cuteness

i am sad today, but that is for another post. in my teary-eyed-ness i just called my best friend ruth and her 6 year old daughter elia just picked up. we talked briefly and then she asked if i wanted her to tell her mom that i was coming over. i said that i couldn't come over and she asked, "why not?" to which i replied, "i'm in the US at my parents' house." "what?" "well, i'll have my mom call you." "when is she going to be back, half an hour?" "i don't know, but don't worry, we'll call you." if only she knew that it's not that simple. anyway, elia's cuteness made me smile in the midst of my sadness.

the countdown

Inevitably before a big trip, there comes a point where it feels like there are a million and one things to do, time is ticking away, and I'm on a downhill slope with the momentum that comes from running downhill. All is well, I just feel the pressure of time running out. 9 times out of ten, or maybe 9.9 times out of ten, that which is left undone is fine that way but it doesn't change the sensation of it all - hoping I'm not forgetting anything too vital nor to tell anyone who needs to know that I'll be gone. This is only heightened by an overseas trip because my cell phone won't work and the lapse of time and frequency of checking all forms of communication is just a bit slower.

On my list are:

Paying rent & clearing bills with my roommates (including my former roommate who just moved to another city)
Updating ministry updates, websites, etc.,
Tying up loose ends having to do with the new semester that begins as soon as I get back (including applying for permission to do our fall outreach on campus and following up with the guy who may give us a place for our movie discussion night)
Seeing everyone I can who just got back into town from vacation (since Sept is the in-between month, between summer and fall)
Hmm... that's the first of the list...which I actually need to get to.

The other "countdown" per say underway is that into the fall semester. This is a fun, exciting, I can't wait kind of countdown, however. It's the kind of countdown before you take off on a sprint running as hard as you can for 200 meters, but with all the energy in the world. It's a good feeling, not at all overwhelming. And I guess the other one, if I don't worry about anything getting unknowingly dropped by the wayside, is also somewhat injuvenating. So, off I go to finish the lists...

July 4th

fireworks!!! it's funny. i generally wouldn't consider myself to be a very patriotic person and yet i am still an american and absolutely LOVED being in the US for the 4th of July. it was fun seeing people dressed up as abe lincoln and ben franklin (since it was abe's 200th bday and we were in philadelphia). it was fun visiting museums and thinking about way back when our founding fathers signed the declaration of the independence and such. and it was FABULOUS watching fireworks with thousands of others by the philadelphia art museum (or the steps rocky ran up).

and it was most definitely hilarious being with my brother and his girlfriend as he talked to my parents and literally gave them a play by play on the fireworks. they were at home watching fireworks on tv, but my parents LOVED getting to "be" with us thanks to my brother. he talked about the colors, where in the sky they were, how they exploded, he told them what we said, how we reacted,... everything. and while he was doing this his girlfriend and i were enjoying the fireworks and making fun of him (which he was fully aware of). eventually he passed the phone to me and i said bye to them, the fireworks continued, and then we made our way back - which definitely competes with the fireworks.

on the way to the fireworks, lauren and i took off from their house and then drew called when he got off work (yep, he worked on the 4th) and met us as we walked from the metro to the art museum. we were hoping to make it to the gazebo behind the art museum (which we later found was roped off and inaccessible) and had a ways to go and not much time. so my brother took off and we followed after. although it was humorous as lauren had to jog to keep up with us even though her legs are twice as long. ;-)

on the way back, drew shot out and then lauren competed as we expertly weaved in and out of the crowd. it was a race, not really between us, but between us and the crowd. and we were headed to the metro, which was a jaunt away, but it was partly the journey, partly the race that was what mattered. we were trying to see how many people we could pass, unbeknownst to them, of course. there was glass, empty beer cans, random people in random places. we weaved in and out, each of us with our own strategy, and yet trying to stay together in a crowd of thousands. crowd surfing at its finest. and amazingly when we got to the metro, while we had a little line to wait to get through the turnstile, we didn't wait even a minute for the next train (and i was amazed, living in madrid, at how unpacked it was. my brother said it was because most of those on the train were tourists or suburbanites, not true locals). and as we took the train a few stops back to drew and lauren's apt, i eavesdropped the conversations of the latino family next to us (whom i'm sure had no idea that i understood them). good times.

ode to my sister

The time I recently spent with my sister is definitely up there in my favorite times. We went to some fun places, enjoyed some great food, etc., but what I really enjoyed was just time with my sister, who has increasingly become more and more of a really good friend.

Growing up there were 6 years between us, which is a large age difference when you're 1 and 7, 10 and 16, or 16 and 22. But now that we're both adults that age difference is irrelevant and, interestingly enough, we are actually very much alike and like a lot of similar things (while obviously still being quite different). Heather is an amazing artist and I'm a missionary in Spain.

I found SUPER cheap tickets to the States while I toyed with the idea of going to visit my siblings, to go on a little vacation JUST to see the family - no work, no fundraising, no commitments,... and my motivation was the fact that I haven't seen much of either sibling, but less of my sister. (Last summer I saw them at a wedding for 2 days - :-( - that was it... and it had been a year since I'd seen my sister, so a longer visit just for them was long overdue.) So, I went to Philly to see my brother and the first weekend there (a day after I arrived) my sister just happened to have to be in NYC (which is just an hour or two away) for a photo shoot. She invited me to come up and stay at her swanky hotel, so I did. It was great! It poured rain half the time I was there, but we went to some fun restaurants, just caught up with each other, found out we both were reading the Twilight books, got a pedicure (since it was pouring rain outside and it's a good sister thing to do), she bought me a bday present, we wandered around the streets of NY between the meat-packing district and Greenwich Village, we walked along the Hudson river, etc., It was just the weekend, but fun.

