5-1-12

Friday night and Sabbath morning, our praise band was responsible for the music. On Friday evening, we sang all of the songs we know very well, so I was able to play along, sing, and look like I was enjoying what we were doing, as I am usually able to do. Sabbath morning, however, we did all of the songs that...well...I guess you could say are not very well known to some of us, myself included. My sheet music was on the floor because we didn't have an extra music stand, and I was standing in front of a mic. So I was standing up playing guitar looking at the ground the whole service long. Oh well, I guess it could have been worse.

On Sabbath morning, it was my job to introduce one of the songs. Since it was one of the songs I didn't know that well, I made up the best introduction I could that sounded like it had something to do with the song. Sometimes, to be in our music group, you have to be an improv expert, in Spanish no less. So five minutes before we were about to start, our group leader told me which song I was introducing, and of course at that moment I blanked out and couldn't remember how it went, the words, or anything. The title was "Todos mis dias" (All my days), so I made up something that sounded relatively related to the song on the spot. I don't even remember what I said, but it was something about how we follow Jesus all of our days.

Just before the song service started, Josh told me that he had the offering call, and asked if I would do it. I really didn't want to do it, because I'd already had enough fun improving my way through the song introduction, but he kept on asking, so finally, I just agreed. Oh well, I thought I would just have to make up another sentence to call up the deacons, and that would be it. Boy was I mistaken; as it turned out, the offering call was at the very end of the service just before Sabbath school started. Guess where I had the privilege of sitting for the rest of the service? That's right, best seat in the house; on the platform directly behind the pastor with two others. I didn't sleep very well the night before, so I was tired, but of course I had to look interested in the sermon, and I couldn't dose off, which is really all I wanted to do at that point. Droopy eyes and all, I just sat there and tried to keep my eyes on the pastor as he was preaching. To make it worse, every once in a while, the pastor would turn around and preach to us; Loli the head elder, Monica, who was up there to call for the offering, and me. When this happened, I did my very best to nod and look interested, but I didn't catch a single word of the entire sermon which lasted for over an hour. During the sermon, some of my friends tried to cheer me up every once in a while from the first few pews, but at that point, I was tired and grumpy, and the reason I was grumpy was because I was up there in the first place, so I just stared right through them. Afterwards, several of my friends told me that I even looked tired from where they were sitting. Every once in a while, I would look over to Josh who was sitting in the front row, and very discretely would slide my finger across my neck, then as soon as he saw me, I would start fake-scratching my neck. He just laughed at me. After the pastor finally sat down, Monica called for the children story, then there was a special music, and then it was my time to call up the deacons. I got up there, said my sentence to call up the deacons, and went to go sit down again. Amazing, I sat up in front of church for over an hour to say three words at the very end!  After the service I told Josh that he would owe me a BIG, BIG one.  Sitting up in front of church when I was very tired and grumpy was one of the worst experiences I have ever had inside of a church.

After the service, I  walked straight from the platform down through the sanctuary, up the stairs, and went straight to bed.

I took a nice long nap, and by the time I woke up, it was about three in the afternoon. It was very cloudy outside, and it looked like it was going to rain any second, so all of my afternoon plans were put on hold. My very favorite thing to do on Sabbath afternoon is go on a bike ride around the mountain,to the beach, or to just go exploring. Usually, when it is not raining, my other hobby is to read in my hammock out on the balcony. However, since it looked like it could rain at any second, I took my hammock down, thus making reading in my hammock a bit more difficult.

