A bit of January...

My sincerest apologies that my blog entries have been quite infrequent. The following entry has been made over a span of a couple weeks. I've been thinking about and preparing entries, but my questionable internet service hasn't allowed me to be online long enough to get the entry posted. Once I get my screen fixed, I will be able to take it to the library or school and my entries will become more frequent! I'm hoping that starts next week, but we are in Spain... everything is always, "Mañana." :)

Apparently, I am on a quest to kill my computer. :) As I stated in the last entry, I fell down the stairs and took my computer with me. Well, last weekend, I decided to spill coffee on the keyboard. I'm pretty impressed at my ability to stay calm. I didn't freak out too terribly much. Instead, I got to work cleaning right away. My brother's would be very impressed if they saw me... I had the back of the computer taken off and was looking over the battery and hard drive, etc. I even took off the keys and cleaned under them. I'm pretty impressed, haha. And so far, it's been functioning just fine. A couple nervous glitches when I first attempted to use it, but it's been alright for almost a full week. A collective 'knock on wood' would be greatly appreciated. :) Thanks in advance.

In addition to that, I went to Jaén last Friday with Stef and Joanne. My primary reason for going was to get my official laminated card that says I am a resident of Spain. I walked in, passport in hand and handed it to the man at the door. Well, turns out, I had to have my receipt that I paid my taxes in order to pick up my card. Yeah. I didn't have that. It has been two months since my last meeting with these guys and two months since I paid that stupid tax, so it just slipped my mind. I forgot it. The guy seemed nice enough and said that there was no rush to get back to get the card as long as I had my temporary one (which I do). I was pretty disappointed in myself for awhile. Not to mention, I had one helluva sore throat. Eventually, I just convinced myself to face the facts and deal with it, so I went on with my day. So, remember that whole "stay positive, relax more" stuff I was talking about for 2012? I'm getting plenty of opportunity to test that... So far, it's going alright in the sense of tangible things, anyway. I am doing my best to talk myself through things and keep things honest and in perspective in my mind. There are far worse things than losing my computer in the grand scheme of things. I remind myself of that daily.

I wanted to write about a little old man I've met. I don't remember if I've written about him and I don't have the patience (or internet service at the moment) to look up my blog history, so my apologies if this is repetitive. His name is Fernando. He speaks English well. He's spent some time in the states and Mexico and many years in Australia. He's a very kind man and always wants to talk my ear off when I pass him on the street. Once, he told me all about astrology. He's got a very low opinion of this village. He thinks it's too small and people are too nosey. :) Typical small town stuff, haha! :) I passed him in November when I was sick and could hardly speak, but I didn't have the heart not to listen to his stories. He noticed I was sick and offered to pick me up a jar of honey in Cordoba the next time I was sick (to combine with lemon, etc). I also didn't have the heart to tell him that I have a very strong dislike for honey, but I also figured he'd forget or not worry about it. I was wrong. He was out sweeping the sidewalk (of snow... that was still falling???) as we passed by this week and he had me wait and brought Joanne and I a bottle of fresh honey each. He also gave me a frying pan that he says is of the best quality. :) I will try the honey eventually. For some reason, I've never jumped on that bandwagon, but I will sure try it since Fernando gives it with love. :) He's a cute little man. I'll have to snap a picture with him one of these days so you can put a face with a name.

Snow fell!! And the next day, it melted! :) Off of the streets, anyway. The mountains still have snow on top of them and here are a few pictures I've taken through the week. It was a really light, thick snow. I fell a couple times, but what's winter if you don't bust your butt a couple times? Since the snow, the days have been quite sunny and warm (in the sun). The shady areas are a bit chilly. Nights are still f'ing cold. :) HaHa! But not unbearable... It's gonna make me stronger, right!? :)

This was the view from my window

I took this on my walk to school

I have tons more pictures to post, but you'll have to check out Facebook for the full library.  :)  Once my computer is fixed, I'll have them posted!

So, I have started working on some travel plans. January isn't going to allow me to do much traveling simply because I now have to pay to have my computer fixed... an unforseen circumstance. So, in the village I will be staying through this month... But February... watch out, world! :) I'm on the move! I think I'm going to do at least a small weekend getaway somewhere here in Spain. But, the big trip comes at the end of February. We have a week off of school for holiday, so I am going to take full advantage of that. I will be heading to Belguim for almost a week. My friend, Leah, who I met in classes at Fort Hays lives in Ghent and I will be making a trip to visit her. We are still working out the details because it seems that Annie Castle is going to be in Madrid for the same week I have off. For those who don't know, I worked a few years at the bars with Miss Annie B. She's heading over for vacation and it would be silly of us not to see each other. So, at the end of my Belguim trip, I will fly into Madrid and spend a couple days with Annie before heading back to the little village. :) I'm really excited to get this traveling thing started!!! :)

