Moments to remember
Ok as you can probably see I am a bit behind on my posts, so I am going to write in sections. Then you can read what you want, or do it in sections if you get bored. First things first: the Festival. I honestly have been procrastinating writing about it because there are no words, photos, or even videos that can begin to explain this experience. Like I mentioned in the last post, at 2pm everyday the Mascletá erupts in the city center with deafening firecrackers and fireworks with colored smoke. I attended a few times, and I honestly could not believe all the windows on the buildings did not break; literally every inch of my body was shaking from the noise. Saturday, which is where I think I left off, we went down to the street to eat with the neighbors as usual, and as usual it was a lot of fun. I have officially been named "Marieta" because no one here can say my name, and when they try to say Sig it just sounds like "si" which means yes in Spanish so you can imagine the confusion. Estefanía had a few friends come down and eat with us on Saturday and it was great fun. The really included me in the group and we had a great time dancing and just chatting. One of her friends, Diego (Kelli be sure to tell Joey that I am friends with Diego ;) ) is from Uruguay and he was so kind and just fun to hangout with. After eating and dancing and chatting for a while, we headed out to get our groove on. Many neighborhoods have what are like large out door dance clubs with DJs, and lots and lots of dancing! It was soo fun! I didn't arrive home until 7am because the time just flew by! The weird thing about it is that EVERYONE was still out in the streets at this time! It is one of the strangest thing to be watching the sun come up, and see hundreds, even thousands of people heading home from a night out.
As you can imagine I did not get up very early on Sunday. This is one reason, I can not go out nearly as often as the locals do because I hate the feeling of wasting an entire day just being tired and doing nothing. Despite this feeling, I did nothing all day Sunday. I went to the beach, napped and generally laid around. We headed down for our final dinner in the street, and as usual had a great time. I know I posted a picture of some of the Hogueras (the huge beautiful statues) so now imagine 30 of them being burned! It was insane. As I also mentioned before the princess of each barrio gets the privilege of lighting the wick to burn down the beautiful work of art. As the people or our neighborhood eagerly pressed up to the small barricade set out by the firefighters, I could feel the anticipation building as the crowd started yelling at the firefighters, as is customary. As people took their last photos of the Hoguera before it was gone, we watched as they began to drench it in gasoline, while at the same time the firefighters began to spray the surrounding buildings with water so as not to burn the neighborhood down. When everything was finally set, the princess lit it, and of course the fuse included a few firecrackers for effect. I think that was the hottest I have ever felt a fire burn, and as it burned the crowd began to shout "Agua! Agua! Agua!" and finally they got what they so desperately wanted. The firefighters turned the hose to the crowd and began to drench the spectators. Standing in the front row, I could not help but just smile and laugh and enjoy every single second of it. I have never, nor do I expect will I ever see anything else quite like that. When we finally returned home to change out of our wet clothes it was nearing nearing 3:30am and I turned in.
I know right now that the festival will be one of those things that I will remember for the rest of my life, and I am so grateful that I have such a great family hear to have experienced it with. I really feel like I got an authentic experience, and I couldn't forget it if I wanted to!
Secondly-fútbol. So for those of you who are not soccer fans, we are amidst the Eurocup! It has been so much fun being in Europe during the tournament. Saturday we played in the quarterfinal against France, which was a huge deal because Spain has not beaten France is a VERY long time, but it made the day even sweater when we won! Last night Spain played in the semifinal against our neighbor Portugal, and after 120 minutes of playing time including an over time, we won in a shoot out! It was so intense and nerve racking! Sitting in the street watching the game on a tv in a bar window surrounded by Spaniards is just one more thing I will never forget. The way the entire country rallies around their team is unlike anything I have ever seen, it reminds me of the Quiddich World Cup (Harry Potter for those poor souls who still have not read them). As I write Germany is playing Italy to determine who we will face in the final, and I am rooting for Germany so that Marie and I can raz each other!
Aside from all of the wonderful memories I am making, I have also been finding alone time to really take in this experience and seek God. The other day I hiked half way up the mountain and just sat overlooking the city and the ocean thinking about how lucky I am and really contemplating how God is moving in my life. I read James and then continued on to 1 Peter, and one verse stuck out to me that basically said, ask the Lord for what you truly desire so that He may give it to you. (I didn't quote that because of course I can't find the verse now and that is a very loose paraphrase) I was really struck with this, because I realized before I left that I struggle to ask God for what I really want for fear that I either don't deserve it, or that He isn't going to give it to me. God wants to bless me and He wants me to come to Him and ask Him for the things that I want, and if they are pure of heart and in His will, he can give it to me! So I have begun to try and start asking for things that I truly desire, but it is not easy, and quite frankly it is scary for me. I want to encourage you to think about what desires are deep within your heart, and how you can trust God to provide for you.
