Basket of Roses

(Gift basket of roses I made for one of my best friends baby shower that I otherwise would have missed if I were in Spain)

I’m not certain I anyone is still reading my blog but if so you will be happy to know I am back safely in the states. Today marks three weeks to be exact (02/01/09)! It’s quite odd when you are put in a situation that you are torn by. When I was moving back I was bummed but kind of excited because the guy I had been dating and I had just broken up due to distance… well problem solved, I was coming home!! Upon my return he was sticking to his guns and proclaimed that his life had changed and that he just wouldn’t be able to make me happy. For what it’s worth that’s life and if he says he can’t make me happy then he’s probably right. Where there lacks the desire, there lacks the option. Sometime things just don’t turn out the way we think they will.

It’s still strange though because I still have this desire to be in this city where I began to create a little ‘home’ for myself. Barcelona had new friends, new work, new adventures and new possibilities constantly. Even on a day when exhaustion over ran ones body there was still the desire to go see more, go do more… just go exist in life in this amazing city. The contrast to this idea of being in this beautiful city is the idea that it lacks what I love about home. The familiarity of my town the people that surround me and know me sometimes better than I know myself. The built connections and joys that I have built upon for the past several years of my existence. Who would ever want to criticize those blessings?

So I can’t say that being home is my first choice because it isn’t, especially because one of the things I was so looking forward to is no longer apart of my life. However, I now get the chance to stand with one of my very best friends in the delivery room as she gives birth to her second child. An honor and gift that I cannot even believe I am so blessed I will be able to experience. As well as, the planning of my other best friend’s wedding whom, I am the Maid of Honor! I also get the chance to make new connections with people in my life that I had lost touch with, such as my cousin Leslie, as well and learn more about my new friends. When I live life here it is hard to see how I could have missed out on all that I have experienced in the last three weeks. Don’t get me wrong I certainly do miss Spain and knowing that something new, fresh and exciting could have been happening there. I do get bummed sometimes but when I look around at what I have here it is an easy reminder that either way I’ve got it pretty stinking good. Sometimes life is like a two-sided coin, either way the coin is still money and it’s still yours.

Much love to all my readers.

A Seceret for the Blog Readers: Bittersweet End

(I LOVE Charlie Chaplin's sweet little mustache... this is the goetee version)

To all of you who have been faithful blog readers you get the insight of my near future. So Barcelona has proven to be more expensive than originally thought. So come Saturday I will be on a flight back home. I wont actually arrive back in Wichita until Sunday afternoon though. I have a 12 hour lay over in New York City. Luckily I have a few friends in NYC so I will be entertained for dinner and perhaps a few drinks Saturday evening. I think this will be a nice close to this brief chapter in my life. I have to be honest I am sad to be leaving so soon. My new roommates seemed to be really genuine people. With my remaining few days here in Barcelona I will show Sydney around the city and I will soak up the remaining time I have with the new friends I have met in my time here. Darn money... oh well... that's life.... or so it's always been mine.

However, I greatly look forward to seeing all my family and friends. I truly missed everyone and feel that my time here has not been wasted. I have learned a lot about living in another culture and being able to see life outside of the US has been rewarding. I also know that lessons in life catch us later in life. What I mean by that statement is we don't always realize or understand the impact certain life experiences until we are able to look at things in retrospect. Always live for the day and the lessons of life will present themselves as they prove necessary and/or relevant.

I will say this, I had a great time in Germany for New Years Eve... I can't post all the pictures so please check out the link I have provided and you will be able to see a bit of my adventures while I was in Stuttgart Germany. Sydney and I went to stay with a friend of mine named Brandon... I have known him since the forth grade! It's crazy when you begin to know people longer than half of your life. One thing about Germany is the people are so tall and blonde! I can usually pick out my friend Sydney in the store because she is one of few blondes... not in Germany!

Stuttgart Pics:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2240722&l=9b1be&id=17001339

Love you all and see you soon!

I will leave you with this song:
"In My Life" by the Beatles
(you can listen to this song if you would like by clicking on the link I have provided)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym0x3vTw6yc

Oh Inconsistent Me

(The highest point in Cadiz)

(El Puerto de Santa Maria Beach)

(Cathedral/Highest point in Cadiz... Big bell)

(Inside the Cadiz Cathedral looking out)

(Looking down on the city of Cadiz... Look at the colorful roof tops... one in the distance is painted cow print... can you find it? It will be like our own little game of 'Where's Waldo?' Everyone loves Waldo!)

