Hello Everyone!Finally my email is working again. The webmail server was down for over a week and so I couldn´t email. So this one is going to be pretty long!
I went to church in Ghana with the missionaries that I was staying with. Church over in Ghana was so amazing because the people are alot more religious than we are in the states. They had a very in depth conversation about tithing. Everyone was citing scriptures and trying to figure out how to live the law more fully (they were talking about tithing on gifts etc.) The missionaries than fed us pot roast and it was the best meal that i had had for over a month. I took a taxi to the airport at 1200 am because my flight was supposed to leave at 4 and they told us to be there at least 3 hours early. The great thing about Royal Air Maroc is that every flight is usually delayed a couple of hours and this flight didn´t come until 9 am. Meaning instead of sleeping on a bench with some of the brittish kids that I met at the airport, I could have slept in a bed in the missionaries home. Our flight went to Benin (I found out while on the plane) and then flew to Morroco meaning that my 8hour layover in Morocco was cut to one hour and everyone else on the flight missed their connections to other places in Europe. It was a frantic mess trying to get things sorted out in the airport. It was pretty ironic that I wanted to go to Morocco and couldn´t because of the delay and everyone else that didn´t want to be there were stuck for 24 hours.
When I got to Madrid, my backpack didn´t come. (I think that it traveled more African countries than I did) because it finally came three days later. That night I wandered around Madrid looking for a hostal because of sorting out my luggage it was midnight. I luckily ran into a man from Mexico who directed me to a cheap place where the Hyers, Paul, and I stayed for the remainder of the time. I had the next day to myself and I have to say that I am so glad that these guys are here because I was pretty lonely and all of my pictures were of buildings with no people. The only human contact was asking people for directions. I was very productive and saw all of the sights in the lonely planet (the guide book.)
The next day, I took the metro to the airport (which I am now a master of the the Madrid metro). I waited for Paul and the Hyers for 3 hours while they went through customs and was pretty excited to see them. We then took the metro back to the hostal. It was pretty funny because Emily was in flip flops and she flip flopped onto the floor because it was so slippery. We then got chorizo, bread, and pastries and ate in the plaza de Espana. It was pretty fun.
We went to the templo de Debod, an egyptian temple that they had brought to Madrid because they were flooding the area to build the Azwar dam in Egypt. It was pretty cool and then we got in trouble for touching ancient artifacts and using flash. We then went to the cathedral but it had closed and they were pretty jet lagged so we went back to the hostal and slept until it opened again at 5. We then went back to the cathedral, royal palace and walked around the Puerta del Sol and the plaza mayor which is a huge plaza with eating and ancient roman arches. We then listened to a Peruvian band playing Andean music. So for their first day they saw Roman, Egyptian, Peruvian and a little bit of Spain!
The next day was Emily´s Birthday and what a birthday it was!
We got Dia yougurt, magdelenas, juice and ate in the plaza de España again. We then went to the Prado and commented on our favorite peices. Paul didn´t have his student ID and I am over 26 so we paid full price but Marissa and Emily got in for half price. We then went and had lunch in another park and bought fresh bread for our sandwiches. We then went to the Parque del Buen Retiro and took a nap in the park because of the jet lag, food, and looking at art for 3 hours wears you out!
At this park, it was built in the 1700´s during the Romantisism time period of Spain so there were many monuments and fountains and a big lake. We rented a row boat and went out on the lake. 
We got pretty wet and each person would take a one of the two paddles and so it was entertaining to try to coordinate the strokes to get us to go around. We then split up, the Hyer girls went shopping and Paul and I went to see the houses of Lope de Vega, Cervantes and some other authors that are masters in spanish lit but for other people it would be pretty boring. We met back up and went and had paella and tortilla in the plaza mayor. Our waitor was pretty scary, but the food was great and then we got some ice cream for dessert. It was a pretty cool day just a little pricey. We then went back to the hostal and hung out on the balcony over looking the street. And tried to sleep because we had to get up early for our next day to Toledo..........
