It´s Friday!

Hello! First, here are some photos of the town of where I´m now living named Paracuellos de Jarama. In the first picture, you can barely make out the four tall towers in Madrid. The town is very close to the airport and pretty close to Madrid.

Next here are some random things about my last week:

1. The IKEA experience: Here going to IKEA is a whole experience in its self. Mostly the stores here in Europe are smaller and quaint with the larger stores being dedicated to things like furniture, etc. I went to IKEA with Edu and Carmen and it was huge with many levels and a cafeteria and daycare on the top floor! Carmen said that here everything at IKEA is very cheap and that´s why everyone goes there. This is different for me since I always had the impression that IKEA is more expensive in the states. No wonder everyone´s house here has very cute and modern furniture!

2. I LOVE it how in the mornings and after his nap when I walk by his room, Miguel calls out ¨Hola?¨ as if to say ¨Anyone out there?¨ Yesterday I started caring for him during the morning and I already have him counting to 5 in English, it´s so cute. The other thing that surprises me is that when Carmen leaves to work, he does throw a fit or cry, which is GOOD!

3. Spanairds are very funny! Last night we went to the summer house in Villanueva for dinner to see my Spanish parents since they returned from the beach for vacation. There was a total of 14 people there and everyone was teasing Carmen that I must be dying of starvation at her house. Paquita told me to take some left overs with me so that I don´t die of hunger and Elias told her that she better not mistreat me since I´m the youngest of his daughters and they have to take care of me. She didn´t like this teasing very much but I thought it was hilarious. Especially since she has gone WAY out of her way to make me feel comfortable in her home!

4. TKD is similar no matter where you go! On Wednesday, I went to the TKD gym in Alcala to try a class and Carmen was very sweet to drive me. I got there and felt a little nervous but everyone was really nice and respectful of me, also very encouraging. The class was HARD and I was covered in sweat when I left. Unlike my class in CO, this class was made up of mostly men (there was only one other woman) and they were very nice, but kept telling me to hit them harder! When the class was over everyone came up to introduce themselves and tell me how good I did. The gym will now close for the month of August and start again in September. Edu went out of his way to get me 9 free passes to his gym in Madrid and Carmen went out of her way to get me the bus and metro schedule so that I can get there during the month of August. This next week, I´m going to meet Edu in Madrid so that he can take me to the gym and show me around. I´m totally spoiled with my Spanish familia!

More later, now I am off to eat dinner! This is a time that Carmen and Edu have set aside to speak English with me every day and they are both very good! Take care and I hope everyone is doing well!

Con amores y flores,
Steph

It´s funny how life has a way of making you excersize...

First of all, I´m in my new home! I came to Carmen and Edu´s house last night and got all settled in. I will be staying with them for at least the next month in Paracuellos de Jamara, which is a small town between Alcala de Henares and Madrid. I´m actually pretty close to the airport. They are very sweet and did a great job of making me feel at home by showing me where everything is to telling me several times that if I couldn´t find something, that I should go looking for it. I feel comfortable here and I´m looking forward to the next month to see what life brings me. During the month of August, Carmen has asked that I take care of Miguelito during the mornings since his usual daycare is closed (like most of the country) for the whole month. I gladly accepted and am excited (and a little nervous) about being with a toddler every day. It will give me a small taste of what you do every day all day, Mandy! Well, a couple of days ago I felt some pain above my heel when I was running and asked my Uncle Paul about it as well as Edu, who are both marathon runners. They both said the same thing that it sounds like I have something along the lines of Achilles Tendonitis and that I have to lay off of running for a while. Edu even said for two whole months! I´ve gotten used to running as a part of my day and a way that I excuse myself for eating all the delicious foods I can find. I´m bummed and I don´t even like running! But what was so cute was that Edu worked with me to find other alternatives to running for the next two months. They have graciously allowed me to use Carmen´s bike, even gave me a helmet (which my sister Elisa should LOVE) and a cyclist backpack to use to get some excersize here in Paracuellos. Edu has also offered to help me find a gym here in town or in a nearby town that might have a pool that I can use often as well as weights. So here I go in my bike getup (sorry NO photos of me with the helmet and backpack!) this morning to try it out. Carmen had taken me for a short walk last night to show me more or less how the town is laid out and also gave me a map in case I got lost. I felt confident and eventually found the bike trail that is basically a blue sidewalk especially for bikes. Paracuellos is VERY hilly and it was quite a good work out. When I was on my way back, I headed home and realized that I was lost. Here they call the houses ¨mushroom rows¨because they all look the same and it´s hard to tell them apart. I quickly realized that their street signs are not laid out like the ones in the states, where the sign is the same alignment as the street. Here, the signs go the opposite direction as the street to tell you what street you are entering. Then I realized that I had the number of the house wrong! I thought it was 70 but it turns out that their house is number 60. (Don´t take the address off of anything that I have sent to the states!) I finally found my house and got quite a good workout in the process! :)

