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 15th 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
