December 19, 2011
Day 84 (final day)

I can't believe it is here. In about 16 hours I will be waking up, packing the few last minute things, getting ready and getting in the car to head to the aiport in Sevilla.
These last 3 months (12 weeks) have gone by so fast I can't even believe it. Honestly, I can't. At first the days just seemed to drag on and on, not that I minded haha, but now it's like the days aren't long enough. It's my last day here in Spain and every time I do something I think "wow, I won't be doing this again" and that's such a strange feeling. I guess techincally my last day is tomorrow but considering I will be travelling all day (starting at 4:30am my time), I don't really consider it my last day.
Yesterday while I was packing my bags Carmen came into my room and said "que estas haciendo?" (what are you doing?) and I looked at her not sure what to say. I just stood there, lost for words and said "just seeing what fits..." and she walked away and I could hear her ask her mom what I was doing. I feel so bad for this little girl it's unbelieveable. Her and I have gotten really close these last three months, hell she has stopped hating me when she gets home from school. Instead of whining when I would say hi to her when she got home now she comes inside and looks for me calling out my name. She's such a sweet, cute little girl and I feel so bad doing this to her but there really isn't anything I can do. I just hope when the next au pair gets here (I think she comes in January) that Carmen and her get along as well as we did.
This experience has definitely been the most amazing experience of my life. It's so different than just vacationing in Spain. Yes, it was like a vacation in aspects but I lived the Spanish culture. I didn't just come here as a tourist, see all the touristy things, eat at Spanish restaurants every day and all other things touristy. Instead I moved into an apartment in Spain, I ate home cooked Spanish meals, I saw all the touristy sites, I saw non-touristy sites, I shopped at the supermarket for food and necessities, I bought medicine at the pharmacy and all kiinds of other things that a normal tourist wouldn't experience... the list can go on forever. But most of all I gained a second family in a foriegn country. I can't wait to see what Poland has in store for me next year!
Hasta luego España. Te echo de menos ya! Hola America.

December 13, 2011
Day 81

Losing someone is always hard but I didn't realize how much harder it would be to lose a friend when I am half way across the world. Today is the saddest I have been since I got to Spain. I haven't had this feeling in three months and I don't even know what to do with it a) because I haven't felt it in so long and b) because I really have nobody here than can comfort me like my family and friends back home can.
I woke up this morning, in a good mood thinking about going shopping, and while I was getting ready I saw a Facebook messanger window pop up on my computer screen. Sarah Han. Now I haven't talked to Sarah in a while so I was pretty confused when I saw her name on the IM window. It's not that I don't want to talk to her it's just always that feeling you get when someone you haven't talked to in a while suddenly contacts you. I read her message and sat there in disbelief. Was she playing some kind of horrible joke on me? There was no way what she was saying was true. It was totally unbelieveable. I sat there for a few moments reading and re-reading her message not even sure how to respond. Finally I came up with the most common answer I could "what!!!!!". My friend Patrick Gow, and her cousin, passed away today (well I guess techincally las night for everyone in the US). He wasn't even 21 yet, in college and had so much life ahead of him still. He was working on the exhaust of his car and the his car suddenly fell on top of him.
It's not fair. It's not fair for him. He was so young, so happy all the time, such a great kid. It's not fair to everyone, including me, that didn't get to see him recently. I hadn't seen Patrick since earlier this year when he came up to Renton to visit his family here. It was great to see him and take him to Dicks (mind you for his first time ever) since the frat party we were supposed to go to got broken up but I just wish I could have seen him one more time, more recently.
I remember when I first met him. Sarah (his cousin), him and I were headed out on a road trip to Portland with a local Seattle band (Moneta) to support them at their show and help with merch and whatever else they needed help with. It was a long, hot drive to Portland but a totally fun experience. After that road trip there were many more to come. Going to Portland to donate blood to get backstage passes to Warped Tour, going down just to go down for fun, all kinds of things. I'm going to miss being able to do that. Most of all I'm gonna miss being able to talk to him, seeing his facebook updates, being able to talk about awesome music with him like Rusko.
He was a great kid, taken far too young and with no just cause but I guess they do say all the great ones are taken young. So Patrick, I hope you know you are a great one and I can't wait to see you again and dance our asses off to Rusko up there and show everyone what real good music is all about.

