Adios Madrid!

Hello for the last time from Madrid! So much has happened since my last post that I don't know where to begin. It's hard to believe the above pictures are from a month ago when my friends Keith and Rachel Krimm came to visit. They had been traveling Europe and decided to change plans and pop into Madrid for 4 days. On Saturday I took them on the Madrid express tour starting at Templo de Debod(above pic). It's an ancient Egyptian temple given as a gift to Spain in thanks for their support in restoration and preservation of historical sites. It was shipped to Valencia and then sent in pieces to the capital. From there we went on to Palacio Real, the Cathedral and the crypt below, la muralla/old city wall which is the oldest part of Madrid, then to lunch, stopped by Retiro Park, went to Madrid Rio for a little bike ride with some friends and then finished off the day by watching Barcelona defeat Manchester United in the Champions League final. Needless to say we took our time and had a relaxing day on Sunday. I went to high school with Keith and Rachel and I can't tell you what a blessing it was to hang out with them for a weekend!


The following weekend my brother came in for a visit! As always it was wonderful to spend time with him. The picture is in Real Madrid's stadium where we saw a friendly futbol match (a fundraiser for Africa) between ex RM and ex Bayer Munich players.

(Historia del Arte/Art History classmates)

(Álcala de Henares)

(Conocer Madrid Clase en la casa de Cervantes)

A couple weeks ago I finished up the two classes I was taking: Art History and "To know" Madrid. We combined both of the last classes into one long day. So Thursday and Friday I had a day trip with each class. These classes were definitely a highlight of my time in Madrid and being able to spend time with the people, eat together and say goodbye was a perfect finish!

The last week has been spent saying far too many goodbyes. Nearly every person in my Tuesday night community group (seen above) is leaving the same week or within a week of my departure. I struggle to find the words to express how much this group has meant to me. I am reminded of Gods provision and faithfulness when think about this group of Irish, English and American brothers and sisters. This is my church here in Madrid. They have treated me in the example that Jesus set and I am confident that each of them will have a profound impact wherever they go.

I am looking forward to catching up with all of you when I return. It's "hasta luego" Madrid in 2 days!

Nos vemos!
Lauren

Escorial, La Granja and Segovia!

Hello again! I've been slacking big time with the blog updating so I am compensating by adding some more pictures this time. Read along and I'll take you through our day trip to Escorial, La Granja and Segovia!


After much encouragement I agreed to climb up here for a few statue pictures courtesy of Jose (Antonio's brother), my photographer for the day. Unfortunately we came to Escorial over a holiday weekend and did not get to go in the palace. However, I did manage to run inside the church and get a glimpse just as mas was letting out. You can get a good perspective of just how enormous this palace is by comparing the people in the left side of the photo. And I must say, it was no easy climb up!



Una fuente en La Granja! These fountains were truly incredible... no motors involved, they just opened the valves and let them go!

This was the last of four fountains we saw at La Granja. It is almost twice as high as the trees. The coolest part of this trip is that is was totally unplanned. The family knew that the fountains are only turned on once a week, one time and during the rainy season so we weren't planning on seeing them. We just so happened to arrive exactly at 5:30 when hundreds of tourists were making their way from fountain to fountain. I have to say this was my favorite part of the day, what a sight!


Above: Roman aqueduct in Segovia. Below: Castle...Alcazar in Segovia.

Hombre, no más! No more self portraits please! I love love loved Segovia and wished I had a little more time to spend there. It was quite the trip going to all three places in one day. We were 5 adults and 5 kids so there were definitely limits to what we could do. I may or may not have told the kids that was Rapunzels' Castle and she was in there. That gave us a lot to chat about on the way home. "Is there a dragon? Rapunzel lives in España? Where is the prince? Is Rapunzel dead?" ect ect...

I hope you've enjoyed the trip! Time has flown by and I've been have a great time here. I can't believe that it is coming to a close with only a month left. I will try to get a couple more posts up before I leave! I am looking forward to seeing all of you and chatting over some coffee at Panera. I miss Panera, the coffee...the bagels mmmm.... But I miss you all more! And dear Spanish meet-up group I have not forgoten about you, can't wait to see you all! Hasta pronto amigos :)

Puesta del Sol

I've been in Madrid for nearly two months now and I can say that I eventually established a routine after about a month. Rather than rattle off for you my schedule each day I wanted to share this sunset with you. This is the view from my bedroom window. Diana had just said good night to the kids when I told her to "Come in and check this out". She said it well, "That is the Spanish life". Small apartments, lots of people bustling about below and a gorgeous sunset. It was what she said next that I could not agree with more, "It makes me think of God and how small we all are".

