Wandering through Jessicaland...

Graduate School

2011-11-27T15:38:00.000-08:00

Wow, I have not written in this for such a long time. As for a small update on my life, for those of you who care to know: I graduated Westminster last spring (May 2011) and spent a month in Europe with two friends from Moab, Brandon and Roy. After that, I returned to the motherland to hang out in the desert, get in touch with the sun, grow some food, cook, and work at the Moab Brewery.

I started graduate school in the joint Master of Social Work/Master of Public Health program at the University of Utah. Hopefully I'll be finishing up my degree in 3 years if all goes as planned.

Most of the people in the social work program are interested in going into clinical practice and doing therapy. Me... not so much. However, since the U's focus in social work is clinical practice, I am taking a class called Practice which is supposed to help me hone the skills of my inner therapist. I am learning a lot of great things to take with me into my practicum (a fancy name for an internship) where I do clinical assessments of clients court-referred for drug offenses, lead a substance abuse group, and conduct individual therapy sessions.

However, probably the most valuable thing I've taken from my practice class is how to look more closely at myself. Why do I constantly find myself procrastinating? Why am I fairly unwilling to admit that my friends have faults? Why do I have a mistaken belief that I allow other people to hurt me, and that if I don't believe that they've hurt me the pain isn't real? How can I be a better sister, daughter, student, and employee? Can I love others for who they are instead of who I think they should be? Can I approach the world with gratitude and wonder instead of taking it for granted?

I don't pretend I've been learning the answers to all of these questions... In fact, all of the questions I've been asking lately don't seem to have definitive answers. The answers change and evolve just as I think I've discovered how the world works and my role in it. I do know that I constantly become aware of new bits and pieces that together form parts of me. The more epiphanies I have about myself, the closer I come to being in harmony with myself, other people and the world at large. Sure, the harmony doesn't last for long, but knowing that it exists (regardless of how elusive it may be) can be a comforting feeling.

Doug Wright

2009-12-02T15:20:00.000-08:00

I first met Doug when I was a freshman at Westminster College. He taught my Foundations in Film Literacy class, and I'll never forget what a profound impact Doug and his class had on my life. He was a great professor, and he was great because he had such a deep passion for what he did. Not only was he inspiring to his students, but he also listened to us and to our ideas. I remember being able to say things in his class that I'd be sure would be shot down in another class, but with Doug, any idea was safe. Not only was any idea safe, but many times, when students would point out particular moments or elements in film, Doug's face would light up with excitement, similar to the way that a child's face lights up on Christmas when they've found the best and most unexpected gift under the Christmas tree. I think it was this that I liked best about Doug - his never-ceasing energy, his absolute delight at discussing different ideas and looking for new depths of meaning in art and in life. I can only hope that I too will one day be able to impact others the way Doug has impacted me, and be able to find my passion and share it freely with others so as to help them benefit. May we all remember to live with at least some degree of the passion that Doug has given us so that his spirit, passion, and light will be forever snowballing outward, and touching countless people, regardless of whether or not Doug is here to teach for himself.

Doug, thank you for inspiring me to be a better person and find my passion. May your spirit live on and be part of this earth forever.

For those of you who want to know a little more about Doug, here is a link to his obituary:

Doug Wright Obituary

Twilight

2009-11-17T16:59:00.000-08:00

So, in honor of the New Moon movie which will come out this Friday, I decided to post a link to this article in a feminist magazine. As many of you who know me already know, I think that the Twilight series in and of itself is horribly written with horrible characters, but I also think that it has some interesting undertones. If thought critically about, Twilight can provide some really interesting discussions.

Anyway, this article was written by a Communications professor at Westminster, which is how I found out about the article. It talks about how Twilight makes abstinence seem sexualized, and I thought it was a very informative, thoughtful, and well-written article. And sorry in advance for the title of the magazine, which I know may offend some of you.

Bite Me! (Or Don't)

Camino de Santiago

2009-05-25T04:07:00.000-07:00

For 11 days in April (and the 11th day I only walked about 5 km, so roughly it averages out to about 30 km/day, or about 18.6 mi/day), I walked just about 300 km, or 186 miles along a part of the Camino de Santiago, or St. James's Way, which stretches across Northern Spain. I, along with one of my friends here (who ironically happens to be named Santiago), completed 300 km of the Camino Francés, starting in Astorga and ending in Santiago de Compostela. The camino started out in the middle ages as a religious pilgrimmage to visit the burial site of St. James. Along the way, pilgrims stay in albergues, which are like hostels except that they are reserved specially for pilgrims (known as peregrinos in Spanish). Normally people start in France, at St. Jean Pied de Port, which adds about 600 more km, so we only completed about a 3rd of the camino. A map of the route we followed (ours was the orange route, and we started a little to the left of Burgos along the line):

So, what to say about the camino? Well... I have a TON of great memories from it. I probably bored Valerie to tears when she came to hang out with me, because every five minutes I would be like "This one time, on the camino..." And I don't want to bore all of you by recounting every little detail... So maybe I'll just share my general thoughts and impressions of the camino, with some pictures, and go from there.

Not sure why this text is appearing like a link, but I'll take it. This was the start of Santi and I's Camino, taken on the bus from Tarragona to Barcelona.

When I first got the idea of doing the camino, I was really excited about it. As I planned, I continued to be excited about it. What better way to spend the Easter season than contemplating the treasures of life abundant in nature? Also, my family had made a commitment to become more involved in understanding nature, so I thought it was the perfect opportunity. In preparation, I walked at least 1.5 hours over varied terrain for at least 3-5 days per week, for about a month beforehand. I borrowed the necessary equipment from Santi's family, so I thought I was ready. The morning before I was scheduled to leave, Santi called me and asked if I wanted a friend to come with me. So Santi became a last-minute addition to my party of one, and I was even more excited because now I would have someone I knew with me.

There IS snow in Spain!!

However, once Santi and I got on the bus the next morning, I couldn't help but feeling I'd made a terrible mistake, that I was incredibly under-prepared, and that I was crazy for even trying this camino business out. For some reason, after all that excitement and anticipation, I was suddenly terrified. I didn't know if I could actually do it or not.

A little mountain village. Yes, all of the villages along the camino were this beautiful, with pristine cobble-stone streets and brick houses.

