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! :)