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 14^th (happy birthday to anna miller (bride to be so soon!!! Whoa!)! J) until about the 23^rd 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…