But we rode the bus to Barcelona, switched buses, and had a twelve hour overnight bus ride to Astorga. We arrived at 7:30 in the morning, and started walking immediately. By the end of that first day, my shoulders were killing me, and the back of my left knee was really sore. On the second day, although my shoulders were better and although my left knee was the one that started being sore, by the end of the day (which included an outrageous amount of walking downhill), both my knees were killing me and my feet felt like they were on fire. That second day we walked almost 40 km. On day 3, I had one giant blister on each pinky toe, and my right knee hurt really badly. But I didn't want to slow Santi down (even though he told me repeatedly that if I wanted we could take a bus), and I didn't want to not do the whole thing, because I have a pride issue, so I just had to walk through the pain and do the best I could to ignore it. The third day was definitely the worst of all the days for me.

We encountered all manner of wildlife along the camino, including but not limited to: sheep, giant lizards (I'm talking almost as big as an Iguana), geese, ducks, chickens, roosters, cows, horses, maybe even a donkey or two.

I'm not sure why I remember the grievances of those first three days the clearest, because there were definitely other days where it was all I could do to keep walking. The worst part was that every time we stopped, even though it was on the one hand a relief, I also hated it because I knew that once we started going again I'd have to relearn how to walk so as not to hurt my blisters or my knee. I constantly felt like either an old lady or a little girl or some weird combination of the two.

On the right the church, on the left the hostel we stayed at.

In any case, despite the physical ailments (which for the most part became less as we continued walking), the camino was very enjoyable. The views were incredible, the company was good, we met good people, made good memories, and learned new things. I'm REALLY glad Santi was there, especially. At the beginning I wasn't sure how wise spending 2 weeks together with no breaks from each other would be, because in such cases, either you end up being REALLY annoyed with each other or you end up being better friends than before. Knowing my short tolerance for most people, I didn't want Santi to start annoying me. It really is a testament to what an amazing person Santi is that he didn't annoy me, not even after two weeks. What's even greater is that, even at the end of the day, when my feet hurt, when my muscles were sore, when I was hungry and tired (conditions that do not make me the most amenable person to be around), Santi could still make me laugh.

One of the things that I liked best about the camino was the simplicity of it. All I had to worry about every day was was getting up, walking, eating, and where I was going to sleep at night. It made a nice rhythm, getting up early, walking, stopping somewhere for lunch, walking, stopping when one of us got tired, walking, stopping at the albergue, showering, going foraging in the local store for dinner, giving massages (which I really like to do for some reason, so if you ever need one, hit me up), talking and laughing, and then going to sleep. And getting up the next day to do the same thing again.
I also liked getting to meet people. I really enjoyed Cristina - we had so much fun dancing together. Fabricio was cool for the first couple of days, but got REALLY annoying after that (although he was really nice). Oscar was nice, quiet, but probably not the type of human I'd form a long-lasting friendship with. Marcos the Danish man was super cool, and very attractive. It's too bad we didn't get to hang out with him a bit more.
I enjoyed singing. One day when we started walking, it was snowing. Which turned to rain. Which turned to sun (which we missed the best part of because Cristina and I had to stop in a bar to dry our shoes a bit and change socks). And then immediately after we left the bar it started hailing. Yes, hailing. The rest of the day continued like that, with completely unpredictable weather. Anyway, as I was walking along in the snow, I knew that if I didn't do something, I'd be in a horrible bad mood, which would make the snow even worse, and that I'd probably just give up on the day the first albergue we passed (our constant mantra was 'es sicológico'). So, instead of letting the snow conquer, I started singing (okay, it was probably closer to yelling) at the top of my voice: "Standing outside with my mouth open wide singing 'ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah' if all the snow flakes were candy bars and milk shakes oh what a world it would be!" So the rest of that day we spent singing different songs - some in Spanish, some in English. And then, on days to come where I would be walking a distance away from everyone else, I sang to myself to keep myself motivated.

I learned a lot of Spanish on the camino and improved my listening skills. Learned how to say "cheers" among other things, in Danish. I learned that I actually was capable of backpacking for 11 days straight for 300 km. I learned a lot about the type of person Santi is - things I'd already suspected (for example, that he's incredibly generous) I learned for certain because he demonstrated them.

I think the biggest thing I learned, however, I learned in pieces, and the pieces kind of came together at the end of the camino. Quite possibly my favourite part of the camino (besides the part I will describe in a minute) was Manjarin (which we stopped by on the second day of walking). Manjarin is a little albergue in the middle of the mountains, completely isolated, with nothing around for about oh say... 5-10 kilometers. Anyway, we arrived there and took a little break. I asked Santi if he was about ready to head out, and one of the people from the albergue told us to just stay a few more minutes, because they wanted to send us out with a blessing. We stayed, and it was a beautiful blessing. This is just one example of how helpful people were on the camino. Anything you needed, there was always someone willing to help you out. And that's part of the magic of the camino.

I don't think I realized how incredible that was though, until I arrived at the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela. As we walked towards the cathedral, there was this bagpipe music echoing through the air. It was so loud, so powerful, so beautiful, and it seemed like it was surrounding you. And then at the same time, your eyes were feasting on this beautiful, huge, incredibly old cathedral. I think that's the moment I really realized the magic of the camino. Everyone who was on the camino had undertaken it for different reasons - spiritual, religious, physical, etc. - and everyone started out as individuals. And yet, even though our reasons were different, we as people were different, we were all part of something bigger, and so we helped each other out. Allow me to be redundant: the feeling as I listened to the music and saw the cathedral and had that epiphany, for lack of a better word, was purely magical.

So, all in all, the camino was an incredible experience. If you're ever looking for the cheapest vacation of your life, the camino is it. $500-1200 for tickets over, $750 for food/hostels (though you'll probably spend much less, it all depends on how often you eat out and how often you cook your own food, and most of the albergues cost only 3-5 euros per night, with a few costing 10). $2000 possible total, that's not the cheapest, you may say. But, if you look at it in terms of the length (it takes most people around 30 days to complete), it by far is. Just think, you could probably spend $2000 just on a 7-day cruise (and the flight to the port city). In any case, it's a great experience. Challenging, you learn a lot, you have plenty of time to think, you get to see people truly open their hearts to others. Amazing. Impresionante.

Okay, I was going to post some videos. But then I realized I would never finish talking about my adventures in Spain unless I actually posted this, rather than fighting with blogspot and trying to get my videos uploaded. Too bad though, you could've seen what I meant about the bagpipe music at the end of the walk.

Harry Potter!!

2009-05-25T01:17:00.000-07:00

So, sorry I'm horrible at updating my blog. This is a continuation of my Ireland/UK trip.

