Hey all! So this morning, I was getting ready for church and making myself some fresh orange juice with oranges hand-delivered by a friend of my mama’s from his orchard, and I couldn’t help but think, “This is the life.” We’ve been in “The Land of the Fruit,” as my mama calls Spain, for almost two weeks now, and the things we’ve experienced can’t be captured in words, though I’ll do my best. We’re starting to get used to drinking milk out of the box, walking everywhere, speaking Spanish always, and having one large meal in the middle of the day. Most of our host moms give us one huge meal and two almost-equally big meals a day, so we’re also getting used to jogging on a more frequent basis!
This past weekend we went to Javea, a little town to the south, on Friday night for a reception and a tour of the city with our wonderful hosts. We went up to the roof of the church there (climbing stairs barely wide enough for one person!) and got to see the entire city and the sunset over the mountains in the distance. The view was… incredible. There are no words to describe what it felt like to be standing on the edge of a wall a good 15 stories off the ground seeing the light of the sun go down and those of the city go up. That night we split up, some going out to various places of the city, and a smaller group of us to the beaches for the first time. The next morning we woke bright and early to go to Valencia, a bigger town to the north that hosts Europe’s largest aquarium, some incredible churches, museums, and, of course, a market full of fresh fruits and foods to buy. At the aquarium we got to watch a great dolphin show and throughout our time in Valencia took advantage of the “Rebajas” (a two-month long period of sales in Spain), toured the city, and got back onto the bus wanting to go back immediately.
Our interim class is going well and giving us time to continue to be acclimated to Denia, figure out our way around, and settle in with our families. Our Spanish is also improving daily, like today when I realized that I could understand almost the entire sermon in church, whereas last week I could only understand about half of it. The church here has affected us already, the largest discovery being the fact that, though we come from different homes, different cultures, and different languages, our God is a God of the world, and in Him, we can come together and worship in any language.
Our group is becoming like a large extended family, celebrating birthdays, and helping with homework, talking about you all when we’re lonely, and having fun together always. It’s bizarre that we’ve already been here for two weeks, and the time is only going to go faster until we’re on the plane back home to the States. While we love and miss all of you, it’s going to be difficult to come home. Life is not quite the same without Meijer and Reese’s cups, but the Internet cafés and churros with chocolate almost make up for it. Check back again next week for more news from this side of the world!
-Written by Kelly McCormick
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