Persianas

"What is a persiana," you ask?

  It's a heavy-duty windowshade, and one of our very favorite Spanish inventions.

Here is a typical Spanish window. The window has two panes that swing open to the inside.

The persiana (pronounced PEAR-SEE-ANA) is a shade that drops down on the outside of the window.

Most homes in Spain, ours included, do not have air conditioning. Summer temperatures often reach into the hundreds. Persianas are used to shade the house and help keep temperatures inside bearable. If you want to block the sun, but still allow for circulation, you can put the persiana down partway. The holes in the persiana allow for airflow.

If you want to take a nap in the middle of the day, or if you want to sleep in in the morning, you put the persiana all the way down, and it completely blacks out the room.

Here is the persiana from the outside of the house:

Driving around town at any given time most of the windows on the houses look like the picture below. It takes some getting used to to not be able to see the windows on the houses - it looks kind of like a town that is boarded up and ready for a hurricane.

Persianas are generally all closed when no one is home to

 help insulate the house and protect against intruders.

Parque Juan Carlos

Last Saturday we took a family day and went to this famous park about 30 minutes from us. What a fun place for families!

We took our kite. (see it in blue just above the second tower?)

We rode bikes.

We have set a goal for Rachel to be able to ride without training

wheels by the end of summer. Any pointers?

There were several great playgrounds for all ages, but this was their favorite.

A huge climbing web. Rachel scaled it to the top in no time.

Mathis couldn't climb, but he could swing. :)

Here are some benches under grapevines.

Wine is the #2 export in Spain and there are grapevines all over.

A Spanish water fountain.

If you look carefully, you can see the water where Mathis's mouth is.

Then there were the roses. Not just any roses. GORGEOUS roses - the kind you get in a vase at Valentine's Day. And they were in full bloom. You could smell them from a distance.

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...