New Game Plan

I've decided to become a stay-at-home wife. It's true, this whole concept of "childless women leaving work force to manage household" is not an urban myth restricted to the Upper East Side Manhattan social-elite. I too desire to join the ranks of prime-time-pumped, Martha-menaced, semi-detriment-to-society livelihood. Why, I ask you, do I labor day in and day out babysitting a crowd of teens who, for all intensive purposes, disregard reason and manner without reproach? It's like casting pearls before swine when I could be... well, blogging. Throw in a little geneology, some scrapbooking, a few homecooked meals, a clean toilet, and perhaps my stint away from the private sector and public workforce could be justified. So I say to married-almost-30-somethings everywhere: "Do we really need a kid to have an excuse to stay home?" -and- Is this desire for the warp-speed of time that dissipates into black holes and microchasms of unnoticed, under-appreciated productivity to be replace with slow mornings and walks in the park so wrong? I mean, retirement age is subjective... right?

DECEMBER 2007 (back tracking)

2007 went out with a bang and we are now official grown-ups. A mortgage (oops, my mistake) two mortgages, no more internships or school (for now), and a long long push to tomorrow (aka: our hopes and dreams for real lives, the picket fence, kids...). In December, my students were able to compile enough items to send Christmas packages to 700 troops. As a reward, I promised to have Miss Utah come and speak to them. I delivered! She has a very busy schedule because she is one of the most popular Miss Utah's ever, but she came to SCMS and gave my students an exclusive interview right before Miss America. She talked about her service in Afghanistan as a combat medic and told us about the Middle East. My 9th graders has just finished an entire Middle Eastern unit I designed, so her comments were quite relevant. She may not have won Miss America, but she definitely earned that popular vote, at least with my students. They were even nice to me for while... at least until the beginning of 3rd quarter when I invented a huge lie and convinced all of my students to believe in false propaganda. We're learning about the art of persuasion and how it allows evil, horrible men to take over nations. Since I lied to them pretty bad (of course they all fell for it) they don't trust me much these days. C'est La Vie. At least now they'll hopefully think twice before being bamboosled and brainwashed again.

In other news: Quinn missed his Golf Tourney in San Diego. Work has just been too busy for him and the weather wasn't cooperating. He never comes home before me and I don't leave work tell 7:00.

"

Oh Summer, Oh Summer. Wherefore art thou Summer? Deny thy delay, refuse thy predecessor, and I'll no longer be a recluse.

"

-That was my tribute to Romeo and Juliet (which will be 4th quarter's curriculum)

AS OF LATE...

We've been busy, hyperspeed syle; I also recieved my very first cold sore.

This has been the most insane month. Quinn had 50 deaths in 26 days at work and I'm preparing my students for end-of-levels this quarter. We were able to go on an awesome hike in Snow Canyon though. We've planned some fun trips for the spring (Disney World, Kuai'i, New York, D.C., San Diego, and, of course, Powell. Mom still thinks she and Quinn are going to Alaska together. I'm not sure Quinn is opposed to the idea. In fact, if it wasn't for the final Yankees Stadium season in the Bronx, I think he would go. My new favorite pastime are two websites Matt and Ashley introduced me too. Now I find myself browsing on-line during class a little too often. Check out these awesome, 1-at-a-time, deal busters:

www.whiskeymilitia.com and www.steepandcheap.com

I only failed 10% of them!

I'm sorry, is it Christmas? Most years Christmas seems to sneak up pretty fast but this year I'm wondering if it's coming at all. We've been so busy this month that we haven't had a chance to think of celebrating in the yule tide even for a second. I think part of the pandemonium has come from school lasting all the way untell the Friday before Christmas this year. Today, however, I'm officially finished grading 200+ essays in three days. Somehow, essay grading really takes it out of you. In my next life I'm coming back as a PE teacher. I've also officially completed all SUU business and vow never to return. The last tuition dollar has been spent and my Utah Level 1 license should be in the mail. You can view my e-portfolio (wicked little thing to complete) at:

https://phil.chalkandwire.com/EP2_Migration/SecureUrlPage.aspx?PageId=82268&u=guest&cus=16&URLID=1746

or it can be previewed at:

https://phil.chalkandwire.com/EP2_Migration/QuickPreview.aspx?u=metc4199&t=2236980&PortfolioId=4347&GId=82268&SID=0&IsFirstTime=true&SB=true&Module=PF&IsHTM=true&Cus=16&SPID=82268&IsReadOnly=False

