A Whole New Chapter in Life...

So much going on! wow...

ok, so cool things happening... the date is set. the church is booked, the reception location is booked. the minister is on board, and we have finished our FIRST wedding registry :) we have a Pampered Chef registry now! exciting, huh? i think we're going to go work on the registries at actual stores next weekend. so that should be fun!
ALSO... we bought our first BED today!!!! well, actually aaron's mom did... :) she had a gift certificate for Rooms to Go, and she let us use it to get our new bed set! so we have a KINGSIZE pillowtop posture-pedic bed! holla!

anyways... lots going on...

the golden date is: August 30, 2008! SAVE IT!!!

p.s. please email me your email and snail mail address as soon as you can! thanks everybody!
my email is: deniseborel@gmail.com

peace!

Back in Denton :)

why is my body still not used to this time change...?
it's only nine thirty pm here in texas, yet my body still thinks that it's 3:30am...
i'm always ready for sleep...
i hope to go to sleep soon.

also, planning a wedding and contemplating all of our options... stressful.
so many options and such... :/

wedding ceremony or no... only reception?
nah.
back and forth... if we didnt do the ceremony, what do we do instead?
i dont know anything about weddings... i dont need to stress out...

sleep is good. :)

back in the states. part I

well, i'm back in the united states for the first time in two months. one of my bags was left in madrid. we dont know where it is. maybe still in the taxi? gone forever? who knows. hope it wasnt important...
we are in atlanta. we've been here for quite a few hours now. had some dinner at TGIFridays here at the airport, and we're waiting to be cleared onto a flight to dallas/ft worth. it's impossible. we'll probably be sleeping in the airport tonight. so that should be good, eh? :)
anyways. i'm sorry if you are one of the people whose souvenir was in the lost bag. it sucks. Gooch, don't worry. your jersey is in a checked bag. not in the lost one :) i'm 95% sure :) haha.
ok... on to wait more.
please pray for patience. today is a trying day.

Engagement Story to Come

please stay tuned for the entirety of the Engagement Story. I promise that I will post it as soon as I get a few minutes alone with my computer so that I can get it all typed up! I promise!!! Our plane leaves Madrid around 10am tomorrow morning (about 12 hours from now), so I'll be back in the states within a day or two with time that I can use!
We love you guys and can't wait to see you all again!!!

Engagement Photos!!!

Place: El Parque del Buen Retiro, Madrid, Espana
Date: March 15, 2008






I'll post the story when i have more time, but i wanted to put up some pictures for you guys at least!!! :) :) :)

Barcelona Snapshots

on the way up to the Gotti Park... i forget the real name of it... the floor just inside the door of this little cathedral/chapel...

pigeons!!! (they're too high up to kick... so i took a picture instead. hahaha) :) i like it.

i thought i would share a few of my favoirte pics from our Barcelona trip this past weekend. i'll put all of them up on Facebook at some point in time...haha. that is slow going there, though, as you know :)

well, never mind. stupid internet disconnected. now i can't post them... you only get these three... oh well... whatev! lindsey and aaron are coming!!!!!!!
hope you're having a great day!!!

Aaron and Lindsey are on a plane...as i type this... YES!

Madrid, Spain
La Casa de Santibanez
El 11 de Marzo, 2008
5:16pm (11:16am Denton time)

