The last few weeks

Between studying for the GRE (I'm taking it Monday!), visiting Grandpa in OH, and finishing the semester at Greenville Tech with a bang :), I've been listening to Stella's jingle bell collar, admiring the winter night sky, taking a night run with Ellen, watching biographies on Bill Gates and Confucius, visiting Jacqueline/going to the Nutcracker in Atlanta, and hardly being able to wait to see Hannah again! Thanksgiving this year was lovely--all the sisters together, plus a few "adopted" family members (ie: international kids from Greenville Tech plus Layla). I'm looking forward to the third week of Advent, starting tomorrow, and wishing I'd made myself an advent calendar with little chocolates and a Bible verse for every day of the season. Maybe next year.

Some pictures:

My new, short bangs
our front yard
Thanksgiving
Grandma and Grandpa receiving communion

Neatorama

I LOVE stuff like this! The 25 Most Important Questions in the History of the Universe

Waking from a 19-year coma to find communism over in Poland

I've just been thinking about this guy lately:

YouTube video

BBC article

And, I love his quote: "What amazes me today is all these people who walk around with their mobile phones and never stop moaning," said Mr Grzebski."I've got nothing to complain about."

Patch Adams

I just watched the movie "Patch Adams" for the first time--really cool story. Here's some good advice from the real Patch Adams (my favorites: #3, #5, #8, #9):

Patch's 10 Everyday Actions to Help Heal Society

1. Pick up all the trash in an area in your hometown; be its guardian. Tell others about it.
2. Be friendly to everyone at all times; experiment outrageously.
3. Offer a shoulder or foot rub in any environment.
4. Always speak up for justice, no matter how much it costs.
5. Go once a week on a "house call" to a nursing home to cheer people up as a friend.
6. Turn off your TV and become interesting. Perform yourself.
7. Consider being silly in public. Sing out loud. Wear funny stuff.
8. Find ways to need a whole lot less money; share beyond belief.
9. Have potlucks frequently, with neighbors, co-workers, strangers. Work toward living in extended families.
10. Take your vacations in your own hometown and spend the money working on projects there that help build community.

Obama and McCain on Global Poverty

Click here to compare their views.

Wheat Field With Ravens

My dad just found out he won second place in a poetry contest hosted by the South Carolina Writers Workshop. Congratulations, Dad!

Here it is:


Wheat Field With Ravens

The path from left,
brown and green, is his,
Vincent's path, dipping forward,
then back, up the middle, a field
of yellow wheat cut in two.
The storm about to fall
dark above the bright wheat,
lit, not by sun,
but by Vincent, a year
before the end. Vincent's
light, with ravens suddenly
starting, as if hearing
the single pistol shot followed
in six months by another,
younger brother Theo's,
leaving canvases scattered,
all but one unsold,
and us as heirs.


JC Raff
6-6-08/6-21-08

Sleep deprivation

I read this last night studying in my psychology textbook:

"Evidence suggests that sleep deprivation contributes to a large proportion of transportation accidents and mishaps in the workplace... In recent years, a number of major ecological disasters, such as the nuclear accidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl and the running aground of the Exxon Valdez oil tanker, have been blamed in part of lapses in judgment and attention resulting from sleep deprivation."

This BBC article lists the Challenger Space Shuttle among the disasters.

I got about 3 hours of sleep last night... :(

On a happier note, we also read about the macaque monkeys in my psychology book--unbelievable!

10 minutes

I just opened a dark chocolate almond Dove Promise with a little "fortune" inside. It said: "Steal 5 minutes for yourself today."

"The first thing I'll do with my five minutes," I thought to myself, "is eat another dark chocolate almond Dove Promise."

And guess what this fortune said:

"Steal 5 minutes for yourself today."

So now I have a nice 10 minutes stolen all for myself.

I'm going to go read some Confucius. :)

Wedding at Gramma's House

This weekend the whole family, brothers-in-laws included, caravaned up to Maryland for our cousin Sarah's east coast wedding reception. Sarah's always dreamed of getting married at our gramma's house--an early 19th century big, white farmhouse with as much character as one of Dorothea Lange's migrants' faces. We drove in the dark to get there--honked our horn along the windy road named after my ancestors--more out of respect for the past than the fear of oncoming traffic. Stepping out of the car I smelled, really for the first time, the outside of Gramma's house. It was a combination of fresh, green leaves and the musky house--only Gramma's yard. My aunt Leila's done a beautiful job restoring the house--but it still retains its muskiness, and immediately floods my family's minds with memories. Sarah made sure to fill the top drawer of the dining room bureau with York peppermint patties and assorted Hershey's bars--she knew we'd have to check at some point.

