The last week in Spain

I have learned why people usually write their blogs while on their trips instead of after they return - all the other things one needs to do come crashing back in upon returning.  Sorry to those of you who have been checking in to find out what else I did on my trip to Spain.  Instead of writing I've been busy cleaning my house in preparation for a new roommate, coordinating speakers and topics for IV's large groups next semester, and trying to plan/prepare for a research trip out to California at the end of August.  Whew!  Still, I want to finish up telling about my trip to Spain, so here I go.

Hand clap games work
in every language!

As I said before, the last week was fairly different than the first.  My living situation ended up significantly effecting how I spent my time outside of English Camp.  The house was at least a half hour bike ride away from the camp.  That is, at least, what I assume it would be normally.  The one morning that I rode a bike to camp 

I have never seen kids so
excited about
breaded/fried ham

was almost an hour-long ordeal on a bike made for a much smaller person.  This meant that I could never put pressure correctly on the pedals and the extra stress of going up hills made the chain skip.  Even with this I may have still gotten to camp on time, but I misread my map and got lost in Tres Cantos.  Instead of traveling from the south to northeast side of town, I traveled from the south to the east to the west and then back to the northeast.  When I arrived, one of Tim Westergren met me all concerned because he'd driven out to find me and never could.  No wonder; I was all over the map!  Feeling grouchy is always a bad way to start the day, but the children made up for much of the frustration.  After that, we decided the bike was a big "No."  Waiting for rides from people gave me much less independence, but was by far the best solution.

Tim Westergren & I

Oftentimes it is because of the very complications or unpleasantness in our lives that provides us the opportunities to receive the things we most needed or wanted.  Before going to Spain, I remarked that the thing I most wanted to happen was to spend time with the two families I had worked with the last time I was there: the Westergrens and Wendels.  These families have served in Spain for some time, and the relationships I made with them during my childhood or eight years ago were particularly deep.  I knew that this time I was going only as a short-term volunteer, not an integral participant in their ministry, yet I wanted to reconnect on that same level.  My need for transportation gave me that opportunity.  Instead of going home for siesta, I napped at the Westergren's house or helped Marilyn with food prep.  I spent time with Tim in the van as well.  Both of them are very adept at making even small bits of time count, and we were able to catch up on our lives and those of our families.  What a sweet blessing for the most frustrating thing to allow the thing I had most hoped for.

Lining up for practice

Another change in the second week was the afternoon activity at English Camp.  The first week, my kids made a collage picture of me or played group games in the afternoon.  During the second, all the kids were practicing for the "graduation" performance Friday night.  Each age group got an opportunity to do some sort of performance for the parents, with the oldest group splitting up by gender.  One of the volunteers had the idea that the oldest girls would really enjoy doing a group dance to the song "Waka Waka" by Shakira - the anthem for the last World Cup, which became much beloved in Spain after the Spanish team won the tournament.  I helped another volunteer with the dance choreography, and then we had a section of gymnastics involving tumbling and hula hooping.  Besides a few pulled muscles, the girls seemed to love the opportunity to dance and learn new moves.  The parents were also pretty impressed at graduation by their display of coordination and timing.  And for me it was just so fun to help the girls have fun at doing something so many girls love to do.  I remember one of the girls who was normally very whiny, came up to me afterwards, gave me a big hug, and said with a shining face, "Thank you so much for this dance!"  So fun to give them something I like so much myself!