Free Ice Cream

Tuesday, Apr 21, was free ice cream day at Ben & Jerry's. Being the ice cream lovers that we are, we couldn't resist. After dinner, we piled in the van and went to the mall, where we waited in line for about 20 minutes for our free scoops.

Literally, "Day of ice cream free"

Here are Corban and YongJune sitting in some massage chairs at the mall.

Today ends the Missions Emphasis Week at school. Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday began with all-school chapel. Three different missionaries came to tell about the work that is going on in Spain. On Monday, the speaker told about media ministry that is based here in Spain. Tuesday's speaker spoke about his ministry to third culture kids whose families come from South America to work in Spain. Thursday, Jacob Bock told us about his street ministry in Madrid. It was an encouraging and exciting week to hear about some of the work that is going on and the things that God is doing in Spain. During chapel today, the students gathered on the field on a cold, foggy morning for an hour of worship and prayer.

Portugal Part 2

Postcard perfect.

The Portuguese flag.

We couldn't believe we got to see this. Just out in the public park, a male peacock was giving it his all to try and get the attention of the female, who wanted nothing to do with him.

Mathis feeding some bread to the swans.

All the street signs were made of tile. Beautiful.

Fresh rolls and fresh cheese. Yummm!

Mathis preferred to stay in the warm sand.

The water was freezing, but that didn't deter her a bit...

Collecting seashells.

More beautiful architecture and artistry on the buildings.

Portugal Part 1

David's mom has a distant cousin who has lived in Lisbon, Portugal for nearly 20 years. Since Spain is so close, they wanted to go visit for a few days. Graciously, they let us tag along. :) It's funny how I've never really thought much about Portugal as a country and certainly not one high on my "I really want to visit there," places, but given the chance, of course we were delighted to go and we loved it. We rented a van (because ours is a bit old and a bit rickety) and made the 8 hour drive from Madrid to Lisbon. It was great to see the Spanish countryside with its green rolling hills, olive groves and orchards. Then, Portugal was just gorgeous. (You can click on the pictures to see them larger).

This was at a little restaurant where we stopped for lunch. Wood is very scarce in Spain, but tile is everywhere.

Overlooking Cascais, the coastal village where we stayed.

One of the main streets. Much more tropical and lush than where we live.

All the sidewalks were made of these cobblestones done in artistic patterns. Very old and very beautiful.

One of the little pastry shops. On the top shelf, notice the easter bunnies and birds made out of bread. :)

"Bird of Paradise" plant. My very favorite plant in the whole world, I think.

Just an ordinary house on an ordinary street. Seriously. Doesn't it look like something in a calendar? They were all this beautiful.

More gorgeous street views. It kind of felt like south Florida, except older and more European, of cousre.

Semana Santa

When the Spanish observe a holiday, they really observe it. This is Semana Santa (Holy Week) and the public schools have been on a two week holiday (our school only gets one). Yesterday was Maundy Thursday and today is Good Friday and NOTHING is open either day. No grocery stores. No malls. No shops. Very few restaurants. It's like Christmas Day in the U.S., only they have these holidays throughout the year and they always sneak up on us. I have mixed emotions about it. On the one hand, I think it is good that they really value family togetherness and time off. This is definitely not a consumer-driven culture. On the other hand, I am still so accustomed to 24 hour availability that it frustrates me when I can't run to the store and get bread or bananas and having to do without. I'm learning...

Spring Break - Segovia

David's parents came from Minneapolis to spend the week with us over Spring Break. Of course, we always welcome an opportunity to be tourists so our first stop was Segovia, a town about an hour north of here. The town is very historical with a Roman aquaduct dating back to the 1st century.

You can see part of the aquaduct in the background.

All over Spain, there are super old buildings with beautiful patterns in/on the walls.

This is the cathedral of Segovia. It was designed in the late Gothic style between 1522 and 1577, it is widely considered Europe's last great Gothic cathedral.

This is the famous Alcazar, or castle, of Segovia. It is said that this is the castle which inspired the castle in Disney's Magic Kingdom. We were able to go inside as well as up the 152-step tower overlooking the city.

Looking down into the tower.

View from the top.

At the top of the tree you can see a stork. There are a lot of them in this area.

Taking a little break.

A few kilometers from Segovia is La Granja, the King's former main summer palace, built in 1721. The gardens are beautiful, although it was still a bit early for the spring blossoms.

The Red Plate

The Red Plate.  I'm not sure the origin of the Red Plate, but we received one as a wedding gift and have especially enjoyed getting to use it so often here in the dorm.  I keep it in the original box and write on the box lid the occasion each time it is used.  A sampling of occasions since we have been here...

• Olivia's first day of high school
  
• David's birthday
  
• Ashley's last day of student teaching
  
• Jesse making a 99% on her PSAT
  
• Penny's birthday
  
• Rachel's birthday
  
• Pau graduating
  
• David passed his driving test
  
• Corban and YongJun's report cards (significant improvements from last semester)

When the boys moved in, they weren't as excited as the girls had been about getting the red plate.  In fact, Pau quite adamantly did not want it at his graduation dinner, but we coerced him to eat off of it.  Since then, though, they have had more fun with it and realized just how "cool" it really is.  When David passed his driver's test, one of them said, "Oh! He gets to eat on the red plate tonight!"  

Tonight was our "night off," so the boys were headed out the door to another home for dinner when I handed them their report cards and told them how proud of them we were.  One of their first comments was "Oh! I guess we don't get to eat off the red plate tonight, huh?"  So after they came home, while they were watching a soccer game, I brought them a little dessert on the red plate and set it on the coffee table.  They loved it.  :)