29 February 2008

Angela: "Well, Michael, whenever we're upset, you alway ask us if we're PMSing." Michael: "Well, I have to know whether you're serious or not!"

Madrid, Spain

La Casa de Santibanez

El 27 de Febrero, 2008

9:47pm (2:47pm Denton time)

It’s strange. I am literally counting down the days until Aaron gets here because I absolutely cannot wait to see him again. I miss him so much!!! BUT at the same time… it’s like I want the days to pass faster that I’m here for… which is kind of sad…

On one hand, I’m here for about another month, away from him and the rest of you awesome people…

On the other hand…I’m ONLY here another month… and about 2 weeks of that time I won’t see the family because they’ll be out of town… I’m really gonna miss these kiddos.

So… catch 22, I guess…

Anyways, I finally went exploring in the other side of town. I’d never been to that part of town before… there’s not much there…so I guess its ok that I’ve missed out on it for the forty days that I’ve been here. I found a little grocery store kind of like Albertsons, though. So I went ahead and bought a few more things that I wanted to bring back with me. Some jam and chocolate mix (the kind that you make the really think drinking chocolate for churros y chocolate) and some of that nutella-type stuff J

On the way back I missed my bus stop so I had to get off on the next one. I didn’t feel like waiting for the next bus to come that way, so I decided to trek back on foot to the house…it’s further than I thought. Haha. And walking on the side of the 6-8lane highway in Madrid is actually rather terrifying… back to the cars that are approaching… they were not really that close but I almost peed my pants the first time a bus passed so close to me… haha.

I cut my fingernails again today… seems like a ridiculous thing to write in here, but it made me realize how long I’ve been here. Long enough to need to cut my fingernails more than once… weird…

I picked some wildflowers (uh…weeds) on the side of the highway on my trek back to the house today. I was reminded of the days that I used to play outside of our house in North Carolina… so much time back then to just wander around the yard, play in the treehouse, and pick wildflower/weeds. I remember there were so many of the purple ones that grow kind of like bluebonnets, tiny white ones, and dandelions. I wanna sit in the grass making flower necklaces again. Those white flowers were perfect for that!

Anyways. memory lane was fun today. Now my purple weeds are in a glass next to my sink in the bathroom. I like them. J they’re happy flowers.

I wish Aaron were here. 15 days!!!! J

Tomorrow will be exactly two weeks until I see him. YES!!!! J please go by quickly...

Later: 11:30pm Madrid time (4:30pm denton time)

Hey. Also, if you haven’t done so already… you should congratulate Aaron. He has been interviewing with a lot of companies and he heard back from the one that he has been talking about for a while. They offered him a position and it should turn into a really great fulltime position after graduation! J I’m so proud of him! All of you should hug him for me. Maybe it’ll make up for me not being able to congratulate him myself L I’m so proud of him!! J

Oh. Speaking of Aaron… funny thing today. When the kiddos came home and were finishing up their after school snack, just before we started teaching, they started telling their mom about the videos that Aaron sends me. I let them watch them because they’re funny and great and it lets them into my world J so far they’ve “met” Aaron, Jeremy, Darrell, Ben, Mr. and Mrs. Power… I think that’s all… anyways. it’s awesome. They were almost quoting the videos and they’ve only seen them like twice! Haha. They were so animated in their telling to their mom! They were so excited and they kept telling her how funny Aaron is J I can’t wait for them to be able to meet him! I hope that his flight gets in on Thursday so that they CAN meet him! They leave that Friday to go to their beach house.

I pulled my suitcase out of storage so that I can start to pack up the things that I’m going to let Aaron take back home for me in a separate bag that he’s bringing. J I’m SO glad to be able to do that. I definitely wouldn’t have enough room with all of the souvenirs/gifts that I’m bringing back. There’s no way. I’m so excited to get back and show you guys what I’m bringing back and to cook you some authentic Spanish food! Yum! J they like tuna. And mayo. Haha. And eggs! Bigtime!

Ugh.i just thought about their milk again… hahah it’s so gross! J haha. The only time I eat it is when I mix in Nesquik. Yup. They have that here. Legit nesquick. Bunny and all. Kinda cool. I think Eduardo drinks about 4 glasses of it every day…haha.

Ok. I need to go to sleep now…

Aaron had a test today about an hour ago… I hope it went well. Probably did. He’s a stud. I’ve been praying for it, babe!

Ok. Goodnight, everyone!

Madrid, Spain

La Casa de Santibanez

El 28 de Febrero, 2008

7:47pm (12:47pm Denton time)

Tutoring didn’t help today. It was a pretty good day. I’ve had a pretty terrible sinus headache all day though… Caitlin still hasn’t heard from her host mom if I can live with them while I’m kicked out of the house for 9 days… so that’s neat… also Lindsey and Aaron have nowhere to stay when they come as of now because we were hoping that they’d be able to stay with her also… so that’s neat, too… I’m going to have to call our friend Christopher and see if they can for sure stay there when they’re here, since he offered it when we were there last weekend… otherwise Aaron won’t be able to come. Awesome. After I let myself get so excited and think that it was for sure… I hate this. I said I wouldn’t get stressed about it but I am. Extremely.

Katie and I booked our flights from Madrid to Rome today. We fly out Friday, March 28th and we will spend Friday night and Saturday in Rome. Saturday evening we will go to Florence. We will spend Saturday night and Sunday in Florence. Sunday night we will go to Milan and spend Monday there. We will fly back to Madrid either Monday evening or early Tuesday morning. Right now the early Tuesday morning is looking cheaper, but when we tried to book it…it denied my card. I have to call wells fargo and make sure they didn’t put a hold on my account. They did that to Katie the other day. Even though we told them we were out of the states… irritating… oh well. Then I’ll try to book our return flight again tomorrow.

The others are going to Portugal tomorrow night. That’s cool. Maybe I’ll get pizza some time this weekend. I keep saying that… I know.

I just really wish Aaron was here. I wish I knew for sure that he was coming. Having to get a hostel will cost another 150-175 dollars that I don’t think he has to spend. That sucks. Pretty much he can’t come if we can’t find somewhere free for them to stay. I just feel really helpless right now. I wish the family wasn’t closing the freaking house. That is so ridiculous. I need a freaking place to live. And if they weren’t so ridiculous we could all just stay here. It’s a whole house that is going to be empty the whole time they’re gone. ARG!

Sorry I’m just really frustrated right now. I kind of just wish I were home already, and not having to deal with all of this. I just want Aaron and Lindsey here already. No more of this will they/won’t they crap.

