hello, usa!

nineteen hours of travel, three large pieces of luggage, lots of movies and tv shows later, and im back in america

the flight wasn’t as bad as i thought it would be at all. i was lucky enough to be on the same flight as my friend kendra, so i had good company. the plane going from madrid to dallas was so cool, we each had our own TV. so we literally spent the whole time watching movies and tv shows. Lovely Bones….such a ridiculous movie. ah.

once in dallas…SO weird! it was really strange to hear people speaking in english, and even weirder to be able to talk to strangers in english. there were a few times when i said “perdona…eh, excuse me” and “gracia…eh, thank you”. definitely something to get used to. I also caught myself miming some things to people instead of just saying “hey, could i get by please?”

when i arrived in st louis, at 9:30 pm, it was really 4:30 am my time, and i was exhausted. I was greeted by a very excited dad, (mom’s in florida at the moment) and we went on our way to baggage claim.

we were waiting there for a few minutes, and i was so dazed and tired. it took me a few minutes to register that emily arnold was standing about 10 feet away from me, just staring with a big grin on her face. needless to say, i ran, jumped and hugged her and almost knocked her down with the weight of my backpack. so that was exciting.

we came back to my house, where there was a cake reading “bienvenidos a casa, lisa” waiting, along with emilys homemade brownies, too. my room was completely clean (sooo nice) and sitting on my bed was a blown up and framed picture that emily had edited from my trip to italy.

very wonderful first day back.

except for one minor detail…

jetlag. went to bed yesterday for a nap at 4:30 pm, and woke up this morning at 4:30 am. whoops.

next stop, des moines iowa.

kisses (besos)

profesora lisa

well, i’ve done it. my biggest goal here, complete. i taught my own lesson to a fourth grade class. (and it wasn’t a surprise this time!)

The teacher told me i could do it on whatever i wanted. he gave me a math book, a science book, a history book and a language book. me, teach math? ha. funny. american teaching spanish? also humorous. he said i could mix things up, be as creative as i wanted, so i opted with showing them a thing or two about america.

i decided we’d make a “travel day” and “go” to the united states. fun right?

i really lucked out, because my mom gave me “oh the places you’ll go” in spanish before i left. so i gathered all of the niños and had them sit on the floor, while i did my best to rhyme in español.

after a great round of applause, we moved onto the next activity… what do you need to travel to a different country? a passport, of course!

thats the model i made them, with a really great self portrait. ha. while they colored, i played some beatles music to have in the background.

after that, i made a powerpoint showing them some of the most famous things about america, and gave them a map of the US so they could color in the states that we “visited”.

yeah, i showed them hollywood ha. they loved it, had stories to tell and questions and comments. the whole time during the lesson, david, the teacher, wouldn’t let them ask him questions. he told them i was the teacher, and he was only there to observe. which was really awesome.

finally we had a little “review”…i drew and cut out pictures and had them stick them on the board, showing where each thing we talked about came from.

it went  kind of like, “who remembers what this is? and where does it go?”

and i am very proud that jorge remembered where st louis was

and to end…

i had to teach them a very american game that i think a lot of people know and love:

it just goes to show, it doesnt matter where you are in the world. everyone LOVES heads up seven up

and so ends my time at jesuitas. im going to miss those little kiddos a lot.

the teacher was wonderful–i dont know if ill ever learn as much from anyone as i did from him. truly an awesome experience.

i’m in love.

so it happened.

i came to spain, i fell in love.

i met him a week after i got here, and it was love at first sight.

he’s a great singer.

really has a way with words.

loves to dance.

makes me laugh, a lot

he’s short, but dark and handsome.

and he showers me with kisses.

here he is:

baby paco, ladies and gentlemen. 8 months old and a giant bundle of love. im going to miss him muchisimo when i go home.

see you all soon,

love love love.

shabbat shalom! (dos besos)

ever since i decided to come to spain, i thought it would be interesting to go to a temple and sit through a service. a temple in spain, you ask? right. hard to come by. dont worry, i did my research.

my friend evan and i sent an email to the temple, saying we wanted to come. after giving them our passport numbers and other information, they gave us the address. turns out it was a street over from where i live. never have i ever seen a temple, in my whole time here.

so we went, dressed up, for friday night services. and there we were, 19 calle whatever. and it was an apartment building. no sign, no nothing. we buzzed ourselves in.

the “temple” was a floor of the apartment building, folding chairs and a torah and candles. the service went by super fast. we rushed through the blessings and prayers, mostly in tunes i wasn’t familiar with. but then, (dad you’ll love this), we did the vish sham roo one! and it was the same! i sang my heart out.

when the service ended, everyone wished each other a shabbat shalom. and i mean everyone. i double kissed everyone, from the rabbi to the 90 year old woman sitting behind me.

after services theres usually an oneg, a blessing over the bread and wine. at home, we break the bread, everyone takes a piece, chats for a few minutes and leaves. here, all 20 of us sat around a long table, broke the bread, poured wine, passed around little sandwiches, and sat and chatted for about 45 minutes. we made friends with an old couple from denmark, a spunky englishwoman on her way to israel next tuesday, and the spanish rabbi.

fantastic evening.

something else i discovered: playground near my house…drain in the ground, definitely not a drain. its a secret trampoline. and its awesome. 

only one final left, and then my life will continue on the beach.

right. here.

real life? no thanks

besos! (shalom!)

