I guess it's about time to catch you all up on the goings on in my life here. I have been waiting for Carnaval to end so I could give you a small peak of the happenings of that holiday here... So starting from before the holidays, here goes the update on the life of Jonna...This last week starting January 28th thru Feb 1st...was quite an interesting and blessed week for me. At the beginning of the week I was really struggling with being here and feeling lazy and unmotivated. Guess I had a bit of time on my hands and now that I'm finally recovered from being sick, I was feeling antsy. Anyway, praying through that, I'm back on my feet and going again. Tuesday I went to the University here in Santiago and met the director of the modern languages department. Irene had asked him previously if there was a posibility of my taking a Spanish class at the University. Well, he has arranged it so that after taking the placement exam (to determine my level of Spanish *G*), I will be able to take the course for *FREE* in exchange for helping lead English conversation sessions for an hour a week!! What a GOD thing huh?? This rather brightened my day a bit at the prospect of taking a class in Spanish with other students and no longer only studying on my own. I think the class will be quite interesting since there will also be students from all over Europe and possibly other regions of the world, though not likely any Americans due to the type of course it is (won't go into detail there). Anyway, I think it will be quite a culturally interesting experience meeting people from around the world. On Friday morning I met with the man in charge of scheduling the English conversations classes to find out what's involved. It's nothing that I can't do easily with very little preparation necessary. Funny thing, the man I met with is an American who's been living here the last 30 some years! smile... So, that's the near future. The exam is the first week of March (since I will be gone the last of Feb to London, when the first exam is offered). So, studying a bit is part of my schedule now. Smile...
So, Wednesday morning I met with one of the girls from church (Susana) and we went out for lunch together before she and I both had to get to work. It was great to discover that she worked afternoons like myself so that we can actually get together occasionally and fellowship. Susana and I enjoyed a lovely, sumptuous lunch. We only ordered to plates of food, but they were large in quantity and we soon discovered that we had more than we really wanted to be eating. Oh well.. good times! Conversation was reliant upon my limited Spanish, but we had a good time none-the-less.. Smile. You'd think that she wouldn't want to get together with me again after discovering how really limited my Spanish was, but come Friday evening, she sent me a text message to see what I was upto and if I was going to the Bible study that night. I normaly work Friday nights and am unable to attend, but this Friday was the start of the holiday weekend Carnaval and I learned about 8:45pm that night that I wasn't needed to work because the girls were out with or staying with various friends for the evening and night. So, discovering I was free, I texted her back and made plans to meet up with her about 10:30pm. That's not late for Spaniards to get out and meet with friends, especially on the weekends. Susana had had to work until 9:00pm, so she hadn't been able to go to the Bible study either, but we soon met up with the gang from the Bible study...in a bar no less..and had a wonderful time of fellowship, with lots of laughs. We were a group of 6 girls and 1 guy...the guy and one of the girls who had both come in a bit later, spoke English...so our conversation wasn't totally limited to Spanish as I struggled along. 
Anyway... so, you're probably wondering about the "bar" setting. Well, in Spain a bar is where everyone socializes over coffee, coke, beers, and food. Bars are a place for families, young, old, single, etc... They do have a drinking age limit here, which I believe is 18. Other than being a bit smokey normally, it is quite similar to a cafe or coffeeshop, though maybe they are a bit more crowded or frequented here. So, that was the start of wonderful evening. It was so great to finally have some Christian fellowship with young people my age! PTL!!! What a blessing from the Lord. 
Anyway... so, you're probably wondering about the "bar" setting. Well, in Spain a bar is where everyone socializes over coffee, coke, beers, and food. Bars are a place for families, young, old, single, etc... They do have a drinking age limit here, which I believe is 18. Other than being a bit smokey normally, it is quite similar to a cafe or coffeeshop, though maybe they are a bit more crowded or frequented here. So, that was the start of wonderful evening. It was so great to finally have some Christian fellowship with young people my age! PTL!!! What a blessing from the Lord. Saturday, after sleeping in a bit, Irene decided to take the girls (only two were at home by this time) and go for a picnic in the country before picking up the third daughter from her friend's country/weekend home. So, while the girls were in ballet lessons or otherwise occupied, I set about preparing a picnic lunch for us... I actually created tuna/egg salad sandwiches, veggies, fresh bread from the bakery, choco chip cookies (previously hidden for a later occasion), and other snacks and drinks. I'm not a huge fan of tuna salad after a childhood experience that has remained with me, so I ate it minimally but the others loved it. PTL!!! as I was unsure whether they would like such a food. I had no idea what Spaniards normally took on a picnic. 
So, off we set to visit a waterfall, take a walk in the countryside, and visit an ancient-looking monastery. We didn't get to all of our planned activities due to limited time, but what we saw was gorgeous and it was really quite a lovely day out. 
On the way home, we twisted and winded around the countryside in search of Irenita's friend's home so we could pick her up...I was quickly shown the difficulty of unmarked country roads in the Galician Region of Spain. Smile... It was beautiful, but no fun being lost. Hahah...Finally, we found it and headed home.
So, off we set to visit a waterfall, take a walk in the countryside, and visit an ancient-looking monastery. We didn't get to all of our planned activities due to limited time, but what we saw was gorgeous and it was really quite a lovely day out. On the way home, we twisted and winded around the countryside in search of Irenita's friend's home so we could pick her up...I was quickly shown the difficulty of unmarked country roads in the Galician Region of Spain. Smile... It was beautiful, but no fun being lost. Hahah...Finally, we found it and headed home.Reaching home, I quickly changed into clean clothes and headed out the door for Saturday night youth Bible study at the church. It is called Youth meeting or something, but really when they refer to youth it includes the young unmarried adults in their teens and twenties, so I was definitely not out of place nor the oldest present. It was a good service with worship and a message (I caught some of it, but not all). The man who gave the message is ffrom Argentina and I have discovered that their Spanish is rather difficult to follow since they use a bit different pronunciation though using the same words. After the services, we all headed over to the youth pastor's house for pizza and more fellowship. Good times. I rode over with Susana, who has continued to be a good friend and blessing to me. 