If anyone that reads this is willing to help me get down to Portland for his funeral (assuming it is in Portland and it is after I get home; still waiting on details from his cousin) I would appreciate it. Basically I just need help with gas money to get down there. I am coming home from Spain, as you all know, broke and without a job but I am not going to let that stop me from seeing my friend one last time. So if you have it in your heart or in your wallet to help me, I would appreciate it. I am already thankful to Sarah (his cousin) for informing me of this tragedy so quickly, to my mom for trying her best to be a mother and support me from 6k miles away and to Shanelle for being willing to make the trip with me down there to be my back bone.

December 6, 2011
Day 74

Two weeks left in Spain! This time next Tuesday I will be somewhere over Canada on my final leg of my trip home (Newark to Seattle).
I can't believe how quick these three months have flown by. At first it felt like the days never ended; like there was 48 hours per day not 24. Now it feels like there are only 12. The days go by quicker than I can follow and I often get lost as to what day it actually is. To many people's amazement I am actually excited to come home though I will miss Spain very, very much and I do plan on coming back as soon as possible.
Why am I excited? Well I will be 21 six days after I get home. Now that is a big freaking deal, dude, big. Big enough to make anyone excited to go home. I will finally be able to drink in bars legally, I won't have to sneak in or make friends with the right people. I won't have to worry about asking friends to go buy me alcohol from the liquor store (soon the grocery store!). I won't have to worry about cops showing up at a party I am at and getting busted for drinking underage. It is going to be grand, I just know it! If it is anything like what I experienced here it is awesome. Of course here, in Spain, the cops really don't give a shit if you are drinking in public and the bars/clubs are open till 7am (serving alcohol the entire time). So there will be some differences but I am sure i can handle that.
Second, I am excited to go home because I miss my freaking animals. Yes, even the shit head dogs. Haha. I didn't realize how much I would miss fighting them for my bed, or miss getting jumped all over, or miss them barking at stupid shit but holy crap that is the first thing I started missing when I got here. I guess the saying is true, you never realize how much you'll miss something until it is actually gone. Thankfully, in my case, my animals were only gone for 3 months, not for forever. Got lucky there!
Third, I am excited to go home because I miss my family. And yes, I miss my animals more than I miss my family. Call me a bad person but that is how it always is with me. I think it has something to do with the fact that I can talk with my family (and thanks to Sykpe see them) but I can't talk with my cats or dogs. Sure, I can see them on Skype and try to talk to them but ya know, they don't respond. They look around lost and confused.
Fourth, I am excited to go home because I miss my friends. Sure, I made plenty of great friends here but nothing can ever replace the friends back home. The ones I spent every weekend with, the ones I texted constantly, every day about the most random bullshit. The ones I have the stupidest memories with like "bal-ance" and going to McDonald's at 5AM after partying and trying to order a McChicken and yelling at the guy behind the microphone because we couldn't order a McChicken. Those kinds of memories just don't happen with just anybody. It takes a certain type of person for those things to happen.
In other news, we got a Christmas tree yesterday. It is only like 3ft tall and looks totally fake but it's alright. Up north the family has a legit, massive tree and since they will be there for the holidays they didn't want to go all out for Christmas here since they won't be there. The tree was really only bought for Carmen, to make her happy since she kept asking for a tree. Nonetheless, it adds some Christmas cheer to the apartment and otherwise non-christmasy surroundings of the village. It's odd because most villages and cities here are all decked out for Christmas, with lights up and stuff, but I haven't seen any of that in Isla Cristina. Must be a village full of rare devil lovers or something strange like that. Maybe witches and wizards or crap I don't know... maybe they are just lazy. Who knows but the lack of Christmas cheer in this little village is retarded.
Oh yeah, by the way, Carmen is obsessed with my boobs. The other day she kept staring at them and pointing at my chest saying "GRANDE. GRANDE. GRAAAAAAANDE." then she would try to tickle my boobs. Funny little girl but awkward.