Many of the people around my age are in the same position whether it's here in Spain or elsewhere. Each of us has our own story and can tell of the excitement, the stress, the questions about what to do next year or next month! I too have these questions floating around. I know that nothing is certain, life can change in an instant and that we are all here for a specific reason. The sunset moments like these help me to stop and realize that I am so small and not in control. They're like a special present from God to remind me of the beautiful future He has promised as I follow Him and to live in the moment He has given me.

Love to you all.

Las Fallas

-5 people
-50 euro
-6 hour car ride
-24+ with little to no sleep (no sleep for our driver, thanks Josh!)
-Thousands upon thousands of people
-A lot of fire....
*priceless :)

Let me try to explain, although my words and these photos will not do the scene justice. I met some wonderful people at an international church called Oasis here in Madrid. I had heard about Las Fallas on the news and Antonio told me a little bit about what goes on during this "festival".
Every year the various towns in the city of Valencia construct these "ninots" which can range from 10 feet to 8, 9, 10+ stories high. It may be the angle of the photo, but the image below should give you a good idea of how large these works of art actually are.

Our group along with people from all over Spain and the rest of the world came for the final celebration on Saturday. Each ninot has a different theme and the majority display current political or social events in order to make a satirical jab at those unfortunate enough to draw the attention of the artist. I will spare you all of the details, unless you are so inclined to discover more here is a link to some fallas history: http://www.valenciatrader.com/valencia/valenciafallas2010/historyfallas

Many people throughout the communities are dressed in costumes from the middle ages. The young, old, men and women alike all participate.


When we arrived we walked around to see the ninots, those dressed up and to witness the countless firework spectacles around town. One of the girls who had been last year was kind enough to bring ear plugs for everyone since there was no telling when someone was going to light a firework a few feet away. If you like surprises and the feeling of adrenaline pumping through your veins then this is definitely the place for you.

After walking around and getting some lunch we agreed to head toward the beach! Many other people had the same idea, but it was a nice change of pace and scenery as we waited for evening to come.


And this is what we were waiting for....

Before each ninot is burned you will hear a series of firecrackers, then cheers and then the lighting! All of that incredible artwork up in flames in a matter of minutes! This one was my favorites because it actually burned well and I didn't feel like I was suffocating from all the smoke inhalation.

This is one of the better videos I took and it clearly shows the safety regulations on how far away fireworks can be shot off from nearby homes....




This was a crazy experience, but I actually think I would do it again. There have been some things like going to "El Rastro" which is a gigantic market near downtown Madrid that for me seeing it once was enough. I enjoyed las fallas, the creativity, the good food and even all of the people everywhere. So if you are loco enough to want to experience las fallas I would be glad to accompany you in the future and this time I will bring the ear plugs for all :)

I am not sure if my video is going to work so here is another link that shows much more than what we were able to see in one day:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzbQfJGfONA&feature=related

Thank you to all who read this, leave encouraging comments and send e-mails, until next time...

"Let's risk the ocean, there's only grace."

ALCACHOFA

Me: "Artachofe? Acachofo? Ahh, como se pronuncia!?
Diana: "Aaallllcachooofa."
Me: "Alcachofa! Ah ok, I won't forget it now."
Diana: "And in English?"
Me: "ahr-ti-chohk"
Diana: "Alcarchof? Alcarchoke?"
Me: "No, no artichoke."
Diana: "Atrichoke! Woo, that's a hard word!"

Alcachofa is the word of the week! This was one of our daily conversations this past week, but I think I've finally got it down. I am going to quiz Diana when she gets home today. We also finished off the rest of them for dinner last night so perhaps I have heard the last of the alcachofas....

The mispronunciations, the meanings that get lost in translation and the searching for the right words all have the potential to be completely frustrate an individual. However, I think Diana, Antonio and myself have chosen to find humor in it all and can laugh (on a daily basis) over the slight misunderstandings or misinterpretations. I would not have it any other way.

This past week I chose to show myself around downtown in the heart of Madrid. This little journey started out as a self-guided tour. Diana and Antonio had shown me a couple places to go and how to get there on google maps the night before. However, I ended up starting a few hundred meeters northwest of where I was told to begin! Plaza de España is what I found...

