Too much of a good thing...

So raise your hand if saw the sunrise in Spain yesterday morning but didn't go to sleep the night before?! Haha...um, [raises hand]. That would be me!
Early Friday morning my American and Sevillian friends and I all met up (around 1 a.m) and watched the processions of the infamous Madruga (early morning/dawn) until the sun rose, well, and then some.
What is so special about jueves santo [holy Thursday] and viernes santo [holy Friday], you are probably wondering? Well, most people know that Jesus was said to be crucified on a Friday so naturally for Catholics this calls for a time of great reflection and remembrance. One of my friends explained to me that the reason why she thinks there are so many pasos during the week and only one paso for el domingo de resureccion is because Jesus suffered many, many times but only rose again once, so why make such a big deal about Easter and not the rest? When I think about it makes sense, but the fact that MY Savior died and rose again makes me want to celebrate and praise Him for all he's done all day!
Anyways, back to the Madrugada on Friday. I left my house at 12:30 a.m to walk over to the Plaza Nueva (one of the usual places where I go to meet up with friends). The streets were swarming with people and there was a different feeling in the air. It was something mixed with excitement and reverence....kind of like New Year's, minus the reverent attitude. I nearly got swallowed up in the hoards of people on my favorite bridge, the Triana bridge, as there were tons of people lined up on the sides sitting in chairs, laying down or standing up...or standing in the middle of the bridge carrying on conversations like typical Spaniards. haha What was even crazier was that when I paused to take a couple pictures of the crowds, I noticed that the bridge was bouncing! It felt like it was literally bouncing up and down as I stood on it! It kind of makes me wonder how much weight this bridge can handle before anything happens to it [which I don't want to know until after I leave though-haha]
I met up with my two friends from Ohio (we met for the first time in Spain of all places :) right at 1 a.m...but the rest of the group was nowhere to be found. After we walked around and checked parts of the Plaza Nueva, we figured the rest of the Americans were just late because they were with the Spaniards. BUT... a Spanish friend of my friend Abby called her and asked where she was and it turns out that she got the places mixed up and we were meeting at Puerta Jerez instead--which is all the way on the other side of the city center! But as the saying goes in Spain, no pasa nada, and after cutting through several side streets together to avoid the massive crowds in the center we made it to Puerta Jerez and weren't late at all [by Spanish standards]. I saw the same people I had met at a picnic the other day and greeted some new friends with dos besos (on the cheeks).
One of the sevillanos, Abraham, still had to meet and bring another friend to our meeting place, so we had at least 30 minutes before we even started off for the first paso. It was about 2 a.m. at that point and my friends and I began to wonder how we would make it through this night awake.
Surprisingly, the night passed quicker than I thought it would. I wasn't planning on staying out and awake until 9 freaking A.M, but I did and I had a good time. Around 3 a.m we saw the "El silencio" float, about 5 a.m was "El Gran Poder" and the one that took us the longest to see was "La Macarena." We got to the street that it was supposed to be on and waited an hr before we got to see the Cruz (float with a scene from Jesus' final days on Earth--this one had the trial before Pilate) and then we waited another hour before we could see the big thing (La virgen de la Macarena)...so that was the only thing that made the night drag on. We were all exhausted and cold that for about 15 mins we all sat down in the street and huddled up and tried "to sleep." We really just tried to stay warm because it's chilly on the narrow streets of Spain after dusk. My friend Melody didn't dress as warmly as she should have for the night so Abby and I took turns warming her up [mostly in the form of a Melody sandwich :] A few people took pictures [both friends and strangers] of our group sleeping in the middle of the street...it was pretty hilarious actually.
