Mondragón

Mondragón is an industrial city in the heart of the Basque Country. Founded in 1260 by Alphonse the 10th, also called the Wise King. Its name comes from Mont Dragón, the Mount of the Dragon, the lair of a mythical figure known in medieval times to require the yearly sacrifice of a young damsel. Now, on the same mountain, Murumendi, we find the headquarters of a benign giant--the Mondragón Cooperative Corporation, whose influence spans the globe.

We were very privileged to meet several who work there, attend a special presentation explaining the movement or "Mondragón Experience" as it is known, and even tour one of the local industrial plants--Fagor Arrasate. And our guide was the boss man, the manager of four plants--Jose Mari, one of the friends who took up the Tourmalet challenge along with our guys.

Mondragón is also the birthplace of our host and guide, Alberto. He is the only one of this group of friends that moved away from the hometown. The others jokingly won't let him forget that he abandoned them. But, of course, they stay in touch and continue to get together regularly. This is an aspect of Basque culture we so admired--the way they value and guard the bonds of friendship from childhood on. 

Today I was reading the story of Mondragón and the Cooperative Movement in the book that commemorates their fiftieth anniversary. I find it fascinating and there are so many things I'd love to share. Of course, you can go to the links I've included and read for yourself, but I am excited and hope to express some of the ideas and facts myself in the coming days. For now, a link to an article that includes a photo of what we saw them working on for a US client, the FORD company. 

I remember being very interested in the whole cooperative concept, asking questions as I heard bits and pieces when we were in Basque Country. The people we met were so fired up about the Movement, its global impact and their buzzword--solidarity.  I was reminded of how we felt about our involvement years ago in a movement that impacted our lives forever--Operation Mobilization.

To end the long day out, we dropped in on Alberto's Mom in Mondragón. She is such a lovely lady.

It was a long day. Alberto was so eager to show us everything, and there was still so much more. And like the Mondragón story, we were not able to take it ALL in. Looking back, remembering, reading, researching, I wish I could go back and spend more time. Perhaps I would be better prepared. For now I will just keep on exploring the memories. Join me on more Adventures in Europe.

2010 Week 47

Cold weather is setting in, but I saw one group of trees on my way to work that still had bright colored leaves. Our woods is beginning to look bare and everywhere there is a thick carpet of leaves.
The hunters' persistance paid off at last toward the end of the week. They have a buck and a doe so far, and keep hoping to fill their quota.

The week got off to a great start. We were finally able to get together with our friends, Dane and Laurie. We attended a concert in Fort Wayne, one of my favorite Christian singers--Fernando Ortega. The setting had an intimate feel, which allowed him to tell stories freely. We enjoyed the dry humor and appreciated his quiet and humble manner.

 

Teaching was fun Tuesday, and the exam on Thursday was not bad either.
From the first week I have used a little system that helps immensely. The first day everyone came up with a gesture to associate with their name, something that represented them. I then wrote each name and characteristic on a popsicle stick. I pull them out randomly throughout the class and call on the students as we go through a variety of activities. It is an easy way to keep track of absentees as well. An extra benefit showed up this week: a single mom, taking four courses and caring for her three children and three nieces while her sister works, reminded me of the descriptor we chose for her, la valiente (the valiant or courageous one), to replace the one she had come up with, la loca. She is encouraged to hang in there and will graduate from the program in one month!

Notice the mugs I use to hold the sticks--a special gift from dear friends. Unfortunately I cannot drink from them because on the trip back from Argentina, when my luggage was lost and took the long way back, delayed a week, they arrived broken and had to be lovingly glued in multiple places.

Our mail is not usually exciting, but this week we received a very special package--a book from Alberto, our host in Basque Country who gave us such a wonderful tour of his homeland.
When he asked if there was anything else we wished to see, Mike asked to visit a pottery studio.