What we all mostly remember about Gramma's house is rummaging--hours and hours spent trying out the old typewriter upstairs, inspecting 1940s LIFE magazines, discovering photos of Dad growing up, or Granddad in his army days, my sisters and I admiring ourselves in oversized flapper dresses, sometimes finding real treasures and asking Gramma if we could keep them. I didn't realize till we visited her gravestone than Gramma died 10 years ago. I think time is catching up with me, now that I'm a 24-year-old. Most people want to live longer but don't mind that they weren't born a few years earlier, but I'm a little dissappointed I don't have as many memories with my Gramma as some of my sisters and cousins do.

I'm reading "The Wisdom of Confucius" these days :) (that's so trendy, I know). Listen to this:

"The superior man, while his parents are alive, reverently nourishes them; and, when they are dead, reverently sacrifices to them. His thought to the end of his life is how not to disgrace them. The saying that a superior man mourns all his life for his parents has reference to the day of their death. That he does not do his ordinary work on that day does not mean that it would be unpropitious to do so; it means that on that day his thoughts are occupied with them, and he does not dare to occupy himself, as on other days, with his private and personal affairs."

It seems very human to revere the dead--to still respect them. Your ancestors you never knew--to listen to their stories and stand amazed that their genes still live in you. To carefully place new flowers on their grave and bless them still.

Home/school

I thought I should update to say I'm HOME! It's so nice getting to hang out with my parents, Alice, Leah, Jessica, sometimes Anna, Seth, Ellen, and Rebekah whenever I want to! Well, the honeymoon stage ended quickly, though: Alice and I have already had a few little tiffs about sharing the car again. I miss public transportation! I do miss Madrid and, gosh, I think it was pretty unreal I lived there for a year. What a cool city. I miss my friends there and Sunday afternoons in parks. I miss not having homework hanging over my head on weekends: I've just started classes (some PA school pre-reqs) at Greenville Tech. I need to work, too--maybe at a hospital to get some medical experience. We'll see.

The farm in Italy with Hannah was really fun, even though it was maybe a little cult-y? The people were some of the nicest ever. And, gosh, I miss Hannah! I can't even begin to describe how much fun we have together, talking about everything under the sun while baking under the sun.

More later. Maybe some pictures? No promises soon, though.

I hqte foreign keyboqrds11

"Moments to cherish" from the last 3 weeks of traveling with my amazing sisters:

-Hiking in the heart of the Swiss Alps (the most beautiful place I've been, I think). We hiked from Gimmewald (a remote town full of Rick Steves disciples) to the top of Mt. Stilthorn, a mile in elevation change, in 3.5 hours, Alice and me IN OUR CROCS! We are so proud of ourselves, accomplishing the impossible, to the shock of our naysayers. We're still sore.

-Arriving in Venice--the whole city really does look just like the pictures, with canals and old, colorful buildings! I couldn't take enough pictures!

-The Sistine Chapel. Mama mia. St. Peter's Basilica, too. Oh, and David.

-Seeing THE GERARD SISTERS (from our high school!) randomly in the Munich train station! That made our trip.

-Riding bikes all over the Netherlands with our unbelievable hostess Marleen; touring a cheese farm with her; eating a Dutch dinner with her and Mirjam from my church in Madrid.

-Alice and me embarrassing Jessica by breaking out in song, dancing to street music, just being our silly selves all over the continent.

-Reading Crime and Punishment on the train. Dostoevsky's a genius!

-Hanging out with JS in Paris today. Eating ham and cheese crepes for lunch!

-Meeting really great people everywhere we go. We probably won't stay in touch with most of them, even, but they've been influential in some way.

-Telling the people in our Mountain Hostel hot tub we hadn't showered in 3 days... oops.

-Oh, goodness! Gelato!

-Just being with my family--I LOVE them!

(written a couple days ago)

School's been out for about a week and, after a short trip to England to visit dear friends Simeon and Karin, Mom and Dad are here in Spain! We stayed in San Sebastian (in the heart of Basque country) in Northern Spain, day-tripping across the French border once. Now we're in Barcelona, gawking over Gaudi's architecture all over the city. Highlights of the trip thus far: the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao (get an audioguide for modern art museums--you'll be thankful later!); bad googlemaps directions leading us up a narrow mountain road in pitch dark to our hotel in San Sebastian; a great Vietnamese restaurant along the river in S. Sebastian; being overwhelmed with beauty driving into Barcelona--the most artistic city I've ever seen; Spain winning EUROCUP last night!!! the streets were full of rowdy young Spaniards singing "Ole, ole, ole, ole," and touting their country's flag; walking down Ramblas today by myself--as much as I love being around my parents 24/7, I do need a little alone time, sometimes. :)


_____________________________________

Since I wrote this Alice and Jessica have arrived! We're in Salamanca right now, staying up late chatting, breakfasting, shopping, and planning the next leg of our trip together. I think Mom and Dad are enjoying having their ears chatted off by us :). We wish they could join us on the rest of our Euro adventures together.

