Recap: Madre en España!

As many of you know, my mom and I had a fantastic week together in Sevilla. Here's a brief recap of all the fun we had...

What we did. Everything on our list! We saw the touristy stuff, but I also walked my poor mother all over God's creation of Sevilla to see the local markets, my house, and my schools. (I just didn't want her to have to worry about the massive amounts of olive oil she was consuming... I know, I know. I'm a nice daughter.) We had time to sit and relax but we managed to stay busy up until the last day. Mission accomplished.

Mom practicing her mid-life crisis career. She's going to move to Spain and fight bulls!

Flamenco show, obvi. We even got to see a bata de cola (a special technique for when the woman dances with the long dress) which was awesome.

Our day trip to Ronda was great, despite the rain all day. We saw the gorge, had paella and sangria, and window shopped. Literally window shopped since siesta closed all the stores while we were there. Then we finished the day off with a cup of tea. I had chocolate mint and Mom had cinnamon. Perfect way to end the week :)

What we ate. Oh my goodness, what didn't we eat? I "made" Mom try all the typical Spanish foods - from salmorejo (a cold tomato soup) to fried fish to my favorite chocolate croissant. I know, its a rough life. It was all delicious and it was kind of fun to go out for bigger meals in Sevilla. Up until last week I had only gone out to eat for tapas but it was cool to see what restaurants considered the most typical Spanish meals.

Dulces from La Campaña, the best known confitería in Sevilla. Tea cookies and a delicious chocolate and peanut cake-ish sandwich with cream in the middle. Mmmmmm.

Paella. 'Nuf said.

Probably one of my favorite plates. This was the first course of a menu del día at a small restaurant in Triana. Its a lightly breaded eggplant dish with an amazing creamy tomato sauce.

What we bought.

Beautiful leather boots. They actually stretched them to fit me perfectly at the store. I'm living my mom's dream of classy, tall boots with leggings and big sweaters. Again, rough life I have. More like blessed beyond belief that I have parents so giving and a lifestyle so easy.

Truffles, chocolate covered orange, caramels, nougat, OH MY! We are going to have some good sweets on Christmas Eve this year! We also managed to sample pretty much everything in the store. That's the way to do it.

Overall, it was a wonderful week. But I did have to spend the weekend recuperating a little: catching up on e-mails, writing final papers, and taking my long-lost siestas. On Sunday I got up and went to the same church I had gone to earlier in the semester. (I feel like its necessary to mention that on the walk there I passed about 4 accordion players. It was like I was in some sort of movie set to an odd soundtrack...) This time I got there a little early and was greeted with an overwhelming welcome; even the pastor noticed I had come in by myself and made a point to come over and say 'Hello' - or rather 'Hola' :)

This loving atmosphere, the way the members contribute actively to the service, the time to really listen to the message without rushing out the door for a dance rehearsal or a choir practice... to me this is a beautiful representation of the church. It makes me really miss Ken and Yvonne, my church family at Calvary in Holland, MI. Because as I'm getting older I realize the church is not the building or the organization, but the people who foster meaningful relationships with one another, supporting each other and building each other up. There are certain things that I look forward to when I think of next semester and one of them is definitely going back to church and bagels at Calvary. I miss my weekly chat with my "Michigan parents" and being active in my church relationships. Because although I've excitedly entered new communities while abroad, there are some things that can not be replaced.

Well I think that's all for now - I'm currently sitting in my hostel in Dublin, Ireland with snow covered side walks, Christmas carols in the streets, and some of the most beautiful Christmas lights I've ever seen. This next week will be like visiting Epcot - I'll see 3 different countries decorated for Christmas!

But more on that later... for now I'm off to experience it :)