Back from Egypt

No, I haven't been to Egypt. Angelita's granddaughter just got married to an Egyptian, and she brought back some traditional garb. One, a blue dress, was a gift from the groom's mother and sister. The other was also a gift. That is, if you call a gift something a street vendor gives you and then forces you to pay for it. At least she only had to pay one euro for the headdress. We just had to try them out:

I realize that it is a strange outfit, being that the dress is for a woman (and HUGE on me) and the headdress for a man. It just makes things more interesting!

La India

This summer, the youth from the federation of churches to which my church belongs will be going to Chennai, India to participate in some ministries begun by the local church there. This weekend there was a youth conference here in Madrid and I got to be involved in the stand (along with many others from the youth group) at the conference to inform about the trip and the materials they are bringing for the school kids at the children's home. Here's what we sold:

Along with the clothes (they will use the money to buy the clothes in India), we put together bookpacks with school supplies to take, and raised money to buy chairs for the church as well. I wish I had a picture of the stand, but I was horrible at taking pictures this weekend. Overall, youth at the conference donated some 4,000 euros!

The conference was wonderful, though tiring. It's the first time I've gone to a camp/conference as one of the leaders of a youth group. Nothing like having to scold for sleeping during messages, go look for straggling youth, and take care of those that aren't feeling that great. On the other hand, it was great to see the steps they are taking in their faith...moving closer and closer every day to God. And now, since I think I've gotten about 5 hours of sleep for the last few days, I am going to turn the lights off, pull down the blinds, put the earplugs in, and say goodbye to the world for at least 10 hours. Good night!!

Tamy's Birthday

Tamy's 27th Birthday

We celebrated the passage of another year in the life of Tamy with lots of homemade pizza, carrot cake, and plenty of giggling at nonsense. Happy Birthday!

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Are You My Mother?

This month I've been taking a course to teach Spanish children reading in English through phonics and vocabulary teaching...making "reading natives" in the sense that every single word they read is a word they already understand orally. It is interesting, a combination of review and new concepts. For the end of the month long course we have to represent a story for the class like we might do with the children and present a song and phonics plan to use with the book. Here are some props I've made. It's been a fun day.

Apart from doing kid things and cleaning, I've also looked at more wedding dresses. Pretty!

Countries Rise

I'm sure you all have read, listened to, or seen the news about the uproar in the MidEast. Egypt peacefully protested and succeeded in removing their dictator of so many years. Libya´s people are painfully revolting. Morocco, Spain's neighbor to the south, is beginning to awake as well. I've been so near and yet so far from it all.

A young woman close to my friends has been living in Egypt for better half of the last year, engaged to be married to an Egyptian. When the protests and revolt began, her grandmother and friends called and called, worrying about her safety, what would happen. Thank God there was no need for evacuation of Spanish citizens, so she is still safe there and will be married this spring surrounded by family from Spain and friends.

Can you imagine living in such history-making circumstances? Living in such nerve-wracking and yet exciting times? What would you do: stay at home nursing the pager given to you by the embassy, sneak a peek out the window of the protests, catch the next plane home, join the protests? Or if it happened in your own state? It's beyond my imagination. So close and yet so far away.

25th Birthday

Yesterday I turned 25. Halfway to 50. Or so I'm sure Jenny, my college roommate, would have told me if she were here. I was hankering the most delicious cake that my mom ever made (coffee, apples, yummmy), or perhaps to just be at home with my family. But, my friends gave me a very good birthday celebration here as well, and made me feel very loved. It also worked out that Colin's birthday card arrived just on my birthday and that a friend's recently published book arrived Monday as well, in both English and Spanish. And, though it's perhaps not in good taste to talk about presents, I got the coolest pen ever. You know how in the novels and in the "olden days" they wrote with ink and quill pens? Well, apparently some places still do (Germany) and now in my house I will too. Thanks Isma!

A Year Older

This seems to be the week of birthdays. From last Saturday until the present, everyone seems to be getting older. Although we age gradually every day, every minute, and perhaps even every fleeting second, time only stops once a year to remind us that we are now officially 365 days older.

This year the powers that be have broken the sacred tradition of only aging on one's birthday to remind me two weeks early. Last night some friends got together to play arcade games, celebrating the twins' birthdays with food, silliness, and presents.

Presents is the important part now, since it is in this tradition that my birthday intersects with theirs. Laura opened her gift first. Tamy squirmed and tried to help her open it a bit faster, which only succeeded in causing Laura to tear the paper exaggeratedly and agonizingly slowly. It was a hard drive, though the look on her face said, "What in the world is this?" Next, Ester opened her gift, a large heavy rectangular package. Once the gift was unwrapped, she looked up at us with surprise. A Spanish cookbook? "Do I really cook that bad?" she asked. Isma turned red. Guille started laughing. Apologies began to flow. I looked confused. Wrong gift? Isma took the book out of her hands and gave it to me. "Happy Birthday!" he said abashedly. I just had to laugh. Poor Ester! I suppose she'll get her gift Sunday, whereas I've received my own two weeks early. I think that Isma will survive the humiliation and shame. I hope.