I’m just hungry, I’m sorry. I hate eating dinner at 10 o’clock at night. UGH. I just want some food…that isn’t ridiculous gross meatball things that we have ALL THE TIME I feel like… yup. That’s dinner again tonight. I’ll never eat them again.

Well… fourteen days (two weeks) until Aaron may or may not be here. Neat…

p.s. also, I really miss my Lindseyfriend. She should live here right now.

Later: 11:33pm Madrid time (4:33pm Denton time)

I hate conversations when I feel like I’m fighting for someone’s attention or that they are really tired of talking to you. Whether that’s really true or I just feel like that ‘s the truth. Either way. I hate those conversations. I also hate PMS and I also hate crying.

Also I hate the the conversion rate makes is so ridiculous for people to come here and afford it.

Also I’m just in a bad mood. I’m glad I don’t have to teach tomorrow. I’m glad it’s the weekend.

I’m going to take a bath. I just am not having a good night. Wonderful…

p.s. I did get to talk to Kelley for a few minutes before my phone card cut out. That was cool… Lynn I tried calling you but it wouldn’t work for some reason… I’ll try again soon. Bye.

p.p.s. (12:35am Madrid time. 5:35pm Denton time): I’m convinced that working out is more satisfying in Europe than it is in the US. Of course that is only my opinion…

27 February 2008

my boyfriend is spiderman.

wait... crap. i probably shouldnt have told you that... ;)


Madrid, Spain

La Casa de Santibanez

El 25 de Febrero, 2008

9:03pm (2:03pm Denton time)

Hey I just realized that my birthday is exactly one month from yesterday! J that’s fun J Eduardo told me tonight that he was going to sing to me:

“Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday…

Poor you!!!! Because you’re getting so OLD!!!”

Hahaha J I loved it J I can’t wait J hahaha.

That’s also Andrew Eenigenburg’s Bday, so write that one down for your calendar and don’t forget to give him a bear hug that day! (it’s the day after easter).

So yeah…I was in a really crap mood all day today. I wonder if it’s already PMS time again… ugh. Probably. But the cool thing is that God totally used the kids to get me out of it! Haha. I never would have expected working/teaching/tutoring to be the thing to rid me of my foul mood that I’ve seriously had since waking up this morning. Huh…

Oh… also:

Mister Monday

He gets up at eight o’clock

On cold clear winter days

He eats his food at half past eight

And clears the pots away

He drives his car through the city streets

And meets along the way

Lots of tall dark people

Who stand there all the day

He’s Mister Monday

He works from nine to five

He’s Mister Monday

He lives alone in the city

I see him in the evening

I pass him at the door

I say, “Hello, how are you?”

And I know he’s very poor

He looks at the street through his window

He watches the people pass by

He loves little dogs and children

And he never tells a lie”

HAHA!!! I totally just nailed that! You have no idea how much that amuses me. I SUCK at memorization and I just memorized that with Veronica during our half hour of studying. I got to show her how finding the rhythm in the words helps you to memorize and learn it, kind of like you’re learning a song. It was so fun! I can’t believe we both learned that tonight… when she first showed it to me, she said, “OH NO! I forgot! I have an English test tomorrow and I have to know this poem!” I thought she meant that she just had to be familiar with it… oh no. nope. She definitely had to memorize it and she had not even LOOKED at it before we read it together!!! UGH! I was defeated when I looked at the page full of writing… I actually gave up before we even started. It was terrible, but then we went through the ol’ rhythm speech and we learned it together. It was really funny. We were clapping out the rhythm the whole time and she was dancing around the room while I clapped it out. Then we marched it down the million stairs of the house on the way to dinner… really funny J I can never tell if Paloma is amused. Haha it’s kind of funny trying to make someone laugh who is never amused and always sarcastic. Eh. ;)

God is funny.

And I like it J haha

Two of the light bulbs in my chandelier in my bedroom are out. It makes is difficult to see at night… I am just now realizing that… haha. I guess it makes sense though… I have half the light that I am used to having since there are supposed to be four lighted bulbs up there… I should go remedy that… or try to at least. I’m always afraid to interrupt the study sessions that Paloma has with Eduardo, though. Haha J man. She is SO intense. J haha.

Also my boyfriend is awesome and I got an email from him today that made me both tear up a little bit but also end with the most humongous smile on my face. J those are my fav kinds I suppose! He’s awesome. You should love him… you probably already do. Good for you. J

Oh yeah. I also wrote another essay tonight. This one was for Eduardo and it was over Hunting. Interesting, huh? Haha I kind of feel like I’m learning how parents feel. It’s actually a really cool thing that I’m doing this. I feel like I’m getting an important inside look to parenting that you don’t get just living at your own house. Even with two younger siblings. There’s something to be said for being an “outsider” just observing things. Kind of cool.

Ok. I want to be doing something right now… I wish I had a table and my sander and some paint… ha. Yeah right. That’ll be a few weeks to get that one… or months… haha

Guess I’ll read instead. Work out the ol’ noggin! J LOVE YOU!

Man. I love mood swings when they are swinging upwards J haha peace!

Oh, p.s. I taught Veronica, tonight, to say, “Peace out, Homie!” with the cocked peace sign in front of her as she says it. It’s pretty awesome. I’ll have to get her to make a video saying it and try to post it on facebook or something J so funny with her little Spanish accent! J

Madrid, Spain

La Casa de Santibanez

El 25 de Febrero, 2008

5:20pm (10:20am Denton time)

Ok. First off, I have to say that I just watched videos that Aaron sent me through gmail of his fam. And Darrell and ben and Jeremy.

I LOVE them.

Darrell…pookie…. You are definitely one of the most hilarious people I have ever met in my life and I’m so glad that you’re my friend! J I can’t wait to get home so we can go get sushi-lunch! J yes!!! Also, your laugh is still contagious from across the ocean. Incase you had always wondered that…

I watch the videos that Aaron sends me over and over so much just so that it’s kind of like I’m hanging out with you guys sometimes… haha. It’s pathetic… but awesome J haha.

And I laugh just as hard every time I watch them J

Love it!

Also I was attacked by the kitchen sink just 10 minutes ago, in case you were wondering… I know you were.

My left arm is extremely wet… I mean… sleeve. Left sleeve is wet…

Oh. Dang. Also… I may have accidentally stayed up, reading, until 5:00 this morning… whoops? And it wasn’t my “home” book of Anna Karenina… it was the Atonement book that was supposed to be my bus/metro book… now I don’t have one…haha. I really didn’t mean to read it all last night. I just wanted to read a little bit more… and I ended up reading about 335 pages… dang it.

