Merry Christmas!

From top: The three top pictures are of our local small mall, Plaza Eliptica, decorated for Christmas. The bottom is a self-picture taken while we were walking to the park earlier this week. Merry Christmas!

And We're Off!

We just finished our last week of classes at Vigo until classes resume in January. We feel good about the hard work we've done on adjusting to the new city and culture, learning the language, and making friends from all over Europe! Now we will begin our next adventure...on Monday afternoon we are leaving for Rome. We are not taking Matt's computer, so our next blog will be in January when we are back in Vigo. We hope you all enjoy a very happy Christmas and New Years. Our thoughts and prayers are with you all!

Congrats Jeremy & Jess!

My brother, Jeremy, just got engaged to his girlfriend of several years, Jessica! Congratulations you two! I can't wait to get back and give you both some advice. (just kidding) Hugs from afar!

Around Europe with Matt and Heather

We are really excited to begin our travels, though it’s a nervous excitement. On December 18th we leave for Rome where will we stay until the 22. At this time, we travel to Frankfurt Germany to visit our dear friends Samy and Fatima! We will stay with them and will celebrate Christmas before leaving on the 27. At this time, we are flying into a small airport that connects Milan and Venice Italy. We will travel about in this area until January 3rd when we fly to Barcelona, Spain! Finally, we will return to Vigo on January 7th. Whew! We are particularly looking forward to visiting the Colosseum and other Roman historical sites in Italy. Please keep us in your prayers – all of our flights are booked with Ryan Air, a cheap airline that flies into small cities outside of the larger ones. We will have to do a lot of travel on bus, train, and underground lines. Please pray for our safety!

Heather’s 22nd Birthday

I celebrated my birthday on Tuesday and had a real special day! The morning began delightfully with Matt making me a fresh fruit salad and allowing me to open my gifts as soon as we woke up. I was even more surprised when he showed me the chocolate pie he had made during the night when I was sleeping! The freezer already held ice cream, so I was going to have a real birthday celebration! We went to school as usual and I think the day didn’t recognize my birthday. It was pouring rain, that slanted rain which soaks you in only five minutes of walking. Plus, on the bus there were no seats when we got on so I had to stand squashed between people for the entire 30-minute bus ride. Other than wet socks and pants and irritability from being shaken back and forth with the road’s curves on the bus, everything was just perfect. My friends from our language for foreigners’ class wished me a happy birthday and in the evening, Nicky and two friends from Germany came over to our apartment for supper. Nicky and I made potato soup and we had freshly-baked French bread from the panaderia. Over supper, we all laughed and shared memories of Christmas traditions, beginning with Germany giving gifts to children on December 6. On that evening, Santa Clause places gifts in the children’s shoes! We ended with the chocolate pie and ice cream, a real treat in the world of Spain’s desserts. Finally, we all donned coats and hats and walked to Plaza E to catch the opening of Happy Feet, scheduled to begin at 10:50! This time we were all too full to purchase our popcorn and we walked right into the theater with a group of children from ages 5 to 11 or so. We all marveled at this; even Spanish moms don’t believe in bedtime! The movie was again all in Spanish, though the English songs were allowed to stay the same. The movie is so cute and fun! The singing and dancing penguins are delightful. When the movie ended at one in the morning, we weren’t the least concerned because the rest of this week is holidays. On the 6th, Spain celebrated its Constitution Day and on the 8th, Immaculate Conception. Today is Thursday, and our only class was cancelled. All this before our three week Christmas vacation beginning on the 15th! Viva Espana!

The Movie Go-ers

Last Sunday was a rainy, dreary day; instead of feeling ugly, however, it was nice because we were at home for the day, and church is at 7 pm. In the afternoon we called up Nicky and agreed for a date at Plaza E. We arrived just in time to purchase tickets to see James Bond – Casino Royale, Cokes at the nearby grocery store, and tubs of popcorn at the stand. The movie was a fun experience, definitely aided by the goodies, and we watched the entire thing in Spanish! There were times when the audience laughed and I was left wondering what was said to make the joke, but for the most part, we understood the storyline and we knew who the bad guys were at the end. Matt wasn’t convinced by James Craig’s performance, but I am waiting to hear his actual voice and not the Spanish dubbing before I make my judgment call.