Well, in my grandmother's words, "Spicy!" Yep, life has been a little spicy as of late. Little events here and there. For example, I recently purchased a pair of rollerblades from craigslist for one dollar. That's right, go back and read it again because I definitely meant to type "one dollar." I bought them on Saturday and have had a tragically long wait. On Saturday night we went to the drive-in to see The Proposal and Transformers 2. I liked The Proposal, but 2.5 hours of big pieces of metal blowing up other big pieces of metal wasn't really my thing. Then on Sunday I hung out with a friend who was in town for only a bit and we saw Away We Go at the Flicks. I recommend it. :D Funny movie. And I had my first scone experience at Merritt's. Quality times, all of it.

Thus, today, was supposed to be the virgin voyage of my rollerblades. And then this

happened. I call it "Tropical, Yet Landlocked Tsunami of Dirt". Unfortunately my skills as a rollerblader are pretty slim. There I was, moving down the sidewalk at about 65 miles an hour by no effort of my own (the wind was really just that strong) and thinking to myself about how I never DID master the whole stopping thing, even at my middle school Rollerdrome I-read-all-those-damn-AR-books-so-get-me-out-of-this-school skating parties. I was not surprised when the gulf winds then launched me onto the grass. You may ask why I had been heading this direction in the first place. A novice rollerblader, no matter how stylish he or she may look with the wristguards he or she purchased for 75 cents at a large yardsale, should be aware of earth conditions such as Tropical, Yet Landlocked Tsunami Gale Forces. Well, the answer is simple. I was following a pink kite. It went zooming past, and, not being one to pass up a good deal, I followed it, hoping to add a pink kite to my list of recent bargain steals. After being launched onto the grass, I looked up and studied the kite, which was across several sidewalks of varying height levels with no parking signs (aka, brake stops) in sight. I then noticed that the kite was actually a severely dismembered umbrella and not likely to do me any good. So, I attempted to head back to my vehicle, despite monstrous winds blowing in my face.

But the drama continues. A white station wagon pulled into the deserted parking lot. I decided since I had 18 kilograms of sand in my eyes anyway, I should probably leave, especially since the station wagon was coming directly towards me. They pulled up beside me and asked if I had seen....a pink TENT. YES! The kite was not actually a dismembered umbrella at all, but rather a child's tent, probably featuring a barbie or princess. This explained any previous doubts I had held about the proper shape of an umbrella.

In final news, Kelsi and I and possibly Kyla have started a rollerblading club. If you would like to join, we are offering co-presidency to any new members who join before February 13th.

Hogmail

For some reason, when I use this keyboard, I type "hogmail" more often than I type "hotmail." Which brings up the question, Is there a hogmail.com? No. But the domain is up for sale if you want it.

In recent news, I bebopped on up to Portland/Salem for a few days with the madre and the sis for my cousin's wedding reception and family reunion. Good times. Amanda was gorgeous and the hubby seems like a winner. I was reminded of my painful lack of small talk skills, but still managed to enjoy myself. Since our last reunion was in the 90's, there was some catching up to do. Like when my cousin, Chris, was chatting with my sister, who actually looks like my dad's side of the family (I don't), and he said, "So? How's your sister?" And Anne said, "Well, I don't know, but you could ask her" and turned to me. And my grandma has really taken to the word, "Spicy!" and uttered it in response to any questions about her food or drink, but especially in connection with alcoholic beverages.

We also played a wild game of tag which involved removing parts of my leg on a tree and some wild jungle-style yelling.

This could be my last blog, however, on account of, well, I might not survive this weekend. I'm going on my first backpacking trip and it sounds a little wild. Words like "all uphill" and "10 miles" and such were getting thrown around. So we'll see what happens. I'm excited nonetheless.

*Theme music plays*

I'm back in the States! It was a bit of a wild ride home, but I'm finally here. We landed in NY on the 7th after a 4 hour delay involving a lot of circling and sitting in some place called Bradley, CT. But this was really a great opportunity for me to develop my Tetris skills with the in-flight video games option. They a couple days in New Haven, CT to visit a friend and learn about the fast-paced, action-packed dice game called Farkle. We then headed back to NY only to realize we had stored our luggage at JFK but were flying out of LaGuardia. Maybe I said a lot of bad words. I can't remember.

Thus, we missed our flight, actually, we missed gate closing by about 15 minutes and had to stay in NY another night. But we luuuuuuucked out the next day when we flew standby all the way home the next day. Plus, I got to meet this sweet kid who was very interested in comparing the extendable handle of my carry-on with his mother's. I think he found hers more impressive because it had 8 sections whereas mine only had 4. Or 4 and 2, depending on if he was counting with two hands or one. Either way, he conducted several studies.

So, I've just been back in the valley, relaxing and washing clothes, etc. I cancelled my trip to Portland because I'm quite out of money. Partially due to the fact that Verizon took it all in order to set me up as a "new user". At any rate, it should arrive by mail Tuesday-ish and I'll let you know when I have a new phone number. Woot!

Oops

So here's the deal. I've been really bad at blogging. Here are some horrifically brief updates:

Anne, my mom, and Kyla came to visit. It rocked my world. We bebopped around Madrid and also went to the beach which was kind of ghetto but still really fun.

