Dia de los Reyes--(Kings Day), and Odds and Ends!!

Hello, again from Santiago de Compostela!!  It has been a while since our last blog, my camera is filling up, and we just need to share some more 'stuff'.  The 'festivos' (holidays) are over and there are a few things you should know about how they celebrate here.  

As noted in a previous blog, Kings Day (Dia de los Reyes) is really the big day here, as it relates to Christmas.  This is the day they celebrate the arrival of the (3) (?) Wise Men to see the Baby Jesus.

The evening of the 5th of Jan., I happened to go out
on the balcony, and noticed that a crowd was gathering
outside, in our street.

In just a few minutes, we knew that something unexpected was
about to take place, right under our noses!!

It only took a few minutes more, and the street was packed
with people, obviously readying for a parade. so. . . Hna. Bake
"forced" me to go downstairs with her and stand on the  sidewalk
and to participate with the rest of the people!!
SHE JUST LOVES A PARADE!!!

A little rain?   No problem!!
When we even mention how much it rains here, they always say:
"Well, This Is Galicia!!"

Cop car leads the way!!

Could you get away with this in America??
Obviously, during Kings Day, you may get away with a little extra.

There were a few floats, and a few small groups, all
made up to add to the festiveness of the moment.

One small obligatory band!!

King #1
(notice the buckets of candy to throw!!!)

King #2

King #3
(could this be anything like our Santa Claus riding into town on a fire engine?)
The more we learn about other cultures, the more we realize how much the same we are.

Last week we took the opportunity to visit one of Hna. Bake's visiting teaching ladies.  This woman and her husband have moved to a little town (not even big enough to call it a town) about a 50 minute drive from here.  They are so far away that they probably belong to the Lugo branch, to the west of us.  The Relief Society President also needed (wanted) to pay her a visit, and we also brought along with us their two young daughters,  (ages 15 and 21) that they have  left here in Santiago.  Our little car was full!!

This little village (aldea) probably has only a dozen houses in it.  It is picturesque enough to be

right out of a tourist brochure!!

You walk in the front door, into the living room.  On the opposite
side is a door, which, when you walk through, this is what you see.
A little shop, and in the background, his stash of winter wood, to throw
in the wood-burning stove, to heat the house.

This is the coolest thing ever!!  The kitchen table is built around
an old-fashioned wood-burning stove, that you can actually cook on!
While we sat there, we could warm out hands from the heat on the stone
table-top!!

Jeni, Santiago, Caterin, Raquel

R.S. President 'hamming" it up a bit!!

Santiago  took me on a little tour (at my request) of his neighborhood.
I felt right at home.

Ancient Catholic church!  A new one has been built, so this one
has been abandoned.  

The next few shots are of the homes in the village.

I have one of these!!

This is his little garden spot.  These are greens (grelos) that they
grow and eat all winter.  You can see where they have been
trimmed off for eating.

The ever-present 'jamon Iberica'

They just kept throwing food our way!!  That is the way in Spain.
This is the famous 'tortilla espanola', finished up on the cook stove.

We had a great visit with them!  The time flew by too quickly, and we had to head back home.  Our R.S. President works as an 'interna' (a live-in helper for some elderly folks), and had to be home in time to do dinner.  We still got her home late--but she still had a job the next day, so . . . I guess it wasn't too bad, after all.

In one of our little walks we  take, every so often, we stumbled upon a market place during the festivos.  It consists of two sets of a series of four long, narrow buildings. Inside each building,

vendors set up little booths to hawks their wares during the festivos.

One of the eight buildings.

Little booths inside each one.  We bought some awesome smoked
cheese at the one on the right.

This guy sold us some cheese also.  We was a great salesman!
While we were waiting our turn to be waited upon, he took
his knife and chipped out a little sample for each of us to taste.
We were sold already!!!  You can see for yourself, the size of some
of the cheeses!!.  You need a knife that big to do the job!!

For those with a cast iron stomach,  pig ears, tails, and snouts!

People lined up eating tapas.  Normal, every-day occurrence.

What follows is just a few things we have observed, since the last time we chatted.

As the city was built, they tried to preserve the many natural
springs that existed in the vicinity. We have seen probably a
dozen or more of these.  We have also observed people filling
their water containers from them.

Old town.

Ditto

Rain just does not bother the people of Galicia!

You may have already seen this one from Facebook.  I think Hna. Bake posted it before, but. . .

SEPIA:  aka:  little squid-like creature!!!  The big slice-like
pieces were not too bad, but that part that looks like eye-balls,
and a head--well. . .that's a little crunchy.    Once is enough for me!

This is a cabbage.  Note, that it is not round, like ours.  It grows

sort of flat, and oblong, but boy, is it good!

The missionary work continues.  We have had another success, working with a part-member family. 

Baldo, the man in the picture below, has become active again, and has been teaching his young 18 year old daughter the gospel.  When he felt she was ready, he turned her over to the Sister Missionaries, and they taught her the lessons in just two appointments.  That is not the normal way to do things, but,. . . she had already been taught quite well and thoroughly by her father.  

Hna. Baxter, Deborah, Hna. Iregui
Deborah is only 18, but is in the middle of her first year of
studies at USC (Universidad de Santiago de Compostela)

Boyfriend, father Baldo, Deborah, and mother Mary
We are hoping to begin teaching the boyfriend real soon,
He is willing.  

We are approaching the end of January already!  This winter has been so mild, at least for us, being used to the inversions and cold in Idaho.  Yesterday, we almost hit 70 degrees!!  It was warm and so o o o o o o  nice!  I am  definitely getting spoiled this winter.

I begin teaching classes this week to the teachers in 5 of the 8 branches.  The goal is to give them some ideas on how to improve their presentations and to effect lives.  It gets a little scary for me to have to teach something in Spanish, but it is getting easier, the longer we are here, and the more I actually have to use the language.  We are only as good as we allow the Lord to bring us along.

We are both loving our time here in Santiago!!  It will be tough to leave, when that time comes. The people here have blessed our lives so much.  Sometimes I wonder who is helping whom? We love these strong valiant people.  Till next time....

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