La casa on Calle Damas...

Hello, family and friends!

I figured I'd stop by the library today and hijack some free internet.  This town shuts down tomorrow, I guess.  I thought it was their labor day, which one of my books DOES say.  But my teacher said it was Columbus Day.  Whatever, I get a free day!  HaHa!

Dad's been bugging me, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to take you on a photographic tour of my house.  I hope it gives you some sort of an idea... 

Our doorway... Please, come in...

This is the hallway/entrance area.  The living room is to the left and the dining room is to the immediate right.  The 2nd right leads to the kitchen... and the stairs... heads up, up, and up...

This is the living room.  There's a small TV in the bottom left corner (you can't see it, obviously, but that's where it is in relation to the photo).  They have tons of books that I plan on borrowing!  :)

The dining room.  We've never used this area at all.  I either eat in front of the TV (typical!) or out on the patio if I'm not at a cafe for supper.

Continuing on to the kitchen area.  Figuring out the oven and microwave was a bit tricky for me, but it's all good now!  Above the sink (I should've taken a pic, sorry), in those cabinets is the dry rack where you put the dishes when you're done... it's open on the bottom so it just drips into the sink.  I really like this feature!!  HaHa!  All that booze on the bottom left is NOT mine, I promise.

Through the kitchen, you go up some through a little hallway, out a door, and up some steep steps to get out to the patio area.  It's still very sunny here and Douglas and Joanne spend a lot of time tanning.  I'm quite ok with not being in the heat!  :)

This is taken from over by where those chairs were on the patio.  The top middle is our terrace area where Joanne's clothes are hanging to dry.  The stairs up and down are to the right just behind that potted plant.

Here they are!  The steps up & down to the patio area.  To the left is a small storage area.  I didn't take any photos.  I hope that's ok.  :)

Ok, back inside and back through the kitchen... you can kind of see the kitchen doorway to the left of the photo.  These are the steps leading to the 2nd floor.  Douglas lives on this floor and there are a couple extra bedrooms.  That is Bracken, our canine roommate.  :)

This gets kind of confusing... even for me to.  At the top of those stairs where the dog was, you go around the corner and up a few more steps to this... This leads to the 3rd floor where our rooms are.  Mine is at the top of the steps to the right.

My room.  Please excuse the mess.  I tried to tidy up a bit before taking photos, but this is what you get.  HaHa!  The window offers great lighting, but is shut most of the time.  I used a scarf I brought as a makeshift curtain.  It works quite well!  Notice the ceilings.  It is like that all over the top floor of the house.

I shut the window and took a photo looking back at my doorway.

Our bathroom.  Impressive, huh?  HaHa!  I am sure this is the highlight of your tour, but I didn't want to exclude anything!

This is still our bathroom.  I'm at the doorway.  There's lots of space!  Ceiling?  I love the ceilings!

Across from our bathroom is the door to our terrace area.  It's a nice place to just chill (and let your laundry dry of course!)

I'm standing on our terrace looking over our patio area...



This concludes today's tour.  I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed being your host.  :)  I will take pictures in the school and around the village and of the people in due time.  I definitely want you all to experience this with me (as much as you can, anyway!).

I skyped with Dad last night.  That was nice.  It was good to see his face, not just hear his voice!  More of you need to set it up and ADD ME (ashleyjocook)!  I'm not as homesick (YET) as I thought I would be at this point.  I am managing quite well.  I'm sure it'll get rough at some points more than others, but I'll survive!  :)  So far, so good, though!

Aside from the language, the biggest adjustment I'm having to make is having a roommate again.  I'm just not used to having someone there all the time.  :)  It's not a bad thing, though.  It offers a sense of security knowing you aren't alone.  I'm sure she thinks I'm annoying because I don't think I talk enough for her (Shut up, it is NO surprise to anyone that I'm quiet when you first start to get to know me... AFTER you get to know me, well... you're screwed! HaHa!).  I've been so used to just living alone and doing my own thing when I'm at home that I've kinda forgotten how that constant conversational thing goes.  I'm working on it, though, just like the language!  :) 

Well, the library will be closing soon.  I hope this finds you all well!!  Let me know if there is anything you'd like me to add or address on my blog!  :)  Thanks for viewing! <3