Only in Spain

There was a party for the students on the last day of my Spanish class. We we all brought food from our home country, and then learned to play djembes. There were at least 15 people other people playing in our circle of loud druming awesomeness. In the picture are Caitlyn (American) and Johannes (German), 2 friends from class.



Yesterday was el dia del San Juan. To celebrate, people start bonfires all over the city. My friend Koro invited me to go see one of the biggest fires in town along with 6 of her friends. We saw this sweet sunset while we waited for the fires to start.



Things that would never happen in the US:

-this huge fire in the middle of the city

-all the kids around this fire who were starting other small fires...by themselves...

-if you take a piece of bark from a certain tree on this holiday it is considered good luck. However, the tree has a very small trunk, and to get bark you have to climb up pretty high since all the lower bark has been taken. Also, the bark is kind of hard to peel off. Spain's solution: send small children to climb up the tree with knives...







One of Koro's friends taught me her Basque dancing ways










Koro is the lady directly to the right of me in this picture. She loves showing me new things and teaching me about San Sebastian and the culture here. I'm also convinced that she is the most popular person in this city. Seriously...she knows everyone.

last week...

-spent some quality time with a few new friends while running the beach at night
-checked out the local emergency room, it was a good cultural experience, made it out with only a sprained wrist...
-I keep meeting people who need someone to fix their bike...it's a fun bonding time...
-got to hang out with Marie who I met with the VT team in May, we're planning an ocean swimming adventure

exciting things...

-new friend Soraya. We met in a coffee shop a few days ago to speak English for and hour and Spanish for an hour
-missing the bus to class on a stormy day but then getting to have a great conversation with 2 friends who happened to be on the next bus
-learning some Basque
-lots of bike riding...
-good surfing weather
-crazy awesome sunsets
-in 4 days I will have been here for a month. what?!

new friends

just wanted to mention a few of the people I have had the chance to meet in the past few weeks...

Gabriele - a college student who is thinking about coming to visit VT in the fall. This week she is taking me to a good sunset watching spot that she knows about.
Marie - I got to spend an afternoon surfing with Marie, I'm looking forward to hanging out with her some more this week.
Koro - a woman who I meet with to practice English for 2 hours a week. She doesn't like being inside, so we meet up outside to talk while we walk on the beach, or so she can show me her favorite mountains.
Gorka - another college student who wants to visit VT in the fall. He is a triathlete. I am working on convincing him to swim to a nearby island with me...

weekend adventure

Yesterday easily ranked in the top 10 adventures of my life.
I got dropped off in a town about a half hour away to run what I thought would be just a normal 11k race. After stuffing a 10 euro bill for the bus ride home in my shoe and hiding my phone in a tree, I started what turned out to be anything but a normal race. After running along the beach, straight into the ocean, climbing up rocks to get out of the water, crawling in sand under strands of barbed wire, running across tires, climbing up over a wall, jumping over concrete hurdles, climbing through tubs of ice water, diving through 30foot tubes, climbing over a giant mound of hay, running up and down gravel hills in that looked like a motorcross track, running a long hill straight up a mountain, then running up more hills, and then another hill, and then since that wasn't steep enough, running up a trail straight up through the woods, then running through what looked like an abandoned prison on top of a mountain, which included running through underground tunnels that were pitch black while hearing what sounded like gunshots coming from the smoke bombs that were being set off all around us, climbing a spider web of bungee cords, running across a plastic sheet covered in slippery soap, a watery trench, a and series of up and down hills with ropes anchored at the top since they were so steep, then finally running down a long downhill with a view of the ocean and the whole town, jumping 2 fences to get in and out of a cow field, then more steep rocky down hill, then running back into the town and back through the hay, tubes, and ice, and back over the wall, I finally crossed the finish line. I had the time of my life. But maybe I should read race descriptions before I sign up for them...

Also though, racing this weekend was an unexpected reminder of so many things that God has taught me in the many hours of my life that have been spent running. It was an awesome to have some time to spend thinking about some of these things....while dodging smoke bombs. Yay for surprises.

blown away

The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders;
where morning dawns, where evening fades, you call forth songs of joy. Ps. 65:8