Just me

What I've learned about doctors....

2010-02-04T08:11:00.001-08:00

In the past, I feel like I've seen doctors in a very narrow sided view. When I go to the doctor and they are very clinical, asking questions and giving very formal answers, or sometimes causing frustration with very vague answers that present more questions, I don't really understand it. I remember going from doctor to doctor to doctor before a physical therapist was the one who finally told me what was wrong with my feet that was causing so much pain. It used to frustrate me and made me not want to go to the doctor....ever. As some of you might know, my sister is now finishing up her last year of residency and will soon be done with all the schooling that has been her life for so many years. Here are some things that I have learned about doctors that I would like to share:
1. The amount of studying that they have to do in medical school is HUGE and unbelievable! This means sacrificing trips to family reunions, dinners with friends, and free time that you and I might take for granted.2. After medical school, they have little control as to where they end up for residency. Most of us have the luxury of being able to decide where we are going to live for any three year period of time, but they pretty much have to go where they are told. Even if it is 20 hours away from where they would really like to be.3. They always have to perform a job that isn't their preferred job during residency. They have so many rotations in all kinds of different medical departments of a hospial or clinic even if that particular department is their least favorite. It would be like someone working in an office as a sales rep and the boss saying "for the next month you will be working in the mail room". Yet they accept rotations in the PICU and NICU and ER as part of becoming a doctor and perform the job to the best of their ability, and in my sister's case with little to no complaining at all.4. They have personal opinions and thoughts about the treatment of a patient that they must keep to themselves and are only able to express it when not directly in the situation. Whether it be how to treat a patient, when to treat a patient, or when to cease treatment of a patient, this is something that they most likely won't be able to say to the patient, or the patient's family.5. They complain about their job too, like so many of us do. Whether it be because they were called to a procedure an hour too early by the nursing staff and end up having to stand around waiting when charts and paperwork are piling up somewhere else for them, or when they have to hike up 3 flights of stairs the day that they wore dressy shoes to work to check on a parent of a patient that got "dizzy" and could have been helped by the staff giving them some juice, there are aspects of their job that they find frustrating.6. They make "medical jokes" that the rest of us don't understand. Probably because it something that we might not find funny, but because of their position and what they have to do as part of their job, they are able to see the humor of it. If you don't believe me, google "MTV Cribs NICU" and tell me if you think it is as funny as my doctor friends did. I'm sure that we just don't get it the same way that they do since we don't have to deal with that stuff every day, and it's not right to judge them for finding humor in something that we have little to no idea about.7. They have their own language and who knows when they will fall into speaking it to eachother. It is full of acronyms, and abbreviations, and words that make absolutely no sense to the rest of us. To me it sounds something like this "They checked his B.P.A levels with the P.E.T. and they were within episcium levels so they ordered H.P.A.s for him every other interval and will check his T.R.E in the morning." If you are lucky, you will come across one of them who can act like an interpreter and will say "So what that means is that we are keeping a close eye on the oxygen level in his blood using a special instrument and by the morning we will be able to know if we need to give him some medicine." 8. They take care of each other. Whether it be taking dinner or breakfast to another doctor when they are on call for 24 hours (which I can't IMAGINE working that long at one time) or making sure their pet is taken care of and fed, or holding another doctor and letting them just cry when they come home from a really really terrible day of work of seeing little children fighting for their lives, and ultimately losing the battle.9. They work LONG hours! The fact that they are required to work about 80 hours during residency (twice that of most of the rest of us) is crazy, but they VERY often stay longer than that. Maybe to finish paperwork, charting, or because there was an influx of emergency admissions that happened 5 minutes before they were supposed to get off of work, they probably put in at least 10-15 extra hours a week, if not more.10. They want an answer just as much as you do They say things like "I HATE it when I don't know what is going on with a patient!" They are trying to weed through thousands of different conditions and symptoms that may or may not be completely different for every person, and they want to see you get healthy too. The process of elimination is sometimes all they have and are doing their best to figure it out when you having a fever might mean a different sickness than me having a fever.11. They have fun! Whether it be playing a video game on their Wii, or playing cards, or teaching their new puppy tricks, or going out on a boat, they like to have fun just like the rest of us.12. They are the best people to have as family and friends. Even through all the demands placed on them by their jobs, they find time to comfort you, help you, encourage you, teach you, and be wonderful friends to you.
Maybe it is just me that was so naive about doctors and the reality of their lives, but I would like to say THANK YOU to all my doctor friends who have taught me so much and helped me to have a much better understanding of your world. :-)

Fun with Reyna's shoes!

2010-01-03T10:13:00.000-08:00

This is a link to a video of Reyna that is SOOOOOOOOOOOO funny! Danice bought some new shoes for her dog, Stella, when they go running and we decided to try them on Reyna to see what she would do. The result is in the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u86JyvwpLaY

:)

Reflecting on 2009.......

