask, and then we both just stand there, or they continue to mumble in "English" and then I will say some thing in Spanish, but they don't understand. It turns into an awkward train wreck. Haha ;P. If I say "como", they will say it just as fast, and just as mumbly again. (Because just how we mumble in English, they do in Spanish, but I can't understand Spanish mumble! Haha, only English mumble. After that it turns into the first scenario. So both ways I am doomed for awkward situations and train wreck conversations. LOL. At night we played at the local park after getting a tour of the Village. The village was amazing! So pretty! Spanish houses everyone with mountains in the background. One even has a castle on it! The people who I am on the mission with are very nice. They make me feel like I am a part of the team, and we have lots of fun with each other. We didn't end up eating dinner until 11pm. Crazy, I know! Then we walked to our apartments and I didn't end up going to bed until 2am.