Another Check on the List of things to do in my life.

(Okay quick disclosure: In spain at midnight New Years Eve they end the year/begin the year by eating 12 grapes, one for each 'dong' of the clock. Puerta del Sol is where the big DONGING clock is. It would be the equivalent of Times Square.)

Last night I fulfilled a dream of mine in the best way possible. One of my life goals was to Eat grapes in Puerta del Sol on New Years Eve. You know.... like the Mecano song.

However, since I will be spending NYE with Javi's family and eating grapes with them this year I thought that SOL was not possible. WELL it was. We went to the practice round on the EVE of New Years Eve, aka Dec. 30th, aka last night.

It was rainy and cold and not really NYE, but I am completely satisfied with the event. Although we could not hear the gonging of the clock over the shouts of the crowd, we chowed down on approx. 12 grapes in approx 12 seconds and then we threw the remaining grapes at innocent bystanders in the crowd.

The plus side of going on the eve of new years eve is that there was probably 1/4 of the amount of stumbling drunks and 1/2 the amount of people that will show up there tonight. As Tania (my roommate) put it "It was like the very happy unbirthday, but for New Years." I feel like we beat the system. I get to celebrate NYE with the family of Javi and go to Sol, both in the same year. Magical.

So thats that story. As usual, I promise pictures will come. Javi ended up going home with my camera so I have to wait to see them as well.

Onto my next life dream: A mission trip to Africa.

This is the clock:

Feliz Christmas to Everyuno.

After saying that the concert was great, I would like to take the opportunity to inform everyone that I have a very Domestic side. In fact, I think I am going to make a chicken cassarole later this week.

Per the shouting and unyielding nagging of this domestic side of mine, I made lots of christmas cookies this year. As would be expected my number one favorite cookie was the peanut butter balls. The sugar cookies also turned out as expected every year... lots of hype, but honestly we know they will linger around longer than desired.

Umm so christmas. Well Christmas eve was wonderful! We had dinner at Javi's Aunts House and sang along to an ablum called something like 1oo golden classics or something. It included classics such as "what a wonderful world" "Stand By Me" "Say A Little Prayer" etc...

Christmas I woke up with a bug and have been on a strict diet of soup until now. Okay not sooooo strict, but everytime i eat something else it does a funny dance in my stomach that is not very fun.

Anyways here I am in "puerta del sol" With a giant christmas tree thing that was featured in an email Sweetie Pie sent out to all my family. (If you are not on Sweetie Pie's email list, don't worry and dont feel left out- Its not very important. )(Sweetie Pie, yes it is important- I just said that so the non-members would feel better)

So now I am on Christmas break. What is gonna happen.........?????????????????????????????

Getting all ready for Christmas

Last week I bought 8 different kinds of tea. I can't say that I even drink that much tea, but I am going to start. Tea is nature's "wonder drug." There are many benefits. Not sure all of them, but i can tell you that it keeps me warm, is healthy than coffee, and fun to dip cookies into.

On Monday we had a dinner party, it lasted until a breakfast party. (I did not last till breakfast, I am officially too old.) The menu: Potato salad and other various appitizers including samon & cream cheese, tuna salad, gula (i think its imitation baby eels), and shrimp. The main courses were pasta and Chicken rolled with bacon and cheese and carmalized onions. And for dessert tiramisu. As usual pictures will follow.....

Anyways, tomorrow we are going to a concert that I am really excited about: "Playing to make a change"

Charged up

Alright. Here we go. Coffee. Cookies. A positive attitude. (that was a lie)

Time to make tests. I hate working from home. I dont know if teaching is my calling. I think I am gonna look for a library near my home where I can do work. Discipline booooo.

Oh yeah, i am coming off a four-day weekend :)
I met the parents of Isa (my roommate), trained at the gym, did a private class, went to the movies, and DIDNT plan tests.

The movie I saw is a spanish movie called Celda 211, Cell 211 in English. Its the story of two key persons in a prison riot: 1) The inmate leading the rebellion 2) a young guard trapped in the revolt, who poses as a prisoner in an attempt to survive the ordeal.




Okay enough procrastination.................

Random Thoughts on a Rainy Day

When you see homeless people every day your perspective on things changes. I dont love teaching, but I'm happy about the decisions I make and life I am making. Life's really not as difficult as it sometimes seems.

I try to eat 2 mandarin oranges every day. I am positive I am not gonna get sick this year.

I am glad that spain has a health care system that is gonna take care of me. I feel much safer and less afraid of cancer or other diseases.