Stolen journal

Madrid's never had a big problem with hard crime, but right now, at least, it certainly has its share of soft crime--pick-pocketing on the metro, mostly. I've been keeping my wallet inside a zipped smaller purse which has lain at the bottom of my larger red purse, underneath a pile of books, notebooks, and sometimes my journal, which I like to write in going from place to place. Any pick-pocketer would have to be brilliant to get to my wallet, I thought. Maybe I was proud of myself for taking such uncharacteristic precautions. That is until last Sunday when I got robbed--of my entire purse. I met up with Biz, Tim and Helena (my new Swedish friend) for coffee at Starbucks. Helena and I had found the perfect table for the four of us--downstairs with four cushy chairs, right before the crowd hit. At some point before splitting a cheesecake and frappuccino with Elena I must have set my purse down on the floor next to my chair. I didn't realize it was missing till 30 minutes of laughter and good conversation. I am now missing a lot of freshly-withdrawn money, my five-year-old camera (with great pictures on it! but I can get those from other people) and my journal that I've kept for the past YEAR. My JOURNAL! I've kept a journal almost since I could write, and now there's a whole very important year MISSING! Oh, I am so sad. Can you imagine losing much more valuable than your camera and your journal? I was strangely comforted to hear of a woman who'd lost a $10,000 ring her dying husband had given to her before he passed away. She'd taken it off her finger to keep in safe in her purse. Yeah, that would probably be worse than this.

I filed a police report, but haven't heard any word, yet. Sometimes they find purses in garbage cans a month after the event. I shouldn't get my hopes up. But, really, well--any words of encouragement, consolation, false hope, straight-up lies? would probably be appreciated. :( :)

Drew said something about all this that made me thankful for friends like him: that journaling does something that is a lot more than the end result of a journal. All wasn't wasted. (thanks, buddy.)

Other than that, our dear friend Tim left this afternoon to go home. We'll miss him and his easy-goingness and good conversationalness (esp. Biz!). And his straight-up kindness: he helped me search for my purse in the garbage cans of Madrid. In vain, but, it was still so nice.

I've been taking evening walks--after I finish au-pairing but before it gets dark (around 10 pm these days). Tonight I walked to a place with a view of the mountains, which made my heart happy.

I started reading "A Severe Mercy" the other week (it was in my purse when it got stolen) and it got me thinking about L'Abri for next semester... I'm really leaning towards going there now. Maybe in Boston? :) Seth's thinking about it, too, which would be so nice, just to be in the same place, reading and discussing the same things. I'll keep you posted. And I'll keep you posted on the purse situation.

Un beso!

Home

Last week we had a holiday so I went HOME for the week! Well, I'd originally planned on changing my April 30 British Airways flight to a later date, but it was going to cost me almost as much as it would to buy a new ticket, so I just used the flight and bought another round-trip ticket here. All the sisters were reunited for the first time since Christmas at Anna's 30th birthday party. The party was definitely the highlight of the trip. As was hanging out with Ellen, bagel-shop-breakfasting with Dad, late-night-talking with Mom, and planning EuroTrip '08 with Jessica and Alice, those fun girls. :) Got any ideas of where we should go? I've heard Nice, Cinque Terra and a sweet mountain town in Switzerland are must-sees. Any tips would be appreciated.

I flew back to Madrid out of Boston so I got to spend a couple days seeing Seth, my good friend Lindsay from Yellowstone, Colleen, John, and, of course, Irene. Seth and I did dinner with Colleen, John and Irene (I keep thinking about that tiramisu) and Irene and Lindsay came to a concert Seth played in at his dorm. Seth and I introduced some of his friends to genuine cheese grits (really cheesy) the morning I left, so I'd say the trip was a success, overall. :) Yeah, it was just a lot of fun seeing everyone. I'm so happy at home. It was hard coming back here, but I'm ok now. :)