Day 11: Well, at the end of day 10, I took a bus to Oxford, checked into my hostel, and met some really cute Australians. The next morning (on the start of day 11) I started my perusal of Oxford by going on a walking tour (which I'd highly recommend to anyone with a loss as of what to do when visiting any city, not just the walking tour of Oxford) of the city, or more specifically, some of the colleges.

We visited Exeter College first, where both J.R.R. Tolkien and Phillip Pullman (author of His Dark Materials series) went to school. Shown here is the outside of the college's chapel, the college's dining hall, and a bust of J.R.R. Tolkien (sculpted by his daughter-in-law) which hangs in the college's chapel:

For any of you who may be unfamiliar with Oxford University (which is the main tourist attraction in the city of Oxford), the university is composed of colleges. Each college has their own chapel, their own library, their own dining hall, faculty, etc. and essentially functions independently of all the other colleges at Oxford. When applying to Oxford, students must choose which college they'd like to attend, and in order to be accepted to the university, they must first be accepted by a college.

And now off we head to Christ Church College, the filming location for many of the scenes from Harry Potter. First off, I give you the shot of the corridor:
Now, the very same steps on which Professor McGonagall addressed the first years:

The inside of the hall (though normally wizards don't need to be told where to walk), and I unfortunately couldn't get all four tables at once:
Next up, staff table, although you can't see it very well. And yes, this is how they actually eat at Oxford, this wasn't just set up for the movie. There really are four long tables, and the staff really do sit at the top of the hall.

And now, the enchanted ceiling:

With a view leaving the hall:
A last note on Harry Potter. I've started reading it in Spanish, and in so doing realized that I know the first book practically by heart. Because I don't need a dictionary on words that I'd probably normally need a dictionary on, because I can remember practically word for word what the English version says. And let me just tell you this right now. Although they're still super enjoyable, J.K. Rowling is definitely not as witty in Spanish as in English. Lol.

And the "Dreaming Spires of Oxford..." as seen from the top of the Oxford Castle Unlocked.

Next on my list of photos and places I went is kind of special for me. Although I didn't stop in the first time I passed it, I did decide for myself that I'd have dinner there. So, this picture is from the daylight hours. The place in question is the Eagle and Child Pub, where Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and their group called the Inklings met weekly to discuss their writing (among other things).

Later, I did stop by and had an amazing drink which had a raspberry/chocolate aftertaste called Raspberry Fool. And then, I ate a traditional meat pie, with ham, turkey, and leeks, with a side of mashed potatoes and boiled vegetables, all smothered in gravy. Delicious. All while contemplating the literary genius of J.R.R. Tolkien.

Immediately after finishing my meal, I hopped on a bus back to London. A perfect end to a beautiful day.

Day 12: I started my day out with walking along the Thames near the area of the London Eye. It was cool because there were a lot of performers, and great people watching, which is definitely one of my favourite things about traveling. Here is the London Eye:

It was hot, over-priced, and although it did provide cool views of the city, I would've much rather climbed up to the top of the tallest room in the tallest tower to find the views.

Next up I went to the Globe Theatre. I had a really good time there, and it was probably my favourite tourist attractions in London. The theatre tour was very informative, they had a super interesting exhibition, and we got to see a little bit of a theatre troupe's rehearsal of Hamlet. Incredible, it was. I really enjoyed it.

Cool thing about quoting Shakespeare. I'd recommend looking at this one close up, because it's pretty interesting.

Photo of the stage inside the Globe Theatre.
And the last thing I did while in London was go to see the musical Wicked. Because you have to see a musical while in London. I was not disappointed. The girl who played the Wicked Witch of the West gave an incredible performance, and though Glinda (or however you spell her name) the Good was a bit obnoxious and didn't have the best voice, I enjoyed watching her as well. The male lead was great, too. All in all a good musical with an interesting take on the Wicked Witch of the West.

The next morning (Day 13, technically), I slept in a little, caught a shuttle to the airport, and caught a flight home. All in all a successful trip :)

London Bridge is Falling Down

2009-04-21T07:17:00.000-07:00

Day 8: After staying out till 3:30 and getting up 5:30 to catch my flight, I was pretty tired, which to be fair, may have contributed to my dislike of London. In any case, after I got off my flight, I picked up my London pass at the tourist office then headed to drop my bags off at my hostel. What I didn't count on when planning the London segment of my journey is the fact that it takes FOREVER to get ANYWHERE in London. To be honest, it's a little bit ridiculous.

Anyway, after the hostel and a quick lunch, I headed of to St. Paul's Cathedral, designed by the great Sir Christopher Wren, and the wedding place of Princess Dianna. It really is a fairly cool piece of architecture, but definitely not my favourite cathedral. Here's a picture of the outside:

Next on the list was supposed to be Globe Theatre:

However, upon finding out that I would have to wait quite a while for the next tour, I decided to do the more expensive Tower of London with the pass that I'd already paid for. I had to practically run to get there on time, and when I did, I found that half of the exhibition had been closed down and I only had 30 minutes to look around. The stuff about torture was pretty cool though. (Good grief, I sound like a sadist.) And I got a good picture of the sunset. Tower of London and sunset:

And I saw the Tower Bridge and walked across it! That's another thing about London though... it definitely has cooler bridges and better architecture than Dublin, but in London, it feels like the bridges take precedence over the river. It's like it's there, but in the way, and when someone does notice the river it's more like an annoyance, and something to throw trash in. But in Dublin, the river is like a part of the city, and people enjoy it and want it there. So they don't build bridges to hide it. They hope the river hides the bridges. I sound like a crackhead. But whatever.
Day 9: So, I was SUPPOSED to go to Stonehenge today. My bus left at 7:15, and I thought that 45 minutes would be PLENTY of time to get to the bus station from my hostel. Not so. I ended up there at like 7:30 or so... and the next bus wasn't til 11:15, by which time it would be too late to catch another bus over to the actual Stonehenge site. So, instead I stayed around London and did a couple of walking tours of London.

The first one took me through a little bit of the history of the city, and I learned a lot and saw quite a bit, so I really enjoyed it. For example, I learned that the London street layout is based on a street plan that was drawn in the middle ages, and the majority of the streets haven't changed. Which means that if Dickens or Shakespeare came back to London today, they could walk you through it, no problem. Speaking of Dickens, we walked past the George and Vulture pub, which I believe he mentions in the Pickwick Papers.
The next walking tour I did was supposed to explain some of the history and legends in the London portion of the Da Vinci Code. I didn't really like the tour though, because I felt like it was just a reenactment/summary of what happens in the film/book. But we saw this snazzy Templar church... or was it masonic? I can't remember. But they're known for their circular churches.