I went to church in Ghana with the missionaries that I was staying with. Church over in Ghana was so amazing because the people are alot more religious than we are in the states. They had a very in depth conversation about tithing. Everyone was citing scriptures and trying to figure out how to live the law more fully (they were talking about tithing on gifts etc.) The missionaries than fed us pot roast and it was the best meal that i had had for over a month. I took a taxi to the airport at 1200 am because my flight was supposed to leave at 4 and they told us to be there at least 3 hours early. The great thing about Royal Air Maroc is that every flight is usually delayed a couple of hours and this flight didn´t come until 9 am. Meaning instead of sleeping on a bench with some of the brittish kids that I met at the airport, I could have slept in a bed in the missionaries home. Our flight went to Benin (I found out while on the plane) and then flew to Morroco meaning that my 8hour layover in Morocco was cut to one hour and everyone else on the flight missed their connections to other places in Europe. It was a frantic mess trying to get things sorted out in the airport. It was pretty ironic that I wanted to go to Morocco and couldn´t because of the delay and everyone else that didn´t want to be there were stuck for 24 hours.
When I got to Madrid, my backpack didn´t come. (I think that it traveled more African countries than I did) because it finally came three days later. That night I wandered around Madrid looking for a hostal because of sorting out my luggage it was midnight. I luckily ran into a man from Mexico who directed me to a cheap place where the Hyers, Paul, and I stayed for the remainder of the time. I had the next day to myself and I have to say that I am so glad that these guys are here because I was pretty lonely and all of my pictures were of buildings with no people. The only human contact was asking people for directions. I was very productive and saw all of the sights in the lonely planet (the guide book.)
The next day, I took the metro to the airport (which I am now a master of the the Madrid metro). I waited for Paul and the Hyers for 3 hours while they went through customs and was pretty excited to see them. We then took the metro back to the hostal. It was pretty funny because Emily was in flip flops and she flip flopped onto the floor because it was so slippery. We then got chorizo, bread, and pastries and ate in the plaza de Espana. It was pretty fun.
We went to the templo de Debod, an egyptian temple that they had brought to Madrid because they were flooding the area to build the Azwar dam in Egypt. It was pretty cool and then we got in trouble for touching ancient artifacts and using flash. We then went to the cathedral but it had closed and they were pretty jet lagged so we went back to the hostal and slept until it opened again at 5. We then went back to the cathedral, royal palace and walked around the Puerta del Sol and the plaza mayor which is a huge plaza with eating and ancient roman arches. We then listened to a Peruvian band playing Andean music. So for their first day they saw Roman, Egyptian, Peruvian and a little bit of Spain!The next day was Emily´s Birthday and what a birthday it was!
We got Dia yougurt, magdelenas, juice and ate in the plaza de España again. We then went to the Prado and commented on our favorite peices. Paul didn´t have his student ID and I am over 26 so we paid full price but Marissa and Emily got in for half price. We then went and had lunch in another park and bought fresh bread for our sandwiches. We then went to the Parque del Buen Retiro and took a nap in the park because of the jet lag, food, and looking at art for 3 hours wears you out!
At this park, it was built in the 1700´s during the Romantisism time period of Spain so there were many monuments and fountains and a big lake. We rented a row boat and went out on the lake. 
We got pretty wet and each person would take a one of the two paddles and so it was entertaining to try to coordinate the strokes to get us to go around. We then split up, the Hyer girls went shopping and Paul and I went to see the houses of Lope de Vega, Cervantes and some other authors that are masters in spanish lit but for other people it would be pretty boring. We met back up and went and had paella and tortilla in the plaza mayor. Our waitor was pretty scary, but the food was great and then we got some ice cream for dessert. It was a pretty cool day just a little pricey. We then went back to the hostal and hung out on the balcony over looking the street. And tried to sleep because we had to get up early for our next day to Toledo..........
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