Day 50 - Bercianos - September 3 - Day 3 of 15

Day 50 - Bercianos - September 3 - Day 3 of 15

Well it's 7:15am in Bercianos the pilgrims have been fed and are getting on their way. One young woman wanted to see the North Star, so we went outside and looked at it this morning. Soon we will be starting our clean up work to ready the albergue for the next group of pilgrims. 

My God is so awesome, I am awestruck! Rosa, Merusa, and I are talking and joking and laughing together and with the pilgrims. I just had to let go and let God. There was a plan and several lessons to be learned, who knows. It is painful when I have to swallow chunks of truth about me, but it is less painful and of shorter duration when I stop resisting. 

Last night I made Sopa Castellaños for the pilgrims. I have never made this before. It is a simple dish to make, when you factor in not knowing Spanish measurements( like who the heck in the United States knows what an Tripo  de  Chorizo is?) and not having directions but having seen it made once while doing several other things, it is a little scary. But Merusa, who also has never made it but has eaten it many times helped me with the way it should look and taste. 

I also made an American style pasta dish because we had two Australian vegetarians. Rosa tried to convince me to just make Sopa Castellaños vegetarian. OK, the ingredients for this soup are chorizo, garlic, eggs, chicken  and beef bullion, water and bread. So vegetarian would be bread, water and garlic. It didn't sound like something that would taste good. Isn't bread and water what they used to serve to prisoners? Anyway we had some left over pasta made Spanish style (pasta with barely any sauce made solely of tomatoes. So I fried up some bell peppers, onions, garlic, fresh tomatoes, a whole jar of sauce, pepper and a dash of salt. Rosa was skeptical, but I assured her I had lots of vegetarian friends and had cooked a lot of vegetarian dishes. 

So, I am here to report (with only a small amount of pride and relief) that both dishes were

A huge success. It was the first night we didn't have and leftovers. Even the meat eaters (including two young Spanish men) wanted some pasta after a couple of servings of soup. I was so relieved. I was very nervous making the soup for Spanish people who are famine with what it should taste like.

Last night we had a moment of reflection, not because I took the reins, raised a ruckus or took matters into my own hands. It happened because Merusa asked me if I thought we should have one, because she wanted to have one. Do she suggested to Rosa that we should come back to the albergue and have a moment of reflection or prayer for those who wanted to have one. Now how incredible is that. I get what I want by keeping my mouth shut. I really believe God is showing off recently.   

Oh yes, I discovered that I love hanging fresh washed sheets on the line when it's warm, even with a little breeze. I have hung sheets on the line since I was twelve or thirteen and we had a ringer washing machine. For those of you who are too young to know what a ringer washing machine is, was, let me explain. It was probably one of the first mechanized method of doing laundry. There was a tub with an agitator which when you turned the machine on, it swished the clothes around in the soapy water. At the top were two rubber rollers which, when you inserted a piece of laundry it pulled the piece of laundry through the roller squishing the water out of it. Mind you I said "a piece of laundry, as in one at a time. If you were really clever, if you positioned the item correctly you could start another piece on top of the tail end of the prior piece. But you always needed to be alerts s careful, because if you finger got pulled into the ringer it was very exciting and painful.  Then you emptied the tub, in fresh water, and started the agitator again to rinse the clothes. Then you put them through the ringer. By the way, I think this is where the expression, "been through the ringer" as in I've been through the ringer, comes from. In the case of diapers which I had to wash a lot of (for a certain younger brother who is a Giants fan) you had to do two soapy cycles and two or three rinses. For those of you who don't know what cloth diapers are, count your blessings.   

We are having so much fun here. They have trucks that come through the village. There is a truck that brings bread, one for ice cream, one with meat, one with fish and shell fish as well as vegetables, fruit and basic stuff stuff a little market would have, and one that brings wine. They honk as they go through the village and you flag them down if you want something. The wine one would have been handy in the old days.I might have had to leave my couch, but just out the front door. Those are the ones I've seen so far. Rosa bought some tuna today and made a yummy lunch for the three of us. I am speaking Spanish and English do close together that I find myself speaking English to Spanish speaking people and Spanish to English speaking people. I get some very strange looks. I am still in was at how things have changed, but I'm having fun and the pilgrims are overwhelmed with the warmth and care they are receiving. Just jumping for joy here. 

Love to all, especially the love of my life, John.