memories of spain 1988

Remembering our

SEMESTER 
 IN SPAIN,

1988

This also includes pics from spring break in England

Make sure to also 
watch the

MUSICAL slide-show video

at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7Fd97fNSeI

ABOVE: at the start of the semester one of our big ventures was to hike to the cross above Denia . That's me with the red shirt. Mark Hofstra  (he was also a highschool classmate) next to me & Bob (from Holland, MI). And Audrey in the green "boot"(?) 

shirt along with two other gals from our class

Denia, Espana

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. …

because God is love…”

1 John 4:7,8

"Queridos amigos, amémonos unos a otros, porque el amor viene de Dios. Todo el que ama ha nacido de Dios y conoce a Dios. ...
porque Dios es amor ... "

1 Juan 4:7,8

As noted, I had been to Spain prior to this semester in 1985 for about ten days with some of our high school class, led by Mrs. Gundy (RIP). But this was 1988 & an entire semester,living with another family,a Spanish-speaking family in the little city of Denia.  It fulfilled two years of classroom Spanish in one semester and was supposed to be fun as well. And it was fun,very much so, while also challenging in some regards (personally,I experienced a health incident that took some time to recover from,but I survived well enough).

above & below: the world famous Alhambra

Every morning Lola would serve us breakfast (incl fresh-squeezed orange juice) & we would take the ten-minute walk to our new university (UNED for short) & take our Spanish classes...we learned a lot in a short amount of time..helped by conversation with our Spanish families & at various stores & cafes around town. 

We would return home for lunch with Lola & Rojo ,which included a little bit of wine just in time for siesta, & then we would relax, study,sometimes play cards with Dave Engelhard & Dave Tuuk (who were roommates, & all of us were  childhood friends,ironically).

 And that was the daily ritual with a few breaks now & then...a few class trips,…

one to the world famous Alhambra, another to the famous Lladro factory,…

..we also took a short class vacation cruise to the island of Mallorca,as well as a trip to Barcelona,…

above:

the ancient aqueduct

 of segovia

******************************

… & to the great cross  

(Valle de los Caidos;

“Valley of the Fallen”)  ,

 among other places.

 And for our official spring break, I traveled to 

 London with Keith & another former high 

 school classmate,Jeff Hoeks.

That was also fun & interesting...Jeff had been there numerous times before so he actually decided to relax at the flat we rented while ...

...Keith & I explored the city,including St. Paul's Cathedral,Speakers Corner, the Beatles Abbey Road crossing (the picture on their famous Abbey Road album),…

…& out-of-town to Canterbury Cathedral (amazing!,among other things...also Big Ben,London Tower,Thames River,

 et al) 

 Then we returned to Spain to finish out the semester. By the way, Denia & the nearby towns have an annual festival called "Fallas" …

…which involves building giant paper-machete stationary "floats" that sometimes have political themes or other messages & at the end of the week of display,they

 burn them …

…along with shooting fireworks,including "barachos" which are basically bottle-rockets with a mind of their own. They don't shoot them straight up,but horizontally..like little missles...somewhat comical but also a bit dangerous.

It was during this festival ,we were out on the street watching the borachos (which,by the way,also means "drunk' in spanish...apparently the bottlerockets are like drunk men walking,you never know which way they will go) that

…I got hit in the lip  by something or somebody & ended up on the ground,regaining consciousness only to realize I had blood on my face & there was something wrong with my lip.

To this day I don't know for sure what happened,but I needed 14 to 20 stitches to close it up (I can't remember anymore the exact number, but there's a picture of it ). It actually hurt more having the stitches removed than putting them in...probably because he did it without painkiller. 

Ouch!  So this put a little damper on the semester,but fortunately I quickly healed & recovered,only a small scar, praise the Lord!

 

Meanwhile,we continued to study,socialize,& explore. We hiked to the cross on the mountain above Denia,...

…we rode mopeds around Benidorm

 (a nearby coastal town),...

we went snow-skiing in the granadas…

… also to the famous ancient aqueduct in Segovia (incredible!),

thought to have been built in THE 1^ST CENTURY, A.D., & STILL BEING USED !

& made new friends,

 both American & Spanish.

