honey, iiii'm home

dearest brethren (and sistren?) of the cult of the blog of marshall:

the moment has arrived, i am now back on US soil. the past 2 days have been a marathon of traveling, but its all over now. i'm safely in the confines of my house in Oak Park, even with all my luggage. considering how this morning began, that is somewhat of a miracle.

so my flight was to leave Valencia this morning at 7am (=really early, don't recommend it). Juan from my church had agreed to pick me up and take me to the airport at 5:15am, which was very kind of him since that is super early in Spain. anyways, so i set my alarm to get up at 4:15 to allow enough time to shower, give everything one last look over, etc. i vaguely remember opening my eyes and swiping at my alarm clock early in the morning...the next memory i have is of my host mom Esperanza bursting through the door and yelling at me to get up...it was 6am! good thing i had packed the night before, i threw on some clothes and was out the door in 10 minutes, where miraculously Juan was still waiting for me down the street, trying to call my cell (which i had foolishly turned off overnight). i tossed my bags in the trunk while apologizing profusely, and we were off. the 30 minute trip to the airport was one of the more nerve racking car rides i've had in a while. i felt pretty terrible about the hassle i had created, it wasn't exactly the way i had planned to go out, but...at least i made it. in fact - i don't know how - i made it to my gate before the plane started boarding!

2 hours to Paris, 3 hours of layover, and 9 hours to Chicago later...i was breathing el aire norteamericano. the travels were pretty boring, i watched boring airplane movies (you know its bad when the best one was National Treasure 2), and snacked on the somewhat decent AirFrance meals. i did get a glimpse (photo, right) of Greenland though, through the airplane window. after breezing through customs (hint: tell them the cocaine is just powdered sugar). my mom was there to greet me. viva la madre!

the rest of my time this past week was great. last weekend was a pinnacle of sorts to my time in Spain - Daniela was back in Valencia from Madrid, and Sarai back from the University in Tenerife. We rented a car for the weekend and took advantage of it, doing daytrip excursions to caves, castles, driving around in the mountainous countryside, and even stopping to have a picnic lunch in an olive grove. sunday i said goodbye to everyone, and afterwards while walking home i teared up a little thinking of the people i would be leaving behind (like the crew at left). that evening Jay and i set out in our 9 hour boat ride to Palma de Mallorca. There we spent a couple days at the beach, and another day for me downtown Palma de Mallorca checking out the cathedral, old royal palace, and a castle. it was a relaxing time, which was the point, and i think it prepared me to come back home...a kind of deneument to my time in Spain.

so, as i gazed out the airplane window making the final descent to O'Hare International Airport, i felt a strange readiness and contentedness. the headphones in my ears playing an eclectic mixture of transcendental tracks - classical, jazz, and Buena Vista Social Club's Chan Chan - the plane broke through the clouds and there below me was Lake Michigan...then the shore, then the "big shoulders" of Chicago - the Hancock, Stan, and Sears - then as we circled, the suburbs, the great American highways, towns, neighborhoods, houses, touchdown...home.

sweet home chicago

casi acabado

Well, its been a good ride. We´ve had our ups. We´ve even had a few rough spots. But now, its all coming to an end. or is it?

So over the last 3 days i busted out 5 final exams, 1 paper, and even a theatrical performance - Arrabal´s Pic-nic. It feels good to be done, at least with classes, at least for now. I´m pretty sure i did well on all my tests and projects, and even if i didn´t, i only need to pass the classes (thank you Longwood University transfer credits!) I may have slacked off a little this semester in the classroom, but that wasn´t so much out of laziness as it was that i learned so much outside of my formal studies, i didn´t want homework to get in the way of that. especially since i did fine in class as well.

So after my morning exam of Composition and Conversation, all the students and teachers met in one of the big rooms and had a little graduation/end of semester ceremony. I got a diploma!!! Ok that wasn´t too exciting. But what WAS exciting was the meal we had afterwards. We all walked to this large and nice local restaurant (probably 30 of us) and absolutely FEASTED. Let´s see if I can remember, in the order they entered my digestive tract: bread, wine, water, fried fish, fried calamari, mussels, salad, paella, candied oranges, ice cream, champaigne, and coffee. A good 2.5 hours of eating and conversing. That´s one thing I´ll miss - looong meals. We eat too quickly in the US.

