A Walk through Sevilla

More pictures can be found on facebook, but here are some of my favorite parts of Sevilla that I get to pass every day:

The view down my street:

Some typical shops and apartments:

The fountain at la Puerta de Jerez:

La Catedral de Sevilla:

Definitely the essence of Sevilla:

(I don't know where the birds come into play.)

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."-- James 1:17

Up for Adoption

After leaving Madrid we drove to Toledo, the old capital of Spain.  The perfect example of a medieval European city, Toledo is remarkable for its hold on its own history.  Considered the second most important city in the Catholic religion (second only to the Vatican) and at one point the planned place for the burial of Ferdinand and Isabella (until they decided to be buried in newly reconquered Granada), Toledo is rich in culture and importance.  Plus, it’s pretty stinking awesome to look at.

We made a morning of a few quick tours, seeing the church that Ferdinand and Isabella built for their planned burial, which now serves as a school, and El Greco’s masterpiece “El Entierro del Conde de Orgaz” ("The Burial of the Count of Orgaz").  We traipsed around the central square for lunch, and promptly discovered the Toledo is all uphill, regardless of which direction you take.  Next was a trip to the Hotel Beatriz outside the city walls (read: next to a highway in the middle of nothing) and a rather helpful informational meeting, our last before our arrival in Sevilla.  Peanut butter M&Ms and a PopTart for dinner (a lot of people ate in the cafeteria downstairs and said that I likely had the better meal) and an early night to bed to rest up before the 7-hour bus ride. 

There are few things in this world as momentarily frightening as wondering what your Spanish

señora thinks of you.  Luckily, Molly and I needn’t have worried.  María Carmen is a sweet, sweet lady who is kind and funny.  We are incredibly blessed, and I already love Sevilla.  It is a beautiful city, with fantastic weather and Vespa-drivers who think that they belong on the sidewalks, too.  More to come, but taste of what I walk past every day:

The Lord is good, friends.

Madrid in All Its Glory

Well, we left Madrid today.  I don’t have my pictures yet because I need to steal/borrow/ask politely for Molly’s camera cord (she doesn’t know this yet).  I’ve definitely enjoyed my time, and since seeing Retiro Park (El Parque Buen Retiro) I think I could live here forever.  So to sum up, since I’m such a fan of Jon Acuff and his blog (stuffchristianslike.com), I’m going to do some lists today that cover my arrival in Spain at the Madrid airport (9/20) through our last full day in Madrid (9/22).

Creature Comforts:

--Kimberly Clark apparently toilet papers the world, including the airport in Madrid

--Country music on an iPod

--Highways that look American from the sky

--Toms on group members’ feet (yes, they remind me of school)

Culture Shock:

--Bidets and hotel keys that go in a slot to make the lights work

--Shower doors that only extend halfway (pictures to come soon)

--Scariest driving ever (which says a lot, given my recent wreck)

--Hearing Spanish everywhere

--The eating/sleeping schedule

Best Thing Ever:

--Jorge the Argentinean who lives in Madrid and works for PriceWaterhouseCooper, as my seat buddy on the plane

--Fabulous hotel breakfast (fruit, breads, cereals, juices [mango, anyone?], little bocadillos jamónes [ham sandwiches made with Serrano ham, a Spanish specialty], tortilla pieces [potatoes, not bread], cheese (which need labels; I can’t figure out what kind I ate that I liked], etc.)

--Cheap tapas

--the Reina Sofia Museum of contemporary art and seeing “Guernica” by Picasso

--Running in Retiro Park (I think if I could run here every day I wouldn’t hate running so much—I even liked the statue of Satan [El Ángel Caído])

--The waiter recycles glass mineral water bottles for our water and we don’t mind, because the tap water here is great

--The most amazing tour guide leading us around the Prado Museum (think of it as Spain’s Lourve) and the Palacio Real (Royal Palace)

--The weather here is amazing!  It was about 78 yesterday with a gentle breeze.

Not cool, sir:

--Hanging out at the airport for three hours waiting for ISA (they were on time, we were early, which we knew we would be)

--Bocarones and paying for tap water

--Grown men (not ignorant frat boys!) peeing in the street at midnight.  No shame, no embarrassment, and his girlfriend (?) talking to him from the opposite side of the street

--Possible (likely) transvestite prostitutes

--Cigarette smoke everywhere (my hair soaks it up!)

--Slow service at restaurants (we finished dinner at 12:30) and a long walk home through the gay bar district and the graffiti (even on nice shops!)

It honestly feels more like I’m on vacation with a bunch of fun strangers.  It hasn’t hit most of us that we’re not going back in a few weeks.  Luckily, Madrid has been a great introduction, and I’m considering coming back simply so I can take a boat out on the lake in Retiro Park.

Here we go....

Spain is creeping up closer and closer, and will be here in less than three days.  I have undoubtedly been looking forward to this...except for all those doubts that are suddenly popping up.  Will I be missed?  Will I be able to communicate?  Will I make friends?  Will I get lost in the darkest alley imaginable and be stolen off to the recesses of Europe?  (What is possibly worrisome in itself is that that last fear is barely on my radar.)

Before all these can be tackled, however, I have to actually step onto the plane, which means I have to actually make it to the airport, which means I need to be packed and such by then, which is a problem.
My to-do list so far:

• take defensive driving
• do laundry and pack
• clean and vacuum my room
• buy a laptop battery
• return my tricked-out rental minivan
• visit a few more people....

....and so on.  So a few prayers would be helpful.

On that note, though, I am blessedly confident that the Lord can handle this to-do list and everything else that gets thrown at me this semester.  The Lord is big enough to handle language barriers, and metro schedules written in every language but mine, and loneliness, and crazy food with black olives.  The Lord who can run the world as he wants can figure out Europe for a semester, I think.

"He wraps up the waters in his clouds, yet the clouds do not burst under their weight. He covers the face of the full moon, spreading his clouds over it. He marks out the horizon on the face of the waters for a boundary between light and darkness. The pillars of the heavens quake, aghast at his rebuke. And these are but the outer fringe of his works; how faint the whisper we hear of him! Who then can understand the thunder of his power?"  Job 26:8-11, 14