my bout with the stomach flu

Time for a story, although unfortunately a story with some gross details, so be warned...

The middle to end of July I went on the Camino and then went to the beach two days with a friend in beautiful Galicia, where my knee started to hurt excruciatingly bad. I'll have to blog about the Camino another time, but Maria (my olympic marathon running friend) and I went to meet her family at their beach "house" after we finished the Camino. We got there, walked along the beach a bit, which is just right down from their beachfront property, which is where they park their RV for the summer and have an outdoor sort of house, with an attachment, like a tent, for the living room (and guestroom), a little shed outside which houses the kitchen (equipped with a fridge, stove, sink) and then the kitchen table is outside in between the two, as is the grill. Not to mention that it all is up on a little hill directly above the beach. Nice. While we were on the beach the sun was warm, the water cold (but nice since the sun was hot), and there was a continual cool breeze. I wasn't ever hot, nor cold, just perfect.

So, we wandered around the coast (Rias Baixas) and enjoyed the beach the first day. We, of course, went for a run on the beach which was nice, other than feeling my knee a little and that my body had taken a toll from walking 10 days with a backpack probably a bit heavier than it should have been and from the last two days without much stretching and a lot of running around (literally) to try to take care of everyone else who was hurting. (At that point I felt just fine.) That night we went to another coastal town for some incredible seafood and then wandered around a bit in a beautiful little place that reminded me a bit of the grecian islands. The next day we took off for one of the islands closeby in Southern Galicia / Rias Baixas (still NW Spain) to do some hiking and then sunbathing. We started off just fine. I was a little disappointed with the vegetation, as I've been missing the lush greens of Missouri/Pennsylvania/much of the US, but the coastline was gorgeous with the crashing waves and such. We walked around, at the lunches we'd packed, went past a camp of kids on the island, and my knee started to hurt with a vengeance. I tried to just ignore it and kept going, slowing down a little. We then went down a somewhat large and steep hill. Fine, okay now I was limping and the pain really was excruciating. Maria asked how I was doing and I said not too good. Ironically some other people went by at this time and one of the guys said (obviously in spanish), "If you go to Santiago, don't tell me I didn't warn you." Maria then yelled back, "That's where she just came from."

So my walking is now pathetic. I'm trying not to put pressure on my left leg, but also not to make any quick movements. Maria convinces me to make it down to the beach below to put my leg in the cold water of the ocean while she goes off in search of some ice. It's a pretty rocky coast, so I just stop at the first pool of water I find, which only comes up to my calf when I'm sitting down, but it works a bit. Maria comes back with ice that we put on my knee, while she massages my leg with the remaining pieces. She also convinces me to take the medicine, since it is excruciating pain. (I'm not a huge fan of medicine, particularly when it's just to cover up the pain, or in this case when I don't actually know what I'm taking.) In fact I take two, which Maria assures me her mom does nearly everyday.

We stay there for awhile, alternating between icing my leg a couple times or submerging myself in freezing cold water, and laying out in the sun. It was a pretty beach. The other little glitch was that somehow in all our concern about the looming clouds and possible rain, and thus the rain ponchos from the camino, we had forgotten to bring a towel - not even one. So we laid out the bright yellow ponchos as our towels. That worked alright, although I still ended up a bit sand covered, until we went to re-ice my leg-knee. I was icing my knee and enjoying actually not having pain, while Maria was wandering around the rocks. One of the many seagulls began to peck at the yellow poncho. Maria went to shush him away. I was now laying on the nice cool rocks. Now the seagull was back with the poncho and now looking in my backpack. Maria ran back to shush him away, pack up the ponchos and came back. He was back once more, now looking in the bag for the ponchos. Maria made a pile of stuff so that he couldn't get into the bag nor see anything yellow. Pretty humorous.

We wandered back to the port, I'm actually walking normally now, careful, but normally, and thrilled about that fact. We make it back to the café alongside the pier, wait for our ferry back and head home. That night and then the next morning I take another pill of her mom's pain killers, thinking, "I just need to get back to Madrid and then can go to the chiropractor and get this taken care of." Both that night and then again the next morning it occurred to me that my mind was not as clear as normal and that I felt a little out of it. I mentioned to Maria that I thought these pain killers were pretty strong medicine. She didn't seem concerned.

