Lets go to Africa!

Just got back from Africa yesterday! You don't see that sentence very often do you? Nope. Well, I am very happy that I am able to use it. Our trip started early Friday morning and ended Sunday night. Our schedule was very tight, full of bus rides, monkeys, ferry's, caves, markets, haggling, food, exotic entertainment, and more!

Gibraltar was so cool! First off, I love monkeys so I was already really pumped to get there. So, we arrive and literally monkeys were everywhere. Hanging on the busses, trees, people, everything! They are really comfortable around people, basically they just want your food. I of course wanted some interaction with them, so I luckily had a little pack of pumpkin seeds in my purse. As I reach to go get them a Mamma monkey see's and immediately comes at me and pulls and tugs my purse. Smart little things, they know what you're looking for. After she was shooed away by the bus driver. I poured some in my hand and hid the rest in the other behind my back. As I was feeding the Mamma monkey a little one was sneaking behind me. All the sudden the little monkey jumps on my head in attempt to get to the hidden seeds in my other hand! It scared me but I was laughing/screaming  a little at the same time. I just gave up the whole pack and threw it to the ground. Mamma monkey was happy about that and the little guy just chilled on my head for a bit, I was laughing the whole time. The highlight of my trip! I was so happy to have an encounter with them. I know that sounds silly, but I love monkeys!

We finally arrived in Morocco Friday night. Exhausted from the day of travel and monkeys we had a  great dinner at the hotel and went to bed. Bright and early Saturday morning we started our African adventures. We had a tour of Chefchaouen first by the cutest little tour guide ever! The old part of the city was where our tour was and it was very picturesque. All the town walls were painted a light blue, our guide said this kept the mosquitoes away. The homes had the smallest doors, very odd, but they are small because before you enter the home you are to bow. So the small doors make sense :) Also, you enter everything with the right foot first and exit with the left foot first, supposed to bring good luck. Habibi! Our little tour guide kept saying. It means my love, or my darling. He also said he has been on the show Lonely Planet. That was pretty cool.

         
















Haggle, haggle, haggle. Oh did I mention haggle. So much of it in the market place. You say one price they say higher, back and forth over and over. Then you walk away, walk by a little later, they stop you and give you a lower price. Worked for me at least :) Although I probably could have tried even harder with a few pieces of jewelry but all in all I am happy with my purchases. So interesting that they all can speak at least 3 to 4 languages and some more. They have to. There  business is to sell and if they can't speak to tourists, then they won't do very well. I really enjoyed the market place, but the haggling can be a little overwhelming at times. I did buy a pair of pants/skirt piece I wanted from before I even got to the market. Found them, got them! Really funky, but I like them :)

My new funky African pants/skirt!

More to come....

Just throwing my every day thoughts your way :)

Ok! So, I realized that I have not said enough about how blessed I feel about my situation here in Espana! I have not wrote enough about my amazing host family, roommate, classes, walks, runs, people, just everything basically. I am going to take some time to do that now.

First off, my roommate. Miss Rachel Kelch. She is awesome! We get along so well. I can be my weird, dorky, crazy self with her and she loves it. Well as far as I know :) I am so fortunate to have met her and spend these months here with her. Plus, her spanish is sooooo much better than mine, she helps me mucho mucho! Thanks Rachel! I love you my little rubio! Also, I have made many new friends here and have had so much fun getting to know them, making travel plans with them, going out and being loca with them, and just being "spanish" with them!

Now, my new familia. I love them all. Mamma Rita is so nice, funny, helpful, and so easy to be around. She feeds us so much, which is actually could become a problema for Rachel and I. In fact, starting tomorrow (Ash Wednesday) we are cutting back our sweets and portion size and increasing our ejercicio. Mamma Rita has agreed to stop placing Mister Choco and picos in front of us after dinner as well as muy grande serving sizes. Dieta, Dieta! We tell her, " Tu comida va hacerme gorda Rita" (Your food is going to make me fat)! Then we joke about if we are gorda chica's we will never have novio's(boyfriends). Basically, we just love her! So happy we got placed with this family. Juan is very nice and muy intelligente. He can speak english fairly well but speaks in spanish for our benefit. Marcos and Juanjo are both very, very  nice and helpful, especially Marcos since we see him much more. We tell him he is our personal tutor and in all actuality he really is. He is muy guapo (handsome), so that helps too of course ;).

Told ya he is guapo! Happy Birthday Marcos! He basically had to make his cake, we couldn't read the instructions, haha!  But we had a great time in la cocina together!

I love when we all just sit around after meals and just talk. It helps me so much and we have good conversation about interesting, comical, serious, all kinds of things, its great! Lastly, Juanito, who is Juanjo's 5 year old son. I miss my nieces, Josie Bear and Sammi So-So, way too much and having a little nephew here sure helps me adjust to not being around them all the time. All in all, I love, love, love my new home!

