I Am So Bad at Naming These Post, So This is the Title.

Whoo, oooh, whew...am I ever going to be able to time these things right. Keeping up with a busy, transient, and shifting schedule can be an adventure sometimes. Sometimes I wonder if I'm really that busy, or if I've just gotten so good at procrastination that it feels like I'm actually working. Or maybe it's both. Or neither, something different entirely. Who knows (except God of course), but here goes me trying to make my somewhat mundane life sound at least a little interesting for all you willing to trudge through these posts. Ok, it's not really a "trudge," but it's such a good dramatic word, and maybe it will make you feel even more obliged to read, just to prove that you're willing to real this and not that it is a obligation. Oh how I love all you who I have no idea who you are. Thanks for enjoying my adventures with me :)

Mostly nothing that interesting has been happening. I've had a lot of meals with my host family, and I continue to try to understand and talk and be social and not freak out from Spanish overload. It's going pretty good. I eat most lunches with my host mother's parents, who live in the same apartment complex, about a 30 second walk away from where I'm living. I'm apart of the worship team here in the Hoyo church, which has been really fun. I mostly play ukelele, which they all thing is such a fascinating little instrument. And being little, it doesn't make that much noise, which is nice, because I can play without worrying how bad I sound. It's given me some good practice, since I'm still not very good.

One of the people I've been connecting with here is Carl (I'm just giving him that name because I don't want to use his actual name, but I don't want to be referring to an initial for the next four months). His mother-tongue is English, but he speaks very good Spanish, so it's been nice being able to chat a learn with him. He too, like me, is interested in and enjoys music, so it's been fun chatting it up about music theory as well as jamming out on piano/guitar/uke/drums. Plus, his kids are just the most precious things, and I'm friends with them. In fact, his eldest son, the same one who last week was strutting around saying, "I'm Asher," with my coat and scarf, told his mother, "I have a new best friend, Asher." Yeah, that pretty much made my life.

Another general statement: everything is in Spanish. I know, isn't that surprising, being here in Spain and all? But I was particularly thing of TV related things. I've watched a few american movies in Spanish. And plus all the TV my host family watches, I feel like I've been doused in images and ideas that don't really have much clarity and are accompanied by gibberish. Ok, it's not really that bad, but there definitely comes a point when my attention span has waned and I just sit there, a vegetable enjoying all the pretty pictures. Sometimes I wonder if it's more disorienting than actually helping with anything. But who knows, maybe my brain is picking up things without my knowledge of its doing so, and it's just storing it all up until one day it shall all pour forth and I shall be the master of all things Spanish. I think that might be wishful thinking. Or maybe it's storing up all the knowledge so it can use it against me. Is my brain contemplating mutiny? Hmm, I'll have to think about that one....

I still visit Madrid sometimes. I mostly go down there to visit our friends there or play music or for our team meetings. It's actually kind of nice because it gives me a change in scenery once in a while. Plus, the bus ride is long and comfortable (it's a coach-ish bus), so I have some nice relaxed time to think and read and listen to music or chat with Reneé when we're traveling together. One problem, though, that I encountered, is that the bus routes are different during weekends and weekdays, which can make it a bit confusing. The worst part is that no one had thought to tell me this, and since we had mainly been traversing on the weekends, I ended up waiting at the wrong bus stop my first weekday trip. What probably would have been a 7-10 minute wait turned into nearly an hour wait, missing three or four buses. Finally someone walking by stopped, and, having enough common sense to see that this boy had no idea what he was doing, had the compassion to tell him he had to go to the other bus stop. Thank you random ladies, you were my saviors that day.

Hopefully that gives you a general idea of what I'm doing; going here or there, doing this or that on a regular basis. But, thankfully, it's not all the same all the time, there are some other things happening.

Last, last Friday (the 8th) I went to dinner with my host mom, Emily, my host brother, John, and John's friend Mike (again, these are all fake names, I'm not really sure if it's ok to use their real names, I'll see if I can find out). Anyways, we went for dinner at a Arab place and we had what they call a "Kebob." It was sort of like a gyro, but with a slightly different sauce and meat. Well, I was able to keep up with and participate in most of the conversation at that dinner, so that was encouraging. That's not to say I feel confidant in my Spanish now, but it's nice to know there are some things I can do with it.

The following Saturday (the 9th) the church held a surprise anniversary party for our pastor and his wife. It was fun, meaning I just mainly sat there watching people play "Couples" games and I played with kids and generally didn't understand fully what was going on. Near the end they had some dancing (more what I would consider a rhythmic sway, not really doing much else than stepping back and forth), and people were jumping in and grabbing partners and stealing partners and so on. Well I jumped in, of course, and being a bit bored of just rocking back and forth, I incorporated a basic spin. Suffice to say, it was an easy-to-please crowd. They were quite impressed with the simple spin. I had a good time dancing. (It actually got me a job of teaching a girl some basic dancing for her fifteenth birthday coming up, the big birthday e for Hispanic girls. I'm a little nervous about it though, I've never really taught that much dancing before).

