Paris!

So my trip to Paris was really amazing, a little cold, but overall very good! I was a little worried abou

the fact that I´m technically an illegal immigrant since my tourist VISA expired in October but when I went to the airport I had no problems getting through, they didn´t even really look at my passport. I arrived there on Friday night after going through Frankfurt, Germany and found my hotel pretty easily. About 5 minutes after I had gotten there I got a call from the front desk that there were two boys downstairs to see me. It was my hermanito, Nacho, and his brother Martin. Nacho is a foriegn exchange student that stayed with my family when I was a senior in high school and the first we ever had. I call him my hermanito even though he isn´t my brother by blood. It had been about 5 years since I had seen him when my parents and I went to go visit him and his family in Argentina so I was very excited to see him again! His brother was only in town for one night for work and so they went to have dinner with the company and I wandered around the neighborhood a little bit. Nacho told me that the hotel was right around the corner from his house, which I didn´t know when I booked it. I just asked what area I should look in and it was a complete coincidence that it literally was right around the corner! The next day I went to the train station to meet my cousin, Nichole, who was coming to Paris for the weekend to meet up with us. She is currently living in northern France, teaching English to primary school children in the Normandy area. I hadn´t seen her for about a couple of years and she looked so European! We made our way to the hotel, found a place for lunch, and then called Nacho. The four of us met up on Saturday afternoon and walked around a little bit before Nacho had to take Martin to the airport to catch his flight home. It was both Nichole and Martin´s first time in Paris so seeing such amazing things like the Eiffel tower, Invalides, Notre Dame and much more was amazing. Then we met back up with Nacho for a late dinner before he took us to his apartment (or flat as they say it in Europe) to talk, listen to some of his favorite music, and just hang out. Since the hotel was literally right around the corner, we had no problem getting back okay. On Sunday, Nichole and I got up and went to see the Arch de Triumph and have lunch before meeting up with Nacho who had to work in the morning. Currently he is starting his 4th year in Paris working on his PhD in genetics having to do something with immunology. I´m so jealous because his native language is Spanish, he is fluent in English, and now fluent in French. I can barely manage with two languages! We walked around some more and it was really funny because I forgot that Nacho smokes and he said he wanted to buy some black market cigarettes because they are cheaper. After he got done he said ¨The transaction has been completed¨. We went to a favorite bar of Nacho´s before meeting up with his friend Matias and seeing things like the artist neighborhood, the Opera house, and the Louvre. Then we had a wonderful dinner on Sunday night at a Seafood restaurant where we all ordered the EXACT same thing. I´m talking down to the drinks. We had mussels in a cream and tomato sauce and creme brouleigh (I have no idea how to spell it right) for dessert. It was so much fun. On Monday, of course Nacho had to work so Nichole and I went walking around looking for a place to buy some French cheese for my Spanish family. We lost track of time talking in a Starbucks where we stopped for something warm and made it back to the hotel in time to check out and get Nichole to the train station and me to the airport. Thankfully, I found some cheese in the train station so it turned out okay. I was sad to say goodbye to my family since it was so good to see them together and share a bit of Paris with them. I had to fly to Milan, Italy before getting back to Madrid, but again I had no problems at the airport. There is so much more about the trip but I´ll add more later. Until then, here are just a couple of photos! Besitos!

Steph

TKD tournament and Sergio´s Karate

This weekend was the 2009 TKD Spanish International Open tournament and it was much bigger than I thought! My instructor, Santiago Maroño, is the president of the Madrid Federation of TKD and since it was held in Madrid, he was busy busy with all the teams and stuff going on. Here are some pictures of some female fighters, a Hip Hop/TKD performance that was done by some people from my gym that was very cool, Me and Ana as Mickey & Ana went with me to the tournament, and I´m trying to upload a video of a board breaking demonstration but so far not working. I will keep trying.

Earlier in the day I went to see Sergio participate in his first Karate competition where he did very well and won his first round! Everyone got a medal and he was so excited. I love being able to talk with Sergio about martial arts and we even ¨play fight¨ a little now and then. It was very cute and reminded me of the kids in my class back home in CO.

Here is a link to the video of the demonstration some people from my gym did at the tournament. It's pretty cool!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wpn5B1gPug

I feel like I´m a vagabond.....

