From India to Spain

Since about a month ago Isma and I went to see an exhibit with Indian art, it seems fitting that a couple of weekends ago, when we went to the theater in downtown Madrid, we saw "Bollywoodland," a musical drama that was like a Bollywood movie place onto a stage. It was an interesting blend of English, Hindi, and Spanish languages and Spanish and Indian culture. The Indian actors spoke in English, the songs were sung in Hindi, and the narrator spoke in Spanish.

Upon entering the theater, we were greeted by two Indian men in traditional dress, each with a small bowl resting gently in his hand. As one of the men greeted me with, "Namasté," he dipped his thumb in the bowl and marked my forehead with red paint. I said "Namasté" in return, and entered the theater, mouth agape at the thought that just moments before, a man had left his large red thumbprint on my face. Inside the theater proper, soon after finding our seats, the orchestra took their places in the pit, the Indian singers to the left side of the stage and the narrator to the right. The lights dimmed. The play began. As in these types of dramas, a boy and girl fall in love under impossible circumstances, find each other, lose each other, are forbidden to see each other, believe that the other no longer loves him or her, and then at the end get married and dance and sing with the rest of the cast. Beautiful, a little unbelievable, and fun.

Unlike the majority of the people in the theater, we decided to not wash the red stains from our foreheads before leaving India and heading out onto the Spanish street. The looks people gave us! What fun imagining what the others were thinking, for one day to not blend into the multitude in Madrid.

Misión Posible

The slogan of the weekend.

the high school

the speaker

The group that led worship was from Madrid, many from the church that Angelita goes to (one is her granddaughter Elisabet and Elisabet's husband)
Laura and Guille

youth from the group

Yedsim and Rebeca

Ester and I with our tongues stained by the Fun Dip. Go American candy!!!

I look like a kid!

Victor, Yedsim, and Samuel

The 9th-12th of April was Misión Posible, a reunion of Christian youth (the definition of youth is much more ample here), from all over Spain. Around 1,400 believers came to the conference in Huesca, I do believe. Huesca is in Aragon, which is to the east of Navarra (where I was before), and about 3.5 hours from Madrid by car. It only happens every 2 years, so it is a big event. It was awesome to sing with so many people, praising, listening to the messages, and going to workshops, and jump around during the evening concerts. Other than being an encouragement and motivator to action, it's a way to network with ministries from within and outside Spain. The weather was icky, but it was cool to see the sun come out in time for Sunday, a resurrection of sorts from the former foul weather. I enjoyed the time, but would have liked a little more substance in the songs, which were a little self-focused ("I want to," instead of "God is..."), and less free time (perhaps time with those my age to reflect, time where everyone does Bible Study...otherwise it's quite noisy, etc.). It kind of reminded me of a condensed version of CIY.

The majority of the group from San Fernando went up by bus. I rode in a van that went along with the buses with some of the other girls. I have to confess that I probably slept about an hour of the trip. We stayed in a public boarding school in Huesca, from which you can see the Pyrenees. How beautiful they were, snow covered peaks beyond green and yellow farm fields. The high school the conference was at has a building that looks like a pyramid, hence the name IES Pirámide. The trip home was a wonderful opportunity for me to talk to Debbie, asking advice and wisdom. I ended up staying at Debbie's house Monday (spent the night Sunday night on the couch) to keep the kids company while their parents were in Madrid with the youth from the Canaries (see previous photos to see photos of Jacob and Rebecca...their brother Nathan was there too) .

Little Things

I'll have to say that one of the highlights of this spring vacation has been running out of pages in my old journal, a journal that has been with me for three years. After a long and arduous quest, I had found the holy grail (a ruled journal), and was eager to use it. The classic, ebony bound journal, with a ribbon to mark the pages like in the hymnals, an elastic band to keep it together, and beautifully lined cream-colored pages. You have no idea how hard it was to find a lined journal here. The paper most students use here is checkered, like science lab paper. I couldn't bring myself to write thoughts, stories, and prayers on what feels to me like graph paper. Memories of science labs in Mrs. Fisher's chemistry class...ahhh!! How nice it was to be able to satisfy my whim.

