Week 15

Monday (11/17/14)
This is a post I put up on facebook:

So this month is all about thanksgiving and today I was smacked in the face with just how grateful I am for MY parents. Our relationship is imperfect at times, but I'm so blessed to have a mom and dad who read to me, sang with me, took me to the theatre, taught me good manners, gave me many opportunities for learning and growing (cooking class, summer camp, girls camp, music lessons, singing lessons, dance classes, karate class, freaking "hooked on phonics" and every type of flashcards on the earth, swimming lessons, etc...) but most of all, they gave me their time. Whenever I needed it. My mom has spent hundreds of hours reading stories with me, helping me late at night with homework and last minute sewing projects (she sews... I watch... Ha) and talking or just listening to/with me, and my dad is ready at any given moment to drop everything and help me with anything. Sometimes even when I don't want the help haha. They came to almost every performance, every recital, every award ceremony, every graduation... Besides my Heavenly Father and Savior, they are the absolute constants in my life. And not everyone can say that about their parents. So I think I can count myself as pretty dang lucky (even though luck has nothing to do with it).

Friday (11/21/14)
I got all dressed up to go out tonight, and it turned into a big ol' fail. I went down to where the "young" folks hang out, and it was just not my scene. I didn't even bother going into any of the places; dancers on poles, alcohol, young drunk idiots... not my thing. So I wandered around, and sat for awhile people-watching other people wandering around. When it got relatively late I headed back home, but I needed a break from walking in my heels and I was super thirsty so I started looking for a bar that was still open where I could grab a Fanta Limón. I couldn't really find anything and was going to just go home, when I decided to go into this one particular place - a guy dressed in African dress said he loved me as I was walking past. I just thought he worked there and was trying to get customers; I even kept walking. But he had just made me smile after my failed night out. So I went back, walked down to the bar and asked the bartender if they had the soft-drink I was looking for. They did, indeed. So I sat down and hung up my shoes. There were two bartenders. Both named José. It's like the beginnings of a popular sitcom haha. They were both super friendly (but not in a creepy way) and it was so fun to practice my Spanish. I also met Titch. I thought he was the owner (he's not; Martin, one of the José's brothers is) and he thought I was Spanish hahaha, and he introduced me to Pablo, who's real name is Paul, but when in Spain... 
I already love this old English bar. 

Sunday (11/23/14)
This Sunday was awesome. Brother Sena, probably one of the oldest and wisest members of the ward, invited me to come have dinner with him and the missionaries. He's Italian and he'd made homemade pizza and an awesome salad, along with a Spanish tortilla we all got a taste of. But that's not all. For dessert he broke out a panettone (not homemade, they are really complicated to make, so most people get them from a bakery) which is basically an Italian fruitcake - sweet bread with fruit mixed in. But unlike an American stereotyped fruitcake, it was SO good. It had all kinds of yumminess mixed in, like raisins and orange zest. AND THEN he gave us ice-cream bars. We definitely did NOT leave hungry. After we ate, he gave what I'm sure was an inspired lesson about the roles of the twelve-tribes of Israel, but I didn't understand any of it. My Spanish-language learning didn't ever really include religious words and topics, so I definitely have some catching up to do. When we were finished at Brother Sena's, I went with the Sister missionaries to an appointment they had scheduled with an African family. The husband seems fairly interested in the gospel, while the wife couldn't care less, but it might be because they are all learning Spanish so everyone's understanding is at a different level. They have two kids, a boy and a girl, and they are SO FREAKING CUTE! The little boy gave the closing prayer, and in it he said "Please let Rebecca come to our house whenever she can." OHMAHGOSH. Someone get a mop, cause I'm a melted puddle on the floor! And they both taught me their secret handshakes. Adorable.

xoxo,

     Rebecca

Another Brief Overview

1. 
   

   Spain a.k.a the Kingdom of Spain

   
   

   "Plus ultra" 

   ~ Further beyond ~

   
   

   Government: Unitary parliament, Constitutional monarchy

   Official Language: Spanish

   Currency: Euro

   Predominant Religion: Roman Catholic

   Time Zone: Western European (Canary Islands) 

   "Spain (/ˈspeɪn/; Spanish: España [esˈpaɲa]), officially the Kingdom of Spain (Spanish:Reino de España),^[a][b] is a sovereign state located on the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe. Its mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for a small land boundary with Gibraltar; to the north and northeast by France, Andorra, and the Bay of Biscay; and to the west and northwest by Portugal and the Atlantic Ocean. Along with France and Morocco, it is one of only three countries to have both Atlantic and Mediterranean coastlines. Spain's 1,214 km (754 mi) border with Portugal is the longest uninterrupted border within the European Union. Spanish territory also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the African coast, three exclaves in North Africa, Ceuta, Melilla, and Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera that border Morocco, and the islands and peñones (rocks) of Alborán,Chafarinas, Alhucemas, and Perejil. (The Spanish Empire with its peak in the 1600s had included much more territory - see world map.) With an area of 505,992 km² (195,365 sq mi), Spain is the second largest country in Western Europe and the European Union, and the fifth largest country in Europe." (Wikipedia.com)
   
   

   I will be living near Costa Adeje in Tenerife Sur, Canarias, España.

