Labyrinth

I have tried to describe what the walled city of Toledo looks like but I was unable to load the pictures, which are really the best way for me to describe the tiny streets that barely fit a car and the labyrinth of walls and alleys that take you in a maze of circles.
Today is Sunday and since we did not go with the group trip to Andalucia, probably a good thing since I am sick with a Gastro-Intestinal bug Jackie and I decided to go to church. I am not Catholic but I love the churches here. They have amazing architecture and history. Well Jackie and I had no clue what we were in for. She said it would be a small service about 30 minutes held in one of the 40 chapels inside. Well we got there and it was massive and insane. The entire church was filled up in the main hallway. After much confusion we finally figured out where to get chairs from and set up camp. There were plasma TVs on all the pillars to view the event. Today would be a full mass that lasted 4 hours for the ordination of 24 deacons and Priests. There were Cardinals, nuns and Bishops everywhere. I didn't feel so bad being in the back since we were sitting next to a nun. Jackie was able to relate to more of it than I was but being Lutheran there were still a lot of similarities, the Apostles creed was said and the Nuevo Padre is the Lord's Prayer. Alleluia and Amen are also the same in English and Spanish so I got that part. Below is a reference of what traditions we witnessed today for those of you that are Catholic and want to brush up on the tradition of the making of a Priest. It was actually very interesting for me since I am not Catholic to see this ritual. Jackie also had never seen this before and she attended Catholic School so I figured this was a rare cultural experience.
What is ordination?


Ordination is the sacramental ceremony in which a man becomes a deacon, priest or bishop and enabled to minister in the name of Christ and His Church. There are three ordinations in the Sacrament of Holy Orders: deaconate, priesthood and episcopacy (bishop). The ordination ceremony includes various rituals that are rich in meaning and history, such as the prostration, the laying on of hands, the anointing of the hands, the giving of the chalice and patton and the sign of peace.

Who can ordain priests?
Only a bishop can ordain a priest because as a successor to the Apostles, he shares in the ministry of Jesus passed on through those same Apostles.


What is the meaning of the laying on of hands?


By this ritual, the ordaining bishop and the other priests invoke the Holy Spirit to come down upon the man being ordained, giving him a sacred character and setting him apart for ministry in the Church.
Why does the man becoming a priest lie prostrate on the floor during the ordination?
Within the ordination rite the man being ordained lies prostrate during the Litany of Saints and the prayer that follows it. It symbolizes his unworthiness for the office to be assumed and his dependence upon God and the prayers of the entire Christian community to be successful in his new ministry.
What is the meaning of the newly ordained priest receiving the stole and chasuble?


These are vestments which pertain to his office and have symbolic meaning. The stole symbolizes the authority and responsibility to serve in imitation of Christ. It reflects the line from the Scripture: "For my yoke is easy, and my burden light" (Matthew 11:30). The chasuble is the principal garment of the priest celebrating the Eucharist and is the outermost vestment. In wearing it the priest is reminded that he is called to love all people as Christ did in a sacramental manner and it reflects the line from Scripture: “Put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:24).


What does the anointing of the hands signify?
Anointing with oil stems from the Old Testament and indicates that someone or something is being set apart for a sacred task or duty. The anointing of the hands signifies that the hands of the newly ordained priest are being prepared for the sacred duties and vessels which will be part of the priestly ministry - offering the bread and wine, anointing the sick and blessing people. As he anoints the hands of the man being ordained the bishop says: "The Father anointed our Lord Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. May Jesus preserve you to sanctify the Christian people and to offer sacrifice to God."

The Office

How many hours a day do I work, well lets see. Depends on where I work if I am in a union hospital I get mandated breaks in a 12 hour shift I will work a total of 11 hours plus overtime if any. If it is military or non union then I work 12 hours plus overtime with usually a 20-30 minute break, however I can not go off the floor easily, If I go to the cafeteria I spend about 10 minuites of my break time in line getting food and waiting for the elevator. Often by the time I get time to get a break the cafeteria is closed or there is not another nurse that can watch my children. Now obviosly there is down time but that doesn't mean that I am mentallly not at work still. So here in Spain I am having my taste at life in an office. although work here is very different. There is buisness occuring in the morning and then there is a coffee break everyone pilled into the bosses office after a meeting to eat a typical marzapan pastry....typical event to the US. However a few hours later I was asked by one of my officemates if I wanted to go get coffee. I actually don't drink coffee but I thought I should give it a whirl and time to practice speaking. So we went for a stoll and sat a had a nice cup of cafe con leche. About 30 minutes past and we got to go back to work. This is what I do every day I arrive at 9 or 10, drink coffee, do some work and then go for coffee, then kinda work then go home. So by the time I leave at 2pm I am fully wired since I do not drink coffee, so no siesta for me. Very familiar to most. This is when all the shops and stores and buisnesses takes a break from about 2pm-4pm. Then back to work for some not all and done around 6 or 7pm. I really need to adopt this rule, 30 minute chill time and a nap...hmmm I wonder if that would fly at home?