Quinn is doing well- he is quite the social butterfly. He recently returned from a seafood buffet and may be permenantly converted to the genre. Last week he recieved two calls on Friday night and two more on Saturday night so he went more than 72 hours without sleep. I don't know how he does it. He is really enjoying his job and it seems to be a perfect fit for him. In other news: we are very proud to announce that we have set up two 401k accounts. This is significant because we are comming closer and closer to becomming real live adults. I guess when you're pushing 30 it's time to face growing up... at least a little bit.

Merry Christmas and all that Jazz.

Here are a few picks from Fall 2007. Our last Lake Powell trip of the year (man,

we are starting to get antsy to visit the lake again) and our Thanksgiving holiday pictures that Quinn is always so excited to pose for.

What a Ride!

Before I complain too much about teaching, let me just mention that today I received 6 Christmas candy grams and two batches of fresh baked Home Ec. chocolate chip cookies from my students for no apparent reason other than they thought I might enjoy a treat today. Pictured here is my angel 8th period class. OK- now for the venting...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I don't think I've breathed since school started. It's been rough, tough, and, at times, a little bit ugly. Middle School kids are hideous to begin with, but slap them with a technical essay, a reading requirement, and management expectations and they get down right dirty and evil.



The latest stats:
Summer was a blast... after I made it through Spain. We spent some time at Powell and then I started teaching... for free. Can you believe it, technically, after two complete degrees and graduating in May, I'm still a student paying tuition. I skipped the student teaching stuff so WCSD is making me do an internship. Actualy, I received my first paycheck on November 30th and took my self out for take and and a movie (Quinn was in Loa). Unfortunately, that was about all I could afford since I spent that paycheck about fifty times before I got it.
This first year teaching business is educations version of waterboarding. I'm wondering if John McCain got wind of this he might not consider it down right criminal and outlaw the practice all together. Anyhow, I've done well and actually got first page newspaper coverage! Check out what my students and I have been up to:

http://www.dixieweekly.com/pg-archiveArticles/a-3015/Local_Students_Unite_in_Service_and_Patriotism.html

Quinn finished his internship and got a raise which, ever-so-quickly, was claimed by the government. Taxes. It'll happen every time. We spent a lovely UEA weekend in NYC!!! Can you believe it, our building went condo! Anyway, I think we ate at all our favorite joints and spent much of the time not believing it had been a year since we'd moved home. Some times I wonder if I'm not having some sort of affair with NYC I love it so much. In fact, I already had my next two trips back to Manhattan planned before I even left for this trip. It just solidifies the fact that New York will never be out of my system. I will always and forever fantasize about moving back.








FOR NOW:

We've been working so hard, it's difficult to think about the holidays. Most of the time I feel like I've dropped off the face of the earth and I'll suffocate before I get back. Did you know, I haven't checked my voicemail since before Spain (May 2007 for those keeping track). Oops. Busy is good... right?

P.S. Quinn got an elk. Sorry, no picture, but if you want to taste it, stop by around 7 pm and we'll fry some up for you.

Volvo a Estados Unidos!

It took about 30 hours but I made it via Granada a Barcelona a Atlanta a Salt Lake City a Ogden a Hurricane a St. George. The reunion with Quinn was quite joyous. My mom later asked him if there was music playing in the background and he said he

could have sworn there was!

Adjusting to home is never hard... I've gained about 10 pounds catching up on normal food again, but I do miss the excitement of the go, go, go lifestyle I lived for 32 days. I also miss mis amigos nuevos! There were some great people on the trip and I can't wait for the reunion. I will remember Spain for some terrific beaches, good friends, crazy adventures, no sleep, and a little bit of espanol mixed in here and there. Still, I can't believe that at 27 I had the oportunidad to study abroad. It was an amazing time. In so many ways I feel that I didn't begin to live life until after I got married.