November 28, 2011
Day 66

I wish every weekend was like this weekend here in Spain. I am really not looking forward to going back to Isla Cristina tomorrow night. I'm going to miss all my friends here but I am glad that I got to come up one more time to see all of them and party with them! I will be coming back here, in the north of Spain, to kick it with all of them again soon that is for sure. And hopefully at least a couple of them will get the chance to come to Seattle and I can show them how us Americans live and party. Haha.
So I'm just gonna skip to the good parts and that would be Saturday night.
The night started off at a birthday party for one of Uxia's friend's. At first I was bored because I didn't understand what anyone was saying and I felt so out of place. But bring on the alcohol and bam I was talking with everyone, dancing, singing and just enjoying myself. Everyone was trying to talk in English with me which was nice. I always feel so exotic and like I am a celebrity when people realize I speak English. It is so foriegn here for someone to speak English so whenever people know I speak English they are so interested in me and everything about me. It's funny but cool at the same time.
The cops ended up being called so we all agreed to take the party to the pubs/clubs in town. Well on our way out one of the girls started puking really bad and ended up passing out and not responding to anyone so we had to call the ambulance. When the medics brought her out of the house I felt so bad for her. She was so pale and like jelly, couldnt even hold her own arm up. Alcohol poisoning I am assuming. Poor girl, I hope she is ok.
After we got her all taken care of with the medics we began our mile or so walk to where all the clubs were. Drunk and in 5 inch stilletos that mile walk felt like a lifetime but luckily my friend Tamara and I were enjoying ourselves. We laughed the entire way and just didn't give a shit.
Got to the club and I was only there for about 10 minutes before I went and met up with my friend Andy. Apparently he saw me and my friend Paula and heard us from across the town square. I don't exactly remember I just know that her and I were laughing the entire time we were walking to the square to meet up with him. Good times, of course!
Got to Andy and he and I hung out in the square before deciding to go back to his house. It was so freaking cold it was ridiculous and my feet hurt.
We get back to his house and end up watching soccer all night. Poor guy is a Real Madrid fan. Poor, poor guy. Barca is where it's at! Next thing I knew I could hear his dad yelling his name. We woke up and I looked at his phone it was nearly 4pm! On one hand I thought I should get myself home but on the other I didn't feel like getting up and walking home just yet my feet still hurt and I just plain didn't want to get out of bed. All my debating was useless because when Andy came back from talking with his parents he got back into bed and we cuddled more and watched more soccer.
Then I got a massage!
Out of no where he looked at me and was like "tu quieres massaje?" and I was like "what? a massage? sure" and he laughed and said "si o no?" and of course I wasn't going to turn down a massage so this girl got one of the best back massages ever! And then we fell asleep for about an hour or so.
Woke up and cuddled more before we realized it was nearly 8pm. So finally, at 8pm on Sunday I went back to my house. I would say I had a very successful Saturday night!
Now today, Monday. I woke up at 10am, looked at my phone and saw a text from Uxia saying to be at her school at 10:30am to be a guest in an English class. FML big time, I had to rush hardcore to get ready since I still had to walk to her school which is about a 10 minute walk, all up hill, so that left me with 20 minutes to do everything I usually do in the morning. Yeah, I didn't get to shower, thank god I showered last night at like 10pm so I was still feeling decently clean.
English class was fun. It was small but it was nice helping these 15 and 16 year olds better their English. I only did it for one hour and then helped some teachers for one hour with their English but I felt good about it. I talked with the teacher I was working with (she is here teaching for a year, I think, from California) and we started talking about the possibility that I could do something like what she is doing as a way to come back to Spain. Of course I would need to speak Spanish fluently but no biggie I was already planning on going home and taking Spanish classes at Highline.
Now I am laying in my warm bed waiting for Andy to text me so we can hang out again. I really need to get my phone reloaded with some money! And sadly this will probably be the last time I can reload my phone, so I gotta get Andy to get an email. haha.

November 24, 2011

Woke up at 7:30am this morning. An hour later than I was supposed to. Woo go me! Thankfully I had packed my bag the night before so all I had to do was get the last minute things (toothbrush, make up, hair brush, etc.) in my bag. Simple.

I hate rushing around to get ready. It makes me so nervous that sometimes I nearly have panic attacks. I shoved some cereal down my throat took a shower in literally 2 minutes and got dressed. Was supposed to be out the door by 8. I was ready to go by 8:05. Amazing I got ready so quick, given I usually take about an hour to get ready. But I knew that if I didn’t leave before 8:10 (at the latest) my whole trip would probably be fucked.

Ended up leaving around 8:15 since Fernando wasn’t yet ready to take me to the bus station but it’s ok I made it to the station in time and got on the bus. No problem. Now here is where I really wished I spoke Spanish. This uber attractive guy said something to me (I think about reclining his seat) but I wasn’t sure what he said and hell even if I was, I didn’t know how to respond. So the entire ride (like 2 hours) to Sevilla he and I kept exchanging glances with smiles, of course.

