December 3

December 3...wow, what a day!

A year ago today, I left Pennsylvania, left the United States, left my friends, left everything that was familiar to me, and got my first look at the country that would be my home for the following six months. Wow...how did I do that?

I started journaling at the beginning of training last year, and have decided to read my journal entries from a year ago. Today, I'm reading from December 3 and 4, 2008 - the days we traveled, and my first day in Spain. Last year, the Spain team and the Indipali team left together to fly to Frankfurt, Germany - we were the first teams to leave. Our spirits were high as we said good-bye to the other 5 teams and to the staff, and headed to the Philly airport. The ride to the airport was full of laughter, and the excitement was tangible. The flight was mostly uneventful, although none of my team really slept. We got to the Frankfurt airport late and had to say a hurried good-bye to the Indipali team - and that's when it hit me. They were my good friends, so saying bye to them was hard enough, but they were also my last connection to anything American, to anything familiar, to anything I knew. After that, it was just me and my team. And so it began.

In movies, I've seen people running through the airport trying to make their flight. That happened to us in Frankfurt - we had less than an hour to get from one side of a huge airport to the other. We didn't run - we sprinted as much as was physically possible with all of our luggage, only to discover that our next flight to Barcelona was almost completely empty. It was a short flight, but allowed for plenty of time to think. I was excited, but also somewhat terrified of what I had gotten myself into. We met my host dad at the airport, and went back to the apartment. We crammed all of our bags - 14 suitcases and carry-ons - into our tiny bedroom. My host parents took us out right away to help us get to know the area, and we went to a nearby mall and ate our first meal in Spain - a Chinese buffet. We went grocery shopping too. That evening, we went to a prayer meeting. After hardly any sleep the previous night, an intense day with lots and lots of Spanish, and the fact that it felt 6 hours later than it really was due to the time change...let's just say that prayer meeting was very interesting, and we all had to try very hard not to fall asleep. Looking back is so much fun, although some of that day's events were not so fun at the time.

So what does December 3rd bring this year? Today is the first day with just us staff in the house - all but one of the teams and participants has left, and the remaining team is away from HDC for a few days doing some volunteer work. I cleaned off my desk this morning, as I haven't really had time to do that for the past three months. I talked to my sister about my upcoming EMU visit. Right now as I type this, I'm listening to Christmas music. Tonight, we're going to pick up a Christmas tree. Life is good :)

How the times have changed...and I can't wait to see what December 3, 2010 will bring!