2010-01-03T09:50:00.000-08:00

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before? I went to New York City, I tried accupuncture, I have tried new recipes, amongst other things.
2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?  I honestly don't remember if I had a New Year's resolution for 2009
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?  Yes! My sister had her third child, Nathan Paul, and I was blessed to witness his first moments of life!
4. Did anyone close to you die?  Thankfully, no.
5. What countries did you visit? Spain and France. I was in Canada, Italy and Germany but only for a few hours in the airports so it doesn't really count.
6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009? Patience and a sense of direction, AND listening to my gut feelings more. 
7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? May 15th, when Nathan was born, July 10th when I arrived in Spain, a date in October when I got the BEST news from my best friend, and December 15th, when I left my beloved Spain.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Getting into the best shape I've been in since high school 
9. What was your biggest failure? Falling out of shape due to a leg injury
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? YES, I think I have achilis tendonitis due to running but haven't gotten it checked out.
11. What was the best thing you bought? Hmmm.......have to think about that
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Julia's strength through the birth, Mandy's graciousness at the end of some very tough battles, Andrea's resiliance though a hard situation, and my Mommy's constant love and support!
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Too many to detail 
14. Where did most of your money go? Traveling and living in Europe
15. What did you get really excited about? Meeting my nephew, my entire time in Europe, seeing my family and friends and doggie after coming back to the US
16. What song will always remind you of 2009? So many, Ray LaMontagne, Black Eyed Peas,
17. Compared to this time last year, are you: – happier or sadder? More like indifferent now– thinner or fatter? Fatter – richer or poorer? Richer
18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Research and preparation 
19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Ignoring my gut  
20. How did you spend Christmas?  Relaxed at home in the Valley with mi familia
21. Did you fall in love in 2009? Um, no
22. What was your favorite TV program?  I would have to say "Dona Barbara", a telanovela I would watch with my Spanish mother
23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? Don't think so
24. What was the best book you read? The Shack, The Twilight Series, and some mystery book in Spain that I forgot the name of
25. What was your greatest musical discovery? Ray LaMontagne thanks to Dahveed
26. What did you want and get? From what? I wanted to live in Spain again and I did it!
27. What did you want and not get? A job
28. What was your favorite film of this year? New Moon! 
29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 29, had a pretty good day thanks to those that were with me throughout the whole day
30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? A job for the 2nd half of the year
31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009? In the US - more chic and professional, in Spain - more relaxed and European
32. What kept you sane? Emails and conversations with my family and friends 
33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Hmmm.....not sure
34. What political issue stirred you the most? Healthcare reform
35. Who did you miss? Everyone 
36. Who was the best new person you met?  There are so many of them: Libby, Phillip, Rosie, pretty much everyone I met in Spain. Well, almost everyone.
37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009? That things don't always turn out the way you forsee them. And that I need to listen to my gut.
38. What are you most looking forward to in 2010? New adventures and hopefully finding the next direction of my life!

Paris!

2009-12-05T03:19:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-25T06:13:00.001-08:00

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.....

2009-11-13T09:50:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-10-25T12:14:00.000-07:00

**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....

2009-10-16T14:39:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-07T06:06:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-05T00:27:00.001-07:00

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

2009-09-18T15:37:00.001-07:00

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

2009-09-14T03:53:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-14T03:16:00.000-07:00

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.

Hotter than the sun in the south of Spain!

2009-08-25T01:21:00.000-07:00

First, I miss you all very much and really appreciate all the photos, emails with details about life back in the states, and texts! I can't believe August is almost over. It's amazing how time flies! It's still very hot here! It was like 90 degrees in Alcala the other day at 7PM in the evening. Kiki, even though you are in AZ I think I got you beat with the heat over here. :)

One thing is for sure that the Spanish people sure do know how to party! Edu and Carmen went to the wedding of a friend this weekend and the celebration lasted for 3 days. Not only were they invited to the lunches, dinners, parties, and everything else for the wedding....the accomodations for the entire weekend were included in the invitation. I don't want to see the final bill for the expenses of putting all of your guests up for a whole weekend! Anyways, because they were gone, the rest of us (Miguelito, Aena, y yo) went to Villanueva for the weekend to stay with my Spanish parents. As always, it was a wonderful weekend of swimming in the pool, great food, and playing with the kids.

Miguelito riding the bike like his older cousins. It is so cute because his legs can't really reach to make an entire circle with the petals so he just does half circles over and over and over in order to move forward. He almost has the ability to make a turn all by himself but really only goes in a straight line. And he needs help to get off so when he is tired of it he yells "Ania, quiero bajar!!" louder and louder until I go and get him off of the bike.

Miguelito playing with his animals to the left and to the right, Mickey (just back from Turkey) and Rasca with his new haircut. He looks like a different dog!!

Okay, so it is well known in the family that Sonia doesn't smile for ANYTHING! Carmen showed me her wedding album and Sonia didn't smile in any one of the photos. We had to do two takes to get her to smile and immediately after the flash, the smile faded and she went back to watching cartoons. It's so funny because she smiles a lot in real life!