Then a few days later (after spending a couple days with my brother in Philly), I took off for Columbus, Ohio, to spend more time with Heather. She took off a couple days of work to hang out, so we went to workout together (which was GREAT! - to workout, but to workout with my sister! who i never see), go for long walks through a cool and huge park in Columbus, drive around fun hidden parts of Columbus, walk around the fun college town part of Columbus, drink tea, eat AMAZING veggie burgers,... It was SOOO refreshing! Lavender tea, just sitting on the couch and talking about life, our lives..., laughing, walking through the Black Hand Gorge with heather and brandon, her boyfriend, and talking about imaginary creatures who would live in the enchanted forest we were in, making animal noises to scare the canoers down below (although my noises were fairly pathetic as my sister would confirm), swimming,... It was great!

And it was fun to get to know her boyfriend better and to see how in love they are, that he thinks the world of her and is so sweet to her. And he is definitely a quality guy. :-)

So now that I'm back in Madrid, I SOOO wish we lived closer. That I could go to the gym with her everyday and we could laugh at each other and with each other. That we could just hang out, play scrabble, watch thunderstorms, wander through the forest, etc., I miss my sister and am SO thankful for time with her!

Welcome

To all who are spiritually weary and seek rest;
to all who mourn and long for comfort;
to all who struggle and desire victory;
to all who sin and need a Savior;
to all who are strangers and want fellowship;
to all who hunger and thirst after righteousness;
and to whoever will come--

this church opens wide her doors
and offers her welcome in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ.

--- I saw this last week as I was looking for a church to go to while visiting my brother in Philadelphia (a short, but sweet visit to see my brother & sister). I ended up here, at Tenth Presbyterian Church, which was great!

unmet expectations

It is really a crazy thing. I am a fairly laid back person and in Spain it takes a lot for me to become frustrated with the culture. I'm sure there are exceptions, but generally I at least like to think that I am fairly easy-going.

But, since arriving back to the States, it seems that my expectations are much, much higher and somehow things just haven't worked as smoothly as I expect. My roommate and I were talking about it today and the fact that we have probably idealized the "perfect" customer service found in the US.

Since I have been back it seems more often than not that customer service people or employees at various places have been somewhat rude, not just not helpful but downright rude. And since moving into the condo we're living in for a few weeks, it took a week and a half until we could get our internet & wifi to work, we now have a fuse fully blown and they don't want to call an electrician (so we have to move), our key was given to someone who lived in a different building (by mistake), and things just don't go fully smoothly.

As I write this all out, it seems obvious that life is full of little disruptions and bumps in the road, but in my mind, things go smoothly and without disruption in the US. It is only overseas that I have to have low expectations. :-) And presently I am a bit like a fish out of water in my own country. :-) The one thing that helps me feel a bit more normal about having emotions a bit out of proportion with what is going on is some of the stuff we've been discussing in this cross-cultural training I am helping with here in Florida. When we change environments (and particularly countries - even in moving back home for a time, or to another location in the US) we are kind of like a plant left out of soil or water for awhile. We have exposed roots. And thus we wilt a bit and feel unsettled. And even if we are loosely put into soil, it takes a bit of time to re-adapt. So it is normal, I am normal, just desiring normality a little more than normal.

Hmmm... if I look at the positive side, I guess this is/will be good for my growth and learning (about myself, God, life,...).

sensory overload

(note: preliminary thoughts about heading back to the states and "reverse culture shock" (going back to your mother country) which may seem strange, but is commonly understood to be much worse than that of going to a foreign country. this is the beginning, but i'll probably write more later...)

so, what for me is sensory overload is probably not the same as some. i live in a city of 5 million and am regularly jammed into a metro car where literally no one else can cram themselves in (because it's fully acceptable to physically cram yourself in - literally push your way in - to an already packed metro car, particularly during rush hour).

it's also not the quantity of people because there are a lot of places that i enjoy going that are cram packed with people. and i like to be there in part because of the shear quantity of people and the "life" there. now obviously i don't always enjoy that, but it is more the norm than the abnormal.

and, apparently, i read recently that the noise levels in madrid are not very healthy over the long-term. so, noise, which is nearly always present, isn't really what i'm talking about either.

what i am talking about is that sensory overload that i tend to experience when i return to the states. all the english just jumps out. i hear every conversation around me, word for work. i read every sign and every billboard without wanting to. i am amazed by all the english and read and hear everything. exhausting. and the reality is that there are advertisements absolutely everywhere.

the other thing that can overwhelm me a bit is the number of options. there are two sides to this, one, i enjoy the simplicity of having only a few options. usually for lunch, on campus or at a restaurant, you order the menu, which includes a first course plate, second course plate, a dessert, a drink and bread. you get one of each and there are at most 4 options for each. simple.

when you go to the grocery store, yes you have a whole aisle of olive oil to choose from and the same with types of jamon serrano, cheeses, olives and a few other things. and you have a fully stocked array of fresh fish to choose from. but the stores are much smaller to begin with. and there are only a few options for most things, not a bizillion. again... simplicity.

and i guess there is one more area of simplicity. it's just more normal to take time doing normal life things and to not use so many machines. for example, a 24-hour huge megagrocery store where everything exists is not that common, or at least not in walking distance from my house. also, i have a washer, but hang out my clothes to dry, as to most other people (probably 75-80%), no matter what social class you fall into. i don't have a dryer nor a dishwasher and food comes fresh (not prepackaged). while spaniards actually work an ungodly amount of hours (even by american standards), the pace of life is more relaxed.