They drove me to Santiago to catch my plane back to Madrid that morning and I got carsick on the way there, right as we get to the airport and I opened the door. It was a hot, poorly ventilated car with curvy coastal roads, no big deal. Not normal, but not to worry. Maria's parents scold me for not having told them sooner and I explain that it happened all really quickly at the very end. Her dad insists on carrying my backpack and walking with me in. I sit down and say goodbye. Later I check in and am noticing that I still don't feel 100%. I definitely feel nauseous, but probably just need some air, to walk a bit, some water on my face, something... I make my way to the gate, eat the lunch Maria's mom sent with me, read a bit, fan myself as I still feel a bit flush, and wait. We board the plane and all is well until about a half an hour before the landing, major turbulence. At this point, I start to think, "Dawn, you can make it, it's' just a little turbulence before landing. Just go to sleep." But the turbulence went on longer than a normal, turbulent landing. At this point, I think, "Okay, if I need it, I still have the bag from my lunch." Time passes, I ask the tall gal next to me to please open the vent a bit more to let some air come in. She can't seem to figure it out and I am fading. The horrible flush feeling starts to descend over me, I empty the bag of the tupperware and unfortunately throw up several times. I apologize to the people next to me. The turbulence continues awhile longer. The flight attendant comes by and takes my bag, which I then think, "Aren't you going to give me something else just in case?" He comes back, gives me three paper towels and hurries off. The kind girls next to me are saying, "Don't worry about it. Just relax." We land and of course it seems like an eternity getting off the plane. We get off and head to baggage claim.

As I wait for my backpack, I get a call from my ride (who I'd called that morning since I wasn't sure about hiking across town on the metro with my camino backpack, my bad knee, and the nausea). He said he was sorry, but he was locked out of his apartment and car and that his wife was far enough away that it didn't make sense for me to wait. It would be at least a couple hours before he could get there. I told him not to worry about it and that I would probably just take a taxi, which I mainly said to put him at ease.

After I got off the phone I found my backpack and walking stick and thought through my options... taxi, bus and metro, or just metro. Generally the second would have been my choice, since it's the quickest and easiest and cheapest of the latter two. But any moving object like a car or bus didn't sound that great in my physical state and since my knee didn't hurt too bad, I figured I'd try the long trek on the metro, even though it involved much more walking. I'd just go slow. So that's what I did and it was fine thanks in part to the smooth metros of Madrid.

So, I got home Tuesday afternoon and went immediately to the chiropractor, who was amazing, slept all day Wednesday, or almost, and tried to just kind of lay low getting ready for the Second Camino trip which left Sunday at 4am and weighing the pros and cons considering that my knee was still in a decent amount of pain, now without any medicine in my bloodstream.

Thursday I talked to my good friend Ruth who said that if worse came to worse I could just drive between places and see them in the evening, which sounded kind of lame. Time alone, yes, but not at all ideal for the camino. I met up with everyone going on Friday for lunch. They were super-excited about going and since they consider me an expert on the Camino the bombarded me with questions. We left and I went to pick up a smaller backpack and a couple other things from Decathlon, kind of like an REI but cheaper. We actually ended up going all together and it occurred to me that my knee hurt more when it was stationary too much time and that I felt more nauseous than before, particularly after eating. So I went home and after flip-flopping back and forth about a million times finally decided not to go. It was now Saturday and they had made me promise that I'd at least come over on Saturday night for awhile, even if I decided not to go. So, I grabbed my keys to leave and boom, I felt awful. Nauseous, weak, horrible headache, the works. I laid down, sent Ruth a message, and despite wanting to go, ended up staying home. Yuck. The next day I slept almost the entire day, with flu-like symptoms, a hurting knee, aching all over, a horrible headache, nausea, etc., I forced myself to go walk a bit and to ice my knee, but that was it. That lasted about a day and a half and then I actually got hungry and began to eat again. And thanks to a great chiropractor and some resting, my knee feels almost fine and I am dreaming of running. (A friend told me to wait a bit, but I may try out a short run sometime this week.)

going on a journey... un camino...

Tuesday I leave for NW Spain, to walk 10 days on the Camino de Santiago. Generally we take a group of about 50+ students and this year we are quite a bit smaller. Yet I am excited to embark on a new little adventure.