Another idea I have been having is going to Italy to catch some basketball... you know, Jacob Pullen basketball. How fun would it be to rock a purple shirt with a big ol' powercat on it and have signs that say "Fear the Beard" and "EMAW!" :) I think it'd be fun! I bet he'd notice! :) Unfortunately, that will be a trip I have to take alone because I have no friends here that are interested in sports or KSU sports anyway. I just gotta try to interpret their Italian team website, haha! If I can work out a trip at the same time of a game... Ballin'!! :)

Spain is fantastic! I still love that everyone greets you on the streets. I still love the welcoming kisses between people when they meet (whether it's the first time or the 40^th). I love the students and having the extra class with the 6^th graders allows me to get to know them better and them us. It's the type of classes I expected to teach when I came here. Right now, it's crazy disorganized, but we're working on it. We'll get it figured out. Anyway, I love that everything I NEED is within walking distance. Notice I stressed need. There may be things that I WANT that I'd have to drive for, but I'm figuring out the difference between the two. I like NEED much better. Spain is just pretty awesome.

This paragraph comes to you from the 25^th of January. Again, my apologies for such disorganization in this particular entry. I am still waiting for my computer screen... always waiting. :) I went to Jaén on Tuesday with Stef and guess who finally has their NIE card IN HAND?! THIS GIRL! :) Finally!! HaHa! It was a quick visit into the rabbit hole and quite pleasant in comparison to past visits. Things go much smoother when you have all your documents! :) Who would've thought?!

I do have an update on a couple things: I've been paid for the English Club from my first 3 months here, finally. That's fantastic news & quite a relief since I still have my computer to pay for. Speaking of, I went to check on its status this afternoon and, once again, he said "between today and Monday." Always mañana...

AND... I have officially booked my ticket to Belgium for the end of February! I'm going to visit Leah Budke for almost a week! And once I return to Spain, I get to see Annie Castle! She'll be finishing her trip in Madrid, so we plan on linking up for the last couple days while she's here. I'm looking forward to the travels!! I hope you are, too! :)

Ok, I am going to get this posted... I hope this finds you all well! ¡Besos!

As of presstime, haha, I just received word that my computer screen is here!  Hopefully, I get it fixed today!!  :)

A quickie from my iPod...

My computer's Internet connection is quite shady at my house, so i had to add an app on my ipod that would allow me to blog without being on my computer. I can't do pictures like this & trust me, i have a few good ones. :) But for now, I just wanted to send out a quick entry to let all my avid reader know that more is coming! I haven't forgotten about you!! I promise I'll be much better I'm February. I am currently working on an entry to end January. Gonna be a good one!! Haha... Maybe. Once my computer is fixed, you will hear from me with much more frequency!! :) Hope you are all well!!

Hello, Hello... Happy New Year!

The Cousins...

Hello!!

Well, I've been back in Spain for almost a week now. Most of my time has been spent unpacking and reorganizing. I've moved from the 3^rd floor to the 2^nd floor... a little warmer and a bigger bed! :) It was good to get back to school and see the students. It seems everyone is a bit more chipper after a nice little break, me included. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous since I've been back. It's fantastic! I sat outside sunning this afternoon for awhile. I am told they are predicting snow for the weekend, though... yuck. It'll be nice to see snow on the mountain-tops, but I am also very much enjoying this warmth. :)

My 27 ½ hours of traveling was pretty unexciting. It was delay after delay with every flight. I only had about 20 minutes to catch my next flight in Houston. Of course, we landed in the terminal completely opposite of the one I needed to be in, so that was interesting. I was sweating by the time I made it to my gate, haha! I was fortunate that I didn't have to switch planes in New Jersey. I had to get off the plane and wait for them to clean it, but there wasn't any rushing from one terminal to the next, thank goodness. However, once they boarded everyone, the captain came on and said that they had to call maintenance to fix someone's seat that was broken. We had to sit there for an hour and 10 minutes before we finally moved. That was a little annoying. They had their in-flight entertainment available, though, so I just watched a movie. I decided to test my whole "relax more" idea I've had and not book any bus tickets or anything back to the village. I decided it was a perfect time to test my positive attitude and let things work out. It worked. :) Once in Madrid, we obviously had to go through customs upon arrival. You have to fill out these declaration forms. Well, I filled mine out as I always have, but when I got to the counter, the lady asked for my NIE card. I gave it to her and she said, "The declaration form is for tourists. You're a resident." I got a big grin on my face and thought, "Yes. Yes, I am." First time that I've got to feel that I'm an official part of Spain, haha! :) I collected my luggage and found a taxi to the bus station (rather expensive) and then I had to wait almost 3 hours before my bus was to depart. The bus ride was a little over 5 hours long. I think I slept through some of it, but definitely not much. I arrived in Jaén too late to catch a bus back to the village, so I got a taxi. It, too, was a fairly expensive ride, but well worth it to finally see the front door to my place here in Spain. I didn't bother unpacking a single thing. I fell asleep around 9:00 p.m and woke at 12:30 (noon) the next day. I think I needed it. HaHa! So far, I haven't had any real issues with jetlag. I spent most of Saturday moving my stuff from upstairs to downstairs. Well, on one of my trips, I fell down the stairs (yes, I'm fine). Unfortunately, when I fell, one of the things I was transporting to my new room was my computer. The screen is completely screwed. I sat there and cried for a good 5 minutes. I am fortunate that it wasn't more than the screen. Stef took me to a computer guy who is ordering me a new screen. In the meantime, I hooked my computer up to Dougie and Nicola's so I can still use it. It isn't nearly as bad as I envisioned as I was falling. Thank goodness. After visiting the computer guy, Stef and I had a coffee (good to have that Spanish coffee again—I missed it!) and caught up a bit. Other than that, I have not been doing much.

