Day 39-Muchas sorpresas

We decided today would be a little bit more relaxed than the other days so we woke up, and I decided to go sit on the terrace to eat a little and read my Bible.  Then the others joined me and we left around 10:30 to head to the Contemporary Art Museum.  I don't think it was quite like what any of us were expecting.  The first section was all about this tube utopia the people in Spain tried to build, and it basically looked like a big hamster maze; it was cool though.  They showed them on videos, documents, and pictures.  The next section was just weird because it documented a prostitute and too many naked people.  The next section was all about a certain architect.  One of my favorites was a video they had produced, which discussed whether we should preserve remains that we find from our past or whether we should continue to develop more and more.  The last exhibition was of an artist, Reba McBride, who had built the Mae West in Germany.  We watched an odd documentary about that and saw some of her other work.  Afterwards, we decided to go to the famous Boqueria market, which was similar to yesterday but had so much more!  The girls all got food, and I decided to try a salmon
croqueta, and it was one of the best croquetas I have had yet!  It was so cool to see all the different foods and set ups, except for the different dead animals and pig foot I saw that made me want to gag.  Other than that, it was cool to see!  The others then needed to break but I was getting antsy to finally get to the beach!  We continued walking down the Rambla then and finally got to the part, where there are a bunch of different entertainers: like they paint themselves and take pictures with people to make money.  It's kind of funny, but I would not want to be a statue every single day.  I got my picture with a gold lady, but I was totally not expecting her to touch my head, so that gave me a slight spook.  Anyway, then we headed down to Barceloneta.  On our way, we stopped at a couple stands and all bought diademas, which are like headbands/scarves!  The lady tied it around my head, and it was quite an impulse
decision, but I love it and feel quite Spanish. :)  Then we made it to the beach, met some people, took some pics, were shocked at all the casual topless women, laughed for a long time about this little boy who "hace pipí en el agua," swam, and talked.  It was great except after about an hour and a half or so, we were all pretty chilly.  We decided to walk around for a little bit, found another working out place, where a bunch of guys were doing pull ups and stuff.  Of course I had to try one but just looked like an idiot!  Then we rinsed off, got complimented on my hair by a Brazilian man--these diademas must be working!, and decided to find a place for dinner.  We had asked a worker at our hostel for some recommendations, but we could not find any of them.  Then we realized the Spain game was on TV, so I really wanted to find a restaurant with the game.  On our walk, a boy was sitting outside of his house and threw a firecracker at Olivia's leg.  Needless to say
she was not very happy and just turned to him and was like, "DUDE!"  Haha, not sure that's the best way to approach the situation, but then we just kept joking with her cause she kept complaining how her leg hurt cause the boy was throwing fire at her--maybe because she's blonde?!  Today was also the Fiesta de San Juan, where the people of Barcelona basically has a lot of fires, fireworks, and a big party on the beach.  The people then go swimming at dawn the next morning.  We finally chose a little place that we had walked past that looked really good, and it was cheap and had a TV I could somewhat see.  I had a sweet ham sandwich that was so good.  The coolest part though was that Olivia struck up another conversation about my faith.  The one girl was Jewish and the other had been raised Catholic, so we had quite the interesting conversation.  They again asked me about homosexuals, abortion, what it means to have a relationship with Christ, why it is important to me, why I follow it so strictly, if I only follow it because of my parents, whether you still go to Heaven if there's one thing you don't believe about the Bible, what happens if you're sinning but you don't know it, and what is my biggest struggle. They sure kept the questions coming.  Shayna does not believe that people should be forcing religion on her, which I tried to say that I agree with because I don't think that's the way we are called to do it, but then she just did not think people should be following the Bible because times have changed, which that I do not agree with.  They also wanted to know the difference between the old and new testaments, so I tried to generally explain that when Christ came, He brought us the new covenant.  Ultimately I tried to explain that a lot of the things they believe about Christians--REAL Christians that is--are not true.  If we are living by the Bible and like Christ did, we should not be judgmental, but doing everything out of love.  I told them we are of course trying to spread the message and want everyone to know God, but a lot of that is done by the way we live our lives!  When explaining why I live it out, I was not quite sure what to say at first because that's such a loaded question.
What I know is that Christ gives me hope, love, joy, and peace.  He forgives me and gives me a purpose to my life!  I also tried to explain to them that we get so hung up on the little things, but I think what is really important is that God ultimately knows the true state of our heart and he knows our intentions!  Anyway, it was just cool to see God continuing to OPEN doors and to keep stirring in my friends' hearts.  Then we decided to grab some ice cream, and I think it may have been the best I have had so far in Spain!!!  Chocolate brownie and dulce de leche temptation: it really was incredible!
Then we headed back to the beach, so we could watch the fireworks and enjoy the celebration.  We had NO idea what we were about to get ourselves
into.  There were firecrackers and sparklers being
set off everywhere.  We finally found a spot on the beach, actually next to some Americans.  We could not believe how parents let their 4 year old run around with lighter setting off firecrackers.  There were literally fireworks going off in all directions as well and people drinking everywhere.  Drinking + Fire ≠ Good Combination.  I think we were all a little taken aback, but then I could not believe what happened.  I had put my backpack behind me so I could lay down to watch the fireworks.  Well, we sat up to take this picture, started laughing as we were looking at it, and then I turned around to grab my bag, and what do I see but about a 40 year old man and woman hunched down on top of my bag.  It was unzipped and my camera case was on the ground, which was the dead give away that they had been in my bag.  I am not sure my adrenaline or reactions have ever hit me that quick, but I was on my feet in an instant in their face yelling, "What are you doing?"  Somehow, I think I actually ended up scaring them, and they both just started shaking their heads and hands.  I eventually was like, "What did you take?"  Their response was the same, so the only thing I knew to do was to start going through the stuff in my bag to make sure.  I knew I had my camera and so when I found my purse with everything still in it, I figured I was okay.  I think they must have literally just sat down, opened it, and put their hands in when I turned around because the girls beside us kept saying that they saw them inside the bag feeling around.  Even though I thought I had everything that was there to begin with, I kept thinking I may have forgotten something, and the feeling of having someone in my bag was so unnerving.  Olivia was then like, "Why were you in her bag?"  And they were like "No..." like the didn't understand, so I got real close to the woman and was like "¿PORQUÉ?"  She literally looked at me and goes, "No entiendo."  And they ran away.  Really, you're going to answer me IN SPANISH and say you don't understand my Spanish question--that makes sense.  But anyway, I sat back down with my heart pounding and explained what happened to Lauren and Shayna because they were so confused since it happened so fast.  The really cool thing though was Shayna looked at me and said, "It's a good thing you have a really good relationship with Christ."  :)  Even though I'm pretty sure it was a joke, she clearly was still thinking and all I was thinking was that is such the truth.  I know there are so many people praying for me, and it was not just a coincidence that I turned around literally at just the right time.  I think all of us were just kind of shaken up, so we left shortly after, saw a firecracker get thrown into a porta-potty and start smoking and BOOKED it back to the hostel.  We finally got back around 2:00 and felt good to be safe and sound!