Movie night in Spain

Last night Mickey and Ana picked us up and we all went to Villanueva (to my Spanish parent's summer house) to have a BBQ and movie night. Here are some of the photos:

1. The movie screen that they put up so that we could watch Mama Mia with a projector outsdie together.

2. Mikey and Ana dancing to the music of Mama Mia before the movie while MariMar organizes her AVON order.

3. Katie (the other American girl who is staying with More) and I after swimming in the pool

They are sooooooooo cute here and I appreciate so much that they included us in this movie night! More later! :)

sooooooooooooo funny!

Okay, this was just too good to keep to myself! So today Katie (the other American girl who is currently living with More) and I went to a churreria to get churros so that Katie could try one of my favorite Spanish things, chocolate con churros before she leaves on Wednesday of next week. Mickey and Ana (married and good friends of the family) came to have breakfast with us and are always a lot of fun. I had injured my ankle the other day running so I was kind of limping around and Mickey asked me if I wanted him to make a bandage for my foot. More being helpful said that she didn't have anything to use as a bandage but that if we wanted, we could use a pair of her underwear. (kidding of course) So then Mickey and Ana started saying that her underwear would be more than enough since they are so huge. (She's a bigger woman) And More has a great sense of humor so she said "Well I have to have underwear that covers my whole stomach or I get cold!" So then Ana told her "More, you really should try to wear a thong, you might like it!" (Mind you More is about 60 years old) and More said "What are you thinking, I can't do that! Then my whole butt would be out in the air and I would be freezing!" It was very funny in Spanish since the word that they use for butt here is a word that in other parts of the word is used as a bad word. It was so funny and I laughed so hard that More asked me if I was going to pee myself from laughing so hard. And then Ana started to tell us that her husband Mickey wears Leopard printed thong underwear (a joke of course) which caused Mickey to get embarassed and very quiet and this is something that in the 5 years that I've known Mickey, I've never seen. He is very outspoken and always making jokes and very loud so to see him get embarassed was kind of a treat. :) It was a very funny moment here with my family!

Some things are the same no matter what country you are in......

I think I might have found my new TaeKwonDo home! I had been telling my Spanish family that I wanted to try to find a TaeKwonDo gym here in Spain so that I could continue my training. After talking to the family friend, Mickey and his wife, Ana, she said that she would ask her accupuncturist since he used to teach classes. She talked to him and the other day and gave me the name and address of a gym here in Alcala. I went yesterday because they told me I could try a class with them but when I arrived I asked if it was okay to just watch for one class instead of jumping in to try it right away. My reasoning for this was at my school in CO, some of the teachers were a little more strong in their teaching styles and I wanted to see if this teacher was like this or more like my previous instructor, Edwin, who had LOTS of patience with me and with the entire class. It was really nice of the wife of the teacher (since they run this gym together) to stay and talk with me asking me questions and telling me that she thought my Spanish was very good when I apologized for not knowing all of the words. Also, what surprised me was that so much of the class was very similar to my previous class! From the warm-up, to the forms, to the kicking drills. There were two things that worried me. First, the class was mainly made up of men. There was only one other girl and I realize how spoiled I was in the states to have many other women in my classes, especially my partner in crime, Evylyn. Second, the instructor talks VERY fast in both the Korean instructions and in the Spanish descriptions. The thing that I did appreciate was that he came over to me and asked me how I felt and I said that I would try a class next week before they take the whole month of August off for summer break. Then regular classes start in September. I don't know what I was thinking but I left my book and belt in the summer house in Villanueva so I have to figure out if I can get back there to get it before next week. None the less, I'm happy that I possible found a new (but temporary) TKD home. :)

That´s life!