We were all very impressed with the Museo de Alfarería in Ollerías. Any visitor acquainted with The Cave by José Saramago (Portuguese Nobel Prize winner) is immediately reminded of the novel when they look inside one of the large pots on display.
Alberto's accompanying note is a beautiful, a heartfelt tribute to Mike's dedication to creativity and to sharing his passion for pottery.

"The Cave reminds us that the pace of technology cannot strip us

of reverence for the simple act of creating a thing of beauty."

Today Laurie and I spent four hours going through her countless photos from our trip to Basque Country. Such wonderful memories!

For lack of my own photos today I will include a few from our tour in June.

Our tireless host and tour guide showed us cities, towns, churches, historic places, the countryside, farms, the seaside, and oh, everywhere you look is so beautiful.

2010 Week 46

Life goes on...

We say goodbye to new friends and stay in touch with old and new; watch our babies grow, our children and grandchildren moving on in life; we continue our labors whatever they may be; we eat, sleep, exercise, and enjoy life. Is this beginning to sound like Ecclesiastes, except that the Teacher there starts out saying all is meaningless. By the end, he concludes: Fear God and obey...

Here are the highlights of the ongoingness of life this week.

Sunday we enjoyed our friends from Spain and I interpreted again both morning and evening. Then it was time to say goodbye.

Rafa and daughter Laura 

(Are you beginning to notice the whole world is taller than me?)

Monday Meal

Baby begins to walk

Boys help assemble Monte Cristos

We celebrate Sam's 32 years completed

Tuesdays and Thursdays Spanish classes continue, for a few more weeks. Students take turns presenting something about the Hispanic culture.

Wearing my huipil, reading the story she wrote

Friday, granddaughter Kayla's first college visit!

Beneficence (Benny) extends her hand in welcome

Frog Baby blesses those who kiss its upturned nose

The tallest bell tower in Indiana

Is that a perplexed look? "Is BSU the place for me?"

Hunting season has begun. Mike was out bow hunting nearly every day. He saw a few good sized bucks, but no success yet. Son Stephan joined him when gun season opened.

Mid-morning nourishment and hunting show

Beautiful weather all week allowed for one more paseo en bici (bike ride)!

2010 Week 45

New Spanish connection and remembering the old days.

I walked into Sunday School a couple minutes late as visitors were being introduced. Mike whispered, "They're from Spain, Barcelona." When the lesson began, he suggested I move over and offer to interpret, especially for the one gentleman who could not understand English. Rafa (short for Rafael) is in charge of maintenance at La Arcada, a camp in Northern Spain.
Thus began a week of remembering old times. Years ago, I did a lot of simultaneous interpretation. Three times this week I was privileged to refresh that skill.  This morning was the most unusual--I was invited to attend the men's breakfast. I obliged.

Of course, I ate my manly share of the good food too. I probably learned more from the topic of the morning than Rafa since it was all about sharpening tools. He told me the names and explained the various tools and machines.
We were asked to pose a few times. I was caught adjusting my face in this one.

I spent most of the day Monday going through very old slides (remember those things?) looking for any with Sammy. Today is the day we remember when our youngest was born and celebrate the man he has become.

At Monday meal we were happy to see Sam and family again now that soccer season is over.
One more photo of my gordito precioso with Aunt Karen who knit his little cap.

Spanish teaching continues two mornings a week. Often after class I stop by this old-fashioned McD's on the way, especially on days when I have other errands or appointments before finally going home.

Thursday was one of those long days. I wanted to attend a session for writers at Taylor University, featuring Jerry B Jenkins, the very prolific author of the Left Behind series among other many best sellers.

I also met Kayleen Reusser, who writes for children. Years ago we worked at Taylor Fort Wayne.



These sessions and encounters were very inspiring and reminded me that I would like to be writing more. 

A tornado struck nearby damaging trees at the local cemetery. Some fifty head stones were strewn as well.

