Aesthetics & Ethics

We find ourselves in Valencia, Spain tonight. You may be thinking, weren’t they on their way to Madrid? (And I was like... WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN??? -Buster Bluth) Well, been there, done that. Now we’re in Valencia. For a recap of the last 48 hours, after our complete 17 hour travel day, we arrived in Madrid just in time to meet a late night hostel host, who was not too pleased with our late arrival. It was nearing 1 AM, and apparently he only spoke Spanish or Italian. In our failure to completely explain our delayed flight to him, we’ll say it was a short encounter. Note to self, a hostel in Madrid should not be named “Hostal Berlin”… it was a little “hostile” to say the least. However, it was one of our favorites to date. Our cozy three person room allowed the sounds of the city to come in through the floor to ceiling window/balcony. According to Kristen, last night not only did the sounds of the city come in, but a little guest next door also tried to climb in through the window, as Kathleen and I slept soundly, not noticing anything alarming. All I remember is Kristen running around the room trying to get our attention, but I didn’t see anything of the sort. Mind you, it was 3 AM and people in Madrid are just going out. I slept very well until morning.
Here’s a key to enjoying cities in Spain: go to bed at a reasonable time, while everyone is just on their way out. Then, get up and enjoy the quiet morning streets, as the locals don’t get out until around noon.
We spent the entire morning with a wonderful man who captivated us in a quick encounter while strolling through Madrid in the early morning. Carlos immediately began to ask us questions and before we knew it we had spent a few hours chatting with him. He treated us to tea and we continued sharing stories until we realized we had to grab our bags from the hostel. He offered us lunch and we gladly accepted meeting him at a wonderful local restaurant where he treated us to a delightful three course meal. Carlos was great company, enchanting, and one of our favorite people we have met thus far. Not that age is relevant but for all you skeptics...Carlos has the same amount of years as the three of us combined. That's right, the coolest 66 yr. old man ever with teaching under his belt as well as a PhD and a published book. As several spanish boys hooted and hollered at us, we declined their calls and walked proudly side by side with our man Carlos. At our defense, he also yelled at the boys claiming "I never know why they think they'll please a lady like that. If you want to catch her attention, you need aesthetics and ethics." Carlos Carlos such words of wisdom. We were sad to say goodbye but exchanged emails and plan to keep in touch. He wants updates on our future ventures in life.
We are now in Valencia which is actually a drastic change of style from Madrid. It has much more of a Spanish feel to it--architecturally and socially. Of course, our first plan of action was to head to the beach but we were quickly side tracked by a wonderful pastry shop. (oh and by the way we ate the best chocolate pastry we've ever had in our lives in Madrid.) But anyway, we were lured into the pastry shop which was just a minor detour to the beach. We finally made it to the beach and spent the evening there just laying by the ocean. Beautiful. Tomorrow we plan to enjoy the atmosphere and scenery of Valencia, hopefully wonderful through a few of the beautiful churches, and eat dinner on the beach. A spectacular quote from the Decemberists: "Oh Valencia! or from the local dialect: "Oh Balenthia"....

okay kristen here. just have to lighten the mood with some of our latest chaos.
1. here goes. dearest kathleen ran out of money in less than 2 weeks which greatly confused the rest of us. then we realized she only budgeted $34 a day which technically is the avg. price of a hostel when we arent couch surfing. unless kathleen wants to sit on a bench everywhere we go without food or transportation all day long, we quickly had to rebudget for her.
2. my love noelle. noelle's honest attempt to speak french reflected her passion for ministry...how appropriate...veritas watch out. noelle gave thanks to the ticket lady in marseille by saying "mercy" as opposed to "merci" in which we like to believe put a little light of Christ into her life.
3. i tend to brag about my lack of fear. however, i must admit i am absolutely frightened by these "human statues" we keep witnessing throughout spain. kathleen and noelle arent phased at all but as we approach i began to get the chills. seriously freaks me out. in fact, we were walking by one that was high on a wall so noelle didnt point it out until we were vertically below it. i somewhat yelped and jumped back. if this doesnt satisfy making fun of myself...i'll admit i peed in my wetsuit in a desperate attempt to warm myself up in the ice cold rivers of the swiss alps. note to self: just dont do it.

we are still alive. we are still happy. we are still walking a lot...and eating a ton of pastries....and chocolate...and chocolate pastries. we still love you all.