And we also got to see Big Ben! Tourists can't actually go inside the building though, because they're parliament offices.

And although I didn't watch the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, I DID watch the changing of the horse guard. Woot woot!

Everyone's Irish on March 17 :)

2009-04-02T05:31:00.000-07:00

So, before I get super into St. Paddy's Day, I have to tell you all about my short stint in Belfast.

Day 5: SUCH a good day! I started out a little later than normal, and headed off first to tour the Guinness Storehouse, which was really the only touristy thing that I did in Dublin, if you don't count Temple Bar. On route to the Guinness Storehouse, I misread my map and started walking along the river in the exact opposite direction I was supposed to be going. I thought I'd be annoyed at this waste of time, but the river was so peaceful and beautiful, and it was this little mishap that probably made me fall in love with Dublin. Yes, in love, I say. I'd love to return to Dublin in the very near future to study.

I LOVED the Guinness Storehouse. I learned a lot, there weren't many people to annoy me, and there were great tidbits of info everywhere. I'd highly recommend it, even if you don't drink Guinness.
So an interesting tidbit about the Guinness Storehouse. Every year, Guinness pays 45 pounds to the leaser. This is because Arthur Guinness, Guinness's genius founder, signed a 9000-year lease for the site of the Guinness Storehouse. So until the year 10,759, Guinness will continue paying 45 pounds/year to their leaser. Below is a picture of the original lease, signed by Arthur Guinness in 1759:

A few other fun things I found at the Guinness Storehouse:

And moving on to Belfast, haha. After the Storehouse I hopped on a bus to Belfast, which is in Northern Ireland, thus although still part of the fair isle of Ireland, part of the country of the UK. Anyhoo, originally I had big plans for Northern Ireland, but they were upset due to my late start at the Guinness Storehouse, and a miscalculation on my part the following morning.

Staying at my hostel with me were two Brazilians who were both living in Dublin but on vacation to Belfast at the moment. The girl is named Marsela, and the boy Adriano. Then that creepy bald guy is the one who we met randomly and who also just as randomly tried to kiss me. AWKWARD! Oh, and pay no attention to the crimson of my eyes, I've just turned into a vampire over my travels.

Um... why am I driving on the right side of a taxi? ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE ROAD?!

Day 6: So, I was SUPPOSED to go to the Giant's Causeway this day. Buuuuuut, I'm horrible at life, so I didn't make it. Actually, it's not really my fault. I got up at around 8:30 AM, and was supposed to leave for the tour at 11:00 AM. Since I was running out of clean clothes, I naively calculated that 2 and a half hours would be plenty of time to do a load of laundry. At 10:30, when the washer was still running, I realized that the tour was a lost cause, which was too bad, because I would've really liked to have seen it. Oh well though. I'll be in Ireland again at some point in my life, so I'll just go then.

Instead, I spent the day wandering around Belfast and looking for cheap going out shoes (my white ones had been ruined the first night in Cork). I got an early bus back to Dublin, had a relaxed dinner, then headed off for the biggest ego trip of my life, which happened at a couchsurfer gathering. By biggest ego trip of my life, I mean that I got a ridiculous amount of compliments. I'll spare you all having to read through them, though =p

Day 7: Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! St. Patrick's Day was fun, and pretty crazy. Well... not for me, but for a lot of other people. For me it was pretty laid back. I woke up late, got annoyed with the hostel I was staying at for it's lack of outlets, and went off to the parade. Which was PRETTY cool, and I've included some pics for your viewing pleasure. I have TONS more though.I liked the guy with the world on his shoulders...

Here's one of my Irish friends that I met! He turned me into a leprechaun!

This isn't what it looks like, I swear! We were doing the one kiss on each cheek thing after a lovely dance, and one of his friends just happened to take the picture at exactly the wrong moment... lol.

This pic is for my little brother. I was talking to these two Irish fellows, and they asked me something about how my St. Patrick's Day was going, and I told them it was going well. Somehow the conversation turned into how my little brother really wanted me to find a red-haired Irish man named Patrick and take a picture with him. And he was like, "Well my name's Patrick... and I sort of have red hair!" And that was it, we took a picture. I don't remember the name of his friend though...

A couple other things happened on St. Paddy's Day, but none that I'm going to write about. Except for one. I had been talking to another Irish guy (whose name is currently escaping me) and then I was like "I'm going to go meet people now!" And then when I came back to talk with him again towards the end of the night he was so annoyed with me. He was like "I thought we were getting on so well!" I guess that's what you get for being friendly sometimes. Ah well. Then, at the very end of the night, he very cutely asked, though I had no romantic interest in him whatsoever and didn't think I'd been sending any signals that said otherwise, if I was going to let him kiss me. To which I of course said no :) (Although it would've been a good souvenir, haha!)

Thus concludes day 7 of my journey, and my St. Patrick's Day of 2009.

Galway and Dublin

2009-04-01T13:32:00.000-07:00

Hey hey hey! I just realized I forgot to tell you all what "craic" means (from my last post). It's basically like fun... but it has a lot of different meanings. Very versatile word.

In any case. Continuing where I left off. In Galway I stayed the night with Lindsay and Torri (sp? Torri, if you ever read this, I'm REALLY sorry if I spelled your name wrong... I'm just too lazy to go and check lol). We had a good chat and had fun swapping stories about things that have surprised us in our new countries of residence (Ireland and Spain, for those of you who've somehow missed that information =p).

Day 3: In the morning, Lindsay headed off to class and Torri accompanied me to the Healy Tours pick-up point, where we said good-bye. All of day 3 was spent on a tour of The Cliffs of Moher and the Burren.

The Burren was first, and I opted to do a walking tour of the area with a local farmer. He had some cool stories to share with us, although I didn't enjoy wearing the Wellingtons to avoid the mud, because they rubbed against my ankles weird. Anyway, The Burren is just basically a huge area with a ton of really cool limestone rock formations. The structure I'm standing next to was made........ I forget when. But fairly recently. I thought the rock formations were super cool to look at, thus they made the pictures...