We will walk with all our earthly possessions for our time on our backs and, while we have some idea, will just have to figure out as we go where to find food and lodging. We will be walking through very sparsely populated, rural spain (which looks much like what i imagine ireland to be - very green, woodsy, cool (in fact at night cold, even though we're in the midst of july).

We will walk from about 6am to 2-4pm every day and in the evening alternate discussions to talk about Our Journey and that of Jesus. And the fun of this year is that everyone going I know well and are either new believers or contemplating Jesus for the first time. Please pray for us as we go -- we'll be going July 14-25, Ribadeo to Santiago.

Buen Camino!

the EASY Camino... a brief recap

So, I shared the before of the Camino and figured I should share at least a few little thoughts about it on the other side.

There is so much I could say, but it was VERY VERY fun! 55 high school students have a ton of energy, but these particular ones were incredible.

Some of my highlights...

... the day I had the stomach flu (not being sick), experiencing everyone's care and love... having them carry my burdens for the day as they let me sleep, brought me Aquarius (Spain's version of Gatorade), fruit, bread, etc., and were super attentive and sweet.

... taking care of peoples' feet - from blisters to cuts to rashes, etc.,

... walking into Santiago

... hearing the kids share how God was working in their lives... one guy crying as he decided to forgive his abusive day... another guy sharing how he had chosen to trust God to overcome some fears and allow people into his life... a girl sharing how she now knew that God was really real... another girl talking of how she was choosing to now see herself the way God sees her... and many more

... hugs and kisses from the kids

... walking in beautiful NW Spain -- green, hills, little creeks, trees and forest...

... some good time with some good friends, Marc & Eva & Melissa & Marian & some new friends Natalie & co...

... realizing that all of my present belongings fit in a backpack on my back

... listening to some of the guys brag about how easy it was and how many backpacks they had carried that day, or showing the huge stone they had carried, or trying to outdo one another in being the greatest servant of others... the testosterone was running high, but i didn't mind being taken care of

... remembering memories from past Caminos -- times with the Lord, things I learned, people I walked with, friends, etc.,

... enjoying clean clothes, a WARM shower, and a REAL bed upon arriving to Santiago

Some of the funnier/less than glamerous parts of the camino...

... the vast quantity of cow poop we walked over and through

... wearing two pairs of clothes for 10 days (washing them of course from time to time)

... throwing up all night in an extremely stinky bathroom and having the stomach flu

... not being able to walk one of the days due to the fact that I couldn't keep anything down and was a bit weak

... looking at some of the very sad feet (one girl got 18 blisters the first day, don't ask me how) and not being able to do much more than ease the pain and give some advice

... 10 days of cold, sometimes extremely freezing showers and most the time group showers

Note: By the way, EASY doesn't really mean "easy". We did carry all our luggage on our backs for 8 days and we did camp out almost the whole way and we did walk somewhere between 20 and 30+ kilometers a day, so it wasn't exactly the "easy" route. EASY stands for European All Staff Youth. It began as staff kids from Western Europe and now is them plus their friends and many others.

RELAXing

So, I am back. I am in Madrid and not planning to go anywhere anytime soon. And I must say that it feels good, very good.

After three months of traveling, half the time in the US and half the time here in Spain and all the time working (even though it was fun), it is really nice to be home. And it is really nice to have some time to get my feel firmly on the ground again. It is nice to have running water, to have a wonderful bed, to have time to read whatever book I want to, to clean, to decorate, to organize, to get rid of clutter, and to RELAX! Ahhhhh.... so nice.

And fortunate for me the weather here is FABULOUS! In the day it's warm, but not too warm, and at night there is a nice cool breeze. So nice!

So I have a couple days to relax and recuperate and then to study like crazy to finish up a seminary class and studying for my driving test. :-) Ahh... so nice...

new friends... old friends... just along the way

one of the highlights of being in ligonde was the amazing people i met who were working alongside me or just passing through.

here are a few of the people i remember. (i'll have to come back and write some more about the people i was working with, as i really did learn a lot from them as well. and there is a lot more to be said even about the pilgrims, i am just too tired to write much more right now.)

a spanish guy with 3 kids, i unfortunately don't remember his name, but he got me thinking about walking the whole camino - about 30+ days and about doing it more or less alone. he said he thought everyone at some point should do the whole thing and do it alone. not just as a challenge, but as quality time to think and grow. after the day with the Lord, walking alone, i would really love to walk the whole thing and am trying to think of a time i could actually do it. we'll see...