My sister Elisa, the doctor should LOVE this story! One morning I slept in (more than usual) and so when I got up Paquita said that she thought that I had low blood pressure and that this was the reason for me sleeping more than normal. (Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE to sleep in) So she whipped out an automatic blood pressure machine and proceeded to put the thing around my arm and turn it on to take my blood pressure. After two attempts the machine said that I had a blood pressure of 108/65, but in Paquita's words "Diez seis (ten six)" and said that it was too low and I had to drink coffee the next morning with my breakfast. She said that I should have a blood pressure around "thirteen eight" and made sure that my Spanish sister, Yolanda, also was aware that I was supposed to drink coffee the next morning. Then, when everyone got back on Monday night and we were having dinner, they proceeded to argue over whether I had to drink coffee to elevate my blood pressure or whether drinking some soda would do the trick. I love them!

Mickey and Ana came over for dinner a couple of times since Mickey had been gone to Turkey for work for about a week and everyone wanted to hear about his trip. We were all teasing him that he looks pretty middle eastern with his beard and that with a turban, he should have fit right in! Anyways, Ana and I got to talking and she told me that it was traditional when she was a little kid (she is in her late 30s now) that they would take out little kids' tonsils WITHOUT anesthesia!! She said that there was this chair that they would strap them into, insert this device that would open their mouth and basically hold them down to take out the tonsils. I can't even imagine! Then later on, I made the mistake of getting into a political discussion with Mickey which was a bad idea since Mickey served in the Spanish military and is VERY passionate about politics in general. I think that I can say my spanish is getting better if I can have a political debate with someone in another language! But I'm sure that I will hesitate the next time Mickey wants to talk about American politics with me.

I'm really excited that I applied to participate in a program called Pueblo Ingles and I was accepted! This is an intensive language program for people who want to be immersed in the English language for a week at a time. The last week of September, I will be traveling with about 50 other people (half Spanish people, half English speakers) to Valdelavilla in the Soria region of Spain (a little northeast from Madrid) to spend the week talking English with the Spanish participants. This program is VERY expensive for the Spanish speakers that pay for it but absolutely free for the English speakers. That means that I won't have to pay for any of my accomodations including hotel, food, or transportation. I think it will be a great opportunity for me to experience helping the Spanish participants be immersed in English.

I'm so excited that my two visits from friends from the US are almost here! Dahveed is coming in a little over a week, and then the following month Kat, Andrea and Anthony are coming. It's going to be so good to see some familiar faces and have some fun seeing all of the sights in Madrid. I can't wait!

Take care everyone and I hope you are all doing well. I miss you guys!

Steph

Has it already been a month?!

2009-08-17T00:56:00.000-07:00

So I realized today that it has been over a month since I arrived in Spain! I can´t believe it, the past several weeks have flown by. This past weekend for the first time I felt a tad homesick. That and AT&T called to make sure that I was okay since my minute usage on my phone went from crazy to almost nothing and they were worried that I was thrown in the Pinta. :) I told them not to worry and at some point I would be back chatting on the phone non-stop again. I want to thank all of you that read my blog since sometimes I feel like I´m just blabbering to myself. My girl Mandy, Juls, Pinche, Dre, Meachie, my Imerica peeps, and all the rest of you that take a look now and then, I thank you! But don´t forget to tell me what is going on back home please favor (this is how Miguel says please now, he mixes English and Spanish, it´s SO cute!).

Two things happened this weekend, well maybe three. First, I learned that no matter how old you are a new Pixar movie is always a great idea! I went to see the movie ¨UP¨ in 3D and it was so cute. I was thankful that I wasn´t the only one in our group that got teary eyed, pretty sad I know but what can I say? I also learned that sometimes, no matter the situation, orange juice may be the absolutely only thing that a person wants in that moment. I had no idea that orange juice could be so powerful to some. :) And lastly, I was reminded this weekend of what an absolutely amazing Spanish family that I have here. Let´s just say that I was in a situation that made me a little uncomfortable and one quick phone call to my Spanish sister and her husband and everything was pretty much taken care of by them. My favorite was when my Spanish brother in law said ¨it´s just what you do for family, and you are family so we are going to take care of you¨. I´m truly blessed to have them here for me and I can´t even imagine what it´s like to move to a place where you don´t know anyone. Also, I have an upcoming visit from a particular Pinche Texan that I´m excited about and Edu and Carmen have offered so much help and hospitality regarding this, it´s amazing! It´s going to be a wonderful visit and I´m so happy to have him coming to see some of Spain with me. Oh, and one more thing. I heard that many of my CO friends got to enjoy Ozomatli this past weekend in CO. Ahhhh, I´m so jealous! I love my Ozomatli and they had been slackin on coming through CO. And then I go to Spain and they decide to come, Man! Can someone please tell ChaliTuna he needs to get everyone together and come to Spain?!? :)

I hope you all have a great week! Take care and miss you all!
Steph

Granada is always a good idea.....