Cliffs of Moher came next! I think I would have been more impressed by their 700 meter sheer drop-off to the sea if it hadn't been FREEZING.
After the Cliffs of Moher, I grabbed a bus to Dublin. That night, I decided to check out the Temple Bar area of town, which has a lot of good places for dancing. At one of them, I was just minding my own business, and there was a creepy guy that would NOT leave me alone. So I had to leave.

Day 4: Today I got up and figured out a bus route to take me to Newgrage and Knowth, which are neolithic tombs. They were pretty cool I guess, but a little anticlimatic, because of the cold and wind, I think. It is incredible, though, how much those people knew about the sun and the moon and the earth and their movements and everything, and how they could build things so precisely that on important occasions (equinox, solstice) the entire inner chamber would be illuminated at precisely the moment the equinox or solstice occurred, no matter what, for as long as the structure remains standing.

I was SO annoyed about the wind lol.

After I got back from that little tourist attraction, I got back to my hostel where I met these three girls. Sadly, it's the only picture I got from the night. From left to right: Katy, Dayna, Christina, Me.

I knew I'd get bored with them the moment one of them mentioned Rihanna and Chris Brown, but we all decided to go out together anyway. Strength in numbers, eh? So we went to this place in Temple Bar called Oliver St. James, which was absolutely PACKED with tourists in ridiculous hats and clothing, all decked out for St. Patrick's Day. I was pretty convinced that I wouldn't meet any Irish people there, but I decided to stay anyway.

To make a painfully long story short (in other words, be glad you're not my mother, who had to listen to every bit of it) I met two RIDICULOUSLY cool Irish guys, with their cute Irish accents. They were brothers, and Katy REALLY wanted to make out with one of them, so she kept asking him to dance, and he kept telling her no, haha. Reasons they're ridiculously cool:

1. They told me that for them going to Temple Bar was like going to the zoo. Being from Moab and having observed Jeep Safari, I can totally relate.
2. They told me I was the only girl in the place worth talking to.
3. I expected them to be completely into the sorority girls, and they weren't. Sometimes girls with brains DO finish first!
4. When they eventually ended up leaving, they were like, "It's not you, it's her." I felt like they were breaking up with me, lol.
5. They refused to let me be overly nice to Katy (who handed me her coat without even asking if I would hold it), and told me to put it on the ground with their scarves.
6. When I mentioned I was from Utah, the first thing they mentioned was L. Ron Hubbard.
7. They had somehow procured a sample of 160 euro body spray (the word that you use for mens' fragrances is currently escaping me right now) and asked me to test it. I'm not gonna lie, it smelled delicious.
8. The one Katy was trying to dance with recognized that "dance" was just a way for her to make out with him.
9. They taught me some good old-fashioned Irish dancing.
10. When I was describing the cuter one in my journal, I realized he looked kind of exactly like a vampire from Twilight. And I used the phrase. Haha. Nerd that I am.

Man, they were cool. I wish I had pictures with them! But alas, I don't... Ah well.

Thus concludes day 4.

Good Craic

2009-03-25T03:06:00.000-07:00

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So, as many of you know, I left for Ireland on the 11th of March. Here's a day-ish by day-ish account of my time there:

Day One: I flew in to Dublin Airport and then immediately hopped on a bus to Cork, which is in Southern-ish Ireland. Once in Cork, I met up with a guy named Ruairi (which means red-haired in Irish, I believe), and an American guy named Jay from NY. Why did I meet these two humans in particular, you may ask. The answer? www.couchsurfing.com. If you travel often, check it out! It's good, as long as you're careful about it. Anyway, Ruairi was my host for the night, and Jay was also surfing Ruairi's couch.

It was Ruairi's birthday, so we ended up going dancing and hanging out with a bunch of his friends, one of whom apparently looks like Jeff Goldblum (Dr. Malcolm (sp?) in Jurassic Park), so we all called him Jeff Goldblum the rest of the night. Ruairi told me I looked really similar to Alexis Bledel (sp?) (from Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and Sin City, look her up on www.imdb.com), but I dunno. You decide. Anywho, I had great fun hanging out with all of them, and even acquired a couple of pretend gay best friends for the night (I was telling Alan that I loved gay men because they always tell you you're beautiful and fabulous, so he told me he could be my gay best friend for the night, and he told me I'm beautiful and fabulous :)).

Day 2: Had a traditional Irish breakfast with my Irish friends (and the one American friend). It consisted of mushrooms, baked beans, a fried egg, ham, sausage, and toast. It was pretty good, considering I don't particularly care for mushrooms or baked beans. If you ate them with other things they tasted fine.

Anyway, after that we headed over to Blarney Castle, where I kissed the Blarney Stone! Woot woot! It was crazy going through the castle, because it felt like we just kept going up and up and up. And it looked smaller than it actually was. I have to admit though, actually kissing the Blarney Stone was a little anti-climatic. But definitely worth it, and we have a fun time together, as you can see in the pics :)

Near Blarney Castle are the wishing steps. Legend has it that if you walk up and down them closing your eyes without opening them once and while thinking constantly of your wish, the witch trapped nearby has to grant it. So I did. Which is one of the pics that my American friend Jay so obligingly took.

After Blarney Castle, I hopped on a bus to Galway. The next couple of days will be in the posts to follow!

Clubbing

2009-03-03T13:00:00.000-08:00

Oh good grief, it's been a long time since I've updated this. Which means a lot of stupid pictures that I'll have to put up. Oh well, my own fault I guess. First thing's first, clubbing.

About, oh... 4 weeks ago, I went out dancing with the twins, Bea, a kid named Pablo, and another friend of theirs we met along the way named Javi. First thing's first, a picture of the Fabulous Four (which is what I've decided I'm going to call Santi, Isma, Bea, and I, because they are the three I always hang out with). Fab 4 for short. Lol.

Dancing with them was a lot of fun, and really different from when you dance in the US. Because in the US, you NEVER see boys dancing together, because everyone in the states is scared that people will mistake them for being homosexual. Yet in Spain, there's no such stigma, so the boys dance together and the girls dance together and no one cares. So it was lots of fun to watch the boys dancing. The only thing is I'm a HORRIBLE dancer, and somehow I ended up with friends who are all really good dancers, so I look like a complete idiot when I'm dancing with them. I also look like an albino whenever I take pictures with them. Lol.