In other news: The garden is crazy huge! Can you believe we have fully grown orange pumpkins before July 4th? It must be the heat... 112 degree days are killing a few tomatoes and yellow squash and I think we are loosing our melons... but it has been a good run for gardening this year and I am busy making homemade salsa and marinara sauces. Today I'm going to shred and freeze zucchini for no carb pasta this winter and later I'll be attempting homemade chocolate zucchini cake with frosting.


Quinn has been quite busy with work. These last two months have been some of the busiest I remember. Two new guys started this week so it will help ease the load and Quinn has had a rejuvination of sorts. He is always happy and positive and has really been going the extra mile, spring in his step and all sorts. I hope I don't jinx things by being home again. My home time vacation won't last too long however, I report to Washington County School District on August 2nd and from then on it will be like sending a lamb to the slaughter. I should be preparing lesson plans now but I figure my first year teaching is going to be horrible anyway so why suffer now?

ADIOS ESPAÑA

Adios tapas, hello charmin! I leave tomorrow. Some nastolgia of course. It has been fun to play young for a month and I´ve made the most of perhaps the craziest adventure of my life... and, perhaps just a little, I´ve picked up some Spanish along the way.

Alhambra

No rest for the weary. We´ve really stretched the most out of our time here and this final week has been no exception. Tuesday after six hours of class we barely made it to the Alhambra (thanks to Jordan´s mad dash). The Alhambra is an entire muslim palace city and we had been trying to get tickets since day one but finally ended up booking ourselves the free University of Granada tour. It is on the list of the new seven wonders of the world. There is a world vote being held with only 8 days left. The cool things is, of the 20 candidates, I´ve been to four! It was really amazing, the details are extravagant. Every inch of the walls and cielings were hand carved with Arabic designs and then painted bright colors. When the Christains conquered Granada, they took over the Alhambra and bleached all of the color out of the walls. It is said that when the king was fleeing Spain to Morocco he looked back at the Alhambra and began to cry so his mother told him, "Cry as a woman for that which you could not keep as a man." More cool pics with the rest of Spain at www.espana.shutterfly.com

To RONDA y FIESTA de SAN JUAN

No es possible... It is just not possible to describe the outrageoulsy-awesome weekend I just encountered. But alas, I´ll give it a go:

Let me start by explaining just how things go down here in old España. We begin weekends on Thursday nights by packing all of our stuff into our backpacks (ie- toothbrush, couple of t-shirts, extra underwear if you're lucky, camera). Then we take all of our gear with us to school friday morning. After school we meet at the fountain to see who is in for what trip. I´ve managed to talk a fare amount of people into the places I´ve wanted to go so there has been a trip every weekend. Once we´re set on the group we make a mad dash to the bus stop and then to the bus station. We attempt to A) buy bus tickets to where we need to go with the limited amount of Spanish we have (one horrible time the tellers made fun of us in front of everyone and gave us the wrong returning tickets), or B) talk one of the more fluent members of the group into buying their tickets first so we can all just say "mismo" after them. Sometimes there aren´t enough tickets for everyone, or we are too late, or the bus schedules don´t work out so half the fun is seeing where we actualy end up friday night. The best places are recommended word of mouth on the student or backpacking circuit. Once we get where we are going we find the first decent...or, in some cases, not so decent hostel and dump our packs and head out for the night. No rest the weary until late Sunday night when we head back to Granada for another week of class and adventure planning.

I´d have to say this last weekend was my favorite. Aside from hitting Malaga four times in one week, three of us headed off to Ronda, a four hour very windy drive up the mountains (think hills). Ronda is to Spain as Rothenburg is to Germany. Its old world charm is unsurpassed in Andalucia and the three of us had a blast. The old architecture is beautiful and I´ll never get tired of spending the day shopping down cobble stone streets and getting lost in whitewashed villages. Ronda is the home of bull fighting and we were so excited to find the bullfighting musem included free time in the Ronda bullfighting stadium (the most beautiful of all). We played around for a few hours, took some great pics and had a blast seeing all of the classic costumes and art. It is a treat to spend time in the bull ring because Ronda hosts only three bullfights every year. I wonder how much those tickets would be. Ronda was made famous by 1920´s ex-patriots, particually Hemingway who wrote about it in Sun Also Rises and called it the ultimate "honeymoon town." It has an amazing stone bridge and sits on cliffs that overlook miles and miles of spanish hills and countryside. The shopping was amazing and, overall, Ronda made my trip to Spain a success.