2009-08-11T01:43:00.000-07:00

My trip to Granada was so great! It was wonderful to see my cousin, Tracie, and get to experience some of her life there. I went to Granada 6 years ago but this time was much less touristy and much more family fun time! Here are some photos:

Below the bus ride to Granada and the bohemian toaster that my cousin uses to make toast. :)

Above while waiting in the bus station there was a place to pay money to charge your phone, how clever! Below, Tracie and I after a three hour lunch of paella and calamari.

Above, a famous graphitti (sp?) artist in Granada named El niño de las pinturas, so amazing! Below overlooking the view of the cathedral.

These are some of the paintings of Tracie´s roommates. He has a very bohemian style and we had a great time trying to decide what they meaning of them is. The one on the left is the one that Tracie swears she is taking home with her and the one on the right is a work in progress and very big!

More later but wanted to put some photos up now. Take care, miss you all!
Steph

Little boys will be little boys....

2009-08-06T00:35:00.000-07:00

So first of all, yesterday was my best friend, Mandy´s birthday! Happy birthday my girl! We will do more celebrating when I make it to NC. :)

Warning: This post is rated PG-13!

This week has been a very good week with Miguel. I now have him saying Please regularly and he repeats a lot of what I say in English. I love when he is counting by himself, he now uses both English and Spanish numbers, like One Two Tres Cinco. It´s so cute. On Tuesday we were going to the summer house to go swimming and see my Spanish parents before they go on vacation again, and we were driving in the car. As usual, Miguel was just talking to himself as well as to Carmen and I, and all of a sudden he blurts out ¨Tengo paco grande!¨. Here the word that they use for a little boy´s private part is paco so basically he said ¨I have a big pee-pee!¨ Then Carmen said ¨No sweetheart, your pee-pee is still pretty small.¨ And Miguel kept saying over and over and louder and louder ¨Paco Grande, Paco Grandeeeeee!¨ It was SO incredibily funny I laughed so hard. So to distract him I told him to put on my sunglasses and he wanted to take a picture but at least it kept him from telling about what a big pee-pee he has!Later, we visited with the family for a while and then one of Carmen´s friends, Javi, came over and we all went swimming. One time after getting out of the pool, his mom was taking off his swimming Pull-Up and Miguel said ¨Paco duro?¨ which basically means ¨Pee-pee hard?¨ and everyone kept telling him ¨Yes, Miguel your pee-pee is hard¨ and I had to take deep breaths to keep from falling over in laughter! It was so so funny! I guess this is what I have to look forward to with my new nephew when he gets a few years older. Of course everyone had a great time eating and laughing back at the summer house and here are some pictures of Mickey and Ana playing with Miguel pretending to tackle him.Edu was very kind to get me some free passes to the gym that he goes to in Madrid and so I went this week with him and it turns out to be Gold´s gym. We ran into his friend Rocio who has a Canadian girl living with her for the summer to teach their kids English and suggested that I meet up with this girl. So yesterday I went back to the gym in the afternoon and afterwards met up with Leah. We walked around Madrid and when we stopped in a little cafe, this girl sat down next to us and I thought she was Spanish. After about 10 minutes listening to us talk in English the girl said ¨Do you guys work here in Madrid?¨ and turned out to be a girl from Minnesota who has been teaching English in Spain for the past 9 months. Her name is Molly and we talked for a while about her experience. She gave me some websites to look at and some great ideas for myself. She also gave me her email and I think she will be a great resource for me. It´s just kind of random how things happen like that. I think I now have the bus schedule down pretty good and the metro in Madrid is very easy.

I´m very excited for this weekend because I´m going to Granada tomorrow to visit my cousin Tracie who is living there! Should be a very great time.

I hope everyone is doing well and I miss you all very much! Thank you for all the emails, texts, prayers, and everything else. Elisa, thank you so very much, I owe you one!
Steph

Where there is a will, there is a way......

2009-08-03T00:48:00.001-07:00

This weekend Edu suggested that I come with him to this park near Madrid and bring my bike. At first, I wasn´t really excited about the idea but then I decided that I should take advantage of an offer to see something in Madrid that I haven´t seen. I was thankful that Edu went running with his friend and that left me alone to ride the bike, stop for pictures, water, etc. at my own pace over the next hour. Here are some photos I took and a map of the park:After a while, I saw this little train that I guessed took people around the park and so I threw my bike in the water and went and got on the train. Just kidding! I´m doing a little better with the bike but I have to say that I enjoy it even less than I enjoy running. And on my 2nd trip around the big circle, I saw this little 11 year old girl for the third time and she wasn´t even breaking a sweat!