Anyway, their friend Javi apparently told Santi that I am a beautiful person. Which is a nice compliment, but I was hoping it was simply a friendly compliment. No such luck. Let me tell you a little about Javi. He is... the best word to describe him, is nerd. When I met him he was wearing a sweater over a collared shirt. Later, I learned that under his sweater he also wore suspenders. The worst part was that he was wearing MAJOR floods. And he was a horrible conversationalist. Worse than me, which is saying something, because I am, in general, pretty bad. (Ex. At one point he asked me if I had any brothers or sisters, so I told him. His response? "Cool." Nothing else. Lol.)

Anyway, as we were walking back to the cars, Javi said (and I quote), "So... I have a car... if you want I could take you home." Me: "Um... I have to go with Santi and Isma." Translation: "I don't even KNOW you. Why would I go home with you?!" At one point he told me that he wanted me and everyone else to go to a local hangout spot in La Mora during the afternoon, and then afterwards, just me and him, to go "For a long walk on the beach, in the sun." And because he asked in front of everyone, I couldn't just flatly turn him down, so instead I asked "And what happens if there is no sun tomorrow?" (As it rainy, not the apocalypse). Everyone got a good laugh out of that, but I still somehow got wrangled into giving this Javi kid my number and later, my msn. Luckily, he's only texted me once, and only asked me to get on msn once.

Anyway, these are some of the pictures from the next day. We did indeed end up going to La Mora Mar Restaurante, and for a walk, but thankfully I didn't have to go anywhere alone with Javi.

Anyway, from left to right: Me, Bea, Javi, Pablo, Isma, Santi

Also, I learned from Santi that his car had no name (gasp!). So, we named his car Paco :) No worries now! (Except that my little brother has been let loose upon the streets of Moab... =p)

The Weekend

2009-02-16T01:26:00.000-08:00

So this weekend was SUPER busy and a lot of fun! Friday night I went out with Santi and Isma and five of their friends. We hung out first at a restaurant in La Mora, then sat around outside (and it was PRETTY cold) until around 3:30 AM. All of their friends understand English really well and a couple of the boys also speak really well. It was a lot of fun getting to know them and I hope that I see them again soon!

Saturday (Happy Valentine's Day everyone!) was the day of the big Carnaval party, which is basically like Mardi Gras except for that we didn't celebrate it on Fat Tuesday. The party was themed Mediterranean culture. I think I'm dressed up like someone from Turkey but I'm not sure... I borrowed my outfit from Anna lol. We had pirates, a Cleopatra, a hippie, a Roman, a greek God, some Mallorquinas (from the Island of Mallorca), farmers from the mountains, gondola men, and a great number of other things. Everyone was so nice and friendly, and I got to practice a lot of Spanish! (Even though most of their friends speak English, they humoured me by letting me speak Spanish and speaking Spanish back). All of Mapi's friends are incredible cooks - we had little sandwiches from Greece, Catalunya, Italy, and I don't remember the last country. The Roman (who is actually from Belize and told me I must always speak English to him because he is an English speaker) brought along some very good hummus (but I think my mom's wins the prize!). People started arriving at six and stayed until midnight. We didn't start eating the actual dinner until maybe 10:00 PM!

On Sunday I went to the twins' sister's house to celebrate her boyfriend's birthday with them. We ate a traditional Catalunian food called calçots. Basically, calçots are really young white onions that are grilled over a wood fire until the outside is black and the inside is really tender. You then pull the tender center out from the blackened outside and discard the outside, dip the inside in a sauce that Rafi (the twin's mom) promised to teach me how to make, and then you eat the bottom as shown in the picture. In the picture, from left to right: Santi, Bea (Isma's girlfriend), Isma, their dad (whose name I don't remember), Jose, me, David (the birthday boy, who turned 27), Rafi. Victoria (I think that's what her name is), is the one taking the picture. Oh, and after eating calçots, your fingers get really black. We had about 200 calçots to split between 9 of us; Victoria was telling me that once her dad and only two other people ate 400 calçots.

After the calçots, we had a HUGE meal, then we started boxing on the wii. I beat my opponent the first time, but the second time he beat me :( I have videos of everyone except Rafi playing (she told me she has a bad back), and it was so much fun to watch. Later, I went with Rafi and Victoria and Victoria's dog Gago on a walk around the village. We got back and played a couple of rounds of cards - they taught me a game called 7 and a half. It's pretty much like blackjack, as far as I can tell, except that you try to get to 7 and a half. I think it would be difficult to play with a regular U.S. deck of cards, because we have too many cards over 7, and somehow they didn't, and they only had numbers up to seven then 10, 11, and 12 which only counted as halves. They were all really impressed with my shuffling skills - I'm beginning to think that no one in Spain knows how to shuffle, or at least not how we shuffle in the US. I told them I shuffle okay because I play a lot of cards with my family, but that I'm really not that good; let's face it, once I get two decks of fifty-two cards in my hands, my shuffling skills go downhill rapidly. I have baby hands! Anyway, I ended up winning (we played with these cool fake coin things that are like poker chips except look much cooler) all of the "money" but I think that was more or less beginner's luck =p

Also, I'm heading over to Ireland for St. Patrick's Day! And then after about a week in Ireland I'm going to hit up the UK for a couple of days and then fly back to Spain. I'm so excited! But it has been a bit stressful for the past couple of days trying to work out where I want to go and where I'm going to stay. I have most of it ready now at least for the Ireland leg of my journey, but I still have to work out some accomodations and also plan the UK leg.

Over and out.

Gaudí!

2009-02-08T04:09:00.000-08:00

Some interesting art on the way to Parc Guell.

A slightly blurry picture of me with a Guell sign in the background.

This is a scale model of the inside of La Sagrada Familia.

Detail of the front facade. This is a part of the Nativity scene, with the star in the middle of the people.

At the back of the cathedral, which is called the Passion Facade (yeah, I know I need a little accent thing on the c but I am too lazy to get one), the figures and design is much different. The scenes are ones from the last few weeks of Christ's life, and the style was inspired both by Christ's impending death and by Gaudí's own feelings about his terminal illness (I forget what he had). This particular image is of a criptogram, which if you add up all of the numbers in any row in any direction, they will equal 33, the number of years that Christ lived. To the right of the criptogram is Judas kissing Jesus.

Once again, I love the way Gaudí uses so much natural light in his work, and for some reason I love the way the light looks in these windows.

Gaudí said that he wanted the light in this cathedral to filter down to the people as though through the leaves and branches of trees. The pillars (which are HUGE) are made of different materials depending on how much weight they have to support, which is unusual for a cathedral. Usually the same type of stone is used for the entire cathedral.