But Ronda is only the beginning. Saturday we caught a bus from Ronda back to Malaga (yes, we managed another 15 minute pit stop at H & M) and then onto Nerha where we met up with most everyone from SUU. We managed to grab another hostel and headed down to the beach to begin the festivities of San Juan (a celebration/holiday in honor of John the Baptist). Even though the Mediteranean is mucho frio, we swam in the ocean at midnight and did a little firedancing to say goodbye to the hardships and regrets of the past year. After that we went dancing in the square and later spent the rest of the night (and much of the morning) on the beach waiting for the sunrise. It´s been awhile since I skipped an entire night of sleeping but, for a 27 year-old married chic, I did pretty well. Sunday, three of us headed back to Malaga and rented chairs on the beach. We made it home late late Sunday night and I think I might never recooperate from getting only 7 hours of sleep total in three days and two nights... but at least it´s nice to know I still have it in me! I feel that I´ve gotten a bit of a taste of what backpacking Europe feels like and I love the network of travelling students.

It was one of the best weekends/trips of my life and probably the only thing that could have made it better would have been to have Quinn with me. I miss him so much and can´t wait to see him. He is so perfect and cute and wonderful and amazing! It has been hard to be apart but good to realize how much we miss eachother and need eachother.

In other news: School is going well. I have enjoyed the content and teachers at the University of Granada (which have been well suited for my level and learning style) but the other students in my class are aweful. Drinking and drugs aren´t really regulated here so most of them waste their energy wasting themselves. Also of note is the new adition of an AC unit in the comp. lab!!! This is a big deal since I´ve lost about 4.2 lbs in water weight sweating to death everytime I come to check my email. You´ll be pleased to know my estomago de steal is contuing to fare well. Everyone else that went to Morocco had been severely ill and two even went to the hospital (they´ve had the big D going on 9 days now). We discovered it was the water... the sealed BOTTLED water that we were told and read in the ravel book was safe to drink. Luckily I brought my own agua and only drank a little of the bad stuff just at the end of the trip. I still have the bad water bottle and when you open the lid it feels the entire room with the smell of rancid pond scum and rotting roadkill. It´s pretty bad. The sickest girl drank almost two liters of it... the good news is she says she still doesn´t regret Morocco.

Experience of a lifetime and all things pertaining. Pictures to come. Hasta luego.

Resonde para Matt

Hola Matthew,

Lo siento, el pan en España no es bien y mi mama de mi casa en Granada tiene solo pan por desayunado todos los dias. No mas pan por favor! Por que yo como solo pan cuando otras comidas son muy mal. Gracias, muchas gracias por miras a mi papel.. mi presentacion. Si, es solo un pagina. Me gusta mucho el subjectivo de me presentacion. Otros personas en mi clase de cultura tienen mal subjectivos que son muy dificil pero El Corridas de Toros es divertido y eximento. Mi otra clase (no es clase de cultura, es clase de lengua) es horrible porque los otras estudiantes son.... joven (trust fund babies quien bebe cervacces todos sus tiempo en España) y hablan hablan hablan mucho con sus amigos... En ANGLAIS! No me gusta los otras estudientes. Quiero (como dice to smack? To punch?) los otras estudiantes. Todavia no. Tiene un dia bueno! Come mucho comida en Estados Unidos para me!

Nicole

Alguna

Chocolate covered waffles. Need I say more?

