where there's a will, there's a way! the blog about spain.

so the blog about spain!

i dont have an iphone or ipad,

but i do have my proper camera, jenny's laptop, and lovely down time..

so here is what spain was!!!

when i first realised my backpack was stolen, the first thing i thought was 

"how am i going to write my blog?!"

oh man.

i love writing.

i love to hide myself away and just let my fingers move across the keyboard.

i don't know, - one of those weird things that make you feel refreshed and alive at the same time.

a bit like body boarding.

but

where there's a will, there's a way :)

i've found myself a laptop and a card reader,

but im not an apple girl so i dont know how to edit photos and make them look special.

so these photos are all natu - ral.

let's begin.

 last week was one of the most difficult weeks of my travelling life.

or perhaps even of my life!

never before have i been challenged in almost every area of my life

mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually ..

i've never hungered so much to spend time alone with God. 

it was a week of sifting and testing and refining to see what was in my heart,

to see whether my faith and convictions would falter..

and i was so humbled.

 my backpack was stolen in barcelona train station while we waited for our train to pamplona.

 i lost everything valuable (cash, cards, ipad, iphone) except my passport (praise God!).

so not only did i have to sort out all the logistics in a non-english speaking country,

but i was also on a party tour and out of contact with my like minded friends. 

phew.

as a christian, i see and process most things differently to others.

this is fine, most of the time.

i don't really feel that it's hard to stand for something most people consider irrelevant..

in fact, most people respect that you stand for something at all.

it's pretty easy to be a christian in the comfort zone of your own friends (christian and non christian)

when i travel,

i meet so many different people with very varied beliefs, ideas and views on the world.

while i obviously believe that Christ alone is the truth,

i love to hear other people's beliefs and their experiences.

through the lense of my faith, i view everybody with intrinsic worth and value. 

and i pray to speak life and encouragement and hope into everybody i meet on my travels - to somehow show them that they are valuable and loved.

translating this into a standard travelling trip,

 i love to spend time with people, - talk, laugh, have fun, have a few drinks, dance,

 but out of respect for God and the body He gave me, 

i'm not going to get drunk,

and i'm not going to hook up with people.

i see trials, obstacles, delays, accidents as opportunities sent to refine our character, 

times that we have access to special graces of peace, joy, confidence.

and since i'm on a lifelong journey of faith,

trials  are almost to be expected for me as a christian.

my treasure isn't found in this world - in my posessions or in things going right all the time,

my treasure is Jesus and my faith in Him.

so therefore, i can have nothing but posess everything.

and most places i am in, people either understand that or respect that.

but this tour was a party tour, and travellers sometimes aren't as insightful on party tours

and after the second night, i was completely exhausted. 

perhaps i'll begin with the flight into barcelona. 

luckily, i mixed up the times that the airport shuttle was leaving and i got to the shuttle 1.5 hours early ..

because the airport shuttle then left 30 minutes early.

at checkin, i realised i had accidentally booked only 15 kilos of luggage for my suitcase.

 and my electronic devices and toiletries weighed 12 kilos.

i had to drag my suitcase to the side and literally place on every item of clothing i had.

i had my long pijama pants wrapped around my neck. 

at first, it was humerous.

then i got hot and felt a bit flustered. 

ryan air waits for nobody and time was ticking away.

as i walked through security - the security ladies snapped at me in german, motioning me to take it all off.

i began, and when they saw it was to take a while,

they took my passport and trayed things and whisked me to a private room.

there, they spoke to me in irritated fast german.

i told them i only spoke english and they began to say "what are you doing? who are you travelling with? what is that sticking out of your belt?" 

(it was three books!)

overwhelmed, i began to cry and apologised, trying to explain the situation to them.

thankfully, this seemed to elicit some compassion from them 

and they tried to soothe me and reassure me i shouldn't miss my flight yet

(ryan air waits for nobody)

they then frisk searched me,

 and scanned all my clothes before they let me put them back on.

when i was finally in the air to barcelona, i fell asleep in exhaustion. 

i never sleep on planes.

then i arrived into the wrong airport.