Just the cutest thing.

I know right!? Just too cute!

Last Wednesday (the 13th) after music practice I went with some friends to their house so I would know were it was since we had plans to hang out on Friday. I ended up staying for a little over an hour playing ping-pong on their dinning-room table. They had this little clip on net that went on the table, which was a bit short and quite a bit thin. It was interesting, but also fun. I do love a good game of ping-pong.

Then last Friday Carl took Reneé and me out for a hike. Hoyo del Manzanares is situated in the mountains, so there are some really beautiful country sides and trails and views, and all those other wonderful things associated with mountains. We hiked for about forty-five minutes to a little waterfall and then climbed up the summit near there to get a better few. It was all just so gorgeous and grandiose. One of the best pluses was that we ended up going on pretty much the only nice day we've had so far since we got here—sunny, warm, clear skies. Just perfect.

I'm happy to be in this beautiful day in this beautiful place.

Do you remember the Roman aqueduct from last week, how it was made with no mortar. Well in its past, Hoyo was known for it's incredible masonry, and there are a lot of walls through out and around the town that are made entirely of cut stone, no mortar. Simply incredible!

This is one that was up in the mountain that looked like it used to be for a water pipe to transfer water into town. We weren't really sure.

After the hike, for the rest of the afternoon, Reneé and I hung out with the people with whom I played ping-pong on Wednesday night. They have three kids, so things are always interesting, and usually includes quite a bit of not understanding. We went to the park and I ended up playing fútbol with them. I am so out of practice, pretty sure I only helped the stereotype that American's can't play soccer, sorry to all you American's who can.

Saturday, Reneé and I went into Madrid to help a family from the church with their move. Helping mostly consisted of carrying a lot of boxes up three and a half flights of stairs to their fourth floor apartment. I got quite a stair work out, good for the leg muscles. The worst part though was the washing machine. I carried it up with one other person, backwards up those three and a half flights of stairs (somewhere around 35 steps). They asked me if I'd be available to help with another move sometime soon, I said I'd be busy ;) Just kidding, I'd love to help.
That evening my host mom, with one of her friends, took me to a baroque concert because I'd said I like classical music. It was really cool to see and hear all the old style instruments (harpsichord, fifteen-string lyre, six-string and fretted cello, a soprano singer, and wooden recorder), but we all agreed that an hour and a half of it was enough. The plangy harpsichord is not something I would enjoy listening to for a long time. Afterwards we went to a very yummy pizza place for dinner. Had some good conversations and listened in on some I-don't-really-understand conversations. It's still always a mix of "I think I know what you are talking about" and "................, yeah, didn't catch that."

Sunday I got the news that my Grandfather had passed away Saturday. We'd been expecting it for a while, and especially in his last few days as things seemed to be declining, and he himself was definitely ready to finally see his Lord and Savior face to face, but it is sad to think of him not being here anymore. I'm doing actually pretty well with it, the hardest part is being so far from family and not being able to love on them during this time. It's family, though, that makes it this bearable, knowing that Granddad left behind a whole bundle of people who have been influenced by him and whose lives are changed because of the example he gave and the prayer he continually interceded on our behalves and the pure joy in following Christ he radiated in everything he did. He was a man after God's own heart and his memory is a sweet one, he will be missed.

As the beauty of the flower fades,
As the glow of the moon wanes
So this life we all live
Must eventually do the same

But the flower re-seads and the moon waxes again,
The ripples of a sinking stone across the pond remain.
And if this life we correctly live
Our effect will also be the same

We live our lives the way do
because of the influences of the those involved.
So remember that with each thing you do
It will be the thing by which people remember you.

~We love and miss you Granddad, but we thank you for the example you gave us~


Well, Monday came next after Sunday, as is usually the case. I started the day with a three hour hike up into the mountains, this time with my host mom and her brother-in-law. We climbed up to La Tortuga (one of the peaks/summits of the mountains that looks like a turtle), but unfortunately it was a very fogging day so we didn't get to see the main attraction of the trip, the gorgeous views. Oh well, I guess it's just an excuse to go up again. We did see some fun caves that were used during the Spanish Civil War by refugees. And the mountainside itself was very beautiful, even without its further-away views.

That afternoon I went with most of my extended host family to have lunch for Abuelo's birthday. It was fun to enjoy being a part of the whole-family experience. It's always good to see people smiling and laughing and bickering and talking and loving in the way only a family can. I do miss mine quite a lot, love you guys.

I'll end there because nothing really exciting happened on Tuesday, and we'll pick up next time at Wednesday. Thanks again for being a part of my journey here. My host mom said that I should share her website so that you guys can look at it and learn a little more if you want. So, if you'd like you can visit Espaten.com. It's mostly about her restaurant, but there's a little bit about her, too.
As usual questions and comments can go here on the blog, etc. You know the drill, and if you don't, go read my other blogs and catch up.

Love and miss you all so very much. Have a fabulous week (or longer if I don't get around to blogging again in the next week).
Adios amigos,

Many Loves and Misses,
~Asher Fickett~