Whirlwind!

I feel like I have so much to write about, it will be hard to put it all into one blog post. I'm adjusting to life in Spain, and honestly, it's been a slower adjustment than I expected. I guess it makes sense, I mean, I really have been in so many places in the last month... Uganda, Scotland, England, the US, Iceland, Paris, Spain... I've heard no less than ten languages and changed time zones a good five or six times within a matter of thirty days. What a whirlwind.

The world really is a beautiful place. Every new place I go, I realize once again that every place has something beautiful about it.

When I say that adjusting to Spain has been slow, I don't necessarily mean BAD. But it has been entirely different from anything I've ever experienced. I expected it to be easy... I mean, Spain is first world, just like the USA, so it can't be too different from my upbringing. And I desperately want to learn Spanish, so I figured I'll just jump right in and start learning, you know?!

I've been here a week now, and I'm just BARELY beginning to understand my host parents when they talk. Their Spanish accent is so different from the Latin American one I learned in high school! I still don't know my way around the city, and I haven't made any Spanish friends yet. I don't know how difficult my schoolwork will be, because we've only had two days of class. And it's been rainy, on top of all that.

But guess what, tomorrow the sun is supposed to shine! And I have some lovely American friends here who want to explore the city with me. And I'm going to meet some Spanish friends, because I have an intercambio to meet with next week. And that will help me get used to the accent here, I'm sure. And once school really starts, I'll have a routine, and that will be nice.

I'm learning to be content where I am. I miss Uganda so much. I think a big part of that is that I KNOW Uganda. I'm now in a new place, where I don't know anything. And I have to be patient. I'll get there.

I'll write again soon. I feel like I'm telling that to a long lost pen pal who I've severely disappointed with lack of letters. Sorry, I promise it won't happen again, I'll write within the week, etc...

But once I sort out my thoughts (in English and in Spanish, hopefully), and once I have some photos to awe you with, and once I have a little more grounding here, I'm sure words will flow quite easily!

Back on the road again...

Or should I say... in the air, on a random couch, etc...

After a refreshing three weeks at home, I'm headed back across the Atlantic again! Believe it, friends. As many of you know, I am required for my degree to do a study abroad, and Uganda didn't count because I wasn't at a university there. Not a problem, I said, I will just go study abroad the semester right after Uganda! So I'm currently in transit to Seville, Spain.

First stop: New York City. Had a good nine hours in the city, and it was nine hours too long. After dodging a shady taxi driver (my heart was literally beating so hard I think you could see it like in the cartoons), I decided to just play it safe and sit at the airport until my flight. It really wasn't bad; I met three lovely people: one from Sweden who was just studying in Duluth (small world), one from Australia who is on her way to study in Norway, and another from Poland who was just studying in Chicago. Contacts!

Next stop: Reykjavik, Iceland! This country has been on my top five for awhile now, in large part because of Sigur Ros and the beautiful documentary Heim they put out a couple years ago. I'm staying with a great couple named James and Audra, and hope to tour the Golden Circle, soak in the hot thermal pools, and experience the northern lights on a dark clear night.

Then: Paris, France for a night and a day. Staying with a girl named Alex who claims I HAVE to experience the lights of Paris at night. Sounds good to me. :]

THEN: Seville, Spain! Home for the next four months!

I'll continue to use this blog while I'm traveling about, so please keep following! And I'll probably have better internet access than I did while in Uganda! It will be interesting to see how my faith grows during this next chapter of life. This will be the first travel experience that isn't service oriented and that doesn't revolve around my faith. I expect to be a bit of a loner, but if I'm diligent, I bet it will only assure me more of God's faithfulness and provision. Prayer is appreciated... Love to you all!

Amazing Peace

Amazing Peace is a beautiful poem written by Maya Angelou. She read it aloud for the 2005 annual tree-lighting ceremony at the White House. I wanted to share it with you all... it's absolutely beautiful.

Amazing Peace
by Dr. Maya Angelou

Thunder rumbles in the mountain passes
And lightning rattles the eaves of our houses.
Flood waters await us in our avenues.

Snow falls upon snow, falls upon snow to avalanche
Over unprotected villages.
The sky slips low and grey and threatening.

We question ourselves.
What have we done to so affront nature?
We worry God.
Are you there? Are you there really?
Does the covenant you made with us still hold?

Into this climate of fear and apprehension, Christmas enters,
Streaming lights of joy, ringing bells of hope
And singing carols of forgiveness high up in the bright air.
The world is encouraged to come away from rancor,
Come the way of friendship.

It is the Glad Season.
Thunder ebbs to silence and lightning sleeps quietly in the corner.
Flood waters recede into memory.
Snow becomes a yielding cushion to aid us
As we make our way to higher ground.

Hope is born again in the faces of children
It rides on the shoulders of our aged as they walk into their sunsets.
Hope spreads around the earth. Brightening all things,
Even hate which crouches breeding in dark corridors.

In our joy, we think we hear a whisper.
At first it is too soft. Then only half heard.
We listen carefully as it gathers strength.
We hear a sweetness.
The word is Peace.
It is loud now. It is louder.
Louder than the explosion of bombs.

We tremble at the sound. We are thrilled by its presence.
It is what we have hungered for.
Not just the absence of war. But, true Peace.
A harmony of spirit, a comfort of courtesies.
Security for our beloveds and their beloveds.

We clap hands and welcome the Peace of Christmas.
We beckon this good season to wait a while with us.
We, Baptist and Buddhist, Methodist and Muslim, say come.
Peace.
Come and fill us and our world with your majesty.
We, the Jew and the Jainist, the Catholic and the Confucian,
Implore you, to stay a while with us.
So we may learn by your shimmering light
How to look beyond complexion and see community.

It is Christmas time, a halting of hate time.

On this platform of peace, we can create a language
To translate ourselves to ourselves and to each other.

At this Holy Instant, we celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ
Into the great religions of the world.
We jubilate the precious advent of trust.
We shout with glorious tongues at the coming of hope.
All the earth's tribes loosen their voices
To celebrate the promise of Peace.

We, Angels and Mortals, Believers and Non-Believers,
Look heavenward and speak the word aloud.
Peace. We look at our world and speak the word aloud.
Peace. We look at each other, then into ourselves
And we say without shyness or apology or hesitation.

Peace, My Brother.
Peace, My Sister.
Peace, My Soul.