One Year

One year ago today, six of us walked off the plane at Terminal 4 of Madrid-Barajas International Airport.  We got the visas in our passports stamped at Immigration/Customs, then collected our mountains of luggage.  Ryan and Jenee were kind enough to meet us at the airport, help us get our bags stuffed into taxis, and we rode into the city.  I remember getting somewhat settled into temporary housing, then meeting Jenee for lunch.  The rest of the day is kind of a blur.  I think there was some exploring, grocery shopping, and purchases of hair dryers in there, but jetlag has a way of scrambling your brain, you know?

And so began the process of trying to figure out how to live and do ministry in Madrid.

It's certainly been a strange year.

Navidad Lights & Roasted Chestnuts

I've received a few requests for pictures of the Christmas (Navidad) lights here in Madrid.  And I finally got an opportunity to take those yesterday when Erin and Nikki suggested going for a walk to see them.  We also figured we would try chestnuts roasted on an open fire since we've spent years singing about them and all :).

The lights in our neighborhood, Malasaña

In Plaza de Chueca

In Chueca

On Calle de Grand Via

The tree in Puerta del Sol

You can also walk inside the tree, neatly enough :).

There are lots of people in Madrid right now...

Chestnuts being roasted on an open fire!

Roasted chestnuts (castañas asadas)

Then you peel the shell of, which is real fun, and eat this part!
It has kind of a popcorn-ish flavor,
and this picture is kind of blurry, sorry about that :).

A real tree at Callao

We finished our light tour after this plaza, whose name I can't recall.

It was quite lovely to tromp around town with the gals and experience trying roasted chestnuts.  It's started to get colder in Madrid now, which is we realize is still nothing compared to the temperatures in Nebraska.  But, apparently our bodies have adjusted to the climate here, so I guess there's something to be said for that? :)

Wandering on a Saturday Afternoon

You may have noticed an extended absence from my blog recently.  That hasn't been intentional, but there's really only so many intriguing things you can say about studying Spanish :).  Which, by the way, if anyone has any fun or interesting methods for memorizing vocab, hook me up in the comments.  That's one of my most significantly lacking areas at this point.

Anyways, this morning after awakening and preparing for the day I realized that, aside from studying, I didn't really have anything pressing to take care of.  My language exchange folks are out of town this weekend and the weather looked lovely, so I figured I would wander about the city a bit since I haven't really had the opportunity to do so for a while.

I went to the Mercado de los Mostenses first, mostly just because I love walking around in there.  It is crowded, kind of gritty feeling, but the range of products they sell is incredible.  I usually see something new here, and I apologize but I kind of forgot to take any pictures because I was, with great fascination, watching the fishmongers at work.  I did find a video link for you though :).

And randomly, since I was talking about fish, here's a picture of some sardines that I enjoyed while Nikki and I were in Santander a couple months ago.

They look a little odd, but they were very tasty!

Then I headed down toward Plaza Mayor where an artist was busy working on a painting.

After watching this guy for a bit, I was making my way to Plaza de Tirso de Molina for some lunch at one of my favorite spots, when I ran into a protest about funding for public schools.  I have seen plenty of protests around here, but this was the first one with a brass band.  So, I made my way through the crowd to check it out.  This video is a little jumpy because I kept getting whacked on the head by people waving flags.  Don't worry, I'm fine - it was just distracting :).

Eventually I escaped the crowds and had some lunch.  Then I headed north again because I had heard that the 15-M protesters had taken over the abandoned Hotel Madrid near Puerta del Sol.  I can confirm that this is indeed true.

I'm breaking in some new shoes (we walk enough here that you go through them pretty fast - kind of like burning through a tank of fuel in the states), so at this point it became clear that heading for home would be a good idea.  But it was a nice little outing :).

Alpacas in Madrid

Monday evening one of my language exchange partners and I were discussing hay bales (translated to Spanish:  alpacas).  She grew up on a farm, so we can have conversations like this that would otherwise seem really random in our current context.  Actually, it still seems really random...

Anyways, yesterday she saw two hay bales here in Madrid!  So, she took this picture and emailed it to me!

How great is that?

Waking up

The weather is finally beginning to cool down, Spaniards are returning, and the 'Closed for Vacation' signs are disappearing.  It's so nice to see the city waking up again after what seemed like a really long and hot August.

I don't know, it feels a little bit like the first day of school used to - the anticipation and some nerves.  I'm excited for the opportunities the Lord has for us in the months ahead.  There seem to be quite a few neat possibilities, and I think we're all looking forward to seeing what God does with them.

I'm a little nervous also.  Probably that's just because I'm returning to Hapkido class tonight (the gym was closed during August) and I've rather enjoyed not having bruises and sore muscles.  But, that's what ice packs and Advil are for!  I am pretty excited to see everyone and hear about their vacations though, which is an encouraging place to be at :).

Sierra de Gredos

After six months of noise, crowds, and just the general intensity of the city this country girl had to escape for a little while.  So, I signed up for a couple of days on horseback in the mountains.

I arrived at 2 p.m. the day before we started riding, and it pretty much took me the whole day to relax.  I didn't realize how wound up I was.  The silence of the countryside was initially unnerving, the fresh air disconcerting, and I just kept pacing back and forth.  Finally, I had to put my foot down and tell myself to take a seat, read my book, and watch the tractors drive by :).  By the next morning, the city had been mostly detoxed from my system and I was ready to ride.  

I came back from the weekend sore, but ready to get back to language classes and with a significantly improved attitude.  So, the lesson I learned is that, for the sake of sanity, I need to make an effort to get out of the city more often than every six months.  

Hadn't seen a tractor in a while!

Day 1:  Sitting on my horse (Ur) and seeing no trace of civilization for the
first time in months! So great.

Day 2:  Cruising past cows with my buddy Cisco :).

Typicalness

Well, my last blog post had a lot of words in it, so I thought it might be nice to hook you all up with some pictures.  As you know, five days a week I go to language school.  It's not that far from where we live, so I usually walk.  This week I decided to take some pictures of what I typically see on my way.

Walking south on Calle de Fuencarral.  This is where it turns into a
pedestrian walkway.

The stores haven't opened for the day yet, but the
delivery trucks are busy dropping off boxes of product.

Other than the delivery trucks, the street is pretty clear.
Later in the day, Fuencarral will be packed with people.

Then I get to cross Calle de Grand Via.

Just waiting for the light, watching the cars go by.

Crossing Gran Via, enroute to class.

Fuencarral turns into Montera on the south side of Gran Via.

My school is on the first floor,
which would be known as the second floor in the U.S.
Here in Spain, the ground floor is floor zero, which I think is fun
because it reminds me of learning how to work with binary numbers.
Yes, I am a geek :).

This language school is really close to Puerta del Sol,
so I like to go for a little walk and get the blood recirculating at break.