several hungarians, one named kata, and another one who i can't quite remember her name either, possibly esther. anyway, she impressed me as she talked about her country and asked for our prayers for it. hungary and hungarians will probably always have a special place in my heart since during college our Cru group prayed for hungary and sent people there in the summers to help with an english camp for high school and college students. many of the hungarians who passed through had a hungarian flag on their backpack, so were easy to pick out. but anyway, i digress, this girl i'll call esther asked for prayer for her country during our prayer time, so later i asked her about that (both specifics of why she wanted prayer for her country - since i haven't been the best with keeping up with news of hungary over the years - and about her spiritual journey - she mentioned that several were fasting and praying for their country, not the thing you hear everyday). it was interesting and encouraging to hear that many hungarians are calling out to God to heal their country, which economically isn't doing so well and still has a very high rate of suicide among youth. so, if you think of it pray and fast for hungary with them and for them.

i also met this woman christine, who is an american and who will probably crash at my place on wednesday on the way back to the states. she was walking with an austrian friend she had met along the way, named crista.

there were some sweet madrileños and catalans and sevillanos i met as well, including several who were extremely open about their spiritual journey. it was fun to talk about God and Jesus and what He means to me and my spiritual journey as well as listening to them.

i met an english woman and a spanish woman who had both discovered God along the camino. after explaining the Gospel to both they both said that was what they wanted in their life. they had both grown up with spiritual baggage that had kept them from allowing God into their lives, but now wanted to release control to him. please pray for them.

there was a japanese kid and a german girl, both of whom were searching for God but who were waiting for him to reveal himself to them along the camino. they had three days left of walking when the stayed with us. please pray for them.

again and again people commented on the peace present at our refuge and how there was something different about this place, something that drew them in and made them feel at home. we shared that we wanted to serve them and to demonstrate Jesus's character through both actions and words. it is amazing how open people are during this journey, pilgrimage, and how almost all of them are looking for something spiritual. pray that they would find Jesus.

there are a few people i will hopefully talk with again, but many whom we were only a day in their life. fortunately God is in control and he can use their time with us and at the refugio in powerful ways to draw them to him.

three days walking...

as we were working at the house with pilgrims, most of which had spent nearly a month walking the camino and some just a few days AND as part of the training, we walked the camino for three days. we had 5 Euros each for the entire time, plus some group money which was limited. we walked with all the belongings we would take and we had to find housing along the way and take care of any other needs we (personally and collectively) might have.

the first day was our day with the Lord and we were asked to walk alone and given some instructions for how we could spend our time if we wanted some instruction. this was a great blessing, particularly after a week of having very little time alone. it was so good to have time really completely ALONE with Jesus. the only thing i was sad about was that this day came to a close.

also on this day the Lord blessed me with a walking stick. i asked a man at a store where we began in O´Cebreiro about buying a walking stick. all his sticks were 7 euros and i only had 5 for the next 3 days. i asked if he might have something less, he asked how much i had and i said 5, but quickly added that i couldn't spend it all on the walking stick. i told him that i could spend 2 and he said he didn't have anything, so i went on my way. about 5km (3 miles) into our walk, i saw a car stop ahead and it was Alicia (a friend) with a walking stick saying that the guy went looking for me later to gift me this walking stick. he said that he liked me and felt bad for not having anything to sell to me, so wanted to just give me one of his walking sticks. i just happened that she arrived right before the big hills came along (where a walking stick, particularly on the downhills, is very helpful). i might also add that this night, after finding a place for us to eat, a woman invited me to a coffee. so at the end of day one i still had all of my 5 euros.

this night we slept in a gym with hundreds of others and got VERY LITTLE sleep, thanks to the chorus of snoring people and several crying children which then echoed throughout the gym. at least it was dry and warm. and since we didn't have to pay for our housing, we got to have a bit nicer dinner with hot food!

the second day was the day where we would walk with one other person and ask the Lord to give us opportunities to bless the other pilgrims along the way and to share the Gospel with them. i walked with Esther from Austria and a 10-year old boy, Nicolas, from France. i got a chance to practice my limited french and to learn some more. i also met some fun catalans (from NE Spain) and got to talk quite a lot with Jose and the others about Jesus and what it means (and doesn't mean) to follow him. they invited me to a drink and some snacks. (i spent 1 euro on a coffee along the way, was later invited to a snack, and later got an extra euro that i was told to keep after buying the sandwiches and translating for our group. and someone invited me to another coffee. so, i still had 5 euros.)

