Oh city living

As you may remember, I was pickpocketed earlier this semester.  My iPhone was stolen, along with my cash, but I was never threatened, never hurt, only unsettled after finding that I had been quietly robbed. Last night, my host mom was robbed, but this thief took her entire purse while we were all hanging out at the theater celebrating the closing night of her play.  What a terrible night to be robbed!  This semester, several other students in my program have been pickpocketed, all without violence or force, so I guess we can be very thankful for that!  We've been told that there have never been this many pickpocketing events in one semester abroad in Madrid, so I guess we're just seeing one manifestation of the economic crisis here!  People will go to new lengths to make money and get by.  Every day, I see dozens of people begging on the streets, either sitting curled up in a blanket or putting on some kind of performance (and oh the variety you see there).  At night, I see homeless people sleeping throughout the city in doorways or behind the pillars in Plaza Mayor.  It's such a sad thing to see, and there's little that I can do for any of these people as a fairly broke American college student.  For now, all I can do is clutch my bag tight and hope that I'm not the victim of another thief!  And I can pray that the nonviolence of these events continues.  God, help Spain get out of this economic mess.

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Si recuerdes, fui robada al principio de este semestre.  Me quitaron mi iPhone, junto con mi efectivo, pero nunca fui amenazada, ni lastimada, solo agitado después de encontrar que había sido robado en silencio.  Anoche, mi madre española fue robada, pero este ladrón quitó su bolso entero mientras que nosotros estábamos pasando tiempo en el teatro para celebrar la última noche de su espectáculo.  ¡Qué noche terrible para ser robado!  Este semestre, muchos otros estudiantes en mi programa han sido robado, todos sin violencia o fuerza, y por eso supongo que podemos estar agradecidos por eso!  Hemos sido dicho que nunca habían tantos incidentes con carteristas en un semestre en Madrid, y supongo que estamos viendo una manifestación de la crisis económica aquí.  La gente hace todo lo posible para ganar dinero y sobrevivir.  Cada día, veo mucha gente mendigando en las calles, se acurrucado en una manta o haciendo un tipo de espectáculo (y ay la variedad que vees).  En la noche, veo personas sin hogar durmiendo a través de la ciudad en puertas o destrás de los pilares en Plaza Mayor.  Es tan triste verlo, y hay muy poco que puedo hacer para alguna de estas personas porque soy un estudiante americana casi completamente pelada.  ¡Para ahora, todo que puedo hacer es apretar mi bolso contra mi pecho y esperar que no estoy la víctima de otro ladrón!  Y puedo rezar que la falta de violencia durante estos eventos continua.  A Dios, ayuda a España para salir de esta crisis económica.

Whew! Time to breathe. Let's talk Galicia!

Well, the last few weeks have certainly been busy ones, but they've been so exciting!!  For this post, I'll just tell you about one of the trips I've taken, and tomorrow I'll update you on everything else!!

Two Mondays ago, we ventured to Galicia with the program for a 3 day trip.  It is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen.  We went to Santiago de Compostelo to visit the cathedral there, which is a very famous Christian pilgrimage site, and dates back to the 11th century!  It is known as one of the best, if not the best, examples of a cruciform church in the world.  We even got to walk around on the roof...it was simply stunning!

The next day, we went to another pilgrimage site - San Andres.  It is in the northwestern-most corner of Galicia, and thus Spain.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  Words can't describe the wonder I felt when I was there.  It was so powerful to see and feel God's presence in such a stunning place.  The pictures don't begin to do it justice, but it's worth a shot!

This dog got a RIDICULOUS amount of attention from all of us...we've been so deprived of pets!!

notice: the bottom half of the blue/white is water...beautiful!!!

The day after this, we went to la Coruña to observe more beauty at the Torre de Hercules, the oldest Roman tower like it that is still used today!

Adventures in Lisboa!

This past weekend I ventured to Lisbon (Lisboa in Spanish), Portugal as the vast majority of Duke students abroad went to Munich for Oktoberfest.  Since learning that I'm slightly gluten intolerant and VERY intolerant of beer, I decided to not spend the $600 it would take to go watch others do what I can't (logical, right?).  It's still on my bucket list, so one day I'll convince my siblings or best friends or boyfriend to go with me.  I'll enjoy it much more that way than being surrounded by 100s of my peers getting drunk and needing to be taken care of.  So, we can add that to the bucket list I'm accumulating while in Europe!