Haha. Ok. So in an email that my mom sent me today (well, I didn’t get it until today… I’m actually not sure when it was sent…) she said that even though Aaron and Lindsey are coming, I’m not allowed to skimp on the updates.  I’ll do my very best to keep up with the updates. Although, if I am not very good at it, please keep in mind that I will be pretty much homeless from Friday morning until the end of my stay here in Madrid…so…if there is any delay, know that the reason is only that I don’t have the means of getting a post out.  BUT…I will do my best! Promise! 
I am so glad they are coming!!! Lord willing, of course. They ARE flying standby, the week before spring break…which also happens to be the week before holy week…so…yeah. It may be a tough thing for them to get out of the states, or even dallas, but I’m definitely praying hardcore every second that I think about it (which is a lot…haha), and I really hope that God wants them to come, because if he does…then they will. Fo sho! 
Ok. So. Living arrangements. Since I can’t stay at our house, I will be packing all of my belongings between now and Thursday night (when, Lord willing, AP and Linds are here to give me extra luggage to pack in…), and then I will leave the house when the family leaves on Friday morning. I will take my things to either the hostel, or maybe just to Cait’s to hang on to them until I leave (actually, taking them to Cait’s would probably be a much better idea. And safer…ok. Good idea.).
I have reservations at the same hostel as Lindsey and Aaron for Friday night and Saturday night. Then they didn’t have openings at the hostel for Sunday or Monday, so I will be staying with Caitlin those nights (maybe all of us will stay those nights? Breakfast on the terrace in the mornings? That sounds phenomenal. We talked about it a little today…), and then I have reservations at the hostel with AP and Lindsey for Tuesday and Wednesday nights. Then Thursday the tree of us will head back to the ol’ United States of America! SO WEIRD! I’m coming home in nine days??? So unreal right now…
Anyways. so that will be cool if we stay at her house for a couple of nights. That will save them a little cash to spend on food and souvenirs and stuff! We should definitely plan that for sure in the next day or two so that we can let the hostel know if we’re not staying those two nights so that we can get our (well, I can get my ) money back! 
So, to say the VERY least… I am so excited I could just burst at the seams right now. My last week in Spain will be spent with three of my favorite people on the face of the planet, and then I will be going home to see the rest of you very soon thereafter!
Also, I would just like to thank those of you who have been praying for my Mom-Maw. For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, my grandmother found out a few weeks ago, that she had breast cancer, and she was going to be undergoing surgery sort of what I had done last September, to get the tumor out, and a bit of tissue surrounding it. They expected the surgery to go well, and for that to be the end of the cancer. So far, it looks like it worked. The surgery was last week, and she is doing so well. I keep getting updates from my mom and aunt, and I even got an email from Mom-Maw today  she sounds like she’s doing great. What a trooper!  AND my Pop-Pop, or so I hear, is just about the best nurse anyone could ask for! Pop-Pop, next time I’m sick, I expect you to be my nurse! I want some of that first class treatment too!  jk. She is great and he is great and all is well. Thank you, Lord, so so so so so so so so much. I love those two more than many people on this planet. They are so special to me. I am so thankful to have them in my life. They will never know how much!!! Never ever ever.
I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!! And I can’t wait to see you when you come out for Christopher’s graduation this spring! 
Ok. Well, the kiddos just got home, and I need to go freshen up before we have class. I love you all, and hopefully I’ll get to see you very soon! 
Oh, p.s. I got to upload another album on facebook today.
Some of you are asking how to be able to see those pictures. Well, here you go:

1. go to www.facebook.com
2. make yourself a profile. It’s kind of like myspace, etc. only I think it’s better. It’s a great way to keep in touch with people all over the world. Seriously. A great networking tool!
3. once you’ve made your profile, log in and you can search for your friends. You can search by name or email address.
4. search for my name.
5. it should pull up a number of similar names, and it will show you the profile pictures, too. Find my picture, and click on the link that says “Send Friend Request”. I think that’s what it says, anyways…
6. once you’ve sent me a friend request, it will let me know that you want to be my friend, the next time I log onto facebook.
7. when I accept your friend request, we will be able to see each other’s pictures, profiles, etc.

so, there you have it! Good luck! Hope to see you all on facebook soon! 
love, Denisie

later: 11:40pm Madrid time (5:40pm Denton time)

ugh! I love these kids. Seriously. I’m going to miss them so much!  veronica didn’t have homework tonight, so after dinner we got to just hang out in my room  she helped me wrap some of the souvenir gifts I’m taking back with me, and we watched “Elf” while I packed a little more. It’s so hard to pack when you still need to use most of your stuff! 
OH! And tomorrow morning I’m going to cook breakfast for everyone! The kids go down for breakfast at 9:00, so It’ll be an early morning for me since I need to shower. Desparately. Haha. Maybe that will wait until after breakfast. Haha 
I’m going to make them my mom’s most awesome stove-top biscuits in the world, and my favorite scrambled eggs with cheese  yeah! The only problems are: 1. I don’t remember exactly how long those biscuits take to make… and 2. I don’t know if they have self rising flour… shoot. I don’t remember how much salt/baking powder to use instead of self rising flour… or is it baking soda…haha shoot! Oh! I’ll call my mom. Ok. Gotta go do that! Hopefully she can answer! It’s only like 6pm there. I’m thrown off because of the time change. The time didn’t change here. Only in the US time zones or something. Spain’s time change happens later on some time… so now we’re only SIX hours ahead of you instead of seven  whoops?  six is good though! Hopefully they’re not in the middle of dinner! It’s strange that we eat three hours later here… lucky Texans!  haha.
Ok. Gotta go call mom!!!! Peace!

Shoot. My phone card is used up! UGH! Stupid phone cards. I had like 40 minutes on it last time I used it. I definitely didn’t talk for 40 minutes. More like 5 minutes. Blast. Stupid card… well, hope they turn out okay! Haha. We’lll see…

"home"

it didn't really hit me, until i got back to the madrid metro station from being in barcelona this past weekend, how much Madrid feels like home now.
you know, the feeling of comfort and familiarity when you recognize your surroundings, and the machines around you, and the street names and metro stops...
it just hadn't hit me until sunday afternoon... anyways. it's cool.
thanks, God! :)

p.s. it is so strange to think that i will be headed home to Texas in only 9 days... so so so weird.

two more days, Bustas!!! :)

Madrid, Spain

La Casa de Santibanez

El 5 de Marzo, 2008

11:58pm (4:58pm Denton time)

Muchas Felicidades, Ani!!!