Well, it’s a good book, though… haha. You can borrow it when I get home if you want J I want to see the movie now. Maybe it’ll be out on video by the time I get home! Maybe??

That’s all for now.

Ooh. And the kids’ dad is home now. Got home this morning I think. I met him when I went down for lunch and he seems really nice. J he brought me a USA Today from yesterday. J haha. That was nice of him! His English is very good. J so… I’ll keep you posted on all of that. Hopefully he stays awesome… J

That’s all… maybe more later.

Later: 10:31pm (3:31pm Denton time)

So family time exists somewhat now that papa is home J everyone is in the living room watching a movie. I can’t remember the name of it though… it’s the one with Johnny depp and Antonio banderas, Eva Mendez? Is it Mendez? I think… and Penelope cruz… in mexico with the guitar… yeah. I cant remember… help?

Whoa. Enrique iglesias is in this movie too! Haha. Nice.

I wonder…do they make dvd’s of any New York Philharmonic Orchestra? I would love to have one of those. Dvd as opposed to a CD because I think that watching orchestras play is something of a wonder. It reminds me of going to the UNT shows to see my lovely friend Meaghan Kawaller (Meaghan Walsh at the time J) wow the universe on her clarinet during our early college years J it blows my mind how talented those people are with their instruments… jeez.

I think it would be fun to write kids books with Aaron. He could illustrate with his little Monster guy that he draws. Just a random thought. Maybe some sort of bilingual or ESL type of books? or maybe something along the Veggie Tales line of Christian children’s books… eh. Just a thought.

So the girls are all going to Portugal this weekend. That should be fun. I’m not going because I don’t have the money for it. The bus ride alone is like 80 euros… or more maybe. Plus hostel money and everything else. Plus they’re not going to be back until Sunday night or Monday morning or something… I have to teach Sunday afternoons…so…yeah. Anyways. I was talking to Paloma and Eduardo sr. tonight and he was telling me that we should go all over spain because it’s the most beautiful country in the world J haha. He chuckled as he said it, but there was a hint of seriousness along with his Spanish pride J haha. The city that we were going to go to last weekend is one that he said we should see for sure. Maybe we’ll take a few day trips while Aaron and Lindsey are here. The bus fares are only like 10ish euros for round trips, so we’ll see how much money we’ve got to play with. Could be cool. Maybe that city… I cannot think of the name!! it starts with an A… and Segovia again so that Lindsey can go to the Cinderella castle J and maybe Sevilla. I feel like that city is a must to visit while in spain J maybe we’ll see a few others depending on speding abilities J we’ll see! It’s tiring, too! So… yeah.

Ok going to bed. Not another 5am night…haha.

Buenos noches, mis amigos! Te quiero!

(Goodnight, my friends! I love you!)

25 February 2008

Don’t Drink Spanish Milk (to the tune of Don’t Drink the Water by DMB)…

Later on February 20, 2008:
9:47pm Madrid time

2:47pm denton time

So… it’s hilariously official. My kids are the funniest, most awesome kids ever. J hahaha I LOVE them!!! Tonight, at dinner, both of them were there at the same time, and so we were supposed to all study together. So I took the lists of the irregular verbs and the list of opposite words that we are supposed to study at dinnertime and I made up a game. Really simple, actually but it turned out to be so fun J I told them that we would go back and forth between the two of them and I would ask them about a word. They would get a point for each correct answer. The first one to 20 was the winner. If they were tied the whole way, then at the end, if the first person got it right, then it was up to the second person. If they got it wrong, then the first person wins. If they got is right, then they tied!

Luckily, I know the words that each of them think are easy and which they each think are hard, so I kept them pretty equal the whole time… they actually ended up tying on both of them! J so that was cool. They really got into it and it was really loud and intense, but we were all smiling and laughing the whole time. I’m pretty sure that was the most awesome dinner time that we’ve had the whole time I’ve been here.

Also, Eduardo totally said that I was the best au pair/ assistant that he’s had, again, tonight J so that’s cool. Haha. Especially since up until this week (and actually kind of still) I’ve felt like I had no idea what I was doing, and was pretty sure they thought I was ridiculous… haha.

Anyways. that’s my story for tonight. I had such a good night with both of them. J oh, also, during studying with veronica, I taught her how to speak colloquially with the words “wanna, gonna, y’all”, and I think one more… I can’t think of it. J so that was fun J

AH my kids are so awesome. J J J

Madrid, Spain

La Casa de Santibanez

El 20 de Febrero, 2008

4:08pm (9:08am Denton time)

Haha. I think that Katie and Cait may be the ones to appreciate this the most… but I just asked Paloma where the best place to buy a book would be (I really wanna find that book, “El nino con las pajamas…” something… but I don’t really want to pay 13 euros for a paperback book… oh well. Anyways… surprise surprise…? J haha she told me to go to…

Drumroll…!!!

EL CORTE INGLES!!!

Duh. It’s the answer to everything for her. Hahaha. It’s so funny now. But it really is kind of ridiculous. Haha. It really wouldn’t be so ridiculous if they were actually a really cheap place to find things (like wal mart or something back home in the states) but… it’s not. Haha J

Anyways.

Oh. So apparently Paloma and I are speaking in Spanish now… that’s cool. Really intimidating…she speaks really quickly… oh man. But still kinda cool so far. HahaJ she just started speaking to me in Spanish today… I partially hope that she keeps doing that. And partially it scares the bajeezes out of me… I’m just scared people are going to get irritated with me when I don’t understand what they’re saying. L but its ok. J I’m in Spain. J

Madrid, Spain

La Casa de Santibanez

El 22 de Febrero, 2008

7pm (12pm Denton time)

Nothing really important to report at the moment, but I thought I’d mention, while I’m thinking about it, that the milk in Spain is weird. I know you’ve been waiting for a milk update for quite sometime now, and I really just couldn’t hold out on you any longer. ;)

So, yeah. They must have some strange sort of preservatives in their milk here… they keep it in cardboard cartons (milk and juice, both) and they don’t keep it refrigerated until AFTER it is open… MILK. Sick.

Also, it smells TERRIBLE!!!! Even right after you open it. It actually took me a good two weeks before I would even try the stuff in coffee or anything. I actually had cereal with water one day the first week I was here because I didn’t know if it was bad or what… apparently it really does smell that terrible always. Ugh… haha.

