RaNdOmNeSs

Thought I'd check in again... Hope you are all doing well!

I am feeling much better. I did absolutely nothing all weekend and it was fantastic! I really just needed to rest and get myself to feeling better and I think I succeeded, for the most part. I love lazy weekends!!

I hope that I am not disappointing any of you by not having any grand stories of travel. I promise they will come. Just be patient. I am still in the process of figuring life out and the transportation system and all that, haha! Plus, I want to make sure I have enough funds for my trip to England over Christmas. I have to travel to Madrid by myself that Thursday and stay the night before I catch my flight the next morning. I'll be traveling solo. I haven't figured out if I am going to take a bus or train yet. I've heard the travel time is about the same, but the bus in nearly half the price, so I'm guessing that's what I'll be taking. I hope there is some pretty scenery along the way. I will let you know, haha! Anyway, I just wanted to apologize that there hasn't been any tales of travel yet. There will be. I promise. ;)

The weekend hasn't been too cold during the day. Joanne and I actually sat outside a bit on Friday and 'tanned.' I got a little burnt! HaHa! It was nice to soak up the sun. The nights still remain pretty chilly, but I bought an electrical heater that I plug in right beside my bed. It helps tremendously! I bought it with the intention to keep it on during the night, but it's SO bright, haha! Those gas can heaters give me a headache with the fumes if they're on too long. I'm not a fan. I'll walk out of here a much stronger person in many ways. The water bottle in the bed thing... I cannot boast about that enough... It's amazing! You should all get one, haha!

I don't think that I've mentioned on my blog that Nicola arrived here a couple weeks ago. Nicola is the lady of the house, Dougie's wife. She's a very nice person. I really like her. She's a fantastic cook! Maybe that's why I've taken a little more interest in cooking? I don't know, but it's nice that I can ask her questions if necessary. Curry is a dish that is really common in Scotland. There are about as many Indian restaurants in Scotland as there are Mexican restaurants in the Kansas, it sounds like. Anyway... this is going to sound really stupid and don't judge me, but I thought curry was only a spice/seasoning. I had no idea it was a FOOD. Does that make sense? HaHa! Anyway, she made some chicken curry this weekend and invited me to join her and Dougie for supper (Joanne was in Jaen), so I took her up on it. It was a spicy delicious concoction of rice, chicken, peppers, etc. I couldn't tell you what all was in the actual sauce, but she has a recipe book downstairs that I may have to take a good look at. It was good. Very good. A fun little side note that some of you may appreciate and understand, haha... before we ate, I was in 'our' living room (Dougie and Nicola have their own den area) and I was watching a little TV... when I joined them for supper in their den, they were watching the same movie I had been watching... wanna know what that movie was? Good. 'Cuz I'm going to tell you... A blast from the past called Flash Gordon! HaHa! I don't think I've seen that movie since my childhood! :) Anyway, during the day, I had decided that I wanted to make brownies. (Worked out well since they cooked supper... I contributed dessert!) Again, don't judge me, but I've never made any brownies that didn't come from a box. They don't have boxed brownies here. I've been craving some, so I looked up a recipe online and hoped I'd find the ingredients at the supermarket. I found everything but nuts, but those were optional anyway, so I headed home. Oh, and they don't have vanilla extract here, so I had to actually buy sticks of vanilla and slice them open and dig out the vanilla beans and use those. (I give all the credit to Nicola on this for even telling me how to do this or that it was an option.) Also, I don't have measuring cups here. They don't measure in cups or ounces. And I couldn't remember how much one stick of butter equaled and the recipe called for two sticks. I eye-balled the whole thing, I kid you not. I baked it and waited very nervously. I'm not even good at cooking boxed brownies, so my expectations were really low, but hopeful still. Um, they are awesome!! HaHa! WAY better than any boxed brownie! HaHa! Dougie and Nicola both approved and said they were quite nice. Yeah me!! I know my culinary stories may not be the exciting Spanish stories you want to read, but it's a part of what I'm doing and branching out on in Spain, so I'm including it here. I guess you'll just have to deal with it, haha! I am quite proud of myself, to be honest.