Today is Ani’s 24^th birthday! Hooray! J so tonight was actually pretty fun J Paloma and Veronica made her a chocolate cake. It was a really cool way to make a cake. I’ll have to make one soon when I get home J all from scratch!

We realized that we didn’t have any candles, so Paloma handed me her change purse and I ran down to the little tienda that’s in our community. They don’t have candles… boo… SO… Veronica and I used…

Q-TIPS! Yeah! Hahaha J it was so fun! We were all rushing around to get everything in place before Ani came up. Veronica and I colored the qtips with orange and yellow sharpies and cut the other end off to stick in the cake. We put a little tealight candle in the middle so that we could actually light ONE of them. Haha.

So everyone huddled in the tiny kitchen (including Eduardo Sr!) and we turned off the light and surprised Ani when she walked in! I think she was actually surprised! I made her a card earlier today and had everyone sign it J the family got her a new skirt I think. So we all had cake and champagne and toasted to Ani J it was so fun! I’ll have to post a few pics if I can.

Oh. Also later on after all of that, I went back up to my room because the champagne was a bit more strong than I expected. Haha. I got sleepy J so I was sitting at my desk working on my budget when Eduardo came up and said that his parents wanted to know if I wanted to come downstairs with them all and drink champage. Hahahaha J the whole family was in the living room watching the Roma/Real Madrid Futbol game. It was a really big game. Unfortunately “we” (Real) lost… sorry… so even though watching sports games on television is one of the last things I ever want to do (unless it’s at the Goshorn’s with my awesome friends J) I have never really felt included with the family for things so I was NOT going to pass that up! So I just spent the last hour and a half watching futbol with the family. After the kids went to bed, I waited around to ask what I should do since it doesn’t look like Cait’s family is going to let me stay there… basically what I got from Paloma was… I’m out of luck because everyone she knows goes out of town too. Everyone closes their houses. So… no luck.

In somewhat related news…

I may be coming home a lot sooner than I originally thought. Maybe the same time Lindsey and Aaron leave… I may have to get a hostel for the week that the family is gone which would wipe me out financially. So I would have to waste the plane tickets I bought for to and from italy, forego the trip, and go back home earlier. It kind of sucks, but at the same time, it’s ok. I could go stay with my parents for a week or so, and then head back to north texas and get a job… haha. Yeah. I need one of those… badly…

Anyways. I don’t really know what to do. I’m really ok with having to come home that early. I love it here, but I’m not adamantly opposed to going home that early. And that way I would be able to go back with other people instead of flying back alone! That is much more fun!

So…I don’t know what to do. If I go back early, I don’t think that I can get a refund for my plane tickets and I don’t even think that I could give them to Caitlin so that she could go instead. That sucks. We already bought the tickets…so that means Katie would be going to Italy by herself… UGH. I don’t know what to do…. L L L

Help.

Hey. Question: if I do come home that early and I’m in Denton for my birthday (and Andrew E’s bday! March 24^th.) can we go to Okawa or whatever the new Reiku place is called?? J haha. Sorry I can’t remember the name for it… can we? J that would totally rock. Ok. That is all. Now I kind of hope that I do get to go home that early… once that idea seems like it could be a reality it makes me want to go home… haha. Whoops?

Madrid, Spain

La Casa de Santibanez

El 9 de Marzo, 2008

10:40pm (3:40pm Denton time)

So…we went to Barcelona this weekend! it was really great. Katie didn’t come, but Erin and I left on the bus Friday morning and Caitlin met us there Saturday morning. It was an eight hour bus ride to Barcelona from Madrid. The ride to Barcelona was much “longer” than the one back. It was impossible to sleep on the way there. There were a lot more people on the bus. On the way home today, no one was sitting in the seat next to me the whole way so I actually got to sleep like half way home! Haha. And luckily my ipod totally held up (barely, but it did! …I didn’t have a charger since I wasn’t bringing my computer)!

So Erin and I got to Barcelona around 6pm on Friday. We didn’t know it, but we got off at the wrong bus station, so when we followed the metro directions, thinking that we would be saving about 9 euros each by doing the metro instead of taking a cab. We ended up asking some lady at a pharmacy how to get to the street we were looking for, and she told us we were WAY far away, and that we should just take the metro back to the same station we STARTED AT! Yeesh!!! So we ended up having to pay for a cab anyways… sweet. Haha.

