the after 30 part...

Every year I make new years resolutions.  Some people think they are stupid, booo on them!  I love them.   Last year I had five.  Before I wrote them, I had the mindset that 3/5 would be good enough.  I somehow, miraculously, accomplished four of them.  They were: Start the introduction to my book - didn't finish. Study Spanish weekly - mastered Find a way out of Skagway - Plan made. Do a pull up - Conquered Fall back in love with fitness - Did and then fell back out of love. (it's a love/hate relationship) This year I have five simple ones.   I will not use the escalator or elevator for one year, even if I have to go to the 25th floor. (unless it's an emergency and I am running late to catch a plane for example).  I will finish the research for my book.  (Maybe that is why I didn't get last years resolution finished.) I will read a book in Spanish from beginning to end and understand it. I will start my year round life in Seattle (m...

Today I purchased my first pair of prescription sunglasses.  Usually I buy $10 sunglasses at Target, and within a month they are so scratched you can't see anything except a foggy haze.  In the last year, wearing my contacts lenses has been a bit annoying.  My eyes dry out, and my vision blurs more often when I wear them.  I talked to my doctor about this in the states, but the problem is still persisting.  Being able to see is crucial, and when the sun is out glaring into my eyes, I'm either squinting because it's too bright, or squinting because my contacts are no good.  Lasik eye surgery?  I've been told I am not a good candidate.  So when Marcos told me his sister was an optometrist and that she could offer me a good deal on vision wear, I decided to invest in my first pair of sunglasses that I will actually need to care for. Veas Opticos is located in Arcos de la Frontera on Avenue Miguel Mancheno, 6.  Upon ent...

Traditional Christmas in Spain is nothing like the United States.  They have a Santa Claus but they call him Papa Noel and he doesn't come down your chimney at night with a bag of gifts.  Instead, he is more of a mascot for the holidays.  No reindeer, no sleigh, no Christmas cookies and milk.  There is no gift giving, stockings, no early morning surprises.  On Christmas Eve, traditionally, families get together for a big dinner.  This generally starts around 10pm at night.  They dress up in their nicest clothes and sit with each other's company to eat tapas, such as:  shrimp , fish patae , ensaladilla rusa , ham, cheese, green olives, bread and chips.  I absolutely love the fish patae, and the ensaladilla rusa, but not so much their shrimp.  It tasted like low tide. After tapas, comes the turkey.  They cut it up into pieces, with white wine sauce and potatoes.  Desert was pineapples, cheese cakes and traditional wrapped candi...

Tuesday morning we woke up to more freezing weather.  Frank and Geraldine say that the weather here is record breaking cold.  I have to admit, even from Alaska, it's unbelievably cold here.  I thought my toes were going to freeze off and I had two pairs of socks on and my warm shoes!  It doesn't help either that my fleece lined wool hat and gloves were stolen! Following up on my return flight, we left early in the morning on the train to Manchester airport from Atherton.  The trains are even a mess because of the weather.  Standing in the freezing cold waiting for delayed trains, just to have them announce it's been cancelled or on another platform.  The thing is, it's not even snowing.  It's just cold!  I saw people with their suit cases and children on their hips bouncing up and down as they run to try and catch any train to the airport.  This country does not know how to function in the snow.  Once to the airport, which I might ...

So... remember how I mentioned earlier that I have been having bad luck? hahahahahhahahahahhahahaha haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahah.... it continues (although in the bad luck I have gotten some luck). I woke up Saturday morning to an email saying my flight from Madrid to London was cancelled due to snow.  I became frantic and immediately got on Skype and tried to contact the airline. Was I supposed to stay in Cadiz?  Should I fly to Madrid from Jerez?  The line was busy constantly.  When I finally was put on hold, I waited an hour but then needed to go right away to catch the bus to Jerez.  Once to Jerez, they told me to fly to Madrid and see what happens. Upon arriving to Madrid, I was informed my flight was cancelled.  Iberia was amazing and put me in a nice hotel, with dinner and breakfast.  I couldn't believe it, all for free! The next day I went back to the Madrid airport to be informed that my flight was cancelled again and I needed to stand in a ...

Life is getting better in Spain.  I got a 9/10 on my 5 page test today in class.  YES, 5 pages!!!  So I am feeling like a Spanish speaking Goddess right now.  YIPPEE!!! QUE BIEN! This is my first Christmas ever away from home (Dad or Moms).  So far I am doing okay on the homesickness front, but being in Spain has made me appreciate my family so much more.  There has been holiday seasons where sometimes I feel like I want to runaway from my family, but being away, reminds me of how special my family really is and what an amazing place I grew up in.  Because I am in Spain, where the cultural is so different than American homes, I am finding that I am one of the luckiest girls in the world, with the best parents, siblings and friends who have been my main support my entire life.  I am feeling perfectly blessed right now, with many lessons learned here in Spain. Lessons like being grateful, taking it little by little, letting go, and patience. Tomorro...

