Granada: part 3

Monday through Friday of our ten days in Granada was spent with 25+ teenagers at the English camp run by the local church. Joel and I both worked with the teen camp, which was right up his alley and quite a stretch for me. I think it's safe to say we had an awesome time with those kids! One of the most outgoing students had fun dancing with Joel (above).... she knew how to break dance and wanted him to imitate her smooth moves. 

English camp ran from 9am-2pm with a snack time in the middle. We had some classroom teaching time where we introduced English vocabulary, practiced forming sentences, and utilized new vocab to play games. All of the other activities were to reinforce English vocabulary and conversation.... crafts, games, and team competitions gave kids a chance to practice English in a non-threatening way.

Wednesday was spent at the beach about 1.5 hours away from Granada. Other than some motion-sickness on the bus, it was wonderful. The view of the nearby mountains took your breath away. Then, if you got tired of looking at the mountains, you could gaze into the crystal clear waters. I was surprised to find that the water was totally smooth, with no waves or undertow. The kids had a great time splashing around, playing cards on the sand, and eating their picnic lunch. Beach Day was unofficially a Spanish-English conversation day, so we both used our language skills to connect with the kids who weren't too confident to speak just English with us.

On the last day of camp, we celebrated with a huge water fight. Everyone was soaked and had an awesome time!

Granada: part 2

On our second morning in Granada, we woke up to a beautiful view of the convent's central garden. We weren't invited to explore it, as that's the personal property of the nuns in residence. The above photo was taken through the glass door near the front entrance.

We spent Saturday morning at the Alhambra, which is (in my opinion) a must-see for anyone visiting southern Spain. We spent a few euros for an English audio guide, which was helpful because there weren't many written signs around the place. I think we were there for about 4 hours, but could definitely have spent twice that much time. The Alhambra is BEAUTIFUL and we were there on a hot, sunny day. I got tired and a tiny bit nauseous, but there were lots of spots I could sit to rest while Joel and our teammates continued to explore.

Joel made friends with a little guy whose parents are working in Granada full-time. He was a pro at smelling all the beautiful flowers :)

 The view of Granada from the Alhambra was amazing. You could see the entire city and far beyond...

Saturday evening we had the chance to watch a flamenco show. It was lively and exciting. Somehow, I managed to fall asleep for about 2 minutes in the middle of the show.... first trimester woes for ya...

Part of the goal of the long-term workers in Granada is to give the short-term team a chance to experience the local culture before spending the week teaching English to the kiddos. We were thrilled to get to see so many fun, new things. Sunday was a leisurely day which included some walking around town, churros con chocolate, and church with the team.

Granada: part 1

I looked through the photos I took over the last 10 days and became overwhelmed with the task of debriefing about our trip. Because the photos are uploaded on the computer in chronological order, I'll update that way, too. So here goes...

Our first day in Spain was VERY full!  We met the rest of the English camp team, received our assigned roles for the camp, met church members, ate a delicious lunch, took a quick nap, explored the convent where we stayed, and generally got acclimated to Granada.

That evening we were invited to eat dinner at someone's house who lived up in the nearby hills. On our way, we stopped at a beautiful overlook where we could see the entire city. The sun was going down, the lighting was amazing, and the Alhambra (more on this later!) looked stunning.

Dinner was eaten on the rooftop, while watching the sun set over nearby houses. We tasted amazing local olive oil, drank Spanish wine, nibbled local delicacies, got to know our teammates, and watched a rainbow in front of the mountains.

As we walked home that evening (around 11pm), I was overcome by how the city seemed to have changed in just a few hours. The lights of Granada at night created such a different feel for a city we quickly came to love.

Getting ready for Granada

Well, our bags are packed, mostly. We have copies of our passports, drivers licenses, and credit cards. We have snacks for the plane rides and for long days with late dinners. Our collection of socks and underwear should be enough to last 11 days without laundry (!!). The bank got us some euros so we don't have to exchange money at the airport.

It feels so surreal. When we first started talking about going to Spain, I don't think I imagined we would actually get to go. Once we realized we would get to go, it seemed so far off... We had to finish school, interview for a job, paint our basement, go to Charleston, and do all sorts of summer stuff at home. But now, the time has come.