Hello All! It has been a while since I have written and the consistency of my blog postings is becoming less and less, well, consistent. Perhaps due to the fact that my life style is currently inconsistent, left open with lots of uncertainty. It is definitely an unusual feeling to not know what the next week brings. When I’m at home or at school it is really easy to foresee what the following weeks will bring but here all I know is that on January 5th I will be back in Barcelona and I will be on the prowl for a job. Prowl is not an understatement. I have been sending out my CV (resume) to many schools and job ads that are posted online. I have also been posting my own personal ads for private English lessons however; right there next to my ads are all of the other teachers in Barcelona. It is a hunt, it’s like we are all in this big concrete jungle and we are all searching for the same prey… English students!! English students beware but please, for the sake of myself and my fellow teachers… show yourselves graciously! We need your business! So this is, at the least, what I have to look forward to in the following weeks… finding a job… any job really!!! So in the words of Aretha Franklin, “Say a little prayer for me!”

In the more current future, I leave tomorrow for Germany or as referred to by the Spaniards, Alemania. Sydney and I will leave from Jerez, Spain at 8:30 in the morning arriving in Barcelona at 10:00 am. From there we will wait patiently in the airport for 6 hours until our connecting flight arrives at 16:10 (4:10) to take us to Frankfurt, Germany. Once we arrive in Frankfurt at 18:30 (6:30) we will have about an hour to get our stuff and get to our connecting train that will take us to our final destination, Stuttgart Germany. The train ride will take about an hour and a half. Once we reach the train station in Stuttgart at 10:00 pm my friend Brandon will be there to meet us and show us to his place where we will be staying. Brandon and I have grown up together and gone to school together since 4th grade!! I am really excited to catch up with him and see how life has been. We will spend a few days with him and then hopefully head over to Munich for the weekend. We plan on stopping at a couple concentration camps in Dachau, which is a city along the way to Munich.

Well I know it isn’t much but that is all I have to write about now. When life starts kicking up speed I will certainly be writing more. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and enjoy the New Year!!!

Mmwah!

"So You Think Your Spray Paint Job is Worthy.... Ok, Fine, Me Too"

(Robert, Stacey and I pulling a late night in the classroom to finish our Learner Profile projects the day before they were due. A pain of a project but a great experience/resume builder!)

(Stacey and I letting the Learner Profile project know what we think of it.)

(Tada! We're done! Not the greatest picture because we are all so tired but check out that sweet Wooo Hooo in the back ground! The wooo hooo is an understatement of the excitement we feel.)

I am sorry it has been so long since I have posted anything new. One week ago I completed my TEFL course and officially became TEFL certified. This certification will open up so many doors for me in the realm of teaching English world-wide. Wahoo!!!! I spent the weekend following the end of my course catching up on sleep and preparing to move out of my flat. As of December Monday 15th my lease was up. Stacey and I leading up to that date went and looked at a couple of flats… geez talk about small spaces and expensive rates!! A couple places were in great locations but the rooms were depressing… I mean I would go crazy living in them for more than a couple weeks!! It was like bad dorm room meets motel 7 if there were such a place. In our final attempt to lease a flat we met with some girls who had completed our same course a few months prior. The flat consists of 4 bedrooms and overlooks the city quite beautifully. Stacey and I looked at our options and decided that as far as space and money were concerned we would find living with these girls to be our best option. Aside from the benefit of cost quality these girls seem pretty cool. I had met two of the girls the first Sunday I was in Barcelona and they seemed very kind and welcoming. Only after an hour of knowing them they invited me to their Thanksgiving celebration that was a couple of weeks away! Wahoo, there was real turkey at this celebration! These two Pennsylvania girls, Brigid and Alex, seem like very warm individuals and I’m pretty excited to live with them. The third roommate’s name is Jess, she is from Los Angeles, I’ve only met her twice but she seems like she will be a great person to get to know as well. Now you are probably wondering… 4 rooms, 5 girls… something is not lining up here… Stacey and I will be sharing a room. Let me tell you Barcelona is nooooo cheap cookie to bake. So we will be splitting our portion… sometimes you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.

