Christie and Thomas visit = JOY

Our dear friends, Thomas and Christie came to visit us last week and celebrate (a little early) Christie's 40th birthday. On the train from Sevilla to Madrid on Wednesday, we had a discussion about the distinction between Happiness, Contentment, Fun, and Joy. We all agreed that in order to experience Joy, you have to open yourself up to Sorrow or Difficulty of some kind - you can't feel the joy of winning if you've never lost; you can't feel the joy of a relationship if you've never sacrificed time or energy or pride for the person; you can't feel the joy of solving a problem if you haven't had to struggle through to a solution. 

Our five days with these friends was continuous, non-stop Happiness, Contentment and Fun. Everything went perfectly smoothly, we laughed our heads off, and Erik and I basked in their brilliance and humor. But it was also Joy - the feeling of my heart bursting had an edge of pain on it as I felt how much I had missed Christie, and was even more raw as I was aware that we wouldn't be going back home to their family. I felt deep gratitude underneath every single moment as I pictured Thomas' mom babysitting their kids from out-of-state (Thanksgiving week, no less!) - they left their kids and their work and flew across the world to see us. It was one of my favorite weeks of my whole life, ever.

DAY 1: MADRID

We picked them up from the airport in Madrid, had paella for lunch, and then headed to the Jason Mraz concert!!! We brought cards along for the wait, and it was a good thing we did - 3 hours of waiting through opening bands. 

Mr. A-Z and his band played an AMAZING show - incredible live musicians

After the concert we hit Chocolateria San Gines for churros and chocolate, and then, since apparently they are impervious to jet lag, a shewarma shop for some Persian wraps. So fun to be re-united!! Then on to the hotel for a sleep, and early wake up to catch the train back to Sevilla.

DAY 2: SEVILLA

My kids were at church with the babysitter when we arrived at the house.... when they came home they rushed into the house past me, yelling "CHRISTIE!!!" and Stone rushed in looking for Thomas. Stone was Thomas' shadow.
After a lunch at home, we headed downtown for a walking tour of our favorite sites - the kids were thrilled to share the information they'd learned over the past three months.

Home to feed the kids some dinner, then our babysitter showed back up and the four of us hit a local American 50's diner, and then Erik had tickets for a Futbol (soccer) game!! Sevilla vs. Betis is the fevered, intense rivalry here in Sevilla, and we had never experienced shouting, singing, dancing, clapping, cheering, whistling and trash-talking like the fans in the Sevilla stadium. The ruckus started before the teams even entered the field and did. not. stop. for the entire game. The Betis fans had to be escorted into the stadium and guarded the entire time by police!

DAY 3: SEVILLA

On Monday morning, Christie again overrode her jet lag, and set her alarm so she could be a part of the ritual family walk to school. It was surreal to have her there on those streets with us! After drop-off, we headed to our favorite bakery, La Campana, and ordered a few pastries...

"Will you be needing a to-go box?" asked the waitress, with one eyebrow up.  None of your beeswax. (Actually, we did take some home to share. But not much.) :)

After pastries, we went créche shopping by the Cathedral. From late November through December 23, there are rows of stalls, housing every kind of créche imaginable, from giant to tiny, delicate masterpieces to PlayMobile. The majority are traditional Spanish painted clay, and they have everything you can dream of - not just manger scenes but entire Bethlehem villages. We spent a long time looking and finally found the perfect set for each of us. But didn't take a picture. :(After créche shopping we tried to find a new stroller to replace our broken one at "El Corte Inglés" - fun to show Christie that crazy Super Target-meets-Nordstrom store! Then on to lunch at Aladdin's, and then we walked to The Plaza de España, near our house.

Lucy and Thomas were accidental twins

We have always wanted to take the boats out at the Plaza - it was a perfectly sunny afternoon - Erik let the girls row and fell asleep in the canoe, eliciting many stares and perhaps a cell phone call to Child Protective Services.

Christie sharing the leftover pastries with Lucy

After a quick snack, we re-grouped and headed to the Texas Tech University building (where our American friend Pete teaches Music) for Lindsay's Flamenco performance. It's actually called "Sevillanas," which is the Sevilla version and uses more hand movement than classic Flamenco. Lindsay has been attending class twice per week, and we were so excited to see what she'd learned! We headed out in the dusk light on our bikes, showing T & C yet another of our everyday experiences - the bike line through traffic with a bunch of kids!

It was a full Spanish Fiesta

Lindsay and Naomi started off the dance with a duet! They were amazing  - I could not believe the complexity of the rhythms and how many tricky patterns they had to memorize.