So we finally got to the hotel around 7 ish, and luckily Caitlin’s mom was right inside the door! So we took our stuff up to the room…which…surprise!!! We got our very own room! For FREE!!!! One of the other flight attendants is actually from Barcelona, so he didn’t need to stay at the hotel, so he told Cait’s mom to let us stay in his room! It was great! I’m pretty sure it was the largest hotel room I’ve ever seen! So we set up our stuff, and headed down to go out for dinner with the other ladies from the flight crew. We all walked for quite a while to get to the main part of Barcelona (or so we were told last weekend by another flight attendant who lived there for a while), Gotico Barrio, and finally found a place to eat. It was really good – a bit more expensive than I was planning on, but it was really good. I think one of my favorite things here is the bread they bring out as a free appetizer for the table. It’s toasted bread with just like mashed up tomatoes on top. Its so good! So after dinner we went to walk back to the hotel, and four of us ended up staring right up at a cruise ship at the coast after walking for about…and hour or an hour and a half. J apparently we were walking the opposite way than we thought we were walking on this one street the WHOLE time… there seems to have been a reason why I couldn’t find us on the map… we weren’t ON the map… maybe next time someone will listen to me and wait until we can figure out where we are before we keep heading the same way down a street that we don’t even know where it is… that sentence was not constructed well… oh well. J you get it.

So we FINALLY got back to the hotel around 11:30pm… we figured out that there was a computer in the lobby with free internet!!! It wasn’t supposed to be like that. It was supposed to need a credit card, but it was a real blessing that it was like that, because I really needed to figure out the names of the jerseys that Gooch wanted from FC Barcelona. J and I got to talk with Aaron on gmail chat for a minute. AND David Q was online (this is relevant because his parents actually live in Barcelona!). J so david’s dad called our room and we were going to try to set up a lunch meeting with them for Saturday, but it was a really busy day for them, so instead, I just gave Caitlin their number and hopefully they got to hang out with them for a little bit today? I’m not sure yet, though. I had to leave early this morning to get back before having to teach tonight.

I’ve decided I’m probably going to come home when Aaron and Lindsey head back next Thursday. I talked with Cait’s mom about the likelihood of getting a seat on a plane back with them, and she seemed to think it was very doable, so I think I’m just going to do that. I just don’t have the money to stay here longer. I’m really okay with it. It’s kind of startling to think that I’ll be leaving in just over a week instead of in two and a half weeks, but I think it’s really for the better. And it will be so good to see everyone again and be able to hug you guys! I miss you all! And I can’t wait to go back to church! I miss that family. For sure. And if I do go home this early, I think I’ll be able to go home to my parents’ place for a week or so. So that will be cool. It’ll be good to spend time with them when I get back! I wonder what reverse culture shock will be like… I heard that it does happen, but I don’t have internet, so I can’t look up what it is…haha. So if anyone knows, you should email me the list of stages or whatever. I’m curious J

Hey! It’s almost Easter! That means it is totally Cadbury egg season. If anyone has an overflow of them and they need something to do with them… I will totally take them off of your hands for you!!! No worries, my friends! I wish they were made all year long. Seriously, lets do something about that? Eh?

Oh, so back to Barcelona… where was i…

Oh yeah. Friday night. So we went back to the room and totally crashed. It was so nice. The only thing that I would have changed is the fact that this really nice hotel had the thinnest walls I have ever experienced in my life! I could hear the guy in the room next to us blowing his nose… nice. Not to mention his television while we were trying to sleep. Sometimes I really hate being a light sleeper… I was so ready for sleep, but it still took a good hour and a half to fall asleep. Yeesh. That is just plain crazy. Seriously. Anyways. so in the morning, we were wakened by a knock at the door. Caitlin had finally gotten to town! She took the night bus Friday night out of Madrid and arrived around 8am Saturday morning. So we all got up, showered, and enjoyed an AMAZING breakfast that her mom dropped off for us of chocolate croissants that were to die for, and other pastry things, and some cheese and crackers and grapes that she had brought us from the plane. MAN it was like a FEAST!!! It was crazy when I realized that last weekend when she gave me cheese and crackers from the plane, it was the first time I had had cheese (like cubes/block cheese) since I had left home! That is crazy! I’m a cheese fiend! Seriously. That stuff was heaven! So we went out to explore Barcelona. The first awesome thing we ran into was this outdoor flea market type thing right by the water! It was so pretty outside! That was a blessing! I found a book for you, Lynn! It is awesome! It’s actually a spending diary from like 1963 or something like that. It is written in and everything. Its really cool. Vintage Spanish book for you, baby! (for those of you who don’t know why that is significant, she collects old books…)

Next we walked up this street that was lined with street vendors, artists, human statues, etc. it was SO awesome! I saw some of my favorite paintings there. They reminded me of you, Lins! They were absolutely beautiful.