I met a nice gal named Gloria at one of the cafes where, of course, we spent "mucho" time studying. Also, most of us became friends as classmates. Several of our group were from my high school,incl. the above-mentioned, as well as Dave Smilde, BJ Noordeweir,& Mark Hofstra,among others.

And then there were new friendships made with Audrey VanOen,Barb Wiersma,Steve Vanderwey, Jan Wilson, & the list goes on. And we greatly appreciated our teachers,including Professor Elsa Cortina who traveled with us from Calvin,... 

…& then the professors from Denia:Fuensanta & Alfonso, et al. Fuensanta was not only very intelligent,but beautiful too (& a bit of a rebel,...she smoked while teaching, ha ha).We also enjoyed playing tennis w/ Alfonso outside of the classroom 

All-in-all, it was a great academic & cultural experience. I still look back at the pictures & reflect on the memories & relationships & cherish the time very much. Coincidentally, my older brother also did the semester-in-Spain.Thanks to all our professors, “parents”  & real parents, classmates, citizens of Denia, et al. God bless you. 

Keep the Faith !

above: bj noordeweir, dave tuuk, stonehouse, dave engelhard, & keith steensma 

above: at the cafe we studied at frequently...the two bartenders in the middle 

above: canterbury cathedral (England)

above: our faithful professor from Calvin who stayed with us in Spain for the semester,
 Elsa Cortina 

above:

the cross above Denia

 that we hiked to 

.

above:
the house we lived in on calle colon (38 or 58 ?) with Rojelio (rojo) & Lola

above: l to r: 

tuuk, engelhard, steensma,

 stonehouse, noordeweir

above & below: London, England

above & below:

these are the "fallas" they build & burn at the end of the viewing period

two of our beloved 

Spanish professors: 

Fuensanta & Alfonso

above:

a local gal, Gloria, gave me this beautiful photo of her...we became friends during the semester & she helped me practice my Spanish

LOOK at those 

GRADES ! 

WOW !

the great cross  

(Valle de los Caidos;

“Valley of the Fallen”)  ,

above:

the trail to the cross 

above Denia

above: Jeff Hoeks travelled to London with us

I went skiing in the granadas with Keith and also Dave Engelhard & Dave Tuuk (but they stayed in the lodge most of the time) 

above & below: Lola was our "madre" & Rojelio (Rojo) our padre for the semester. God bless them 

above & below: 

on our brief class vacation to the resort island of mallorca

above: Mark Hofstra takes the big leap 

above: a nice nurse on 
vacation from England

above:

studying on the patio

 outside our bedroom

a nice big meal 
for the whole class 

above: mixed photos but the one 
on the left is the famous 
"sagrada familia" in barcelona, 
a work-in-progress for decades 

above: mixed photos, including the nearby town of Benidorm (big rock in water) where we rented mopeds. 
Also Barb Wiersma 

above: one of the pics is the famous aqueduct in Segovia, thought to have been built in the 1st century AD, & still being used today 

above: I see Keith, Rob (x2), Jan Wilson, Dave Engelhard, ME!, BJ, steve vanderwey, mark hofstra, & many more  

our patio 

here we are eating Paella 
with Rojelio & Lola

above: again, the Sagrada Familia 

above & below: Here I am after having been hit in the lip by something or somebody (not sure if accidentally or intentional) as we celebrated in the street during the raucous fallas fiesta. I only remember being on the ground & suddenly becoming aware that something was wrong with my lip. Dave Engelhard spotted me & helped me back to our house where Rojelio took me to the doctor & he stitched my lip (14 to 20 stiches I can't remember exactly) 

it was painful for a while but eventually the stitches were removed & it healed nicely, even though I have a small scar to this day (thankfully, my classmates didn't call me "scarface" ha ha) 

ouch ! my lip with 20 or so stitches in it

above & below: back in London,
 this is "Speakers Corner" 

above: this is the building where we studied, the university of Denia (UNED) 

above: 

Barb from Kalispell, Montana...

hope all is well with her...

 beautiful Gloria

after being hit in the lip by what ? 

I still don't know

above: the interior of the amazing 

Canterbury Cathedral!

I made it ! 
 Graduation!

-vk-
*********************************

^“Then Jesus came to them & said, “All authority in heaven & on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go & make disciples of all nations, 

baptizing them in the name of the Father & of the Son & of the Holy Spirit,  & teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. & surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Matthew 28.18-20