So after I figured out all my living situation biz I got myself ready and packed up my room. Stacey had to be out of her place on the 13th so her and I double packed my room for a 24 hour period. To say the least my/our room was quite crowded. Four huge suitcases, clothes everywhere and two bodies in the small single-bed room created a space that was quite humorous but in the same sense could not be lived in for longer than a day or two. So the last night in my tiny flat Stacey and I had a problem… one single bed and two girls who had only known each other for a month… yea we didn’t see that being the most exciting option. Luckily I love staying up late and I had to catch the metro at 5am the next morning. So while Stacey slept I stayed up chatting with various friends who were online in the states. Five a.m. rolled around and I hustled off to catch the metro on time so that I could catch the train at 5:20. I reached the train station shortly after 5 a.m. and hopped on with the airport as my determined destination. Once at the airport I checked in and had 10 minutes to find my gate before the boarding to Seville began. I don’t remember anything about the plane ride because at this time I was so exhausted from running (literally) and very little sleep that staying awake was not an option.

(Sydney and I the day I arrived in El Puerto de Santa Maria)

After I arrived in Seville I followed my friend Sydney’s, a good friend from college, directions to take the bus to the Train Station, Santa Justa in Seville. I eager but tiredly searched out the bus pictures in the airport. I was so excited that I found the bus and the correct bus at that. I was the third (perfect number) person on the bus and selected what I found to be the perfect exit seat. Maybe if my seat wouldn’t have been so perfect to exit from I wouldn’t have exited prematurely. I knew I needed to exit on the first stop however, I didn’t not realize the bus would be letting people off randomly along the way to the first stop. Needless to say I found myself, bags and all walking down the streets of Seville, my initial thought was… “Crap, I seriously just followed these people off the bus, I look like a total stalker and I am f*ing not on the bus going to the train station anymore, grand!” Don’t worry though because my genius thinking quickly kicked in and I flagged down the nearest taxi. Had I known the train station was two blocks down I would have just walked but at this point 5 euros was definitely worth the trouble. At last I made it to my second train station for the day and the last leg of my trip to see Sydney. I fumbled around a bit looking to purchase a ticket but fortunately I did not fumble to long and boarded the train 10 minutes before departure. I am telling you, 10 minutes must have been key for me on this day. I took the train from Seville to El Puerto de Santa Maria, Southern Spain, where Sydney met me!! Wahoo!! We had to option of a bus or taxi… I chose taxi. At this point I had been awake for approximately 24 hours and was ready for a straight foolproof shot to the location where I would be able to set my bags down, Sydney's flat.

(Looking of the side of the peir in El Puerto... someone felt their art was worthy of over looking the sea... I thought it was worthy of taking a picture.)

I have been here in El Puerto since Monday and I have had such a relaxing time… all except attempting to book Christmas travel plans. We spent over 10 hours looking for cheap airfare to Germany before Sydney and I finally found a perfectly priced travel plan last night to Stuttgart Germany. I have a good friend who I have known for more than half of my life who is studying to earn his masters in Architecture in Stuttgart. We are going to head up that direction on the 29th of December and plan on staying… well we don’t know how long yet. We haven’t booked our ticket back home yet… I’m telling you procrastination is not the key to cheap and quick travel plans. We do know that we will end up in Barcelona where Sydney will get to experience my city for a few days, yey!! Amongst all that excitement Sydney and I think we would like to travel to Morocco for a day or two prior to Christmas. We still have great plans of traveling to Paris, Amsterdam, Prague and many many other places but as of right now the money says, “No, you only get two places!” Darn money. Well I will miss you all for Christmas and perhaps if time allows I will get to blog again before that day comes. However, if I do not get back to my blog before the 25th remember, Christmas is about the family and not the presents. Duh… you guys are smart rocking people and since we are family and/or friends I of course know that you know that! Love and miss you all! Continue to keep me in your prayers it is more helpful than you know.

Uno Beso

I Hope I Live Until I'm at Least 65!

(Eating dessert at Cuatro Gatos, "Four Cats," a quaint coffee shop were Picasso use to come and sketch. And yes, it's true, I am sporting like 8 different colors in the style of 3 different patterns... jealous!?)

So I can’t believe the time has come and tomorrow is the last day of class. Someone the day before class started said time will pass by quickly but slowly at the same time and I would say that is a true statement. I can’t decide whether four weeks is a long time or a short time. A month, in the scope of things is so short yet in this month I have accomplished so much. I have encountered a new culture and new things every single day yet I have consistently had the familiarity of my classroom and my classmates. That ends tomorrow. I cannot tell you how excited I am yet slightly nervous at the same time. Finally, I will be here on my own and not held here by the will of anyone or any class but by the choice of my own. For a while I got really home sick and thought my stay here would be much shorter than I intended. I did not like teaching and constantly having the sense of feeling deaf and mute on account of the unfamiliar/unattainable Catalan language really had me searching for a sense of familiarity. It was quite frustrating and I felt myself searching constantly for the next thing to entertain myself. I went here and there, tried to make connections constantly and fortunately in this search I grew much closer to my classmates. I finally received the hugs I had been missing and they were/are wonderful! We tend to take the routine things in life such as hugs, a simple touch or a quick goodnight wish for granted. Sure, I could be home and go for a couple weeks without a hug or a good morning greeting but take away the option to make that decision and it leaves you feeling mildly suffocated. Rest assured those feelings are not as they were a week ago but that I still miss, at the very least, a warm smile from each of you.