Actually, I'm nerdily excited right now. Besides having a holiday tomorrow (San Isidro's Day) and having a really nice weekend hanging out with Biz and friends, I just downloaded a bunch of FREE applications from Apple that I never knew existed (F-R-E-E!): a flash card program (iFlash), a memorize the world's countries/locations/capitals application (World of Where), a Spanish-English dictionary, a Spanish verbs quiz application (it's fun to play), and, most bizarre of all, this is actually really bizarre, a sleep recorder application. It's called Dream Recorder. And it's kind of creepy. :) I used it last night and woke up to its "dawn" effect this morning, then went back to sleep and woke up to my real alarm 45 minutes later. But, I just left my MacBook open all night and my camera took pictures of me every 10 minutes with the program's night vision technology (you can set it to take pictures every 2 minutes, or a video of the whole night). The program recorded every time I moved last night and if I made any noises--it recorded me talking in my sleep! That was the creepiest part. At 3:42 last night I said something that sounded kind of like French, but definitely wasn't. I waited to come to school to hear the rest of what I said--a dark room on a rainy morning was just too much. Too creepy. You should download it. It gives you this neat little graph of your movements and sounds and snores from the previous night, and the times they occurred. And, I didn't get to use this part of it last night, but it has an alarm that wakes you up when you're supposedly the best-rested. Isn't that amazing? I'll probably use it tonight and tell you how I feel in the morning. :)

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/home_learning/index4.html

(scroll down to the bottom hit download! btw, it's only a 30-day trial, I think.)

More later, alligator.

Old friends

Mr. O'Hearn, my Uncle Bobby and my Grandma, Phyllis Catherine McNulty Droney (sent from Carolyn Nadeau)

I've heard the names Rose and Colin Nadeau throughout my life. They were some of my maternal grandparents' closest friends, and their five children grew up with my mom's family of five children. My aunt told me a while ago that one of the Nadeau daughters and her family are actually living in Madrid this year and I should get together with them. So, yesterday it finally worked out for me to meet Carolyn Nadeau and her husband and four children. They had me over to their flat for lunch (spaghetti with meatballs--reminded me of Grandma's recipe), then Carolyn and I talked over cafe con leche. I thought it was interesting how comfortable they were for me to be around--warm, like my family, a little bit eclectic, maybe, like my family, slightly scattered, perhaps (even the way their kitchen was organized reminded me more of my family than most families I meet). I felt at home. :)

Anyway, I also thought it was really cool that in meeting Carolyn, we were sort of honoring the really strong, almost family-like friendship than ran in our blood. Her having me over reminded me of this: "'Don't be afraid,' David said to [Mephibosheth], 'for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan... and you will always eat at my table.'" I love the idea that friendship can make you as close as family to someone--I have a few "sisters" in addition to my five wonderful ones (and brothers, too :)). And someday I hope my grandchildren show kindness to my their grandchildren, if they have the chance to.

Seth's visit

Notre Dame


inside

Seth and Ellen's visits overlapped by a day, and 24 hours after Ellen flew back to Atlanta, Seth and I flew to Paris for of our first time. We stayed with a friend of mine from Yellowstone, JS, and his hospitable family about thirty minutes from the city center. We were exhausted from sleep deprivation when we arrived (our flight left at 5:45 that morning, and we'd pulled an all-nighter the night before) so we slept on the shuttle that took us from Beauvais (the Ryanair airport... more about it later) to the city center. JS and his mom greeted us at their metro stop, where the drove us to their house. We probably took a nap immediately upon our arrival, and then headed to Notre Dame for the Easter mass that evening. JS told us about the history of the cathedral and some of the governmental buildings around it. The church was filled with thousands of tourists like ourselves--it wasn't the somber, reverent experience I was anticipating. But the church was breathtaking, and thinking something so magnificent being built in the 12th-14th centuries is just mind boggling. After our visit to the cathedral, JS walked us along the Seine and showed us around the Latin Quarter, right near Notre Dame. We ran into some random guys who wanted to trade us a little Eiffel Tower figurine for whatever we had that was more valuable than that, so Seth and I gave them our chap-sticks in exchange (I think we got the better end of the deal).


dinner with JS and family

JS's mom made us all an amazing French meal that night, complete with French wine, cheese and a little raspberry tart. She's my favorite. :) And then she made us breakfast the next day before Seth and I headed off to the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs-Elysees. It was cold and rainy that day, so Seth and I invested in an 8-euro umbrella with "Paris" written all over it. I think he's going to give it to his Nanny as a souvenir--don't tell her we already used it!