Hola Malaga

On the road again. In the spirit of adventure, we have decided to start taking day trips after school. After all- 1) you only live once, 2) You can sleep when you die, and 3) I will probably never spend time in Southern Spain again. Anything within a 2 hour radius is eligable. Our first trip was Malaga. Those of us who went to Morocco had seen a bit of Malaga because we bused to the Cathedral there to meet up with the tour to the Straight of Gilbralter (it was a beautiful drive along the coast of Southern Andulacia). Yesturday I talked a small group into going and we caught a bus down at 2:30 which left just enough time for the Picasso Museum, a small tour of the center of town, and a hike up to the castle. I may as well admit it publicly: I´m starting to like Spain. But if ever I warm up to Spain it will be the result of Malaga. Malaga is so charming and still has ruins from the 1st century. It is a huge artistic mecca (Picasso is from Malaga) and, because it sits on the Mediterreanean, it hosts some awesome history as far as being conquered by every major group to set their eye on Andalucia. It has been beautful weather the entire month and from the top of the mountain where the castle sits we could see the coast on either side and out into the sea for miles. What´s more, just when the day couldn´t have gone smoother, Emily and I spotted an H&M store!!! Yep Quinn, you read it right! There is an H&M store all the way over here on the other side of no where. We only had 7 minutes until the bus for Granada left but we manged to find three camisettas, una vestida, una falda, and some awesome earings!

In other news: This weekend is the festival of San Juan so we are heading to the beach at Nerha after a quick stop in Ronda (the bull fighting cultural center of el mundo and Hemingway hotspot). San Juan is crazy. It starts Saturday night on the playa when you write all of your trials from the last year down on paper and drop it into a fire while jumping through the flames... then everyone goes swimming in the sea at midnight. I´m excited and will let you know how it goes... plus, there are supposed to be real live actual pasta restuarants there. Man oh man I´m ready for comida normalmente. Escuela is getting easier. I´m not picking up too much vocabulary but I am developing an ear for the language. You compro mucho mas que you puedo hablo. Mis mama de mi casa en España es muy simpatica y comica. Ella fue baile en el discoteca todo el noche por el semana pasada! Le gusta perpera comida de veriadad por nos. Tiene un novia, se llama es Pepe. Una vez, Pepe visite nuestro casa a noche y en la manaña, cuando me desperto, Pepe fue en la casa todavía! Maria José (mi mama) le gusta mirar television cuando comimos. Mire programmas de estrellas de estados unidos. Tambien, le gusta hable con me. No hablo Español bien así soy muy nervosa y este palabres son no en mi cabeza. Pero, ella es patiente y me hace hablo cuando no pienso puedo. Mas tiempos yo dizo, "no hablo Español," pero ella dice, "Si, puedos!" Ah yi yi. No es fácil.

Africa is My Favorite Part of Spain

You know it´s going to be a good trip when you start things off by crossing the Straight of Gilbralter. Along with my roomate McKenzie, friends Lindsay and Codey, and tag-along Marcos, I hit African soil about 5:00 Moroccan time Friday afternoon. Our tour guide "Micheal Douglas" (his Arabic name is too difficult to pronounce) met us across the boarder and offered a strictly educational tour of the northern cities Tetuan, Tánger, and Chef-Chaouèn. The entire weekend was spent weaving through 1000-year-old Medinas that have maintained their old world culture through the century. It is interesting to enter a Medina because the modern cities are built around them and suddenly, in the center of town, you come to an old stone wall with a samll entrance.When you enter the old city you feel like you just walked into a national geographic magazine. Hundreds of small stone streets form labrynths of houses, markets, mosques, and chaos. The first thing we learned for our survival was the term "baroc" which, if heard, means move to the side of the street because a donkey, sheep, goat or the like is coming through (no vehicles can fit in the streets of the Medinas so traveling around is limited to man -or animal- power). We had police escorts through the medinas and several guides to keep track of us (one in front, one in the middle, and one at the end of the group). After the first 60 seconds in the medina I understood why. If ever a tourist got lost he would be lost the rest of his days. There would be no finding ones way out and the locals are more interested in keeping you lost and stealing your money than they are in helping you home. Besides that the language gap is segnificant. English or Spanish can be left uselessly behind upon entering the border. Though Morocco is just a bus and a boat ride away from Spain, it is a completely cultural antithesis to Europe. The Muslim way of life still persists and, though it is considered a modern arabic country, it maintains the traditional feel of Arabic regime. We even had to change money... again... which made for confusing bargaining battles: I had to figure from Durhams to Euros to Dollars and then start hagalling all over again in harsh tones when a shopkeeper refused my price. Wondering what Morocco and it´s Medinas are like? Just picture Aladin, the land of magic carpets, and genie bottles then you´ll have it.