In terms of activities, the past week/2 weeks have been pretty chill, nothing too unusual. Meeting Tuesdays with Laura and Leo to practice spanish and english, enjoy a coffee and a pastry, and talk a lot about spanish society. Thursday was a GBU dessert night, where everyone was supposed to bring a dessert typical of their home nation. Irish tripe, italian tiramisu, strawberries, cake...even I contributed. I was going to go for the apple pie, but the fact that I don´t have access to an oven kind of prohibited that...ok lots of things prohibited it. So, poor student that I am, I improvised with the available resources and made floats...not of rootbeer, but of coca-cola. Please understand, there are approximately 3 kinds of soft drinks in spain: cocacola, lemon fanta, and orange fanta. That about exhausts the list. (Interesting note, my friend laura tells me that the Coke flavor was invented in spain and then some smart American bought it and turned it into a soft drink). So, the Coke-floats were a hit...at least the foamy chemical reaction of acidic pop and alkaline ice cream (techinical terms) was.

Probably the most interesting thing of the past 1.5 weeks was a youth ministry conference that i attended. Ana, a friend from my church who works for GBU, organized the conference and invited me to come. There wasn´t much to it - Grahame Knox, and Englishman who has worked in youth ministry in europe and around the world, led the weekend. There were maybe 10 of us in total, youth group leaders, volunteers, and students thinking about youth ministry. Grahame´s insights weren´t groundbreaking, but they were right on, challenging everyone to think about what youth ministry is, how do we measure its success, and giving practical tools to carry it out. Through the questions and concerns that several people voiced, I got a real sense that youth ministry in Spain, and ministry in general, is a huge struggle and needs a lot of help. The problems that I thought were bad in the US - hypocrisy, consumerism, apathy - are even more extreme with the youth of Spain. At the end of the conference I felt such a burden for things to change in Spain. I have know idea what it means or how, but it could be that God is calling me to come back after I graduate. With prayer and fasting, we shall see.

Also, on Sunday I went to La Albufera, a huge freshwater lake/reserve just south of Valencia. Together with Ana, Leo, Grahame, and Aida, we took a boat tour and saw tons of herons and egrets, toured a typical Valencia barraca house, and learned a lot about the more rural/traditional farming and fishing lifestyle of the Valencian people. It was really beautiful and relaxing. When we talked to our tour guide (a fisherman) and some of his buddies at the dock, you really had the sense that these were REAL people, real substance. I got the impression from their clear eyes against their sunbeaten wrinkled faces, their Valenciano language (different from Spanish), their laughs, and the fact that one guy was missing 1.5 fingers. They just don´t make people like this anymore, you know?

Well, I guess I should warn you that this could be my last post from europe. Unfortunately the Sevilla leg of my travels fell through (absolutely NO lodging available), so I´ll be making day trips with my spanish friends this weekend (beach, castles, hiking, etc.) and then on Sunday night I take a boat with my roommate Jay to Mallorca - the largest of the Baleric Islands in the Mediterranean. I think spending my last few days relaxing in the sun will be a good way to end. It´ll let me decompress before I come home, contemplate my existence, etc. And I´m sure the beach will be nice too. I´ll be there until Thursday night, get back to Valencia, say goodbye to friends at my last GBU international student get-together, pack my bags, and fly out early friday morning.

I´ll let you all know when I get back, and make a final post with some reflections. In the meantime, stay strong. Especially you grovers and your finals. Much love.

split decision

hi, this is marshall, you may remember me from such movies as Bienvenidos Mister Marshall...(this is an actual Spanish movie about an American who comes to Spain, and no, I haven't seen it)

I'm writing this with a small knot in my stomach - I know my days here are numbered and I have mixed emotions between my home in the US and my home here. Wherever I go, I'll be missing a part of me, its complicated. But I'll be happy to see you all soon, have no doubt.

I suppose I'll commence the chronicling:

Last thursday I, along with a couple friends, helped plan and pull off a talent/game night for GBU. It was pretty laid back, we did it at a church on Sueca. Everyone shared some hidden talent: photography, crafts, music, baking, strange noises/attempted beat-boxing (guess who shared that one), and we also had some funky contests, like craziest home-made hat. Jenae's "Al Gorra" was epic (gorra=hat in spanish). Good times were had by all.

Friday I slept like mad, and in the afternoon/evening I met up with daniela and leo to prepare a little photo montage for Gerardo, a dude from our church who has now returned to Venezuela.

