Blessed.

Whew, I don't even know where to begin! Let me start out by saying that I would give a number of things to be able to eat a grilled chicken sandwich from Chick-fil-a and/or a Fiber One bar. However, I have a new obsession with a drink called "Gaseosa." It's just sparkling water, but it has a hint of lemon and it's delicious. I can get a massive 1.5L at the grocery store for .45 cents and its great.

So an update on classes: I am completely lost in my art class. My professor just sits at his desk and talks about works of art and architecture that I have never heard of before, and he doesn't write anything down. However, there's a boy in my class who graciously allows me to photocopy his notes, so hopefully I will be able to figure out what's going on soon. My other classes are good and I especially like my Sociolinguistics class. We learn about the distinct way that people from Andalusia (southern Spain) speak and how it came about and why. I have to do a project that counts for 50 percent of my grade with one other person in my class, and my partner happens to be from Germany! She is super nice, and it is kind of weird because she also played tennis a lot in high school and worked at a country club teaching kids. We kind of have the same life...just in different countries. Anyway, for our project we are studying the differences between the way that boys and girls speak Spanish in Sevilla. As an aspiring journalist, I am excited because we are going to go to the park and interview people and film them. Can't wait.

A few funny Ana stories: Kellsey got 2 packages from her mom a few weeks ago and Ana, of course, went through both of them and condensed them into one. She also stole the bubble wrap out of them. After she had already taken it, she asked Kellsey if she needed the bubble wrap. Kellsey said yes because she wanted to wrap breakable things up in it to take back to the states. Ana said, "In May?! No you don't need it for that." haha So she is going to keep it. Then she looked at me and said, "The thing I like in your room is your perfume. Sometimes I just go spray it because I like it. What is it called?" haha She is so crazy but I have learned to love her!

Last weekend, Kellsey and I stayed in Sevilla and had a blast! On Saturday, Ana taught us how to make a dish that we like to call "fishy rice." Ana just calls it "arroz" (rice), but it is basically just rice, fish, shrimp, and spices. We went upstairs to the kitchen on the third floor where Ana does her serious cooking, and here are some of the steps to making the dish that we documented:

first, she cut the fish and put it in a pan with water and let the fish soak in the water:


here's the kitchen:


then she poured olive oil in the fish, and put shrimp shells in water to add flavor:


then she added red pepper, garlic, dried pepper, and basil:


after that she added tomato, shrimp, the shrimpy water, and the rice, and this is the final product...complete with the fried egg and olives that accompanied the "fishy rice":


Bueno. So, Ana refuses to have her picture taken, but little does she know that I made a video of her while she was making the fried eggs. All I managed to say in it was "me gusta" because I was focusing on not letting her catch on to what I was doing. I tried to also show some of the house...we were in the 2nd floor kitchen at this point and the room beside it is the dining room. It is not very exciting, but it does give a good sense what she is like. Enjoy!



She's precious. Also this weekend, Kellsey and I sat by the river a lot and people- watched and did some reading. It was so nice out and made me never want to leave Spain. We also visited and took some pictures with Spain's famous monument the Torre del Oro. (Tower of Gold)


Last but not least, we watched Avatar in Spanish!! We weren't sure if we would understand it all, but we totally did. I was so excited that I actually understood the majority of the movie. Here is us in our sweet 3-D glasses:


Also, a few of us have been getting together to study Romans once a week on Thursday afternoons, and it has been going great. Please pray that God blesses our time together and that we can glorify Him in all that we do. As you can tell, He has blessed me muchisimo! (very much)

k, that's all for now. Hasta luego!

3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, 5who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
1 Peter 1:3-5

From Sevilla to Madrid and back!

I am failing at writing on this thing on a frequent basis, but I promise I am trying! Okay, so in most recent news, I took a 3-day trip with 3 other girls to Madrid and Toledo. Madrid is, of course, the capital of Spain, and Toledo is the old capital of Spain, so it was cool to see them both in one trip. Madrid was really cool. It was a huge city bustling with people and it reminded me a little of New York City. It had big buildings, big plazas, lots of people, and lots to do! We did pretty well managing our time so that we could see all the important things. We were using tour guide books (we love Rick Steve!) and maps to make sure we didn't miss anything. We saw many important buildings and monuments, visited El Retiro Park, and went in the Cathedral. I am going to give you a little mini-tour of Madrid via my blog:

This is the "El Oso y El Madroño" statue, or "The Bear and the Strawberry Tree" and it is the symbol of Madrid. (and I like to try and imitate it.) It is located in Puerta del Sol, the most central and well-known plaza in Madrid.


This is the Casa de la Panaderia, located in Plaza Mayor, and it is Franco's old headquarters.



This is the outside of the Prado Museum, home of many famous works by Goya, Velasquez, and many more. The art inside of here was incredible, but sorry, no pictures allowed!


Here I am at Plaza de España hangin' out with Don Quijote and Sancho Panza. There is a huge monument of Cervantes, the writer of Don Quijote, with his two main characters featured in front!


We also visited the famous park called El Retiro. This is what we came across while we were there:


Que bonita! (How beautiful!)

So those are the main highlights of Madrid. We also went to Toledo, a much smaller and Spanish-looking town. After having a picnic lunch in the park, we took a ton of pictures at this sweet lookout:


We also tried mazapán, the delicacy for which Toledo is famous. Rick Steve told us to try it at a bakery called Santo Tome, so of course we did and it was delicious. Mazapán is made of almonds, honey, sugur, and sometimes fruit, and it is quite tasty, or at least Kellsey and I thought so.


Toledo is also famous for knives and swords, so we spent a good bit of time souvenir shopping for our friends! All in all we had successful trips!

I have more to write about but it will have to wait because I have a paper awaiting me! Here is us representing the Heels up in Toledo!


Hasta luego :)

..."I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."
Matthew 17:20