    

   

   
   

   The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

   
2. Total Church Membership: 51,192

   Missions: 3

   Congregations: 140

   Temples: 1 ---> Madrid Spain Temple 

   Family History Centers: 55

   xoxo,

        Rebecca

God Bless the USA!

I'm so blessed, and so grateful to call America my homeland. I hope you all have a safe and happy Independence Day! :) 

xoxo,

     Rebecca

Book Review: "Man's Search for Meaning"

I received a book entitled "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor E. Frankl, as a graduation present and I finally finished reading it a few days ago.

WOW! This is one of those books that will seriously change your life, or at least your perspective. Utterly inspired. This is definitely going on my "favorite books" list. I highly recommend it, and just to tease you into reading it yourself, here are some of my favorite excerpts:

"Frankl saw three possible sources for meaning: in work (doing something significant), in love (caring for another person), and in courage during difficult times. Suffering in and of itself is meaningless; we give our suffering meaning by the way in which we respond to it." (from the forward by Harold S. Kushner)

"An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behavior."

"A thought transfixed me: for the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth - that love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire. The I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love."

"Love goes very far beyond the physical person of the beloved. It finds its deepest meaning in his spiritual being, his inner self. Whether or not he is actually present, whether or not he is still alive at all, ceases somehow to be of importance."

"As the inner life of the prisoner tended to become more intense, he also experienced the beauty of art and nature as never before. Under their influence he sometimes even forgot his own frightful circumstances."

"Humor was another of the soul's weapons in the fight for self-preservation."

"No man should judge unless he asks himself in absolute honesty whether in a similar situation he might not have done the same."

"Nietzsche's words, 'He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how'..."

"Human kindness can be found in all groups even those which as a whole it would be easy to condemn."

"...there are two races of men in this world, but only these two - the 'race' of the decent man and the 'race' of the indecent man. Both are found everywhere; they penetrate into all groups of society. No group consists entirely of decent or indecent people. In this sense, no group is of 'pure race'..."

"The crowning experience of all, for the homecoming man, is the wonderful feeling that, after all he has suffered, there is nothing he need fear any more - except his God."

"A man's concern, even his despair, over the worthwhileness of his life is an existential distress but by no means a mental disease."

"...something which in itself is meaningless cannot be rendered meaningful merely by its perpetuation."

"Pleasure is, and must remain, a side-effect or by-product and is destroyed and spoiled to the degree to which it is made a goal in itself." (also "...happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue.")

"...we have come to know man as he really is. After all, man is that being who invented the gas chambers of Auschwitz; however, he is also that being who entered those gas chambers upright, with the Lord's Prayer or the Shema Yisrael on his lips."

Seriously people, READ IT. It is worth your time, I promise!

xoxo,

     Rebecca

A Brief Overview

Ok, so I thought it was probably a good idea to do a little research about where I'll be living, before I get there haha. Here is just a brief (oh so brief) summary:

1. 
   Switzerland a.k.a the Swiss Confederation

   

   "Unus pro omnibus, omnes pro uno" 

   ~ One for all, all for one ~

   
   

   Government: Federal Republic, Directorial system 

   Official Languages: German, French, Italian, Romansh

   Currency: Swiss franc

   Predominant Religion: Christianity

   Time Zone: Central European 

   "The establishment of the Swiss Confederation is traditionally dated to 1 August 1291, which is celebrated annually as Swiss National Day. It has a long history of armed neutrality—it has not been in a state of war internationally since 1815—and did not join the United Nations until 2002. It pursues, however, an active foreign policy and is frequently involved in peace-building processes around the world. Switzerland is also the birthplace of the Red Cross and home to a large number of international organizations, including the second largest UN office. On the European level, it is a founding member of the European Free Trade Association and is part of the Schengen Area – although it is notably not a member of the European Union, nor the European Economic Area. Switzerland comprises four main linguistic and cultural regions: German, French, Italian and the Romansh-speaking valleys. Therefore the Swiss, although predominantly German-speaking, do not form a nation in the sense of a common ethnic or linguistic identity; rather, the strong sense of identity and community is founded on a common historical background, shared values such as federalism and direct democracy, and Alpine symbolism." (Wikipedia.com)
   
   

   I will be living near Lake Constance, known in German as the Untersee ("Lower Lake").

    
   
   The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
2. Total Church Membership: 8,741

   Congregations: 36

   Temples: 1 ---> Bern Switzerland Temple 

   Family History Centers: 14
   

   xoxo,

        Rebecca