and it finally came.

I am just gonna say it straight. I FINALLY PLAYED SOCCER. 

in spain.

with spaniards.

so. much. fun. 

Last week our boy Guillermo Lopez from church asked us if we all wanted to play soccer on wednesday. Let's just say I may or may not have screamed a little bit inside when he asked.  Guillero mi amigo, there is only one answer to that question. always: "DUH!"

So he rounded up his Spanish homies and we all went to the church.  They have a futbol court outside in the back where we can play.  Earlier that afternoon, our host dad Santi asked us what we were doing that afternoon.  We told him we were playing soccer and the first thing he says is... "Can I come?" haha he's like a 45 year old man. Its fine. 

So, come 5:00 Santi comes upstairs in his old man soccer garb and before we knew it, "VAMONOS CHICAS!" we grabbed our host brother Jesús and we were off to the church. I was a little nervous at first because Santi isn't a member or anything and I didn't want it to be awkward, but oh man...he was SO into it. He was like our little coach while we played, memorizing our names and such.  While I was playing, I totally missed an easy goal...and he threatened to with hold my dinner from me that night. haha Except in the beginning I totally made a fool of myself.  There was this mossy stuff growing through the court and it was really slippery.  I went to shoot the ball and yelled to Jesús, "MIRA!" and next thing I knew I was flat on my back and everyone was laughing at me. So embarrassing.

We literally played for like 3 hours, until after it was dark.  I was in Heaven.  Then after, all the boys invited us to go out to a bar and get tapas and watch the Barcelona and Madrid game. In summary, we definitely got the Spanish soccer experience, all in one game.  I can't wait to actually go to a live game in Madrid. 

Well, Spain really is as awesome as ever.  I am seriously so impressed with this program.  We have the best balance of traveling, classes, church, fun, and just enough independence.  I feel like I am learning and growing so much, and quite honestly this is just the experience I have been needing. 

This past Friday and Saturday we went to Ávila and Salamanca, north of Madrid.  Sometimes I feel like I am just on an extended girls camp for young womens...and in Spain.  Jacqui is our young women's leader and Lance is our designated Priesthood authority.  I love every second of it, and I am continually growing closer and closer to the girls here.  We are all so cool.  Just sayin. 

 Waiting to meet up with the boys for the Barca and Madrid Game a. We were worried for a second that Nos Dieron la calabaza, "they gave us the pumpkin". This is a phrase for being stood up. haha Im gonna start using it in English. so funny.

 Gloria made us mini hamburguesas. i love america. haha 

 chocolate is the staple of every meal.

 We have a class called "Madrid Walks".  Lets just say I enjoy being the tour guide :)

 Jessi and I being Jessi and I.

 This single piece of paper is worth like 800 dollars. Paris, here we come!

 Carrefour and it's precautionary measures against stealing-wrapping your backpacks in plastic sacks.

 Hay NIEVE.

 Market in the snow :) 

 Next to Ann Marie Hyde, this lady Santa Teresa deserves the title, champion among women.

 Just playing on the outside of the walls of Ávila. They are the best preserved medieval walls in Europe.

 We are LOTR dorks. we are also LOTR orks in the photo. that ryhmes. heh. im so funny.

 Just another beautiful winter day in ´Avila.

 I just had to do it. Launching a snowball off some ancient walls.  How could I resist?

 "Los Cautros Postes" This is where Santa Teresa was stopped by her Uncle when she tried to runaway into Martyrdom for the Catholic church at like age 7.  We all go through that phase I guess.

 TOROS! quaint little town we stopped at on the way home.  I'm just grateful our bus somehow made it up those steep little roads.  Needless to say, we were a little worried for a bit there.

 Cathedral at Toros. My favorite so far. They played music inside and it definitely illuminated the whole experience.

 Plaza Mayor in Tordesillas, another little town we stopped at on the way home.  We walked into the Plaza and everyone was just randomly singing and dancing. Guess what happened next? Yep, some hobbit old Spanish man made me dance with him while all the girls in my program laughed at me. Priceless experience :)

I'm creepily obsessed with Spanish children. They are way classier than I will probably ever be.

I honestly have yet to find fault with Spain. Even all the smoking is beginning to appeal to me. ha. just kidding. but I am starting to realize its just apart of living in Europe. 

Next stop: Andulusia tomorrow through saturday. trip down south! can't wait.

is this an activity of mormons?

Ok, before my week gets any crazier, I have got to talk about one of the best experiences I've ever had in my life.

Hiking to the top of beautiful mountains in Spain with a bunch of young, Spanish single adults of my church. 

Aly and I woke up early, hopped on the train to the next stop after Alcalá, and went straight to a parking lot of the University, like we were instructed in church the week before.  We walked around for about 10 minutes and couldn't see ANYONE.  We were so confused, they told us to meet in the parking lot! right?
Well, finally we encountered a large group of youth all the same age standing outside a small building. This had to be it right?  They were all young, in pairs, and just waiting for the youth leaders to show up, right?  Initially, me and Aly were too scared to approach anyone, because we didn't see any faces we recognized from church.  So, we just decided to sit down creepily and analyze for a second.  We were convinced this was the right place.  I said to Aly, "but why are they all holding papers?" and she responded, well maybe they are maps to the mountain where we are going to see snow! haha, finally a man drove up and got out of the car, and immediately all the youth started to gather around.  We thought, Oh good! They are about to gather for a prayer or something because the youth leader is finally here.

