Madrid for Christmas

Greetings from Madrid!

We made it here after a beautiful train ride through the heart of Spain- we traveled through snow dusted fields and mountains where the entire atmosphere put me in a Christmas mood, then crossed through a tunnel, over the mountains and through a part of Spain that resembled the drive from Nevada to San Diego. It was my first real train ride, and I loved it! The gentle rocking of the car seemed to fit the rhythm of the land’s rolling hills, with the pueblitos nestled in between, the motions seemed as if I was riding a bicycle over the entirety of Spain.

Barcelona proved to be quite an adventure. Lessons learned in B-town? First, never let me hold a metro card. I lost my first metro card, paid 6.40 euros for another, found the first one, lost them both again, and had to pay 1.20 for a trip to the train station, only to prove what a space cadet I really am by finding them both upon arriving at our hostel in the heart of Madrid. Secondly, Barcelona is the city of LOVE. Man, I don’t see how Paris or Italy can be much worse than this. Everywhere we went there were people making out, old men blowing us kisses, you get the drift. Lastly, if you want crazy hair, Europe is the place. I thought people were joking when they told me that, no. I could fill up an entire wall with all the mullets, rattails, dreads, Mohawks, all in more colors than your monitor has pixels. It’s true.

Barcelona’s hostel was INCREDABLE! We stayed in the Home Guest House, met many wonderful people, including a family from Agape Ministries (a side ministry of Campus Crusade), Hana a student from Boston, one from Oregon, a wonderful girl from Mexico City who was sooooo fun to talk to, and we had many conversations about the differences between Muslims and Christians three different times, which I’m sure Sarah covered thoroughly in her blog. So much for Barcelona. We enjoyed ourselves and then moved straight onto Madrid, via a lovely train ride, and now we find ourselves living in a hostel on the fourth floor over the Plaza de la Sol, the center of Madrid’s city life. Yesterday after arriving, checking in, walking down to the Reina Sofia, and viewing Picasso’s Guernica along with the preliminary drawings that preceded it… Today we go to the Prado with some friends we’ve met from Wisconsin who are grad students in anthropology, then I’ll go to “un mercado de Navidad” (donde yo voy a comprar un regalo para mi amiga- estoy escribindo en espanol porque ella no lo comprenda, jajaja J) then for dinner we are going on the tapas crawl recommended by Rick Steves to the Plaza de la Mayor, back to the hostel for a Christmas toast with the people here, and to Midnight mass at the cathedral nearby.

For all of you back in the US, all our new friends reading where ever you may be, our families, our friends from home and college, God’s blessings to you this Christmas, whether you are near to home or far away.
Que Dios te bediga,
Sarah.Hope
“But when the time had fully come, God sent his son, born of a woman, born under law to redeem those under law that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the spirit of his Son into our hearts, the spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father!’. So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.” Galatians 4:4-7