2010 Week 44: Friends, old and new

Sunday evening we welcomed Dennis and Donna, great friends these forty years since we met and worked together in Germany. Our children were born in the town of Freystadt am Oberpfalz three months apart--our firstborn son and their third daughter.

Monday evening at Stephan's meal, we had a great time remembering old times.

After some persuasion, Stephan regaled us with his famous hunting tale of the five-point doe. His Wisconsin accent is a bit rusty, Mike said. Even so he had us in tears, as we tried hard not to LOL lest we interrupt the storytelling.



Tuesday, tornado warnings interrupted my class. Some chose to leave and try to make it home, others sought shelter in a safer place. A small tornado did touch down at the edge of our little town, ripping the roof off part of the hardware store and either uprooting or snapping more than a dozen good sized trees in the cemetery. 

Wednesday I was pleasantly surprised by a call from a South African lady I met recently. We went to lunch and talked for over two hours. Is it unusually coincidental to have so many life experiences in common, or is it that when you live long enough 'there's nothing new under the sun'?

In the evening, Mike offered a pottery-throwing lesson to one of my former students.

Thursday we were finally able to get together with our friends Dane and Laurie, who traveled to Basque Country with us last June. The electricity was out all afternoon and evening, so we ate out. 

Davenports' newly painted house

I also enjoyed this fall-view of the old railroad that divides our town.

Saturday, we spent the day at an arts and crafts show, met some nice people and had our biggest sale at the last minute. It was easier setting up and tearing down the exhibit this time because it was indoors. However, we broke two pieces in the process. I leave you with this unique candleholder which can live on only in photographic form.

Tag...I'm it!

I have been tagged for a fun meme by my friend Sara @ make music from your heart to the Lord. Eph. 5:19.She has given me the following 7 questions to answer...


1. What are you fixing for dinner tonight?
Dinner's over, simply leftovers warmed in the oven: breaded fish, a blend of vegetables, and seasoned baked potato halves. All prepared by my amazing husband for Sunday dinner. Keep in mind, I'm only a Koch (cook) by marriage.

2. What is your favorite dish at Thanksgiving?
Hard to say, but probably the items we only have once a year--cranberry relish, turkey, and pumpkin pie.

3. What are you most thankful for right at this moment?
This quiet evening and the opportunity to respond to this tag in a peaceful and pleasant setting.

4. Do you think 50 is the new 40?
I hope so, that would make me a lot younger. Actually the Real Age test results do that already.

5. What age do you dread the most?
When I get to the point that I can no longer function physically and am totally dependent on others to care for me.


6. If you could have/do anything for your birthday, what would it be?
A family trip abroad, maybe to Argentina to visit the beautiful sights I have not even seen yet, like Bariloche, Patagonia, the glacier Perito Moreno,  Iguazu falls, the Andes, the beautiful NW desert, and of course, the family home in the sierras of Cordoba--Santa Rosa.
You said anything, right?  ;)

7. What kind of cake do you choose for your birthday?
Never Fail Chocolate Cake with 7 Minute icing.


Now I am supposed to come up with seven different questions and tag seven people, which I always hate doing. And you are not obligated to participate. And if I don't tag you, you can grab the questions and play along, or answer them in the comments!

Here are my questions for you:
 
1. Do you have a "bucket list"?
 
2. If so, what is at the top?
 
3. What news story stood out from those you heard today?
 
4. What are you most thankful for this year?
 
5. What small thing always makes you happy?
 
6. What is your favorite old movie?

7. Was there a surprise in your day?

I'm tagging the following:

Karen @ Small Town Runner

Sharon @ It is good to wait quietly

Kathy the Vegas Girl

Rosalyn @ Hangin with the Hoyts

Dana @ The Bug's Eye View

Stacey @ McCracken'sX4

Kim @ Just a Southern Girl



2010 Week 43: Elderberry Events

The Elderberries, in this case, are not the sweet red or black fruit from the elder bush, but rather the over-fifty group in our church, which is located on Berry St..
Sunday we had dinner at a retreat center not far from here, by Lake Placid. It was a beautiful day.