I finished all my classes. I am currently wearing one of the bracelets my student made me :D

Astin and I went to Italy. It was rad and I saw a lot of famous-style stuff. Like the Colosseum. We also got stuck in Florence for a night and had to sleep on the train station sidewalk after we were kicked out of McDonald's by a man who thought his job was bouncer of McDonald's.

I'm flying to NY on Tuesday! And to Idaho on Thursday! And I will eat a waffle on Friday!

P.S. All you Portland peeps...I'll be in Portland-ish area from the 13th to the 17th. Without a car. Anyone want to come pick me up and visit?

I'm a celebrity

Well, well, well. It’s been a wee bit since I’ve written because last weekend Cassie came to visit. We had a grand ole time. On Friday, Liz, Astin, and I headed to the airport to pick her up with signs that said, “Hookers International Welcomes Cassie Lara!” Of course we drew hooks all over the signs so there would be no confusion of the purity of our group.

We came home and made breakfast together and then Cassie and I walked around Madrid for a while. In the evening, since it was the festival for the patron saint of Madrid, San Isidro, we went to this humongous outdoor concert with our Spanish friend and some of her friends. But really, we were just in the same park and couldn’t hear the music.

On Saturday the highlight was definitely a performance of Carmen. The director/producer/choreographer/set designer/costume designer/lighting designer is also the protagonist. She rewrote the story so that it was more of a flamenco performance than an opera and it was FANTASTIC. Here’s a sample:
We also almost had a showdown with some old ladies who tried to take our seats.

Sunday, we went to a town outside of Madrid called Ávila. You may have heard of the mystic, Teresa of Ávila. Yep, her old stomping grounds. The city’s surrounded by this massive wall that we climbed all over and I also stuck my leg out of. None of the other tourists did that. We visited some cathedrals and museums and we also found the finger of Teresa. Yup, they definitely have her finger on display along with her sandals, rosary, and a few other things. During the course of the day, Cassie dropped her ice cream cone and was also shat upon by a bird for the first time in her life.

Then a normal weekend of classes. But last night, I became a celebrity. Yes. Celebrity. I, along with Astin and some others, was nominated as teacher of the year in my company. Everyone at the pub where we celebrated thought the whole ceremony was kind of hilarious, but our bosses took it rather seriously. Although I only garnered a bronze trophy, I still count myself on the same celebrity level as Audrey Hepburn. On the way home, it started raining and I stuck my trophy/cup out into the rain to rinse out the champagne and some guy tried to take it. I was too fast for him, though.

If anyone wants an autograph, just let me know.

Susie B. and the 6 Giants

So this guy I work with has been planning hikes lately and I decided to join. I showed up at the bus station and said hi to the 3 guys already there waiting. I soon learned that no other females were coming and I would be spending the whole day with 6 guys who promptly nicknamed me Susie B. in reference to facebook profile. Let’s just say the estrogen cloud I was living in was blown away by a huge gust of testosterone. Really, we had a good time and it was great to get out of the city and see the mountains. We scrambled up rocks, left pieces of our flesh on various pokey plants, and I know that I, for one, transported roughly half the forest home in my socks.

A Wild Journey to Barcelona

So here’s how it rolled out. Astin’s friends Traci and Kelsey stayed with us for 2 days before we left for Barca. And it a hilariously surprising turn of events, Liz, a teammate of Astin’s and a fellow council member of mine choose the same TEFL company as us. We had a full house with all five of us and lots of hectic last minute planning. After landing in Madrid, Liz (million props) decided to join us in Barca so we bought five overnight bus tickets, booked a hostel room for Liz and headed out.

After listening to some kind of stupid people refuse to shut up for most of the bus ride, we rolled into Barca at 8:30 am and found our hostel. We then went searching for breakfast and then busted out the map from the hostel and the guide book my student loaned me. After a while of planning, we set out for…nowhere. Really we were looking for some tourist discount card and never found it. This was pretty hard work so we decided to break for lunch. If the slideshow works, you’ll notice the “paella mixta” or “entire sea creatures surprise” that everyone else ate. I ate spaghetti and chicken…thank you seafood allergies!

Then we went to La Sagrada Familia (Sacred Family), a partially finished cathedral designed by Gaudí, who is now my favorite architect/artist. Seriously, google him. He’s really the first artist that makes me want to see more and more of his work. After that, we went to see two more of his works—Casa Batlló and Casa Milá.

Day 2 – We went on a “Free Walking Tour” which really means that they advertise it as free and then ask for money. But it was a really great, informed tour and I learned a lot…about Picasso, George Orwell, Evanescence, Gaudí, etc. We also went to the Guell palace (Guell commissioned a lot of Gaudí’s work), Parc de la Ciutadella (which had a huge mammoth statue), saw the Arc de Triomf. Did you know that Eiffel offered Barcelona the Eiffel tower for their expo but Barca wanted to keep their architecture classic and made the Arc de Triomf instead. So the next year, Paris got the tower. We ended the day with a trip to Parc Guell which was also designed by Gaudí. It was like something out of a funky fairy tale.

Day 3—We hadn’t seen enough of the park yesterday, so we went back for some more exploring. After lunch, we headed to the beach. It wasn’t warm enough to swim, so we just “took the sun” as they say and it was incredibly relaxing. Except that I kept getting a lot of sand stuck to myself. Happily, I was the only one who did not torch some part of my body. Everyone else was partially converted to members of the lobster family. Basically, Barcelona was a blast. Good people, good food, and good laughs.