this night we slept outside under a cement covered overhang. i met a sweet girl from Estonia (in northern europe). this night was nice other than the annoyance by some that several of our group got beds inside (for which we had to pay) and the rest of us (and the majority of us) were sleeping outside. i slept pretty well, but was harshly awakened by two japanese pilgrims sleeping with us under this overhang arguing and one throwing up in on the step right above where most of us were sleeping. it was strange and disturbing and for awhile i thought he was not drunk, but severely sick. my estonian friend was unfortunately directly by the vomit, so she quickly moved down to where we were and eventually the craziness subsided and we went back to sleep.

all three days were amazingly beautiful, but this day we left at 6am, which meant we were walking as the sun was rising and through a heavy fog, which made everything quite surreal.

the third day was the day we walked in small groups. andreu had asked to be my partner the day before, right after i had agreed to walk with ester. so he and i had agreed to walk together this day. marian, reyes, and ester joined our group (which was great fun). andreu and marian took advantage of me being around to practice their english and it was fun to get to know them both better. this day we walked 37km, which is a bit more than 22 miles. generally we would have walked the first stretch and done the later half on the next day.

after leaving at 6am without breakfast or coffee we decided that the first cafe we came to after walking a bit, we'd stop for coffee. we stopped at this really quaint rustic place which i have always passed when walking the camino, but never stopped to eat. we ordered coffee and pan con tomate (good spanish bread toasted with tomatoe and olive oil rubbed onto it - the best breakfast in the world, or close there to). the coffee came in large bowls, at least 2-3x what we would have normally gotten - tazones en vez de just tazas. we enjoyed a semi-leisurely breakfast and then went on our way. we pooled all our money together and by God's grace we had all saved most of it until this time. and thankfully our money went far at this particular cafe.

later we stopped in puertamarine (where several years ago both marian and i had jumped off a bridge a couple times into the lake below). we reminisced about this time, endured the never ending downhill, part of which we walked backwards to help out the knees, and all stopped to get some lunch. we enjoyed a salad between the now six of us and got tuna empanadas (a specialty of this region) and stopped by the grocery store for some aquarius (the spanish version of gatorade, and by the way in my opinion it also tastes much better) and fruit for the camino. the second stretch was ALL uphill and in full sun. it was definitely a time where i needed to depend on the Lord to be patient with others, to love others, and to choose to slow down to walk with those who wanted to stop and rest or go at a slower pace. it was good to be pushed beyond my normal limits. and it was great to have my friend marian, or mari-angeles, with me to talk and process our reactions (mainly the not so good reactions/emotions of impatience, judgment, criticalness, etc.,).

when we got to ligonde, where the refuge/albergue we have, it was SOOO nice! and we actually got to sleep in a bed for the night. it was nice to just be clean.

this night we shared about our experiences and i learned quite a bit from just the sharing of others. if i have time, i might share more about each of these days later.

note: the picture above has the yellow arrows that you follow on the camino. they show the way to santiago (the destination for most). we actually walked only to ligonde, where the albergue is.

cows, blisters, tents, horreos, and simplicity

There are many things about which I have both contemplated during my time in Ligonde.

First, to paint a picture of our time, we were living in a town of I believe about 80 or 90. Most of the living beings we saw were animals and, in fact, our neighbors lived in the same house as the animals. The most common smell was that of cow manure and a several time a day occurrence was the moving of the cows. They went from one plot of land or barn to another. (I should have asked more questions, but I'm still not fully sure why this took place.) But without fail we'd have to move out of the way to not get stampeded or pooped on (literally). It was a town of simplicity. A place in which many of the houses recently got electricity and plumbing. A place in which it is a normal thing for laundry to be washed outside by hand and for women into their 70s and 80s to work HARD from sunrise to long after sunset. A place where common knowledge includes how to birth a calf or a lamb or a baby for that matter.