1.5 hours later on a bus, i arrived into barcelona main station and figured out how to get to the joining hotel for my tour.

everybody had already gone out for dinner, so i wandered around the city by myself,

and took some last instagram pictures! (unknowingly, of course!)

when i got back to the hotel around 11pm

i met the rest of my tour group.

5 guys who lived and worked in vegas,

one girl from canada

and 3 older couples.

apart from the older ones,

this was a party tour and at midnight, we were to mark the first night of the tour on the town.

i politely declined because i was absolutely shattered, but maybe tomorrow.

the next day, i wandered around with the older couples (everybody else was hung over in bed)

and our tour guide, marcello.

marcello became my best friend in spain. 

we went for dinner here, and i had seafood paella with sangria! mmm :)

this has been under construction ever since it began, nearly one hundred years ago! 

apparently the architect wanted to pass on a legacy. 

and thats all the photos i have of barcelona.

the rest are in my iphone, which you know, got stolen.

after a day and a half in barcelona, we caught the train to pamplona to watch the running of the bulls.
 we were waiting in the barcelona train station and had half an hour to spare.
elisabeth, the canadian girl, and i went to a cafe to sit and have a coffee.

with a glass window to my left,

and my backpack next to my right leg on the floor,
we were facing eachother and talking away.

we were just talking about how things get stolen in spain,

and i looked down to make sure my backpack was there.

it was :)

10 minutes later, we got up to meet the others to board our train.

my backpack was gone.

i thought it was a joke.
elisabeth was facing me and she hadnt seen anybody come anywhere near us. 

i looked around, and there were families staring at me.

i asked them what happened, where did it go?

they all shook their heads and kept staring.

WEIRD!

elisabeth was sitting opposite me, she didnt see anybody come from any direction.

WHAT THE HECK?

slowly, 

it hit me.
my backpack really has been stolen.

the world started to spin and i felt my legs go jelly,
i felt like the ground was about to swallow me up.

my packpack was stolen.

i ran outside, i ran inside but i didnt see anything. 

just people shopping and tugging their suitcases past me as though nothing had happened. 

WHAT IS HAPPENING?!?!

i ran to my tour guide (elisabeth stayed with my suitcase)

and breathless, still looking around, said "my backpack, its gone. 

its got everything. all my cash, all my cards, my passport, my iphone, my ipad"

(at the time, i thought id packed my passport into my backpack)

he sent everbody onto the train and tried to explain to me that we needed to leave,

that i wouldnt find it here now, it was gone.

i nodded slowly and understood
 and we boarded the train.
it is SO bizarre to leave somewhere without everything valuable.
  i then used marcello's phone to cancel all my cards and arranged with my family to sort out my phone and arrange for money to be wired to me in pamplona.

i had nothing. no euroes. no cards.

i couldn't even buy a sandwich! 

but thankfully, one of the older couples gave me some money, which was really great. 

but it was surreal.

but once all those immediate logistics had been sorted out,

i sat down in my seat and just stared out the window, processing.

i prayed, and felt peaceful calm wash over me.

"it's ok. i am in control. i will amply supply all your needs."
God was reassuring me.
i had confidence that God was in control, i had no need to worry.

there is always a higher purpose for such things.

i had joy that God would be working behind the scenes to make sure i would be ok. 

and oh my, he did. 

we arrived into pamplona that afternoon, and we bought all our white and red gear ready for the bull fights and run.

then we went to watch the bull fight.
man versus bull... a bloody, painful showdown. 

well.
sitting in the grandstands of that stadium, i had one of those awful moments of realisation

"did i really pay to see this!?"
there are two festivals i've always had in my head that i thought would would be cool to see:
1) running of the bulls in spain
2)carnival in south america.

i had no idea the actual traditions of this spanish festival.

only a few months ago, i was staring out at the colloseum in rome,

disgusted that anybody could watch people and animals being slaughtered for pleasure.

regardless of tradition. slaughtering anything for crowd pleasure was sick.

and here i was,

sat in the grandstands of a bull ring,

thousands of people around me pouring wine over every other person...

watching 

 matadores pierce the backs of bulls with long sword-like needles

until the bull was so weak, that they called in the elite matadour to deal the final blow.