And today, Saturday, sixteen of us visited the Indiana State Museum's Titanic Artifact Exhibition.

As we entered we were given a boarding pass with passenger information. Mine was for Emily, wife of Arthur Ryerson, from Haverford, PA, 48 years old, traveling with her husband, two daughters (21 and 18) and a younger son. The family had traveled to Europe to find suitable European husbands for the older girls. Shortly after arriving in Europe, they received the horrible news that one of their sons had been killed in an automobile accident. The family was hurrying back on the first ship available in order to attend the funeral on April 19, 1912. The director of the ship line, Bruce Ismay, personally greeted the Ryerson's as they boarded. He also made an extra stateroom available to them as well as an additional servant. Mrs. Ryerson was so devastated that she remained in her cabin for much of the journey.

At the end of the tour we could search the wall with the list of passengers according to their class for the names of the survivors and of those who perished. 

My person, the sorrowing mother, survived, but I did not find her husband. Many such sad stories...a moving experience.

The Imax presentation dealt more with the recovery of the 5,500 artifacts from the depths of the ocean, an amazing scientific feat.

Tuesday evening was Skye's last football game of the season. Finally I got some shots of him exiting the field, always a proud moment.

Wednesday, an unusual and exciting event--the opening of the mile and a half trail that connects the Cardinal Greenway and the Sweetser Switch Trail. Mitch Daniels, our governor, who has strongly promoted the statewide rails to trails network, makes it a priority to attend each ceremony. I have many photos, but my favorite is of the governor talking to the fourth graders present. One hundred and twenty walked the trail from their school a mile or so away.

 Both Thursday and Friday I was privileged to spend time with the two younger grandsons.

Zion is 11 months old today.

Friday afternoon when I was out walking I saw members of the Garden Club cleaning up and decorating the town for the Fall Festival next week.

Amid the fun and exciting moments are many mundane activities and ordinary minutes, hours, days. 

2010 Week 42

Sunday we celebrated Kayla's birthday as a family. She had asked to go to Mi Pueblo, a Mexican restaurant in nearby Marion. Some of us were surprised that she would want to experience their style of birthday song. She was thinking sombrero y postre and had no idea what was coming.

The sunrises are gorgeous on my way to class in the morning. That will probably change as the days get shorter. My point and shoot ability and idiot-proof little camera can never do justice to those glorious amaneceres.

Wednesday I had a hair appointment. My hairdresser is a neighbor and friend. I trust her completely, all I do is show up every seven weeks and let her decide and do what she thinks needs to be done. She said I was overdo for a coloring session, a lot of gray showing through. I didn't know, just looked like highlights to me.

How many of you were glued to the TV watching the Chilean miners being rescued one by one? Did anyone notice what was printed on their t-shirts? I had to look intently to decipher what they said. On the front,  “Gracias, Señor” (Thank you, Lord). And on the back, “son suyas las profundidades de la tierra, son suyas las cumbres de los montes. A Él la gloria y el honor”. (Psalm 95:4)

In this very difficult year in which Chile suffered a devastating earthquake, they went ahead and celebrated their bicentennial. The discovery, survival and eventual rescue of the 33 trapped miners was such an inspiration to the entire nation. The have been called los angeles del bicentenario.


I worked steadily to finish a little sweater I was knitting as a gift for dear friends in Mexico expecting their first baby. Thursday I met with one of the ladies leaving with the October-team on Saturday. They are so faithful, and so privileged, to go to Xocenpich, Yucatán area twice a year.

Friday may have been the last day of work at the Red Barn for awhile. Mike and one of the students put together a pool table.

Elijah loves to spend the night whenever it works out for all of us. So he came yesterday and today we went to the Children's Museum in Muncie. As usual, he was exploring non-stop. The hardest for him was to obey the no-running rule.

The longest he stayed still was when here, tracing Garfield cartoons.