Is that how you spell it? Oh well. This week is pretty crazy for me with my simple little life here in Spain because Paquita and Elias went on vacation for 9 days and while I have my own key to the house, Paquita insisted that I stay with my Spanish siblings because ¨she was worried that I wouldn´t have enough to eat¨. :) I started at my Spanish sister, Yolanda´s house, who is the mom of Sergio and Sonia and it was fun to be with the kids. Sonia was excited for me to stay in her room and has started calling me her ¨hermanita¨ which means little sister in Spanish. Then I went to Paracuellos to stay with Carmen and Edu and Miguelito which was nice to be back there since that was my home for a while. The dog, Aena gave me such a great welcome, she almost did like 25 circles when I came in the door she was so excited! Hard to believe at one time she used to just growl and run away from me. Tonight after my first TKD class (as I normally do two on M, W, F) my Spanish brother Mickey is picking me up to go to his martial arts class with him and then I will stay the weekend with him and Ana. He graciously offered for me to stay with them the entire time (without asking Ana first.....MEN!) but I told him that as Paquita says ¨family and fish are similar, they both smell bad after three days¨. Haha! Then I will go back to Yolanda´s and back to Carmen´s before my Spanish parents come home on Thursday. I´m so thankful for my Spanish family to welcome me into their houses so easily and for all the effort that they go to for me!

When I was with Yolanda, I went with her to take Sergio for a check up at the doctor´s office and learned how the socialized health care system works here in Spain a little more. Usually about 2 months before the date of the appointment, Yolanda has to call in to reserve a time. Then, on the day of the appointment you walk into the facility and push a button to take a number. The piece of paper tells you what ¨Zone¨ to go to and then there is a television that tells you in what room you are to go. It is kind of like the DMV in Colorado where you have to wait until your number is called and then you go to that room. We waited for about 2 hours before they saw him and there were A LOT of people there. Then, they tell you when to come back and the process repeats itsself. I wonder with all the talk about the socialized health system and the changes that Obama wants to make, how Americans who are so used to getting an appointment that same day or same week will handle having to wait. Obviously the process for urgencies is a little different but I imagine that it would still be the same waiting time the day of the appointment. The only good thing was that there was no bill to worry about since the very high level of taxes that Spanish people pay (normally around 20-25% for middle class) takes care of that. I have some pictures but since the wifi that I was ¨borrowing¨ from the cafe seems to be down and I´m using Elias´ computer, those will have to wait for now.

Then one day Yolanda, Ana and I went for a walk and had one of the funniest conversations ever mostly about the tendencies about older people but also about how to delicately explain particular things in another language that are sensitive subjects. Ana´s gestures to help explain were sooooo hilarious!

I´m thinking a lot about what it will be like when I get back to the US in December and what the heck to do with myself. I really miss my doggie and am thankful to my sister, Elisa for all the great photos she posts. Even though I can never actually get her on the phone but that´s okay since she is out helping the chitlans. I miss you all and am excited to see and talk to you. Oh yea, I´m looking forward to my trip to Paris, France the last weekend of November! Anyways, take care and I will upload some photos next time.
Con amores y flores,
Stephanie

It's official, back to Alcala for me!

**These are photos of Kat's visit last week**

Okay, first of all I have to give a Miguelito update. When I go to Alcala every M, W, and F usually Miguelito is there because Carmen has German class. Today when I got there, Miguelito had just returned from a walk with Elias and decided we should play tag over and over and over. After a while I told him that I had to change my clothes for class and he didn't want to leave my room so since he is only 2.5 years old, I thought "no pasa nada" and decided it was okay to let him stay. Well, that might have been a mistake because when I was putting on my sports bra he said "Que haces? (What are you doing?)" and I said "putting on my sports bra" and he said "este no cabe (It's not big enough)". So basically he was commenting that I need a bigger sports bra because he thinks the one I have doesn't fit because it's not big enough! I busted out laughing and he just smiled. He is so darn cute but I think next time I will make him leave the room!