A few final words: I want so just give a huge thanks to all my friends and family that I have been able to talk to, and that have been texting, calling, and facetiming. I have days where I miss LT, I miss 8 Point Lake, and most of all I miss you guys. This morning I woke up to a voice message of some of my close friends just saying hi, and it was the best alarm I could have asked for. I miss you all terribly, and feel free to text, email, facetime, skype, etc. whenever!
In awe of the Lords unending supply of blessings,
Sigourney
As you can imagine I did not get up very early on Sunday. This is one reason, I can not go out nearly as often as the locals do because I hate the feeling of wasting an entire day just being tired and doing nothing. Despite this feeling, I did nothing all day Sunday. I went to the beach, napped and generally laid around. We headed down for our final dinner in the street, and as usual had a great time. I know I posted a picture of some of the Hogueras (the huge beautiful statues) so now imagine 30 of them being burned! It was insane. As I also mentioned before the princess of each barrio gets the privilege of lighting the wick to burn down the beautiful work of art. As the people or our neighborhood eagerly pressed up to the small barricade set out by the firefighters, I could feel the anticipation building as the crowd started yelling at the firefighters, as is customary. As people took their last photos of the Hoguera before it was gone, we watched as they began to drench it in gasoline, while at the same time the firefighters began to spray the surrounding buildings with water so as not to burn the neighborhood down. When everything was finally set, the princess lit it, and of course the fuse included a few firecrackers for effect. I think that was the hottest I have ever felt a fire burn, and as it burned the crowd began to shout "Agua! Agua! Agua!" and finally they got what they so desperately wanted. The firefighters turned the hose to the crowd and began to drench the spectators. Standing in the front row, I could not help but just smile and laugh and enjoy every single second of it. I have never, nor do I expect will I ever see anything else quite like that. When we finally returned home to change out of our wet clothes it was nearing nearing 3:30am and I turned in.
I know right now that the festival will be one of those things that I will remember for the rest of my life, and I am so grateful that I have such a great family hear to have experienced it with. I really feel like I got an authentic experience, and I couldn't forget it if I wanted to!
Secondly-fútbol. So for those of you who are not soccer fans, we are amidst the Eurocup! It has been so much fun being in Europe during the tournament. Saturday we played in the quarterfinal against France, which was a huge deal because Spain has not beaten France is a VERY long time, but it made the day even sweater when we won! Last night Spain played in the semifinal against our neighbor Portugal, and after 120 minutes of playing time including an over time, we won in a shoot out! It was so intense and nerve racking! Sitting in the street watching the game on a tv in a bar window surrounded by Spaniards is just one more thing I will never forget. The way the entire country rallies around their team is unlike anything I have ever seen, it reminds me of the Quiddich World Cup (Harry Potter for those poor souls who still have not read them). As I write Germany is playing Italy to determine who we will face in the final, and I am rooting for Germany so that Marie and I can raz each other!
Aside from all of the wonderful memories I am making, I have also been finding alone time to really take in this experience and seek God. The other day I hiked half way up the mountain and just sat overlooking the city and the ocean thinking about how lucky I am and really contemplating how God is moving in my life. I read James and then continued on to 1 Peter, and one verse stuck out to me that basically said, ask the Lord for what you truly desire so that He may give it to you. (I didn't quote that because of course I can't find the verse now and that is a very loose paraphrase) I was really struck with this, because I realized before I left that I struggle to ask God for what I really want for fear that I either don't deserve it, or that He isn't going to give it to me. God wants to bless me and He wants me to come to Him and ask Him for the things that I want, and if they are pure of heart and in His will, he can give it to me! So I have begun to try and start asking for things that I truly desire, but it is not easy, and quite frankly it is scary for me. I want to encourage you to think about what desires are deep within your heart, and how you can trust God to provide for you.
A few final words: I want so just give a huge thanks to all my friends and family that I have been able to talk to, and that have been texting, calling, and facetiming. I have days where I miss LT, I miss 8 Point Lake, and most of all I miss you guys. This morning I woke up to a voice message of some of my close friends just saying hi, and it was the best alarm I could have asked for. I miss you all terribly, and feel free to text, email, facetime, skype, etc. whenever!
In awe of the Lords unending supply of blessings,
Sigourney
hey sis I will be sure to tell Joey you are friends with Diego!! this post made me laugh and cry!! Glad you are enjoying yourself and your alone time, which is so important!! I miss you too and keep them coming I love reading your post! love you and miss you!!
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