We then got some gelato on our way to see the Gotti stuff of the city! Gotti is the artist/architect who is famous for his mosaic tile art in the city. Its really pretty amazing. I didn’t really think much of it, other than it was kind of gaudy (haha. No pun intended!), but seriously. Some of these things are just beautiful and frankly just plain amazing. OH MY GOSH…LINDSEY>>> get this: the Gotti park is totally where they filmed the “dead brides” runway show on that episode of America’s Next Top Model!!!! No joke! I saw it! It was SO cool! It made me remember the show when I looked at that hallway. I could see them running down the hallway in my mind J it was pretty cool J

Oh man. Also, I have never seen so many stairs as the ones that we had to walk up to get to that park… after walking up what I’m convinced is the steepest hill in Barcelona! Haha. There was an escalator at the very top, but of course it wasn’t moving! Hahaha.

After the park, we took the metro back to the big government building near our hotel that I think they said used to be the palace? Well, now, they have these beautiful fountains and waterfalls out front that have light shows that go off every few minutes! We got there about 8pm and watched the water/light show. It was so great. My camera batteries died before we were done at the Gotti park, so I couldn’t take any pics, but you can be sure I’m going to jack some of Cait and Erin’s when they post them online. J when that was over, we headed back to the hotel, but not without stopping at a nearby Italian restaurant to pick up some pizza (YES!!! J) to go. We had a pizza party in the Gastons’ room and we even made up an Easter shot! Yep. That’s right. Anyone who is a bartender, you have the potential to make millions of dollars with this idea. Be sure. Ready? One Cadbury egg, top chopped off, one shot glass of Bailey’s Irish Crème. Pour Bailey’s into Cadbury, and enjoy! Seriously. Try it. Well, I didn’t, but Cait did, and it LOOKED fantastic! So you should all try it. You can call it The Denise. J I don’t mind J haha

So we crashed after our pizza party, and I was up early this morning to catch the early morning bus back to Madrid. I’m sure I left out quite a bit about the trip, but eventually I’ll have all of the pictures up on Facebook. Sorry I don’t really have the ability to do that now, like I would like to!

Anyways. It’s pretty late now… I need to sleep. Bus sleeping isn’t all that great J

Hey, pray for me to talk to Paloma about leaving. I chickened out tonight…. I need to let her know I’m leaving before they get home from their Easter vacation, since I’m pretty much kicked out when they leave Friday morning. It’ll be fine, I’m just kinda nervous for some reason! I need to start packing now, actually. That’s crazy to think about. I have to have all of my stuff packed up to take with me to the hostel on Friday. Yeesh. That’ll be fun! J

So, Gooch, I totally got your jersey this weekend! you have to wait till I get home to find out who’s jersey it is, though. Fortunately Eduardo approved of it. He said that the one I got was the best one J so I hope you are happy with it! J

Bale (okay), hasta luego, amigos!

Madrid, Spain

La Casa de Santibanez

El 11 de Marzo, 2008

12:50am (5:50pm march 10^th, Denton time)

I am going to be home for my birthday! That is so awesome! J let’s hang out, yeah? J and no, “I have to work the next morning” junk. Hang out with me on my birthday! I miss you!!! J J J (it’s the 24^th…)

it got cold again! yeesh!

Madrid, Spain

La Casa de Santibanez

El 4 de Marzo, 2008

10:02pm (3:02pm Denton time)

Ok… news from today:

