10-9-11

Today, we returned from our weekend camping trip. It is kind of funny, and kind of not; they "invited" us to go, but told us that the dorms would be closed, so we couldn't really stay. It was either go, or stay in a hostel for two nights. Oh well. Despite the lovely invitation, the trip was very nice. The camp was right on the water's edge- you literally go right out the gate, across the street, and you are in the sand. We just moseyed on over plenty of times. That beach could easily be the prettiest beach I've ever seen in my life. I am not joking. The pictures really don't do it justice; clear water, white sand, two different shades of clear blue water, plenty of flat rocks to skip, interesting shells to look at, plenty of volleyball, and basketball courts, and of course, plenty of date trees.

 On the first night, one of the teachers found out that I play guitar, so I got a sweet invitation to play about 20 minutes before worship. I really don't mind playing with 20 minutes warning, but this time, all of the songs are in Spanish. Much to my delight, they turned out to be the same praise songs I know in English- in Spanish. The song service went great, and we had an amazing time after worship singing other praise songs, oldies, and camp songs. I never knew learning those camp songs would be so useful. We had an amazing round of 'We are Soldiers' going, and I was the leader, but the only problem was that you are suppose to stand up and yell something in English, and I kept picking the Spaniards. Despite this, we still had a great time, and a great finish with 'I like bananas'.

For cabins, or Caban~as as they are called here, it was definitely a bonding experience. Each 'cabin' had three dividers, so it was really three rooms inside a cabin, even though they said they had 21 cabins. Each room had two stories (sounds pretty good so far, right?), but wait, there's more; there were no bunk beds, or any beds of any sort at all. All there were were two stories of flat ground just wide enough for three single mattresses to fit side by side... on the floor. Still sounding good? It gets even better. Three single mattresses for each story, two stories. Quick math will tell you 6 people per room, right? Wrong. We had 8 people in our cabin, and some cabins had even more than we did. What was worse is that there are still traces of a cold going around, and one of the guys in my cabin still had it, or possibly had it, and I didn't want to risk it. I brought my hammock with the intention of setting it up between two trees and taking a Sabbath siesta, but it turned out, I slept in my hammock for two nights. I slept very well, and very alone thank you very much.

This hammock thing was good for me, but it became a problem for the rest of my compan~eros on the last night. My hammock blocked the exit to the room, so guys had to duck under me, or in Berney the giant's case, just step over me. The problem came when on Sabbath sometime, no one really knows for sure how, or when, but either the water was bad, or the kitchen served something that didn't quite agree with us, but the epidemic of diarrhea hit our camp over the night- and I mean all of our camp- about 300 strong, running to the toilets at all ours of the night- literally. Besides hindering the others in my cabin from relief, I got off sort of easy. I woke up in my hammock refreshed at 9 o'clock in the morning, but within about two minutes of waking up, I felt a pain in my stomach I have never felt before. Originally, I thought I just had to pee really bad, so I got up out of bed and started walking to the bathrooms. The problem is that the bathrooms are about 100 yards or so from the cabins, and about half way there, my swift walk turned into a waddle, and I realized then that it wasn't peeing that needed to happen. About 20 yards from the bathroom, someone started talking to me, so of course I felt the need to be polite, so I walked with them, even though I felt like making a very mad dash. On our way to the restrooms, someone asked us if we were sick, because over half of the camp was. They never said what kind of sick, so I said no, I just figured I needed to poop really bad and that was it. I was afraid over half the camp caught a cold or something else contagious, and I started to panic a little inside. When I finished my business, I talked with others who said that everyone had the diarrhea bug, and the worst part was that since everyone needed to visit Mrs. Murphy, or Sen~or John if you prefer, so frequently, that toilet paper was very scarce. I found this hard to believe, because there was a roll just sitting there for me at 9 in the morning. I wasn't lucky about the dirahrrea thing, but I was lucky that I had toiley paper, and I didn't have to get up three times in the night like my compan~ero, Walter, did. Well, it was quite the experience- all of it, the whole weekend.

One of our teachers told us of a Medieval market that was taking place tonight in Sagunto. Eric biked, and Josh and I walked. Speaking of bikes, I made a friend here who has a road bike that is broken, and he said that if I fix it, I can have it for the year. The short story on that is that it could cost 50 euros to fix the bike, but that is much better than 350 euros for a new one. Anyways, back to the Medieval market, Josh and I went with the sole purpose of finding the sword booth, and buying an authentic, or replica Spanish war sword. I was disappointed that they didn't have any weapon booths, but it was still a very neat experience. They had many booths with jewelry, toy swords, candy, food, rocks, and bonsai plants. You know, I never really got into bonsai plants, but hey, when I finally finish that puzzle my parents gave me for my birthday, I will have time to take up a new hobby. The only problem with my rational was that the cheapest bonsai plant was 15 euros, and that one was kind of ugly. The really good looking ones were 60, 75, and even 80 euros- for a sapling that someone took a pare of scissors to. I will make my own bonsai plant thank you very much. Maybe a tangerine tree, a fig tree, or one of those pine saplings you can get at the L.A. County Fair for free will do the trick. We turned onto a street that had food. Lots and lots of food. Namely, meat; Sausages, ribs, T-Bones, wings, whole legs of pigs, steaks, and of course whatever the delicacies they have here that you couldn't pay me enough to try. Also, they had a bakery with a bread loaf that was at least as big around as a medium pizza at Pizza Hut, and was about 6 inches tall in the center. You would need a gallon of olive oil just to dip that puppy, but of course since olive oil is one of the few mainstays of food supplies here, that won't be a problem. That is one thing I am contemplating, if oil is $30 for a gallon of the good stuff back home, would it be worth stuffing my carry-on with maybe two or three that might add up to $30 when I return home in June? Well, I have another 7-8 months to convince myself that that is a bad idea, but honestly, I am so tired right now, it almost seems practical. On our way out, I found a rock shop with a really nice brick of pyrite for 5 euros. I bartered with the lady to give it to me for 4, and went on my way. Brian Jacques would be proud. My souvenirs for this trip to date include postcards, flipflops, a handtowel, and a brick of pyrite. I still don't have a sword, but I will work on that at the next festival.

Well, it has been a great day, and a great weekend. It is 12:20am here, and I have homework still to do.
hasta el proximo vez...