Also this weekend Edu and Carmen had some friends over for a BBQ and just when we got the grill going and were comfy outside on the back patio, it started POURING! It hasn´t rained since I got here and all of the sudden it was coming down in buckets. But Edu was DETERMINED to keep the fire going and cook all the meat we had on the grill, and in the end we had great salchicha, carne, pollo and costillas. Here are some photos of how he did that and Miguel laughing at his crazy dad:I had so much fun playing with the kids Danny and Ruben, especially chasing them around the backyard. Carmen and Edu kept telling them to ¨give Ania (my nickname here) a rest¨ but then they would come up to me and ask me to chase them in Spanish which I think was ¨me pilles¨. It was so cute!We also went to the summer house for Sunday lunch with everyone and Paquita made paella again and it was SO good! Carmen and Edu´s dog, Aena, finally came up to me voluntarily and let me pet her and even started jumping around and barking like she wanted to play with me. This is progress since she is EXTREMELY shy and even though I take her out for a walk every day, she is hesitant about me. I was very happy to hear from my cousin Tracie who is currently in Granada studying at the Univerisity there until the end of August and I´m going to go see her this weekend! I can´t believe it´s already almost been a month since I´ve been here! How time flies. I´m so blessed to have such an amazing Spanish family and I´m really thankful!

It´s Friday!

2009-07-31T10:43:00.001-07:00

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...

2009-07-28T03:33:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-26T09:16:00.001-07:00

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!

2009-07-25T02:17:00.000-07:00

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......

2009-07-23T12:18:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-07-22T02:32:00.001-07:00

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!

2009-07-20T03:52:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-09T14:13:00.000-07:00

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

Rome - day 3

2008-10-17T12:22:00.000-07:00

Warning - there are a TON of photos in this post.

Today is my tour of the Vatican! I woke up early and had another wonderful breakfast at my hotel and made my way the 3 blocks or so to the meeting point for my tour. My wonderful travel agent at Cherry Creek Travel, Betsy, helped me book the tour before I left the states and I'm so excited! My tour guide ended up being a young British girl named Fran who has lived in Rome for less than 6 months. She was very nice and knew A LOT about the Vatican. First we started a open area outside the Vatican museum.

Next we headed inside to the HUGE Vatican museum and what I thought was really amazing was that they had so many pagan statues and art in the Vatican. The reason is because the Pope who decided to start the museum (I don't remember which one) was really interested in ancient history and put a lot of that art in the museum.

One thing that was really funny is that Fran told us there was this one Pope (again, no clue which one) and he thought that all the private parts on the statues was obscene so he ordered that they all be knocked off of the statues and put somewhere else. So in her British accent Fran said “So there is a place down the street where all of the private bits of the statues stay” and it made me chuckle.

Another thing, even the floor was art sometimes!

As we made our way through the Vatican, it was just amazing how many pieces of art there are and it got me thinking “What are the really cool pieces of art that only select people in the Vatican get to see?” There was the amazing hall of maps where people in the past were amazingly accurate in the maps that they made of different parts of the world and Europe.

After the museum, we made our way into the Sistine Chapel which was amazing! I really appreciated that Fran took us to a photo of the layout and explained some interesting things about the ceiling painting that Michael Angelo did. First, the Pope basically forced him to do it even though he didn’t want to. Second, he started in the middle and painted everything too small. After coming down and examining his work, he decided to paint everything very huge so that everyone could see it from the floor. Next, it took him 4 years (I think) to finish the ceiling and maybe that had something to do with the fact that Michael Angelo was primarily a sculpture. There were not photos or talking allowed in the Sistine Chapel and I found it very interesting why there were no photos allowed. After years of dirt and grime accumulating in the Chapel, the Vatican needed it to be professionally cleaned. A Japanese company was selected to clean it and instead of payment, they were given exclusive photography rights in the Chapel. The guards in there don’t mess around and will take your camera if they catch you trying to sneak a photo so since I had already had camera issues, I decided not to chance it. That’s pretty huge for those of you who know me, because I’m always pushing the envelope. It took the Japanese company 13 years to clean all of the paintings in the Sistine Chapel. Again, I just kept thinking “I can’t believe I’m actually here!” The Sistine Chapel is beautiful and really bright! That really surprised me. Another interesting tidbit thanks to Fran is that from painting standing up for so long and looking up, it caused Michael Angelo to go blind later on in life because it damaged his eyes. Also, he came back many years after painting the ceiling to paint the huge judgment scent at one end of the chapel and that took him 5 years to paint.

After leaving the Sistine Chapel, Fran left us and I was going to go up to the Cuppola but the line was so long that I decided to go into the St. Peter's Basilica which is the HUGE church in the Vatican. This is where I saw the famous statue of Mary holding Jesus' body after the crucifixion.

Fran did say that the reason why the statue is behind glass is because some crazy person came and hacked off one of Mary’s hand because he thought he was Jesus and was screaming “You’re not my mother”. Some people are loco!

Some other interesting parts of the Basilica was the huge wooden structure in the middle, I’m not sure what the name of it was. And the fact that a mass was being held inside that day but in one of the small chapels on the side of the church. I really wonder what a mass would be like at the altar in the middle of the Basilica. Also the Swedish guards in their colorful outfits were very interesting to me. The word is that Michael Angelo might have also designed their uniforms.

After seeing a lot of the Vatican, I decided to go get some lunch and then go to several souvenir shops to look for a specific necklace that my boyfriend had bought for me and his mom when he came to Rome. I couldn't find it and luckily for me, I called him when I went back to my hotel for a rest and he told me there was a post office next to the Vatican (because the Vatican is technically it's own country with it's own postal service) and inside the post office is another souvenir shop. I hustled over there right before they closed (which is good since it was Saturday and they wouldn't be open on Sunday) and found the necklace that I was looking for! His mom's was pretty beat up and I really wanted to get her another one. I was so excited that I had found it!!

