On my way to and from Madrid, I managed to use all 3 of those forms of transportation – on my return home, all within the same journey (well, if you can count a bus as an automobile). I don’t know where to begin with Madrid. It was different than most of my other weekend trips – partially because of where I was staying, partially because of the weather, partially because of the travel, and partially because of the city itself. I found that Madrid was the least English friendly city I have visited so far – they just don’t really speak it much at all. This was a surprise to me because nearly every other place I have visited has had English-speaking people, especially in service professions like restaurants and shops – that did not really exist in Madrid.
It took about 8 hours for me to finally get to Madrid, but it was nice to be welcomed into the home of some amazing Christians when I did arrive. I arrived on the same day as a group from Covenant College who was there doing a spring break missions trip of sorts. They go and learn from, help, learn about the mission work of local missionaries so they are helping others and it is a way to encourage the missionaries of the future. Anyway, I got to hear Carol DeWitt (wife of the former missions pastor at my home church) give a brief run to the students of the work that the DeWitts and their missions team do in Madrid. I also got to take a brief walking tour of Madrid with the Covenant students and enjoy Sol, Plaza Mayor, and some other Madrid highlights. Along the way I met Heather, a recent Covenant grad, who is hoping to join the DeWitt’s team this fall, pending fundraising. I don’t usually let the weather bother me in a city because it never tends to be great around here, but I have to admit the 30-ish degrees and raining that it was doing on my first couple days in Madrid made for a less than ideal experience. Anyway, I enjoyed Saturday night with some others from the DeWitt’s team watching a football (soccer) game and returned to their house just in time for some cake to celebrate John’s college graduation.
Sunday morning I went to church with the DeWitts and then met up with a friend from Brussels to explore the El Rastro market and enjoy some lunch. The market was kinda overwhelming. It was large to say the least…and the main part of the market was filled with all sorts of random things mostly appealing to tourists, but the side streets of the market were the most interesting part. There were people who had blankets laid out with just really random stuff – old dishes and silverware, random trinkets, old Spanish magazines, really anything you can think of finding in a flea market.
After the market we went and enjoyed a menu del dia with some other students from Georgetown that my friend from Brussels knew. After that, I went to see the Prado museum. It was free (yay) so I splurged on the audio guide, which ended up being a great idea, because I really don’t know that much about art, especially Spanish art. After I wondered around for a while here, I went back to the DeWitts, but not without stopping first to have a quesadilla and some sangria.
Monday morning turned out to be sunny so I got to wonder around Park Retiro and see a little more of Madrid in beautiful sunlight before I headed home – even if it was still about 35 degrees out. On my way to Park Retiro, I ran across this great open-air book market, similar to the one I found in Paris. They had all kinds of books and I actually got a few for myself (in English, of course). Park Retiro was gorgeous and huge – I had no idea it would be so big!! If I lived in Madrid, I would spend a lot of time there. Time ran away from me quickly, and before I knew it, I was having to catch the metro and get back to the airport. I did not make it in time to be in the front of the Ryan Air line this time, but I did meet a couple other Americans while I was standing there. I met this guy who is taking a gap year between high school and college and just finished 2 months Au Pairing in northern Spain, and was taking the next month to travel all around Europe. Since you are only allowed on bag on Ryan Air, he was wearing about 10 layers of clothes.
It was great to really see and experience the DeWitts heart for the mission work that they are doing in Madrid. It is so easy to see their passion and their care for those that they are working with. I got to have a number of good conversations with them, especially with Charles. He decided that I should go to seminary to get my masters in counseling, meet my husband there (because there’s not that many pretty girls that go to seminary – according to Charles), and then move with him to join their mission team in Spain. I think this is a possibility…
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