Meetup.com

So I recently came across a website called meetup.com.  Now as I’ve said I’m not into facebook and junk, but this site is pretty awesome.  It connects people with similar interests.  This is something I’m interested in as I generally spend most of my time with people younger than 15 and older than 35.  I’m currently in four different meetup groups: Spanish practice, volunteer, adventure and Christian singles.  What a great way to meet people!  I definitely feel like I have not taken advantage of all the metroplex has to offer, at all.   So on Monday I’m going rock climbing with a group.  I loveee rock climbing and anything similar/outdoors.  But of course, things are only as fun as the people you do them with.  I don’t really know anyone here that also enjoys it, so I’m not going to go by myself.  Plus it’s cheaper with this group.
Today was my first one.  There are multiple groups that meet and just speak conversational Spanish.  I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time so I’m really glad this came up.  This group was pretty much all people who speak Spanish as a second language.  I’m excited to do groups where you are paired with someone trying to learn English.  That’s when you will really learn and I’ve taught English a little bit abroad.
I was surprised at how much I know/remember.  I’ve spoken small talk almost everyday as a sub but that doesn’t mean/show much.  I understood more than 90% of everything I heard.  I could not believe how many seldom-used words I remembered.  I’m excited to go back.  I get frustrated at time thinking about all the time, effort and money I put into Spanish only to never use it, but it’s all still in there, I just have to coax it back out.  I was told by more than one person that I speak well.  I’m planning on going to Mexico for Spring Break so I’m definitely motivated to brush up pretty hard.  I know perfectly well there is a direct correlation between your level of Spanish and how much you can enjoy another country.  I really enjoyed this afternoon and look forward to trying the other groups.
I keep surprising myself at how much I enjoy meeting new people.  One guy knew about Greenville College! I was shocked.  Another lady is part of a house church! I’m very interested in that so I definitely enjoyed learning more.  I’m softened up enough to acknowledge these meetups as one of the many benefits of living in an urban environment.

Do not look down on people simply because they sin differently.