Peppermint

It's 9 PM and I'm sipping piping hot herbal mint tea, snuggled up in warm flannel pajamas and an overgrown knit sweater, eating Junior Mints with peppermint crunches. I don't think that I've ever fully appreciated the wonder of peppermint before. It tastes like home and Christmas: delicious. A wonderful way to unwind after my longest work day of the week. Out the door at 7:40, back in at 7:30. It's been a long day, yet a pleasant day. Hugs, kisses, "Happy New Years" and everything else that greets people returning to work after Christmas break. One of the girls hugged me tight when I came in the door (20 minutes late...thank-you broken down trains) and told me I was her favorite teacher. In English. Though quite possibly, she told the rest of the teachers that as well. I don't care. Today I feel loved and we'll leave it at that.

A la Vuelta

I've been back in Madrid for about a week now; today was to have been my first day back at work. However, due to snow last night and into the wee hours, the government cancelled classes in the public schools, though the kids still could go to school. Huh? I was one confused girl about 7:15 this morning, trying to decide whether I was supposed to go to work or not. Luckily, I was able to get ahold of Rosa and she told me to not bother coming in for the half day I work today. I suppose that tomorrow everything will be back to normal and I can give the books I got for my class to Rosa and the kids.

I know that I haven't written a lot about my trip home, or put up pictures. Mom has the pictures held ransom, so those will come later. (just kidding Mom) I do have some pictures of my adorable brother though!

Driving home from Lafayette


Same old, same old: stealing my money, taking up all of the relaxing room on the bed, stealing my pen, and teasing me about it. Did I say I minded? Well, he did give me the money back. And if he hadn't, I can always threaten to tickle him.

Here's a "quick" list of my almost 3 week stay at home:
-Christmas with the Vances (Rick, Pam, Shannon, and Brandon): Shannon played photographer and took this photo of us that Mom used for the Christmas cards.



-Sleepover with Arielle and the girls. Outdoor hot tub + snow = kind of crazy but fun. Arielle fell asleep and I ended up talking to her
husband, José, for awhile. Then pancakes, hot chocolate, and "The Office" in the morning
-Making Christmas cards
-Visit with Ana at Borders
-Shopping with Justine at Glenbrook Mall and a long talk about everything from A-Z over Sbarro's pizza. Spent a long time looking at calendars and gourmet food.
-Christmas Eve at church and then early to bed to wait for Santa Claus
-Christmas!! Cinnamon rolls, scavenger hunt with Colin, blindly guessing what the gifts were (I said a light-up Christmas sweater for teachers, but didn't get one. I think I'll live)
-Christmas in Michigan and visit with wonderful and brainy cousins (and with whom I share a slight eccentricity)
-Isma coming!!

-Lots of card games and Sequence. The new one for this year is Rook. Barely any euchre, which is odd.
-Tour of Fort Wayne for Isma's benefit
-Attempt to go skiing at Pokagon and subsequent fail when I got sick (or passed out would be more accurate)
-Sad farewell to parents at the airport and time relaxing before in the new airport
-First plane trip to Spain with company! (much better this way, I must say)

I've spent the last week trying to get over jet-lag and relaxing. The only time I went out was last Friday. Right now is the "rebajas," the sales in Spain that last from January - March. I went with Tamy and Sara, which was fun but not something I think I need to repeat soon. So many people!! We waited in one line to pay 30 minutes. At least. The best part was probably the conversations we had in that same line and eating supper with Sara's husband, Angel, when he joined us after
getting of work.

Painting

You know, the last time I tried to give plants as a gift, I think that they died less than a week after Christmas. Though this time they've survived three weeks out of my hands, before giving them away. I spent the Tuesday evening before I left to the US for Christmas painting. It's so relaxing, the stroke of the paintbrush and watching something ordinary transform into something more interesting.

During my last day of work before break, I went downtown to buy the paints and paint brushes at an art store downtown that Rosa told me about. The streets were decorated for Christmas, which I admired while peering into shop windows. The arts shop was a serious art shop...not kids paints or department store selection. I guess that's why the clerk didn't smile. Perhaps artists don't like clerks to smile. You know, the stereotypical starving artist that is preoccupied and wouldn't notice. Or the quality is so good there and the shop so famous that artists will go there even if the young shopkeeper is half dead. I must say that the man in the gallery connected with the art supply store was quite friendly, smiled, and gave good directions to their other location.

Let it snow...let it snow...let it snow

Mira! Ha nevado aqui...pero os tengo que decir que no es tanto. Continua nevando. A ver si esta tarde voy afuera o si me quedo adentro cocinando con mi madre para la reunion con la familia de mi padre esta tarde. He puesto unas fotos de las decoraciones que ponemos todos los anyos, que desafortunadamente no llegue con tiempo ayudar. Pero me gustan igualmente.


del porche de mi casa









pueblo que hizo mi madre










mi familia

I'll Be Home for Christmas...