I decided to head to the Pantheon that evening and to also see Piazza Navona which is a beautiful spot in the city with a lot of people, singing, music, art, etc. I was SO excited when I made it to the Pantheon like 3 minutes before it closed and was able to take a look around before the announcement came for everyone to leave.

I stuck around the outside of the Pantheon for a little while and then went to a quaint restaurant near Piazza Navona for dinner. The waiters around there were VERY aggressive in trying to get people to eat at their restaurants. I picked one kind of out of the way and it was quite funny that the two waiters were fighting with each other in Italian.

After that, I decided to head back to the hotel and rest up since I wanted to be first in line to see the Cupola at the Vatican the next morning! My tour book said that going first thing in the morning was the best thing to do so I figured to make it my mission before I got on a plane back to mi Espana. This was such a wonderful day in Rome and I’m so incredibly thankful to be blessed to have gotten to experience all of it!

Rome day 2 - 9/5/08

2008-09-25T10:11:00.000-07:00

Today I woke up early and ready to see Rome! Thankfully, the hotel that my parents helped me find had an AMAZING continental breakfast that included everything from pastries, to cereal, to fruit, to meats and cheeses, with juice, coffee, water and more. It was a great way to start the day! I decided to walk to the Colosseum from my hotel by following the river which was good because the river was lined with lots of trees that provided shade on a VERY hot day! I passed many beautiful bridges and buildings. I also passed what I thought must be the "old version" of the Smart car since it was SO tiny!

So in my trusty guidebook, it said to go to the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill first since the ticket is good for the Colosseum as well and the lines there can be awful. It's just amazing how much history there is all over Rome. The Roman Forum was where commerce, business, prostitution, cult and the administration of justice took place. (http://www.rome.info.com/)

After spending an hour walking to this area, and another 1.5 hours walking around the Roman Forum and Palantine Hill, I developed a pretty annoying blister on my little right pinkie toe. Since I'm not as much of a "Girl Scout" like my sister, Julia, who has EVERYTHING you could ever need in her purse, I had to fashion a tourniquet out of kleenex that Paquita gave me for "in case".

Then a nice person gave me a Hello Kitty bandaid so I was on my way to the Colosseum! I couldn't believe that I was actually at the place that I've seen in movies, and heard so much about! True to my book, the line for tickets was SO long and I was very happy to walk right past them and present my ticket to the lady. Then, I got in line to get an audioguide so that I could get all the historical information about this amazing place. The Roman Colosseum or Coliseum, originally known as the Flavian Amphitheatre, was commisioned in AD 72 by Emperor Vespasian. It was completed by his son, Titus, in 80, with later improvements by Domitian. (http://www.rome.info.com/) Something that I thought was interesting was that the Colosseum was in ruins for a long time and many people took parts of the structure to use as building materials for houses and other buildings around Rome. Later, it was decided to treat it as a historical structure and maintain it.
By the time I was done with the Colosseum, I was so tired, thirsty, and hot since it was just about 2PM. I found a nice restaurant near the Colosseum per my trusty guidebook and was very pleased that it had air conditioning. Wearing a black shirt and being outside so much wasn't really working to my advantage! I sat down and ordered my first Italian meal, a caprese salad and magherita pizza. It was very delicious and I had a nice relaxing lunch while also writing in my journal.

After lunch, I decided to hop on the metro, which was also air conditioned, and go to the Piazza de Espagna. I found the history of it interesting especially since it had some very English style tea rooms next to it. The fountain was very beautiful and had people all around it. The funniest thing were these two Roman police men on horses who were getting a little annoyed at all the tourists asking to pose with the horses!

After spending some time there, I decided it was time to go back to my hotel for a short rest before dinner and going to see the Trevi Fountain in the evening so that I could see it all lit up. I couldn't resist stopping by a Gelateria on my way back to get my very first taste of Italian ice cream (gelato) and it was so delicious!

After resting for a little while at my hotel, and watching MTV in Italian, I found the Trevi Fountain which is absolutely gorgeous! I went when it was still light outside so that I could see it both during daylight as well as when the lights are illuminated. There were lots of people around and so there was so much energy! The tradition of the Trevi fountain is that you are supposed to throw two coins into the fountain over your shoulder, while facing away from the fountain. One is supposed to be so that you come back to Italy, and the other is for a wish. I actually forgot to wish when I threw the 2nd coin, so I had to throw 3. It is just so beautiful!

All in all, it was an amazing first full day in Rome and I just can't believe that I'm really here! Tomorrow, I have a tour of the Vatican set up and based on the fact that my parent spent about 7 days at the Vatican, I'm thinking there will be much to see!

Rome Day 1 - 9/4/08

2008-09-23T15:04:00.000-07:00

Today I traveled to Rome! This is a picture of the ceiling in the Madrid aiport, which I thought was interesting.

