Mixing it up in Madrid with Justin

My 5th graders just recently had an exam on the geological features of Spain. They learned that the highest peak in the country is actually not on the Iberian Peninsula. Rather, El Teide reaches 3718 meters into the sky, defining the island of Tenerife. My kids asked me what it was like from the top, an answer I was happy and fortunate enough to give from my personal account on from the top of Teide. It was awesome. But I wasn’t alone in marvelling at the giant crater from the wind blown and snow-capped peak. Justin—yep, my Justin, the man I’m going to marry in 5 months—was right there with me to take in the beauty of God’s awesome creation. But I’m getting ahead of myself…

My sparse blog entries would normally bother me, since it indicates that I haven’t been taking advantage of my time living in Europe. However, as my previous entry posted in February mentions, this winter has been characterized by my normal routine of living in Madrid. Yet, March certainly has shaken things up and brought many new exciting adventures and visitors.

On the morning of Friday, March 5, I made a trip to the Madrid Barajas airport in order to greet my fiancé. For the following five days, Justin was immersed in my “normal life” here in Madrid. We met up with my friends on several occasions, going out to our favourite restaurants, doing a bit of dancing at Sol y Sombra, and making dinner at SK’s house. For the second time, Justin visited the Community Church of Madrid, and to no surprise, Pastora Cathy welcomed him by name once we arrived. I also took Justin to my last volleyball game of the season, and the girls were all quite silly to know that my marido futuro was watching us from the stands. Since Justin had already been to Madrid, we didn’t feel like we had to do a lot of “touring” around town. However, we did manage to stroll through both the Prado Museum and the Reina Sofia Museum while he was here. Of course, no trip to Madrid is complete without strolling through Retiro Park; so, we found some time to do that, too.

Unfortunately, the weather was cold and rainy during most of his time in the city… but we did enjoy a walk about Plaza Mayor and the Puera del Sol.

I think what Justin and I enjoyed most about his time in Madrid were his days spent at school with me and his involvement in all my private lessons. The kids, especially my 3rd graders, loved him and loved asking him questions. For example: What’s your favourite food? When’s your birthday? What’s your favourite animal? When are you getting married? How much do you love Laura? In addition to being bombarded with questions for several days, Justin was also showered with gifts from the kids, and his pockets were filled with origami tricks and other trinkets.

One moment I really enjoyed happened during a 5th grade class. Justin was sitting quietly at an empty desk, perusing through a really cool Encyclopedia. One by one, some of the kids drifted over towards him to read over his shoulder. Within four minutes, Justin was surrounded by a dozen kids. They didn’t really care about the book (I mean, it stays in the classroom and I look at it more than they do…), but they did want to be around the tall, blonde American visitor in the room. It was cute.

Our time spent in my private classes was equally as endearing. We had two days with the twins and their parents, Marisa and Javier. Marcos and Aitor turned 5, and so Justin and I brought them some new toy cars and motorcycles to add to their seemingly never-ending collection (which is partly my fault, I suppose). I read Dr. Seuss’ Go, Dog, Go to all three boys, and I think Justin enjoyed it as much as the twins. In my “Big Kids Classes,” Justin was grilled again on all his favourite things and on his knowledge of mine. After my fourth graders Andrea and Andrea quizzed Justin, they begged us to re-enact our proposal story for them. We humoured them, but I refused to grant their requests that Justin and I kiss in front of them. I was grateful to have Justin visit for a week of tutoring classes, because it was a great way to get the kids to work on their conversation skills… and it made my job easy!

Justin got another good look at my life in Madrid, something I consider very special to be able to share with him. Yet, that wasn’t all I had planned for him…