Seth and me at Eiffel Tower



Right next to the Eiffel Tower lookout point was a churros stand (long pieces of fried dough, this time covered in sugar, not dipped in chocolate). So, of course, we had to split a container of some FRESH ones--they were better than the ones in Madrid, I have to say (though I missed the chocolate).

Kate, Seth and Gen at the Pantheon

Kate and Gen, two of Seth's friends from school, were visiting Paris at the same time as us, so Seth, JS and I got together with them the next day. We hung around the Latin Quarter a little then went to Montmartre that evening (it's the hilltop of Paris). The Basilica of the Sacre-Coeur was really beautiful--such interesting mosaics on the ceiling (one of a very serious, cold-looking Trinity). We all split dinner dishes at this cool restaurant Gen had heard about in Montmartre. We met some friendly guys from a band at the next table over who invited us to their concert, and Gen, Kate, JS and another new friend actually went to it after Seth and I came back to Madrid! I love new acquaintances!


Montmartre view

Sacre Coeur

hilly Montmartre at dusk


The next day Seth and I thought we had PLENTY of time to catch our 8:00 flight back to Madrid that night. So we went to the Musee d'Orsay (with Kate and Gen), the Louvre, to McDonald's for McFlurries, then took the Metro to the airport shuttle station.

Van Gogh's Bedroom

our McDonald's splurge...

Upon arriving, we were informed that we were supposed to be there 3 hours before our flight (not 2 1/2 hours...). We got to the airport, knowing we could have made our flight, but the airport workers wouldn't let us on. So, we missed our flight and had to buy new tickets for the next flight 12 hours later. We went to a little grocery store inside the airport and stocked up on food for our night in the airport, got settled down on some chairs and around 10 an airport attendant came by to tell us that the airport CLOSES DOWN at 10:30! We didn't have any money to get a hostel, and we didn't want to risk missing our flight again, so we and about 20 other young people stayed outside the airport in the freezing cold rain that night. We were covered from the rain by an awning, but it was still miserable. The most miserable night of my life, maybe. We befriended some Italian kids and a Chinese guy and watched "When Harry Met Sally" on my laptop for the first two hours outside. We thought--this isn't so horrible. This might be a fun night. Then it really started to get freezing. We put on all the clothes we had but still couldn't get warm. The Italian kids and I started a FIRE in an CIGARETTE URN with Paris pamphlets we'd gathered beforehand in the airport. The bliss was momentary. When the airport doors finally opened at 5:55, Seth and I booked it to the Ladies' bathroom, turned on the hand driers and thawed for about 20 minutes--our plan from about 1:00 that morning. Then we checked in, wiped the Beauvais airport dust from our feet and slept through the entire flight to Madrid.


us with our new friends, still ignorantly blissful

It was a good learning experience. We now know a little bit what it feels like to be homeless, how easy it is to make friends with people in the same extreme situations, and to be treated "inhumanely"--what if we weren't young, healthy twenty-somethings? Well, we'd probably have money to afford a hostel. But what if we didn't? We also thought about the desire some people on the streets have to commit petty crimes. We did start a fire in a cigarette urn. But we also contemplated somehow breaking into the airport, or hiding behind one of the food vendor's registers before we had to leave the airport. I wouldn't want to relive that night for any amount of money (well, maybe SOME amounts of money), but I'm pretty sure we'll laugh about it someday.

Ellen's visit

Sorry I haven't updated in so long! There's just been too much to write about, I think. Ellen came for Semana Santa and, with Biz, we conquered the South of Spain (Granada first, and then Sevilla). To get to Granada we took a five-hour bus together, passing a beautiful, dry and rocky range of mountains about an hour before arriving at our destination. From the Granada, we could still see the mountains in the distance, but now we could tell they were snow-capped. There's not much in nature that makes my heart soar (you know the rush-feeling I'm talking about?) as much as snow-capped mountains. Seriously. There are a lot of beautiful things in nature, but you just throw some snow-capped mountains in the background, and you've got a breathtaking scene.

Ellen and me at San Nicholas Viewpoint

Highlights of our first day there: wandering Granada's labrynthine streets searching for the San Nicholas Viewpoint (where Bill Clinton took his family in 1997) (beautiful view of the Alhambra, the city, and the mountains) and looking for some caves we read about where Gypsies still live (and some hippies, too)! We found the caves but were scared off by mangy, barking dogs and the fact that these were people's houses, still lived-in, not yet historical artifacts. How would we like it if tourists came to peek in our homes? We decided to turn back around. But not before I snapped a couple pictures. :)