My little niece and nephews are the best, I am already gonna start saving for my next trip to see them. (next christmas)

The number one thing on my christmas wishlist is a new coffee maker. We have a little italian one that I love, but it only makes coffee for one person at a time. Number two: a scooter

The climbing gym has a huge ongoing competition during months in which your points accumulate. I am in red this year, the top level, and I am gonna smash it.

This guys are from my old climging group. They all decided to dress up for the comp. I believe they are climbings from like the 40's. Next competition session they are gonna be from the 50s, then the 60's and so on. hmmmmmmI dressed as an American.

Above are two girls from my new training group. Elena and somoa. I think that is how you spell thier names? Elena always says that I am her (climbing) idol. Somoa is from another country, but i dont remember where. (In the background on the left is "the guy that ALWAYS climbs and comes to the gym with a stopwatch around his neck." hmmm)

Last week Javi did a slideshow presentation in the climbing gym about his trip to Kentcuky. The next day everyone in the gym told me that I had a really pretty house. :) Apparently my dad also looks nice. I dont really know how my DAD showed up in a climbing presentation.......

Barcelona beat Madrid 1-0. (but thats old news) My bet was 2-1 Barcelona.

Tuesday

Use imagination photoshop to insert me sitting in the chair typing this blog......

I don't know how to unhide that Vista toolbar on the left of the screen, but If it wasnt hidden I would tell you all the temperature here. I think its about 40, at least in the morning.

Anyways I am back to sleeping and being a somewhat normal functioning human being. Yesterday I got home from work at 4:30ish. AWESOME. I was able to do tons of stuff, like sit on my butt and watch television.

The other day on the bus a woman came on with her toddler and baby in a stroller. She put the stroller in the handicapped section proceeding to sit in the seats right next to it with her other son. Woman two enters the bus and stands next to the baby in a standing spot. Looks down at the innocent little creature and apparently notices that his hat is not on correctly? Not sure, it looked fine to me. So woman two proceeds to adjust the babiy's hat, remove his scarf and put it back on, zip and unzip his jacket, and adjust the hat even better all the while talking to the infant. I thought this was an unusual scene. How would you react if someone just comes up and starts doing all this stuff with your baby? The toddler and I both looked at the mother of the child. Confused. The mother just looked back at her toddler son and gave him a reassuring smile. Woman 1 and Woman 2 didnt even talk? At least not while i was on the bus.

Thursday I am going to see the family in Las Rozas to celebrate Thanksgiving. :) I am gonna attempt to make a pumpkin pie.

Oh Happy Day

So the light at the end of the tunnel is finally here. NOT the one about death, but the other one in the expression "at least i know there is light at the end of the tunnel" Okay, I hear ya CONFUSING. I think by teaching english, my english is getting worse everyday. I start speaking in really wierd, made up phrases. By the way, and honestly I am looking for feedback on this..... What does "to get the short end of the stick" mean? According to one of my textbooks, I have misunderstood this my entire LIFE!

Anyways, back to my original thought. The intensive course (6-10pm) is ending TODAY. This means I can get home before 10:30 at night and go back to a somewhat normal life that involves sleep and a little more happiness. I can say it has been a good experience on account of not only the money, but also I have learned a ton. For example, yesterday I taught them the 3rd conditional- BET YOU HAVE NO CLUE WHAT IT IS. Well I do. I have also learned lots about many different random topics, do you know what a pit-crew does in the pit during a pit stop? Okay, maybe you do know this, well now I know too. I can break down the 30 seconds before the car stops, as well as the ten seconds during the stop.

Okay so back to life besides work.... last week I completed my participation in a particular climbing study that is being conducted in Madrid. It was pretty cool. The pictures tell the story, except they dont emphasize the fact that the man drew blood from my ears like 483670348 times, leaving them bloody and bruised. Okay, I suppose the pictures dont tell the whole story, but since my technical spanish is not very good, they tell you as much as I know about the story. Anyways, the man doing the study is Jorge, he's a champ and a firefighter.

This is a mask with oxygen tanks used to make you feel like a cross between a ninja turtle and darth vader when you are climbing: (It might also have something to do with monitoring your breathing)This measures your strength.... I dont know what the numbers really mean, but I got a 36 with my right and approx a 30 with my left. I am very right hand dominant:

This is a device used to poke your ear and make you bleed. Then you put the blood on a little ticket thing that goes in the machine. The device gives you back numbers. For example 6.8

Javi's been injured so we havent been climbing very much.

A plague went thru my house, but i didnt get it... I am healthy and stronger than ever. Sleep deprived, but super strong.

I broke the mailbox yesterday. Now I have a way of getting mail. This means I can now post my address........

C/Sisebuto 7, 1D

28011 Madrid, ES

Anyways, things here are on the upswing and starting to get cold. Check back soon, as usual I am making the resolution to write MORE often. I miss everyone. :)