• I didn’t wear a jacket for the first time today… bad idea. I thought it was going to be as warm as it was yesterday… nope. It was extremely windy… yikes.
• “Crucial Tuesday” is today. Votes are counted in Ohio and Texas. I think two other states as well, but Ohio and Texas are huge states to win (or lose) in this race. I hope you are all voting… I also hope (personally) that Hillary “Satan’s spawn” Clinton is out of the race by the end of the day… that won’t happen, but we can always hope, right? (sorry, if you’re a hillary backer… I just really wish she would go away…)
• That has been one of my hardest prayers these past months… praying that His will be done in this election EVEN if that is to have Hillary Clinton as our next president… so tough to pray that… BUT that’s good. J
• If it goes to superdelegates and they don’t vote the way that the people vote, I will officially be extremely disappointed. That would make all of the votes pointless.
• I like CNN. I’m so thankful for it (and the English that they speak…haha).
• I’m making a Bucket List (a list of things to do before I die). It’s cool J
• I’m making a book list that I want to read
• I’m going to make a list of things that I am SO thankful to have back in the states that I have taken for granted in the past. I don’t want to take them for granted when I get back home. When I finish it (or get a good number of things down), I’ll post them for you so that you can see if you take them for granted too, and maybe checkity-check yourself J haha.
• I’m sick of having white rice and hotdogs (no buns. Just the dog) for lunch…
• I’m sick of fish sticks. They are NOT HEALTHY – especially when they’re DEEP FRIED…
• I can’t wait to be able to eat WHEN I’M HUNGRY…. Not wait until I’m ALLOWED to eat…
• i can’t believe it’s snowing in Denton!!! My sister sent me the most awesome pictures!!! She wrote things in the snow outside her house: “LOVE YOU, D” and “miss you too!” So cool! J
• I went running yesterday and prayed for death afterwards. My lungs hurt so badly… also I had a headache last night more strange than I’ve ever had before. Not even a migraine. Worse. I honestly thought that my head was going to explode and my brain was going to spurt out of every opening in my head… not joking. There was so much pressure in my head I sat on my bed pressing on both sides of my head with my hands praying for the pressure to subside. Ugh. So weird. And so terrible…
• I got mail from my MOMMY today!!! So awesome!!! She sent me “Phase Ten”, the card game that I was wishing I had to teach the kids! So cool! I hope I get a chance to play it with them soon. Maybe they wont have too much homework tonight!
• Finding hostels to stay at and finding bus tickets online teach us patience. MUCH patience. So I guess it’s good J
• I get to talk to Aaron tonight. That’s awesome.
• I FINALLY got to post an entire album online on Facebook today! The internet connection stayed connected the whole time for it to finish uploading!!! YES! So… I now have pictures from the first TWO days of this whole trip…haha. Aren’t you excited?? J maybe one day’ll they’ll be up to date… I’m not sure if it’ll be before I’m home though. Haha
• I still have nowhere to live for nine days starting nine days from today… neat.
  please pray for me to find somewhere to live. I think I may end up having to pay to stay in a hostel here in Madrid. That sucks. If that’s the case, that will be about $275 dollars more that I was not planning on spending while here in spain… I don’t even have enough money to last until I get home, right now… I’m way more than counting on birthday money to get me through this month… ugh. I hate money. I hate not having anywhere to live next week! Man. Please pray. Please please. I need either a magic three hundred dollars to drop out of the sky (and for a bed to stay open at a good hostel) OR a free place to stay that week… pray pray pray.
• I just wish that I would have known this before I moved here…they should have told me instead of just now informing me that I’m homeless if I don’t go with them to the north part of spain… it’s just not really fair… well, I don’t think so anyways… don’t just tell me that with no other options. That’s just mean.
• I love you.
• I need to stop stressing out about a place to live.
• God totally provides. I’m interested to see how He will this time… interested, for sure. J
• Thanks for making it through, again. You’re troopers J

Later: 10:15ish Madrid time

3:15ish denton time

I just cut eduardo’s hair. That was cool. His old haircut was driving me insane. It was not even AT ALL… surprisingly, his dad said I could cut it for him…

It looks really good.

The first thing his dad said when he showed it to him (and was really excited about it, I might add…) :

Eduardo: Papa! Look! Look at my new hair! How good it looks, eh?? J J J

Eduardo Sr: well, there’s nothing we can do about it now…

As he tossles his hair…

Nice. Thanks, dad. You’re welcome for saving you money for having to go to a hairdresser who does a crappy job anyways… you’re welcome…

Aaron’s going to call me in about five minutes. I wish it were now. Ugh.

Did I mention that his hair actually looks good… yeah.

And even later: 11:41pm Madrid time

4:41pm Denton time

…and have I mentioned how much i love that my room is right above Paloma’s?

I love this for the sole reason that I get to smell it every single time she starts smoking in her room… smoke rises. Right into my nostrils as I attempt to sleep…or breathe… you know, either one J haha.

just a little update for ya...

Madrid, Spain

La Casa de Santibanez

El 28 de Febrero, 2008

10:02pm (3:02pm Denton time)

Wow…I feel like a whole lifetime has passed since I wrote in this thing. i feel like I did so much this weekend, but I’m sure that it won’t really be that much when I actually write about it all.

Ok…starting where… Friday? Saturday? Friday. That was the 29^th I think…

Ok so Saturday I had a few things that I knew that I needed to get done that day. I needed to try and find a free place for Aaron and Lindsey to stay, I needed to buy some stamps (after attempting it for 4 days now…haha), I needed to mail those things… I needed to meet cait’s mom to pick up some things for the girls…get some cash out of the atm…and finish up planning for the italy trip. And more I’m sure…

So I was bound and determined to get Pizza this weekend since I’ve been craving it for so long now. The other girls all went to Portugal this weekend so I was on my own. It was pretty cool to just hang out and walk around on my own for the whole weekend. I walked all around the Sol area trying to find the Juan Valdez Café that we had seen there last weekend. It kept evading me for probably a good 30-45 minutes which was pretty frustrating BUT I did get to see just about every inch of the area between Sol and la Plaza Mayor. I ran into the really popular chocolateria that’s over there too J I can’t wait to go there with Lins and Aaron! J it’s going to be so great. Mmmm! J I haven’t been yet.

