It's a beautiful Monday morning here in Sagunto. The sky is clear and last night's wind has died down. Students chatter as they go to breakfast before their first class of their first Monday in a new, bilingual school. This morning I don't have a class until 9:45 so I brought my breakfast to my room so I could tell you a little bit about this weekend!
Friday night and Sabbath were nice because for the first time since I got here, the dorm was actually somewhat quiet when I was trying to sleep. I'm not sure why but every night I hear noises, chatter, and clashing around like I've never experienced in a dorm before. Anyway, Friday night I could tell that everyone in the dorm was going to crash, and after a good night's sleep I woke up Sabbath morning refreshed and ready for my first church service in Spain!
The best part about church was the singing, since the words were on the screen and we could try to follow along. But after only a few songs it was over, and thus began what seemed like an extremely long sermon. We haven't gotten our Spanish Bibles yet either, so we couldn't even follow along. Still, it was interesting to see how everything worked. They thanked (or at least I think that's what they were doing) lots of people and then broke off for Sabbath school. For this week we decided to go to the English Sabbath School since I for one was feeling very drowsy from all the difficulty understanding.
The best part about Sabbath for me was our 5:00 hike up the mountain (maybe it's a hill to some, but for this Kansas girl, it's a full on mountain) where we could see the view of Spain all around us. To the east was the Mediterranean, to the south we could see the tall buildings of Valencia, and everywhere else was beautiful hills, orange groves, and vistas. The walk to get there was pretty steep. It wasn't very long but it was straight up on some slippery gravel. Still, it was easier than going down where some people slid and fell.
On Sunday we spent all day at the beach. We caught a bus near 11:30 and stayed until 5:00PM. Needless to say, my face is a little pink today! The water was nice, just a little chilly, and we enjoyed helado (gelato... ice cream!) in a little shop nearby. Some kids played barefoot beach fútbol with some local kids from ESDES. I didn't try that since my athletic ability with team sports is basically nil. After a long day in the sun we were tired and ready to get back to school, shower, and do our homework (which proved much harder than we had expected!). Here's a few pictures from our hike! Click to enlarge.
Friday night and Sabbath were nice because for the first time since I got here, the dorm was actually somewhat quiet when I was trying to sleep. I'm not sure why but every night I hear noises, chatter, and clashing around like I've never experienced in a dorm before. Anyway, Friday night I could tell that everyone in the dorm was going to crash, and after a good night's sleep I woke up Sabbath morning refreshed and ready for my first church service in Spain!
The best part about church was the singing, since the words were on the screen and we could try to follow along. But after only a few songs it was over, and thus began what seemed like an extremely long sermon. We haven't gotten our Spanish Bibles yet either, so we couldn't even follow along. Still, it was interesting to see how everything worked. They thanked (or at least I think that's what they were doing) lots of people and then broke off for Sabbath school. For this week we decided to go to the English Sabbath School since I for one was feeling very drowsy from all the difficulty understanding.
The best part about Sabbath for me was our 5:00 hike up the mountain (maybe it's a hill to some, but for this Kansas girl, it's a full on mountain) where we could see the view of Spain all around us. To the east was the Mediterranean, to the south we could see the tall buildings of Valencia, and everywhere else was beautiful hills, orange groves, and vistas. The walk to get there was pretty steep. It wasn't very long but it was straight up on some slippery gravel. Still, it was easier than going down where some people slid and fell.
On Sunday we spent all day at the beach. We caught a bus near 11:30 and stayed until 5:00PM. Needless to say, my face is a little pink today! The water was nice, just a little chilly, and we enjoyed helado (gelato... ice cream!) in a little shop nearby. Some kids played barefoot beach fútbol with some local kids from ESDES. I didn't try that since my athletic ability with team sports is basically nil. After a long day in the sun we were tired and ready to get back to school, shower, and do our homework (which proved much harder than we had expected!). Here's a few pictures from our hike! Click to enlarge.
Oh- and here's my Spanish Words of the Day. Well, Verbs of the Day. My vocab seems to be lacking quite a bit so I'm trying to learn or review at least 10 verbs a day. I need to make another list for nouns of the day but for now here's what I've got. I thought some of you (grandma :) might enjoy this.
abrir (to open)
aceptar (to accept)
apagar (to turn off)
aprender (to learn)
bailar (to dance)
beber (to drink)
buscar (to look for)
caber (to fit)
caerse (to fall)
cambiar (to change)
abrir (to open)
aceptar (to accept)
apagar (to turn off)
aprender (to learn)
bailar (to dance)
beber (to drink)
buscar (to look for)
caber (to fit)
caerse (to fall)
cambiar (to change)