Well, I tried some by itself today. I poured to much into my glass accidentally and Ani was in the kitchen with me, so I didn’t want to just dump it out in the sink with her there, so I drank the excess from my glass… whoa sick. I really don’t like it. Which is really unfortunate, because I love a good cold glass of skim milk in the states. I am so looking forward to the day I get back… having an awesome Red Baron frozen pizza with a tall glass of ice cold skim milk… that’s what I really want J haha man. That sounds SO GOOD right now!!! J haha.

Oh. Also, one thing that I really wish I had brought… my slippers. I had them packed, but then Aaron laughed at me and made some funny remark about how slippers were such a necessity that I should definitely take up the space to pack them… haha J so I listened to him and left them out. Probably the only time in the history of us that I wish I hadn’t listened to him. Haha J I love you! J but I do wish I had my slippers. My footsies get so cold here on the cold wood floors in the house with radiators for heat J Haha J

Anyways. I’m almost 2/15ths of the way through Anna Karenina as of today. I really like it. It’s a really good book. You should go for it if you’re looking for a new read. I love the way that I learn so much about the world, history, and geography from reading these old novels. I feel like such a nerd, but it’s great! There are so many footnotes to inform you on topics, quotes, and definitions of things in the books (a TON in Karenina and there are always a good number in Austen’s novels as well) that I feel like I’m getting a history, geography, and theology lesson all in one while doing pleasure reading J haha. It’s cool. I hope when/if I have kids that they love to read. Random thought… haha.

Oh…so I also found out last night that the dad is supposed to come home probably some time this next week. Maybe 5 days or so? Something like that? And that they are going to their beach house up in the north of Spain from March 14th (happy birthday to anna miller (bride to be so soon!!! Whoa!)! J) until about the 23rd or so… yeah. Cool thing because that’s the exact date that Aaron gets here, right? No. they CLOSE THE HOUSE while they’re gone. They take Ani with them because, Paloma told me last night, “I tried going by myself without Ani once, and it’s just terrible and too hard to do everything myself.” Poor woman. It’s a wonder how every other mother in the world does it all on her own… My mom, I think the idea of Paloma living like my mom would give her a heart attack. Working full time, cooking breakfast and dinner for the whole family every day, doing ALL of the house-work, helping 3 kids with homework, projects, life problems, etc. while having a social life (as much as possible, right?), and anything else that may be required of her as a mother, wife, etc… HA the thought of her trading spots with my mom is actually laughable. Man. My mom really is supermom! J the kids in school used to joke around about it, but it’s totally true J except her superhero name is already Rocketmom. That’s what Aaron calls her. J instead of Mrs. Borel, he always calls her Rocketmom. I think it’s pretty much the most awesome thing ever. J and I know she loves it, too. I’ll never be that good, but at least I’ve got the ultimate role model, right?? J yup! Love you, mom! J

Ok… so I totally got off of what I was talking about… so anyways… they close the house when they leave and take Ani with them. Ani’s boyfriend, Christie (is that how he spells it? I have no idea…) lives here, also, and even he is not allowed to be here while they’re gone… intense… so… basically, Paloma tells me about this last night, and actually invited me to go with them! Well, I’d hope so since I’m basically homeless otherwise…haha. UNFORTUNATELY… that is the EXACT time that Aaron and Lindsey are going to be here in Madrid! Are you kidding me??? So basically, I have to figure out someplace to live for nine days in march… cool. I told Paloma that I had to be here during that time, and she tried to convince me to get them to come some other time… I explained that that’s when they had off of school, but I don’t think she either understood or cared… most likely the latter… either way, at the end of the conversation, she said, “well, what are you going to do?” so I told her I would just have to ask Caitlin to see if her host family would allow me to stay over there for that week since they have a ton of extra beds at their house…if not, then I am really not sure what I’m going to do… pray about that… please. Cait’s asking the family tonight… my fingers are crossed so tightly I think they may fall off…

So Paloma said, “Well, ok. We have three weeks to figure it out, so it’s not a huge deal, but just let me know what you’re going to do.” Wonderful. Thank you for not thinking that this is a big deal… cause it’s pretty huge to me, but ok.

Whatev! J no pasa nada. (Don’t worry about it).

It’ll work out. God knows. But still pray J

Twenty days! J

That’s all for now. Love you!

Madrid, Spain

La Casa de Santibanez

El 24 de Febrero, 2008

4:50pm (9:50am Denton time)

Ok. I pretty much feel like so much has happened this weekend that I will never remember everything to write it down here. You’re probably thankful for that since I’m so darned long-winded and rambly. Haha (also, rambly is not a word… too bad).

Ok.. where to start… wow…

Well, the family went to their country house/castle again this weekend. Surprise surprise. Haha. They left Friday night. So Saturday I met the girls (Cait, Katie, Erin, and another girl that we met in Spanish class) at H&M to go shopping. I know, I know, we have those in the US, but I’d never been to one before spain, so I justify buying things there. Haha. I finally found a locket! I’ve been looking for one for a long time, but every one that I found that was the length I wanted was really ugly or cheap looking. But alas, I found one! And it was less than 4 euros! J hooray J

Then Cait and I walked around a while after the rest of them had to leave, and I ended up not being able to resist buying a new book. It’s the book Atonement by Ian McEwan (the book that inspired that movie that just came out recently). I’ve been wanting to see the movie so badly! So I just bought the book since that came first and I actually have time to read here in Spain! J It’s so good. I decided that it was a great investment too, since Anna Karenina is way too huge to lug around on the bus/metro, so this new book is my metro/bus book since it’s much smaller J it’s perfect. It even fits in my smallest purse. It’s the small things… J haha.

So that was awesome…

Then I ran home to pack a little bag to make it easier to stay at Cait’s mom’s hotel so that we could stay out later than the busses since we can’t trust the night busses. Blah. I finally made it back to the hotel to drop off my bag, and the three of us (me, Cait and her mom) went out to dinner to this little place near Plaza Mayor called “Mesa de Champinon” in English it means the Mushroom Bar. It was so good! We just had mushrooms and these ham/cheese fried things (we never did find any ham in those… haha still a little confused…) with some bread and Sangria. It was so good. Then we walked to our favorite little café called La Mayorquina (I’m pretty sure that’s what it’s called… Cait, if you’re reading this, correct me if I’m wrong on the name there…) J so that cait’s mom could try a napolitana con chocolate. They’re awesome J

After La Mayorquina, her mom went back to the hotel and Cait and I went to meet Katie and Erin back near Moncloa (at Aguelles) to go over to this guy, Christopher’s (different Christopher from last week…haha) apartment for a little fiesta. Basically it was a bunch of us girls goin over to hang out, have some wine and some microwaved pizza… haha J Katie met Christopher Wade in English class and he invited everyone out to his apartment downtown to hang out. It was cool.

