Chastised

Tuesday, the day we get out of class by 11 and have the day to go into Madrid or explore Alcalá. Letty and I had gotten ourselves all cute, told our mamita that we will be gone for lunch, and were ready to get ourselves into Madrid for the whole day!

And then we got an email.

Lucky for us, we knew what was going on before we entered the city- there were demonstrations throughout key metro stops and busy areas in the whole city. And they were dangerous. They were planned, police were going to be there, and we knew where they were. But the metro system could have stopped, and we could have been lost in the crowd, carried off into the land of unhappy Spaniards who are jobless and practically hopeless.

Unlucky for us, our plans were ruined :(

Not so, said a voice in my head! Not a creepy one, a voice with really good ideas and funny pick up lines DUH.

We decided to take the afternoon to go into Guadalajara. There we found a palace now turned museum with artifacts of humanity ranging from 2000 years before Christ to the Spanish Civil war, or the 20^th Century. It was so interesting- a lot of the jewelry looked similar to what women would wear today. How’s that for timeless? “Pay 2 gold pieces now, have a piece that will last 4000 years and still be in style for all of your posterity to fight over!” Sounds like a good deal to me.

Anyways, we got some pastries/giant fudge truffle mountain that looked like a fat finger sticking out of a piece of paper in order to celebrate my older brother’s 24^th birthday, and then paid for our ticket out of Guadalajara, got back to Alcalá, and almost immediately (after relaxing at PamBam and Laura’s house with their mamita whom I love) turned back around and met a group of YSA’s at the train station.

We also met some missionaries, but not any of my friends who are here… That’s okay! Maybe one day, right?! Maybe not, too.

We all got on the train and went into Madrid and sang and danced at a local children’s hospital.

That’ll make you rethink your attitude about life.

These kids were so sick, some of them. But they were so happy. One girl was attached to an IV and in her pajamas, another girl was confined to a wheelchair, and the list goes on. But one thing they all had in common was a huge grin, and they were so enthusiastic about the songs we were singing! My host brother got up there and got them all excited, and then we all came out and did a stomp dance. Then we sang a common children’s song here about being a teacup and a fork (you do actions… it’s fun J). There were songs with actions, follow the leader songs, and even the kids got up and did a skit, and one girl did magic tricks! I was so impressed. And I almost didn’t go because I was ‘tired’ and ‘wanted to watch a movie.’ I should be better. Good thing Letty kicked my butt into gear and got me to go.

Those kids changed my attitude- I will try so hard to be more like them.

Oh, so the title of this post is about the train ride home from Guadalajara, when I had my feet up on the seat across from me and the driver walked in the train and talked to me about respecting the culture and how dirty I was making the seat and how I shouldn’t do that. I don’t handle those situations well… and not knowing what to say, I told him I could clean it. Yeah, he just got huffier after that.

 I guess the positive part of that was that I could understand him, right?! But I can say it feels just as stinky to be chastised in Spanish (even if you’re excited you’re communicating well) as it does in English. Guess I had to find out sometime, right?

All in all… it was a wonderful day :) I am so grateful for those kids. And for a stinky old man who made me think twice about putting my feet up next time.