Smoot ride to Sevilla then I had to find a taxi. Wasn’t that hard, they were all lined up outside the bus station. Hopped in and instead of feeling like I was going to be kidnapped by the taxi driver and murdered I felt safe. The car was clean, smelt good, the cabby lady was nice. All around I wasn’t fearing for my life the entire time. She was a nice lady although we didn’t communicate much because of the language barrier but she was still nice enough.

Now I am sitting in the Sevilla airport. I got here around 11:15am and my flight doesn’t leave until 4:30pm. However this was my only option, to get here super early and sit around and wait or not go on my trip at all. I’d rather sit around and wait, I’ve done a lot of that in airports lately to not even care anymore, than to miss my entire trip.

Tried to get some chips from the vending machine but the damn machine wouldn’t take my coin. It’s like it’s sitting here, staring at me, taunting me, telling me that I’m a poor bastard that doesn’t get to eat. Sure I could go to one of the cafes here and get something but I wanted some damn chips! Although I did end up getting 2€ from the machine that weren’t mine. So score I suppose! 2€ I wasn’t expecting to have. Hopefully the rest of the day goes this well.

Tried to get online. Stupid internet here tricks you. It connects to the wi-fi network no problem. Opens the internet to the homepage. Perfect. And then when you go to type in a different URL stupid jerks decide to THEN tell you “oh wait, loser, you have to either have an account with movistar internet or buy one now to use the internet. Oh you don’t have one? Hahahaha that sucks, you’re lame, go play in traffic now idiot”. So instead of surfing the oh-so-exciting web on this gorgeous Thanksgiving day I am stuck with playing solitaire which I play too often and get bored of quick.

2.5 more hours till my flight leaves. Going to get my visa and passport checked and head through security to wait for the gate to open. Gotta be one of the first there because it’s a damn free for all for seats on this airline. I can just imagine the African Savanna in this situation. Lions going after gazelles. Should be fun!

November 20, 2011
(too lazy to count days)

I never want to spend an entire day in Ikea ever again unless I am actually buying stuff for myself. Which we know that will probably not happen until I move out and get my own place, so that means I don't will not be stepping foot inside that Swedish hell until I finish college.
I usually love Ikea but not when the entire freaking country of Spain had the same idea as us on this extremely rainy day to go freaking furniture shopping. Holy hell it was a mad house in there. I don't think I have ever seen an Ikea so freaking busy in my life and there weren't even any insane sales or anything! Not to mention since I wasn't shopping it just made it that much less enjoyable for me. I was really hoping to try and slip across to the centro commercial (mall) but never really got the courage to ask so I didn't. Oh well, probably for the better anyways, kept me from spending lots of money that I don't need to spend right now.
All I gained from this Ikea trip was hangover burps. I was so excited to eat lasagna today that I can't even explain to you the level my excitement was at. This lasagna was advertised as having chicken instead of beef so that made me even more excited. Then I sat down at the table, cut into my lunch and gagged. It was cat food in there, NOT CHICKEN! Ok, well, it really wasn't cat food but hot damn it looked like it and even tasted like it. This isn't the first time I have seen this so called meat on food here before. I learned quick not to order the "ensalada mixta" (mixed salad) because it comes with pieces of cat food on it. The shit literally tastes like I would imagine cat food to taste and has the same texture I imagine too. I don't see how these Spaniards eat it and enjoy it. Barf.
Now you are wondering "wtf are hangover burps"? So you know when you are hungover and you become best friends with the toilet? Yeah, every time you puke it has that weird acidy, alcoholy taste to it. That is how my burps taste. I wish I could say it is because I am hungover but no it is because of that stupid cat food lasagna I ate earlier. I have even brushed my teeth, eaten a grilled cheese, some soup, some hot chocolate, coffee, sode and a donut. Nothing will get rid of these hangover burps. I cant stand it!
In other news, I am not feeling so sick. My nose is still an asshole sometimes but not as stuffed up and I am not really a mouth breather anymore.

O GROVE IN 4 DAYS!

November 11, 2011

Been a while since I have posted anything. Sorry to everyone that reads my entries and looks forward to a good laugh. Lately I've just been too lazy to sit down and write and hell I forget half of the time. Life is still splendid here and I am still not sure I want to go home. Haha. I will go home, I promise all of you, I will but I will be back in Spain very soon!
Saturday we are going to Cordoba for the day. It's a biggish city about 2.5 hours northeast of where I live with lots of history and I hear it is really beautiful. It is also Carmen's third birthday, so that should be fun.
2 weeks until I go to O Grove, alone, for five days. I am so excited!