We were so proud of her, and so grateful to our friends for providing that experience for her!

Too bad this one is blurry - at the end of the choreographed dances, they grabbed audience members to come dance with them in the middle, and Lindsay grabbed Christie. Smart choice, Linz - Christie knows how to shake it!

Lucy and Anna got an impromptu lesson on the dance floor

Lindsay taught Sophie some moves, and I have never seen such admiration on Sophie's face as she gazed at her make-upped, fancy-dressed, expert-Spanish-dancing big sister.

We barely had time to get home after Lindsay's show and grab an apple, then head out to a professional Flamenco show.

This was my third Flamenco show, and featured completely new musicians and a performance level I have rarely experienced in any genre in my life. We could hardly breathe. It was spell-binding (and that's really the distance between us and the stage!) We were mesmerized and awe-struck and very moved - and then the heart-throb male dancer realized that his fly was down and his face when he realized it may have been the highlight of the whole night.

After yet another late night on Monday, we woke up early again on Tuesday. Thomas stayed home with Erik to do CrossFit and hang out in Sevilla; Christie and I hopped on an early train to Granada to see the Alhambra!

DAY 4: GRANADA

Hiking around on the castle walls

An ancient Arab bath house

Most amazing view of the beautiful white town spilling down the mountain side

We stayed on top of the castle for a long time, watching the fog evaporate and the gorgeous landscape brighten in the sunlight. It reminded us so much of our adored Bay Area, but with ancient buildings dotting the land.

The palace gardens

The Nasrid Palaces - astounding detailed architecture

We listened to an audioguide to learn about the Palaces - mostly it just told poem after poem by 12th Century Sultans describing their palaces as reflections of their own high-and-mightiness

We tried to imagine what it would feel like to actually live in those spacious edifices.

Gorgeous walk down to the town

We intended to walk around the old Muslim quarter, but I had forgotten to bring enough cash, and in our search for cash and taxis, we ran out of time. :( Luckily we did have time to shop a bit, and then... we passed a convent with a massive wooden door, and noticed an 8x11 white paper advertising simply SE VENDEN DULCES (sweets for sale). "NUN COOKIES!!!" I exclaimed.

I had read in my guide book that the nuns in some convents bake sweets and sell them through little wooden revolving doors. The directions to such places often don't include addresses - just "turn left, then across from the old cottage you'll notice a little door. Open it between 1:30 and 3:00 and you'll hear a voice..." anyway, I've never found one. We entered the convent and found the mysterious door, with the gentle voice inquiring what we wanted to order. The menu rotated out, then I ordered through the wooden door, then the cookies came out and I sent the money in (almost smashing my arm). :) They were almond shortbread and coconut bonbons, and they were delicious. And so mysterious! I so badly wanted to know whose voice belonged to the hands that made those cookies!! And I don't want to talk about the fact that I ordered enough for our families but then accidentally left the bag on the train home. :( (At least we had eaten two apiece on the train.)

DAY 5: TOLEDO

We dropped the kids off at school, then caught a train back to Madrid and rented a car to drive to Toledo, the capitol city of Spain until the 1500's, when the capitol changed to Madrid. Toledo has been amazingly preserved, and no modern architecture is allowed in the city, so you really feel like you're walking around in the Middle Ages.

This girl fell among hooligans in a dark alley.

Amazing streets to walk around and hug in

We visited the incredible cathedral - the most amazing one I've ever seen - and then just hiked around on the cobblestone streets, shopped, tried lots of different treats and admired the view.

Castles, cathedrals, government buildings, convents... all filled with World Heritage Art. It's a small city but it would take a long time to see everything so densely packed in.

A few last pictures, and then back to the rental car to drive back to Madrid, the sun setting brilliant red over the horizon.

We had a stressful drive through the traffic-clogged, ill-marked streets of Madrid, trying to find T & C's hotel - it was the only tense moment of the whole trip, and only because we really wanted to get them delivered safely to their hotel before we said goodbye. We never were able to drop them off, so they were great sports about riding back to the train station and taking a taxi to the hotel after we boarded our train back to Sevilla (they stayed in Madrid overnight to catch their flight the next morning). It was a rushed good-bye, but honestly, that was a good thing or I would have been a tearful disaster. As it ended we gave huge, rushed hugs and ran away waving "we'll see you SOON!!" And we will. The sharp sorrow of leaving these cherished friends creates a big space in our hearts to feel the corresponding joy of seeing them next time.