We finally made it to the house after stopping at various other places along the way to see if someone else wanted to come along, and Susana wanted to show me her house while she got something (interestingly she lives alone - strange thing for Spanish young people from what I've heard). After devouring about 4 or 5 pizzas (homemade) as they came out of the oven, and then desserts that followed, we settled down with those still remaining to play a game like gestures. We split into girls versus boys and had to act out movies for our team who were trying to guess the title. Oh dear...what difficulty...especially with language difficulties. Grin.. I got the movie titled, "Day After Tomorrow" and had no idea how to act out "Day" let alone the rest of it.. to say the least, the girls failed miserably and the boys triumphed proudly...grin! We soon broke up our acting and headed home. The girls dropped me off at my place but on our way we saw some interestingly costumed people: men dressed as women for one. Well, that was the end of yet another amazing day!! PTL!!! Oh wait...almost forgot the Argentinian herbal tea!! It was quite a burst of flavor...check out the cool cup it was served to me in.
We finally made it to the house after stopping at various other places along the way to see if someone else wanted to come along, and Susana wanted to show me her house while she got something (interestingly she lives alone - strange thing for Spanish young people from what I've heard). After devouring about 4 or 5 pizzas (homemade) as they came out of the oven, and then desserts that followed, we settled down with those still remaining to play a game like gestures. We split into girls versus boys and had to act out movies for our team who were trying to guess the title. Oh dear...what difficulty...especially with language difficulties. Grin.. I got the movie titled, "Day After Tomorrow" and had no idea how to act out "Day" let alone the rest of it.. to say the least, the girls failed miserably and the boys triumphed proudly...grin! We soon broke up our acting and headed home. The girls dropped me off at my place but on our way we saw some interestingly costumed people: men dressed as women for one. Well, that was the end of yet another amazing day!! PTL!!! Oh wait...almost forgot the Argentinian herbal tea!! It was quite a burst of flavor...check out the cool cup it was served to me in.Sunday, the family was headed to Lugo where their relatives live and I went along. The girls had three days off of school this week. Now for Carnaval! This is the reason for the holidays. Carnaval is basically Mardi Gras, which is celebrated for the few days leading up to Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the Catholic time of fasting before Easter. I have always heard about Mardi Gras in a negative light, so I was a bit interested to see what all the fuss was and how things would go down here. 
The girls dressed up on Friday for parties at school, but other than that not much happened until Tuesday. We ate much meat Monday and Tuesday as is customary during this holiday. We ate or had available pig's head (not really as gross as it sounds and tastey), ribs, rabbits, ham slices, sausages, some spiced meat that is stored in pig's stomach for marination and cooking, and other non-meat foods such as garbanzo beans, greens similar to spinach (but not), and plenty of desserts. Needless to say, I am going running today if able. Smile.. 
Tuesday morning, Irene wanted to dress up and meet a friend. I was invited to go along and so dressed in a red and black dress, red hat with a feather, a red glittery mask, and curls I headed out for a chocolate in a cafe while Irene visited with her friend. (pictures included) This was rather interesting, but I was soon tired of being dressed up! The curls were a huge hit with Irene and the girls as well as with everyone else who saw them. Everyone wanted to know where I'd had it done...to which I replied that I had done it myself. Grin!!
The girls dressed up on Friday for parties at school, but other than that not much happened until Tuesday. We ate much meat Monday and Tuesday as is customary during this holiday. We ate or had available pig's head (not really as gross as it sounds and tastey), ribs, rabbits, ham slices, sausages, some spiced meat that is stored in pig's stomach for marination and cooking, and other non-meat foods such as garbanzo beans, greens similar to spinach (but not), and plenty of desserts. Needless to say, I am going running today if able. Smile.. Tuesday morning, Irene wanted to dress up and meet a friend. I was invited to go along and so dressed in a red and black dress, red hat with a feather, a red glittery mask, and curls I headed out for a chocolate in a cafe while Irene visited with her friend. (pictures included) This was rather interesting, but I was soon tired of being dressed up! The curls were a huge hit with Irene and the girls as well as with everyone else who saw them. Everyone wanted to know where I'd had it done...to which I replied that I had done it myself. Grin!! 
After lunch on Tuesday, we rolled out the door and into the car with all our bags and headed home in time to catch the parade. With the holidays it was impossible to reach the house, so we parked the car in the University parking, donned portions of our costumes again quickly and headed to see the parade and meet up with some more of Irene's friends. I'm thankful that I had my umbrella, because not long into the parade it was raining steadily. After the parade, the girls were all wet and cold and ready to head home...so instead of going to a cafe for a hot drink, we stopped at a grocery store and purchased some hot chocolate that the girls were excited about taking home to drink in dry clothes. I'm glad that they were happy with this idea (that is all but one of them), because I was more than glad to get home as well. Smile... The one that wasn't excited has been a trial and challenge to me. Please continue to pray for my middle girl.. It nearly breaks my heart to see how angry and controlling she is. Bless her heart! I continue to seek the Lord's wisdom for loving and caring for her.
Well, finally able to fall into my warm bed again...I'm up on this Wednesday and ready for a run.. So, I will close for now. That brings you fairly up to date.. Enjoy the pictures!! Haha!!
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