Inside La Sagrada Familia. I love stained glass windows when the sun is shining.

Me with my headphones and audioguide map for La Sagrada Familia.

Four of the towers of La Sagrada familia.

Me in front of La Sagrada Familia. I wish the guy who took the picture had gotten more of the cathedral and less of the ground in front of me, but oh well... He seemed like a bit of an idiot so I guess I'm lucky he could figure out how to take a picture at all.

Almost my first view of La Sagrada Familia. La Sagrada Familia was designed by Antoni Gaudí, and was his exclusive last project before his death. It is a catholic temple dedicated to God and Jesus, and has been under construction since Gaudí's death in 1956. Since then, other architects and artists and sculptors have continued with Gaudí's work, using his original designs when possible and using their own creativity when required.

Those are just a small group of the chimneys on La Casa Battló, and proof that Gaudí was a genius. Instead of having the chimneys spread out and ugly, as was customary at the time, Gaudí grouped them together and made even the chimneys artistic.

A hallway in La Casa Battló. I dunno why I love it, but I think it's a beautiful hallway.

A light fixture in La Casa Battló. What architect thinks of doing that kind of spiral thing with the roof? Not only a genius, but Gaudí is an artist. And all of the rooms are like that. Each one is completely different, and yet all of them flow together seamlessly. You'd have to see it for yourself to truly understand what I mean.

The last picture from La Casa Battló. This is a fireplace in a room just off the drawing room. Notice the mushroom shape.

La Casa Battló. One of Gaudí's most famous buildings, and quite possibly my favorite work by him (however, I only got to visit a very small part of Parc Guell, so that may change). The inside of the house is just as incredible as the outside. Oh and the roof - that scaly-looking curvy thing - is supposedly supposed to resemble the dragon that what's his Saint slayed.

I built this hut myself. Just kidding. I was actually really freaked out when I went to explore it that whoever had built it would find me and murder me or something. (Yeah, I have a bit of an overactive imagination...)

Some of the graffiti near the bunkers near my house which I mentioned earlier. I really like the way the light and shadows turned out in this picture.

St. Michael slaying Satan. I like that in this picture, Michael looks almost pitying, almost as though he regrets what he is going to do, but is compelled to do it regardless. That expression changes with the lighting (which I like in this picture) - I have another picture where Michael looks more like he is in pain and is sweating and trying really hard to resist what he is doing. And then I have other pictures where Michael simply looks blank, gone, like he is doing something but doesn't feel any emotion connected with the act. I thought it was interesting how the devil was portrayed as something inhuman - more like a giant worm with horns. I was going to write more on my thoughts on the portrayal of Satan, but I realized that they would be more like an essay than anything else, so I'll spare everyone and not mention them.

A picture of one of the walkways in the cathedral. I always have loved visiting cathedrals, because they are so beautiful and intricate and ornate. This is the cathedral in Tarragona, and is probably one of my favourite places thus far in Tarragona.

Tarragona and Twins!

2009-01-21T01:55:00.000-08:00

So, the last couple of days were pretty busy. I went to Tarragona, met twins, and met Jaume (the dad)! Also, as a side note, I evidently suck at pictures on blogger, so I'm just putting them all at the top, because I don't want to re-upload them and I can't move them.

In Tarragona, I saw a lot of things, but still not everything. I first went to the Circ Roma. The Circ Roma was really cool, and was sort of like a walkthrough of some old Roman and Medieval ruins and also a museum. The tower that you see in the picture is medieval, while the other walls are newer. I've included some pictures of the ruins, one of myself inside the medieval tower, and also a picture of someone important's (though I can't remember the name at the moment) sarcophagus that they recovered from the sea. The outside of the sarcophagus shows the legend of Hipolytus (sp?).

Next, I went off to the Roman amphitheatre, where I met a man whose name starts with an A (although I don't remember the rest of it) and his dog, Catarina. She's featured in the picture of me with the amphitheatre in the background. My talk with the man was the first real language exchange I'd had so far, and he was very difficult to understand because he had a thick Catalunian accent.

Oh! I almost forgot. As part of the museum in the Circ Roma, there was this little tower with a spiral staircase that just seemed to go up and up forever, and you never knew when it was going to end, and then finally, you see a bit of daylight, and you step out of the tower and BAM! The first thing you see is this incredible view of the city and it's main cathedral.

Anyway, after I sat in the amphitheatre for a little while, I headed off to do the tour of the castle walls, where I found some cannons! I also included a picture of the cathedral, which I unfortunately couldn't go into because it was after two, and during the winter it closes at two.

I ran into this guy named Lamin who refused to speak Spanish to me, which was super annoying. He wanted me to go to his house which I refused, of course, and so he gave me his number and told me to call him. Which I would think about doing if I could get a bunch of friends to come with me, but I am not going by myself.

Then I had lunch at an Italian restaurant, and when I walked in, I completely forgot all of the Spanish I knew, and so I was like "Necesito comer?" (That's "I need to eat?") lol. And then of course, as I was sitting at my table, I was like "Oh yeah, I SHOULD have said "una mesa, por favor?" (a table, please). Good times.

I also went to the Casa de la Fiesta (House of the Party), which is where they have all of the characters that march in the Santa Tecla Parade. They are called Cabezudos, because their heads are REALLY big in porportion to their bodies. I was told I should go there by the man who took my photo earlier, and it was a good experience, overall.

And that concluded my day in Tarragona.

SO! Next on the agenda is the twins. Mapi ran into one of her friends by chance while we were waiting to get Anna from French in Altafulla, and her friend (Rafi) was telling her all about how she had two boys who just really didn't want to study English, and their accents were horrible, and on and on. So, as it turns out, her boys are twins and are the same age as me. So Mapi was like "Jessica could help them with English and they could help her with Spanish!" It starts...

The twins are named Santi (short for Santiago) and Isma (short for Ismael), and they both look a lot older and taller than me, lol.

When I met them they took me to these old bunkers about five or ten minutes walking from my house, where they used to play when they were younger. Up near the bunkers there is a bunch of graffiti, of which I included one of the pictures that I took. The square building thing is a picture of sort of a defensive post that was used in the time of Francisco Franco, the Spanish dictator, which was a pretty cool bit of history, if you ask me.

They also introduced me to patatas bravas, which is a typical Tapa (snack or appetizer) in Spain. They are basically diced potatoes that have been deep-fried with mayonnaise and tobasco sauce on top. They are pretty good, but I wish they didn't have mayonnaise or tobasco sauce.

