Semana Santa

I've got another HUGE post in the works about adventures in Spain and France with Dan, but about 2 weeks ago was Semana Santa here in Spain and I guess you could say it's a pretty big deal here in Sevilla, so I had to post something about it.

The Semana Santa celebration here in Spain is probably one of the most popular in the world, if not the biggest and most popular.  Some people love it, while others just can't stand it and have to get out of the country for the week.  Emma and I are probably in the middle... We got out of the country for a little bit and then came back to see some of the celebration.

 If you were a foreigner (like us..) and you have never seen Semana Santa, you have to see it at least once.  There is nothing like it that I've ever seen... but on the other hand, if you live in the city center like us and you want to go somewhere really fast.. it ain't gonna be happenin...  What normally takes 5 minutes ends up taking 30 minutes because of the crowds.  We see both sides of the story. 

Of course the thing everyone notices are the "Nazareños."  or as us foreigners would say.. the KKK.  If you think about it, it's kinda interesting...  You take a white blanket or robe and throw a pointy hat on top and you have 1 important symbol that represents 2 completely different things....  Religion or Racism.

Due to tradition and a belief system, both cultures see 2 totally different things.  When I look at the guys in purple, or green, or white... regardless of the color and thanks to American history...  the first silly thought that comes to mind is "racists."  When someone from Spain or another Catholic country outside the U.S. sees this symbol they might see a uniting "brotherhood" or right of passage passed down through hundreds of years.

Either way, this year there weren't many KKK/Nazarenos hanging out in processions and accompanying the "pasos" (the floats with the virgin Mary or Jesus carried by people) this year for Semana Santa.  This Semana Santa was dubbed one of the worst in recent years because it rained practically allllllllllll week long...  Rain = no semana santa.  Out of 6 or 7 days of what could have been 50 or more processions, we saw 1...... and we didn't even know it was there until we turned the street corner...   So here it is.  enjoy.

What a week...

It has been a week to remember.

Both incredibly historical occurences and small day-to-day life happenings have made the week very interesting to say the least...

-The South, including my old town, was devestated by one of the deadliest tornado outbreaks in the last 50 years.
-Osama bin Laden, one of the most infamous terrorist leaders in history, was killed by US forces.
-A monumental royal wedding took place in England (although I didn't care too much for it I still found it worth noting..)

On the brighter daily-life side:

-I played in the street for money for the first time and we were threatened by a homeless man with a knife (sorry mom if you are reading this for the first time, but we are ok..)
-I played electric guitar for the first time in almost 8 months at church with friends.
-Another famous week-long festival has started here in Sevilla:  Feria de Abril (lots of photos will be taken)
-We went to our first baby shower as a married couple!
-We celebrated our 4 year "dating" anniversary!!!

God has used many of these, if not all, to strengthen our faith in him.  Whether it be through heartbreak over losses, joy through the beauty of new life, or the exciting growth of our own relationship and community with other believers, God has and will always provide as well as receive the glory.  Last night at church, we sang "How He Loves Us" by John Mark McMillan.  The beginning of the song says, "He is jealous for me, loves like a hurricane, I am a tree bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy."  It hit Emma and I pretty close to home.  We were reminded that the extreme power of a storm can destroy an entire community but at the same time God's love is an all-consuming, overwhelming love that pursues us without end.  It will change you completely.  It will wreck you, but bring ultimate peace.  There is hope in the aftermath of it all.

Tomorrow starts our work week and we will continue on as usual.  We look forward to our first maternity photo shoot with our friends Andy and Jamie who are expecting a baby boy any day now.  We hope to learn how to dance "Sevillanas" with our friends Jordan and Sarah to prepare for Feria.  We look forward to talking with more friends and hearing updates from back home.  Finally, we look forward to spending quality time with Emma's dad as he comes to visit this weekend! 

A picture from a recent trip to Matalascañas. It's nice only living 1 hour away from the beach!

related brothers.

After Lyndon left (a few weeks ago..) Dan and I romped about Spain arm in arm as all brothers do!  I took him on a small tour of good ol' Sevilla.  We went to Plaza de Espana and hung out with folks from Star Wars, got some sun and did laundry on the roof, drank little coffees, and went to see some flamenco.

We love visitors in general, but it was even more exciting having my brother there to hang out with!  I really enjoyed some good bro-time just catching up on life, love, and other mysteries.

but forrealskies, I loved hanging out with dan.  Emma and I have been missing family a lot lately (even more so now that they have come and gone..) and it is a breathe of fresh air to see familiar faces and just have a good time.  Dan is a light everywhere he goes.  Like everywhere in the world, Sevilla has thousands of "lost" and hurting people...  It is just more evident when we are in a place that is foreign to us or outside of our comfort zone.  I noticed it more when I first arrived in Spain and slowly turned a blind eye, but dan reminded me that people everywhere need the love of Christ regardless of what is apparent.

Tomando el sol

my little tourist.

Dan puttin moves on the Queen...

dan was wired after basically drinking pureed coffee beans

looking pensively off in the distance.

Don't look to closely....  but yes, my pants are starting to rip.......

right before the pants ripped...

