¡Vamos a Esquiar!

READ THE PREVIOUS ENTRY FIRST

......A CONTINUACIÓN

So, last night, around 2:30, Dovis and Lukas had to leave our own personal party early because they were leaving bright and early in the morning with Dovis' brother to go skiing about 2 hours northwest of Valencia. I was telling Lukas how jealous I was when he mentioned that there was an extra spot for someone if I wanted to join. "I wish I could! I have no ski clothes here, though." Hah. Jazmín to the rescue. She began to tell me about all the ski clothes she has and that I could absolutely borrow them, no doubt about it. Unbelievable. I had been talking all semester about how badly I wanted to go skiing while I was here, but I never in a million years imagined that I would have the chance. Well, like I've said so many times before, the Lord is presenting me with incredible opportunities every day. ¡Aprovecharé cada experiencia!

After all the plans were made, I left with Lukas and Dovis. We dropped Lukas off, stopped at my house to get my stuff, then I went home with Dovis to his parents' house to spend the night so that we could save time in the morning. He lives about 20 minutes outside of the city. When we got there, I was expecting to sleep on the sofa in the living room, but sweet, sweet Dovis, like all of my sweet Spanish friends, gave me his room while he took the sofa. By the time I fell asleep, it was 3:30.

I woke up at 6:30, got dressed and ready, and went into the kitchen to find Dovis. But there was a glitch in our plan. Dovis' brother woke up this morning feeling sick and couldn't go. No more ski day for us. Dovis called Lukas and broke the news to him. We were all really disappointed. Dovis fixed me breakfast... Colacao and a pastry. Yum.

Just as I was starting to make other plans in my head for the day, Dovis and his parents, Juan and Laura, came into the kitchen. Another change of plans. We were, after all, going. Dovis' parents were going with us! They didn't want Dovis to be the driver because he'd just gotten his license - the age is much later here in Spain. By the way, his parents (his whole family for that matter) are absolutely incredible. They served me MORE breakfast, insistently, and while they prepared everything, they would not let me help but instead led me to the living room and made me lay down and rest because we hadn't gotten much sleep last night. Jazmín's phone was off, and so Dovis lent me a pair of his old bibs. Perfect.

We finally left around 8:30, went to pick up Lukas, and then hit the road. It was about a 2 hour drive to Teruel, the province where we skied. On the way, I became fast friends with Dovis' mother, Laura. 

We talked alot about our faith (they are amazing Christians) and other things. She's amazing. His father, as well. I LOVE them. They are so amiable and giving and just so great. When we finally got there, we got ourselves ready, and then went to buy our lift ticket and rent boots and skis and poles. We had a little bit of an issue renting, because I didn't have my passport with me, and for a second it looked like we weren't going to be able to ski. But finally, like every other time a glitch came, it worked out. In total, I spent 47 euros. Amazing. And Dovis' parents didn't actually ski with us - they went to the nearby pueblo to spend some time together. Sweethearts.

The slopes were awesome - It had been snowing all night, and it was still snowing while we were there. 

It was pretty cold, but still awesome. The three of us - Lukas, me, and Dovis - skied together for a while.

 

Dovis had only skied once before, and wanted to take it slow, 

so after a bit, Lukas and I went off to some of the more challenging slopes. It wasn't a huge place, so we skied the same slopes most of the day, but it was still SO much fun and absolutely worth it!!

At 4:30, we met Dovis' parents at the bottom of the mountain, returned our skis, and hit the road at 5:00. His sweet mom had prepared so much food (bocadillos, fruit, etc.) for us, and by that time, we were starving. On the way home, we thawed and ate and Laura and I talked the whole way, again.

They dropped me off at my house around 7:00. Since then, I've just been hanging out with Lindsey and Miguel (our parents are on another romantic getaway :) I also skyped my precious friend and future roomie Natalie for a full hour... it was the best!

Ugh... Can you believe that I actually went skiing today, and now I'm a 20 minute walk from the gorgeous beaches of Valenca?!? I love it!!! Tomorrow, I think I might go to the church that Dovis and his family go to, in la calle Sueca. It's about a 15 minute walk from my house, which is pretty awesome. We shall see!

Una esquiadora contenta,

Leigh

11.3 miles

The title of my blog is the mileage that I travelled today (de bici y de pie).