I decided to turn and head south to see what I could see and suddenly I stopped in my tracks to behold an incredibly beautiful building of what I had no idea... Unbeknownst to me I stumbled upon Palacio Real...
I have never liked and rather feared being lost as I am sure many of you can relate. Yesterday, Antonito reminded me a lot of myself when I was a kid as he, on the verge of a major melt down asked mom and dad if we were lost. They assured him we were only taking a different route, but sure enough 1 minute later, "Are we lost???" I'm not sure what prompted me to go into a major city alone and mapless, but it was fun to discover an unknown city, go at my own pace, and take in all of the sites and sounds.
The next sound I heard was my stomach calling and then I knew this was no time for games and I bought a map in order to find Plaza Mayor! I thoroughly enjoyed the suggested item "Bocadillo de Calamares" as seen below.

I finished off the week by playing a little fútbol on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Antonio organized a match and it turned out to be a great time. He has an enormous family and out of the 16 of us playing I think at least 12 guys were either cousins, brothers or nephews. After 2 hours of playing soccer outdoors for the first time in a long time (ouch) I am going to have a relaxing Monday :) I am looking forward to the next match and what the next week will bring!

Wherever you are in the world reading this I hope you are well, enjoying every moment and living life to the full! Hugs to you all!

Week One in Madrid, Spain

Greetings!

I've been in Madrid for almost a week now and am finally adjusted to the time change and almost adjusted to the life style. One thing I will never have to worry about here is going hungry! The family (Diana and Antonio) are always giving me or offering food and the same goes as I have met other family members. I am starting to turn the question back around on them and ask them if they want this or that! There is not too much time that passes until the next meal...it basically goes like this: breakfast, snack, lunch(a big meal), snack, and dinner. I wanted to give adequate attention to meals and eating because so much time revolves around this and I love it!

The kids are fantastic, Carla is three and Antonio is 5. The are so much fun and of course full of energy. They're also kids, which makes the day quite exhausting! It has been interesting trying to only speak to them in English. They know some basic words and I know they understand me most of the time whether or not the let on to it, clever little ones eh? The parents want me to only speak in English with the kids so there is a lot of Spanglish going around all the time. It is also a mix of Spanish and English outside the house, but mostly Spanish. A lot of their family knows English and I think they like to practice with me. Then they switch to Spanish because they realize I want to improve as well. Everyone has been so hospitable, welcoming and kind. They have made me feel comfortable and at home. It is rather crazy to just enter into the lives of another family, especially midweek!

Yesterday, we went to a huge park like nothing I have ever seen in the states! Apparently we only saw a third of it. There were places to fish, a train ride for kids, jungle gyms everywhere, small and big soccer fields, paddle/tennis/basketball courts and never ending running and bike trails. It's only about a 10-15 minute run from their house. It is so nice to see people, kids and families outside all the time. Oh, and the constant sunshine and 60-65 degree weather is an added bonus! I believe we are going to meet more family today and no doubt eat a lot of delicious food :)

It's time to get up and get rolling! I haven't taken any pictures yet, but I will and I'll try and get them up with the next blog post.

desde España....besos y abrazos!

Lauren

Better late than never :)

I am finally back from all of my adventures this summer and rather than crack open the books to study I figured I would share with you all instead. Today is much too beautiful to sit inside with my nose in the books!

Europe was incredible. It was definitely a good thing I went, but it only added more fuel to the fire. There is SO MUCH to see, and experience and taste! mmmm :) I cannot wait to go back. Germany is a beautiful country. I felt like I only barely hit the tip of the ice burg with all of the history behind this country. Nonetheless I learned and saw things I never could have imagined. Munich is a great city and we were lucky to spend a whole day there. I absolutely fell in love with Barcelona, Spain. Brian and I arrived on Saturday morning to a sleeping city. The rain stopped, the sun came out and everything woke up around 12pm! A day and a half in this city so full of excitement and life was such a tease. All the more reason to go back!

I feel like I have not given enough attention to El Salvador here. The trip was filled with a variety of experiences for our team. For some it was their first time on a mission trip, first time out of the country or both. Still others of us had been there a few times and were coming back to another home to visit our family and friends far away. For me, it was a mixture of so many things. The best thing about this trip was watching my mom interact and experience these incredible people. The hardest part of the trip was simply passing through a desperate people back to the states. I am encouraged by individuals like Hermano Jorge and Violeta. They are a true blessing in the way they love and serve the kids in their country. Love. That is their greatest need.

Thank you all for your love, prayers and support. I am so glad I could share this summer with you! I look forward to writing again about the next adventures this life brings as I look toward graduation this December. To say the least, I am excited :)

-Lauren