Semana Santa

Last weekend, we all returned from Spring Break. In Spain, and in most of Europe, Spring Break is taken during Holy Week. For the first half of the break, I went on a mission trip with a group of students from En Vivo. We went to a town called Braga in Portugal to work on a house for Habitat for Humanity. The entire experience was great-- the hospitality, the food, the work, and the gratefulness of the family to receive the house. Most of the work we did was to put up cement to smooth out the interior walls. Our group of 15 was the next to last group to come work on the house. There's one more group of students that is coming from the States to work on the house again and finish it up in time for the dedication on April 24th. All of the food was delicious (and super cheap!). The best, though, might have been “learning” a little bit of Portuguese. It's really similar to Spanish, but with more “sh” sounds. On-site, we learned phrases like bom dia (good day), mais rapido (faster, faster), and mais masa (more cement mix-- used as a question like 'Is there any more cement mixed?' or as a command 'Put more cement here'). All Portuguese was accompanied by lots of repeating, hand motions, and attempts at translating into Spanish or English. At the end of the three days, though, we had gotten more work done than they expected us to complete! Success!
For the second part of Semana Santa, I went to the beach in Valencia with Cassie, one of my roommates and Whitney and Ansley, two of the girls on staff at En Vivo. That was a super relaxing trip-- we cooked in the kitchen of the condo we rented, went to the beach, slept in late, played Phase10, and watched a lot of movies on the couch. Our last day, we went into the city center and met up with an old En Vivo student who's from the area. She showed us around a little bit, and went with us to Starbucks (a special treat, since Salamanca doesn't have one) and to eat lunch. I thought it wa really cool to see how much the staff were still connected with students and former students even after they leave Ssalamanca-- it's like proof that the hard work that gets done at En Vivo really does pay off, and these students really are being invested in and being built up.
Since coming back from all of our trips, we've hit the ground running with all of our normal events, and we've even tried to plan some extras to make the most of the time we have left here! Last night, some of the girls in the ministry taught us how to make sushi. It was delicious, and super easy! We followed dinner up with a dance party in the basement on someone's i Pod, and a game of Sardines. These are the kinds of things that really make memories.


(The first picture is of me and Cassie on the beach in Valencia. The second two are of our group on the worksite, and one is with the family who will receive the house. If the whole picture doesn't show up, just click on it, and it should bring up the whole thing!)