Retarded in a sense

This is a video from our first week in Toledo at the fundacion. This is our cafeteria where many so called spanish foods are served. Often there is food from a week ago that end up in the cold salad bar for us to pick at till it is gone. Jared as you know I am not a fan of recycled meals. This would be the perfect example of my disgust with left overs. Honey your left overs are much more tolerable!

Lets see it has been crazy and I have had little time to journal. My days are over almost before they begin it seems. because of the short summer session I have class twice in one day. I have class everyday but the weekend which includes Fridays. I will tell you a little about my job in Toledo at the Red Cross, this is my internship class. I work in a small office with 12 people. They find little odd and end Jobs for me to do while I am around but some days it has been a bit unorganized and there is nothing to do. Other times I think they are just creating work so I can do something. Because of my lack of completely understanding Spanish, it takes a few minute for them to explain what it is they want me to do. I ask a lot of simple questions to make sure I am doing what they want me to do. Which If I had said them in English you would think I was retarded. Anca explained that she wanted me to organize the files of volunteer application by the location. You would think this would be an easy task. But after I completed that I cam back and she explained to do something else, but I didn't quiet get the whole Idea, So I asked her in my best Spanish, "I put these in order yes?" She said yes, and then said something else that I did not understand and pointed to two matching sheets. Mind you these papers are from all the way back in 1993, not sure why they need them anyway. Anyway, so I asked her again just to be sure, So I put them in order then I match them and throw out the extra paper. She said what I thought was a definite," Bale!" Which is like saying yes here! So Off I went however some of the papers are photocopied so are those extra papers I can through,, Good grief I really was not sure what I was supposed to be doing anyway, but I had already asked her to make sure. So I organized the files with the copies still attached, ....I had to ask her about throwing the copies away, she did not want me to throw them.... I organized these papers by city, my red cross location and my year and I matched up all their paperwork.....When I finally finished doing this I was sure I had it right, She laughed and said that I was an over achiever because I had gone way above the organization she had intended..... Oh well I guess it filled my required time, why was I doing that I still have no clue...

Anyway that is not what I meant to go into a tangent about. But I thought It was funny how something that is so simple to explain in your own language can take so much extra time to explain to someone that does not get it in another language. Even after all the clarification, I still did not understand the fundamental concept of why I was doing the job they asked and what I was really supposed to be doing. Honestly I am still not sure 100% I did what she asked, but she smiled at me and said I did a good job so either I am all good or I am retarded!

Arriving in Toledo-The game of Charades

I am a few days behind in keeping people updated, I have been in Spain for almost 2 weeks now I think. It has been a challenging and amazing experience already. There is so much that has happened in the last week. Besides getting back on the school bus and assimulating into college life again, I am getting immersed in the Spanish culture here in Toledo. Toledo is a historic town that has many tourists, it is in the middle of the country and has many farms around the perimeter of the countryside. It has a large wall that surrounds the center of the town and there is a large river that runs along side it.
It is very hilly here, walking is challenging because of the cobble stone streets and the steep streets, the streets are very little they fit a small car with a bit of walking room on each side, but you have to be quick to jump in a doorway when cars come by as they drive fast and don't seems to wait for you to move out of the way. There are many dents on the sides of these cars. I am living in the hostel right now, I have my own room and bath, it is a really nice like a little hotel that is 3 stories and has AC. The fundacion is up a steep stairway about a 3 minute walk. We eat our meals at the cafeteria where they cook traditional Spanish foods. The food is not bad.
The first week we arrived our classes and everything are in Spanish. Directions, answers to questions, homework assignments, even the internet pages are blocked to only read Spanish. So it is hard to buy tickets and understand the bus system because you have to figure it out in Spanish on top of not knowing where you are going or how things work. Right now I feel as though I am learning cherades not Spanish, there really is not English except when the students are together or we are out on the weekend. Which unfortunatley is pretty often I guess.