I leave this Monday to spend the week with Sydney. We still haven’t decided our holiday itinerary but that will all come soon, very soon. I am so excited to be spending this holiday season with someone I have known for so long and feel close to. It wont be home home but we will make our own home, starting with a bottle of red vino!

Well this previous weekend I was so fortunate to spend an afternoon with Lauren, Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso! Last weekend was truly wonderful I really got a chance to get out and explore the city and see some of its sites. The Sagrada Familia, as you saw through my pictures, being one of the most amazing pieces of architecture I have seen, especially with all the symbolism! I truly cannot describe all the entities of this amazing structure. I hope to re-visit the Cathedral when it’s finished in 2050, assuming I will still be alive at the grand age of 65. Well, I had better start/finish my final lesson plan for EuroTEFL!! I am the absolutely last student teacher to teach tomorrow!! Wahoo!! On that note, I will leave you with some of my favorite pictures from the Salvador Dali Museum. Unfortunately, the Picasso Museum did not allow photos but that’s ok I prefer Dali’s work. Shhhh….. Oh and fyi, I can only upload 5 photos so I cannot possibly explain some of the details of my other favorites under this type of restriction. Thus, I chose these few photos because they can be displayed, for the most part, in a single frame... sorry. It really is sad.

Goodnight!
Mucho Love!

(I am a sucker for line work!)
(The detail in this piece is incredible! It goes on forever and like most of Dali's work you could become lost in the visual dialogue for hours!)
(I really like this one because at first glance it looks like a man and some clouds... as you look closer you will see a larger image of a man in the back ground and then finally before your eyes... one realizes the clouds are also people. Dali's paintings are ever unfolding. This painting is one of the more visually comprehendable paintings. So simple yet, to me, quite refreshing.)
(Here is one of Dali's crude, simple yet visually stimulating paintings. There was a room full of paintings/drawing in this exact style/series. All of the works in this specific collection were composed of very scratchy ink line drwaings and confidently odd images accompanied by boldly painted backgrounds. I suppose this was my favorite because of the bright green back ground.)

Who Sells Pigeons... Better Yet, Who Buys Them?

(My lovey accordion binder!)

Sorry it has been so long since I have written. Life has been semi crazy. I have been lucky to catch a few of your online from time to time, which has been really nice! Thanks! Here is the short break down of my current and crazy life. :)

School:
So I have five more days remaining in my EuroTEFL course.... thank goodness! I love the time spent with my teachers and classmates but I will not miss all the crapy grammar and unexciting lesson planning. I have found that teaching is a much structured profession or at least in the sense of teaching English. Today we received yet more grammar information... all which will be on our Exam Tuesday! Everyday we get about 3 hours of new information that we are required to obtain and regurgitate on this final Exam Tuesday... blah! So 36 hours of knowledge that will need to be studied this weekend along with, one lesson to plan for Tuesday, my completed CV (resume) by Monday and My learner profile (thorough analysis of my "learner," Rudy and his understanding of the English language) completed by Wednesday, I will also need to plan a lesson for Rudy tonight or tomorrow in order to give him a private lesson this weekend, along with the task of organizing all of my lessons creating a teacher profile (for jobs but also an assignment) and finally I will complete my course with a lesson on the last day of class, Thursday the 11th, which I will also plan in the midst of this next week. Whew... now that that is over....

Personal:
I am moving out of my flat on the 15th because that is when my contract is up. I will be flying to Sevilla Spain on the 14th where I will meet up with my friend Sydney from K-State. Sydney is currently working as an English teacher in a little town outside of Sevilla. I will live with her for a week while she finishes up her semester on the 19th. From there we will fly out of Sevilla for the holidays with anticipated travel to Germany, Prague, Amsterdam and lastly, Pairs. Merry Christmas and Happy New Years to us!!! Luckily we have friends in 3 of the 4 locations we are traveling to so we wont have to spend much on room and board. From this point Sydney begins school again on Jan. 9th... for myself I am not certain of my plans. I may look into becoming a figure model, I may become a street performer or hey, there are a ton of dogs in Europe... perhaps I'll cosy up to a pup on the street and call it my own. Yeah probably not but stay tuned because it is true I don't know what's next. My classmate Stacey and I may share a room for a month at our friend Roberts place but as of now that's what I've got for you.