Another cool place in Morocco is the point at which the Atlantic and Mediterranean Oceans meet. I couldn´t believe my eyes but you can actually see the two bodies of water coliding! Pretty amazing stuff. We had a wonderful group and made good friends with a cute little Austrian couple who are studying Spanish in Malaga. It is so amazing to me that most Europeans can speak several differnt languages. In the course of two minutes our tour guide spoke English and Spanish to us, answered his phone in French, and chased some hagglers off in Arabic (he also speaks Swahili and a few other lenguas I can´t pronounce). Another girl on our trip easily conversed in seven languages!!! I was the only mono-lingustic person on the tour. Why America why?!? I feel a little short changed by my educational system. By the time these people are in grade school they have three languages down pact. Back to Morocco: Chef-Chaouèn was the most beautiful city I have seen in my life. It may as well be 10 AD when you enter this town. Every structure is painted a mute blue (for love) and white (for peace). Water is brought from the mountains by a series of small canals, and every morning villagers from the mountains come down to sale their crops and handicraft. They wear traditional ropas and do their laudry by foot in a communal bath. It was amazing. And just when I thought I had seen it all some crazy guy tried to kill us by dropping a toilet down four stories from a window into a cafè plaza! Esta muy loco. I managed to eat some unidentifiable cuisine (so far I´m the only one that hasn´t gotten severly sick) and come home with some cool souveniers (yes, I bought a magic carpet). It´s funny, the guidebook said that Northern Morocco was a waste of time compared to the Southern end. If that´s true, I can´t even imagine what Merekesh or Casablanca would be like. Incidentally the book also said to expect Montezumas revenge and, when you DO get it, not to worry, everyone does... I attribute my stomach of steel to years of building up my consuming skills with hearty meals... 13 months eating New York street food couldn´t have hurt either. The trip was wonderful and I can´t imagine ever doing it without a top notch guide like Micheal Douglas (it just wouldn´t be possible without some sort of tour). What´s more, I have now stepped foot on the African Continent!!! That makes 4 down, 3 to go. Isak Dennison would be proud. More pictures to come....

Love, the African Queen



Check out the tour I went on at: http://www.studytravel-spain.com/
It has a pretty cool image gallery

Nueva Entrada

I would like to take this oportunidad to thank all of those who make comments on this blog... you know who you are. It is these people who take advantage of technology that make my interneto momentos bien y mucho divertido! Tambien, gracias to mi madre whose first words when I told her I was thinking of going to Africa were 1) Yeah! and 2) Do you need to borrow money. Also, muchas gracias a mi esposo guapo por su coreos de electronico. Soy muy enemorado con Quinn y quiero mucho tiempo con su cuando volvo a mi estado en dos semanas. Quinn es al major hombre simpatica en el mundo. Soy muy suerte por que Quinn es intelligente y alto. Anyway, things are plugging along in old Espana. Now that I´ve been to Africa I just might be able to survive the last two weeks in Spain. Morocco was absolutely amazing. From crossing the Straight of Gilbralter, to weaving in and out of the Medinas with police escorts, to riding camels.... Africa will always be known as my favorito parte de Espana!!! I will write more about the Amazing Race edition of my Morocco trip tomorrow but in the meantime here are a few pics of Almunecar (above) and my school (below). Almunecar is a bonita white village that lines the cliffs along the mediterranean. The water is crystal clear and the beaches there are small pebble playas. My school is spread out over Granada (which means pomogranat en espanol) and my building is El Centre de Lengua Moderna by the Plaza Nueva. It is tucked away in a stone alley you would never guess houses an educational mecca. I have made some great friends and it is a new experience to be in Europe as a student. The networking when you study abroad is amazing. The best tours or tips or hidden cities are strictly passed along word-of-mouth and people become instant friends. I´m particularly fond of the fact that no one can believe I am 27! Most the time I feel like I´m a kid playing dress up only backwords. In other terms, I am a grown up playing kid! This trip has only solidified my pure intentions to never EVER grow up. At least I am confident in saying I can still hang with the 21 year-olds and have a blast. Today we booked tickets to the Alhambra (on the list of the new modern wonders of the world contest). All I can say about the Alhambra is thank heavens for the Muslim strong hold that lasted until 1492 or I would be starving!!! Spainish cuisine is no picnic... it´s not even solid! I´ve discovered Kepbab cafe´s (a muslim wrap pictured below) which have been my comida salvation. Also of note are the churros con chocolate! More on that later. In the mean time, it´s mas tarea por este chica! Audios.


