Thursday, 18th August 2011:
As usual, we woke up and prepared to go to the Catethesis at... San Trinidad Parraquia.
We were supposed to go see Rachel and Ee Lynn, since our host family told us that
they came knocking at our door AFTER we left the house yesterday o.o
Uhm... okay x.x
We went down, and it turns out, no one was home DX
So off we went to the parish (parraquia is parish in Spanish).
Amazing!! My sister knows the way from the host's house to the parish :o
I certainly don't DX
Waiting for the catechesis to start 8D
Meself, sis, Sandra and Aunt Amy.
This is the Bishop from... one of the countries.
I think he was in charge of South Africa.
He sure had a lot of years as a priest, bishop, arch-bishop and cardinal XD
Maybe he'd be the next pope? :o
*sorry blur pic D:
It was the most clearest of the pictures that I took since I zoomed 4.00 MPix D:
As usual, the questions and answer session blew me away.
Certain questions that were answered by the cardinal were just... wow o.o
One question was asked that got me thinking, oh... I didn't think of that XD
One Italian guy asked how come other people were allowed to receive the Holy Communion
with their hands, went they were (quote) "dirty and unworthy" *say it in a very Italian accent haha XD
When in Italia, they only receive the Holy Communion with their tongues.
I was :/
Yeah, but wasn't it acceptable? Understand the "dirty and unworthy" part, but... :/
The cardinal said that, he considers receiving the Communion with hands as a humble gesture
and reminded everyone that the tongue is also suspicable to be unworthy...
as it could be used as a lethal weapon.
Also, it was allowed in certain places because the people of that area didn't open their mouths
wide enough to receive the Host XD
Hahahaha XD
Okay, after Mass, I met this lady from Trinidad and Tobago.
(which is where I think the Cardinal was. Or if not, he was from the Dominician Republic DX)
*the toilet line was so... long DX
That was where I talked to her XD
Forgot her name DX
I think this WYD is her fifth, you know :o
This American girl exchanged bracelets 8D
She said, "I made these really crappy bracelets, but if it's okay can I exchange them for your souvenirs?"
XD
*Sorry, it's slightly blur.
The cross where you can see in the background... the one where we posed with the American girl 8D
After Mass and our photo session, we walked out from church,
intending to follow our leader since we were all supposed to go together to
welcome Pope Benedict XVI in the opening ceremony!!
So, not everyone was there, and we all just ended up waiting for a few people.
Decided to cam-happy a little 8D
*Duh, patrotic only in Spain XD
I wonder what my sis is trying to do, really XD
After that, Rachel joined us and gave us some muffins *OMGOSH! SO DELII!!! :O :O
and we all went to the train station.
Guess where we all ended up?? :o :o
*sorry, can't identify the flags DX
We come down at Gran Via station, where there was a crowd.
Tons of people were eating at corners on the street, having McDonald's for lunch :o
Speaking of McDonald's... I wanted Pork Burger!!!!!!
Didcha know that they have *Non-Halal* burger overseas, but not in Malaysia? :o
If they introduced it here, McDonald's will die x.x
We entertained ourselves while waiting for our representative to come back with food.
Honestly, I didn't know why Irene went upstairs.
I was thinking, where would we eat? There's like, a bunch of us and McDonald's packed with people D:
And when we walked up, we saw a row of tables, untouched.
Immediately, we booked the spot for ourselves and our friends. :D :D
God is SO GREAT!
After we finished eating, those of us who didn't use the orange shirt went to change into them.
I did :x
Everyone made a fuss of me changing though :/
If you were close to me, you'd know why x.x
But seriously, it wasn't like anything was exposed DX
There were people who dressed worse than me, okay? DX
We walked out from McD.
And you could see another sea of Orange :D :D
Any other colour wasn't part of us, nor we part of them ;D
Anyways, immediately outside McDonald's:
Because it was Senator Hotel :D
*Oh yeah, I was wearing my bag like this the whole way.
Tis safer than wearing it on my back XD
A lot of guys were wearing this XD
But uhm... Malaysians aren't used to hugging :/ XD XD
After waiting, (
we went off to see where we could lodge ourselves :D
Or rather, how close we could lodge ourselves to Plaza de Cibeles.
This was where I started to seriously not care for my voice DX
We were singing Malay (Praise and Worship) songs,
English Praise and Worship Songs,
Chanting Viva La Papa!!
And BEN-NE-DICT-TO!! *clap,clap, clap,clap, clap*!! 8D 8D
while walking.
I seriously refrained myself from drinking too much water,
because I was fearful of the need of toilets... which of course, would be senseless.
(I mean, toilets are rare. Period.)
Who goes in search of the toilets when you have a chance of seeing St Peter's successor?
On the way, my sis met with these lovely people.
They had no souvenirs :(
Germany, people DX
Sorry, Google came to the rescue XD
After walking for a distance, the lot of us managed to squeeze only the little of us near the barricade.
