Spain at Last

So we finally got internet in our apartment ( which is quite a luxury) from our great cbf field personnel the whitleys. I am living in an apartment in roquetas de mar with another student Amanda who goes to Samford. In the past three days we have done a lot including me falling in love with Spain! The language barrier has been a bit of a challenge, (especially when I first arrived in madrid and was trying to ensure that my luggage was getting on my next flight (spain is not a very english friendly I have come to learn)). On thursday I finally arrived in Almeria after a very luxurious flight from the US in business class thanks to my wonderful boyfriend I finally met the Whitleys who is the family that is working in Almeria with the African Immigrants. They have three children who are adorable and they have been more than welcoming to Amanda and I. We have agreed we already feel to be a part of their family. Friday morning we helped (somewhat) with the womens class they have every friday morning in the bottom floor of our apartment. Mrs. Whitley and another local Spanish woman are teaching these African woman to read and write in Spanish so that they may be able to get jobs. They also are teaching the woman how to sew and cook spanish food as well so that they may support their families.  It was really cool to see and be around these woman. Already one of the women that had been attending the class for the past year had gotten into a course to help her train for a job because she was now able to read and write thanks to this class.  Two woman brought the cutest toddlers with and I of course took it upon myself to entertain them the entire time. After that we went to the mall (yes there is mall!) and ate paella, which was delicious. The next day I went for a run on the beach, which is gorgeous and then there was Kids Club at our apartment/house? where the African children come over on Saturdays to play games, have snacks and maybe even hear about Jesus, though we have to be careful because a lot of them come from Muslim backgrounds. At the beginning of the day I got a little overwhelmed and upset because I can't speak spanish well and felt as if  couldn't connect with the kids. But soon, after a few arts & crafts, I began to interact with the children with my small capacity to speak spanish and a lot of their help. The girls were so sweet and kind and helped me a lot with my spanish. I think they were so great at helping me because not long ago a lot of them were in the same position of being in a foreign country and not knowing the language and many of their parents still do not know Spanish.  Later I connected with a lot of the boys by playing soccer with them out in the street. (arts & cratfs and soccer, I'm in heaven!) It was really cool to interact with these children and to just see their beautiful smiles, especially when knowing that these children live pretty hard lives. When working with the african immigrants we try our best to respect their culture which means wearing long skirts. It has been a struggle to have to replace my shorts with maxi dresses but Im learning to deal and it is worth it every time you see a smile on these people's faces. After kids club the Whitleys took us to a castle, that is the second largest one in spain , second to the Alhambra. It was gorgeous and pictures will be posted soon. sorry this post is so long, none of my future posts will be this long. Later I had my first cultural experience with Amanda at a convenience store where I wasn't allowed to use my card bc I had to but atleast 12 euros worth of stuff, random number I know. And then I set the stores alarm off because I carried my cart past the checkout line, apparently youre not supposed to do that. Oh! and you have to basically put down a safety deposit to use the grocery carts, weird. And while all this is going on, it is ofourse going on in spanish, a language I barely know. Thankfully Amanda is basically fluent and I may never go any where with out here, atleast the first week. I promise. Its just 3 days worth of information and being the first 3 days, a lot has happened. Or at least it feels that way. But this will be the longest FOR SURE. Please keep me amanda, the whitleys and everyone else involved in all this in your thoughts and prayers! if youve actually read this far, I'm impressed. peace out.