Getting our monthly fix of flamenco!

After our night of flamenco and cruising the small streets of sevilla, we had to get home that night and pack our bags for our incredible road trip through southern france!!!!!

Abrazos y El Amor de Dios.

Invitado.

The month of March was a crazy one, but a good one.  3 of the 4 weeks were spent with folks coming to visit!  We had couchsurfers, friends, and family and traveled outside of Sevilla 1/2 the time everybody was here.  Eventually I'm going to get around to making a few photo albums on facebook rather than posting a million photos on the blog... but for now I'll keep posting a million photos...

Our first visitor was Melissa from good 'ol Tejas.  We hosted her for a night and in return she brought us some awesome Texas salsa that maybe lasted 2 days.  It was dee-lish-us.

 

I've actually grown a few inches since being in Spain...

Next up was a veryyyyy special visit!!  We had our breast frand Lyndon, or as I like to call her, Jean Claude Lyn-dan, come to visit us allll the way from Budapest, India... or Bolivia... or Ukraine... or wherever Budapest is... she came from there.  Although we had an incredible time with our friend, we felt a little bad that it rained the ENTIRE time Lyndon was here..... we had great plans for picnics and boat rides, but our time outside the apartment was always accompanied by an umbrella and warm jackets....  Either way, our time was still well spent hanging out watching movies, playing snake on her phone, walking around the wet streets, and of course eating lots churros/glorified funnel cakes with chocolate. 

Lyndon's welcome board.

lsakdjf;asdgfjioreudfjksliutoerjkl  Jean Claudeeee

So European, those two.

The only afternoon with 0 rain.

The 1995 Nokia model.  I beat Lyndon's snake score underwater and then threw the phone off a building and it still worked.

Lyndon after church.  She went cross-eyed from all the Spanish...

Lyndon makin' it rain in Plaza del Salvador.

Watching "The Town" illegally.  Who's who???? hehehehehe.

No more rain. No more rain.  No more rain.

Treating ourselves to a treat b/c of rain.

Lyndon making her gross carrot stuff..... with other gross stuff.  Emma liked it. 

 My favorite part about having guests is always taking them to eat churros.  I'll use any excuse to eat fried dough.

mmmmm fried heart attack... best eatin with a cup of chocolate.

 
If having Lyndon here wasn't fun enough, Dannnn came to visit us for his spring break!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This video ought to show the excitement I was feeling upon his arrival in the Santa Justa Sevilla train station!!!!!!!  Emma and I were pumped to have them both here because it was like one big week long slumber party!

Related brothers throwin' back a cup of joe.

Lover's not in love.

Shortly after Dan's arrival we were quick to get out and have some fun!! So much to do with such little time.

 There are several pretty famous points of interest here in Sevilla and we had yet to see them!  We waited 6 months just so we could go and see it with our best friends!!

Hanging out in the Giralda.

Never scared.

Family pic.

In the cathedral searching for Christopher Columbus' body.

Only on rainy days does a mozart, rat-tail, bird's nest form.

On Lyndon's last day..... the sun finally poked its head out to say "What's up guys? Sorry I was gone for so long.  I hope you didn't mind being wet and cold and tired all the time from the crappy weather without me."

We were obviously overwhelmed with sunshine for atleast 10 minutes.

joyful.

Welp.... on Lyndon's last day here, the weather finally took a turn for the better.... but of course she had to go! 

Adios Lyndon!  We luz ewe here in Sevilla.  See you back in the good 'ol USA!

We were of course super sad Lyndon had to go because we miss our friends and family on a weekly basis, but of course we will see her when we return stateside.  Thanks for coming Lyndon!

Daily happenings.

I think I may take a number from my Sister Say and try to post more on a daily/weekly basis rather than a few huge posts a month....  

I tend to make big ol' fat posts with lots of pictures and sometimes lots of words and then sometimes no words at all....but we'll see how that goes...  I'm finally working on some new stuff from all of the visitors we had in the month of March and I guess I might start having a few more daily thoughts or just filler posts in between the big ol' fat ones.  I've also been brain storming on writing about more topics like.... marriage, culture, our faith... and other important/more interesting things I never write about.  

I probably should have done this a long time ago, but better late than never right?

I blame having too much time and slow internet, but anyways.  Here's to being serious and up-to-date.....

First up, If you are looking for great coffee and donuts look no further than Dunkin' Do...... wait a minute.....   I smell a copy cat......

Feliz Martes y Semana Santa!

Sunny with a high of 85

It's been about 2 weeks since our last load of visitors came to see us here in Spain!  We have been recovering slowly ever since (aka sleeping in and taking lots of naps...)  Also, apart from resting, we have been enjoying the perfect Spring/Summer weather that has finally arrived here in Sevilla!  The last several weeks have been sunny and in the upper 70s.  Sometimes the sun is a little strong, but what better way to battle the sun than with a little bit of FREE ICE CREAM from Ben & Jerry's!  Today, Emmiegirl and I went to indulge in a little 'Phish Food' and 'Cookie Dough.'  We were even tempted to get back in line several times and try every flavor....  but....  we're watching our figures...