15, what!

fifteen days til i go home.

thats two weeks and one day.

half a month

five times three.

thats how long ago i got back from spring break

less time than american college winter breaks last!!

what am i going to do?

apparently studying for finals is not on the list. i cant concentrate. i look at a page of notes and my eyeballs just kind of glaze over in thought of beach and sun and water and frolicking…

i havent updated a lot lately because i really want to put up some pictures i’ve taken in the last week, but my camera’s dead. basically, look forward to hearing about a huge show, a man fight, (that i was caught in the middle of, dont worry mom im fine) and sunflower seeds.

more to come, as soon as i make it to the other side of finals week

dear spaniards, your country is hot.

and here it is, ladies and gentlemen. the blue blue skies with plenty of sunshine that i always pictured alicante to have, end of april. what comes with it?

HEAT.

ive never complained about heat. i love being in the sun, i actually enjoy getting into a car thats been sitting outside on a hot summer day (after coming out of a cold building). but then again, i had never been on a crowded, sticky bus for 20 minutes in that heat before.

and the thing is, i just dont get it. im sweating out all the fluids my body contains wearing a sundress and sandals, and i look around me…and all the spaniards are walking around in jeans, slacks, close toed shoes, and yes. some were even wearing cardigans. and i kid you not, i spotted a turtleneck.

sorry spaniards, its HOT. i dont care what the norms are for clothing, i’m not following it anymore. my legs need to breathe.

this week is the last week of classes. i cant even believe i’m writing that. it feels like just yesterday i was talking about the intensive grammar course, freezing to my bones just sitting in class. my how things change in just a few months.

the trip to ireland was cancelled due to volcanic ash (rude). but hey, just another reason to come back to europe, right?

its official: tickets home have been booked for may 21. landing in st. louis at 8:55 pm, friday night. yes, i have a pit in my stomach every time i think about that. so i try not to. ha. okay, i have three weeks left. things i still need to do:

buy a spanish flag

climb up the castle (why hasnt this happened?!)

ride on the back of a moped (good luck with this one)

find a necklace

go hiking

sit outside and sip more wine while overlooking the sea and catch the glance of an attractive spaniard who sees me from across the way and comes over and asks me how i’m doing, and then we fall in love.

suggestions welcome to my short list for the short amount of time i have left here in paradise.

BESOS.

sub??

like every other friday,  i went the elementary school to observe. its been really great, i love the teacher, the other people that work there are so nice, the kids are great, so i always look forward to fridays.

so today i get to school, and a teacehr intodrouces herself to me and is like “oh, youre the girl thats with david’s class, right?” i nodded.

“oh he’s not here today. so you can either be with the sub or hop around to other classes, whatever you want”.

ive always felt bad for subs. kids can take so much advantage of them, its incredible. and its like babysitting. so i figured i’d stay and keep the sub company.

i sit down at the desk in front of the class while the kids are playing and see the note left for the sub. i quickly glanced over it and silently thanked god that i didnt have to deal with that. five minutes later, class starts. no one comes. 5 minutes. no one comes. the whipper snappers are getting restless. then it dawns on me. i am the sub.

i am the sub?!

they’re all blabbering about a language activity that theyre supposed to be doing, and meanwhile asking me if i am the teacher today. so i said yes, and while my head was spinning i handed out the worksheets for language. okay. deep breath. its all written right here, all of the plans. here’s what it said:

1st hora: control de lengua

2nd hora: termina control de lengua, ficha matematica

3rd hora: conocimiento del medio, libro p. 158-160

which in my head, roughly translates to: 1st hour, a language activity. second hour, finish it up, math lesson (what math lesson?!) third hour: do soemthing in the book on page 158-160. mmmhm.

i started the language lesson, reading a story out loud in spanish. they helped me with words i couldnt pronounce.

i didnt realize until halfway through the activity that this worksheet was in fact a test. control=exam.

whoops.

so the rest of the morning i played teacher. calling on people, letting kids go to the bathroom, quieting them down, complimenting their drawings, letting them read comics, answering their questions, all en español. i deserve a prize.

finally around noon david, the teacher comes running in, apologizing about some misunderstanding. i love spain.

so basically im an adult and a teacher now, so just call me miss myers.

i dont want to even think about speaking spanish for at least three hours.

so, a hug and a kiss to all of you.

back to work

and so ends a wonderful spring break. all over italy, all over spain, what more could i ask for?

the rest of the trip was great. i have never laughed so much as i did this past week with my family.

going from sevilla to granada, we rented a car. i said from the beginning…bad idea. bad bad bad idea. but randy myers was very determined to drive the shiny stick shift car through spain so i let go of any hope for hopping on a train (i have so much experience with that kind of spontaneity now). we pulled out of the parking spot with a really big jolt and then the car stalled.