First, it was my God-daughter´s birthday yesterday, Happy birthday Sonya! She made me cry because when I called to wish her happy birthday she asked me again, ¨You come to my birthday Titi?¨ oh and how that broke my heart in half!! She is growing up so fast and it makes me wish I could be in two places at once.

So I just had a life lesson right now that shows me that sometimes life just takes a different turn than you expect. This week I´m staying with Paquita´s sister More while they are on vacation. She doesn´t have internet access at her house except for the hour in the early evening when we are able to ¨borrow¨ the wireless signal from across the street. Last night I had wanted to do some emailing and wasn´t able to because Mickey and Ana (the ¨adopted son¨ of my Spanish family and his wife) took me for a drink before dinner and to check out this gym that has TaeKwonDo to see if it is a place that I can continue my training. After dinner the American girl that is living with More right now invited me to go out with some of her friends to a couple of bars here in town and I said yes. Apart from feeling a little bit *cough* older in the group since they were all around 19-20 years old, it was a good time and we met up with some of the Spanish friends that they have made while they are here. It so reminds me of when I was studying here 6 years ago! We didn´t get home until about 2AM so needless to say I never got to get to my email. So today I was excited to come to Paquita and Elias´ house to water the plants, get my TKD uniform to wear tonight when I am going to try out a class at that gym, and check my email. And THEN, I logon and Yahoo is DOWN! Que lastima! I´m really learning a lot of patience in being a little disconnected from my family and friends, as well as how much I rely on the internet in my life.

The rest of this week should be pretty relaxed for me and then on Monday of next week I´m going to Carmen´s house to live with her, her husband Edu, and their 2 year old son Miguel. I´m looking forward to it as I will be helping take care of Miguel in the mornings and working with him in English. I miss you guys! Please forgive me if I don´t email right away since Yahoo is having a spaz attack right now. Besitos desde Espana!

Back to civilization!

It´s now been about a week and a half since I´ve been here and I´m slowly coming back to civilization! I´ve been staying with my Spanish parents at their summer house in Villanueva which is a small town about 30-40 minutes East of Alcala de Henares. It´s like I got lost in the movie Under the Tuscan Sun! Their summer house is so precious and my day has been consisting of sleeping in, going for my run, going to the pool with my Spanish niece (Sonia) and my Spanish nephew (Sergio), coming back to eat lunch, taking a nap, going back to the pool, coming home to shower and eat dinner and relax with my family, and then go out or play cards at the house until about midnight and then go to bed. It´s so very relaxed and the food is very good. Here are some pictures:

This thing takes FOREVER to upload photos so I´m putting the rest of the ones that I have with me on Facebook. I have more but forgot to put them on my computer so when I transfer them, I´ll add them to Facebook.

Here are some of the things that I forgot about Spain that I think might be interesting to show what it´s like here:

1. They call everyone ¨guapa¨or ¨maja¨ which means gorgeous or pretty. I think it´s so cute when someone greets me by saying ¨Hola maja¨ as they say to everyone.
2. When it´s just family, they often go to the bathroom with the door open. I don´t know whether to be freaked out by this or take it as a compliment that they see me as part of the family.
3. Here we eat every meal with fresh bread and I love it! It´s so funny when my Spanish mom gets all worried and tells my Spanish dad to hurry up and go for the bread before we eat lunch. 4. Here they drive SO crazy! I was asked by my Spanish brother in law if I had a license to drive and I told him that I do, but that I don´t think that I want to. They park in every place that they can, drive very close to other people, stop in the middle of the street, and honk and yell the whole time to those who are driving too slow or badly.
5. When it is time for the siesta after lunch (around 3PM), they tell the kids to play outside quietly because other people are sleeping and don´t need loud noise. I love that they are so considerate.
6. They complain that it is SO hot here but make us all change out of our wet bathing suits to different and dry bathing suits so that we don´t get sick from being cold. Also, when I lay on the grass to do my sit-ups after running each morning, they about throw a fit saying that the grass is too cold and I should put a towel or blanket down. :)

I´ve gone with my Spanish parents to two concerts where my Spanish dad sang with his group (or band) and I loved it so much! They are very traditional here still to this day and they sing some of the older traditional songs of the country. It was so cool to experience that and I also love that the older generation here are still so active and involved. I will upload photos of that as soon as I get them out of my camera.