So I finally found juan valdez, and I was planning to stay there for a good while with internet, but the place didn’t have a plug anywhere! Sheesh. Nice. So I was there until my computer died. Then I went over to the Alonzo Martinez metro area where the other Juan Valdez Café and Pizza Hut both are J literally just around the corner from each other. I went straight for Pizza Hut and ordered the special thing they have that is a personal pizza with two toppings (tomato chunks and black olive of course!), two Texas-toast type garlic cheesy bread slices, and a drink for about 6 euros. I was in heaven. You have no idea. I would eat pizza for every meal if I could, I think… well, not true, I would trade off between pizza (tomato chunks, black olives, extra cheese, and extra sauce with super thick crust J right, Gooch?? Seriously, that pizza you made for me that one time is still the pizza I dream of very often…hahaJ), California rolls, edemame, and Chilis hamburgers with chips, salsa and ranch (they totally don’t have ranch dressing in Spain….terrible…). J

Anyways. that was a ridiculous tangent. I can’t believe you guys actually read all this ridiculous writing. Haha.

So after pizza hut I tried to go back to Juan Valdez for more internet, but they were already closed, so I went to this little café place that said they had internet, but after only thirty minutes I couldn’t get it to work anymore even after I got a new password and everything. Sad. So I just went home. But I did get to chat it up with my friend, JG for a little bit! He told me I can come next time you guys go to camp on the beach, Pookie, so plan on it. J man. That sounds so cool! I love beach camping. WAY more than regular camping for sure.

OH…before all of this happened, I forgot to tell you the most terrifying thing of the night!!! Jeez… ok so I walk to the bus stop that afternoon after lunch around 5pm because I want to get on the bus before they start striking again…ugh. So inconvenient! The bus drivers are striking, and according to a posted sign at the bus stop, there are about 5 days that they are doing “partial strikes” and about 5 more days that they are doing “total strikes” between mid feb and mid march… not fun for those of us whose only means of transportation is being on those buses… yeah. So that day, it was a total strike during rush hours (7:30-9:30am and 5:30-7:30pm), so I definitely wanted on the bus before then. Unfortunately I didn’t make it… ha. But I did run into Ani while I was there waiting for the bus! She had a dentist appointment so we waited for the bus together and I let her listen to some of the music on my ipod (Jen, she heard your song “It shouldn’t matter”, it’s the only one of yours that I have on there, but she looked at me like I was lying to her. She didn’t believe me that you are my roommate. Haha. She loved it J), and we talked for a while. It’s fun talking with her. It makes me feel like I can speak Spanish. She’s really patient. J so the bus FINALLY comes at about 5:50pm, and it is PACKED!!! Seriously it is so full I’ve never seen anything like it… well, about 3 people get off and two people get on ahead of me and Ani, and we try to squeeze in, too… well we did, but it was so tight that I was having to maneuver around the door closing behind me… it closes, and I am pressed against it the whole ride… at one point I said to Ani (in Spanish…), “I’m so nervous right now! What if this door opens?!” haha. She looked at me with a “whoops” type face and said, “Hasta luego, Denise!” haha. Oh man. It was pretty intense of a ride! Haha BUT we made it to Moncloa (where the main bus stop and the metro is) in one piece and tumbled out of the bus when the doors open. I couldn’t help but laugh the whole way down to my metro car. It was pretty funny.

Oh, and earlier that day (Friday), before the girls left, cait and I met up at the normal Juan Valdez and I did manage to book mine and Katie’s return flight from Italy…so that’s good. J haha. So we’ll be going to Italy (why in the world have I always …ever since I can remember… tried to spell Italy and Italians with either two t’s or two l’s…sheesh.) from March 28^th to April 2^nd. We’ll fly out of Milan on Tuesday April 2^nd in the early early morning, and after that I’ll be heading back to the states! J I’m not sure the exact day, but I could be coming home as early as that day… we’ll see when Cait’s mom looks at the flights and sees what’s available. It actually works out really well because we have to get new Abono passes (for the metro and bus) at the beginning of each month or else pay 1 euro for each ride on them… so when we’re in Italy, my march abono will be done, and I have about 4 rides left on a ticket from when we were first here in January, so that should work out to be just about perfect! J just a couple for the metro/bus rides home from the airport and then hopefully Paloma will be able to take me to the airport when I go J

Oh… a must try for Madrid (and so I hear in Italy too, so maybe it’s a European thing) is the orange juice! They have these machines. They’re phenomenal! They have a tube out the top that you put in whole oranges, and the machine runs the oranges through and squeezes out the juice into your cup. It is the best orange juice I have ever had in my entire life. It’s just like when we were in elementary school and just sucked the juice out of our orange slices instead of eating them… it’s that fresh. Whoa. So good.