Talk about a character!!!! Wow. Christopher is a very loud, confident, 35 year old gay man who acts like he’s still 20 and is the funniest person I’ve met in a really long time! Wow. We were in stitches pretty much the entire time we were there. He’s so intense!!! I cannot even tell you! So animated. So loud and so intense! He’s modeled for a long time. He showed us his portfolio and it’s pretty impressive actually. My favorite pic from his portfolio was actually the main photo used in all of the American Crew (hair products) promotions not too long ago. Really impressive. Such a great photograph. Lindsey I can’t wait for you to meet him. He’s going to go crazy over you and flip out when he sees how beautiful you are. J he’ll want to make you his new project. J haha.

Anyways. it was a really fun time. We all just hung out and talked and goofed around for a few hours. A few other girls from the class came in with some more people later on, and it got a little out of hand… they are both extremely intense and well… yeah. I can only handle about 3 minutes of them at once… so I was ok when everyone decided to head out to another party that we were invited to. Cait and I decided to call it a night. It was already 1am… we were the party poopers… haha that’s when people START going out here… I cannot get over that. Seriously… I plan on doing it ONE night when Linds and Aaron are here, and I’m pretty sure that’ll be enough for me… maybe I’m wrong, but we’ll just have to wait and see. I’m just not a partier… sue me… J

Ok so we went back to the hotel and went to sleep. We were going to go out to some other Spanish city today, but the weather is disgusting so we decided against it. I’m glad. I was exhausted when we got up… yeesh. We went down to the hotel’s café and had café con leche with the Delta crew before they headed off to their flight and after they left, we made friends with the guys that were working behind the bar. They were both older men named Luis. J the tall luis gave us SO MUCH FREE STUFF!!! He told us we were muy simpatica and that he really enjoyed talking with us. Bear in mind everything that we spoke with him was in Spanish! So awesome!!!! Anyways. ended up giving us free muffins, croissants, juice AND two café con leches before we left. Haha.

While we were down there we also met another Delta crew that was meeting before they headed out to New York. We met the pilot and their team leader along with a few of the other flight attendants. The team leader, Diego, was so friendly and he was really helpful about Barcelona and other places around Spain. He lived here for a while before he worked with Delta. He also heard us talking about how we were seriously considering doing the flight attendant thing, and he heard that I had put in my application a few months ago. He said that they were definitely hiring right now, and asked us if Cait’s mom had put in a referral for me. I didn’t know anything about the referral program so he told us about it, and basically if you get referrals from employees, your name gets bumped up to the top of the list! Before they left, Diego also gave us his card and told us to email him if we would like for him to put in another referral for us if we were serious about applying! How cool is that?? Really cool. So I just wrote him an email and also wrote one to Cait’s mom for it. Never hurts to have more than one referral! So anyways. Those are some pretty cool things that have happened this weekend. I’m gonna go now and piddle around a little before teaching starts in about 45 minutes… maybe read some J

I think Aaron’s gonna call tonight if he can. I hope he can J

18 days!!!!!! J J J J

p.s. oh…did I tell you that I bought a spanish cd the other day? Chambao is the group’s name. it’s this girl and guy. Her voice is solid! My fav song is called “Mi Primo Juan” (English: My Cousin Juan). It’s a really cool tune. I translated it… not at all what I was expecting… about her cousin going to the hospital and getting sick and on bed rest… not at all what you’d think it’d be about if you were just listening to the music… anyways. it’s a really cool tune and you should check it out if you have a way to preview music, like iTunes or something. J

p.p.s. OH! I cannot believe I forgot to say… Cait’s mom totally brought me a HUGE bottle of Downy Fabric Wrinkle Release! Oh my goodness. I’m pretty sure I could have hugged her and never let go. I am SO happy to have that!!! I have my entire wardrobe going through rounds of being “Wrinkle Released” right now. Haha. They’re all laid out on my bed and getting a squirt/rubdown. It’s pretty awesome and my room smells like Downy. The smell of fresh laundry is definitely one of my favorite smells ever ever ever! J YES! J

now if I could just find bubble bath (my bathtub is perfect for baths and I love taking them, but I wish I had some bubbles in my tub with me!!!)in the entire country of spain… so weird the things you can’t find here… can’t even find bubble bath for little kids! Our au pair friend just pours in shampoo when she gives her kids “bubble baths” haha. J

Spanish word for you to learn: Borbujas (bore – boo –hahs) it means Bubbles J also, in Spain, the J is always pronounced kind of like you’re pronouncing it like an “h” while hocking a light loogie. How do you spell that word… hmmm…

ok. The end!

Later: 6:10pm

Um… I’m kind of confused… they’re not home from their country house yet… We have lessons on Sundays at 6:00…it is Sunday…right? Hmmm…

21 February 2008

just sittin' on the ol' pot... again... uh... flower pot i mean.

i have a few minutes before i have to go back inside and teach/have dinner. thought you'd like a few more pictures from Toledo last weekend. :)

this is what Euros Cambio (change) looks like :)
they have ones, two's, 1 cent, 2cent, 5 cent, 10 cent, 20 cent, and 50 cent.
cait is a real life pick pocket. m&m's of course...

i ate a crawfish... gross. still don't like them, Pookie (Darrell) haha. :)
this is mike. everyone? meet our funny amigo nuevo, mike:

we all ate at this quaint little place in Toledo for lunch. who makes you pay for friggin water?? well...they do. brats. ;)

Later on February 20, 2008:

9:47pm Madrid time

2:47pm denton time

So… it’s hilariously official. My kids are the funniest, most awesome kids ever. J hahaha I LOVE them!!! Tonight, at dinner, both of them were there at the same time, and so we were supposed to all study together. So I took the lists of the irregular verbs and the list of opposite words that we are supposed to study at dinnertime and I made up a game. Really simple, actually but it turned out to be so fun J I told them that we would go back and forth between the two of them and I would ask them about a word. They would get a point for each correct answer. The first one to 20 was the winner. If they were tied the whole way, then at the end, if the first person got it right, then it was up to the second person. If they got it wrong, then the first person wins. If they got is right, then they tied!

