i was at a WYD dinner type thing, seeing and talking to people i hadn't seen since we left, hearing people talk about everything that happened, randomly remembering stuff i forgot about, which i can't believe i forgot, and i realised i haven't really talked about the things that happened there much. i'm not really particularly sentimental, the way i see it is it happened, its not happening anymore, so why talk about it? its in the past.
but suddenly, i think people might be kind of interested to hear some of the many stories from WYD madrid. i mean, there are a few, a lot of stuff happened. its kind of strange how even getting your clothes washed can be a semi interesting story, because you're sleep derived, you're not sure how the machine works, and so much stuff is already happening, its hard to stay focused on some things you probably should have focused on.
i'm going to tell the story of the walk to the vigil, as well as the vigil itself. out of my group, of about 38, only 4 of us got into the vigil. i was lucky enough to be part of that 4. the only reason i was there was a choice i made , i could stay with the larger group, about to take a break from walking for the second time in 5 minutes, or the splinter group, pushing on. i decided to go with the splinter group, to make sure they were alright. that little voice bugging me to make sure everyone was alright made a lot of decisions for me over there, and in the end, i'm mighty glad it did.
the story starts, um, well, i don't remember waking up that morning, or breakfast. i do remember hearing what time we were leaving, and that it was a 13 kilometre walk. i think i may have done my laundry that day, or maybe it was the day before. in any case, thats a different story.
at WYD, we got a packed lunch each day. after the 2nd day, i stopped taking them, picking the water bottle out of one of the plastic bags in boxes leaning against the lobby wall of our accomodation. it was a bread roll, with a small amount of meat, or eggy potato in the middle. for the vigil, we were given lunch for two days, and were told to eat a particular one first, as it would go off if we left it till the next day.
because there had been a few cases where the daily lunch had gone bad in our bags after just a few hours, a couple of us heard this and said, 'bugger that.'
we went to the shopping centre about, uh, 20 mintes walk from the accomodation, i think it was principe pio, to get some food for the vigil.
we looked around the supermarket, they had some really yummy looking foods. in the end i got a paper bag of triple chocolate cookies (they almost melted in your mouth, they were filled with chocolate, but not particularly sweet chocolate, proper chocolate. delicious. they were my breakfast the next morning.) some prngles (spanish pringles!) and some milk bread (bread made with milk. very sweet, like a mix between a cookie and a croissant. very dry though)
we spent a while there, and we had to get back. but not before lunch. we went to the food court, up some stairs. mcdonalds, kfc and burger king (i was about to say hungry jacks) were filled with people, and that was just the line.
a german restaurant was just opening, so we decided to go in there. while there, we saw on the news, the vigil grounds, cuatro viento. it was dusty, shadeless, i think i saw a single palm tree somewhere. and crowds of people. notice i said crowds, plural. there were lots of people there.
i remember thinking 'we should bring more water.'
we ordered some food, and waited for it to arrive. i found it funny we were in spain, siting in a shopping centre food court, and at a german restaurant. there was a moment when i was seriously considering getting a hamburger, which was on the menu. multiculturalism at its finest.
it took a little longer than we thought, and i began worrying we were going to be late getting back, but when we got back everyone was still there, it was fine. when it was time to pay, it was a perfect opportunity for me to try out my travel card. i adn't used it yet, and was pretty eager to.
the woman at the cash register accepted the card with a smile, and put it through the machine. i then waited to put my pin number in. and waited. and waited. i finally asked about the pin number, i think i said "PIN?" and mimed typing, with 'beep, boop, beep?' she spoke a little english, and said the pin was not necessary. but then, why did it have a pin number? we had to go, so we went as quickly as possible. i half expected them to yell back, but they didn't.
we got back, fit the food into our bags, obtained some more water from the plastic bags (there weren't many people willing to take the bags at this stage, so it was alright) and were waiting around for other people to get ready.
when most people were downstairs, a girl in our group had the idea of dedicating the walk to something. me and a few others dedicated the walk to the people at home, who had helped us get here, and could not be there with us, even though they wanted to.
thats some of what happened the morning we were getting ready for the vigil, and the walk there. my next post will be the walk, or as much as possible until i feel like i'm making the post seem to long.
um, heres a random video from an old show called skithouse.
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