That song (see title) ran through my head throughout the day Thursday. Unfortunately, I only know the words, "I'll be home for Christmas...da da da...if only in my dreams." It's pretty, but pretty repetitive after awhile also. Nice reminder of where I was going.
My flight left Thursday around lunchtime, and I got into Indianapolis about 11 pm. My day went pretty much like this:
Tamy dropped me off at Barajas Airport in Madrid. Got through security really quickly, changed euros into dollars and looked happily at how much they gave me, waited an hour for the flight to take off. Translated an article, finished a book, and watched Julie and Julia. I had to pay $5 for the headphones. Which, I suppose is less than watching a movie out, but the screen is a looooot bigger in the movie theaters. The movie made me forget about the earphones, I couldn't help smiling through almost all of it; the couple was really sweet and I liked the comparison between the character Julie and Julia Child. Then, customs and a five hour layover in Philadelphia. There was a fairly interesting exhibit about collections. One woman had collected dryer lint. Dry lint? Or perhaps anything is interesting on a five-hour layover. I read "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" in about 1 and a half hours and I'm not sure what I did with the rest of the time. Stare at people I suppose. The day was kind of lonely. I think the 2 longest conversations I had was with an ex-pat was asking about the plane loading and then we talked for a bit. Then later in Philly by the smoothie shop, I talked for about 5 minutes to a Kenyan man. But that didn't do much for company. In Indy the plane came in about 20 minutes early and Colin was there early as well. After almost 24 hours in transit I was tired, but still managed to stay awake and we talked almost all the way to Purdue in West Lafayette.

The next morning was Colin's last exam, and I woke up a little before he finished and came back to his apartment. We left around 1, ate a really good pepperoni pizza, which probably wasn't the best possible, but tasted like heaven to me. We got to Fort Wayne a couple hours later, ahead of the snowstorm that started up last night. Dad had to go into work sometime last yet, not quite sure when since I didn't wake up all the way. We haven't got much more than an inch though, and hopefully we'll get enough snow to have some winter fun, but that not so much that Dad has to do lots of night shifts.

Spring Cleaning

Twice a year every Spaniard (well, every grandmother at least) cleans their home from top to bottom. Luckily, they're apartments and don't have as much space as our house. Thank you Mom for not making us do so. Angelita is giving me a free education in all of the traditions, even the cleaning ones.

Bathroom: Grab a bucket and rags. Wipe down the walls from the ceiling to the floor with soapy water, then with wet rag, then dry. Move the furniture from the wall, clean floor and wall behind it. Undo the lamp and clean it. Wipe down door.

Room:Move furniture, dust corners, clean blinds, wipe down furniture with damp rag, sweep, mop, dust, feather dust the corners of the walls and ceiling, clean windows.

I suppose the cleaning is fairly normal, but I haven't done it before and I would say that it took me awhile. Luckily I just have my room and the bathroom!

The reward for cleaning was going to Noemi and Armando's house, the pastor's family for lunch. They're from the Canary Islands...their accents remind me of Señor Delaguardia...Cuban accent almost. We had fiesta arroz. Mom sometimes makes something really similar: Frito chips on top of meat, cheese, lettuce. I can't for the life of me remember what it's called. Since last Sunday was my last Sunday here before Christmas, we needed to organize things to give the kids their prizes for the semester before I left. New cheap toys that the kids earned by earning stickers bringing their Bible and memorizing the Bible verse. I'm going to miss teaching them next semester.

I spent the evening catching up with Sara, a friend that took English classes from me and led the small group I participated in last year. She got married a few weeks before I came to Spain this past September, so we had a lot to talk about. The summer, being married, and teaching. She teaches evangelical religion classes in an elementary school in Madrid.

My Compassion Girl

Did you know that I've adopted a little girl? (awkward pause) Okay, well, she isn't mine and she doesn't live with me...in fact I've never met her...and I guess you can't say that I've adopted her because she lives at home with her mother. She's ten years old, lives in Mexico, has two sisters, and coincidentally wants to be a teacher. Or perhaps it's that lots of little girls want to be teachers.Her name is Zurihsaday. I started sponsoring her through Compassion at the end of last spring. I went to a Michael W. Smith concert here in Madrid and they were raising support for the new branch of Compassion International in Spain.  My heart went out to the kids they talked about. That day last spring I started thinking about all the privileges I have that have given me a leg up: two loving parents, money for food, clothes, and school supplies, a college education, music classes and time to spend reading and practicing, the support to go abroad. I think realizing how many kids don't have that and how much I still have is why I decided to sponsor her. I hope that through the years I can see her grow and perhaps someday meet her. And give her some more options and hope in her life as well. I'd love to see if she goes on to study at the university and what she becomes as an adult. I hope to hear from her soon!