And we are ready.
Scared, sure. Overwhelmed, of course. Uncertain about so many details we have yet to discover.

But we are beyond grateful for the privilege.

We are ready to explore, play hard, ask good questions, stumble through our Spanish, be stretched, walk a lot, pray a lot, eat new foods, and make relationships for the long term.

This is the plan, too!!

I'm sitting in a classroom that is finally quiet after a field trip and salad party for the sixth graders. The class I got today is one of the worst behaved I've "taught" this year. Taught is in parenthesis because no teaching happened this week. Certainly not today.

Though I was dying for the day to be over so I could escape from the loudness, the bad attitudes, the rudeness, I'm also feeling a little bit sad.

Because truthfully, I will miss these kids. I know so many of their names from being in the building all year. I know some of their stories. I know how to get them back on track, I know their struggles, I know their strengths. Over the last month, I imagined myself subbing here next year, having some of them again. I came to grips with the idea of being just a sub. Again.

But that's not the plan, apparently, and boy am I glad.

It's not the plan because this afternoon I accepted a job to teach fourth grade full-time next year. 

I get to work in the city. I get to teach my own kids. I get to set up my own classroom. I get to build relationships with parents as we partner to support their children.

This news blows me away and overwhelms the mess outa me. But I AM THRILLED!!

Good and bad things lately

Good. It's sunny. I have a personal day to use today so I am living it up. We don't have to move this summer.
Bad. It's 95 degrees this week. We aren't moving this summer, which is bad and good, mostly just confusing because we thought there was an open door from God but it has closed.

Good. We have almost all our support raised for Spain. Praise The Lord. I get to have a free ChickFilA salad for lunch today.
Bad. Junior high sleepover tonight. Why is that bad? Middle school girls don't tend to actually, um, sleep, at sleepovers. I'm gonna have to either be the bad guy and make them, or just stay awake myself. Clearly it's going to be door number one. Duh. And other than that fact, this item could go on the good list. I love those kids.

Good. Our fence was the only thing damaged in the fire we had last Sunday night.
Bad. Somebody intentionally set two cars on fire in the church parking lot last Sunday night which spread to our fence and huge pine tree. It was super scary.

Good. We serve a perfect, mysterious, loving God who chooses to bless us and care for us. I am overwhelmed by his love.

Owning this season

I just came home from work, chatted with my momma for a few minutes, and read this blog post in the quietness of my room. http://influencenetwork.blogspot.com/2013/05/its-your-season-own-it.html

As I have shared before, this year has been a hard season for us. Through the grace of God, I have tried my hardest to own the season, to share honestly about the confusion and heartache and frustration we have felt. I have tried to write here, so others can know, and for my own long term memory to be clear.

There are lots of conclusions I came to through my social media fast the last two weeks. Some I am still processing and won't be able to share yet, but here is one:

The Lord is here, with me, in seasons of loss and doubt. The Lord is good and patient and longs for me to cling tightly to His truth. The Lord has forgiven me and sent his son, his child, to die because of his great love.

Pretty big conclusion.

Day three of the blog fast

Some reflections so far... On Saturday I temporarily deactivated my Facebook account. The fact that you can easily do it without losing your account completely made the whole thing a little less painful. I did a whole lot of organizing and laundry on Saturday.

Sunday was easier than Monday. I had plenty of chores to do, plus I was under the weather and used my free time to get some extra rest. I also snagged three cheap books at a yard sale so I started reading one of those in the afternoon sun. Peaceful.

Monday at work was hard. I was so tempted to click on a blog during my free period at school. Nobody would know and I was antsy. Instead I got up and walked around to visit my friend in another classroom.

Tonight was really annoying. The cookies I planned to make have to go in the fridge for two hours, so I can't make them tonight and now have all this free time. I thought, "crap! Two weeks is too long!" Which I guess means its just the right amount of time!

I have really really really been enjoying starting my day with SheReadsTruth.com! It is wonderful to have something productive and meaningful I can do on the iPad when I first get up.

In sad news, I got rejected for yet another job I wanted. It is beyond frustrating to not even get an interview for jobs that I could do with excellence. In my opinion, one of the worst catch 22s in life is that employers only hire people with experience, but how do people get experience if nobody will hire them? Arghhhhh!!!

