Visitors;)

VISITORS!!!!!  This past week was absolutely, positively GLORIOUS!  Starting early on Wednesday morning I had the pleasure of reuniting with 5 very special people.  I knew that 3 of them were coming, the last 2 were a complete surprise.  

Tuesday night’s sleep was not very restful, to say the least.  The neurons in my brain were firing and zipping along at mock 10, up and down, back and forth, all at the mere thought of what was awaiting for me in Madrid just 7 hours away.  My alarm clock finally made it’s presence heard at 7:30am and with that I was up and adam and out the door on my way to the train station.  The train station is a brisk 25 minute walk from my apartment, while the metro is a short 2 minute stroll, but I figured I might as well aclimate myself with both modes of transportation.  

Walking out of a train or metro station is my favorite part of the whole travel trip. Why?  Because the metro allows you to hop onto it’s rails and ride until you desire to leave, and when you do leave you are fantastically transplanted into another part of the city.  I feel like a member on the cast of Harry Potter, grasping onto a port key and transporting myself to wherever I fancy.  However, since Madrid is fairly new to me, I get to feel the excitement of climbing up through the dark and cool stairways of the metro, all the while inching closer to the bright blue sky, warm sun and soft breeze, wondering what my surroundings will look like this time. 

Onorina, Liliana, Cinthia, Me, Anja and Andrea.  Our first breakfast in Madrid.

My destination that Wednesday morning was the Puerta del Sol square.  The plaza was quite large and teeming with people.  The task of finding my visitors started to weigh heavily on my mind.  I approached a large sculpture of a horse and suddenly caught a glimpse of my unsuspecting group, but there were 5 five of them, not three!  I planned out my route of surprise and snuck up right behind them as I opened my arms in a huge bear hug.  My heart pounded with the utmost amount of joy and love as I embraced my Swiss family.  The group included Cinthia, her mom Liliana, her aunt Onorina and her two cousins, Anja and Andrea.  They had kept Anja and Andrea as a secret from me, and oh how I relish surprises;)  It had been since May since I had seen the whole group, but only 2 months since I had seen Cinthia (she came to visit MN this summer).  However, with friends that live so far away, you never know when you might see them next so each encounter is truly special.  

Oh, Spiderman:)

The next couple days were spent walking around Madrid, enjoying spanish food, laughing about shared memories, and appreciating each other’s company.  We also clicked our cameras like crazy and took in the sparkle that is Madrid.  A little list of the things we saw includes, the Cathedral, the Royal Palace, Temple of Debod, Plaza Mayor, Retiro Park, Casa de Campo, Plaza del Torros (bullfighting ring), Basilica de San Francisco el Grande, changing of the guards, and many other spectacles.  There are simply too many wonderful moments to share.  Throughout the 3 days I was constantly in shock at the fact that I was lapping up all of the wonders and history of Madrid with 5 precious people.  Without God’s guidance, my family, all of you, and this fun game I started playing 20 years ago, none of this past week would have been possible.  

Cintha, Andrea, Anja and I in-front of the lake in Retiro Park.

Touring the Plaza de Toros!

Relaxing in-front of the Royal Palace.

Friday night my friends took the metro to the airport while I took the metro to practice.  After practice all of my roommates and I went over to a friends house for dinner.  Marta had really outdone herself and cooked up quite a feast.  There was tortilla, empanadas, bread, a really good mushroom and chicken sauce, wine, dessert from her home town of Galicia, and of course an after dinner liquor.  There were about 20 people attending dinner and the event was far different than any gathering that I would have with my friends back home.  I say this because the night was full of singing, smoking and drums.  One girl, Veva, had an enchanting singing voice and she was not in the least bit shy.  She would start a song while someone else was maintaining the rhythm on a wooden box that acted like a drum and then slowly everyone else would join in as background singers.  I am told that this type of music is typical from the southern parts of spain.  The notes were long and bold, the voices were rich and strong.  I could have sat for hours, swaying from side to side as this alluring music captivated my whole being.  

Saturday morning came and brought yet another visitor.  This time the visitor wasn’t mine, he was Sarah’s.  Sarah’s cousin, Craig, is on a 3 week european vacation and graced us with his presence from Saturday until Tuesday afternoon.  So, after spending W-F in Madrid I found myself spending Sunday and Monday there as well.  Feeling much more comfortable with the city, I was happy to show them the ways of the metro, suggest things to see and places to go.  I saw many of the same things from the past few days, but one thing I hadn’t seen was the Reina de Sofia, Museum.  Home of Guernica by Pablo Picasso as well as many of Salvador Dali’s works of art.  Everyone was allowed access to their cameras as long as the flash was shut off.  

Guernica!

Dinner with Craig a the Jamon Restaurant down the street from out Apartment.

So, Sarah and I are posing for a picture in-front of Picasso’s most famous painting, Guernica, and Craig is taking the picture with my camera.  Well, the flash was off but then the camera turned off on it’s own so Craig had to turn it back on.  Little did I know that the flash resets when the camera turns off.  Click, FLASH!!!  Light explodes from my camera, my mouth drops to the floor and my hands cover my face.  Craig quickly puts the camera down and the 3 off us exit the premises. HA!

Having Craig around was fun, but come Tuesday afternoon I was thankful to be back in my apartment, laying on my bed with no metros to catch or maps to look at.  

Oh, and we also had two games this weekend.  We won Saturday and lost on Sunday to a D1 team.  We are improving every day and getting ready for our first real conference game this upcoming weekend!  

Besitos,

Leslie