So while I really enjoy living in Madrid and experiencing the life in the city, I have decided that my heart is with my Spanish family and for the rest of the time that I will be in Spain before returning to the US for Xmas, I will be with them in Alcala. I'm so thankful for them and they had offered many times for me to return to live with them so when I asked them if it was okay Paquita said "Of course, you can move on Monday if you want" and so I explained that I will be in Madrid until November 5th because I have paid rent until then. I'm really excited about being with them again before I head back state side!

This past week my friend Katherine Solano was here visiting and what a week we had! There was a lot of walking, some cool things that we saw and did, and actually a lot of English, surprisingly. Kat got here on Saturday night, on Sunday we saw the Rastro and Reina Sofia, on Tuesday we went to Toledo, Kat saw the Palacio Real, we traveled to Alcala to meet my family on Thursday, Kat saw the Prado on Friday and then we had a picnic in Retiro Park, and on Saturday we did more shopping and FINALLY got to experience the Teleferico after 2 previous attempts. I'm so thankful that she came to visit and saw some of my life here in Spain as her very first trip with her brand spanking new passport! And she was very nice to take some of my summer clothes home for me since I have no idea how I'm going to get this all back into the two suitcases I came with.

Also this past week my Spanish brother Mickey was so nice to get me a chest protector because I was kicked by this kid in my TKD class and it HURT! Kat and I had gone to a store one day that Mickey found in Madrid but they just didn't have what I was looking for. But when we went to Alcala on Thursday he surprised me with a great one and I tried it in class on Friday and it worked great! Oh, and the best was when his wife Ana told us this story about a cartoon that they used to watch as kids, and it sounds like it was Japanese, where this character named Aphrodite used to shoot rockets out of her chest and Ana told me that now all I'm missing are the rockets. She is hilarious! She even demonstrated it for us for the full effect of how the rockets were in the cartoon.

I can't believe that it is less than two months until I come back to CO! And then I have to figure out what the heck to do with myself. I am certain of a road trip to Ohio being in my future to reunite with my (now much slimmer) doggie and also a quick flight over to NC to see My Girl. Other than that, not really sure. I miss you all very much! Take care and email me!!

Con amores y flores,

Estefania

Where I get to throw around Spanish men....

There is so much that has happened, where do I start? First, tomorrow my friend Kat from Colorado, USA arrives in Spain for a week full of fun in Spain! I'm very sad that due to things going on with her familia, Andrea and her son Anthony are not able to come. But that just means that we will have to plan another trip to Spain together and you all know that I am always looking for an excuse to come to Spain. Right now, any prayers for their family would be greatly appreciated.

On another note, I got some wonderful news from my best friend Mandy this week that was so good it brought me to tears. All of the worrying is over and it turns out that our prayers were answered. Edu and Carmen left to Peking, China a couple of days ago for a couple of weeks. Miguelito will be with Elias and Paquita after spending a few days with Edu's mom whose name is Blanca Nieves (Snow White) Brandin, I'm not kidding. My Spanish dad, Elias had surgery on his eye yesterday to fix a problem that he was having with his tear duct. Everything went well and I think he is not used to everyone worrying about him and all the attention that he is getting. He is too cute. This week I stayed in Alcala de Henares with my Spanish "brother" Mickey and his wife Ana. Mickey had invited me to go to one of his martial arts classes to see the type of stuff that he does. I don't remember how to spell it but it is a type of Kempo self defense technique. So on Wednesday, I went to TKD class and near the end of the class this new young boy kicked me VERY hard in my side right below my armpit. It HURT! So when Mickey picked me up, I was a little hesitant to participate in his class. The dojang was in the bottom of his instructor's house (VERY cool, I want one) and after a little encouragement I decided to join in. I'm so happy that I did! Pretty soon I had Mickey in various holds that allowed me to toss him around on the floor and against the wall. It is more self defense than my TKD class and I really enjoyed being able to throw around Spanish men for about an hour. You better believe that if that kid in my TKD class kicks me again like that I will have a few new moves to try on him. :) Also, I should mention that now Mickey has made it his mission to get me a chest protector and even looked up two places I can go to buy one in Madrid. I'm so thankful for my Spanish family!

Ashleigh, who I met during my week with Pueblo Ingles, is trying to convince me that I need to go to Thailand after the holidays. As tempting as that sounds, I'm not sure that I'm prepared to be THAT far away from my family. I mean, Spain is far enough already. It does get me thinking about what I will do with myself when I get back to the US. There are so many possibilities.

