1-22-12

Well, I am sitting at my desk on Sunday night with some homework to do...and I don't really want to do it yet. I realized that I haven't written anything since Christmas, so I figure I can kill two birds with one stone right now; procrastinate on my homework, and give you an update of what has been going on around here with me.

For starters, I started off this quarter with 22 credits. Before you ask me how I could be that stupid, I would like to point out that I am taking a class in Flamenco dance- a class easier than P.E., I am in a praise band that I get a credit for, and I have accepted the position of being the "Semi-Youth Pastor" of the Americans", which I also get a credit for. So I really only had about 18 credits of actual classes that require studying, and I started this quarter off in group C, which I felt was not challenging enough. When I weigh all of these factors, I can guestimate that I really only had about 16 credits of actual classes.

At the beginning of last week, I talked with the director of ESDES, and he allowed me to move up to group D, one level higher than group C. This meant that I would have to rethink my schedule a little, because that would be impossible for me. I ended up dropping two classes that I didn't really need anyways; a class on the history of Spain and a class on Spanish literature, and now that I think about it, why on earth did I sign up for a Spanish literature class?! I don't even like studying literature in English! Not only does this make my schedule lighter, but my class schedule now allows me to go into town on Wednesdays for the market in case I need anything. However, I have decided to keep my Flamenco class, my praise band participation, and my position as the semi-pastor of "los americanos". Now I have 18 credits, and am studying in a level a little bit more challenging, and a lot more fun for me.

As the semi-pastor of the Americans, I am basically the social vice president who was told to put a spiritual element into everything we do. my job is to think of stuff to do that incorporates the students into the church life. The teacher that offered me the position said that my first task would be to hold a small group for the Americans like the rest of the church was already doing. He said I could do whatever I wanted for that group as long as it had a spiritual element to it, but I had no idea what to do to keep these guys entertained each week. On Friday night, I filled in for Juan who does afterglow each week, and normally, when afterglow is over, everyone goes home. This week, we stayed longer and just sang songs until about an hour after it was supposed to be over. The students said they really enjoyed that and wanted more of that, and one even suggested we do something like this every week. Basically, in short, the idea for my weekly small group came from the mouth of that person. Now, we will be singing every Wednesday night at 8 pm in the Frontera (a multi-purpose type room).

Later on in the week, one of the deans informed me that the Americans who were supposed to be doing music for chapel on Thursday nights hadn't been showing up, and asked if I would do something about it. Now, my schedule is as follows: Monday night  is praise band practice, Tuesday night is the praise band performance, Wednesday night is my small group, Thursday night will be me and probably two or three friends each week doing the music for chapel, and sometimes on Friday evenings and Sabbath mornings, the praise band does music for the church services. Somehow the lyrics of a song I sang back in my good ole' days at MGA come to mind, "...my life goes on in endless song...", and I think those are very appropriate lyrics for right now. However, I am not complaining one bit- I am looking forward to seeing how it goes.

This last Sabbath, our praise band/choir did the worship service, and I discovered something revolutionary. Now, you might think this isn't even worth noting, but I think this is the coolest thing since soy milk. Here in Sagunto, there is only one printer we have access to on a regular basis, and it is in the school office. Whenever we have a new song to learn, I don't print it out because we are only suppose to use that printer for "more important" stuff like assignments, or airline tickets. My best option has been to just simply try to memorize each song, but that only goes so far sometimes, considering how often times we will get four new songs on Monday and we perform on Friday...and I have a life outside of memorizing music. This last week, I have found out that I can put the lyrics and chords on my tablet in PDF form, and just view them straight from my tablet like a song book- simply swiping side to side to change songs. Now, not only do I save myself the hassle of printing, and saving paper and ink, but now I can have my entire song book with me all the time without having to carry around bunches of papers. I was so excited on Sabbath to show the rest of the choir my newly discovered gem I had found...and no one really seem to care. Oh well, it still makes all of the difference in the world to me. I think I will continue this practice even when I go back to Calimesa.

One of the theology students studying here, who plays the bass in the praise band while I play his guitar, just bought a bow and arrow set from Decathlon, the Sport Chalet of Europe. For the last few days, we have had the best time shooting up his cardboard boxes, and I am sure we will continue to destroy more. One of the first times I saw him with his bow and arrow, I asked him, "Este es tu ocio nuevo?" Which means, "So this is your new hobby?", and he looked me square in the eye, and with all of the seriousness in the world he said, "Este no es un ocio, es un deporte", which means, "This isn't a hobby, it's a sport!". I laughed a little, but he was dead serious. So from now on, while I am with Igor and his bow and arrows, I will remember to call it a sport, even though I have questions about that classification.

Well, that is about all that has happened around here for the last week or so. Until next time!