Quitting the blogs

Today on a run with my BFF, my eyes were finally opened to what I've been avoiding for many, many months. I need to surrender. I need to face up to my addiction and I need to do it now. I need to quit the blogs. Not this blog, necessarily, but the 10-15 blogs I check every.single.day. And I need to quit Facebook & Twitter... all at the same time.

I have justified and procrastinated and avoided this for months. I've said, "But the bloggers I follow are so encouraging and have such good ideas." I even used this very wise post to lie to myself and convince myself that my massive internet dependency was okay. It's not. I am addicted. Reading about other people's lives is my idol.

Partly due to my internet dependency, my friendships have suffered. My relationship with Joel has sometimes been neglected. My self-image and self-worth have plummeted. I've stopped reading books. I've slacked on things like keeping the bathroom clean and my paperwork organized.  I've lost a lot of my motivation to work out. I've become very impatient and very discontent with my life, my circumstances, my blessings, and my gifts.

Now, let me say: this is a multi-faceted issue in my heart. I'm naturally, as a sinful human, selfish and discontent. My heart is the culprit here, not the internet itself. Unfortunately, my lack of self control has resulted in (what started as relatively harmless) internet wandering becoming an addiction, something to feed my sadness, loneliness, boredom, and frustration.

There were three big factors contributing to serious self-realization and to this decision to quit the blogs:

1. I believe in the Holy Spirit. As I've read my Bible and prayed through the losses we've faced this year, God has worked in me through the Holy Spirit. My sin has become apparent and His grace has covered me in new and powerful ways.

2. My husband. Gosh, this man! Joel has encouraged me at least three different times this year to limit my internet use. He knows the ways it robs my joy. He knows my tendency to compare and become dissatisfied. He has lovingly confronted my addiction and remained faithful despite the many times I've ignored his wisdom.

3. The internet! Ironically enough, I've read things lately that have pushed me to take this fast from blogs, Facebook, and Twitter. It basically started with this post. I considered giving up sugar, but realized my reasons were mostly selfish: I wanted my acne to improve. And really, giving up sugar would improve my health, but I don't crave sugar like I do my daily blog reading/Twitter stalking. The final straw was reading this post, just after my run this morning. This lady quit Facebook for many of the same reasons I'm quitting it all.

I'm giving myself a two week goal. In those two weeks I will not read other people's blogs, I will not check Facebook, and I will not check Twitter. I expect to be blogging here, posting about how things are going, what I'm learning, how the Lord is changing me. But that's it. Email, She Reads Truth, my blog, and recipes on Pinterest.

mulling things over

Last night I read this blog post. Then this afternoon I stumbled upon this one. The first is all about toddlers and independence and supporting young children as they grow. The second is about how American parents raise children differently from parents in many other countries. Both were super interesting to me as a teacher and as someone who really would like to be a parent someday.

So I've been mulling them over...

The post about toddler-hood is mind-blowing. Really, it should be totally "duh" for me. I know about children's development. I know young kids love to do things themselves. I know they need extra time to learn and grow and experiment. I see a lot of kids in my classes who are NOT independent and who can't deal with frustration well. I see a lot of kids who I'd consider lazy and who drive me crazy with their incessant need for entertainment. But I know as a teacher (and think probably as a parent, too) that it's a real challenge to live within children's time frames. It's hard to slow down and let loose the schedule and say "Yes!" as much as possible. Even though I know it and I feel my job as a teacher would be easier if parents did it, I do recognize the difficulty...

I don't connect as clearly with the second article, probably because I'm not yet a parent. But even as a child-less teacher, I recognize the value in allowing kids to take risks and I recognize the beautiful pain in allowing them to face frustration... We love kids! We want to protect them and help them and make them happy. But really, truly, we want them to grow and learn and soar on their own. They need us as teachers (and parents!) to give them opportunities to climb to the top of the tall trees and slide down the big slides and jump off the high diving boards (Thanks, Dad!). We need to let them fail and give them time to play outside and show them how to take responsibility seriously.

The following quote could probably be a blog post in itself, but I wanted to add it here because it sums up an idea I think meshes nicely with the two posts I mentioned above. It's from one of my favorite bloggers:  

"It is a wondrous and heart wrenching predicament, to dedicate yourself to growing and loving another soul so successfully that they eventually establish their own independence."

(image here)