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…)