A modern cave-dwelling

That night we accidentally ran across a procession on our way to a bar. We were stunned by the seriousness and stillness of the people watching the two-ton floats being carried down Granada's narrow streets. The floats' main centerpieces are statues taken from specific churches in the neighborhood. Some of the statues are from the fifteenth century, and some are newer. I thought of all the eyes that have seen and adored these exact statues being carried down the street (on people's backs) every year for the past several centuries. I've never experienced anything like it.


from Alhambra vista

The next day we met up with our new friends Tim and Jeff to go to the Alhambra (Tim goes to church with Biz and me, and Jeff is his friend visiting from Canada). Since all the online tickets were sold out already, we (just the girls--the guys were still driving in from Malaga) had to wake up at the crack of dawn to wait in line for tickets--which is never fun anyway, but especially when you're on vacation. We spent most of the rest of the day wandering through the palaces and gardens, admiring the incredibly detailed handiwork--mostly Arabic poetry--carved into every square inch of ceilings or walls in every building the fortress. I followed Rick Steves' advice and tried to picture it back in the height of its glory--with colored walls, functioning fountains and maybe some snake charmers and hookahs attracting the young and old royal Moors.

with my trusty Rick Steves guide at the Alhambra


Alhambra wall detail

friends at Alhambra viewpoint

That evening, the group of us bought some bread, cheese and wine (and cider for me, of course) and relaxed on the terrace on top of our hostel. We got up there around dusk and watched the city turn to lights. An American guy and a Norwegian girl that Ellen had met the previous night came up to join us, and then a couple more girls from England decided our party looked like nice and sat down, too. It was freezing cold, so Tim fetched us blankets and we huddled up together on the couches, laughing and telling stories for hours. Afterwards we went to a little nearby hookah bar then returned to our hostel, dreaming of Arabic poetry.

Sevilla's skies clearing up

Ellen, Biz and I took the next day's bus to Sevilla, the world's Semana Santa destination (it's processions are the best). Sadly, it started raining right after we got there and the processions for the night were cancelled. We all sat in a cafe and wondered what we should do next--our bus to Madrid wasn't leaving till 1:00 that night, and it didn't look like the rain was going to stop. We decided to take a taxi to the bus station to lock up our bags and wait inside for our bus. After being there about ten minutes, the sky started clearing up and we were off to walk along the river, taking silly pictures and singing along to Biz's iPod on the way. The day couldn't have turned out lovelier, with sunbeams streaming through once storm clouds and changing the color of the river every few minutes. Biz and I miss our dear Ellen now--her vibrant personality, and her effervescent laugh.

Semana Santa

All teachers are pretty ready for a break around this time of year. And, fortunately, next week is Semana Santa, aka "Holy Week." I think Easter is my favorite holiday (I love Thanksgiving, too), and the week before Easter is always thrilling. I loved going to the Maundy Thursday services at DCF the past two years--experiencing my first footwashing services and being prayed over by leaders in the church. You can't feel anything less than humble gratitude when someone prays for you out of a sincere and loving heart. My grandpa prays for me every day, which I value more than almost anything. And I know I have other friends and family members who pray for me often, too. I appreciate those prayers. Anyway, I also love Good Friday and the heaviness of of the holiday. The fact that there are "heavy," very serious holidays is so unique (Maundy Thursday's another one--Ash Wednesday, too). Ellen K. is coming to visit for Semana Santa (!) and we're going to be in the heart of the world's Holy Week celebrations: Spain. But we're also going to experience some of Southern Spain (Granada and Sevilla), which is the heart of the heart of Semana Santa. We're HOPING to see the Alhambra in Granada, and some of the processions in Sevilla (a dozen men carrying medieval, two-ton statues of Christ and the Virgin through the city's narrow streets; they've been practicing all year). I'll tell you how everything goes.

Then, the day before Ellen leaves :(, Seth comes :)! We're going to PARIS--a first-time experience for both of us. I have a friend (Jean-Sebastian--such a great French name!) whose family we'll stay with at least a night or two, and two of Seth's good friends from school are going to be in the city at the same time as us! So we'll have more travel buddies! Yay! We found great ticket prices on Ryanair (only 55 euros for two round-trip tickets!). Hopefully we won't spend any more money than we have to in Paris, because I don't think our Euros will go as far there as they would in Spain...

Speaking of money, read this Peter Singer article--it's pretty earth-shaking.

http://www.utilitarian.net/singer/by/1972----.htm

And it definitely makes me feel guilty for wanting to travel. What do you think of that?

Presidential Nominees' stances on fighting global poverty

(click title)

These are from the ONE campaign's website. You could only compare three at a time, so I picked the most popular.