I don't like to think that I have a pessimistic attitude or that I think  negatively but I haven't been having the best time here in Spain.   Don't get me wrong, there have been amazing moments, but all the little stupid crap is making those amazing moments feel small.   It started the first week I got here, one thing on top of another.   Little things, like bug bites, getting drenched by random rain storms, leaking boots, to bigger things like bladder infections, colds, being demoted (read below)....crap just has just been piling up and piling up to one big fat pile of pissing me off.    Last week  was the cherry on the top.    As I was leaving class on Wednesday, my teachers asked me to come talk to them.   They asked if I wanted to move down to the lower class.   After six weeks of studying, I have been demoted.  I told them this the second week I was there, that I had a horrible time understanding and th...

Thanksgiving was a hit!  Trying to find the right ingredients or the brands I trusted in Spain was near to impossible.  Did you know that Spain doesn't have cranberries, just the juice (not very common though) and in one grocery store we found cranberry sauce, but they put it with the tobasco sauce?  I had given up looking when I just happened to look up on the top shelf and there it was next to mustard and spicy sauces.  Random. I prepared a story in Spanish to read to my family (see below for my Spanish readers), skipped school on Friday and cooked up a storm.  Turkey, home made gravy, carrots, home made mashed potatoes, hot rolls (store bought and microwaved because Pillsbury doesn't exist here), my marshmallow yams, cranberry sauce, black olives and two hand made pumpkin pies (literally, i mashed the pumpkins!).  I started the day with Lola, Marcos's mom.  She was nice enough to pluck the few remaining feathers that we...

Last weekend I went to Seville for the night with Marcos, Vane, Mikki, and Paco.  Last year I studied here for a week and just loved this city.  This is where one of my favorite artists lives, Maria Ortega Estepa .  I missed her art show in October but she is going to have another show in Jan, and I am definitely going to go see it!  We left Cadiz on Saturday morning and arrived to miserable weather.  It wasn't just raining, it was Ketchikan pouring.  Parking is really bad in Seville.  We parked a good 30 minute walk away from our hostel, so by the time we got there, I was drenched.  The boots I was wearing leaked water into my socks and I didn't bring an extra pair of shoes!!  I walked the city with cold wet feet.... :(.  I planned  on buying some new shows in Seville, but no such luck.  I think I'm too picky.  Anyway, the rain finally eased up and we were able to roam the city.  We visited shops, walked by the Cathe...

Every day after school, I come home, have lunch, study, go to the gym (some days), study some more and go to bed.  Marcos decided I needed a break from this monotony and he took me shopping in Jerez!  There is a huge shopping center there, including Ikea, H&M, and cute clothing shops.  We left Cadiz a little later than we had hoped.  We walked through some of the down town area, which on some streets reminded me of a fake movie set up because of how old and cute it was.... and then on to the bus to get to the major shopping area.  Upon our arrival, we realized we didn't have much time to eat a snack before we shopped, so we shoved two donuts down our throats (not one but two each) and started  in H&M.  The last store we were in was called Primark.   Primark is like... well the craziest store I have ever been in.  Jodie, if you feel overwhelmed sometimes in Target or Fred Meyer, you would have had a heart attack in this store.  Me...

Just a few pictures of my life in Cadiz. Sign reads: For the employment in the bay of Cadiz (Cadiz and surrounding areas) For the compliance of the agreements (contracts) They were walking down the main street setting off fire crackers. Lola enjoying her hobby of painting. So orderly and neat.  I love the little kid undies in the upper right corner. Boys stealing internet to play games online.  They do this quite often.. Sometimes they even move it down on the walkway instead of the hallway. Daily sounds outside my window. Vane's building

Marcos is extremely loyal to his friends.  He is the type that has a few super close friends and he sticks with them for life.  He reminds me of a wolf with his pack, forever together.  Saturday we had a 6pm snack (since dinner is at 10pm) at his house and those really close friends of his came over for SMC candies, peanut butter on toast and tea/coffee! Lucia (Paco's girlfriend), Ana (Jesus's girlfriend), and Vane (Miki's girlfriend) Vane is shy and currently learning English.  She gets super nervous around me when trying to speak English but she is getting more brave.  She is my closest girlfriend here.  I try and tell her that I am just as nervous speaking Spanish but that in order to learn you have to try!  Lucia is what I think of as a typical Spanish woman.  She is super expressive with her face and hands when she speaks, so much that I usually understand her the most because she is practically acting out what she is saying. Left to Ri...

This weekend was full of fun events!  Spain is definitely very social, and people are always coming and going in Marcos's home.  Friday night we went to "Swedish Night" at some of my fellow classmates apartment.  There are a lot of Swedish students at my school because SIC (Spanish in Cadiz) has a contract with the University in Sweden (or something like this) that puts all Spanish learning students at SIC.  The night consisted of singing Swedish songs, eating meat balls and drinking a lot! I brought brownies and cookies (in the white bag!) Frankie from Seattle!!  He is studying Spanish through Univ. of WA. Elin, Swedish, pouring drinks All the deserts Elin had food coma! hahah Teachers, students, friends = fun!