Saturday I went on a day trip excursion with my program to Teruel and Albarracin. Teruel is 2 hours away, in the autonomous community (aka state) of Aragon. It featured some cool mudejar architecture (mudejar = muslims under christian rule), and the mausoleum of the 2 Lovers of Teruel. The Amantes de Teruel is a story from medieval spain about 2 lovers who both die (an obvious inspiration for Shakespeare). Then we drove a little bit further into the rugged mountains to the town of Albarracin. It's another world - Spain of the middle ages. All the buildings are hundreds of years old: reddish-tan stone with dark brown woodwork, narrow streets, ancient city walls. By law, it's prohibited to construct new buildings. Everywhere you turn is a postcard photo, especially because its on the side of a mountain, surrounded by rugged rock faces. It also felt like there was only 100 people living there, it was so quiet. That may not be much of an exaggeration, since like 90% of spain's population live in the big(ish) cities.

Sunday afternoon, Daniela moved back to Madrid for 3 months - part of her coursework for her degree. A group of us danced a little on Saturday night to celebrate, and then Sunday the church said goodbye, or rather "see you in 3 months, with random trips to Valencia sprinkled in." Sunday afternoon I went with my program to the Teatro Principal to see the ballet El Amor Brujo - it was sweet.

Tuesday I intercambio'ed it with Laura again, and we talked about the church in Spain. Laura has 1 more year at the University of Valencia, studying social work. Her dream is to start a Christian social work mission in Valencia but its super tough to do. The spanish economy is super tight - cost of living is high and salaries are low-medium. Families and churches struggle to make it financially, so there is basically no monetary donation/support left over for a mission. On top of that, volunteering practically a foreign concept, since everyone works/studies so much. The only chance of getting money to start a mission is to make a request to government, which usually means asking for 6000 euros and getting 2000. (If taxes weren't so high, then people could donate that extra money to the missions/causes that THEY PERSONALLY desire, instead of the government choosing for them...but I digress into free-market economy support...) So there you have a glimpse into real spanish life.

Ok, a little on the academic side...I'm done reading my first spanish novel, Soldados de Salamina by Javier Cercas. It's a story about an author struggling to write a book about some interesting characters of the Spanish Civil War - its got a really beautiful ending that ties everything together and speaks about remembering true heroism. I've bought a few other spanish classics that I hope to read over the summer to keep up with the language.

One last thing - Si si si, la Copa esta aqui! Wednesday night Valencia CF faced off against Getafe in the final of La Copa del Rey (King's Cup), the annual national soccer tournament. Valencia is normally a very strong team, but this year in league play they have played very poorly - they currently stand only 5 points away from relegation (dropping down to the 2nd division next year). However, the Copa del Rey has provided a silver lining around the clouds of defeat. In reaching the final, Valencia defeated excellent teams like Real Betis (i was at that game), Atletico de Madrid and Barcelona FC. And Wednesday night, the silver lining transformed into glorious sunshine as Valencia won 3-1. I watched the game with Jay right next to Mestalla stadium at Bar Ciudad Real (the game was in Madrid though). There we stood and watched the match on big screens out on the sidewalk, with a few hundred crazy fans wearing the Valencia orange and blue, chanting, banging drums, etc. Valencia went up 2-0 early, and so - not without a few scares - we celebrated the victory the whole match. After the final whistle, the streets filled with happy fans, chanting, throwing fireworks, driving around in cars honking and waving the Valencian flag, etc. It was dang sweet.

Thursday night we celebrated Jay's "birthday" (his real birthday is in August but he wanted to celebrate it here with all his friends). We trekked it to a chill bar/cafe where I spent a few hours mixing it up with people and playing many furious foosball matches (futbolin).

This morning (Friday) I visited the art museum again, this time to see an exposition of El Greco - 20 something of his best works (except for El Entierro del Conde-Duque de Orgaz, which never leaves Toledo). As with all our visits, we were accompanied by Profesora Isolda Alfaro. What a character. A short, plump widow in her 50's, Profesora Alfaro has a lot to say and lets people hear it. She also knows everything, and everyone. Literally. Her husband was an artist whose works are or have been in museums, the Madrid airport, churches, etc. She has studied art, literature, archeology, english, french, italian, and probably a lot more. She's always saying, "oh I'm close friends with _____" - a blank filled with artists, curators, authors, even the director of El Mundo - one of the big newspapers in Spain. So she's an awesome guide, she explained everything about El Greco and each painting we saw. Because only 3 of us students showed up for the visit, she invited us for a drink in the cafe afterwards, adding "I'm rich." Classic. I hope I'm as interesting as her when I grow up...oh wait, I graduate from college in a year.