I hope this finds everyone doing well and warm in the cold weather you have been having in the US. Here, the weather is still really nice where we can get away with short sleeves during the day and a light sweater during the cooler mornings. :) Take care and talk to you soon!

Un beso y un abrazo a todos,

Stephanie

Photos: In Alcala with my Spanish sisters and nephews, photo of my doggie Reyna sent by my sister Elisa

Current address: Madrid, Spain

It's only my third day living in Madrid and I'm amazed at all that you experience in the city. So far, I've heard about every single language possible riding in the metro, I've seen a man that was really a woman.....and a woman that was really a man, I've been asked by SO many people for money from people playing music in the subway to a woman who made a speach to everyone on the metro about why she needed money to a guy with no arms holding a plastic cup in his mouth and shaking his head back and forth to make the coins inside make noise to get people's attention. I'm happy to be living in a place that is very centrally located and even better that I can live here month to month in case I decide to leave and I didn't have to put down a deposit. Another wonderful thing is that there is a woman from my week at Pueblo Ingles named Julie who also lives just down the hall from me and the woman running the place has a very good heart. As always, they do things a little differently here in Spain but overall I'm excited to be in the city. My wonderful Spanish mother has told me that I should bring my laundry to her house when I go to Alcala on M, W, F for TKD and she will wash my clothes for me. Not to mention that she said that on the weekends I am always welcome to go to her house to eat some of her wonderful food. This Sunday I'm going to her house to have lunch and also see a Renaissance Festival that will be in Alcala. I'm so incredibly blessed to have such amazing people around me here in Spain! Yesterday was my Spanish sister Yolanda's birthday as well as my new friend Ashleigh's birthday and I'm happy that I got to celebrate a little bit with both of them. Even if I only get to live in Madrid for a short time, I'm really excited about being here! I know one person who will be shocked to learn that I have become a coffee drinker (well at least sometimes) because when I don't get my nap in at siesta, I'm struggling through the rest of the day. One thing is very true that the Spanish people sure do know how to enjoy life. I hope everyone is doing well! Email me please! I miss you all very much, un beso y un abrazo muy fuerte!
Stephanie

Pueblo Ingles

I got back this past weekend from my week with a program called Pueblo Ingles which is a week long intensive English program for Spanish people looking to improve their English but can't travel overseas. At the end of the week, there were a few things that I came to realize:
1. My English is pretty darn bad compared to the very proper Brits that were there.
2. It is exhausting talking every day for about 14 hours, and I'm one who can TALK.
3. No matter what language, you can have a lot of fun with people when you are secluded in a tiny tiny town in the middle of Soria, Spain especially when there is NO cell coverage!

Here are some photos:
Javi doing his VERY funny presentation about how to take a shower in the showers that were so tiny and badly organized.
One of the many funny theater skits that we were pretty much gently forced to do. (I had to be Little Red Riding Hood)
Carmen and I - she spoke very good English
The area of Valdelavilla where we were, reminded me of Southern CO
One of the many delicious desserts - they were so good and a new one each day
One night our amazing chef made a HUGE paella
El vallejo - another abadoned Spanish village that we hiked to one day
The gals from many different countries
One night we had a "Quemada" which is where you burn alcohol in a special way and do a certain incantation to get rid of all of the bad spirits. After that, you drink the alchohol!

I made many wonderful friends during this week and although I wasn't paid to do this (but it didn't cost me a dime) I feel like it was worth it to experience something unique during my time here in Spain. Also, it was quite weird to be in the opposite situation where I'm the one helping others speak my language since most days in Spain, I'm trying to figure out what the heck I'm saying! All in all, a great experience!

Great visit, great company! Part 3 - More Madrid

The final days of Dahveed's visit were spent with him being very understanding that my injured foot needed some rest and going on a trip by himself to Toledo, as well as us spending his last day in Spain in Madrid. (Dahveed's trip to Toledo was plagued by ticket changes, multiple customer service windows, broken shoes, rain, and things he wanted to see being closed. Never the less, he came back from the trip with great things to say about Toledo which I can honestly say I probably couldn't have done myself had I experienced what he did.)