Luckily, I know the words that each of them think are easy and which they each think are hard, so I kept them pretty equal the whole time… they actually ended up tying on both of them! J so that was cool. They really got into it and it was really loud and intense, but we were all smiling and laughing the whole time. I’m pretty sure that was the most awesome dinner time that we’ve had the whole time I’ve been here.

Also, Eduardo totally said that I was the best au pair/ assistant that he’s had, again, tonight J so that’s cool. Haha. Especially since up until this week (and actually kind of still) I’ve felt like I had no idea what I was doing, and was pretty sure they thought I was ridiculous… haha.

Anyways. that’s my story for tonight. I had such a good night with both of them. J oh, also, during studying with veronica, I taught her how to speak colloquially with the words “wanna, gonna, y’all”, and I think one more… I can’t think of it. J so that was fun J

AH my kids are so awesome. J J J

Madrid, Spain

La Casa de Santibanez

El 20 de Febrero, 2008

4:08pm (9:08am Denton time)

Haha. I think that Katie and Cait may be the ones to appreciate this the most… but I just asked Paloma where the best place to buy a book would be (I really wanna find that book, “El nino con las pajamas…” something… but I don’t really want to pay 13 euros for a paperback book… oh well. Anyways… surprise surprise…? J haha she told me to go to…

Drumroll…!!!

EL CORTE INGLES!!!

Duh. It’s the answer to everything for her. Hahaha. It’s so funny now. But it really is kind of ridiculous. Haha. It really wouldn’t be so ridiculous if they were actually a really cheap place to find things (like wal mart or something back home in the states) but… it’s not. Haha J

Anyways.

Oh. So apparently Paloma and I are speaking in Spanish now… that’s cool. Really intimidating…she speaks really quickly… oh man. But still kinda cool so far. HahaJ she just started speaking to me in Spanish today… I partially hope that she keeps doing that. And partially it scares the bajeezes out of me… I’m just scared people are going to get irritated with me when I don’t understand what they’re saying. L but its ok. J I’m in Spain. J

20 February 2008

i'm getting a bruise on my butt bones from this ol' flower pot... haha

well, that's not actually funny. it's more like painful... but... nah. it's funny too :) haha

some pictures from Toledo:


Madrid, Spain

La Casa de Santibanez

El 19 de Febrero, 2008

5:07pm (10:07am Denton time)

Aaron is coming in twenty three days. I cannot wait. I made cards. Like a day to day calendar that you flip over every day… or like the Christmas countdown calendars… only it’s a calendar that says, “[23] days until Aaron IS HERE in Espana!!!”

I have lists to make of the awesome places that we HAVE to go to while he is here. I’m so excited. Him coming here makes this trip eight billion times more awesome. 23 DAYS!!!!

That is all.

Later: 9:42pm Madrid time

2:42pm Denton time

Wow. So Paloma wanted me to sit and watch how she works with Eduardo so that from now on I can work with him like she does, because she says that with her, he learns things like three times as fast… duh. She’s his mom… anyways.

Wow… she’s so intense. No mercy. Seriously. I’m sorry, but I’m not going to sit there and be as harsh as she is with him. She makes him cry every third sentence out of her mouth and she’s practically yelling at him the whole time. Jeez. I’m sorry, but I just can’t be like that. Maybe it’s because I grew up learning from my mom. She was merciful. When she could tell that we were at a breaking point, or when we were overwhelmed. She would calm us down with kind, encouraging words. It’s so necessary! She wouldn’t yell at us and make us keep going all strung out… I don’t know… to each his own, I suppose, but I really don’t think that I’m wrong on this one… I just can’t be that way. I hated the people that treated me that way, and I NEVER wanted to learn with them. I pretty much just spent the whole time wishing I could punch them… nice, right? Yeah… well, I’m just being honest…

Anyways. also, a couple of really cool things today from working with the kids…

During our conversational time (me and veronica), she said, “I want to be like you, Denise.” I asked her what she meant… like how did she want to be like me, and she just said, “I don’t know! I just do J.” With a big smile on her face. It made me feel so good. It was just like God totally patting me on the head. I love her. Not because of that, that just reminds me that I do… haha. She’s so cool.

Also, when I was studying with Eduardo today, (he has an English vocabulary exam tomorrow, so we were going over that stuff the WHOLE hour and a half and he’s working with his mom more right now (yeesh…)) he looked at me, and he said, “you know? You are the second best au pair that I have had. You know that?” (sometimes the kids call me au pair instead of language assistant… sometimes the other… just different on different days… haha. Anyways.) and I said, “yeah? Well that’s awesome! I’m really glad!” He said, “You know who the first one is, no?” so I said, “No, who?” (as if I would really know them… haha), but he said, “you know her! She is here! Ani!” J although, she’s not been an au pair for them, I don’t think, but I knew what he meant. You know. You can’t ever say anyone’s better than the one that is there at the moment. Especially when she’s been there as long as Ani has. J anyways. I just thought that was really cool. I got compliments from BOTH kids tonight! I really love them. They are both so awesome. Totally a handful and they can definitely drive me up the wall sometimes, but they’re kids. That’s to be expected. I really do love them with all of my heart.

I told Veronica, tonight, that when she gets to be in high school, that she should come and live with me (and my husband if I’m married in four years…) and do a foreign exchange thing during her high school time. She got really excited about that. I’m so serious. I really hope that she does get to do that. I told Paloma, when we were all at dinner, that we had talked about it, and we all talked about it for a while. Maybe she will be able to! I mean it is four-ish years off, but I really honestly hope that it works out. J She is such a sweet girl. I would absolutely love to have her in the states for a while.

We get to talk about our beliefs randomly through our lessons, too. Today I got to explain the Trinity to her. She’s such a smart girl! And we talked about the difference between Catholicism and Protestant beliefs, about the Virgin Mary… I got to explain to her how Mary was just a normal woman. She made the connection like, “oh! So it really could have been, like, the virgin Christina, or the virgin Denise, or the virgin Veronica!” and I said, yeah! And explained to her that God used Mary in order for Jesus to come to earth, but she was not God. She was just a woman that found favor with the Lord, and that’s why I don’t believe that we should pray to her, that I believe we only pray to God.

