Katie in Kensington: Help Me, Ronda!

Hi there! Happy Tuesday! Though technically, there’s only a smidgen of Tuesday left for me. ;)

Last weekend was a good one. We started it off by meeting up with four other auxiliars (with a great mix from CA, NY, England, and Scotland) for dinner at “Peggy Sue’s American Diner.” This place is as close to Johnny Rockets as you can get in Spain. Except, get this—the jute boxes at your table are free! No coin needed! Fun. Unfortunately, this restaurant plunged me into the most difficult position: trying to pronounce English words in a Spanish accent. I’ve gotten fairly good at reading whatever I need to in Spanish with the correct pronunciation. But if it’s an English word, I can’t help reverting back to the, well, correct pronunciation. You would think that’s fine. But no, not ok. Spaniards literally won’t understand you. So as I ordered my “Elvis Presley” pizza, I found myself struggling to say “Elvees Prezlay” instead of his real name. But only after I got the blank stare at the true pronunciation. It’s so hilarious! So yes indeed, familiar English words pronounced correctly are the most difficult words to communicate now.Who would have thought?

After that, we had a great weekend of catching up on things we needed to do, followed by a lovely trip to Ronda on Monday. This little “pueblo blanco” is snuggled into a rather mountainous region, and about halfway through the bus ride, it becomes impossible to read or sleep because the bus is whirling around curves on the edge of mountains faster than you think is advisable. The real treasure of this town is the “Puente Nuevo,” or the “New Bridge.” New, as in built in 1751. Ha. Makes you realize how young our history in the U.S. really is, eh? Ellie and I enjoyed our leisurely day wandering around the pueblo, the beautiful parks that overlooked the mountains, and our hike partially down the epic gorge. Ooh! And there was a sheep playground. That’s right. The whole play area for children was bedecked with hilarious, frolicking sheep. Maybe I’ll get some pictures of that up one of these days. Alan, I wish you were there. I would have loved to hear/ see your reaction. ;) All of that’s not to mention the delicious Spanish cuisine we indulged in for lunch. I had “revuelto de patatas,” which is a dish with eggs and potatoes. Of course, it had ham in it too. Here in Spain, there’s almost always an extra meat add-in that is left out of the description. I’m quite accustomed to that by now. It was also topped with two grand grilled peppers. Yum. The day was lovely, and I was so glad we got to visit this little village I have been wanting to see for quite some time. That’ll do for a Monday, let me tell you. :)

In other news, I’ve decided to apply for the RUF internship for the next two years. (!) If you haven’t heard me talk about it before, I’m surprised. :) I’ve been thinking about it and praying about whether I should jump in to this opportunity since the first semester of my sophomore year at Samford. I’m so very excited to see where this will lead. My interview is next Monday—so soon! I’ve been reviewing the guiding questions they provided about the interview today, and it’s only made me more excited. I’m also quite nervous, because it just seems so, well, nebulous and unguaranteed. I have to raise $33,000 dollars, for goodness sakes! And nothing in me wants to be calling people up asking them for money. But everything inside me wants to be a part of this college ministry, and my heart has been yearning for this opportunity for years now. So I finally stopped running away. Awkward phone calls, here I come. But I trust that God will work even the awkwardness out for my good in the end, no matter if I raise enough support to reach a campus next August or not. So there we have it!

What an epic post. Whew! Congratulations for reading all of that. You’re quite good to do so. Abrazos from Spain!