And here is a picture of the train station when I arrived in Rome and had to take a train to the center of town.

I then took the metro to the stop that I needed and after stopping in a cafe and being helped by some nice Italians, I found my hotel. It is a very cute hotel and I was very pleased with my room. here are some photos.

The most entertaining thing in my room is the MTV in Italian and the air conditioning unit control which I took a picture of, como no?

After a quick call to my mom and my fella to let them know I made it safe and sound, now I'm off to bed now because I have a lot to see in Rome during my short time here! I can't wait to get started!

Spain day 7 - 9/3/08

2008-09-15T12:39:00.000-07:00

Today is my last full day in Spain. This morning I got up early and took Arcoiris to the school where she will be attending classes. This is the same school that I went to and it is part of the Universidad de Alcala. The building is a very old buidling that was once a monastary back in the 14th century and going back there brought back so many memories of my time as a student there which was amazing!

Then, Paquita's sister Morre ran into me on the street and invited me for a "bite" at a cafe with her friend. I went with them and had a orange juice, which is REAL orange juice sqweezed from oranges. After that I went to an internet cafe to email my mom and my fella, before going shopping for some gifts. Then I got home in time for lunch with Yolanda, Sergio and Sonia. I was so excited to see them again and gave them some little gifts that I had brought for them.

After that MariMar and Luis showed up, (the eldest daughter and her husband) and we all went for a walk around town. One this we did was get Sergio some card for his PSP that will allow him to save his games, or something like that.

I won't get to see Sergio or Sonia again before I leave but it was so nice to spend some time with them.

Tomorrow, I go to Rome Italy! I can hardly wait!

Spain day 6 - 9/2/08

2008-09-15T12:28:00.000-07:00

Today was so great! Per Paquita's recommendation, Elias and I went to look at the cathedral that has since been rennovated here in town. They were working on it for many years and I hadn't seen it completed. It is so beautiful and walking around town makes me think of when I lived here. Then, we went to the monastary where the nuns make the best candy covered almonds ever! Once again, per Paquita's instruction, Elias bought one box for me and one for my parents. Then, I proceeded to buy several boxes of different sizes to bring home for regalos. They are so delicious and the nuns make them to raise money in order to live. I also learned that some nuns have laundry services or other services in order to raise money.

When we got home, there was a taxi in front of the house with the new American girl that will be living with Paquita and Elias this year. Her name is Arcoiris (Rainbow) and my spanish parents were wondering if she would be a hippy or not with such a name. Turns out, her dad was a hippy but she is not. She is a cute, blond, skinny girl from Tucson, AZ who reminds me of myself when I first got to Spain. Wide-eyed and a little confused!

Paquita was making tortilla espanola in the kitchen and it is one of my favorite things from Spain in terms of food. For those who don't know, it's sort of like a potato omlet, but so much better! Here is a picture of the perfect ones that Paquita made and mine NEVER come out like this:

When I told Paquita that mine sometimes get stuck to the pan when I'm flipping them, she said "Well, you need a really good pan to make tortilla espanola in" and then about 10 minutes later showed up at the door of my room holding a brand new frying pan! She said "You have to take this home with you and ONLY make tortilla espanola in it" and I replied "No, it's too much and you have already given me so much!" and she said "You are taking this home with you and you will only make tortilla espanola with it, this is a gift from us for you." They are just TOO cute!

Spain day 5 - 9/1/08

2008-09-15T12:12:00.000-07:00

Today I ventured into town to buy some postcards to send to my sisters, my parents, and my fella back in the States. I also called to Italy to make sure that everything was ready to go with my reservation at the hotel that my parents recommended and helped me with called Hotel Columbus. Thank you Mommy and Daddy! On the way back home I stopped at my favorite jewelry store and was reminded once again when the clerk rang it all up that the Euro is stronger than the dollar. Oh well, it's my favorite store and they always have such cute stuff! After another wonderful lunch, I went with Paquita and Elias to look for some shoes for Paquita to wear to a wedding this weekend. For those of you who are questioning whether universal healthcare is the right answer for the US, here's a personal experience for you to ponder. Paquita had some painful issues with her left foot and needed surgery. Since Spain has a socialized healthcare program, she did not have to pay for the surgery when she went in. But she did have to wait about 6 months to have the surgery which meant that she was in pain almost every day for 6 months. Now, she still has issues and needed some more comfortable shoes to go with the dress she was going to wear to the wedding, which is why we went looking for some. After looking at many stores, we didn't find anything that would really work. Luckily, they have a friend that owns a shoe store who is going to keep an eye out for some comfortable shoes.

On another note, my fella is home from his trip to Mexico and on his way to pick up our doggies from my parent's house in the San Luis Valley and I'm praying that it's a safe trip for all three of them! Thanks Mom and Dad, again, for taking such great care of them!