Free ice cream and free sunshine are always a great combo.

laskdjf

 

Line going around the block.  Several people were in the line for their 4th go-around. 

Amiguitos!

 The past 2 or 3 weeks we've gotten to hang out with some pretty cool people (and eat lots of good food with them)!!  

One Sunday evening before heading to church, we went over to Jamie and Andrew Goodwin's piso for some sweet Mexican food!!!  You'd be surprised at how many people would ask me, "Wesley, aren't you going to get tired of Mexican food over there?".............   

Mexican = comes from Mexico. Spanish = comes from Spain. Just because they speak Spanish doesn't mean they always eat burritos and enchiladas... Spain is probably one of the last places you will find Mexican food.... we went to Barcelona last weekend and saw a restaurant named "Mi Burrito y Yo" and it was all seafood....

We were dying to get us some great Mexican food and hang out with new friends on top of that!!!  Andy and Jamie were great hosts and have the coolest little piso with there own private terrace right in the heart of the city.  They are also expecting a little chiquitito baby!!  Which is going to be born in Spain in just a few months!  We are super glad to know them!

 

Gofresssss w/ Greek yogurt and rasberry jellllllyy

Chowing down on some sweet desert.

a nice waffle/moustache combo

Sarah was taking the photo!

Here is Jordan always copying me with the dark jeans and dark green jacket combo.  Also the view was nice!!

In the middle of hanging with friends, we had a little Valentine's Day celebration!  It was more of just an excuse for a day of baking in the kitchen because we celebrated our 6 month anniversary/Valentine's day in Barcelona.  I asked our neighbor's what they were doing for the Day of Lovers and he responded by saying that they celebrate everyday by being in love.   Good call.

Thanks America for your easy-bake items.

Look at this Don Juan Casanova.

Only people in Spain with a full-sized oven....

Emma got me some awesomeee chocolate!!!

One evening about 2 weeks ago, we invited our neighbors, Cristina and Pedro, over to help teach us how to cook the infamous Spanish tortilla (basically just potatoes and eggs.. but super special potatoes and eggs).  The difficulty with the Spanish tortilla is that it has a tendency to just come out as scrambled eggs with potatoes if you don't flip it right.... or fall in the floor if you just stink at cooking like the guy writing this blog....

Cristina and Pedro are an awesome pair.  Pedro is an awesome painter and Cristina is another one of our friends expecting a baby in the near future!  They live directly across from us and also have a nice place in the country and have invited us to come visit one day.  Upon my second time of meeting Pedro, I kind of invited myself in their house and found Pedro reading the Bible (which caught me off guard in general) and I asked him randomly if he liked reading it and he responded "Es lo mejor que hay" (It's the best there is!) Blam, right off the bat, we got something cool in common and I knew we'd be friends.

Ladies choppin potatoes.

Barely 3 people fit in our kitchen at a time.  And they only fit in a line.

a;lskdfjaov;ilekrsdfhgsrdfjxavnmoilskdj...  We flipped it right.

master flipper pedro.  and look at my sweet hand posture.

After whipping up a nice meal of Spanish tortilla, Pedro and Cristina took us out for some good ol' friend seafood.  We haven't tried any since we've been here in Sevilla, but you better believe Emma and I will be going back for more. 

Fried Chipirones!  you better believe those are little tentacles.

The night before hitting up Barcelona, our German friends, Albrecht and Francesca, came over for some sweeeet pasta!  They are probably the German version of us!  Albrecht likes music and has a super goofy sense of humor and Francesca is sweet as pie like my little Emmiegirl (but Emmie's the sweetest in the world).  We have been trying to meet up with them ever since our first encounter at church last October.  They study here in Sevilla and have adopted a little cat off the streets named Mookie!  The cool thing about our friendship is that neither of us communicate in our first language!!  They speak German and Spanish and we speak English and Spanish.  We loved talking together because we can all practice our Spanish without shame!  Everything is also funnier when you don't exactly know what you're saying.  They also got married a week before we did and packed up and headed to Sevilla just like us!!  Another reason they are super cool!

awwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

The day we got back from Barcelona, our friends N'SYNC were doing a concert in Sevilla and picked us up at the airport on the way back in to town.  We showed them around town, the usual dirt roads and open cotton fields, and then we taught them how to really wear blue jean jackets and wife-beaters.  I love these guys!  We spent the afternoon laughing and joking like we used to.  I also put highlights in J.C.'s hair on our terrace and we went to Claire's to get Lance's ears pierced.  Later that night, we watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding because Emma loves Joey in that movie....  I gave in because I secretly like him too.... The next morning, before they left, consisted of playing with our Tamagachi's and Pogs and talking about Britney Spears... It was good to hang out with old friends and I even came away with some sweet flair jeans from L.E.I that Chris didn't want anymore.  Hopefully we'll see them again soon...

which one of these doesn't belong??....

I know......
I might actually make more posts about Spain if I didn't spend all my time photoshoppin' myself in random photos..... pero, disfrutan!
Hasta Ahora.....