Some Time Off, Some Things Celebrated, and Probably Something Else.

Well, here I am being late again. But I am here, so let's get started.

We left off telling you about my Tuesday, the 30th of April, in which I finally got to see pictures of Xylia, my little niece. And just in case you've forgotten how cute she or Isaac is, here's a picture collage.

Well, Wednesday started a Spanish holiday that I'm not really sure of what, I just know there was holiday for Wednesday and Thursday, and no school on Friday as well. So, that week we didn't have any English classes, so we had a bit of a break from that. Well, anyways, that afternoon we went to a friends house for a birthday celebration and ate snacks, talked, played, and ate lunch and ate cake.

Reneé and I went to Madrid for the evening to be a part of the Spain Team meeting. We watched a documentary called "The Finger of God." It was a real eye opener of God's miraculous workings in today's day and age, how so many Christians just disregard it as a thing of the past, that God doesn't really work in that way anymore these days except of a few, rare occasions. Well if that's true, it has nothing to do with God, but with us not living the Christian life in the power of God. Hmm...a bit of thinker and challenger.

Thursday afternoon I went with a group of people to a monument church thing up in the mountains. It's called the Valle de los Caidos, and is a big cathedral thing built into the mountain with a giant cross on top of it. It was built by Franco, the dictator of Spain after the Spanish civil war (early 1900's), as a burial for soldiers from the war. He too is now buried there. It was something to go to because it was very spanish and historical, but to me it didn't have that much attraction beyond that. To me, the best part of the trip were the views, since it's up in the mountains, and hanging out with the people I was with. Also, I saw my first wild warthog, though a comparatively little and young one. The picture you'll see of it is probably the stupidest picture I've ever taken. When we spotted it, for some reason, a group of us all started running towards it. Yes, towards it. To get pictures, to see it better. Whatever the reason, thinking back, I realize that was probably really dumb, even though it was a small warthog. Oh well, I have a pretty sweet picture of it.

On the way.

Some magnificent views from the car window

Our destination from a distance

Coming up the stairs, this is the first real view of it you get.

You will notice that some of the pictures in this plaza have people and some don't. This is not that I am an incredible timer at getting the photo just right when there happens to be nobody walking by. I came up here twice. After we got back from our walk, our cars were the only ones there, so I figured I'd go up and get some last shots of the place without any people.

Siete Picos (seven peaks), the name kind of explains itself.

Above the doorway. God cradling a fallen soldier? Not really sure.

Photos weren't allowed inside, so this is as close as you'll get with the pictures. Pretty door though.

Now back outside.

Aren't my friends so cute :)

They sure are happy at least.

I liked the way the sun in the background made the cross a silhouette.

The "courtyard" ground patterns.

*Phew-phoow*

"Is that a dog?"

"Wait, no, it's a warthog. Let's all run toward it."

Okay, you gotta admit, that's a pretty sweet photo.

I have absolutely no idea why, but he wanted a picture of him holding up one of the felled tree trunks, hehehe.

We're now around the back.

The walkway surrounding the back courtyard.

Hey look, it's me :D

Hahaha, I caught him sneaking around touching things.

Now over to the door.

Look at the smug little face.

Partners in crime :)

This kid is so ridiculously photogenic.

Awwwgh, so cute!

The face of happy determination.

I love this one.

Some sort of bug something? Don't know, it looks kind of cool.

Piggy-back races, because why not.

Hey, it's me again.

After being on our round-about walk for a while, we realized that we still had quite a bit of a loop to go along the road till we got back to the cars, when really we were practically right next to the cars, there was just a short stretch of wood in the way. Well, three other persons and I decided to take the short trek of the woods instead of the long way around, and it turned out pretty simple, we saw this stream, and we arrived about fifteen minutes sooner than the others :)

Friday I didn't really have anything to do since we didn't have Enlgish class. I did skype my teammates in Thailand, so that was cool.

Saturday I helped my host mom some with her catering service that she has as well as her restaurant. In the morning I helped deliver stuff and then in the afternoon I help pick it back up. It mostly was a bunch of carrying, a bit of smiling and being polite, and a lot of driving. But it was good :)

For dinner that night we went to a little cafe in town. I had a really good bacon and cheese panini, and then for desert a huge and incredibly delicious, food-of-the-gods nutella and banana crepe. So heavenly :)

Sunday, the 5th, was mother's day here in spain. I had lunch with the B.'s and we had this incredible peanut butter cake, so good.

