okay well i have now been in spain for almost a month now, but i have been in SEVILLA for a little over two weeks. i am sorry that i am not a very good ‘blogger’ but i am trying :] this week was another great week in Sevilla. i had my first test and that went very well.

i also am starting to be a prayer group leader which i am very excited about. what this means is that i am going to lead about 4 or 5 other girls and we are going to just have time to be in fellowship and pray together every week. i am so excited about this opportunity. i did something similar to this last semester and i miss them and simply just serving others. my senora, isabel, is constantly serving us and i absolutely love her, but it is hard when someone is just constantly serving you and doing whatever you want them to do. i am not so used to this anymore. it is good, but my roommate and i have been trying to think of fun simple ways we can serve her! she doesnt want us to do any dishes or clean up. she makes our beds every morning, makes us a little snack to go (which consists or fruit, a nutella sandwich, and a muffin), makes us yummy lunches, and dinners! she also does our laundry everyday, but because we dont have a dryer we get to wait a few days to get our clothes! isabel is so sweet and has a huge heart. she a mom and a grandma. oh and how could i forget OUR dog? her name is pami and pami is a little dog. i am getting used to her, but she did wake me up this morning barking.

on wednesdays we have this thing called ‘encuentro’ and it is a bible study in english. it is totally optional, but we meet in a local evangelical church in sevilla and sing songs in both english and spanish. i love it. this last weeks talk was just about hospitality and loving. the main point was pretty much to love and do this through actions. people are watching you and our actions speak louder than words. pray for spain because .02% of the spaniards are evangelical christians and the others are mostly just catholic by tradition, but not practicing.

so thursday comes around we went to a local hospital (kind of) and played BINGO with all the old men! it was super fun. this is a place where old men live and it is kind of like a hospital, convalescent home, care place... we really arent sure, but it is the highlight for these old men. then we (my friends: emily, lizzy, andy, and daniel) went to our department store here, Corte de Ingles, and they have everything there... i have been trying to find a hoodie because i dont have one here and it is impossible to find in spain. they dont exist. (i still dont have one :[ ) anywho that night emily and i went to go eat pizza and took our left overs to this homeless man. he was so sweet. we then got to make HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES (galletas) at home! it was glorious. we had lots of fun doing this.

friday we went to Cordoba. We saw the Mezquita. This was a muslim masque and then the christains re conquered this muslim capital and built a cathedral in the middle of it and surrounded the Mezquita. it was gorgeous. then we were able to venture around and it was beautiful. something that we commonly do is walk walk walk and then find a street corner to stand on and talk lots! i am constantly laughing and we have so much fun.

saturday came around and i slept until op about 12 pm or so :) after waking up we went to a park and played futbol (soccer!) so i am not the most talented at futbol, but i want to be so i tried lol. lots of laughs again. we had a lot of fun! it was about 75 degrees on saturday! after lunch i went on a hour and half walk along the river. walks and runs along this path is one of my most favorite things. i run and walk at all different times of the day and it is very fun to see the different people. we finished a wonderful saturday by going to the MOVIES is SPANISH! we saw Tiana y a sopa (tiana and the frog)! it was super fun!!! my friends thought it was 20x funnier thinking i was the little princess in pink! i didnt really see the resemblance... but it was funny!

(on my walks and runs i usually so many people no matter the time, but spaniards are night owls so there are more people out after siesta! there is also a bridge made of rock and brick that climbers free climb on... with NO crash pad! it is super fun to watch, but i am scared they are going to fall. this is real talent they have! i believe it is called buildering? it is like bouldering. i may try! another thing that reminds me of my high sierra family besides the rock climbers are the SLACK LINERS! so i was super scared to go and talk to them, but next time i see them i am going to go show them whats up? hahhah... there are also lots of stray cats that i see. on the river, there are many rowers and also many people fishing! i also see lots of people riding mainly mountain bikes and running, but it is kind of looked down upon for a female to be running so you see mostly males... oh well!)

sunday i went on a early morning run and then church! church here is different, but a good different. it is super fun to sing songs in spanish that i know in english. church here lasts over 2 hours. it is very small and intimate. i love it. after church i ate some soup that isabel made for us and then... went to the river and practiced dancing with lizzy and daniel! it was hilarious! i am excited to have another week of school!

some other random thoughts... yesterday isabel told us we cant shower until an hour after we have eaten... does anyone know why? we dont... and i dont really listen to here lol. also sometimes when she is talking to me she will just look at me and laugh or pull on my cheeks : ] on friday she gave me ‘the hand!’ we died laughing! ooh and showers are interesting. hot water is relative here and so is water pressure. so i take the fastest showers i possible can. we also have to go into the kitchen and turn the propane on for the ‘caliente agua.’ speaking about being cold, it is colder inside our house than outside. note to self: dont build homes with marble floors. okay so with this said i sleep in wool and silk pj inside my ZERO DEGREE synthetic down north face sleeping bag under the covers... i am warm then, but i freeze if i am not in my sleeping bag. HA. you maybe wondering how i am doing with the whole european fashion? well let me tell you... i didnt bring sweats or a hoodie here so i dont have those options. i still get up 15 minutes before i walk to school and i am well dressed and have make up on... miracle? maybe! it is different, but i am surviving. i really do want my hoodies, but it will be okay! i also am missing my uggs, but i will invest in some boots really soon! okay well this was an extremely long blog :]

how are y’ll?

love to all!!!

amor y paz.

katarinna