So Friday night, like in the US, is a big night for young people in Spain. I figured I'd see what all the hubub was about. After siesta I went out with Tato my host brother to go shopping for something to wear. Mostly this is because I don't have any dressy shoes with me. It took a while to find a pair that were just classy enough and not too expensive. Before finding my shoes I did find what I thought was a really cool T-shirt. After buying it and taking it home, I read what I thought was the famous Tolkien quote "Not all who wander are lost". Well, it wouldn't be a foreign country without typos in English. What it actually says is "not all who wanders are lost". But it was 6 euros, so I can't complain. If anything now I just look like an ignorant German. But I did manage to find a nice pair of very European looking shoes for just about 25 euros. I enjoyed my little outing since it let me talk to my hermano more and ask questions about the city and culture. He talks very fast and doesnt enunciate, so it can be difficult to understand, but we make it work. From about 10:30-11:30 I watched Revenge of the Sith in Spanish on TV like I did AotC the other day. Then I got all gussied up to go to the discoteca, which is basically a club. I met up with some girls from my group and we ventured out in search of nightlife. We found a discoteca and went inside. The bouncer guy stamped our wrists with a tacky-tourist-y stamp that in english read "I love Spain". But apparently my shoes passed the test cause he let me in with a smile and general Spanish friendliness. (some discotecas won't let you in if you aren't dressed up to snuff). Basically it was a narrow, crowded room with a bar and minimal seating. So my group and I just found a place to stand and kinda took it all in. The girls were content to dance in place and talk to whatever Spanish guys introduced themselves. I just kinda observed everything and occasionally moved to the beat when the girls would try to get me to dance. Dancing like that isn't quite my thing, and I'm not looking to pick up any girls, so I didn't really have any motivation to go talk to anyone except my group. One of the Spanish guys who was talking to the girls did introduce himself to me, but that was the only interaction we had. I guess I just wasn't quite his type, which I'm okay with. But also since I'm not into drinking, the three things that would make someone want to go to a discoteca were of no interest to me. I don't club-dance, drink, or talk to random strangers. We eventually left and made our way to our respective homes.
Yesterday (saturday) the school had a scavenger hunt you could do around the city. A good number of people showed up, but as I expected, I was the only guy. We all split up into groups of 4-5 of people we didn't know as well (I hate when people do that. "get into groups...with someone you haven't met yet." the old bait-and-switch) We had 22 sites in Sevilla we had to find, and take pictures of us in front of them. We started at 10:30 and ended at 5. My group found 12. So did another group. We tied for 1st and went to a tie breaker. Originally it was trivia, but neither I nor the girl I was up against could spit out a correct answer. Then, naturally, the worst happened. Someone suggested a dance-off. Like, really ladies. Some of you went to the discoteca with me. You know what I'm capable of, and it's not much. The odds were stacked against me. But I adapted the Han Solo mentality of "never tell me the odds" and stood my ground. Actually, that's a lie. None of the girls in my group wanted to do it, and I didn't talk to strangers and haul my tired butt and sore legs all through Seville to come in 2nd place. I did want any man would do and strutted whatever stuff I could find. While I wouldn't have made it on a dancing TV show, I think the comedic appeal of watching an awkward 6'2" guy flail his body around to music is what kept me alive. What ended up killing me was that the other groups decided who won by cheers. Naturally, what girl is gonna want to scream their heads off for whatever it was I did? They'd look crazy. It was surprisingly close, but I lost. The winning team got a night at the movies on the school's ticket. I would've really enjoyed that, but whatevs.
I came home, watched the Sevilla v. Levante futbol game, and called it a night. Next week I'm gonna go find a church to attend while I'm here. I'm using this Sunday to kind of pull myself together, get focused, and such. I'm also hoping that some of the people who went to church today can tell me about what one they went to, and I can decide from there which one sounds like a fit for me.
Please be praying for me as this week begins my first full week of classes. I have already found myself getting very tired from listening to and speaking Spanish all day, every day. We're not allowed to speak English in the school, but its such an old habit of mine (lol) I find myself naturally responding to people in English and having to stop myself. I can also begin to feel the beginnings of homesickness begin to set in. I've never spent more than a 10 days away from home or college, so this will be difficult for me. I don't do change well as I learned in 2013, and there is almost nothing here similar to home. I also really haven't made any friends yet. Most people are friends with their roommates, and since I don't have one I don't get someone who pretty much has to be my friend. Also I think cause it's mostly girls its a little weird to tag along with a bunch of them, and I don't want to make them feel uncomfortable, but I almost literally have no other options. The guys live on the other side of town.
All that to say, just be praying for me in this whole thing, cause I am really enjoying it, and I would really like it to stay that way. This is a wonderful opportunity I have, and my worst fear is that I don't take full advantage of the wonderful blessing God has given me.
No comments:
Post a Comment