In the evening, on my way home from church, I picked some little wild flowers and put them in an origami cup with a note and origami frog for my host mom (she likes frogs). Something small, but she appreciated it non the less.

Monday my host mom and I took it a bit easier, since she had had a weekend of running a restaurant and catering. We went to La Boca del Asno (the Donkey's Mouth), a pine forest with a creek, and we walked along it for a few hours. It was so pretty and smelled quite delish. Though to be honest, I'm kind of really missing broad-leaf trees here in Spain, there's not much more than shrubs, evergreens, and those trees with the dinky little leafs that are a pain in the butt to rake.

One bridge we passed.

The top of the bridge.

Now on the other side.

Oh yeah, just another Roman structure, no big deal. We just have this two million year old bridge and aqueduct structure sitting here.

Last Tuesday, as usual, was my sleep-in and relax day. Went to Madrid for the afternoon to spend some time with the B.'s

Wednesday's English class went pretty well. We mostly just did review since we had been out for the last three sessions (trip to Asturias and school break). Not really much else to report about that day.

Thursday the teachers were having a strike, so my host mom let my host brother stay home for the day. In the morning we both went to get our hair cut. We then helped my host mom with some pre-deliveries for some caterings she was doing on Saturday.

Before house group that evening I had my STEP meeting with Bruce and we talked some about my giftings and passions and some brain storming on possibilities for the project I need to do. Yes, I'm running out of time and I still haven't gotten any great, possible ideas.

We had a barbecue at house group that evening. Have I mentioned before that I like food :) 

Friday morning I spent partly at a friends house talking a bit and just chilling and partly getting ready for English class. Well, class was a bit out of hand, but I think I got that point across when some kid's didn't get candy at the end, and others did for being good. We'll see how much of an impact it actually had this Wednesday.

Friday was also the birthday of a good friend of mine. In high school we wrote a song together as a bit of a joke, and so I made a funny music video of it for her birthday. Haha, it was pretty fun, and it reminded me how excited I am to see people back home, but also how bitter sweet it's going to be leaving here. If you want, you can check out the video for yourself.

Saturday was a long day for me. I again helped my host mom with catering, but this time as more than just a delivery boy. I went with one other person (we'll call her Nancy) who was doing the catering for Estrella and I was going along as the helper if help was needed. Well, I ended up serving food, filling glasses, carrying trays, preparing food, and general waitering. It actually went pretty well, I didn't have any misunderstandings over language, I was working for seven hours and I managed to only break one champaign glass. Nancy was really nice. She's originally from Costa Rica but has been here for quite some time. She's also spent time in New York, so she spoke pretty good English, though we mostly ended up speaking in Spanish. She was really helpful in instructing me and being patient with me.

And to finish a good day, Mom, Dad, and Baruch FaceTimed me because the flowers I had sent mom for mother's day had arrived. I love talking with my family :)

Sunday was a pretty chillax day as usual for me. I ended up not going into to Madrid in the morning because there's an Artisan's fair here in the square every second Sunday, and I wanted to check it out.

After dinner I had a fun talk with my host mom about the reason her restaurant was named Espaten and talked some about her past, and then we looked at some photos. Phew, phew, Spanish is still hanging in there. It was a good conversation and I understood it.

This Monday as well we took a little easier since it was again a long weekend of catering, wedding lunches in the restaurant, and a lot of work for my host mom. We just took a nice sunny, warm walk through Hoyo's country side. Because of the plentiful amounts of rain we had this early spring there was a bounteous yielding of wild flowers everywhere. Along with the two types of thyme and the rosemary that grow wild here, the whole walk was a pretty, wonderfully-smelling outing.

And of course no Spanish day-off is complete without a siesta, so we took a nap.

I then helped my host mom retrieve the stuff she had left at one of her caterings before coming home and making pizzas.

And today (Tuesday the 14th) I have the whole day off. because J.B. is sick, and so I didn't end up going to Madrid today, and so have been working on this blog and catching up in other things most of the day.

And as I leave you in peace, enjoy this collection of sunsets :)

As you probably know, you can contact me here on the blog or through my communications girl extraordinaire, Hope, at constanceh.95@gmail.com as well as get my snail-mail address from her. If you'd like to receive my prayer updates, shoot an email to Mike at biblebeach@hotmail.com

Thanks for stopping by, live out a God-blessed week!

With many Loves and misses,

~Asher Fickett~