There is still an eclectic mix of people. One is Jose who lived in Switzerland for some time, speaks french, italian, english, german, spanish, and gallego, or at least decent amounts of each. He came home when his brother died to help out the family and hasn't left since. He said he's already seen the world and has no need to leave Ligonde for much. He enjoys his simple life and his family.

Maria and Jesús are the neighbors who live WITH their animals. You walk in their house and the room on the left is for the cows, the kitchen is on the right (with no door, just a door frame, between the two, then upstairs is where the people and cats sleep. Definitely a very modest and unupdated home.

We slept in tents outside the full two weeks, so as to not take the spaces of pilgrims in the house. I began the time sleeping with my friend Ruth and her daughter Elia and then, after they left, had a tent to myself. We ate outside, generally showered with cold water (occasionally it was warm, which was always a nice surprise), and definitely lived in community. We woke up at 6:30ish to prepare the coffee & milk for the pilgrims, to clean the house, and to eat ourselves. We had a time of prayer in pairs and then began our day. The morning was spent preparing the house for the day, greeting pilgrims who passed by or stopped momentarily to get their credential stamped, to chat, to get some coffee, to use the bathroom, etc., and we had some teaching times for the western european new staff training. After several hours of class we got ready for lunch and then spent the afternoon attending to pilgrims, relaxing a bit, and preparing for the evening (cooking, preparing stories, etc.,). In the evening we showed the Jesus Film, had a time of prayer (for our needs and those of the pilgrims - this was generally in about 4 different languages with some translation), ate dinner with the pilgrims inside, had a storytelling time (where we shared a couple prepared stories, heard stories from the camino, and then spent some time reflecting on the day and to take care of business (in terms of forgiving, asking for forgiveness, and receiving forgiveness so as to "not let the sun go down on our anger"). This was a very special time. Lights in the house went out at 11pm, which is about the time the stars came out outside. Often we'd walk to a local cafe to hang out a bit more and during which I enjoyed the quietness of this little town and the clearness of the sky (with its millions of stars) and would quietly thank God for bringing me here, for His creation, for His goodness, and for the happenings of the day.

While I haven't much shared about my ponderings, the simplicity and the magic of this place will remain with me. (And in just about 10 days I will be back in this part of Spain hiking the camino with teenagers from across Europe. You can definitely pray for this time.)

Note: The second picture is of an "horreo", is is where corn is kept so as not to be eaten by the squirrels. And it is pronounced "oreo" like the cookie. The first picture is of a ternera, a calf, Eva and I were shown some 4 day old calves by Maria Eugenia, one of the neighbors. Amazing!

coming back to madrid...

so, i arrived back in madrid this morning at about 10:30am. amazing, since i left ligonde this morning at 5:15am, but thanks to johnny & chema, i got home safe (and was able to sleep for more than half the trip). i had planned on coming home by train (which would have put me back at 9:30 pm), but after finding out they were driving back through madrid i canceled my ticket. it was a good decision.

when i found out it was only 10:30 am, i thought, "wow, i have the whole day left!" but in reality i have spent the day unpacking, doing laundry, sleeping, resting, and sleeping some more. (it's kind of ironic, as when chema asked if i was going to go back to sleep when i got home, i said definitively no. oh well. the only thing i really needed to do today was catch up a bit on e-mail, get resettled, go grocery shopping (so i can eat - which is yet to be done).

while much warmer than ligonde (which by the way was FREEZING), madrid is not quite the smoldering heat i expected. i even have the windows open and have a nice, cool breeze.

note: the second picture is the sierra, the mountains which is what we passed through on the way into madrid. it is really beautiful! (as is much of spain.) :-)

my last couple of weeks

the past two weeks i have been in VERY rural NW Spain, where it is much more normal to see cows, roosters, hens, sheep, chicks, goats and dogs running down the street than people, except the pilgrims traveling the Camino de Santiago.

i had the privilege of joining 30-40 others from around europe to serve at the Fuente del Peregrino albergue in Ligonde, Spain.

the next few posts will be dedicated to sharing some of the memories and lessons from that time.

traveling home (to madrid)

so... i am packing (and presently procrastinating packing). i have all except my carry-on packed (at least for now, until i realize i have too much for my carry-on).

