The Streets of Sevilla

What is it like to be back in Sevilla?

Two and a half years have passed since I left Sevilla, and over three years have gone by since I first arrived, back in September of 2009. Depending on how you look at time, three years is a long time. A lot happens in three years.

My first day back (Monday) was full of seeing people again and just trying not to crash from the 24-hour trip. My German sister Lea found me in the airport, and then she and I hauled my luggage to the car where Martha (my mentor and dear friend) was waiting for us. As we drove into the city, it was hard to believe that I was back, but it was also just as I had remembered it. I felt like I hadn't been away at all. When Martha dropped us off near my Spanish friend Inma's house, I even remembered how to get to her house from the main street. That's amazing to me because Inma lives in Santa Cruz, an old Jewish neighborhood that has such narrow, winding streets that it is easy to get lost.

Lea and I, while we were waiting for Inma's parents to arrive, walked farther into downtown Sevilla to see the people from the program I had studied at. That too was pretty much exactly the same. I remember everything - the streets (and many of their names), how to get from one place to another, where certain stores are, etc. It's all familiar and it all feels like home. The sounds of the cars honking at each other even though it won't do any good, of the Sevici bicycles' bells letting passers-by know that they are about to get run over if they don't move, of the train (like the Max) as it starts up and slowly passes you by, of the Cathedral bells, of the motos, of the people chatting away in Spanish, of glasses clinking as waiters clean tables... all of that is the same. And the general smell of Sevilla is just as I remembered it.

Monday and Tuesday were wonderful days, days full of friends and just an overall joy at being back. Wednesday too was wonderful, but it was also the day where jet lag and reality both slapped me upside the head. As I had been walking through Sevilla, I had started to realize that yes, it is the same city, but that no, it's not the same as it was three years ago. I have memories of my friend Jake in literally every part of Sevilla, and memories of Tyler, Carolina, Rosie, Elizabeth, Fatima, Geethu, Swathi, Marta, Phil, Jenn, Jamie, Katie, and SO many more in many different places. So many of my European friends are still here, but we are at different etapas, or stages of life (as my friend Abraham described it) than we were three years ago.

All of those memories mixed with the realization that I could not go back and then topped off with the fact that I was dead tired made me quite emotional and sad. This trip has been so incredibly joyful and happy, but I think that it will also be bittersweet but very healing. I am a different person than I was three years ago (have grown up a lot), so I should expect that my friends too will have changed. They love me the same, but that doesn't mean that the memories will be the same. In many ways that is good and very healthy. Our friendships have not only been maintained, but have grown as we stayed in touch from far away, and now it fills me with great joy to see many of my friends here walking with the Lord and loving the people that God has placed in their lives.

In these next two weeks new memories will be made. It will be hard to leave again, but in many ways I will have more hope and peace, because I know that God has me on a good path, and that He, if He so wills it, will provide a way for me to return again. Sevilla was the place where I learned to trust Him more than I ever had before, and I hope it will also be the place where I learn to enjoy the quality time that I have with people and to take advantage of the God-given moments of blessing, peace, and rest.