Welcome, weekend! (almost)

I love that it's only 3:30 on Thursday and in 2 1/2 hours I'll be on to my next 4 day weekend! The way my class schedule is, I have an hour and a half break on Tues/Thurs before my last class of the day, and I love it. I've been using it as some alone-time, because although I actually do get quite a bit of that at the house if I want it, it's really nice that here I can be outside (I found a nice shady bench with a plug-in nearby...love it Ü) and put my headphones on and just kinda decompress and not worry about meal times or stepping out of my comfort zone to be sociable. I also found a little cafe on campus where you can get a 12 oz. coffee granita for $1.25! okay...so it wasn't that hard to find, UAM has about the same number of students as Whitworth, but the campus is even smaller!

Anyways, that's my new favorite thing, and was a necessity today, because I woke up at 4:30 this morning because my skin itched SOOOOO bad I couldn't sleep anymore. I laid in bed for an hour trying to fall back asleep and just couldn't, so I finally just up and dressed and worked on some homework (and took a mini nap in the hammock before breakfast, of course).

The first wave of homesickness hit me this week and the first half of the week was a little bit rough. There's so much I'm looking forward to when I get back in December that I've been struggling with being content and living in the present. I've been questioning why I'm here and the Lord's purpose is in having me here. My dad told me early in the week that my grandpa had to go to the hospital because his leg was really swollen and they were still trying to figure out what it was, so that got me really worried. I just got off the phone with him, though, and it turns out it's an infection and they're getting it taken care of with antibiotics. I also have really been missing friends and family--people that have known me and cared about me for longer than 2 weeks. Yesterday ended up being a much better day, though. I was much more bold than shy and met a few new people in my class (the prof. actually came this week...). My newest friend is Daniela, and we're planning on hanging out sometime soon. We made a pact that I'm only going to speak Spanish to her and she's only going to speak English to me, so that we both can practice our respective second languages. :)

Last night Julie picked me up to go to Hosanna, and it was awesome. There's something so awesome and powerful about worshiping God in another language, especially one as beautiful as Spanish is. Also, Latinos in general are SO much more expressive and outward with their emotions, that during worship songs, it's really apparent that they are PRAISING God, rather than just singing a song because that's what you do at church.

I think we're going to go to the beach this weekend. Emilio and Carmen have a little "rancho" (which doesn't mean ranch in this case, gringos). The way they've described it is kinda like a cabana--essentially just a covered porch area with hooks to hang hammocks on, and I think maybe a little kitchenette area? We can't all fit in one car though, so my friend Francis might be coming with us and driving her car as well. We'll just be gone for the day (it's only an hour away), but it should be a great outing and I'm soooo very excited to be by the ocean!