Spain.....day 4 - 8/31/08

2008-09-14T16:29:00.000-07:00

Today I slept in late and then went with Paquita and Elias to church. This was something that was a tradition when I lived in Spain 5 years ago so it was so special that they made it a point to continue the tradition of going to church together and then going to a bar called Indalo for a tapa y mosto afterwards. I hope I'm spelling that right but a mosto is basically wine before it is fermented, so pretty much grape juice. But it was something that my Spanish parents and I did every Sunday that I was in Spain. The mass in Spain is much different from the mass that I'm used to as there is almost no music and it only lasts about 30 minutes since the priest is the one that reads the 1st, 2nd, and Gospel reading almost without any breaks. What was cool was it was the exact same priest as when I lived here! For lunch we went over to Mickey and Anna's house because Mickey wanted to make me a lunch of Macaroni's "in honor of Ania (my nickname)coming back to Spain". They are so cute and said that this was the first time that they had so many people over to their house for lunch since Yolanda brought Sonia y Sergio too. This was the first time I have seen Sergio in 3 years and for those of you who don't know, he was the kid that I bonded with when I lived here. Since he is 8 years old now, he was more interested in playing with the computer than talking to me but he is still a very cute kid. I spent some time bonding with his little sister, Sonia who wanted to put makeup on my face.

Then I went with Mickey and Anna to see Hellboy 2 in Spanish which was pretty interesting! Yolanda and her boyfriend went with the kids to see the animated Clone Wars movie. Then, Mickey and Anna took me back to the center of town where they were having a parade to celebrate the end of "Las Ferias". What struck me is that for a small city such as Alcala de Henares, they still put so much work into the floats, costumes, etc.

After that we came home to watch the tennis player Rafael Nadal play in the US Open. Here in Spain he is a big time celebrity and they are very enthusiastic about his accomplishments. It was a really great day!

Spain....day 3

2008-09-13T18:27:00.000-07:00

Today I went with Paquita y Elias to a tournament with all of their friends for a game called "Bolos Leones". This is a game that is sort of like outside bowling with half of a ball and instead of just knocking down the pins, you also need to roll the ball around the pins.
It's quite a complicated game and even more complicated to score. After watching the men play the game, it was the ladies turn. Paquita added my name to the list of players and we started the game!

After we played the game, it turns out that I tied for 2nd place with a woman named Anna and we needed to have a tie breaker in order to find out who got 2nd and who got 3rd place. So we played a tie breaker round and.........we tied again!! So we needed to have another tie breaker round and.....she won and I lost so I ended up with 3rd place in the tournament! After that, we had a awards ceremony where they presented me with a special trophey so that I wouldn't go home empty handed since they really only had trophies for 1st and 2nd place. It was so special and cute!

Luis, the husband of Paquita and Elias' eldest daughter, just sent me this newspaper clipping that includes me! I can't believe it and was so happy when I saw that they included a little blurb about me!

Spain....day 2

2008-09-09T17:45:00.000-07:00

This morning Yolanda showed up and took me go to a centro commercial to look for some regalos (gifts) and who showed up but Mickey y Ana! They came to have a coca cola with Yolanda and I. Yolanda is the middle daughter of Paquita y Elias and she has been friends with Mickey y Ana for some time. I met them when I lived in Spain 5 years ago (it's been that long?) and they are such nice people! Mickey (Miguel) is loud and funny while Ana is more quiet but equally as funny when she gets to know you and will speak up. I found some cool stuff for family and friends, I love the shops in Spain such as Zara and H&M!

After lunch which was great and la siesta, we headed over to Carmen's house to visit and so I could meet her son, Miguelito. Carmen is Paquita y Elias' youngest daughter and Miguelito is almost 2 years old and VERY cute. It took a few minutes for him to warm up to me, but after we bonded over a truck I brought for him we played for a while.

Carmen and her husband, Eduardo, have a house that is very beautiful and her son was just so cute!

Later on that night, we went to "Las Ferias" again and this time we had something called "Patata Asada" that is very typical of the carnivals in Spain and it is a baked potato with lots of stuff on it such as cheese, ketchup, mayonnaise, ham, corn and carrots and it was so good!

Spain....getting there and day 1

2008-09-09T17:06:00.000-07:00

So I'm off to my adventure in Europe! After getting to the airport and in line to check-in I realized I forgot my camera in my car. Luckily I found a pretty reasonably priced camera during my layover in Philly which allowed me to take this picture of the beautiful sunset while in the plane on the way to Spain.

Mis padres Espanoles (Paquita y Elias) were at the airport to pick me up and helped me to get settled and then we were off to "Las Ferias" that is a carnival held to celebrate the patron Saint of Alcala de Henares where they live. It was a lot like the carnivals that we have in the states with food, overpriced games for the kids, and rides. The big difference is that they also have centers, like the one that my spanish parents belong to, that sponsor these big tents and everyone from the center comes and hangs out together. It is all very social and really cool! We had very typical tapas from Spain such as different types of ham and sausage, cheese, olives, papas fritas, and fresh bread. It was really good and then we ended up going to a Churreria/Chocolateria to have chocolate con churros which is one of my favorite things in Spain!

All in all, it was a wonderful 1st night in Spain!