Saturday evening was the Spanish national basketball tournament of Adventists here at the school. The ACA guys formed a team, there was a team of teachers that teach here, a team from Puerto de Sagunto, and one team made up of some of my Spaniard friends. For being the national tournament, the representation was a little bit...well...stacked. As it turns out, the team from Castellon didn't come, the team from Madrid didn't come, and the team from Zaragoza didn't come. After the first few games, Cristian, one of my professors, invited me to play on the team of some my Spaniard friends. I didn't play on the ACA team because they already had about 10 people on the team, and I figured that since I am not nearly as good as some of the other guys, I probably wouldn't be playing a whole lot. My first game with my Spaniard friends was against the Americans, and they absolutely crushed us. For us, it didn't really matter because we knew from the start that they were much better than us. However, what did matter to us was the game right after we played the Americans. Our next game was a team that we could actually beat, and if we did, we would get 3rd place in the tournament, because there were only 4 teams. Before the match started, Cristian talked with all of us, and told us that our game plan was simply to sprint down the court every time and try to get an easy basket. If that failed, then we would pass it around, drive in, and kick it out again. We started off with that game plan, and it worked beautifully, especially because the other team had a few older guys on it, but after about three times of sprinting down the court for a lay up, we were all worn out too. Nevertheless, we kept running, and we kept getting layups, short jump shots, and floaters. Towards the beginning of the game, it seemed like non of my shots were going in, but as the game went on, more and more it seemed like anything I threw up would go in. Many of my shots in that game were pretty lucky. The other team was playing pretty well, but their shots just weren't seeming to want to go in. In the end, we won by about five points. For me, it wasn't about winning, even though it was nice to get the 3rd place trophy and all, it was just fun to play with my friends and play hard. The next game was the championship game between the Americans and the team from Puerto de Sagunto. In the beginning, both teams were playing very tough defense, and the score stayed pretty low. However, the advantage the Americans had was that they had 8-10 very good players; the other team had six guys, and only one guy was tall, very good inside the paint, and was very athletic. After a few minutes of the Americans double teaming him, he was struggling, and meanwhile the Americans were getting fast breaks and very good shots from all over the key. After a while, the other team was just settling for three pointers, and I don't remember very many going in. In the end, the Americans won the game, and the tournament. This is the first year that Americans have one this tournament, and if you ask any of us, we will most likely tell you that there were eight teams playing in the tournament, and they were all very competitive.

On Sunday, Elizabeth and I finished organizing our trip to the Canary Islands, the Hawaii of Europe. Originally, we had about 4 or 5 people saying that they were interested, and I was really excited for the potential our group would have, but in the end, only Elizabeth and I were able to go. Nevertheless, I am still very excited for this trip. In fact, in some ways, I am more excited about this trip than about any of the others I have taken this year. The island that we are going to is a tiny one that is only about 20 miles across, and about 15 miles wide, but in this tiny island, there is a national park with tons of gorgeous hiking trails that overlook the sea, there are a few golf courses, there are bike rentals, there is snorkeling and scuba diving, and of course, there are beaches. On all of the other trips I have taken this year, we have had a checklist of all of the things we wanted to see, and on which days we want to see them. This trip is different; there isn't anything to see, and there is absolutely no rush. I plan to bring a book or three, rent a bike, go hiking, snorkeling and maybe even golfing, walk the beach, wake up at whatever hour I want, maybe swim in the pool at the apartment complex where we are staying, and do whatever my whims tells me to do. The goal of this trip is not to walk 15 miles a day like it has been on most other trips to see the sights; the goal of this trip is simply to relax and enjoy the time we have there.

Last night, I received an email from the Teaching Learning Center (TLC) in Walla Walla saying that I am officially hired for next school year to tutor in the languages department. Wow, that is the easiest job application I have ever had, and will ever have. They emailed me and told me that my adviser recommended me, and asked me if I was interested. I said yes, so they emailed me a PDF of the application, I printed it out, filled it out, and faxed it back. That's it. I am very excited to get the chance to help others learn Spanish, and hopefully, make it as appealing and fun for them as it has been for me.

I am off today, and tomorrow evening is the banquet of the dorms, and I have been asked to dance the Sevillanas with some of my fellow flamenco dancer classmates.  This next weekend, I will be out camping with the Pathfinder club, and I haven't decided yet if I am looking forward to it or dreading it. The following weekend, I will be in the Canaries with Elizabeth, the weekend after that, I will be going on a camping trip with Cristian, some of my ACA friends, and some of my Spanish friends, and the weekend after that is the DELE test. The weekend after the DELE test, I will be home. All of my weekends are filled up from now until I come home, and that is only 4 weeks away! It is unbelievable how fast this year went by, but how does that saying go? Oh yes, "Time flies when you're having fun."