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Published: July 19th 2013
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First full day in Madrid and to kick it off we decided to walk around, and see if we could find a place to find my mother a new cell phone. She had dropped her phone in the cab from the airport to the hotel(at least thats where she thinks she left it anyways) and we have not heard anything about it since. After talking to the front desk; we got an idea of the area, and turns out there is a very large shopping mall within walking distance. So we set out in search of the mall, and only if we knew what was in store for us when we found it. We found an entrance into the mall we took an escalator down into the mall and started walking down an inactive corridor filled with about 20 people. As we got farther in, the mall started to come alive, a constant buzz of chatter filled the air. People swarming, rushing, babies crying, kids running, groups of girls posted up looking for boys, Groups of boys Gawking, young Couples kissing, old couples walking hand in hand. It is Just like Boise town square just literally twice as big, and everything is in spanish. We found a phone store, but "No hablo Ingles." You dont realize how crippling a Language barrier can be until you get shooed away by a cashier, because you literally cant understand one another. It really hit home in the mall, in Madrid, You can go anywhere you want, but its not always going to go as well as you expect. I was a little discouraged after that interaction with the cashier, but after a slice of strawberry cheese cake and a Spanish to english dictionary. I was determined not to give up so easily, or get discouraged like that ever again. I thought hard about what it ment to be in my Handicapped position. I'm Strangled for words by an impassable language barrier that would take more time than I have to give to get over. I thought of the envelope my sister gave me at the airport when leaving Boise, the simple 16 word note, with a seven word Post Script on the back that made me burst into tears on the plane. It was the post script that got to me "Where ever you go, There you are!" she was right, it did not matter if I could speak spanish, or if their skin was Blue, because I'am here! In the present moment, I felt immediately better running those seven words over and over in my head. As the smile returned to my face, I felt all my confidence rush back into me, just as the waves will indefinitely swell higher and higher up the beach during high tide. There is an accolade I've had within me, and it is that I'm not scared to try and put myself out in the open. I felt better sitting at the Cafe bar, in the busy obnoxiously loud mall, and the puzzling looks from the barista didn't bother me much either when I tried to formulate a semi-correct spanish sentence to pay for my cheese cake. I accepted the fact that Im not going to be able to connect with everyone I meet here, and I may make a complete fool of my self. Success is great but you dont learn anything from it, Its when you try your hardest and you fall flat; you can learn the most. It is your greatest failures, that derive the most significant successes. You just have to accept the fact that you failed and move into a new direction based off of your mistakes. If you keep making the same mistakes, you meet the definition of Crazy: "Trying the same process over and over expecting different results"
Adios
Cheers
Lucas
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Sharon
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Haha way to stay positive and soak in the experience of a life time. It is such a blessing for you to to travel and have the ability to see other cultures, architectures, lifestyles, music jeezz just all of it. I am living thru you right now. I can remember how much different just the smells were in Europe. And ahhh those pastries.. The funny part is Lucas all I could think of in reading this was, I wonder after all that effort if you wished you ordered two cheesecakes :) I know how much you loved to raid my pantry. Love ya - keeping my prayers headed your way. Proud of you and wished I had sad bye before ya left. Enjoy and I love the fact you are keeping this going. miss Sharon