I'm really glad I went home for the holidays. The looks on some of the faces were pretty priceless. I got some very good reactions. It felt good to be missed. I guess now is the real test... 7 ½ months... but I don't think it'll be an issue. There is lots going on between now and then. Time will fly, I'm sure.

I spent most of my time split between my family on the ranch and my family in Hays. I did my best to see everyone that I could, but knew it wasn't going to be possible to see everyone that I wanted to. Highlights were numerous. Getting to see Lynnon walk/run/play in person was pretty awesome. She's such a character!

Pooped.

Lynnon & I doing a little light reading

Spending time with my great group of friends in Hays on New Year's was pretty awesome, too. The actual ringing in of the new year wasn't anything to write home about (at this point, it's just another day...), but the wedding day/reception/people were memories to take with me forever.

The group I spent the majority of New Year's Eve with... quite fun!

Clint, Schuette, Baxter, and myself at the Sip/Rail Christmas party

I went coyote hunting with Trent. This may sound SUPER cheesy, but I've put everything else out there, I may as well continue to tell it like it is. :) Anyway... I felt really empowered. It felt kind of awesome to walk through the brush, gun locked and loaded, ready to shoot if a coyote made an appearance. I'm quite sure I would have missed had that happened, but it felt good none-the-less. I enjoyed calling coyotes more than walking for them. I was confident that if a coyote came out of hiding that I would have nailed it from where I was. I'm really not that bad of a shot, believe it or not. Unfortunately, none came, but Trent and I had a mini targest session at a log on the ground, haha. :)

Those are just a few of the highlights. Seeing family and friends was obviously the top of my list and the weather couldn't have been more perfect. :) I miss everyone already, but was ready to get back here and get started with school again. :) I'm starting to look into trips I want to take and people I want to see, so hopefully, there will be tales of travel for you in 2012. :)

Like I said, we've been back to school for nearly a week now and a couple things have changed for us. We have the English Club on Tuesday's and Wednesday's still, but now we only have the young ones. Our entire 'club' is made up of 3-5 year olds. It is a bit easier and much less stressful, not to mention, the kids are very eager to learn. We have more students, but they are now all in the same age range and learning areas. They're fairly easy to please. :) They are also very excited about the little things. They are on the edges of their seats for stickers at the end of class. It's fun to see them show excitement for the little things. :) In addition to that change, they have asked us to 'teach' a 6^th grade class 2 days a week in the afternoons. It's supposed to be a review of the materials in their English classes. Initially, I said no simply because they offered less pay and I was pretty leary about how it would go. I remember how it went when we first started the other club; the disorganization and lack of expressed expectations. It was a nightmare. I was in no rush to get into that again. Joanne and I discussed it and it was pretty obvious that she wanted to do it. We weren't required to do it together, but she made a good point: it's about the experience and it's more than nothing, I suppose. We had our first session with them today and it was just as I expected: completely disorganized and we spent most of our time scrambling to figure out something to do. We survived. I'm still not convinced it's going to go smoothly, but I will try for a few weeks and see what I think. I am not locked in by a contract, by any means. I guess you can't really judge things until you at least try it. The other class started out kinda scattered and eventually worked itself out. Maybe this will be the same. :) I'm hoping! I'm sure you'll hear about it if it doesn't, haha!

I am heading to Jaen on Friday to pick up my NIE card, the official one. While I am officially a resident, I have to go back to the rabbit hole and get my official card to replace this temporary paper one I have. :)

Hope this finds you all well!

Besos!