fantastic start.

we made it there no problem, great scenery. we were doing just fine, unil we got into the city. as i expected, we got lost. we were circling around the city entrance for a good twenty minutes, almost getting hit left and right before my dad had the grand idea of “getting a cab”.

so here’s what he did:

he jumped out of the car, with my sister behind him, me with my face in my hands in the back seat. i knew theyd need me for spanish but this was just humiliating. of course i saw my dad frantically beckoning me from the pulled-over taxi so i reluctantly went over. heres what was going down:

dad: hi do you speak english?

driver: (shakes his head) no eeeengleeesh.

dad: okay, well my daughters back there, she speaks spanish. but what i’m going to have you do is lead us to our hotel, we’re lost…just hold on, she’s coming…

driver: ……

i dont think it ever really clicked that in spain, they speak spanish. ha.

granada was great, i think my favorite part was doing an arabic bath. my mom sister and i went to this arabic palace establishment, where they had baths with aromatherapy and massages. so we jumped on it. it was SO cool. there was a warm bath, hot bath, and cold bath, all in this beautiful palace with dimly lit lights and soft arabic music. at the end there was tea. mmmm.

my friends have been stranded all over europe because of the volcano in iceland. this is insane. and its still erupting. at least everyone is safe.

now, about that schoolwork…

ha. besos.

bad luck?

they say that traveling abroad can be rough. and boy has that roughness hit my parents.

first, my dad got a real “barcelona experience” and was pickpocketed. we kind of joked about it before it happened, and always asked him where his wallet was, put your wallet in your front pocket, check your pockets, etc. because barcelona is known for their pickpocketers. theyre sneaky! i mean really, they have some crazy skills. so we were on a subway, and i saw my dad do the classic pocket slap to make sure that his wallet was there, but this time he didnt do the normal head nod, “yep, still there!”. instead there was a devistated, frozen look that said “where the hell is my wallet.” so we got off of the subway and he cancelled all of his cards. luckily he had just spent the last of his cash so really, aside from the phsyical cards and wallet, and his drivers license, he didnt lose too much. could have been a lot worse.

the next day, my mom took a fall. it was scary, but shes okay, minus a twisted knee and some serious hobbling. which isnt exactly okay but again, could have been much worse.

but besides that, weve been having so much fun. everyone is still in good spirits despite the couple of setbacks. lots of laughter and jokes, wine food and exploring.

were in sevilla right now, and i think it might be my favorite city that ive seen in europe. then again, i kind of say that about every place i visit. but seriously. i love sevilla. its exactly what you would imagine when you think of spain. small cobblestone streets, narrow alleys with colorful houses, shops, cafes with tables outside, people walking everywhere, a castle, a huge cathedral, horse drawn carriages everywhere. fountains. its beautiful. i dont want to leave.

but were headed to granada in a few hours, and guess how were getting there? randy myers himself. with a stick shift. in spain. this should be interesting.

did i mention that last night he suggested we go to africa instead of granada? that would have been the best trip of my life. so funny. the myers family in africa? hahaha.

time to explore the rest of sevilla before i have to say adios, ciao, hasta luego, te quiero.

besitos

the myers clan visits espana

a two hour flight has never felt as long as it did while i was on the way to the barcelona airport to see my familia. its been three months! 

BUT. get this. before that, i had to wait in the rome airport for TWELVE HOURS. yes. and no, i didn’t miss my flight. i just stupidly thought it would be a good idea to save hostel money and spend the night at the airport since i had an early flight. bad idea. bad bad idea. i did make some french friends though, and i explained to them the difference between “exhausted” and “tired”, and talking “with” someone and talking “to” someone. they were learning english. good for them.

 finally it was time to fly back to the homeland. goodbyeeee italy. (i will be back, dont you worry). when i landed and went to get my luggage,  i was greeted by a zombie-like version of my mom and sister and dad. traveling for 24 hours just doesnt do the body good. but it was wonderful to see them and to be together again. basically, i couldnt stop smiling. 

the first day in barcelona was pretty much just exploring and wandering around since everyone was so exhausted. we got some tapas and wine for dinner, and crashed.

the second day, yesterday was beauuuutiful. we explored some more, and even went to the beach which was so nice because i didnt get to do that the last time i was here. and i kid you not, a woman definitely gave my dad a proposition. yes. a prostitute offered herself to my dad on the beach. i dont even want to know.

katie and i really wanted to go to a bar to watch the madrid vs. barcelona soccer game. so we went out and were on a hunt for a good bar, until we just followed the cheering voices to find the most hoppin places. this game is a HUGE deal here, bigger than anything i’ve seen in the US.

 and it was even better, because barcelona won! people were cheering, chanting, singing, dancing, waving their barcelona scarves in the air. people threw fireworks in the streets that sounded like bombs. we made some spanish friends during the game, and they  bought us roses and shots and we had lots of drinks. they offered to take us to the discotecas but we were a little tired (and not in a good state of mind) and bid our new comerads adios

it wasn’t until we were halfway home that we realized we did not pay for a single drink. whooops.

when in espana!

hasta luego chiquitos