barcelona...

so i came home from a weekend in barcelona with my roomies last night. like almost every experience here, all times are characteristically bittersweet. sweetness was found in time shared laying on the only beach i will see here in spain for two days... basking in the sun, eating scrumptous seafood at beautiful outdoor cafes/restaruants, and splashing in the Mediteranean Sea with friends and strangers. since this is europe, many of the women were topless and it was interesting to observe reactions of americanos in this atmosphere. hey, its europe! :)

some of the bitterness fell in the face that my roomate injured herself on the stairs and unfortunately had to hobble around with an overly burned shin :( another girl´s purse got stolen and my two guy friends had mad ticket complications on the way back leaving them no seat and the thought of them not being able to travel with us. after some prayer, God graciously intervened and even to the point where one spent the ride up front in first class!

this morning i was journaling about how i only had four days left here in spain. its crazy how time flies and although i've loved being here, i've also missed very much being around people who know me. i love the diversity of people in this country and place, as well as my group... but ultimately i miss those people who i can enjoy life with and who understand me. i find this interesting, b/c it tells me that no matter where i rest my head, whether in spain, or costa rica, or china, or pennsylvania, the one thing i crave the most is being known, enjoyed and sharing that with people close to me in the long term. ive thought about doing a language school here after nursing school, and i could... but not now... not yet. the weather, the atmosphere here in europe is enchanting. the cafes. the cathedrals. the nightlife. its beautiful. but its missing the people i love and that love me. i never had such thoughts on previous trips. its a nice new discovery :)

i desire to put up more pics of my trip when i get home, july 11th. until then, hasta pronto.

-cher

my saving grace

so in a country where less than 1% of the entire population is of the same faith as me (including my group here), i find it frustrating at times to live authentically, coming from such a different world view and belief core. entonces, my first sunday here in spain, through a devotional at a church i attended (all in spanish), God gave me these verses to carry me through my time here. they have been the oasis and guiding light through such a diverse and often disconerning time...

"since God chose you to be the holy people whom he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. you must make allowance for each other´s faults and fogive the perseon who offends you. remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. and the most important piece of clothing yhou must wear is love. Love is what binds us all together in perfect harmony. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. for as members of one body you are called to live in peace. and always be thankful.

let the words of Christ, in all their richness, live in your hearts and make you wise. us his words to teach and counsel each other. sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God w-thankful hearts. and whatever you do or say, let it be as a representative of the Lord Jesus, all the while giving thanks through him to God the Father."

-col 3 : 12-17

all things spanish

so here in spain, we find all kinds of fun things that emulate the spanish culture. besides the obvious flooding of español, the language, being fired at rapid speed, we also find quite endearing things like an unhealthy obsession with our fattened friend, the pig, olives out the cabeza, and flamenco-twirling, torro-calling extravagenzas. spain is very much known for its bullfights, which depending on who you talk to can be exciting or a travesty, and its flamenco dancing and costumes. of course, ive gonna crazy over the beauty of such disciplined dancing and even rocked the casbomb at our flamenco dance class! (i´ll work on gettin video and pics up l8r) this past weekend if i found myself bussing all over the south of spain with my class visiting the gorgeous cities of Toledo, Granda, and Sevilla. picture perfect weather. overwhelmingly gorgeous art and architecture. picture exotic people, street performers and great food. but please, try not to be jealous. :) well, just try. :)

much of the architecture here in spain is a combination of muslim and christian influence, speaking deeply of spains history. as a christian, this has been so interesting to me. too interesting to write about in a 5 min blog update :) the countryside is LITERALLY covered with acres upon acres upon acres of olive trees, with occassional sunflower fields. everywhere. in every part of spain. its very beautiful and the large mountains provide for scenic beautiful over large stretches of bus rides. we returned to madrid being overrun by people pouring into the streets celebrating madrid winning their futbol championship, unleashing the celeberatory madness with. :) if you think eagles fans go nuts, philly´s got nothing on madrid.

entonces, my 20 mins on the school comp is up... hasta pronto, amigos.

And we're back...

So apparently internet usage concerning all things blog-friendly are not as accessable as I orginally thought. Experiencing desires of sharing stories, pictures, and revelations her came harder than i had hoped. But, two weeks into my trip, I hope to offer you some pictures and tidbits here and there (much like the following food: tapas). I've come to accept and like the Spanish way of handling meals here. They enjoy "tapas" with their drinks at various times of the day. Orginially tapas were served on plates ontop of drinks a sort of snack or h'or d'veure, ranging from potatoes, to bread and cheese to pork everything! (spaniards go nuts over pig products- chicken is very hard to find!) they usually have it with beer, wine, sangria, or sodas and act as a snack or many can fit for a meal. Dinner is not even thought about until about 9pm here and its normal to go to bed around 2 or 3 in the morning. Being the morning girl that I am, this had been quite a change. but, when in Spain... :)

my trip thus far has been broken up into two phases (due to lack of time, out goes grammer :) four days in Caceras with Betsy Stolzfus and two weeks in Madrid. Caceres greeted me with new friends, lots of rapid spanish, and a place to rest and acquaint myself with the culture. Betsy was an answer to a prayer of my herat that I hadn't even uttered. Her friendship and hospitality acclimated me to a culture very foreign to me and helped me rest some fears, curiosities, and simply... rest. One highlight from my time there was hanging out at the Feria with new friends- Jose and his family, and betsy's friends from work/church. Dancing the night way at these European casetas and trying new foods like charros (like funnelcake) was so exciting and fun. the dance/bar places there were different to me than the US, the only way i can explain it is that the mentality is different here... People of all ages just come out to have a good time and dance, not to hook up, get drunk, or whatever :)

Class starts momentarily, but I wanted to share some pictures with you...

eating charros with Jose and his family at La Feria (the Fair)

chillin w/my roomate nikki and friend rachel outside a castle in Segovia, spain

my roomies nikki, jason, me, and adam :)

view from my bedroom window :)