One person.

Funny how days go.

When I started typing this...

There was only one person in the cafe. One. He's deaf. Sooo... I built a little play list on the iTunes... Productive I know.

I also cleaned every table, every menu, every dish, and was about to sweep when some people walked in. Wow. Now, there are six of us (I'm including myself this time).

Yay, I have something to do!!

... And I broke a cappuccino glass today, part of it is now embedded in my middle finger, do you want me to show you the finger?? Wow, I crack myself up.

I like numbers.

Spur of the moment cafe stats.

22 people total.
2 in the bathroom.
14 laptops.

Its hard to write stats, because as soon as you write them. They change.

The people:
25 people in total.
1 in the bathroom.
4 Americans.
2 Germans (I would guess).
1 Swede.
2 Deaf People.
I know 5 peoples names.
3 people are new to me.
The rest I see nearly everyday in this cafe.

The interwebs:
14 laptops.
2 public use computers.
1 employee use computer.

The drinks:
(in no particular order)
2 normal teas.
1 Special Vanilla Infusion tea.
3 Heineken Cañas. (Small beers from the tap.)
3 Hot Chocolates.
1 Room temperature bottled water.
1 Double espresso.
3 Coca-Colas.
1 Coca-Cola Light.
1 Sprite.
1 Short espresso (solo corto).
1 Grande Cafe.
6 Cafe con leches. (The standard cafe drink.)
1 No drink - Pastry only.

Misunderstandings today:
1 - The girl was looking for work. I thought she was asking for a cafe to go. I don't need to explain anything else. It was awkward.

Things broken today:
0 - This is bound to change.

Noia.

Sundays we get off. Well... actually, we simply choose to remain closed on Sundays. Last Sunday Jacob, Matt and I went for a hike. It was great. Jacob's camera was out of batteries when we got to the top to take pictures though! Doh!

Today we went to nearby Noia and walked around the city and explored a little bit. It was a bit eerie at times, because it was Sunday, everything (almost) was closed, and there wasn't many people around until we made it down by the bay.

I have loaded a bunch of shots up over at my flickr page.

You can see all my photos from Spain so far here. Or click here for a slideshow.

I took an online Spanish test today... Like the kind you would take before being placed at a University... I scored a 224. It put me in Spanish 102, but if I had scored a 226, I would be in Spanish 103!! Two weeks on the job... or two semesters... hmm. I'll take it again in a week (if you remind me) and post the score and the link then.

And... I almost forgot...

Broken on Saturday -

2 Specialty Heineken Glasses.

Brings the total to 9. Monday is a new week.

Poco y poco...

So, little by little the Español is a comin'. The worst is trying to type English or HTML code on a keyboard... The symbols I need are all in strange places.

New pics over at my flickr.

I don't know how many things I have broken since I have arrived in Santiago... lets count.

1 - Glass from picture frame.
1 - Black umbrella (I helped it along, it was already hurting).
1 - Large coffee cup.
1 - Old footstool.
2 - Porcelain tea strainers.
1 - Super delux Coca-Cola glass.

7 - My total brokeness. In less then two weeks, amazing!

Ok... I need to run to bed. Tomorrow I have to go shopping for the cafe (I'll try and take some pictures), and work on the public use computers... They are are gummed up with garbage programs. Programs like... MSN Messenger and eMule. Who installs this junk?

Scot McKnight - Emerging.

I have been following McKnight's blog over at jesuscreed.org for a while. Ok, like, three months maybe.

He caught my eye a while back when Jacob put a link to him over at 4peregrinos.com. He recently had an article published in Christianity Today expanding a bit on that article which caught my eye.

5 Streams of the Emerging Church.

I think that Dr. McKnight does a good job of fleshing out a broad base of what and where emergent is and is headed. If you are an evangelical who has already discounted the emerging movement as nonsense, you probably won't change your thoughts. But, if you simply don't know what the emerging church is, or has been little informed, it will serve as a good comprehensive base to start off of.

I am hesitant to call myself "emergent," yet, I am. What I am reading is pacing with my thinking. My own individual observations, my own individual experiences. I have been discontent for years with church, church business, preaching in general, worship in general, church politics... Pretty much everything having to do with my conservative Baptist faith. I do not mean to call names, or point fingers, because I don't feel offended by one person or entity specifically. This discontent stems from a desire to know my Lord better, to know Jesus better.

Its also come from a questioning of certain fences that have been set in the American Christian faith... More on that in the next couple of days... Again from Scot McKnight.

No comprendo.