the bull was in a terrible state by this stage - coughing up blood and other such things.

until finally, the bull died.

the trumpets sounded and the bull was dragged out of the ring in and in came the new bull.

i just couldn't process it!!

but what i did know that my hair and clothes were all matted and stained red from all the wine everybody poured over eachother!
we sat watching it drinking wine and coke,
or wine and fruit juice.
i didn't like the wine and coke, so freely threw it on the guy behind me that was soaking me.

after the bull fight, 

everybody stays out partying till 8am the next morning to go run with the bulls.
despite me explaining my rational for not wanting to get drunk,

i also couldn't be convinced to stay out partying because i also had no money :)

so elisabeth, marcello and i wandered the streets until midnight, eating spanish olives and spanish hot dogs, joining the street festivities

and getting more wine thrown on us.

the next morning, we went to a private owned balcony to watch the running of the bulls.
click here to see what we saw

(since i was too scared to bring my camera haha)

the whole crowd, the atmosphere,

it was actually INSANE.

but in all honesty - i was somewhat tempted to do it myself the next day!

if i had of been out with elisabeth that next night,

or had an iphone to wake me up,

i probably would have been convinced to do it too.

lucky for you mum, i lost my backpack :)

so i slept in the next day and didn't see it. 

but marcello and i were having our own adventure trying to find every western union office in pamplona,

and so when i saw this statue,

well i thought i'd take the chance to go run!

marcello also told me that if you drink from the drinking fountains in spain,

you are to find your true love.

i told him he was lying,
but i still tried it anyway.

san churros and spanish hot chocolate for breakfast

after pamplona,
it was san sebastian.

here there was a beach, AND a balcony!

growing up by the beach,

i feel like i come home when i'm back there.

no matter where in the world i am, i just feel at home when im by the beach.

after the crazy, confusing times in pamplona, 

i felt like i could breathe again. 

we went out for dinner
(those of us who weren't hungover)

 

the next morning,

i grabbed a latte and wandered down to the beach for some quiet time.

 

as i mentioned before, 

i never needed to press so deeply into my faith to remember 

who i was,

what i stood for 

and why..

as much as i did this past week.

it's so easy when you are around like minded people to live a certain way.

but what if you are completely isolated from them?

what if around your new company,

you feel weird and like an alien?

what if it's easier and more logical to give into temptation 

to "be normal" and go along with your new company?

well,

you really learn to treasure the times alone with the source of your life. 

wandering san sebastian, though,

i just couldn't get away from the bulls!!

san sebastian had this statue of Jesus on a hill which overlooked the old and new city

well the next day we hiked up to the statue

and had a realllllllly nice lunch!

we went out for meals and drinks a few more times in san sebastian,

until the last morning where elisabeth, marcello and i rose up at 5.30am to watch the sun rise over san sebastian

(a bit later than denmark sunrise!)

well. it was a good idea at the time.

finally, on the fifth day we rode the bus to bilbao.

and i got another balcony!!

see that elation.

i love spanish food.
paella, tapas .. mm i could eat them all day.

we went to the gugenheim museum

and just wandered 'round

the tour ended on the 14th,

and most of everybody flew out early that morning.

i had decided to stay an extra day in spain, 

so i hung out by myself, did some serious reflecting and processing,

 and took pictures!!

i was sat on the grass reading,

when a man approached me and asked me if he could buy me a coffee.
marcello! could it be true? could i find my true love in spain?!
nein.
he was a bit old and had this weird, cloudy glaze over his eyes.
so i thanked him but politely declined because i was flying out soon ..

but not before i took a sneaky snap of him!

but that reminded me! 

that morning, 

the guy at the hotel reception gave me a container of lollies for my day!

when i asked him whether he wanted the container back,

he said no, i could have his heart. 

