Well, the coming of June was also the beginning of business for us. Our amount of free time has significantly decreased, and the amount of things to do has increased quite a bit. As the team, we're preparing for the retreat this weekend (missionaries from all over Spain, which aren't very many, come together to refresh and regroup once a year in La Vera). From there, Lydia and I will go to Madrid to see a little urban ministry (there you go, Mr. Craigen..haha), and have a free tourist day as well. All in all, our trip to central Spain will be about 10 days. So I'm expecting my communication to be limited, though I really have no idea. I'll take five million pictures...don't worry. :)
On Friday, we gained a new roomate for a week, Kathy from Greece. I feel horrible for her. Her Spanish isn't the best, and her English is worse. Plus, the way she communicates is very different from how us other girls communicate, so conversations are frustrating for everyone. It's exhausting for everyone to communicate in a language that isn't our own. When Mr. Clark said in Intro to Linguistics that language is identity, he wasn't kidding. People's language defines them...and they're extremely proud of it. Even my American English...I'm proud of it, I'm learning. I like the way things are in the US...and I notice that I tend to question anything that's not done the way I've always seen. I mean really, who eats dinner at 9? Who puts mayonaisse on salad? Who puts 6+ hours in between meals and then drinks coffee all day? Hello...shaky hands, anyone? Who are these people who don't plan ANYTHING? These people are the Spaniards, who God loves, and to whom I must learn to adapt. And I am. I am. But Lord knows I'm eating lunch at 11 when I get back to the states. :)
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