Insight

I have found my home. It wasn't until I moved here that I realized just how important it is to feel at home in the place you live. I had been living in an apartment where I was sharing my room with another girl, and it was crowded. I did not enjoy going home, and caught myself always finding other things to do. So, although I am in a different country, and away from friends and family, I at least have a wonderful place to call my own now. And it feels great to go home after a long day of work and fix dinner.

I am teaching away week after week. My 6 to 10 year olds are thrilled to have a foreigner in their midst and make me feel quite popular. They are really fast learners, and it disproves, any and all, non-sense that says that it is better to begin second language education in high-school. The young ones absorb the language at an incredible rate, and make it their own much faster and more easily than the older students.

I also have 7 hours of private lessons that I give outside of school. It is mostly to children, but I have a few adults as well. It's much easier working in more intimate settings, but I enjoy the dynamics of the classroom as well. The private lessons are helping me to fill the gap financially, and I am so thankful for this extra money without which I could not make it by. So, I am praying that God will keep me occupied with lots of lessons.

I have to say, thus far, the best part about living in Barcelona is the extra time I have on my hands. My life is not as demanding here. I am much more conscientious of how I spend my time, whether I am setting time aside for myself, and for the Father. I work Mondays thru Thursdays at the school and then travel all over town to give lessons, but Friday to Sunday are for me. And this time I strive to make purposeful. I rest, site-see, meditate and journal or just spend time with friends. Either way, I am growing to love the quiet time I used to dread before. I am finding comfort in the moments of solitude, when I can hear the Father speak more clearly, and I can be intimate in my relationship with Jesus. It is more personal now.

I hate to sound like everything is peachy all the time, because it is not. In addition to all these wonderful times of exploration and growth, I have experienced great amount of uncertainty, loneliness and at times, depression. It is not easy transplanting one's life across the globe, away from friends, family and familiarity. It is not easy to develop meaningful relationships again. Actually, it is in this climate and environment that many things in my life have surfaced and I have the option to allow God to help me to work through them, or to brush them under the carpet and play ignorant. The easiest thing sometimes is to give up hope; to give up hope of becoming the person you know you are destined to be. But, God's grace has been enough in my life, and here I am. I am alive, and living out my dream. I am challenged much, but I am at peace.