Neither of us had been to El Rastro before, which is Madrid's largest outdoor flea market that happens every Sunday morning and it's HUGE! It is also one of the most known places for pick-pockets in Madrid and Dahveed didn't even complain when I asked him like 50 times if he still had his wallet, iPod, and camera. :)

We found a restaurant to eat lunch at near the La Latina metro and thank you to Mama Zavala for the sponsorship of that lunch, it was a good one!

Later, we tried to go to the Reina Sofia museum but like many things in Spain on Sundays, it was closed. No pasa nada, we ended up relaxing in Retiro park and made it out of there just in time before the rain hit. I'm amazed at how quickly the weather changed here in Spain. One week it was hotter than you know what and two weeks later, it's raining and cold. Overall the visit of Dahveed's to Spain was really good, with many memorable moments, and many patient moments of Dahveed being understanding when I was a little slower than him due to my bum foot. I'm so happy that after talking SO much about how much I love Spain, and HOW wonderful my Spanish family is, he now knows for himself. And I got to experience some of the places in Spain that I hadn't previously been with him!

Great visit, Great company! Part 2 - Villanueva, Oviedo and Luarca

When we got back from our mini road trip, we went to Villanueva so that Dahveed could meet my Spanish parents, Elias and Paquita. It was a great time but I must say that after 3 days of seeing A LOT with Carmen and Edu, I was pretty tired. The intense card game that always happens was a little harder but Dahveed was able to catch on very quickly and did very well! Of course, my Spanish "aunt" More won. :)

On Wednesday we left to the northern part of Spain, first to Oviedo and then to the coastal town of Luarca. Oviedo is a pretty old town in the northern part of Spain and possibly where my Valdez family comes from! It was very cool to be there because another thing that is interesting is that the cathedral there holds the cloth that is thought to have covered Jesus' face in the tomb. It is such a wonderful town and bigger than I thought it would be.

On Thursday we went to Luarca which Dahveed had read great things about in terms of being able to experience the northern coast of Spain. I was very pleasantly surprised to find that Luarca is a small fishing town that has a lot of beauty and is very relaxed. We spent the day there before heading back to Oviedo and I am very happy to be able to have seen the ocean from a part of Spain that I had never been to previously!

Here is a video of a crazy Texan on the beach in Luarca!

Great visit, great company! Part 1 - Paracuellos, Madrid and Road Trip

It has been a little while since I last posted anything and the reason for that is that I've been having a great time with Dahveed doing all kinds of stuff while he was out here visiting. I think right about now he is boarding his plane back to good ol' CO, but I'm happy to report that he now understands my absolute love for Spain. And I know he found a place in his heart for Spain as well!

The visit started with Carmen, Miguel and I waiting at the airport for Dahveed and before he came out of the terminal Miguel was making me laugh by calling "Dahveeeeeeeed!!" to where his mom told him she thought that the whole airport heard him. When he got here, it was my few days taking care of Miguel during the mornings before his regular daycare started up again and I was happy that Dahveed got to see some of what my days have been like with Miguel. Also, he was very generous to bring over plenty of children's books, CDs, and DVDs that he and his mom and his aunt got for Miguelito per my request. Miguel was VERY excited about all the new stuff, needless to say.

One thing that I was also very happy about was that Dahveed got to come with me to my first day back at TKD after the month of August off since the gym closed for vacation. The class was tough but good and I'm really excited to get back into it.

Dahveed and I went to Madrid on Friday and saw many cool things such as the Prado museum, the Palacio Real, Plaza Espana, and Retiro Park. Then the first weekend that he was here, we went on a mini road trip with Carmen and Edu to see Segovia, Avila, Salamanca, and Zamora which are nearby towns. I didn't realize that when we got to Zamora, we were about 60 kilometers from Portugal! Here are some photos:

Some of my favorite moments were seeing an impromt mini concert of this live band near the bottom of the aqueducto in Segovia, running into a very cool Renaissance festival in Avila, trying different tapas in Salamanca, and definitely dinner in an old time bodega that was turned into a restaurant in Zamora. This blog takes FOREVER to upload photos so if you would like to see more, please check out my facebook page.