PS: I´ve started a community picture website for everyone I meet in Spain. Some are starting to post so if you want to see pics of the adventures in the land of TOROS check it out: www.espana.shutterfly.com

El BIEN, EL MAL, Y EL FEO

(THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY)

EL BIEN

I love being in a walking city again. Granada is like Nueva York... or at least the Inwood part. It´s made for walking and public living. I didn´t realize how much I missed that. We walk everywhere we go here. It´s forty minutos to school, but I love it. I love street shops and cafes. I love people watching and streets dwarfed with tall buildings that hide whatever lies around the corner. Walking cities have a deep place in my heart.

I love the whole siesta concept. Whoever thought of that and why didn´t it make it over with immigration into the Estados Unidos? It kind of bites to have the whole city shut down for four hours in the middle of the day, but I like how families eat three meals a day with eachother... and then there´s the mid afternoon nap option. The Spain gente are definite night people. Dinner doesn´t start tell 9:30 or 10:00 pm and after that they head out into the city. Many joke that it´s safer to be roaming the streets at 2 am then it is at 2 in the afternoon during siesta.

Tapas. I´m a big fan of Tapas. Here´s how Tapas go: You sit down at a restaurante, bar, or cafe, order a drink, and the cute little waiter boys bring you tapas (free appetizers). Every place is different, ie: jamon on baguette, cheese and pan... but the very idea of getting plates of free food with one fanta limòn is muy fantastico! By the way, fanta´s are awesome in Europe. They are refrescas (sodas) but they have real juice mixed in. I love fantas (and it doesn´t hurt that they come with ice.... oh how I miss ice).

Africa is a hop skip and a jump away. Yep, we are going to Africa on Friday. Just three cities on the North African continent... but Africa none-the-less. Who can say they´ve been to Morocco and Tanzier for the weekend? I´m excited. Luckily we were able to find a safe tour... well, I´ll let you know about that... and worked a miracle with the bus system to Malaga. I never realized Africa was so close to Europe. If you stand on the coast at the Straight of Gilbrater they say, on a clear day, you can see Africa. It´s going to be the adventure of adventures.

EL MAL

It´s true, can you believe it?, water is more expensive than beer or wine here. I get so mad about that. Some people in our group are starting to stick with the alcohol and skip the agua... plus (jealous about this) They get ice!

Topics for discussion in my four hour a day Spanish class include: Marajuana, where to get marajuana, why Spain is a free country and the U.S. is not because marajuana is illegal in the U.S. Where to get drunk. Why Spain is cool because no one has to be 21 to drink. Past experiences with marijuana and alcohol (most people in my class are ages 16-19). How to say the F-word in spainish. How to conjugate the F-word in spanish. Other Spanish swear words. etc.....

EL FEO

The filth. Spain es muy sucio!!! Yesturday we saw a girl going to the bathroom over a drain in the middle of a busy street! I love walking in the city but I sure do spend a great deal of my time scrubbing my pies(feet) at night.

La comida. The food of spain is wretchedly aweful. It is bland. It is not solid. What couldn´t be classified as a soup usually fits under the goulosh category. Luckily Granada was a huge Muslim stronghold for years so we have our fair share of Kepbab cafes. I´m surving on Kepbabs, Fanta limòns, and Milkas.

Gypsies. I´ve never seen such a breed of dirty, as in dirt from head to toe, people. You walk by them and they grab your hands to read your fortune and you have to FIGHT to get your hand back. Their declared profession is theft as well. I even saw a gypsy baby up by the Alhambra. He was just lying belly down on the ground in the middle of a pile of gypsy beads. The poor thing was covered with grime and bound to choke to death on beads any minuto.

HASTA