So that’s my new addiction… European orange juice. Haha J

Ok so that was Friday…

Saturday was really busy and long, but I didn’t really do that much because a majority of my day was spent walking all around this one area trying to find this stupid hostel to check it out and hopefully book some beds for Aaron and Lindsey for less than two weeks from yesterday! Usually, you want to book hostels about 3 weeks in advance to get the best prices… so yeah… anyways. I went to Juan Valdez to get info about it, and find out exactly where it was, went there and looked around for it, and couldn’t find it. So I went BACK to juan valdez to look it up again, and I actually drew the map out for myself. Went back and walked around a more narrowed down area for it… google maps is full of crap. It was totally not marked on that map correctly. I FINALLY found a shop keeper who knew what I was talking about and he pointed me down about two streets away from where the map said it was supposed to be. I found it and went up to ask the guys some questions. The guy at the counter didn’t speak English, so it was kind of hard communicating the questions I had, like, they’re flying standby, so if their flight doesn’t come in on the day that we book the first night for, will they still be able to come in on the second day without their reservation being canceled totally. The second guy finally figured out what I was asking and tried to start translating for us and speaking English to me, but the first guy kind of snapped at him and said (in Spanish), “no! let her practice! She’s doing well!” haha it was so funny. Frustrating at the moment, but after we finished the discussion and they understood my questions and I understood their responses, it was kinda cool that he did that. Haha. The Spanish people are really cool. They really do love the fact that we try to speak Spanish with them. Even if they do speak a little English. Most of them will pretend that they don’t understand English if they see that you’re proficient enough to get your points across with a little help and patience J it’s pretty cool. So those guys were pretty cool, and they gave me a flyer for 10 percent off of the stay, only you have to book online… so I still had to go get internet again to actually book the beds. ARG! I hate not having internet! Ugh. It makes the simplest things so difficult! Haha.

Anyways. so at that point I really needed to make my way up to the part of town where the Delta flight attendants stay to pick up some things from Caitlin’s mom for the girls. So I make the trek to that end of town… a lot of walking that day. Haha. And hang out with her mom for a little bit. She’s SO SWEET! It’s really cool to be able to see her pretty much every weekend while we’re here! I think moms (the cool ones anyways…) have this quality that make you just feel like you’re hangin with your own mom for a bit. Especially if they’re the mom of a really close friend, like cait’s mom. She brings snacks and goodies every weekend. its so cool. Next weekend we’re going to Barcelona, and we’re going to get to stay for FREE because her flight is to Barcelona too! J so we’re not having to get a hostel or anything. So awesome. Anyways, so she told me that some of the flight attendants were going back to that place called La Farmacia (they have the BEST sangria in all of Madrid, I’m convinced…at least it’s the best I’ve hadJ) for sangria and tappas, and asked if I wanted to join them. Of course I did! My girls were gone, so I had no plans… so that was really fun. Everyone I’ve met from Delta is SO sweet. Really fun people to hang out with. After hanging out there for a good while (where they randomly had wifi! So I was able to book beds for ap and lins! Not the hostel that I wasted my entire day looking for …. They didn’t even have the beds by the time I got to try and book them…FRUSTRATING!!! But at least they have a place for sure now!), I headed back home. Got there about 9:30ish and was just in time for dinner, so that was cool. Paloma and Eduardo Sr. went out again, so Eduardo, Veronica and I watched the Disney channel for a while. It was cool (Hannah Montana! Yeah!)J only it was in Spanish, and they can’t put English subtitles, only Spanish ones…so it got really frustrating after a while of not understanding anything, but I made it through an episode of Hannah Montana and that Nanny movie with The Rock in it? I don’t know what it’s called, Super Nanny or something like that… I dunno. But it was all in Spanish… I was definitely ready for some English CNN when the kids went to bed and I headed up to my room… yeesh. It’s not very fun when you don’t understand… dur… haha.

Ok. So my back is aching from hunching over this computer for so long. That means this entry is probably ridiculously long… big surprise, huh? No. prob not. Haha.

Anyways. so it’ll be 45 days tomorrow. That’s crazy. I’ve been away for 45 days.

BUT on the other hand… I get to see two of my most favorite people on earth in only TEN DAYS FROM TOMORROW!!! (tomorrow = Monday)

You have no idea how psyched I am for them to be here. I know I probably write that every time I write, but I promise, you still have no clue as to how much I wish they were here!!!!! I wish you all could come! I would love to actually show you the things I keep talking about J

Anyways, I love you all very much, and I’m super impressed if you actually made it through this far in this blog. I think I probably would have given up after the first few days of me writing this much. Haha. However, you get a gold star, for sure!

Break, team! J