Music to my ears

Sounds I've been paying attention to lately, that I like:

-the "twinkling" noise when I turn on the flourescent lights in my classroom
-shoe taps on a sidewalk
-the squeak of guitar strings
-echoes in a lonely metro corridor
-spoken English :)

The trees are starting to bloom in Madrid. We had a few beautiful, warm days last week and they mistook them for spring, which shouldn't be here for another month. Last night, after going to a flamenco show (with all male dancers--we'd paid to see the polka-dot dresses!), I spent the night at a Sarah's place and took a slightly longer way to get to her house so I could pass this one cherry tree in full bloom. At night. Wet roads. By a streetlight. It reminds me of last spring--my apartment in Clemson had a Bradford pear tree outside that looked like heaven at night, illuminated by a streetlight. I love the feeling of early spring. Combined with the feeling of the air after it rains? You can't get much more refreshing than that. :)

Early spring and early fall--Biz and I were talking about them the other day. They have so many memories connected with them. There's a real feeling of "change" in the air that you associate with those previous feelings of change--that you felt at the same time a year ago, or two. It's like smelling perfume--oh, that's how I felt when I wore that scent. Spring is my favorite season, when it's spring.

Valentime's

I love how little kids say "Happy Valentime's Day!" I think I used to say that, too. For Valentime's Day last week, Biz had a party at her house with real pink and white Valentine's m and m's straight from America, brownies (the really gooey kind--amazing), and confetti cake (straight from America, too)! We ate the cake still warm from the oven. It was wonderful. Sarah, Biz, Ginny, Alejandra I celebrated our loves being far, far away (or nonexistent) till the wee hours of the morning. The chocolate made Seth's absence a little more bearable. But, yeah, it was still tragic :).

I woke up the next morning feeling awful--I'm not sure if it was from all the sugar the night before or lack of sleep, or STREP THROAT, but I had to skip teaching Friday and did find out I had strep throat. I was so thankful for an "aupair dad" who could take me to the hospital and translate my symptoms for me. :) Yeah, I'm so glad to be living with this family, for more reasons than that, but--I would have been lost figuring out the Spanish health system without them. Days like Friday, feeling horrible in a foreign country, make me want nothing more than to be home with my mommy taking care of me. She's such a great caregiver. And my daddy. I was spoiled, being raised by good caregivers.

DEAD-dead computer :(

I THINK my computer is in the process of really, really dying. The other night I was Skyping with Seth and suddenly I started hearing this whirring sound on the top left side of the keyboard. Then my computer started going really slowly and I got a message I'd never seen before that said I needed to turn off it off immediately. So I turned it off and turned it on again a couple minutes later and got this blinking question mark/finder icon on a folder icon and it wouldn't turn on. A few hours later I could turn it on again, but when I tried to get on Skype I started getting the same whirring sound, and I had to turn it off because it wasn't responding to anything. The next day when I turned it on, all I got was the apple icon, but it wouldn't take me to my desktop. I took it to a mac store yesterday and they said the battery's having problems (because I dropped my computer a while back, right on the battery-charging hole, and now it's bent and the charger has a hard time staying in). It would cost 150 euros to get that fixed (!), so I'm not going to right now. If you're a mac person, tell me what to do! :(

Other than that huge event, I'm really enjoying living with my family! They're so nice, I'm improving in my Spanish (poco a poco), and I'm learning more about the Spanish culture! Hannah's a genius.

I miss being in SC! Jennie is in the process of moving to DC and I wish I'd been able to come to her going-away Mardi-Gras party :). Michael and Gracen just got engaged--that's pretty awesome :). I miss Clemson in the Spring. It's the most beautiful place in the world then. The Botanical Gardens... gosh.

Exciting news: Seth's coming to visit again--for his spring break in March. Sisters--I can't wait to see you in July! (or May?)

Two funny stories

#1

Last weekend my sweet Dutch friend Mirjam and I got together at this trendy little bar in a section of town called La Latina. The name of the bar is "Delic." I was introduced to Delic by my buen amiga Hanah, who just left Madrid to return to her homeland, Korea.

The two times I'd been to Delic before the place was almost as crowded as a street in Valencia for La Tomatina: I think, the world's largest mosh-pit. So, when you go to Delic, you're supposed to order the carrot cake. A slice of it probably weighs two pounds. It has the lightest, sweetest cream cheese icing ever, and then it's drizzled with chocolate that's hardened and decorated with real rose petals.

