happy news

It’s morning. It’s RAINING. I’m at home and Zach has left for school. Nobody else is up in our apartment yet. Just took a little trip to the kitchen to fetch this tiny box of goodness:

Pinapple juice! Zach and I went looking for these in the Supermercado a couple days ago when we were both feeling a little “off,” …maybe you could even say sick. Must have only been a 24 hour deal though, which was a relief.

This morning I just wanted to write home about the incredible opportunities God’s placed in my lap here in Sevilla! I prayed so hard about this in the months before we left home—that I could find a purpose in the community and try to use my nursing/people skills somehow.  I wondered too about the possibilities of landing a small job to earn a little money, since I am so good at fretting about finances and Zach’s and my ability to make it 4 months in Spain with no income! Finding a job for pay seemed almost impossible after talking to people who know Spain and also investigating online how to go about finding temporary work in this country.

Well, I am just so pleased to say that I’ve been blessed with both of these things—a volunteer opportunity and a very part-time job teaching English! I am just floored at the way God has provided. He always does! And it is just so thrilling every time. Hombre.

This was my first week at Hospital de la Caridad (translated: the Charity Hospital). It is a huge, gorgeous and very old building founded in the 15^th century where its mission was to assist sick abandoned people. At present its mission still stands, as today it serves as a nursing home for over 80 older male residents, many who were poor and needy before they came to live here. I have so quickly fallen in love with this place and its people. I come twice a week in the mornings to learn from and assist the main morning doctor named Rafa. He is so great! Speaks pretty fast but he is enthusiastic to teach me and let me help. I know I just passed my State Nursing boards in June, but I feel oh-so-rusty on my nursing skills already. Ayyyy, that freaks me out a bit. But getting hands-on experience in this season when I’m not practicing my career yet is just what I need, thank you Lord! On the mornings that I’m not at the La Caridad, I’ve been making time to just sit on our balcony to list all the medical terms and phrases I can think of and then translate them to Spanish and MEMORIZE.

I’ve only been there twice so far, but I already have so much to say about La Caridad. I need to pace myself and save some for future posts. J One thing I have to express, however, is how precious the old men are! It frustrates me that we can’t always understand each other, but things like their mannerisms or the way they joke around with me and the other caregivers is just gosh darn cute.  Getting to know them reminds me of some of my favorite older-adult patients from different rotations in nursing school. My friend Katie, the Student Ministries Coordinator who totally rocked at setting me up at La Caridad, says this and I totally agree: Girls, if you are having low self-esteem issues or just really needing a pick-me-up, go spend some time at La Caridad. The older gentlemen are the best at making you feel like the prettiest woman in the world, no joke. It’s not in a creepy way either. Walk into the courtyard where they are hangin out in their wheelchairs and playing dominoes and you will get at least 3 different, “Guapísima!”s (basically, “hello Beautiful!”) in your direction. Gotta love it.

My English-teaching “classes” for 2 different families (but they are related and live down the street from each other) makes me smile just as much. Like, for reals. I have thee biggest smile on my face riding home on the metro after an hour with these people 4 nights a week. This has been my second week of “classes;” and I keep using those quotations marks because their sense of the word class is different than mine?? Essentially, I receive pay (in the form of Euros! So cool to say that!) to sit and have conversation in my native tongue with some really sweet kids/teenagers. They call it English class, but we are really just sitting and talking. J Hands down the easiest job I will ever have in my life. I have sessions with the beautiful Hernandez girls, Marta (18) and Mercedes (16), their brother, Manuel (12), and the Peña boys, Alfonso (14) and Ignacio (11). I am having way too much fun getting to know them and their parents. The kids are all very good at English since they’ve spent a lot of time with their families in Ireland and England during past summers.  They are so sweet to me and I am almost always very reluctant to leave their homes when our time is up.

During these last couple weeks we have been beginning to form some really wonderful relationships with Spaniards; I speak for Zachary, as well. I guess I didn’t expect to be blessed in this way to this extent and it’s hard for me to realize that we are only for such a short time… Will try not to think about that too much yet, as we’ve only been here 1 month. (ONE MONTH! Where does the time go?!) Finding myself delighting in this part of the world not only because of the sights and fun trips we get to take, but because these relationships we start building begin to nestle their way deep into my heart. Which seems dangerous knowing that an end to our time here comes quicker than we think, and good-byes just plain suck. However, meaningful friendships are the nitty-gritty of LIFE. There is something even more precious about the fact that someone can be a dear friend not because you talk about everything under the sun together (which is what I’d love to do but cannot do in Spanish with my Spanish friends) but because of the special moments of life that you share together. Kinda puts a new spin on relationships for me.

Hmmm, where was I even going with this? I am so great at rambling. Basically what I mean to say is that I am so grateful to our Maker for giving us the ability to love and be loved. We are experiencing all kinds of that in our time here, and inside me I feel it overflowing and just…so much joy.

Congrats to you if you made it this far…twas a long post. Although I am still soaking in every day in Spain, I want you all to know how much my heart also longs for my home and family and dear friends! Miss you guys like crazy.

All my love,

Kristen