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…

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

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! :)

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

it's finally sunny in madrid again :)

Madrid, Spain
La Casa de Santibanez
El 14 de Febrero, 2008
2:53pm (7:53am Denton time)

Man. I just really really really really want a pizza right now. Can the first thing that I do when I get home, be that I get to eat pizza? Ok. Good. J thanks J

Madrid, Spain
La Casa de Santibanez
El 16 de Febrero, 2008
12:49pm (5:49am Denton time)

Bah. So I just finished looking at my finances again, and I’m a little disappointed in myself L I thought I was doing so well! I have my expenses and available funds broken into 3 months (jan 20^th thru feb 20^th, feb 20^th thru march 20^th, etc) and I broke it down as far as knowing exactly how much money I can spend every day to allow myself enough to last the whole trip. Of course I do have to have money when I get back, so I’m not including the money I’ll need when I get home, in my available funds that I’m working with… I’m a nerd. I love that stuff. Sue me. No don’t. I’m broke. Haha J

Anyways… so I thought I was doing so well this first month, but it turns out I’m already over my first month’s budget by 18 dollars. Dang! Of course I would be fine (and have money to spare, actually!) if it weren’t for that dang medical bill from that surgery that I thought I was already done paying on… oh well. J at least it’s only 18 dollars over. That’s easy to remedy. Just don’t spend any money for three days. Perfect! J it just means that I’m not going to be able to travel anywhere this weekend. We were going to go to Toledo tomorrow. Oh well. I’d rather miss THAT trip than miss Paris or Italy or one of those, so all is well… anyways. that was a really boring update, but that’s what’s going on right now J

Hope you’re enjoying your Saturday!!! J I love you! J

p.s. it’s difficult to carry on a conversation, even with someone you love and who is an ocean away from you, after you have been asleep for an hour and have taken Nyquil… I don’t recommend it… I’m sorry, Aaron! I tried my best to uphold my end of the conversation. I didn’t do very well, though, I don’t think… I’m sorry!!! It was kinda funny though because as I took the phone back downstairs when we hung up, I felt all floaty J haha. Weird!

blah day...

whoa! it is so cold out here on my little potted plant. yeesh! well, happy vday! :)

Madrid, Spain
La Casa de Santibanez
El 14 de Febrero, 2008
12:24pm (5:24am Denton time)

So…I’m pretty sure I just got chastised by Ani for trying to help…neat.

Every Thursday, Ani cleans my room/bathroom (like dusting, etc) and does my laundry… so today, I thought instead of just bringing down the laundry and leaving it in a pile on the kitchen floor (where the laundry machine is…weird), that I would go ahead and start it. It’s a very simple thing to do… so I did. I’m pretty sure she just told me (as she stopped outside my bedroom door on her way up to the floor above) that I’m not allowed to have more than one load of laundry…that I’m washing too many clothes… the ironic thing is that I hardly wash anything here because I detest the feeling of cardboard clothing on my skin, which is inevitably what happens any time I wash ANYthing here since it has to be line-dried… and is not usually even dry when she piles it outside my room for me to put away…so I end up having to put it back outside OR just hang everything on every surface around my room. I think I had like 4 shirts, underwear, and some socks to wash besides my sheets and towels… maybe that’s too much… whatever. I figured that maybe she just wanted me to put it all in one load, so I tried to tell her that it wouldn’t all fit, and she argued with me, telling me only ONE load… so…whatever. Maybe she doesn’t realize that it doesn’t get clean when you shove two loads of laundry into a little washer that is no bigger than a kitchen sink… UGH. Whatever. I’ll just have lots of dirty clothes for the next two months. Then, when I’m home I’ll do my own laundry as often as I freaking want to. And, God forbid, I may even do more than one load in a week! WHOA!!!

Sorry. That reeks of bitterness… L I don’t want to be bitter, I just wish people would use their common sense sometimes.

