¡Cumpleaños Feliz!

After 22 years of living life, I think I’m just starting to realize how important it is to enjoy life and spend time with the people you love rather than working on homework.  Seriously, in five years, will I remember the people I spent time with or that paper that I spent hours laboring over?  I’m thinking it will be the people.  And that works great for me.  I get homework done faster and enjoy life more.

This is the weekend before my birthday, in Granada. Keep checking the blog because the next blog post will be all about our trip to the south of Spain!

Saturday, I got to celebrate my birthday…in SPAIN.  I kept smiling all day at the littlest things, like the fact that the sun was shining and it felt like summer.  My host sister, Helena and I walked all the way to Alcalá Magna, the local mall complete with H&M and a grocery store, to look for some comfy walking shoes and ended up finding a pair of boots for only nine euros.  My host sister said, “Most times, you end up leaving with something completely different than you had in mind.”   True, and after two more months of all this walking, I will never need to drive again!

First surprise:  My host mom made a cake for me to share with the fellowship in Madrid later that day.  It was beautiful. I can’t believe she put so much thought and heart into this cake that she wasn’t even going to get to eat! There was a slight miscommunication about what time we were supposed to meet our ride to go to fellowship..so picture this:  I had a cake balanced in one hand, a bag with a Bible, a notebook and pretzels in the other hand, speed-walking down the street in heels to make it to the gas station on time.  We proceeded to belt Celion Dion on our way to Madrid.  And I won’t lie.  That was one of my favorite moments of the day.

Second surprise: After our teaching and songs, the fellowship had a few presents for me, pair of pants, a red shirt that says “dream” on the front, a small pair of sparkly blue earrings and a birthday card that plays “happy birthday,” in high-pitched, piercing notes every time you open it.  That birthday card was my favorite.  The two little ones, Obed and Esperanza, could not get enough of it.  Finally Cerafin, one of the believers, asked me to please hide the card somewhere they couldn’t find it.  The fellowship sang about five variations of Happy Birthday before I opened my presents and again before I blew out the candles on my cake.  I’m pretty sure these people like singing.

Oh just hanging out on a beach in the middle of winter with my friend Alesia.

A birthday feast: Emerance, the fellowship coordinator’s wife, is so sweet.  Every week, she prepares a huge meal for everyone to share, complete with Fufu, rice, fish, buñuelos (beneights) and platanos.  Can you say abundance?  This weekend was their last fellowship in Madrid because they are moving to the United States to live and work in Iowa.  Let’s just say there were smiles, a few tears, and a lot of giving thanks as we sent them on their way.  We stayed until 11 p.m. hanging out with the kids while the adults watched a soccer game in the living room.  And when I say “hanging out with the kids,” I actually mean “acting like kids.”   I used the pretzel sticks I brought to pretend like I was a walrus. My mom would be so proud.

I got home around midnight and got to skype with my family! I am so thankful for my friends and family all over the world.  It was a wonderful day filled with abundance and blessings, and I couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend it than with such awesome people.

Best picnic in the history of classy picnics.

And that’s not all.  Sunday, my friend Alesia and I decided to head to Madrid again (about a half hour train ride from Alcalá) to hang out in the Parque of Buen Retiro because it was such a beautiful day.  You can’t get much better than 70 degrees and sunny!  We went to a grocery store in Madrid and bought juice and sparkling water, olives, crackers, cheese, apricot jam, guacamole, chips, chocolate.  Can you say best picnic ever?  We even bought a whole pack of spoons, plastic cups and lime green napkins.  We used so many napkins.  Apparently, people in Spain have something against wasting paper, so we all use fancy cloth napkins.  I can’t even explain how or why it brought so much joy to my soul to use as many napkins as I wanted and then to throw every single one of them in the garbage.  Wasteful? Maybe. Satisfying? Absolutely.

After finding the right train (trusting in God really helps wonders) I got back to Alcalá with plenty of time to finish a ten page paper for my Spanish movie class.  Hey, like I said, there are some things that we just have to get done, but will I really remember how late I stayed up to work on that essay about Almodóvar’s film?  Nope. I’m going to remember laughing with Alesia in the park that one day with the random picnic and the lime green napkins.

Are you new here? Why yes, yes I am.

The running path is so beautiful. It's worth waking up early to see the sun rise behind the mountains.

