Presidential Nominees' stances on fighting global poverty

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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?)