Small bits of regret aside, Lisbon was amazing!!!  It felt a lot like San Francisco to me, with the hills in the city, the bright colored building, the waterfront, and the big red cable bridge.  We visited the Jeronimo Monastery, which was truly amazing.  I am in complete awe of the architecture that there is in Europe...it's hard to believe that men built these palaces and churches with their bare hands hundreds of years ago, and they're still there for us to marvel at.  There is one story worth sharing about my visit to the monastery:  To enter the sanctuary is free, but to enter the sacristy, you have to pay 1 euro.  When my friends and I entered the hallway to pay, I tried to hand the man 1 euro, and he told me in broken English, "You don't have to pay....you're younger."  I figured, hey, why not take the opportunity to get in free, and said a skeptical okay in response (I figured maybe it was because we were students?).  As I started walking toward the sacristy, my friends started to follow me without paying, and the man yelled at them about paying.  Everyone was a bit confused and eventually he asked, "Wait, how old is she?"  At this point I turned around and told him that I am 21 years old.  He looked shocked.  I paid the euro and walked into the sacristy.  Later, my male friend on the trip told me that after I walked in, the guard looked at him and said, "I thought she was 14."  EXCUSE ME?!?!  Two thirds my age?  Right.  You're an idiot.  I know I look young, but 14?  Come on.  Oh well, I guess I'll be happy about it when I'm older and aging phenomenally!

Much to my delight, we also ate some DELICIOUS food while we were in Lisbon.  The first night, we decided to have a "nice" dinner.  We started by getting a couple recommendations from the man working at the hostel.  He told us about an Italian restaurant and a Portuguese restaurant, and we figured we would try some local food!  When we arrived at the restaurant, we were greeted by people getting take-out...which is just fine, but wasn't quite what we had in mind.  (I know what you're thinking...that's what you get for asking a hostel employee for dining advice...you just wait!)  So what to do?  Well, thank you New York Times for having international restaurant recommendations.  We used someone's handy dandy iPhone to find one nearby, and boy was it an experience.

First of all, have you ever heard of a restaurant where you have to ring a doorbell to get in?  Now you have.  Inside, we were greeted by dark wood, Catharine scaled red velvet seating, ornate carvings and a few beautiful paintings, along with an interesting crowd: on man donning a pink button up, dark slacks and a white blazer, sitting with an overly done Asian woman with poorly dyed blond hair, and across the room a man in a very expensive looking suit who was later met my a woman in a jean jacket.  Talk about eclectic!  All of that aside, we sat and ate...and boy was it phenomenal.  I ordered the filet mignon prepared in what is apparently a very Portuguese style, with some kind of heavenly cream sauce.  Let me clarify something very important:  I like my steak RARE.  Walking, if you will.  It better be purple or very very dark red.  Usually, I think restaurants see me, a 5'2"ish girl who looks 2/3 her age and think to themselves, "she doesn't actually mean that...medium rare it is."  If anyone who works at a restaurant is reading this: do not make this mistake.  Trust people when they say rare.  Thank you :)  Anywho, the steak I received was PERFECT.  On the side, I had some good ole fries and a delicious salad reminiscent of those I eat in the U.S.  To polish it off, we bought a couple bottles of wine.  But of course, we had to try the dessert at this place!  So what did Catharine get?  Some cheesecake and a glass of 18 year old scotch.  I figured, why not?  Disclaimer: food in Portugal is much cheaper than food elsewhere.

Other than that meal, I tried some amazing things during my stay, including pita shoarma, pasteis de Belem, and bacalao.  I also drank my fair share of Fanta.  It's amazing in Europe.

In other news, I also got to see my old youth minister and his family while I was in Lisbon!  They're living there right now to learn Portuguese so that they can become missionaries in Angola, which was a Portuguese colony and where Portuguese is still widely spoken.  It was wonderful to see him and an amazing reminder of how God works to keep us all connected!

So without further ado, here are some pictures from the weekend:

City at night!

The Monastery! 

The main altar in the sanctuary

Pita shoarma - YUM 

Pasteis de Belem with powdered sugar and cinnamon!  They may not look like much, but they're phenomenal.  Not too sweet or heavy, but just right!

Look at the tiling on the building!  It's outstanding, and very common throughout Lisbon!  This company has been making their world renowned pastries since 1837 and have never shared their recipe or ingredients.

View of the monastery and the fountain in front of it from the top of the windrose 

The view from the top of the fancy outdoor elevator that there is in Lisbon...look at the castle!!