today has been fairly uneventful although the last week has been jam-packed full of seeing fun people, traveling across several states (florida to georgia to tennessee to missouri to kansas and back to missouri). i've had sushi, ethiopian, pizza, lots of coffee, a good number of salads, and lots of blueberries (which i can't easily get in spain). also i bought another pair of running shoes today and was VERY happily surprised that my new shoes have a secret passageway for my ipod nike running chip (to measure how far and fast i go). definitely a pleasant surprise and a surprise.

hmmm... well i don't have much more to say other than i will miss the dear people i love who live in the US much!!! and particularly after having seen some of them briefly. i so wish all the people i loved lived closer, or that somehow i had a private jet and time traveling abilities.

but for now there is vonage and the blessings of living in the 21st century. i will be fairly out of touch for the next month, as most of that time will be spent in a fairly rural area. (i have 4 days in madrid and then head up to ligonde, in nw spain, where i will be for about 2 weeks, then back to madrid and then probably to morrocco with some students.) all that to say, i will blog and e-mail when i can, but if you don't hear from me, my life will return to semi-normal in september (the semester in spain starts october 1st).

thanks for all the memories!!!

oh, and by the way, i have a sweet 6-hour layover in philly to see my amazing brother who i love but don't get to see all that often.

dancing

i just commented on a friend's post about dancing, i think specifically salsa. anyway... i told her a fun story about my time in orlando and thought it worth repeating here.

my friend bekah, who will soon be in madrid with me, loves to dance, particularly salsa. i do too, but not as much as bekah. so during the training she was going through and i was coaching in florida, on occasion bekah organized a salsa night, either to teach people or to go out. i can't say that i went to as many nights as i would have liked, but the one night i went out with them was FABULOUS and a time forever sketched in my memories.

there was a salsa convention going on in town, so we went to the open dancing. there were three of us women and two guys. we got there and were blown away by the dancers, all professional or semi-professional. i felt like i was on the set or in a movie, definitely very surreal. and they were definitely FAR out of our league. but we danced anyway and i had the greatest time!!! i felt like a star. while i'm sure i didn't look anything like them, i pretended i did and felt like a million dollars. damien and drew being there to dance with, along with the other random guys i danced with were obviously fairly key. it was definitely a night to remember. i only wish i had some pictures to go along with it.

and the venue was stellar. a huge ballroom with a hardwood floor and all the glitz to go with it. it kind of made me think of the japanese version of "shall we dance" (which by the way is MUCH better and came out far before the american version with richard gere).

Note: By the way, the picture above is from the Antonio Banderes (he's spanish) movie "Take The Lead" which I just saw a few days ago at a friend's house a few days ago in Lawrence, KS, while I was preparing for my talk on Spain at Grace EPC. It is a GREAT movie that is about dancing but also a lot more. Definitely a great movie to rent.

Ethiopian Food

In thinking about coming back to the US there were two things I wanted to eat - lots of blueberries & ethiopian food. Somehow I don't tend to crave much food from back home. Living in Madrid, I can find just about any kind of ethnic food I might want and the ingredients for just about anything I'd want to make.

Blueberries are abundant in the states during the summer, so that has been easy.

Ethiopian food has been a little trickier since I was only in Lawrence, KS, three days and the restaurant I was hoping was still open was closed. Fortunately on my jaunt through Atlanta, in looking for a coffee shop I stumbled upon Amy's Ethiopian Café. I walked in and was welcomed by some strong cardamom smelling incense, by some strange looks (i was the only white, non-ethiopian in the place), and everything written in amharic (the language spoken in ethiopia, which is non-roman letters). I asked if I could have a glass of water and a half portion of one of the lunch vegetarian platters. (It was about 16:00 and I was planning to eat with some friends a bit later.) It was absolutely perfect. And while I ate, I watched some of the foreign news on Aljazeera, the Arabic News Network. It was perfect. The only unfortunate part is that I didn't have time to go back before I left.

So... ethiopian food in my opinion is incredible and some of the best ethnic food I've ever had. It is however, pretty different, so some people don't much care for it.

What I like is the rich, explosion of flavor you have in every bite. AND you get to eat with your hands and from a communal plate. You use the injera bread, which looks like a thick crepe, but is made from a grain you have probably never had, teff. It tastes a bit vinagery and has a texture unlike anything else. My dad is not a huge fan. You tear off a piece and use that to pick up the other foods. It is INCREIBLE!

So I've just looked up several restaurants here in St. Louis and am hoping to convince someone to go with me. Buen provecho!