Parque de Atraciones

Yesterday Brenden went to an amusement park in Madrid with Becca and Andrew, the married couple that is working with us. We had a blast! There were several zombies walking around the park and many of the kids were dressed up in fun costumes, its fun to see the Halloween spirit is alive and well in Madrid. Pictures to come soon!

Summary of our last year

 Dad always said Brenden and I were like oil and water. Growing up we fought about anything and everything. I remember him saying on a few occasions that some day we would end up being best friends. At the time I scoffed at the idea but here we are! The moment he got out the house he hasn't been able to get rid of me.

Brenden and I have spent the better part of the last year living in the same town. First in Rexburg for school starting last September. Then in January we moved to Tioga North Dakota where we worked for different companies in the oil fields for roughly 9 months. Now we are in Alcala de Henares, Spain until the end of December doing a volunteer/internship project for SIRI (Southern Idaho Research Institute) and FamilySearch.com. We are compiling national archives (taking pictures of marriage, death, and birth documents). From what I understand they will be used for genealogical purposes.  

In North Dakota Brenden worked for a roustabout company called WadeWorks. They were contracted to an oil company called Continental and serviced their locations located throughout the Bakken.  They did plumbing for treater shacks (filtering system from the salt water, oil, and gas lines running from the well head to the tanks) as well as assembling pumping units, and operated cranes in order to lay tanks. 

I had a few jobs while in North Dakota. I started out as a waitress at diner called Wildcatz. Soon after starting work there I found another job working for a company called Pilot Logistics as a customer service representative. During my last few months in North Dakota I took a field job working as a frac techinican. As a frac technician I went with a truck driver, in a fuel truck, to frac sites and filled the fuel tanks of the equipment being used. 

While we enjoyed our time in the Bakken we are happy for the change. While North Dakota has started getting snow we have been blessed with 70+ degree weather.

All settled in Alcala de Henares

After a month or so apart Bren and I were reunited on Sunday! I was in Alcala for a few days earlier this month for training and then went to London, England and later Rome, Italy for a few days so I wasn't able to greet him when he first arrived. Ryan, one of the guys that was working at the archive, picked him up from the airport. Ryan is from the US and speaks English Spanish and Portuguese fluently, however when he picked Brenden up he pretended he could only speak Portuguese. He had Brenden going for several hours. He got a call from a coworker and started speaking to him in fluent English which totally threw Brenden off, he was a good sport about it and didn't hold a grudge.

We are living with a women named Teresa Meco who is a widow in her 70's that goes to one of the wards here in town. She is INCREDIBLY attentive. Whenever we're home she has us eat something. Lunch is the biggest meal here and by the time dinner roles around I am rarely hungry because she feeds us so much for lunch. She has been a wonderful help, giving us advice where to buy things we've needed, giving us directions where we've needed to go, etc. She cleans our laundry once a week and leaves it nicely folded on our beds. I've never felt so spoiled in my life! Brenden and her have had fun teaching each other Spanish and English during meals, which  we usually eat together with the news on in the background.

Alcala is a beautiful city that wakes up and goes to bed late. Stores usually dont open until 8 or later. Most close for siesta (around 2) for a couple of hours and are open until around 9 or 10 at night. The city is busiest at night. Its fun to see how many people are out walking around and enjoying each others company.  The evening seems to be family time for many. Teresa and her sisters visit their mom every night at 730. We also see several families & couples at the parks or getting groceries in the evening. Its a fun town to live in.