Yesterday I went to play ping pong with them and made quite the fool of myself, which you will be able to see for yourself in the lovely video Santi took. The twin in the green that I am playing in the video is Isma, and the one in the red in the picture is Santi. Quite apart from being good ping pong players, they also sing Flamenco well and play the drums.

I also met the rest of their family yesterday (besides their mom, whom I'd already met), and we all had lunch together. The twins have an older brother named José who is 22 and an older sister whose name I can´t remember but who is married to David, whom I also met. I don´t think anyone ever told me the name of their dad. Before lunch, their mom took me on a tour of the house, and told me she hoped that I would make myself at home there.

But anyway, lunch was a lot of fun with everyone talking in Spanish at once, and whenever anyone talked to me in Spanish, they´d slow down a lot. The dad and José were having this argument about ham and jam. The dad kept saying that jam was jamón (which of course is actually ham). But I set the record straight, so that was fun. And they had this conversation about white hairs (because all of the guys get premature white hairs), and Isma was like "No, if you have white hairs, it means you're wise in China," which of course made me laugh, and everyone was so excited that I was understanding. Buuuuuuuuut, I think they think I understand more than I do. Or maybe I do understand a lot. I dunno, lol. The twins gave me a little cell phone holder saying "España" which is really cool, and then they took me back to my house.

The kids' grandparents are staying with us this weekend because Mapi and Jaume are in London. But anyway, the grandparents taught me a card game last night called something that starts with a D, which I will call Despedida for convenience. Anyway, its pretty fun, but they don't have Kings in their card decks and instead of dealing and playing to the left, they deal and play to the right, which was so weird.

Anyway, it was cool to get to play with them and get to know them a little better. And now, I'm off to learn how to make a paella!

<3<3<3

The First Pictures!

2009-01-15T12:10:00.000-08:00

Anna and I. We were playing this ridiculous game where you have to throw this soft ball at the other person's head and make it stick on their hat. Hence the silly hats.

The castle with a funny face.

Me and part of the castle.

The whole castle.

This was taken in this little old stone building I found, which I have no idea what the building was originally.

The aforementioned little stone structure.

Sunset from the my terrace.

My bathroom.

Living room, complete with futon, deskish thing, and elliptical.

This is the dungeon where we keep the children locked up when they don't behave =p.

Treehouse and swingset.

Swimming pool!

The view from my patio.

My bedroom.

I'll post more pictures and videos later. I'm sick of waiting for Blogger!

Jan. 10-14

2009-01-15T10:42:00.000-08:00

Over the next few days a couple of things happened. I met a lot of Mapi's neighbours, who seem very nice. She mostly hangs out with the parents who have kids her age, so I haven't met anyone of my age yet.

Saturday was the first really good day of my stay here. The sun was so warm, the sea was beautiful, and the temperature was somewhere in the fifties. Mapi's mom and her mom's boyfriend came to our house for lunch, which they cooked. They made some lamb with potatoes and boiled green cauliflower. I think I would have liked the cauliflower more if it hadn't been cooked so long that it turned to mush when I touched it with my fork.

On Sunday we went for a walk along the coast and down to one of the many beaches within walking distance of their house. We stayed down at the village square thing (I guess that's what you would call it) for a while talking to some of Mapi's friends (she has met someone she knows EVERY time we go somewhere; it's unreal). The sea was, as always, beautiful, as was the beach. I will be getting to know all of these places intimately in the months that I am here.

On Monday we went to Salou where I found a bank in which I could change money. This was my first successful use of the language outside of introducing myself to people and telling Mapi's mom's boyfriend a little about why I love the sun and even the heat. The guy I was working with didn't immediately start speaking English to me, which was good, until I slipped up and didn't understand (at first) that they needed my passport, rather than wanting to make me one, lol. I noticed that in Spain they sell wine in those little boxes that they also sell shelf milk in, instead of just in bottles, which I thought was interesting.

On Tuesday I had an adventure with Anna. I had to drive her back from Altafulla so that Mapi could pick up her other car, and of course, I had to drive a stick shift. So, it was a little exciting driving back from Altafulla to La Mora, but we made it there safely. Also, Anna got sick today and also bumped her head with her racket :(.

On Wednesday I learned where the kids' Kumon (mental math) building is, and I also went to the supermarket with Mapi. Also, today Mapi and I finally really clicked.

Arrival

2009-01-13T12:08:00.000-08:00

¡Hola! So, this blog will be for anyone who cares to keep up on my doings in Spain. This will be different for me because I've been writing my journal in Spanish to practice, but in any case, here goes.

My journey in Spain started on January 7, 2009 at the Salt Lake International where I said goodbye to my family (the ones who were there, anyway). I had a flight to Denver, where I added a shot glass to my collection and said goodbye to my country, and then had another flight to Frankfurt, Germany. I would've bought another shot glass but I didn't have enough time between flights. In any case, after Germany came the short flight to Barcelona, Spain, where my host mom, Mapi picked me up and drove me to there home in La Mora, which is just outside of Tarragona.

There house is beautiful - with a basement that's not really a basement, a ground floor, and a second story. The whole back of the house is covered in sliding glass doors so that you can take in the view of the Mediterranean. I live in the basement which is not really a basement, or it doesn't feel like a basement to me. I have a huge amount of space pretty much to myself, with a large bedroom, a living area with a kitchenette, and a bathroom. I'll post pictures later.

The kids are a lot of fun. Ruben just turned six, is really active, and loves soccer. He can be a handful sometimes, because he doesn't have a very long attention span, but when he is listening to you (and not tired or hungry) he is great! Anna (who is eleven) is a mix of really active and outgoing, but also very dedicated to school. She likes to do her homework as soon as she gets home, and freaks out when she has tests. She is really sweet and speaks English really well, as she spent the first five years of her live in the United States.

I haven't meant Jaume (my host dad) yet, because he is in the States on business. Mapi, on the other hand, is very nice and talkative. She is very concerned about nutrition - she has told me that I am drinking too much water (what's wrong with a half gallon a day, I ask you?) and has often forced me into putting a coat on when I know perfectly well that if I have a coat plus a jacket, I will be too hot. But she just wants me to be happy, and I can understand her concern, because she is used to much warmer weather than I am. Overall I like her very much.

I will write more probably tomorrow, because I have a lot more to say! For now, hasta luego!