Mirjam and I ordered one slice and two hot teas. We were at the front of the bar but we wanted to find a place to sit in the back, but I knew we'd have to take two trips with all the stuff we had to carry back there. So I pioneered through the crowd of people to the back of the bar, smiling to people who asked me if I was drinking tea (which I had to carry above my head because it's so crowded) and trying my best not to spill my little pot of it on them. I found the perfect table for us and told the waiter I was claiming it for two (it almost got snatched on my second time coming to the back). Then I had to, embarrassedly, squeeze myself back through the crowd of the same boisterous people again, smiling at comments about tea, to fetch Mirjam.

On my way back the second time, she was carrying her hot tea and I was carrying the beautiful carrot cake. Again, we had to carry it high above people's heads. One of the guys who'd commented about the tea earlier noticed the cake and said, "Feilz Cumpleanos!" Then he led THE WHOLE BAR in singing Feliz Cumpleanos to Mirjam and me, as we wrestled our way to our quiet(er) little table in the back of the bar.

#2

Today my second-graders were doing a project about clothing. Their task was to color and cut out an outfit for their own paper doll. Later they'd have to describe what their paper doll was wearing. We don't have too many resources at my school, so my friend Megan drew the paper dolls herself, and all the kids see it and laugh--it's pretty ugly. :) Well, it's also bald. They get to cut out hair for it. So, I was just trying to make conversation with the non-native English teacher in the classroom (her name's Susannah; she's from Madrid) and I pointed at one of the kid's dolls and said, "They're so ugly, aren't they? It doesn't matter how cute the outfits are, the doll is still ugly," laughing as I said it. Then she laughed with me and said, "Yes, he is very ugly, but, well, he is a very good student." I explained that I was talking about the doll and I would never say that about a student and we both died laughing. Oh, the joys of living in a foreign land. :)

2 weeks

It's hard to believe it's been less than two weeks since I've been back. It feels more like a couple months--I feel pretty much completely readjusted to being in a country where I don't understand the conversations around me anymore. :( Which sounds sad, but it's ok. Well, the family I'm living with right now is great--they're so sweet and smart and family-oriented. They remind me a little of my aunts and uncles, and the Wikes, who I babysat back home. The mom and dad traveled the world together before they had kids. They have pictures around their house from India, South America, and Africa, where they observed gorillas together on one of these amazing, expensive (I'm sure) tours. Someday I'M going to observe gorillas in Zambia. They all play memory-improving games together. They're that kind of family. I read stories to them in English every night at dinner. Cute. Oh, and the kids go to a school where they don't use books at all--instead, they draw pictures every day and make their own books. It's a really cool idea.

Last night Carmen asked me if I would think about staying with them till June, was really nice of her. I'm not sure if I will or not, though--it would be so great to live with them, but I'm thinking of some of the things on my "list" (the one Hannah and I made together) that I wouldn't be able to do so easily living and working with a family: taking advantage of free city events, traveling, getting involved in some kind of ministry, etc. There wouldn't be quite as much time for those things. So, I'm thinking/praying about it. I am learning Spanish better here than I was before, which is a priority, but still, I'm speaking in English to the kids all the time. So, yeah--there's a lot to think about. We'll see what happens next :). Oh, it is so nice living with a family, though. Humans are social beings--we need community so much.

Brand new start

I'm back in Spain! I got back Monday and started work Tuesday, with a whole new schedule this semester. The other American girl and I are teaching our own classes in a big, colorful classroom called "Wonderland." Now, instead of working five half-days, I'm working two full days and one half day and get Monday and Tuesday off, which will be really great. I also just (as in, 10 minutes ago) moved into a new house with a family! I've been looking into living with a family for a long time so I can practice my Spanish more, but had a hard time finding anything. A lot of university placement programs are really expensive, and I didn't want to pay too much, but I was starting to get desperate. Hannah recommended I post a profile on an aupair website called greataupair.com, and I immediately started getting calls and emails. Now I'm a "temporary aupair" for a family with an 8 year-old boy and 6 year-old twin girls. They're all really cute. I'm going to Speak mostly in English with the kids but in Spanish with the parents and the grandma, who comes over to help a lot. My schedule (with school) isn't exactly what they're looking for, but I can still help out in the afternoons.

So, I'm really excited!

I had a really rough, homesick week back, but there ARE a lot of things to look forward to being back. It was good to see some friends over the week--Biz, Melissa, Chris, Sarah. It's also exciting to have my "Spring Renewals" I made with Hannah--go to the library! take advantage of living in a big city by going to museums, concerts, etc., learn Spanish!

Anyway, more later... I'm going to play with my girls: Claudia and Patricia. Alejandro is at a basketball game. :)