On tap: playing some soccer this afternoon, looooots of homework/studying/writing 2 papers (just 2 weeks until exams/final projects due), maybe a youth ministry conference, planning my week of travel in May (Sevilla and maybe Mallorca), trying relax and enjoy it all.

Ya esta.

long time no post

Bueno chicos, donde empiezo? Hace unas semanas que escribi un post...(just trying to prove i can write in Spanish, for all you doubters)

I'm trying to get used to a normal life, but maybe that doesn't exist. Nearly 3 weeks of vacation and travel tends to disorient even the most expert of travelers (which is not a description of me). But I certainly have much to report.

After resting up for a day after Las Fallas (which included watching Valencia defeat Barcelona 3-2 to advance to the Final of La Copa del Rey...unfortunately I wasn't at the game), I took a 4 hour bus ride to Barcelona. A couple hours later i was hugging mom, dad, and kathryn outside of Barcelona's airport. We all stayed the weekend in the home of Norman and Gwen Bowman - missionaries from church back home - who live just outside of Barcelona. Saturday we explored Tarragona, which has Roman ruins, a nice view of the Mediterranean, and an awesome Catalan restaurant. Sunday we hit up Barcelona: Pueblo Espanol, tapas, Sagrada Familia, las Ramblas...highlight was definitely La Sagrada Familia. Gaudi was a genious of an architect, and I wish I had seen a lot more of his work. I think Barcelona is one city I'd like to return to later on in life. It was also fun celebrating Kathryn's 16th birthday on Easter, we had a fun dinner back at the casa and gifted her, boozed her (not really), and even Gandalf made an appearance (this is truth).

Living a couple of days with Norman and Gwen (the missionaries) was quite an experience. They are super kind, and really smart and very tight with the Lord. Just being around their passion for God was eye-opening and showed me that i still have a long way to go in my own walk with Christ.

On Monday we took the train to Valencia and I helped my fam check into their hotel. During the week I had class but still managed to hang out with my family a lot. I showed them around downtown, we climbed the Cathedral belltower, visited the Oceanografico (Europe's largest aquarium/oceanarium), the beach, and Ciudad de las Artes y Las Ciencias. The best, though, was going out to eat at La Pepica, a famous Paella restaurante right on the Mediterranean (and the preferred choice of Ernest Hemingway!). We shared dinner (2 paellas) with Leo, Daniela, and her parents who were visiting from Germany (photo). It was also cool on Thursday night when my family came to my apartment and we chilled with Esperanza and Maria Jesus for the evening...my Spanish family meets my American family. Good times.

Thursday night, we crammed into our 4 person sleeper room on the train and rolled on down to Granada in Andalucia (southern Spain). We all agreed that we felt very european. Granada is very different the Barcelona and Valencia. First, its quite smaller, maybe half the size. It also feels...older, more...magical? Haha. Its a city with hills, narrow streets and white-washed homes. One hill is the Albaicin, or old Arab district, and another hill is Sacromonte, the Gypsy neighborhood where the homes are souped-up caves. We stayed at a pretty sweet hotel and had rooms on the top floor, with balconies on the rooftop. We saw a flamenco show that was good, but felt a bit touristy...but we also had some good Alhambra adventures, which i shall now share:

First up, the Alhambra is the hilltop fortress, palace, and garden complex of the old Moorish empire...and probably the most beautiful place in Spain. To get in, you need to buy tickets, of which there are a limited quantity. The online tickets for Saturday (the ideal day for us) had been sold out 3 weeks in advance. All that was available online was Sunday afternoon, which wasn't great since my parents' train left at 6 or so. However, I had bought 4 Sunday tickets just in case it was our only option. Fortunately, they release a limited number of tickets for day-of sales. But because the Alhambra is so sweet, there is usually a super long line to get the day of tickets, with no guarantees that there will be enough. So my mom and I go up on Saturday morning at 5:30am, grabbed a taxi, and arrived at the ticket sales place at 6am. We were the 5th and 6th people in line. For 2 hours, we just chilled and talked to numbers, 1-4 and 7-8 in line: a middle-aged couple from California just starting a 2 week tour of Spain, 2 teenage girls from England, and 2 American college students studying the semester in Madrid. By the time we all secured our tickets, we were pretty much best friends.

