It was the Best of Times, it was the Worst of Times!

So here I sit, next to a woodstove, in the mountains of Spain an hour away from France, with Sarah using my leg as a foot stool and Melanie trying her hardest to figure out the four by four Rubik’s Cube. Beth just walked in the door after trying to find gas for the house that we are currently staying at (more on that later). I will start by telling you how we got here.
Christmas Eve morning, Sarah and I headed for the train station, with four bags and a random box (containing Beth's Christmas presents from her family). Once the two of us got to the station we sat for an hour until Melanie, Marlene, Daniella, and Amy arrived. We boarded the train with four minutes to spare. Beth and Irma were not there as they had to take the car with the food.
After a two hour train ride we arrived in the town of San Quirze de Besora. As we were getting off the train Beth called to let us know that at that moment she and Irma were lost - they were a mere 40 km. away from France! We waited in a square in the center of town until Beth got there and we loaded all of our stuff in the car. On the car ride to the house, we had story time, and Beth recounted, as we marvelled at the scenery, all that had happend during her first drive up to the house with some of the women from the church earlier that week. Her tale included almost falling off a cliff, driving up and down the lane that was just past the correct drive way, and yelling for a woman named Amelia, (they never did find Amelia, but luckly they found the house). We were greeted by a beautiful veiw of mountains and small stucco houses built into the mountain. The sun was shining on the houses and the surrounding montains, making it almost too warm for a coat. However, inside the house was a different story - we knew it would be a long three days if we didn't get the fire going, or the heat turned on. We had to wear our coats inside as opposed to outside - it was freezing! After dumping our stuff off, we started preparing for the weekend - Beth attempted to start the fire while Melanie, Sarah and I helped put up Christmas lights.
Now, some cultural differences - the Latin American culture has a really big Christmas dinner at 11:00 on Christmas Eve and then at midnight they open presents. Unfourtunatly by 10:00 Sarah started getting sick so she wasn't able to eat dinner. After supper we prayed for Sarah and she started feeeling a little better but just wanted to go to bed. We thought that Beth should go ahead and open up the package from her family even though it techniqly was not the 25th (sorry Linda, but Sarah and I wanted to have the satisfaction of seeing her open the box we had to lug through the metro station). Just after Beth opened her present we were all called out of our room to open presents from our host family. We were given a brand new wallet that perfectly matched our personalities. The team took a few minutes to exchange gifts with each other - some had managed to travel with them stuffed in their suitcases all the way from PA! Dessert and a Christmas Day toast followed, with bed not too far behind.
Christmas Day was filled to the brim - cooking meals, hiking mountains and receiving much desired Christmas Day phone calls from family. Every day was ended by sitting next to the fire reading books, doing rubix cubes and crossword puzzles, and enjoying each others company. It was a different feel for Christmas Day - as we didn't have all of the hullabaloo that encompasses Christmas back home...just a bunch of friends in a random house, with goats and sheep as neighbors...and some hot cocoa. It was perfect.
Christmas Day was wonderful - however the day after Christmas brought...calamity after calamity. The hot water heater stopped working which meant cold showers for most - Beth and Melanie somehow escaped the torture... And I being the graceful ballerina that I am, slipped on the floor in the bathroom and sprained my ankle... We ran out of gas (I mentioned this part earlier) which in turn sent Beth, and 3 others on a wild goose chase across 4 various "pueblos" in search of Gas... only problem being the day after christmas is ALSO a holiday in Spain so nothing was open and no one was selling. On the bright side - the house actually DID have gas...and Beth got to visit the monastery she had hoped to see while in town. We lost power for a few minutes, and continued with no hot water.
Overall we had a great 3 days and we were so blessed by our new friends and the new traditions that we got to experience. Thanks go out to our devoted families who called us on Christmas Day - it meant the world and more.

Lots of love to family and friends!!

Audrey