In other words, there were so many of us, but only a handful of us managed to get to the limited space
that was available :/
Being mostly petite, we wondered how to overcome our height problem :/
*at least, I did DX
There were giants all around me T_T
(no, I shall not use the term "Caucasians" cause I just found out that
it does not apply to Americans and Australians T_T)
So this was how one person solved the problem:
William at the bottom, Samantha on top XD
Which was what my sister did not long after.
On Uncle Paul.
Cheh-wa XD
I -heart- this picture, super lots! ♥♥♥
I think it's one of my best-taken photos in Spain♥ 8D
As you can see, there's tons of flags.
Puerta Rico, Argentina, France, Canada, Lebanon (no kidding! I just found out :o)...
and others, but I could hardly recognize them :s
The view from the left.
I think this shot had zoomed before my sister took it.
The little kid on *someone*'s shoulder was quite a distance away from us.
See the multitudes of people... from our place to Cibeles.
Oh btw. If you are wondering why such a huge gathering JUST to see the Pope,
it's because he's St Peter's successor. The one whom the Lord Jesus was close to on Earth.
And if it's just the Pope walking on the street that got this many people to come on the streets
and brave the sun, heat and water (yeah, see it in the next pic) the whole day, what more if the Lord
chose a day to walk on a certain street on Earth and announced it?
People would start camping on the day He announce His arrival :o
Now, on a super side note, when the Spanish
(not sure if other countries practice this,
but I know it's too humid for Malaysia to have this kind of practice :s)
have a large event during the day in the summer, they will call for their fire engine to come by...
And the fire engine will spray the crowd with water!!!
It's actually a method to cool one down... but it's kinda bad if you have electronics with you at that time :/
Which was why my camera was hidden most of the time XD
Here's a pic:
As you can see, we are all wet already XD
Tis a really bad time to wear pure white shirt :s
Otherwise, clean group shot :D
You'll find that amongst the many shots that were taken during this time,
I've dissappeared.
And it's true.
Because while everyone was being camera-happy,
I was wondering how close I would be able to get to the blue railing.
Which meant inching your way as close as possible to the person in front of you
and hoping that someone decides to leave his/her standing position.
Now you know why I didn't drink much water... at this time,
looking for toilets is the last thing you wanna do D:
Sorry, I don't know where they were from D:
US, maybe? D:
Unfortunately, neither me nor my sis is in there :/
We're such happy people :D :D
I'm there btw.
And yes, I wore that hat until it was out of shape and the green ribbon came off :(
Water softened it D:
A RAINBOWWWW!!! :D :D :D
And, lol! What's with the unbrella?
People wanna get wet, but some wanna stay dry XD XD
Love the blue, btw :D
Right in front of me was... someone.
He was seriously -not- camera happy... as he and I had the same thought XD
*we're both in the same group of Malaysians, btw.
Policia, making its rounds :o
Security was super tight XD
This was how "front" I was...
So I was hoping that I'd be able to see Pope Benedict XVI through my camera lens...
As the shortie-me couldn't see from above these people's heads :(
How I wished I knew how to climb trees like that XD
My eyes were on him, as he got ready with his camera when Papa was coming to pass by XD
(Papa is the Pope :D)
Haha, he's waving at my sis's camera XD
Yup, this little kid.
He's so cute!! 8D 8D
I just my sis accidentally caught his brother's face too :o
I thought he was on his daddy's shoulder at that time.
With this shot, I now know that I was wrong ^^;
I think this carving was above the building in front of us :o
Sorry, I don't remember the name of the building :/
A shot of a random priest :x
I know he's a priest cause priests there wear that white thingy between the collar.
Normally, they wear a black shirt and that white thiny, so it becomes very obvious that they're priests XD
But Father Patrick didn't wear those :o
Cause priests in Malaysia don't. :o
I wonder why... hmmm...
Nice Cibeles close-up! 8D
Now it's the flags! :o
There's Italy, British flag,
*Conch Republic
Others, I don't know (can't identify D:)
Let's see... we were there from 5pm, I think.
The welcoming of the Pope began at 7pm.
It got dragged to 7.30pm like that or something :/
Can't really remember, but I knew we waited for a long time even though we got there late XD
Here's a clear shot of Papa! From my sister's camera XD
Okay, maybe not so clear, but meh, it was better than most pictures :/
And it was difficult too, from where we stood.
Watch my camera's video 8D
*word of warning... you may wanna turn down the volume a little bit before you start :x
PAPA! PAPA! PAPA!! 8D 8D
After the Welcoming of the Pope, we retreated a little to join the rest of the group.
There was where we were ambushed by the Brazilians who wanted to take photos with us :o
We don't have the full group shot, but meh XD
Putting on my Brazilian badge after exchanging a souvenir with them :D
*yes, Canada in the background XD
A smaller group shot with someone :x
And pictures while leaving our spot!