I used an egg as the example of the trinity. How the egg is made up of a yolk, the white, and the shell, and how each of those parts, together, is definitely an egg, but they still are separate, too. I told her how Jesus was totally human, but he was still totally God at the same time and how Jesus along with the Holy Spirit and God the Father made up the Trinity… I expected her to be kind of lost after that, but she nodded and really looked like she understood all of what we were talking about! It’s just really cool when we get to talk about the Lord. It’s never long, in depth talks. It’s usually just here and there, if she thinks of a question or something like that, we’ll talk a few sentences each about the subject, and then we’ll jump right back in to our lessons. Man. I hope opportunities like that keep coming up. It’s just really so cool. Pray for that, too? Just that I get to keep getting closer with the kids. I really love them. My heart really aches for them, and I’m actually tearing up thinking about them right now J that’s so cool. God is so cool.

Ok I’m gonna go read my Bible for a bit. I have been lazy about it the past few days. Ugh. Then I’ve gotta get to bed. I’m meeting Cait at some new coffee shop tomorrow J that will be fun. I like new places. I really hope it’s sunny. I decided today that I’d really like to explore out here, near the house… I’ve never gone the opposite way from Moncloa (south east is Moncloa). So I think next time it’s nice out, I’ll ride the bus down a few more stops the other way and see what’s there. Maybe something cool? J I hope so! J

Ok. I love you!

(Aaron is coming in 23 days J)

Madrid, Spain

La Casa de Santibanez

El 20 de Febrero, 2008

4:08pm (9:08am Denton time)

Things that I love about today:

  1. there are massive, black clouds still in the sky (they’ve been there for a very long time now…) BUT, I can see the sun peeking through as if to tell us all that he is about to destroy those awful black clouds and come raging back into existence any day now… I look forward to that day of victory for ol’ Sol.
  2. I met Cait for coffee today and we sat in this new awesome café, had café con leche AND napolitanas (google it, maybe they have pictures somewhere? They’re pretty much the best thing about spain… ok well, close J haha) con chocolate for only 3 euros! Ta freakin’ da! Haha J we sat in that café and talked and laughed and talked more for pretty close to 3 hours. Awesome.
  3. I got mail today!
  4. It was from AARON!
  5. It was a Valentine’s Day card from him! I LOVE when he makes me cards (I hope that he knows that he now has to make me one for at least every birthday and valentines day since he has done so for the past two years now…)! J
  6. I got to have a salad with lunch today. I love when I get salad. I love salad.
  7. It is only 22 more days until I see Aaron again! J
more pictures from toledo:

oh... before i left the house that morning, i jacked the rest of the orange juice for breakfast and snackage the rest of the day... we consumed it at the museum before lunchtime... haha


this is the awesome necklace that i got from Toledo for only like 10 euros. it's 24 freakin' carat gold. that is so awesome. and hand-made. yeah! :)

18 February 2008

the sun was a joke. just a sick sick joke.

Madrid, Spain

La Casa de Santibanez

El 18 de Febrero, 2008

12:19pm (5:19am Denton time)

man. Ok. Well, I’m definitely still very much craving pizza. I don’t think I’ll be able to get some this week like I was planning though, because I decided to go to Toledo anyways. haha. So that just means that I can’t spend ANY money for a good week or so… that’s ok. It’s dreary outside anyways. extremely cold and pretty dark and it’s drizzly raining. I don’t really want to be in that anyways. although that really does make the internet availability diminish down to nothing… can’t very well go sit on my potted plant and use the computer when it’s raining… haha… oh well. I’ll live. I’ve got a lot of Spanish studying and a big, thick novel to keep me company.

Oh, my new addiction is definitely chocolate covered peanuts and chocolate covered raisins. I’ve always liked both of them, BUT since I’ve been here, it is necessary for me to have a bag (from the little candy shops where you scoop out the amount that you want of each candy and then they just weigh it to see how much you owe…) with one scoop of raisins and one scoop of peanuts to have handy for reading time J kind of like eating popcorn while watching a movie… I find it necessary for me to have my chocolate/raisin/peanut fix with my books J haha. Don’t worry – I limit my intake per day that I eat them… I don’t let myself get carried away. Although if I’m honest, it’s probably more because I don’t have an unending supply of money to support my habit as opposed to it being because of them not being the most healthy of choices to indulge in so much… haha

OH! So the family is back in Spain from Las Vegas now. The kids went back to school today and we started lessons again last night (I teach Sundays through Thursdays in case I haven’t already said that…). They had SUCH a great time! It’s so fun listening to the kids’ stories. They stayed at two hotels. One was the “New York, New York” and I don’t know if they told me the name of the other one. They got to ride the roller coaster that is inside the hotel, and it was their first roller coaster ride! They were cracking me up at dinner the other night when they were telling me about it. It was so funny. Veronica kept saying how she thought that Eduardo would have screamed like this: “AHHHHH” (she screamed in a lower tone, like a boy), but instead, “He screamed just like me! Like EEEEEEEEAAHHHHHHH!!!! (in a really high-pitched girlie scream)!” HAHAHA every time she would tell the story he would crack up even harder because it was true and he couldn’t deny it. He kept telling me how he was sitting in the roller coaster. He told me that the safety bar came down across their laps and he just crossed his arms on top of it and buried his face in his arms and screamed and screamed! Hahaha

I told them that they need to come to visit me in Texas and we’ll go to Six Flags. J they all asked me what that was and I told them that it was a HUGE park just FULL of different roller coasters to ride. They all (Paloma included) looked at me with this look of awe and horror mixed into one. Hahahaha J good times.

OH so we went to Toledo yesterday! We took the bus, and the trip was only one hour each way! AND the tickets were only 7,90 euros (they use the comma instead of the period to separate the euros from cents. Just so you don’t think I typed the wrong key… J) for a round trip ticket! Pretty awesome. I had to head back earlier than the rest of them because I was the only one that had to teach on Sunday. Boo. Bit at least I got to go! We met up with some friends, Christopher and Mike, at the bus station. Caitlin met Christopher on her flight to Madrid last month. His dad is a Delta pilot so he takes off random weekends from University of Ohio, I think? Something like that…just to travel and visit mike and such. J so awesome. And Mike is Christopher’s friend from high school who just happens to be doing the exact same thing that WE’re doing here. He’s a language tutor for a family that lives only about 10 minutes away from Caitlin’s family! So cool. Anyways. it was fun hangin with those guys. They’re a blast. Aaron, I think that you and Mike would really get along. I hope you get to meet him when you’re here J He’s hilarious.

