International Affairs

If you read my last post, then you know all about my current housing situation, and how it was completely opposite of what I thought I was going to be getting. But I am now here to write a more updated version about what it's like to be living in, what I have dubbed, an international hostel.

First, I should start by saying that I love my housing situation! It may not be forcing me to speak Spanish the way I need it to, but it's a really great situation, and it's giving me everything that I wanted and needed -- connection, friendship, and an amazing blend of cultures and life. I get along extremely well with all my roommates, and really enjoy spending time with them. The gal from England, who I didn't know would be living here, and I spend a lot of time together, and have become fast friends. We are very similar people, and I feel so blessed that we got placed here together in this time and space. Overall, everything here is really great, and I am in such a happy place inside and out!

I've said it before, but I'm going to say it again, because, as those who have previously lived with me know, it's incredibly important to me... everyone is so clean! I would never believe that so many people lived here with a dog, because everyone does a nice job of picking up after themselves and making sure the kitchen is ready for the next person to use it. It's a really great thing that is happening here in my life, and I feel so inspired, in different ways, by each person that is around me.

Last Friday night, one of my roomies had a couple of her friends over for a cocktail night. Her friend's boyfriend is from Brazil, so we had an incredibly international evening, making a traditional Brazilian cocktail of fresh fruit, ice, sugar, and vodka. It was a great, great night, and I was smiling from the inside out the whole time.

I am not going to say that I am so anxious to be able to speak Spanish better so I can better communicate with my other roomies, because I am only saying, "I am so happy and grateful right now that I can speak Spanish," to help manifest it into reality more quickly and easily, but...I am anxious for that day to come! I know for sure I need to be more proactive about starting conversations with them, and just dealing with the fact I need a dictionary to tell me most of what I'm trying to say. I have a perfect opportunity to advance my Spanish, right here in my home, and I am not taking advantage of it as much as I should. Especially since I really want to talk to them, learn from them, and experience with them, it would be mildly helpful if we could communicate better. Haha. But it will come, it is coming, it is here! I've actually done a much better job in the last week, and I can notice a huge difference in my comprehension!

As for the neighborhood we're in, I enjoy it. We're very close, I mean like less than five minutes, to the city center, I can easily walk to everything I need to get to, and we're just slightly removed from the city center, so our barrio ("neighborhood" in Spanish) has it's own vibe. It almost feels like it's its own city within the city, kind of like all the little villages within San Francisco. Actually, now that I say and think SF, I realize that's exactly what it reminds me of. It reminds me of how, in San Fran, you can find so many little cities/villages within the city itself. Pretty cool situation!

All in all, I love life. It's treating me right, and I can't stop sending out peace, love, thanks, and blessings to it, so it just keeps coming back. Moment after moment is filled with goodness, smiles, and a warmth within. I feel so alive!

Today's Thoughts: Overall, I am one happy girl. I am getting to such a wonderful place spiritually, and really starting to open up to all the possibilities within me and accessing it all. Not just accessing it, but releasing it. I feel like my soul and my heart are on fire, and I am just letting it burn and burst out of my chest and body to take control of each and every moment. It's glorious, and I strongly encourage everyone to just release the love and bright light that is within them -- it's wonderful what happens when you do! You were meant to shine bright, so why bother trying to blend in? :)

And here we feature the lovely Joey. Hahah

(Not in my bed.)

Sevilla, A Canvas of Color and Creativity

Oh my gosh, not too much time has passed since I last wrote, but I feel like so much has happened! My creative juices are flowing so much here, that I keep thinking of things I want to write about! There´s so much to tell you, so much to describe, and for some of you, most importantly, so much to fill you in on! I am completely unsure where to start, but this is the kind of time when I implement the simplest advice ever given to me in my working days: "Take a step back. Slow down."

These words were spoken to me by one of my co-workers at the Disney/ABC Television Group when I had that six week job I talked about here. I was doing a lot of data entry on invoices and other forms that you really can´t screw up, and for me, when I see numbers all over the place, my mind starts to skip. I was forgetting certain things and inputting others incorrectly, and Ou told me to just, "take a step back and slow down." I don´t think he realized how much weight these words held with me, and I know he has no idea how many times I´ve thought them since. 

I am the kind of person that moves quickly. I do things fast, I rush, and I am incredibly hyper-active. This causes errors that are completely avoidable, and was the reason I was so bad in math. Now, as I´m getting older, I´m becoming a much calmer person, but for a while, I was not. Having someone who was training me on a job tell me that I needed to just take a step back and slow down was very impactful. I use this as a reminder anytime I can tell that I´m getting frantic, over-worked, stressed, or overwhelmed. It helps me to stop what I´m doing, take a deep breath, slow down my thinking, and then return to whatever it is feeling stronger and more capable. And that´s what I have to do with this blog.

I want to tell you about all the adventures I´ve had, the places I´ve seen, the things I´ve done, and the foods I´ve eaten, but I also want to tell you about the realizations I´ve had, not-so-coicidental moments I´ve experienced, and about how perfectly everything seems to be coming together. As you can see, it´s a lot. The last post I dove into the spiritual side of my life and talked about the revelations that I had, so perhaps, this time, I will write about something else. But, the spiritual side of what´s happening to me seems to be the most prevelant and remarkable at this time, so I´m just not sure. 

All I know for sure is that I need to tell you all that Sevilla is quickly becoming one of my favorite cities. When I visited it during Semana Santa (holy week, aka Easter week) in 2010, I didn´t appreciate it as much as I should have. I was here to party, see the tourist attractions, experience Semana Santa, and nothing more. I didn´t get a chance to really appreciate the beauty and culture this place has to offer, and was completely overwhelmed by the massive crowds of people, processions, and other celebrations. That must be why God brought me back -- He knew that this city and I would mesh well and love one another. 

The city is like a canvas, everywhere, there´s art. Paintings cover the city, and although I presume their main purpose is to prevent graffiti, they result in the city being full of color and creativity. When stores are closed, they have, usually, metal doors that pull down or slide across to cover the glass windows and what-not of the store. These are down many hours of the day, since the siesta takes place from about 2-5, and all day on Sundays, so it makes sense that store owners would want people walking by to know what the establishment is, and also be drawn to it even when it is closed. Most of the paintings depict what the store is, and some are just colorful paintings of lovely, Spanish-type images. 

And as if this wasn´t enough to make a girl feel creative and get the juices flowing, even the recycle bins around the city are all painted! It really is a wonder just to bike or walk around and see how many different illustrations I can find. It makes me feel so alive and happy to know I´m in a city where art is demonstrated everywhere. It´s not just a medium to express here on paper or parchment, but on things that we consider dirty, ugly, and only serving one purpose (recycle bins). It makes you think about art in a different way, and for me, love it even more than I already do. 

I still have it on my list of to-take´s to take my camera and go out and take photos of the street art and graffiti here, but for now, I had to share this. I know many of you are artistic people, and I hope that this inspires you to consider art differently, more widely, and perhaps to take to doing more creative things more often. It feels so good to be this alive, with my brain working and thinking, dreaming and doing. I was so disctracted before by TV and media, but now, I´m freed from that hold and experiencing life with new eyes. I feel like my passion and lust for life have returned to me after a period of uncertainty and slight depression. I´ve always enjoyed my life, but I´ve always craved and needed more. Now, I am living the dream I created many moons ago, and feel like the most blessed child alive! I pray this for you all, and as always, MAKE YOUR OWN REALITY! <3