I miss you all very much! Please email or text me as I really enjoy getting things from back home.
Love always,
Steph

Viaje

It's been quite a while since I blogged but no better time to start again than during a 5 hour layover in Canada! :) I just finished the first leg of my long trip to Spain after what was one busy and crazy week of packing, goodbyes, and lots of love from my family and friends. I have to admit that I'm a bit of a procrastinater and earlier in the week would rather watch Days of Our Lives with Marita than pack. And I haven't watched that show in ages! Between that and all of the lunches, dinners, and happy hours with my family and friends, I was pushing it to the wire with the packing that I needed to get done. One thing that these past two weeks have really shown me is that I have so many people in my life that truly care about me and that I'm so blessed to have in my life. Thank you to every single one of you for the words of encouragement, the time to listen to me when I got overwhelmed with all of the feelings of goodbye, helping me with various aspects of my life that need "babysitting" while I'm gone (like my doggie), and excitement about my upcoming adventure! I'm so incredibly fortunate and blessed.

Yesterday was probably the craziest day since it was the last day that I had to get anything done. Between running to the tech center, downtown, Brighton, back home, and downtown again, I was able to fit it all in. Then I stayed up until about 2AM packing my suitcases and re-packing them when everything wouldn't fit, as well as packing up my car for when my mom takes it to the Valley. The excitement and stress made it difficult to sleep and so when I was up at 5AM doing more of the same, I think Aaron was a little confused as to why I beat him up when he usually leaves for work before any of us even think about waking up. We made it on the road to the airport only 10 minutes late, which was okay because I had targeted to leave 15 minutes early since "Valdez Time" will get you every time! (A little trick I learned from my ever always prepared sister, Julia) We made it to the airport with plenty of time for me to go through the special security screening that I got "randomly chosen" for. The lady was half way through her "extra security screening" and in the process knowing my body better than I do before her supervisor told ther that I only needed the "regular patdown" instead of whatever it was that she was doing. It made me feel like I needed a shower! But not nearly as bad as when we had to go through security to get into a club in Puerto Rico several years ago!!

The flight was good and even better due to a package that I was instructed by my sister Julia to not open until on the plane and in the air. To my surprise, there was a small photo album of me and my family from past and present! I immediately started crying and I'm not sure what scared the man next to me more, me crying or the photo of my two sisters and I as children in a bathtub together in the photo album!! Haha! It was awesome. With the album was a card with encouraging words from everyone including my long lost sister Elisa who is currently M.I.A. in Ohio, and a tabloid magazine to "distract me" on the plane (which is one of my favorite guilty pleasures). I didn't sleep so now I feel like a zombie but I'm telling myself this will help me sleep on the plane to Madrid and adjust to their time better. After arriving in Toronto, a nice Canadian customs agent gave me the option of going to the "public area" before going to the international terminal in case I needed to smoke. :) My friend Meachie thinks I will come back from Europe a smoker so this made me chuckle. I got a terrible chicken sandwich from someplace called Coyote Jacks. I don't know what time it is here and I better find out but seeing as how I have several hours before my flight, I figure I'm okay. I was happy to find free WiFi, it's amazing how connected the world is!

I'm so excited about the possibilities that my trip to Spain brings! Even if it is just the possibility to live in Spain again for a while and have friends and family come visit. My cousin Tracie is already in Spain for July and August in Granada, and then I have a friend coming to visit in September and another in October. And, the possibility of my aunt and uncle (and hopefuly their two kids) coming for Thanksgiving in November. I don't think that it has hit me yet that it's finally here after waiting so long. Maybe once I get some sleep, I can wrap my head around it. Looking forward to what's next-
Steph