Oh, I made a mistake :(
One of the blog posts I said "Samuda".
It's actually Samur x.x
*Why oh why didn't Google come to my rescue?!
The camera crew was also retreating :o
Random policia who were doing their rounds.
*Drivers on the left-handside, people :o
Sister was saying, while snapping their photos, the driver said,
"Faster, faster, faster..." XD
He meant, faster snap the photo so he could drive off XD
Me smiling.
Yesh, my hair was our of shape (so was my hat. Damp to the max x.x)
I can't help but notice how real my smile was o.o
And how happy everyone was during that time :o
When I was blogging and looking properly at all the photos, the smiles were all genuine...
*I'm famous for fake smiles in my family :x
But I like the detail on it :)
You don't find this anywhere at home XD
People in Spain walk their dogs.
In the mornings and in the evenings.
Which is quite a shocker for me, since there are dogs here, but they are hardly taken out for a walk :/
I seriously can't imagine taking out my trash-loving mutt to walk in my neighbourhood o.o
Scary D:
Close-up and personal XD
But rather than that, look at the design of the building :o
After much walking, we went to Gula Gula (for dinner):
Said to be the famous buffet place which nice fried rice.
Well, someone has got a strange sense of the "nice" part :/
I found it normal, average Spanish dinner.
Oh btw, the Spanish take their salt VERY SERIOUSLY.
Insult their salt, you insult them ._.
Now, when we came out from the restaurant, it was already beginning to be dark.
Like this dark o.o
I don't know who these people in uniforms were, but they were pretty smart lookin' :D
Errrr...
It's not what you think, honestly!!
It was an advertisment piece for a hotel DX
But lol! What a way to get attention rofl XD
Many people were either eating or finding a Metro station.
And believe me, the stations were packed... packier (if there's such a word) than sardines D:
Risking belongings aren't worth it... so instead, we walked and walked and walked until we found a good station.
*which if I may say, we wanted to reach home early, because I felt guilty
coming home really late to our host family the previous night D:
Other people's host family advised them to come back by 10.30pm.
For some reason, we're always back at 11pm -_____-;;
From near Cibeles, we walked until we reached Alonso Martinez Metro Station.
Which happened to be the next best station to take because there wasn't a crowd :D
To get there, we bypassed about 6 Metro Stations that I wondered if we could've just
waited for the crowd to thin out in Banco de Espana Metro Station :/
While I was thanking God, walking down the area where we waited for the train,
this French group was communicating with another French group across the tracks.
And lol! They were so... not aware of that suspicious-looking guy with red long-sleeved shirt and
baggy, trashy suspicious pair of jeans.
They weren't aware of how untidy and shaggy his hair was, nor how he didn't look at all appealing D:
*My apologies if you fit the description above, but you aren't what I'm thinking you are :(
The best suspicious part about him was how his eyes were looking everywhere,
how we carried ourselves, and how suspicious we were of him.
He walked from one group to another and circled back.
And he would pace again, from one group to another, eyes darting at everyone,
fingers rubbing each other *in a very suspicious way to whoever was noticing,
coming closer and closer to my small group of 4.
I told Aunty Amy, "Tengok orang itu, macam syak dia akan buat suatu."
*See that person, suspect that he's definitely up to something.
Aunty Amy told me, "Yalah, dia pun jalan sini sana macam tengok bagaimana kita angkat beg."
*Yup, he's also pacing up and down, as if watching how we carry our bags.
All I wanted to do was scram out from there! D:
Finally the train came, but I held back (Aunty Amy too, when she saw what I saw)
That guy was going to get on the same train carriage as us! D:
As the train left, the French group noticed the 4 of us on the platform.
They waved us goodbye, and we, smiling as though it was the most normal thing in the world,
waved them goodbye heartily :D :D
We missed 3 trains that time and wasted 15 minutes on the platform XD
All in the name of safety :D
On the way to the last station, there was this gypsy (beggar, more like :/)
looking at the other carriage and talked in Spanish.
She wasn't looking at anyone of us, just the direction of the other carriage.
And I wondered if she was talking to something that I can't see o.o
I looked to the left (that was where she looked), but when I didn't see anyone, I ignored her.
Thank goodness we left the station after that!
I didn't know what else I could go through after that D:
Thank God, we reached back to our host family's house safe and sound :)
And today, God was really, truly with us :D
I managed to get a great shot (video!) of the Pope, keep my group safe and sound,
had a brush with a suspected pickpocket (and gypsy! D:) and reached home at 11pm plus.
All in a good day's work during WYD :D
PS. I forgot to mention in all the other posts, except the first one,
but all the photos here are credited to my sister, Monica Theseira (taken from her raws),
otherwise stated (myseasonalxheaven.blogspot.com).
She's a good photographer :D
To continue, click World Youth Day #7
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