Also, meatballs and rice is not very good. Especially when the rice is dry and you haven’t ever liked meatballs to begin with… bah. I’m going to go read my bible and spend some time with the Lord. My attitude is crap right now. I need it adjusted. Sorry.

…oh… Happy Valentines Day, by the way… haha. Whoops? J

p.s. I finished my book last night (Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen) that Lindsey gave me when we left. It was fantastic and I really want to see the movie again, now. I wish I owned it… my roommate my freshman year of college had it and I think she watched it on a loop every single day that year. Haha. Now I can hardly remember anything about the movie except that the chick from Titanic was one of the main characters… J Today I’m starting on the Russian novel by Leo Tolstoy called Anna Karenina. Pretty pumped about that. Should be a good read. And it’s long enough! Jeez. Haha. Should keep me occupied for some good amount of time J

a little time in the cafe...

this is me with the one i love (hangin out on our one year anniversary this past fall):

and miss (this one's from a going away dinner for me and cait last month):


and this is me and my spanish damas looking all over Madrid for a restaraunt that we never found last week... but we found a cool train station! haha:

also this is me being ridiculous by la palacio royal:

ok... i have to pee... really badly...and probably shouldn't leave my computer unattended in a coffee shop...therefore, i bid you adieu. :)

realization...

um...i need a job when i get home... :/

so...anyone who knows of anything opening up around the beginning of april...let me know?

thanks :)

We went to Segovia on Saturday :)

Notice: i posted a video on facebook for lynn. you should check it out. :) haha

Madrid, Spain
La Casa de Santibanez
El 9 de Febrero, 2008
10:39pm (3:39pm Denton time)

Sometimes I hate it here. Not Spain, really. I really love Spain. Sometimes I just wish I were at home. Sometimes I whine too much. I’m sorry.
This woman apparently has CAMERAS here… Ani got in trouble for the girls being here last weekend one night when she and the kids were gone…after she TOLD ME IT WAS OK!!!! Are you kidding me???
They stayed here last night before we went to Segovia this morning, so I’m sure to hear something about this when they get home next week. Or if not, Ani is probably going to get in trouble. UGH. This woman… I’m sorry. But SERIOUSLY???
I’m done. I swear.
I wish I hadn’t told Aaron not to call me tonight since I may not have been here if we ended up going out. I’m here… and I don’t have any more minutes on my phone card so I cant call him… I have a headache. I think it’s from the knots in my back. I am not really sure what’s happening with my back/neck right now but I have so many knots in me… I have a HUGE knot that Katie tried to rub out a little bit last night, and couldn’t even believe how hard it was… it hurts so much. I can feel it (feels like stabbing in my shoulder blade) when I breathe if I don’t take shallow breaths. Every time I moved last night it would “stab” me again. I don’t know how to make it go away. Stretching isn’t helping L I’ve been on the verge of tears several times this evening, and I have no PMS to blame it on this time… seems silly, but please pray that these knots in my back just go away? Please?
Anyways, Segovia was awesome. We spent all day there and walked more than I think I have every walked in my life before. We took the train from Madrid to Segovia. It was only about a two hour ride each way. Not too bad, considering we only had to pay 10.70 euros for BOTH WAYS!!! That rules. First thing we did was walk down to see the Aqueduct. it was so awesome. here's a pic of it and a beautiful lamp post :)

and us... (oh, meet our new friend Erin. She's from Florida and just got here through the same organization about a week ago!)

After lunch we visited the castle that Ferdinand and Isabella ruled from. The very castle that Christopher Columbus went to in order to get permission to…find America pretty much… we stood in that very room on the very spot that he probably stood… that’s awesome. This same castle is also the castle that Walt Disney based Cinderella’s castle on! The famous Disney castle! I was there! Today! J it was so awesome.

we also got to see two really beautiful cathedrals while we were walking across the city... here's one of them from a distance:

With seeing all of these great old castle-like homes and all of the awesome stone architecture around Europe and also reading my fav. Jane Austen while having watched Pride and Prejudice AND Becoming Jane in the past three weeks, I want a house like that so badly J haha. Well, not a castle. Just castle-like. Haha. Smaller, of course, but with the same great stone work. I love stone. With comfortable, elegant rooms that have fireplaces (one of my fav things anyways) and lots and lots of great tapestries and rugs and old-looking furniture J that stuff makes me so happy J anyways. Great day, all together. Goodnight!

