December has begun!

Buenos días!!

Life has been a bit busy lately for me as finals are coming up and I have two papers due pretty soon, but I have some free time, so I thought I'd send you all another update on my time here. It's crazy that this first semester is almost over! I am very, very glad that I am here for a year though, as I am starting to form new friendships here and I know God still has so much to teach me.

The weekend before last I didn't do a whole lot... mostly just stayed home. Church went well as usual though, and it's nice to have that place to go every Sunday morning. Monday the 23rd was a busy day as usual. I have good news though! I have a place to live for January!! =) Praise God! That Monday, I met the guy that owns the house of the room that I will be renting, and he seems really nice and I have heard nothing but good about him, so I know everything is going to work out. It is such a good price compared to everywhere else too, which is a huge praise because I was really worried about finances the week before.

Anyway, back to my week this last week... I have to write a paper for my Civilization class (which I have already started, don't worry), and to do so I read a 342 page book about Eva Perón... in Spanish. I was pretty excited about the fact that I was able to do that because that was a first! I have spent a lot of free time toiling through that though. Tutoring is continuing to go well too. Not only am I helping Lucia, but I am learning more Spanish as well!

On Tuesday, I went to Bible study again in the afternoon, and although it was a small group (5 of us this week because of end of the semester busyness), it was really good to spend that time with friends! After that ended, I headed home and decided to go to the school again to finish doing my observations for my anthropology class and maybe play some basketball. I ended up playing basketball with my new friends Santi and Alvaro again, along with three other new guys that I hadn't met before. And later, when I was sitting and writing for my observation, a different guy approached me and asked me if I would play basketball with him and his friends because they were short one player. Two of the new guys that I had met were playing with that group. I was a little unsure of how I would do, but I thought "Oh, what the heck? Why not?" So I went and played bball with them for about 25-30 minutes before heading home for dinner. It was really fun and laidback and a cool way to meet more Spanish people and practice using Spanish in a different context. They were all nice and welcoming and didn't treat me like I was really bad at basketball (although I am a little out of practice). It was cool! I'm definitely going to go back when I have time in the evenings, because I could use the exercise! I also feel like this study abroad experience has given me a lot more courage to try new things and put myself out there more without being too afraid of messing up.

Wednesday was another one of my busiest days. I had to double-check my classes for next semester, turn in a short essay, take another aptitude test (to see how much my Spanish has improved), and go to class. I got to see the house I will be living in during January though! It's a neat place! He even has some pets, including this really cute, not fully-grown cat.

Thursday we didn't have class because of Thanksgiving. Woohoo! It was nice to have the day off and it ended up being a really great day, but it never really felt exactly like Thanksgiving. In the morning I braved going to a peluqueria to get my hair cut. A lot of girls are afraid to try this, but I didn't have any problems and was pretty happy with how my hair turned out. I also took off in search of some boots in my neighborhood, but I think the Spaniards forget that tall women exist... either that or it's just not worth putting my shoe size on the shelf. Anyway, after that I went to my school and met up with a lot of people from our program to go to eat a traditional American Thanksgiving meal in an Irish pub (called P. Flaherty's) in Spain. Talk about cross-cultural! The food was really good (and free!) and we got to meet some students from another program too. We got to eat the typical turkey, potatoes & gravy, stuffing, etc., and the only thing that was missing was pumpkin pie - although the apple pie was pretty yummy! Afterwards, I chatted with Katie and Fatima for a bit and then started for home. Fatima and I stopped by the Feria de Belen (where they sell a million different kinds of Nativity scenes... it's crazy) and meandered through it for a while. We then walked home and I grabbed my computer and went to a nearby cafe for my Skype date with my family. I got to talk to the girls and Lisa for a bit and got to talk to everyone later that night (my time) when my dad got back with Jackson, which was awesome!

This past weekend I spent a lot of time at home, accomplishing some homework (although I should have been more productive... story of my life!). But anyway, Friday night I got to go salsa dancing again with Fatima and our friends! We got to meet a few more people that were friends of the group we went with originally. This time we had to wait until the bar starting playing music and clearing the floor so people could dance, so we hung out outside and talked for a while, which was neat. I never pictured myself dancing salsa in Spain, but it's good to try new things! Good times! Another good thing that weekend was that most of my host family's family came over to their house on Saturday, so I got to spend time with them and get to know them a little bit better. I have been so blessed by God to be placed in such a family!

Anyway, this week has started out pretty busy as usual. I had a presentation about my observations in my Anthropology class yesterday. I was pretty nervous and stumbled over my words a bit (it's hard to present in Spanish!), but I think it went pretty well, and it's one more thing I don't have to worry about. I've got to get working on my papers though and prepare for the next two and half weeks. I'm going to Morocco this weekend, which I am super excited about, but if you all could pray for safety, that would be awesome! I could also use prayer for energy, motivation, and wisdom in using my time well in these next couple of weeks especially. It's also going to be hard to say goodbye to everyone who is heading back home to the U.S.

I miss you all and hope you are all very blessed!!
Besos y abrazos,
Sierra