So, I sit here at the cafe, on a bit of a break. Really between mini rushes. Nothing like the mornings I used to suffer at 'bucks (and may suffer yet again soon). The people are pretty chill for the most part. They drink coffee because they enjoy it, not because they will run someone off the road on the way into the office if they don´t have their quadruple venti extra foam vanilla latte in less than three minutes in the drive through surrounded by addicts like themselves.

No, the people here come to socialize, to use our FREE wifi (a newer concept here), soak in our song choice.

Occasionally -- They come in to ask questions. That is where I struggle, you see... I don't speak Spanish. I never have, I never took a class in high school or college, never had a friend who forced me to try and learn a few words. Just a minute ago, a couple of girls came in and ordered a couple of cokes. Then, they started asking a questions about the cans of coffee that we sell. I don't know the words to help them, I want to, its my nature to help people, but I hit a veritable brick wall when trying to converse with these people.

No comprendo.

Those are the words I say the most. Well, maybe behind 'cafe con leche' and 'coca cola.'

It seems dead for a Friday night. I mean, c'mon, I am blogging for crying out loud. But, people here don't really go out until 11, 12... They stay out later too. A cafe (like us), can only stay open until 2am, but a pub can stay open until 6am. So, now, would be the calm before the storm if we were a pub.

More later... I have to serve some drinks.

Battle Cry: Casulties of War [culture]

This vid points out some glaring statistics among American teens. Catch the stat about truth being relative.

... brought to you by Ron Luce, and the good people at Acquire the Fire. [/sarcasm]

Viva España!

I am in Santiago de Compostela now. I arrived here last Tuesday and have been settling in a bit. I am trying to learn as much Spanish as I can, as fast as I can. I am blessed to be able to stay with the Swains. Their daughters (4 and 2) both speak varying degrees of Spanish because they both attend a Spanish pre-school in a local Catholic Church. Its amazing to see one of them switch into Spanish when around other Spaniards. Its amusing to see them reach for a word to describe something - and come up with the Spanish word in its place. When asked what the English word is... a sheepish "I don't know..." follows. Abi asked me yesterday - "Chris, why don't you speak Spanish?"

Why don't I... I wish I did.

Dosvedanya Rossiya.

:: car wrecked on new years ::

I leave tomorrow.

Hard to believe that six months have passed - to the day, since I came to Russia.

I won't be back in the US until March however. I am heading over to Spain to help out with the team in Santiago de Compostela. I hope to make a longer entry about it soon, but the team there is in need, and is close to my heart. Check out Matt or Jacob's blog for a video of the cafe there, and to get some insight into what's happening with them.

Tomorrow night I will be in Madrid, and flying on to Santiago the next afternoon, hopefully this time on Tuesday I will be loading up some photos from Madrid.

The photo above was snapped on Jan 4th - the car wrecked on New Years day. It stayed in the very spot it crashed for five days. On the edge of the intersection, sticking out into a traffic lane, in the way. The morning of the sixth, I came out, and it had been pushed up onto the sidewalk, on the other side of the intersection. And tonight, it was still sitting there on the sidewalk. Crazy.

Newness.

[thanks to matt for the video. see you soon.]

I was searching my archives recently, and I found this post. Its from about a year ago, and I want to highlight one part, mostly for myself.

I was born a dirty peasant. Into a peasant family. When my family broke apart, my earthly father found the way to be reborn and become a servant of the King. Before too long, he showed me and my sister, and we followed. I was born into the Kings family November 9th, 1990. Since that day, over 15 years ago, I feel like I have been in training. God has wonderful plans for me, I have no clue what the King wants for me, but I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I will serve. My life is His. This is comforting when I think about it, but, how often do I actually think about it? Not often enough, that is for damn sure.

I made some resolutions on Christmas Eve while I was at church. I have never made resolutions before and been serious about them. I wrote them down in my journal. I wrote an entire entry about how Christmas is different here, (The short version is: 25th of December is a normal day, gifts are exchanged on New Years, Orthodox Christmas is on 7th of Jan.) reflected on the birth in a new way. My resolutions meant something to me.

But, that night, I feel like a dark cloud came and parked itself over my life. It began to rain, and the temperature is dropping without the sun. I know it will pass. In the meantime, I am still shivering, wet and cold, in the shadow of this cloud.

I have not felt the warmth of the sun. I don't feel like having resolutions anymore.

This is the prayer I wrote at the end of my reflection on Christmas, before the the rain came: Father. Come quick. But, until you come, help me to love and live better - indeed - like you would. Amen.