April Showers Bring May Flowers

And another month begins. April Fools Day, Palm Sunday, Easter, Spring Break, youth conference, day trips, taxes, and signing up for classes. So much happens, yet so much of what happens matters little. And the things I do not list, those not listed on the calendar, those without particular dates or deadlines, are of course the most important affairs of all. Time spent with a friend, a special smile, a heartfelt hug, a run through the park as the weather continues to warm, prayers and time given, quality conversations held with acquaintances and friends, these are what I am looking forward to this month. So much more meaningful than my lists and calendar.

To be honest, I completely forgot about April Fool's Day, though it would have been a fun holiday to celebrate with the kids. The other assistant told her 3rd graders that they had a 10 page exam. Priceless. I did remember St. Patrick's Day. I wore a green t-shirt, since my "Kiss Me I'm Irish" pin is in the states, and told the kids a little bit about St. Patrick and our tradition of wearing green so you don't get pinched. Of course, they all got a soft pinch from me, since I was the sole person donning green clothes.

At school, I have been preparing the fourth graders for their oral exam in May. It's such a daunting task. I get each group once a week to try to make sure they're ready for these tests. Some of the grammar elements have not been introduced in class yet, so it's quite difficult for the students to remember how to use them. I've been teaching the present perfect, which takes time away from other needed vocabulary development. There's less pressure with the first graders, since they don't take the exams till next year. Thursday before spring break began, I made bunny masks with them and then we read "Little Bunny Foo Foo." They liked hopping with their masks and "bopping" the mice on the head.

Last weekend I went to Toledo with Isma. We seem to have bad luck with weather and travelling. Last time I went with him and Tamy to Aranjuez and Chinchón, it was misty as well. The morning was beautiful, a little overcast, but not too hot, which is good when you are constantly walking up and down hills. I'll show you some pictures. Though I don't believe we took that many. In the past, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities lived in the city together. Of course, during the Inquisition, all except the Christians were driven out. We visited the synagogue, which was beautifully adorned with carved scriptures in Hebrew, remniscent of a mosque. It was interesting to read the history of the Jews in Spain and see the many artifacts that were in the museum. After seeing an exhibit with some paintings by El Greco, we ran to the car, soaking ourselves in the rain. All in all, I did still enjoy it, even though (perhaps coincidentally) I got a horrible cough that evening and was wet from the rain. I won't forget the day!

This Friday I went with Kristen and Carmen to Aranjuez, a town about an hour south of the city of Madrid. The royal palace there was beautiful. My favorite rooms were the room decorated with a porcelain China motif and the room modeled after La Alhambra in Granada. We had a picnic in the garden beside the palace and then walked to the other garden by the river as well. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to share since all three of us forgot our cameras. The area is famous for its strawberries, so we bought some strawberries with whipped cream at a restaurant to share. Mmmm.

Saturday I went into Madrid to see a free Indian art exhibit. I learned three things. (1) Krishna is blue, plays the flute, and sometimes looks like a woman, though he is eternally a prebuscent boy in stature. (2) Krishna and Radha are lovers. (3) Krishna is not very faithful, which makes Radha mad. I now feel educated. After lunch, I spent the rest of the afternoon in the park. So wonderful and peaceful and lovely. If I could have made the time with sunlight last longer, I would have. I think I walked 3 miles (probably slightly exaggerating), making the grand total this weekend quite a large number.

This week then, is spring break. I am determined to use it semi-well. So far I have stayed up until 2 am talking to Justine and Colin on the phone (time difference makes this possible for them), taken a mid-morning jog to the river, done cleaning and washing of clothes, listened to a sermon online, written an e-mail, written this blog, and this evening I'll spend with friends. Tuesday I'll be in Madrid for the afternoon with a friend from church, and Wednesday I believe I'll work on lesson plans. Thursday I leave for Huesca along with thousands of other young Christians from all around Spain for Misión Posible (a play off the movie Mission Impossible), a youth conference that runs from Thursday till Sunday, taking advantage of the vacations that even working young people should have. After the conference, I have one more day of vacation, Monday, which may be spent with visitors from the Canaries, babysitting, or recuperating from Misión Posible before going back to work Tuesday.

I hope that gets me caught up from the last time I wrote, awhile back. The pictures from Toledo are linked at the bottom of this post, along with any other stray photos.

Toledo and Churros