So I did have to go home early, but I did get to take some great pictures before I left. After that, I’ll just totally jack pictures from everyone else’s facebook albums J haha. But I got to ride the bus home to Madrid by myself, and that was actually kind of cool. I listened to some Shane and Shane. Man. They are so good. I think I forget how good they are, sometimes… they are so good it’s ridiculous. I adore their harmonies. It was so hard to not sing along out loud to my headphones… hahaha. But anyways. I was just listening to some Shane and Shane and enjoying the amazing scenery as we drove back to Madrid. Basically a cool time of just worship and acknowledging the Lord for the crazy awesome things that he has created and allowed us (humans) to create over the last thousand years or so… man. It’s so crazy. So, all in all, pretty good trip! J

Oh, will you be praying for more opportunity to serve for me here at the house? It seems like I just don’t have a lot of opportunity for it, and when I do see one, it gets shot down… since Ani does all of the cleaning already, and like just a few minutes ago I tried to see if I could at least help Paloma put away the groceries, and she would just rather do it herself because she can do it faster or something… that’s fine and I understand, but I’m just trying to have something to do so that I can interact with you instead of having to just got back up to my room, alone. You know? It’s fine. My feelings aren’t hurt or anything. I’m just kind of at a loss here sometimes…

Also, one of Ani’s grandparents passed away on Saturday, so if you would be praying for her. I can tell it’s really hard on her. And it’s so hard to comfort someone…especially when you don’t speak the language, or really know them extremely well, you know? So anyways, that would be great if you guys could be praying for those things J

Madrid, Spain

La Casa de Santibanez

El 18 de Febrero, 2008

2:56pm (7:56am Denton time)

Ok so I have this new game I’m playing with myself… it’s a scavenger hunt for serving… haha I’m awesome. J

It’s actually really fun. It’s hard. This is continuing from the prayer request to have ways open up to serve here… I just got one. J haha. I hope that it doesn’t bit me in the butt somehow and make anyone mad… you really never know here… BUT… how lunch works, is that the kids come home for school for lunch, then paloma eats by herself, then she hollers upstairs and tells me I can eat, then… weird, I know. But whatever. then, I guess Ani eats later? I’m not really sure yet. Regardless, TODAY, when I was just down there studying and eating my lunch, I noticed that all of the dishes were just left in the sink after Paloma was done with them. Obviously left for Ani to clean up after… SO… I take this as an answered prayer, and quickly and quietly do all of the dishes from lunch before Ani can come in, figure out what I’m doing and tell me to stop! haHA! I win J hahaha. It was actually really fun. It’s like a challenge to do these things without anyone catching me. Almost like I’m doing something wrong… but I’m not. At least I don’t think I am… haha.

So anyways. basically, I had an answered prayer just now. Now I’m just praying that Ani doesn’t get upset with me for doing it… and that Paloma doesn’t find out and then tell me to stop helping Ani… (to “stop doing her job”, I can hear her saying”. Ok. I’ll let you know how that goes.

I’m liking this whole “make up new silly games to keep yourself occupied” thing J haha. LOVE YOU!

Whoa. PLUS I just realized that I left denton exactly ONE MONTH from today, to begin my Spanish Journey that I am currently in the middle of… so weird! ONE ENTIRE MONTH! Really doesn’t seem like it’s been that long! And, yet, it kind of feels like april will never get here… not that I’m homesick or anything. I’m really actually doing quite well in that area. But I am definitely ready to be with the people that I love once again. See, I’m convinced that if they would just all be here? Well, then I’d be totally fine staying here forever J

I love traveling, by the way. I hope that I’m able to travel more often than I know I’ll be able to… it’s so awesome. Different cultures. Different “stuff”. Different traditions… you know, just all of it. I love it.

Also, we (the girls and i) are planning a Texas Roadtrip. We want as many people as want to, to come. The plan thus far is to hit every area of Texas and to only stay with people that we know, and their families. We figure we’ve got most of them covered… North Texas (Caitlin), East Texas (moi!), West Texas (Katie), McAllen Area (I think one of their roomies?), San Antonio Area (Leanne), Austin Area (tons of people), etc. we’re pretty excited about it, so you guys get to saving some moolah so that you can be a part of this exciting and awesome adventure. Deal? Ok awesome! J we want to pretend like we’re tourists and know nothing about texas. To look at it with fresh, un-monotonous (is that a word? I’m not sure. I may have just made it up… Haha) eyes. You know what I mean? Like, you live in one place for so long that you just get USED to everything around you. You never really experience it for how awesome it really can be. You just know that it’s near you or around you so it’s just “another thing to do in texas…” yeah, but think about the people from the rest of the world! Or even the rest of the united states! They don’t get to experience Texas everyday, so when they get the chance to see it, it’s SO AWESOME for them! I want to explore Texas the way we’ve been exploring Spain and the way that we’re planning on exploring the rest of Europe, should we get the chance, you know?? Anyways, I’m really excited about it. I really want it to happen, so you guys get pumped up, and when we get back, we’ll set a date and just plain do it J maybe some time this summer. That would be awesome. Then we could swim in rivers and stuff. Oh yeah J it’ll be like our Austin/San Antonio trips only way better! J

Ok I’m done rambling on and on about that… I love you guys! I hope to hear from you soon… I haven’t heard from a lot of you in a long time… it’s weird. L I miss you!

p.s. Katie, are you as sore as I am??? Good heavens!!! I don’t think I’ve woken up with my body as sore as it was when I woke up today in a VERY VERY VERY long time… it’s so unreal… I could NOT figure out what in the world would have made me so sore! BUT… I think it’s probably from the other day when we went to the Parque de Retiro (BEAUTIFUL!!!) and took a bunch of “jumping” pictures… haha. We stood on this bench and took pictures of us doing different jumping poses… like hmm… 1. Frog Jump, 2. Spidey Jump (oh yeah. Totally B.A. J), 3. kung fu jump, etc. it was awesome! Haha

and so couple THAT experience with (after doing that AND walking around for hours, again…)going, the very next day, to Toledo which is pretty much ALL mountains/hills. Its extremely beautiful, but really tiring when you’re walking ALL Uphill going into the city. Haha. Man. I seriously didn’t realize how many steps/hills we walked up until I headed back by myself to the bus station in the afternoon! Man! I had to sort of jog down the hills/steps to keep from falling forward. NOT exaggerating for once in my life. Haha J I know. It’s an accomplishment J anyways. I think those things put together in the past two days totally gave my body the intense workout that it hasn’t seen in years! Haha. I got up to pee this morning (nice, I know… sorry.. but it’s true! Haha) and I felt almost as stiff as I used to after the first day or two of cheerleading camp! Whoa doggy, talk about SORE… man. I never want to re-live those days… no thank you! Haha.

So… basically… I’m sore… J the end. J