Okie dokie, just a few more tid bits about all the little thoughts I am having. School is great! Love all my teachers and actually have enjoyed every one of my classes. Sadly I have not had a semester where every one of my classes is stimulating my brain. Things are not to heavy with school right now, but it is picking up. Practice my Espanol in only my spanish class, but it is very helpful. The first week I was here my spanish improved so much! I was so happy that in one week I felt so much more confident about it. But now..., sadly I feel that it has plateaued :( I need to make much more of an effort to meet locals. I have made a few local friends and have made plans to go for a drink this week and just talk. Every time I go out I make a point to find spaniards in spanish, it helps a lot. So, hopefully I will report back feeling better about it :)

Ummm....??? Oh ya! Rachel and I have been going on evening runs around the river and the view is so gorgeous it makes running enjoyable, and I am not a runner. The city is so beautiful! We walk about 2 hours a day. Plenty of time to admire the river, the many styles of buildings, the cathedral, everything! We have already been here 3 weeks, and it is going to fast! I do not want it to end, it needs to slow down! There is no time to waste so we must soak up every minute we have and experience all we can! Every time I stop to think, all I can think is "I'm so happy! I'm so Blessed!" I am so grateful for this time in my life and so grateful for my parents and all they do for me and God, he has blessed me more than I deserve!

Man, did I just ramble on forever...yup sure did. And those are not even half my thoughts! E! Well until next time.

Hasta luego!

Second Weekend = Success

A long and eventful weekend has come to an end. After a good week of classes we went on an excursion to Ronda. Ronda is a beautiful city about an hour and a half from Seville. We got to see amazing views overlooking the rolling hills, and an incredible view from the bridge connecting the old part of town to the new. It was breathtaking! A river ran below the bridge, very beautiful. We also visited one of the oldest and biggest bull rings, it was really interesting to hear about the different parts of a bull fight. Rachel and I definitely want to go to a bull fight while we are in Spain, it is a must do for us.The rest of the day was spent in little bar and chocolate cafe, the weather was not the best so we tried to stay inside.

Me and Laura's bullfight!

Pictures do not do it justice 

I guess I forgot to mention Rachel in my first post. She is my roommate and we get along like we have known each other for ever. It is such a relief we get along so well!

Rachel y Yo!

Saturday we went on a bike tour around Seville. The weather was so perfect and we got to see parts of the city we had not explored yet. Plaza de Espana, for example, is a cite we had been needing to go visit. It is huge! We loved it, so pretty and is surrounded by a huge park. We plan on going back many more times. We had a great lunch and after we finally made the cheese cake we bought for Marcos for his birthday. Since the directions were in spanish we needed some help. Basically, Marcos made his own birthday cake but it was like a learning session. He helped us translate the directions and it turned out to be a really fun afternoon in the kitchen. We love our new family! We can both be ourselves with them and they are all so patient and helpful with us when our spanish is not the best. Well my spanish, Rachel is much better than me.

Short siesta after our cheese cake, than got ready for Carnival in Cadiz! Carnival in Cadiz is a huge fiesta in the streets. Everyone dresses up in crazy costumes and the fiesta goes late into the night an early morning. It was definitely a loco time! Made some new friends on the bus ride up, saw a lot of crazy people and costumes, had a blast with my friends, and went to bed at 8am. Success?...Yup! Lets just say this Sunday was literally a day of complete rest.

Crazy hair for Crazy Cadiz!

Four days of class then we are off to Africa! We are going to Morocco! I am very excited to see another culture so very different from American and Spanish culture. I will be sure to report back with all the details.

Better late than Never.

Hola!
Ok, so blogs, journaling, writing anything in general, I have never been exceptional at. However, I want to write this blog for me to look back on and reflect on the time of my life! Also for anyone else who may be interested. :)

Well I am off to a late start with my blog, but better late than never! Spain. Where to begin? How about...It is amazing and I love it! Everything so far has been perfect! I have been in Sevilla for two weeks now and adjusting well. I absolutely could not be happier with my host family, Rita and Juan, my new padres, Juanjo and Marcos, my new brothers, and Juanito, my new nephew, love them all already!

We have been on the go with school, excursions, and the whole spaniard way of life. Very different from what we do in America. For instance, we have lunch about 3 and dinner around 10, that took some adjustment. When we go out for the night we don't return until about 5:30am, and that is completely normal. I am embracing the culture and can not wait to experience all I can here. It is a beautiful city with so much culture and history. I have explored much of it in just the first two weeks but it is my goal to see and learn as much as I can about Sevilla while I am here.

So much has already happend, but it would take a novel to catch you up. So, starting now I will do my best to write about my time in Espana as much as possible!

Here are a view pics of my time so far :)

Hasta Luego!