Anyway, I would love to write more and I apologise for the lack of creativity and the straight forward structure of this post but sometimes life screams order and basic organization... ahhhhhh! Cha right, that would be like calling life grammar and trust me life is not grammar! I will bring you more excitement from Barcelona hopefully in the next couple of days.

Just as the pigeons being sold in cages here should be... Out!
(and yea... that is a true statement... crazy ass people trying to make a buck)

“Who Needs Drugs When You Have English Teachers?”

(Traveling, somewhere, 27.11.08)

So Thanksgiving here is well… simply the last Thursday of the month… soooo non-existent. My American friends and I decided the week before Thanksgiving that we would all gather and have our own little Thanksgiving feast. Literally the same day we were discussing this mock-Thanksgiving dinner we discovered that ISLA (our study center) had alternative plans for our “not-Thanksgiving” evening. Another language school here in Barcelona had an opening in their schedule and invited us to come teach their students for an hour. We were not to thrilled at this news to say the least, especially considering it was scheduled right after our normal day of class. AH!

So we had a week to let the news set in and by Thursday it still wasn’t our first choice but I think we had all decided it wouldn’t be to bad and that afterwards we could still celebrate! So after class ended at 5:00 and we set off for the nearest metro stop so that we could reach our destination by 6:00. After a metro journey consisting of cramped spaces, Robert almost licking a handrail and the sweetest 5 o’clock accordion players Barcelona’s metro system could offer we finally hit the street near our destination.

We made our way to the school, which was quite near the station. Shortly after arriving to the classroom adult students of all ages began pouring in the room filling nearly all thirty empty seats. Some nerves began to show through amongst my colleagues. I feel fortunate that my tired mind warded off the majority of those nerves. Lawrence, our instructor, grouped us with 5-6 students each for a more intimate learning environment. We followed our lesson worksheets in our small groups and one-by-one made our way up to the front of the class to deliver our specified instructions to the entirety of the class; in order to keep the lesson moving.

Finally the class was over and we as teachers exchanged our wavering perceptions of the experience. We had all decided that this experience was well worth missing out on Turkey between the times of five and seven; our students seemed so appreciative and excited that we were there and that truly made the experience all worth it. One lady was so thankful and excited she utterly could not contain her face and body of enthusiastic gestures, Alex was quick to point this out. It followed with this statement, “Who needs drugs when you have English teachers!” We concluded with a picture to commemorate the event and then eagerly left that school, it was Thanksgiving dinnertime!!

(Commemorative Photo:
Back: Robert, Lawrence, Alex, Lauren
Front: Stacey, Natalie)

(Rahul, not my student but dying to know my age
and get a photo with me. Reservations much?)

After walking around searching for a restaurant we could all agree on, for about forty minutes, common situation, we finally decided on this small restaurant; tables topped with white linen and wine goblets. We made our way in, sat down and quickly were moved to another seat… apparently seat yourself means ‘seat yourself in the place we ESP you to sit.’ We again moved once more, into the smoking section, which was great because it was a whole room just for us! Perfect! We quickly ordered drinks, I finally got the gin and tonic I had been wanting all day and shortly following we placed the order for our long awaited Thanksgiving dinner! Now please don’t be offended and keep in mind I don’t know that I have seen turkey since I’ve been here, along with many other Thanksgiving items. The food came out, a salad, calamari, cured ham with vegetables and last but not least black rice and squid. Yes, black rice. Black rice, new to me but quite tasty, is rice cooked in squid ink! Sounds odd and it is but it is really good! Oh and yes, it does turn your teeth black… its ink, what else would you expect? We concluded our meals and headed on our way. To our surprise when we left it was raining. Luckily it wasn’t to far to the nearest metro station. After a long journey home on the metro I arrived safely at my flat and enjoyed another gin and tonic to celebrate while I called home. It was great talking to everyone! Thanks!

(Inky teeth... compliments of Mr. Squid)

This was not what one would call a "traditional" Thanksgiving. It was a long day and we truly had to work for our dinner however, it was great being able to share this holiday with people whose company I enjoy!! On another note I did attend another Thanksgiving dinner today (Saturday)… this dinner had all the real fixings!! It was so refreshing to have a taste of home!!! I SO MUCH love the yogurt here but it does not account for all the missing dishes I miss from back home. Today was gratifying.