We started walking towards everyone, when we finally decided that we better ask someone.  We found two nice looking chicas, and I approached them timidly and said in my broken Spanish, "I don't speak Spanish very well, but is this an activity of Mormons?"  They looked at me like I was crazy, and said back..."uhh....we have an exam.""can we help you, what are you looking for?" haha, Aly and I just burst out laughing and embarrassed we apologized and said no thanks, see you later.  Frustrated and lost, we decided to cross to the other side of the train tracks...and finally we found them! The kids from church were all gathered in a circle and I will be honest, at first it was really uncomfortable because no one would talk to us, but by the end of the day, you would have thought we were best friends.


We hopped in a car with 3 boys named Santi, Juan, and Ricardo and two big beautiful dogs.  We drove an hour and a half to the mountains near "El Escorial"and basically hiked all day.  Did i love every second? oh i LOVED every second of it.  After putting ourselves out there a little bit, we literally spoke Spanish ALL DAY to them.  Some of my favorite moments were chatting with them about music, boys, sports, and candy.  We definitely covered all the basics in Spanish, and I literally sound like a 5 year old to them I'm sure, but it was so fun.  and hey, practice is practice right?

The day was filled with hiking, laughing, snowball fights, a picnic, pictures, waterfalls, and a snowman resembling "Christiano Ronaldo" haha.
On the descend, our new friend names Ricardo asked us about that one movie where the vampires fight the wolves and said, (in spanish of course) that the trees and mountains looked exactly like the ones in the movie. After awhile we discovered he was talking about Twilight! bahaha kill me. so funny.

Adrian, one of the boys who speaks English told me a lot about his mission.  I told him how I have been thinking about going for a long time.  He told me that if I have bravery, love, and obedience I will be an awesome missionary.  It was really cute, and has stuck with me.

 our boy carlos.

 CHOCOLATE MILK IN SPAIN!

 I HAVE BEEN CRAVING THIS!!

 

notice the mohawk? that's supposed to be Ronaldo. haha 

 Just hanging out with a bunch of latin americans on a mountain of snow. 

A cute girl named Rakel gave a spiritual message about the similarities between the mountains and the temple, and how they both bring us sanctuary and peace. (at least I think that is what she was saying) I have always loved that concept of the gospel...the power God's creations have to bring us closer to his spirit.  That is one reason I have always loved the outdoors so much, and this experience was just irreplaceable.  Not to mention, it was January 21st and it felt like an early summer day in the Wasatch mountains, and even when we hiked high enough to see the snow, it wasn't very cold. can you say best winter ever?  i love being a lady in spain.

we don't say vamos. we say VAMONOS.

Holy Toledo. Where to begin? I have officially concluded that trying to record all the incredible experiences I am having is nearly impossible.  There have been days where I have thought to myself at night, "this was the best day ever."  Then, the next day somehow ends up being even more incredible.  How does that even happen?  At this rate, I am seriously never gonna want to leave this beautiful place.

So even though writing all this down feels so overwhelming, I am gonna try to construct the best summary I can. Yesterday we went to Toledo for our first group trip.  Toledo is about  45 minutes southwest of Madrid.  We left Alcalá at nine sharp.  We were welcomed by a misty morning in the beautiful city of Toledo.  Seriously, it looks like a city straight out of Lord of the Rings or something.
Angél, our tour guide, hopped right on the bus and charmed us with his spanglish.  I know it is really important to listen to people speak Spanish, but I was so grateful he spoke both.  He spoke with basic spanish vocabulary, and would translate anything we didn't understand.  I learned so much more about the city and history of spain this way, and it was very enjoyable to listen to his charming way of speaking. He was just such a typical tour guide. haha

 
The very first thing we did was drive up to the highest point, where you can see the entire city. Absolutely breathtaking.

On our way back down, I remember our tour guide saying "do you know the difference between vamos, and vamonos? Vamos, is more like a question...or contains uncertainty, like "we go?" But vamonos is a very straight forward, LET'S GO! from here on out we don't say vamos, we say VAMONOS!" and the fun began. 

Mezquita del Cristo de la Luz (Mosque of Christ of the Light)

Only surviving mosque in Toledo. 

The Cathedral of Toledo

 "El Escorial" by Greco 

The hole they carved at the top to let some light in, and decorated in a baroque style.

Next stop was the church of Santo Tomé. I forgot to take a picture of it, and we weren't allowed to take pictures of the masterpiece of Greco, "The burial of the count Orgaz." But that was incredible as well. Below was our last stop on the tour, of the Jewish Sinagoga del Transito. I loved seeing how different the three different places of worship!  Catholics, Muslims. and Jews.  Toledo is known as the tolerant city, because for so many years all three religions lived in peace with eachother. 

After lunch, we said goodbye to Angél and well, the city was ours. :) 

 I am obsessed with narrow alleyways and streets. they are so common here. 

 Just chilling on top of a fortress, pretending to be shooting arrows, in defense of our city. haha

 I half expected some orks or something to come pull me off the wall. 

 Tagus River

Next time? sooo legit.  

 The most expensive house in Toledo

This adorable man is what we like to call, "The MAN of Toledo" He hand makes almost all of his jewerly and he let us watch as he was making a plate.  His name was very hard to pronounce so I can't remember, but I do know that he was just a cute, wise, old man.  He told us so much about the history of Toledo and Alcalá and he loved talking to us.  I was obsessed with him and I even bought some of his handmade jewerly.  I love when you can see the light in people.  This man radiated so much light.

Toledo was an adventure to say the least.  We ended up with a little taste of Mazopan, which was actually not that bad.  Mazopan is a pastry thing famous in Toledo.  I loved just chilling in the city.  We also went to the Bridge San Martin because I was dying to go see it.  What can I say, "I can do anything my heart tells me to."

Que Estoy Contenta! (oh, how happy am i?!)