Monday's, you remember, we 'teach the teachers.' We didn't have it last week, but the week prior to that, they asked for assistance from me in translating a document. ???? There's this project that our school is involved in. I believe it is called the "European Comenius Project." I don't know a whole lot about the details of this project and once I do, I'll post more about it. I want to do a little research on it before I post anything. I don't want to be wrong. The general idea is that it's an educational exchange program between 7 countries (Spain, Italy, Turkey, Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland, and Romania). Anyway, our teachers went to Turkey last week to visit a school there, but before they left, they asked me to translate a couple documents from Spanish to English. It was one of the times I felt legitimately useful and also one of the real tests at my Spanish skills. I don't want to pretend that I rocked it because I didn't. I didn't do horrible, haha. It was difficult, though, but I survived. I hope I was of help and that it wasn't a total bust. :) Once I learn more about the project, I'll definitely share. We've been working on making posters and signs and stuff for the project in my 5^th grade art class, so maybe they are getting prepared for something? I don't know. It sounds like it's a pretty big deal to be a part of, so I look forward to finding out more. :)

I was walking to school one day and I have to walk past the Guardia Civil (literal translation-- Civil Guard). They had the gates open and I happened to glance in (because I'm nosy like that?) and, on this particular day, I saw a sheep laying on the ground, tongue hanging out, slaughtered, with blood ALL over the place. I seriously only looked for a second and immediately looked away. At that particular time, there were no people around, just a sheep lying in the middle of the cement. I walked on to school with that image just stuck in my head. I, obviously, realize that slaughtering exists and I know where meat comes from, but I guess at home, things are done a little more discreetly?? Is that the word I'm looking for? I mean, I was just walking along the same sidewalk that the children walk on to go to school. I also realize that I am now part of a different culture where killings are celebrated and this could very well have been for a feast or something, I do not know what happened to Mr. Sheep after he took his last breath, but I am quite sure that every part of him was probably utilized, which is very respectable. I did look in on my way back home that same day out of curiousity and saw a bunch of people eating at tables, so maybe Mr. Sheep was the main dish. That's some fresh meat! HaHa! That may not be the kind of thing you want to read either, but I guess you are just going to have to deal with it, haha! Sorry!

There is a holiday coming up here. No, I'm not talking about Christmas. I have to work this week a full (12 hours, mind you) week and then we don't have school the following Monday, Tuesday, or Thursday. So, next week, I work a whopping two hours on Wednesday and that is my week. Seems pretty trying, doesn't it? :) Joanne is going to Barcelona on Thursday and is actually getting off the whole next week (Wednesday included). She invited me, but I'm leaving a couple days early for Christmas break, so I figured I shouldn't be too greedy. I looked at my calendar and I will seriously only be working 6 days out of the month of December and I will get paid the full 700 euros for that. I feel quite lazy. I have a friend that is going to do my hair next week. I've been a little itchy for something new... Surprise, Surprise! I'm trying something new, but you will just have to remain on the edge of your seat with anticipation, because I'm not telling! HaHa! I don't think anything could be a surprise to anyone who knows me, though, since I've done nearly every color combination with my hair. I will say that I am a little nervous, partially about getting my hair done by someone who doesn't know my hair very well. And partially because I hope what I want means the same thing to her as it does to me. She's a native English speaker from England that lives here, so I don't think there should be too much difficult in translating. :)

Alright, I am going to close for now! I hope you are all doing well and that your Thanksgivings were fantastic. And if you ventured out for that Black Friday madness, I hope you all survived. :) Nicola was saying they had horror stories on the news about Black Friday in the states, so she had to ask me a little bit about it. Black Friday to them happens after Christmas and is a day for people to go out and drink. It has nothing to do with shopping for them. Anyway... that was an accidental tangent... sorry.

I haven't given anyone a 'shout out' for awhile and I meant to do that kind of regularly. So, why not shout out someone?? Let's see... I would like to show some love for The Easterday family. Luke and Laura celebrated little Alec's 1^st birthday last week. They've came a long way from the Sip-N-Spin days. :) Happy Birthday to mini-Luke (and to you, Laura, in a few weeks). Additionally, I'll call out one more person since I haven't done the shout out thing in awhile... Andrea Trost, the Britney to my Paris... a tough girl that has had to prove her strength in recent life situations. Know that I am always here for you even through the miles. Love you, Brit! I hope you can join us in March/April!

Alright, I'm out... :) Throwing up the dueces! Thanks for reading!!