:) 

haha

ridiculous!

i had one last sunset meal (9.30pm) with a very non alcoholic drink and mused over the week. 

the next morning,
i had my rye bread breakfast on the canal
(familiarity of good times are good for the soul)

(still keeping you denmark)
and i hit the shops early to post some post cards and do some shopping.

i saw this spy shop - these things DO EXIST!!

they had everything! 

from pens, to sunglasses, keychains all with little cameras with them!

and then i took my flight to zurich!

i must admit -
when i was flying out of bilbao, i was another silent tearful mess.

the past week was such a faith and character testing time.

from having everything valuable (except my passport) stolen from me, to trying to maintain friendly distance with flirty, charming travellers, from not giving into temptation to drink more than i had decided in my heart and to be completely isolated from anybody who thinks similar as me- i was completely and utterly exhausted.

and i was so glad it was over.

don't get me wrong - it was a great trip . . . marcello and i became the best of friends as we tackled western unions and federal police stations

and elisabeth was a great buddy too!

and spain is so incredibly beautiful - i'd love to go back there and maybe do a master program there..

but man.

it was over.

i realised this week that i am so weak in and of myself.
i desperately needed God to fill me with confidence in who i was,
what i stood for
and why.
i  devoured the books of peter, corinthians and romans
and felt so strengthened in knowing and explaining why i lived as i did as a christian.
i am only strong because God makes me strong,
it is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with me!
i am so weak!
and i was so humbled.
i am who i am by the grace of God.

i love the life i have in relationship with God.
there's no other way i want to live.
no religion, no rules, just relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
i am fulfilled in every way.
it was good for me to be so tested and tried,
i feel it made me even more determined in the way i've chosen to live my life.

i never want to be a half christian,
- one foot in the door of faith, one foot in the door of my fleshly desires.
half hearted faith is not strong enough to withstand temptation when your on your own.
and when you're sold out in your faith - oh the richness of life.
i pray to always be completely surrendered to God.

not doing certain things or being around certain circles
 may exclude or isolate me from meeting certain types of people,
but the people i meet instead - i consider them kings and queens.
objectively, they are no better no worse -they are just different people.

but processing everything on the plane,
i was exhausted!

i pretty much collapsed into jennys arms at the airport in zurich!

it's funny - we were sat on her bed eating a salad and drinking camile tea

and i was pouring out to her everything i had kept pent up all week.

jenny isn't a christian (if you will)

and after a while she said

 "kate, didn't you just know that God was in control the whole time!?"

and i felt taken by complete surprise. 

why yes, of course i felt like that.

 i realised that all last week i'd felt such resistance to sharing anything of that nature,

i  couldn't be myself and talk like that freely.

i had tried to say things like that aloud,

but it most definately was not heard nor understood.

and here was jenny just speaking out the words!

i felt like i was slowly able to come out of this prison,

but i felt timid and shy...

but by the end of the conversation we were talking all about God 

and his good plans that are beyond our understandings!!!

thank you jenny!!

i felt refreshed and alive and myself again. 

she is working every day so we hang out for half days.

in the other times,

i explore zurich by myself.

and spend time with her when she's off work

today i caught a bus to the outer mountains and wandered back into the city.

i was pretty much heidi.

i have a whole bunch of zurich photos,

but i think this blog will too long if i upload them. 

ha!

(as if its not already long enough!!)

last night jenny took me out for dinner to a place where the meals were all named hollywood films.

we got sophie's choice as an appetiser (tapas)

and road to el do rado (enchiladas) for main.

jenny and i love mexican food. 

but zurich is amazingly pretty, clean and peaceful.

downtown,

it feels a bit like your walking around claremont.

i told jenny that everybody here is very smart and good looking.

she said well thats because you need to be rich to live here. 

ha!

zurich has their own bin bags.

you need to buy specially made bin bags from zurich and then put them into the special zurich bins.

if you're caught putting any old plastic bag or rubbish in the zurich bin,

watch out, 

you're facing a $50 fine!

ha!

i fly out of zurich tomorrow morning for athens.

then i'll start my sailing tour around the greek islands.

this may actually be my last blog -

unless i write one when i get home about greece.

..

because i defiantely wont have access to anybodys laptop before i fly home!

oh wow!!!!!

my last blog?!?!

i may find somewhere in athens before i fly home to write a post for the sake of it.

and i just love to write.

ok well,

aufederson, hej hej, au revoir!

i  shall talk soon.

xx