After we saw the much anticipated Macarena, we all walked back towards the center around 8 a.m and went in search of churros and chocolate. I honestly didn't feel like eating anything, especially after the sinfully sweet pieces of chocolate I had had earlier that night...but I tagged along anyway cause I had no clue where we were at. Melody and I chose not to have churros while the rest of the group did and they all shared them and the chocolate. One of the Spaniards, Abraham, saw that Melody and I were not eating anything so he had someone had us a churro to share and said, "Chicas. Come! Este es una experiencia." [Girls, eat....this [churros are] is an experience]. I've had churros y chocolate before and they're good, but I just wasn't hungry for anything. I ate the one he passed over to us just to appease him though. Another guy tried to get us to eat some of his (an American) but I just had to tell him that I wasn't hungry.
I'm glad I turned the churros down, but that did not save my body from getting thrown off track. I walked back with another girl who lives in Triana and by the time I got home it was just a few minutes before 9 a.m! I felt like a rebel as I walked into my house but my senora already expected us to stay out late, so it didn't really matter. I got ready for bed, drew my curtains closed and went to sleep a little after 9 a.m. I slept kind of restlessly and woke up before my alarm (set for 2 p.m) which meant I barely got 5 hours of sleep. Mistake number 1.
Secondly, after I woke up and reoriented myself for the day, I basically woke up for lunch--which I never do!--and that consisted of leftovers from the day before (an Arabic dish that consisted of pork, peppers and onions eaten on top of bread). Mistake number 2.
Just think for a second what spicy foods do to your stomach when it's still at the delicate stage of the day. Yeah...lunch did not catch up with me until dinner time, when we had another puree (yuck) and fried calamari.
Not the greatest thing for a stomach that had missed breakfast once again. I didn't eat too much of the puree (which I'm pretty sure is a zucchini puree) nor did I eat too many pieces of fried calamari but like an hour after dinner something just did not sit right with my stomach. I was going to go out to a flamenco bar, but decided against it once my stomach started churning. I tried to relax and rub my stomach and that worked up until I went to bed....but it didn't help me get through the night. Around 2 a.m I woke up and was not only burning up but my stomach was aching. I thought it was going to be something else, but to make this part of the story short, I threw up around 2:30ish a couple times. I've thrown up several different things in my life but let me tell you, throwing up anything with peppers in it is absolutely disgusting. I still had an after taste of it no matter how much I rinsed my mouth out. Sickkkk. Afterward, I went back to my room, was still feeling hot but cold at the same time so I grabbed a sweater and got into my bed. I got the chills after that which was horrible but was able to fall back to sleep even though I slept poorly. :-/
I woke up again around 7 a.m, stomach still hurting, but thought I just needed to use the bathroom again but guess what? I threw up again....thankfully only once that time, but it was still pretty bad cause I threw up more peppers and crap. I also kept dreaming about being nauseous and all the things that make me nauseous so that wasn't fun either. I did decide to stay up after that last time I threw up and it only proved to be a little productive for me. I checked a few things online but really should have been doing my quiet time or listening to some encouraging music on my Zune.
But I didn't and I think that's one of the lessons I'm learning from this 24 hr. sickness thing. I had a wonderful night with friends the night before, friends who are all believers and want to get to know me and share in my struggles...and the devil doesn't want that. God wants me to continue to have genuine fellowship with other believers over here and in order for me to avoid the attacks of Satan I must be armed with the Word of God each and everyday. I've been falling behind on my readings each morning because I've been a little too busy, but I'm taking a stand now and making it a point to read the Bible every morning and strive to read a passage at night too.
I feel like there's a lot of opposition against me here and I know that there is. If you are reading this, you have probably prayed for me at some point during this semester as many, many others have too. And the more I am strengthened by your prayers, my prayers, and what God is doing through my life, the more the devil wants to tear me down and discourage me.
I refuse to let him take a foothold because we serve a great and powerful God! He is more than able to do things beyond what we think or see on this earth. And we serve a risen God too! I hope that tomorrow morning you will reflect on that and praise Him for all that He has done for you in your life. Since it's official in Spain, Happy Easter everyone!
**And if you have made it to the end of this post, I commend you! I was just rambling really, but if you've read down to the end of this post...I hope you didn't get bored at any part. :) **

Hasta la proxima,

Sarah