Madrid, Spain
La Casa de Santibanez
El 10 de Febrero, 2008
6:08pm (11:08am Denton time)

Wow. So I just realized that I have lived in Spain for exactly three weeks today… 21 days… that’s kind of a long time! Wow… I wonder how strange it is going to be, going home. I have a feeling it’s going to be like a chunk of my memory is gone. Kind of like amnesia for the three months that I am here… you know? Maybe that doesn’t make sense, but as far as life in denton, I mean…I think it will feel like that.

Oh… we were trying to start planning out our travel weekends yesterday and guess where we’re going for my birthday…

PARIS.

Oh yeah. Not even joking. I’m going to freaking PARIS for my “golden” birthday J that is so sweet (the “golden” birthday is when the age you are turning matches the number of the day your birthday is on… like mine is my 24^th because I turn 24 on March 24^th J)! I’m so excited about this…

Also we’re going to go to Barcelona either the first of second weekend of march, and we’re hoping to go to Italy maybe the last weekend in March J that would be so awesome. That way we could go to Rome, Venice, and Florence each for a day, I think! Or we’ll try to at least… I hope money holds up! I spent a good amount of my day today working on my budget again. Just making sure that I’m staying on schedule with that and all that good stuff.

Oh…speaking of money…Kelley emailed me this past week to let me know of ANOTHER medical bill that they are JUST NOW sending me from my surgery that happened back in SEPTEMBER! I thought I was completely done paying on that… so I’ve got less money than I thought… haha. Neat, right? Yeah… I’m just gonna stick to the “what I want for my birthday is money” plan. I think that will be the most realistic, eh? Yup. Thought so. Although, Lindsey and Aaron, you already know that I want you HERE as my birthday present so no backing out of that ;) haha.
Man I am SO excited for you guys to come
Oh, and Zari, I have to tell you that every single time I pass these awesome street-side florists I think of you J I miss you girlies! I miss homegroup. I’ll be excited to come back to that J
I get to talk to Aaron tonight, so that’s awesome J
I was out the door to head into Gran Via for a little bit today to look at some fabric shops that they have down there, but before I got to the bus stop (thankfully! Haha), I realized that it’s Sunday and everything’s probably closed… bummer. I wish I had some yarn or fabric to make stuff with while I’m here. That would be cool. That’s my goal this week is to get some of that stuff. I have such a drive to be creative right now, but I have no outlet for it. It’s frustrating. I wish I were an artist. I would have so many awesome drawings done by now… haha J
Oh, Aaron, you need to send me a pic of some of your “monster-guy” drawings bc I was telling the kids about him and how cute/funny he is when you draw him, but you know that I can’t draw him at all…so yeah. J also, I miss him! Haha
Ok. I’m done rambling for now.
Oh… I totally got scared earlier! I wanted to sit down and read some more of my book that Lindsey bought me, and I couldn’t find it ANYWHERE! I was mildly freaking out thinking of all of the places I could possibly have left it, and I was about to settle and come to terms with the idea that I had left in on the metro or the bus when I looked under the bed and saw it tucked under the corner! Yes! Man, I knew I’ve been so careful to make sure that I don’t ever leave anything behind, but with my history of losing stuff…everything?... it wouldn’t have surprised me if I did… I’m so glad that I didn’t though! It’s so much more than just a book when it’s got a personalized note written in it, you know? Especially when it’s from someone you love!
So…crisis averted. Good work, team!