Saturday, June 28, 2008

Some Pictures for You

This is a group of us from the church and some neighboring churches when we went to watch the New York Central Baptist Church Gospel Choir in Cuidad Real this past Monday. I live with Ana, who is in yellow, and Ruben who I am standing next to at the end on the right.

Ruben, Irene (2), and Esther (6) at the park recently.
Ok, I was planning on putting more pics up but for some reason the button on the blogger is not workin for me right now- i´ll try again later.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Phil safely arrives on U.S. soil

Yes, after spending two weeks climbing in El Chorro (the highpoint of which was the ascent of a 200+ meter route) I passed through Valdepenas for a final farewell: rock climbing in two previously unvisited spots and saying goodbye to everyone at church. Friday night I slept at the climbing gym and the other nights with Gonzalo and Marcos. Monday morning I missed the 7AM bus to Madrid but still managed to arrive at the airport with a little time to spare catching a later train.

I am now in Chicago for a week and will arrive in San Diego next Tuesday. As for summer plans I will be working for Dad and climbing in Yosemite in September (hopefully).

I have just found out that I will be working in a high school next year in AlcaƱiz, Teruel, Aragon. It is Teruel's second biggest town with 15,000 inhabitants (about half the size of Valdepenas). Hard to find a whole lot on the internet about it but it should be all right. (I think there is a climbing gym there and also some real quality climbing spots within a 100 kms) Check out the location on google maps, it's a little of the beaten path which could mean some rather long bus rides.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

UPDATES!!

It´s been way to long since I´ve written an update and it´s about time since a lot has changed over the past month and many of you probably have no clue what´s going on in my life right now here in far-away Spain!

Well, let me inform you! Phil´s job ended May 29th and we had to move out of our aparment the next day. For the previous two weeks I had frantically been looking for a place to live, perferably a shared apartment but the choosing was slim. Thankfully the Lord was looking out for me (as He is always doing for His children) and a woman from my church who heard I was looking for a room told me one day at church that she had talked to her husband and I could stay with them in their extra room if I didn´t find anything by moveout time. Well, after a crazy day of packing up all our stuff (we waited til the last moment cause we thought, ´we don´t have much, it won´t take long´) I moved in with Ana and Ruben and their two daughters, Esther and Irene and Phil left for El Chorro in Malaga to live the climbing life for two weeks before heading back to the U.S. What I didn´t know was that what my family was thinking about me staying with them--how long, how much should i pay them, etc, etc. Well it turns out that they are fine with me staying here for as much time as I like. Of course this may change once they discover how hard I am to live with (right Annette?) :) Furthermore they told me I don´t need to pay anything for the room because they aren´t using it and the only thing is when Ana´s parents come to visit I will have to sleep in the girl´s room. I only have to pay for the food that I eat.

Well, it´s been almost 2 weeks now that I have been living with them and it is working out really well. It has truly been a blessing living with this family. Not only am I learning and practicing more Spanish with them, eating delicious food everyday, but I am gettting to know more of the people at church because of them which had been a challenge for Phil and I to do before. It´s always good to have an enchufe (look that one up in the spanish dict. :)

Besides the move, I am making the switch from having different tutoring classes due to the beginning of summer and the change in people´s schedules. I have a lost a few students but am also gaining others so things are looking good. I turned in my resume to a high school here for a possible job next school year helping with the bilingual teaching. The director says I have a good chance but it´s the Education Council of Cuidad Real that really has the ultimate say so you can keep that in your prayers for me.

Pictures are coming very very soon.