That afternoon, we saw the Alhambra. Amazing. There are several parts to it: the Alcazaba is the military/fortress part that looks over the entire city of Granada; the Palace of Charles V is a cool-ish renaissance building that pales in comparison to the rest of the Arab architecture, the Nazarite Palaces are the heart of the Alhambra, full of pools (photo), fountains, amazing Arab inscriptions...unlike a typical European palace, the Alhambra is extremely livable and warm; the last part of the Alhambra is the Generalife [he-ne-ra-Lee-fay] which was the summer palace get away, full of lush gardens and more pools and cozy nooks. Now, you're probably asking yourself, "Self, this Alhambra place seems like a large complex. How long might it take one to see it all?"...good question. We spent about 5 hours, probably walked some 10 miles in total, and pretty much saw it all. We finished up the day with some tasty tapas and then snoozed it.

The next day was a bit of an adventure for me...so I will tell you the story in fairy tale form...(why not)

There was a young man who had obtained 4 Sunday Alhambra tickets, but couldn't return them. He had emptied his pockets for the treasure - a healthy 13 euros a piece ($80-ish) - so he thought, "I shall attempt to sell these priceless tickets to fill my treasury once again." He got himself at dawn that Sunday morn, hoping to find the long morning line he had seen the day earlier. But when I got to the crest of the hill, there was no line. He then realized that that morning was Spain's daylight savings time and the ticket booth had been open for an hour. "Dang", thought the young man as he glanced to and fro for signs of a sad soul in need of four (or one) ticket. Alas, his tickets were for the afternoon, and not a single Alhambra-goer wished to wait until then. The disheartened young man trudged back to his hotel, alone and exhausted from his early awakening. His only hope was to return just before the afternoon session - perhaps then his luck would change! The morning seemed to go by slowly, but at last the moment arrived. He could not fail, fate was in the balance! This time the young man was wiser, and brought along a faithful assistant - the younger sister, Kathryn the Fair! Together they climbed the precipitous slope and started to "work it". A host of people, yes, there was. But none seemed desirous of the tickets. Like fishermen the 2 waited, dreaming of a bounty of four silver trout...but not so much as the nibble of a minnow did they find. After nearly losing hope, a stroke of luck! Yes, 2 eastern european dames did appear, and snatched 2 tickets. The young man's coffers were now half-full. Who would now claim the final 2? The old Spanish women? No. The cluster of Japanese tourists? Not a chance. The young Scottish couple? No...Yes! Booyah! The young man and his trusty sister floated back down the mountain, counting their bounty and rejoicing for the fruitful bounty of that land. THE END.

Now that I have that out of my system...

My parents trained it to Madrid that afternoon and then flew back home the next morning, safe and sound. It was a good time together, fun to share my Spanish life with them and catch up on the latest happenings. And I'm pretty sure my parents' favorite thing is now Spanish coffee (my dad can now order "cafe con leche" all by his lonesome". And alioli (garlic-mayonnaise). And kebabs. I'm glad they came. After hanging out a few more hours in Granada, I caught my night train back to Valencia.

Since then its been kind of a whirlwind, trying to get the most out of my last month here while dealing with a slightly heavier workload and planning for the summer/next year. Highlights:
-Last week was warm and sunny. I've read and done devotions in the park a few times, gone to the beach a few times including a sweet volleyball peppering session with Jenae, Elisee, and Cephas (an English and French speaking friend of Elisee from Alsace)...
-I attempted my first conversation in French (with Cephas) and didn't do that bad...ok I could understand the general idea when he talked slowly, and answered by saying "je" (I) and saying the rest in spanish and waiting for the traslation.
-A day on the beach at Gandia with the church (photo): those of us from the adult sunday school class drove an hour south down the coast and spent a day at the beach, as a ending to what we had been learning about spiritual gifts, personalities, and finding a place to serve in the Body of Christ. In addition to enjoying the sun and watching the para-surfers (the water is still too cold to swim in), we each took a 144 question personality test, discussed our spiritual gifts in small groups, and did various team-building activities. It was interesting to realize there was a difference between the way God has made me and how I think/wish I would be...to acknowledge that and thank God who I am. Only then can I start to find my niche in the Body of Christ.
-This morning I met with Laura and Daniela to help them practice English/me practice Spanish. We chilled at a cafe and then walked around the campus of the Polytechnical University of Valencia. And we started to plan some May travelling!
-Freshman year of college returneth...I'll be rooming senior year with Seth Thompson!
-This week I heard back from the Charles G Koch Charitable Foundation about the summer internship I had applied/phone interviewed for...and they've offered me a position! I still need to hammer out some details, but it looks like I'll be in DC for the summer (June 9-Aug 22)!

Ok gotta run, dinner awaits and my battery is low!

Love and miss you all, thanks for your prayers and updates, I've got you in my prayers as well.