This morning, I went up to an exercise machine in a park close to our piso, or apartment.  I think you are supposed to stand on it and swing your legs back and forth which will hypothetically result in rock-hard abs.  After walking around it a few times, trying to read the directions and hopping on like I knew what I was doing, the guy standing next to me asked, “Es tu primer tiempo aqui?”  (Is this your first time here?)  How did he know?

Earlier that day, I learned the importance of knowing how to turn the key in our door. I spent about ten minutes turning the key to the left and to the right before I finally gave up.

“Charo, la llave no funciona,” I asked my host mom.  (Charo, the key doesn’t work.)

Yes, the key did work.  You just have to jiggle it to the right a bit turn it three times and pull at the same time to open the door.  Hey, at least I know we’re safe at night.

The sun is just coming up behind the cliff, which seems like it's formed out of rock, but it's actually dirt. I wouldn't want to scale that wall..

Later, I found out how to spell Exuperancia.  I have never heard of such a unique name in my life.  Thankfully, I wasn’t alone.  The six other students that I’m teaching (English) readily assured me that it’s a difficult name to write even if you aren’t a native Spanish speaker.  The most fun part was trying to write her name on the board, with each person trying to help me find the right letter.  Let’s just say there was a lot of laughter involved.

I’m slowly getting used to most of the major cultural differences (like the siesta after lunchtime…that was an easy adjustment) but I’m just now starting to understand some of the smaller cultural changes.  Such as…besos (kisses) are custom when greeting someone, but that’s not an excuse to ask for more besos when you’re out dancing! But that’s a story for another blog post…

So much learning in one day.  And it’s only been a week since I got here.  Can you imagine how much I’ll learn in four months?  Actually, as long as I know how to unlock the door to our piso, I will be content.

Sabe usted a donde puedo encontrar..?

Standing on a random rock in the Juan Pablo II park near La Escuela Cardinal Cisneros.

The title of this story is: “Do you know where I can find…?”  Another title could be: how many local people can I ask for directions in less than an hour?

This morning I decided to take the bus to school.  After getting (what I thought were) clear directions from Charo, my host mom, I thought, “I can do this. I know Spanish. I can make it from the post office to the bus stop to school. Easy.”  Well, with a lot of questions and a little direction, I finally made it to my class a half hour late.  Being late was completely worth it.  Why?  I got to practice my “street Spanish” all morning long.

My first stop was the tobacco shop to buy a bus pass.  I asked a lady on the street where it was after I had turned down a few wrong streets.  She looked at me like I was a little bit crazy and pointed to the store right in front of my face.  My second stop was the post office.  I asked another lady walking her tiny dog where I could find Los Correos.  Again, right in front of my face.  We both had a good laugh.  After the post office, I tried out of few bus stops before I finally found the one that just seemed to be the right one. (Actually, I waited at one bus stop, got impacient and went to a different stop, before talking to a couple and realizing that I had the right one to start with!) Once on the bus, I met Angel (pronounced an-hel) who was going to visit his granddaughter at the school right next to mine.  When I heard that my heart sang!  When we got off of the bus, that sweet old man told me to keep going straight.  I, of course, had to take the first left I found.  After two more people gave me directions, I finally reached the school gates.  I have never been happier to see two large pieces of metal in my life.

My friend, Nicolas, and I are getting exercise in the park with bicycle pedals in front of the bench...very different cultural experience: you don't just watch your kids play, you get your exercise too!

So, like I said, quite the adventure, but I got to practice asking questions to random Spanish speakers all morning.  It was so challenging, but strangely fulfilling at the same time.  The culture in Spain is so different.  I’m not talking about the big cultural differences, like the fact that all the stores close down around two in the afternoon so we can all take siestas.  I’m talking about the small things.  I originally thought that people in Spain just weren’t all that friendly because they hardly ever make eye contact or smile on the street.  Today, after talking to ten different people, I am slowly changing what I thought before.  Not only were the local people willing to help me..they were willing and enthusiastic to talk to me.

It’s only the fourth day here in Alcala, and I am starting to feel like part of the community.  Even though I’m still trying to find the best route to school.  I can’t wait for the day when I know the route with my eyes closed (I would never do that, Mom!)  Vale, poco a poco.  It will all get easier little by little.