There is a pool in town that I have not been to but I am dying to go because it is 36c-41c here on a regular basis, the people here say this is not bad and to expect it to get a lot hotter. I am very sad that I am moving out of the AC in the Hostel. It is soo hot in our classes and in the library.

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Arriving in Toledo

I was accepted to the program through the U of MN at La Funacion Ortega y Gasset and decided to go to Toledo Spain after all.  There was a lot of pressure with my job as they were not going to approve a leave of absence for me.  I spent a lot of my downtime preparing for Spain Spanish a totally foreign concept for me. Here is a picture of the walls outside of Toledo. Before I left I emailed some of my future classmates as I had plans to be in the city for a few days prior to going to Toledo. We made plans to stay in the same Youth Hostel this worked great for them but for me my age as I was 30 was not such a good thing all the time. Can you believe I had to get a fake Student ID in Spain saying I was younger than I was.  It was a Joven card had to be 26 or less in school!  Oh the irony!  Anyway, I had little contact with Jared or my family in the beginning which was a little concerning on both ends I am sure, however, in my few weeks there I learned how to unlock my phone to allow other sim cards and was able to use my cell to call Jared's Skype number which was great.  The Fundacion had internet but I was staying at a Hotel down the street as they had too many students at the Fund between the last class and our class so we were in this hotel for the first month with no internet or phoneline.  We had AC which was great because it was really hot.  I lived next to Lydia and Jackie two girls that became good friends while we were in Spain and we traveled together on the weekends from time to time if our classes allowed.  Most of us had fri, sat sun off to go explore.  http://www.fogtoledo.com/index_intro_flash.php

Should I Stay or Should I Go

Being a military spouse has a lot of advantages and disadvantages. A lot of how you feel about that is based on the type of personality you have. I have always been very independent. Since Jared and I met later in life, once we both had experienced the world outside of our hometowns, we both were very independent people. I think this has helped me to look at the military in a more positive light. If I was not independent of Jared every time he left for training or deployment I think I would have a really hard time. Granted deployments are never easy or looked forward to but there is something about being a singleton again that has its benefits. OK well don't take that the wrong way; I take my vows very seriously. My life is not even close to an episode of "Army Wives." But, being single allows you to put yourself first and to focus on things to better yourself. I think its always good to expand on things that you are good at rather it be through employment or hobbies anything to make you more marketable to new friends, employers and even to your spouse. I remember when Jared deployed I had a period of adjustment because it seemed like every moment up till his departure I was thinking about him. I had to spend as much time as I could with him, what did he want to eat, what did he want to do. I think that is only natural but I got so wrapped up in him that I didn't really know where to begin once he was on the plane.
Sadly the gym is often the first place that single people tend to go and that can be frustrating that as wives we put our spouses and children before our own health. I have lost about 10 pounds since Jared first left. Maybe it is from less formal sit down dinners, or the lack of meat at every meal. But between working out and eating something about single just makes it easier to be slimmer.
So my next endeavor is to finish my degree. I have been looking into this for several months and a few options have surfaced. I have to complete my degree by 2010 or some of my credits will not support my major any longer. I already graduated with a BS in Nursing from the University of Minnesota. However before I was accepted into nursing school I had started my degree through the intercollege program to graduate with a Public Health and Spanish Degree. Due to my acceptance in the nursing program and some of the Spanish classes being cancelled in the summer of 1999, I never completed 7 credits or 2 classes of my upper level Spanish component. So that was all I needed, I had actually already walked in the ceremony that summer prior and accepted money for a degree that never actually was completed. Sham on me I know! So it has been hanging over my head a bit that this went unfinished and was so close to completion.
My options are to go to Minnesota for the summer and pay for the summer session, try to find a college here in Washington state that has a comparable coursework and petition for approval and acceptance from the University of Minnesota, or go to Spain for the 6 week Summer Immersion Program through the University of Minnesota. OK well obviously the later sounds like the best bet but, I have not spoken Spanish in a classroom setting in about 8 years. Other than a trip to Mexico here and there, really nothing! I also have to be accepted and it is expensive. I am not really sure how Jared will feel about me exploring Europe, something we discussed doing together when he got home from Iraq, and now I would be doing it with a bunch of 20 year olds. I also would have to take a leave of absence from my job and that may be a problem as well. Other than the regular concerns about Jared in Iraq how would I get news if something happened, if the computers aren't as good can I still skype or talk to him. Is it even fair for me to go do something fun and adventurous when my husband is fighting a war. So should I stay or should I go?