I woke up this morning around 11:45. I'd fallen asleep really late, and had taken a couple Tylenol PM since I didn't really have to get up for anything. I showered and got ready for the day. Around 12:45, I left here on my bike and headed to the Plaza Ayuntamiento to meet my new friends Anne and Muriel (from the concert Tuesday night) at Starbucks. They are my age, from the North and South of Germany, respectively, and are here in Spain for 9 months on a mission trip - sort of. It's through a Christian organization, and they are basically assigned to a church a little ways outside of Valencia (in a town called Cullera). There, Anne teaches guitar lessons to members of the church Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, while Muriel teaches English classes. On Mondays and Fridays, they volunteer at the Misión Urbana (where we direct all of our homeless friends). In their spare time, they also help with different Christian youth opportunities and camps and retreats in the area. Needless to say, they are AMAZING and I am so blessed to have met them! We stayed at Starbucks until about 3:15, and then I biked home.

When I returned, they'd already eaten lunch, but Matilde (as I now call Señora) left my portion in the microwave. It was vegetable soup with garbanzo beans and mixed vegetables (balanced, huh?) - delicious, still. Afterwards, I hopped on the bus and headed to the centro comercial by the metro stop Turia (where we also meet every other Saturday morning to share breakfast with our homeless friends in the park). There, part of our ISA group met to go to the Exposición de Ninot. During Fallas (the third biggest festival in the world, that is located here in Valencia and is coming up soon) every barrio makes a Ninot - made out of cardboard and paper, like paper mache (sp) - that is usually very witty or political. On the last day of Fallas, March 19, they burn all but one. The Exposición de Ninot is where the display all of the Ninots, and anyone who wants can go through and at the end, vote for their favorite small Ninot and favorite big Ninot to not be burned. Every year, a big one and a small one are 'saved' and placed in the Museo Fallera. It was amazing!!! The people work all year long on their Ninot - each one is so intricately designed and absolutely gorgeous.

When we'd finished our voting, Jessica, Macy and I walked around and (I) window shopped a little, while they actually shopped. Lent. Anyway, I eventually got tired of not being able to buy anything, so I caught the bus home. For dinner, it was just me and the folks. We had a vegetable purée and DELICIOUS pollo frito (a kind of fried chicken). Afterward, Matilde clued me in on her secret stash of delicious dulces (sweets). She introduced me to Turrón, a type of candy that is made in Alicante, just south of Valencia. It is ridiculously good, and I'm now addicted.

After supper, I hung out and skyped my mom a little bit. At around 11:30, I met up with Jessica and Macy to go out. We walked around Carmen (the barrio where everything is happening) for a while looking for a place with good vibes. It's incredible, the night life here. The streets are all FILLED with people, of all ages. It's the thing to do - people don't invite others into their homes... they all meet outside of them. Anyway, we walked around for a solid hour and a half scoping out different places. When we were about to go into what we'd decided would be a solid place, we ran into Lukas, Jacobo, and Johnny. We went with them to go meet up with Jazmín, Claudia, Cristina, Abi, y Dovis. From there, we walked around again some more. Around 2:30 we began to have a botellón in the streets when a topic of conversation arose that would change my weekend forever.....

TO BE CONTINUED

Valencia Club de Fútbol

(Thursday)

So, this morning was hilarious. I woke up (on time, at 8:00, thank you) and of course, was groggy and tired. I trudged out my bedroom door and down the stairs. As I was almost to the bottom, I stopped dead in my tracks. There was a turtle the size of a textbook coming out of the bathroom at the bottom of the stairs. I couldn't make myself move, I was so completely dumbfounded. I couldn't even speak. Señora, who was in the kitchen and had noticed me, came to greet me. "Ah, has visto la tortuga," she says. Translation: Oh, you've seen the turtle. Yes, I'd seen the turtle. "¿Tienes miedo?" No, I'm not scared of it. I'm just completely and utterly taken aback by the fact that this huge turtle is walking around my house, like it's nothing at all. She then proceeds to tell me all about it, and the other two smaller ones that are still outside on the patio. Apparently, they'd just woken up, this morning, from their hibernation period. They were sleeping outside all this time, under some plants. This morning, they woke up and came on in through the cat's door. I asked if Trasto gets jealous, because they eat his food. "No, las mira y piensa '¿qué son estas piedras raras?'" (No, he just looks at them and thinks, what are these strange rocks?). The big one has a name, Burocracia, which means Bureaucracy, because in Spain, they say the Bureaucracy always moves slowly.

Anyway, after my startling revelation, I had my breakfast and got ready. Lindsey and I walked to school today. We had Composición and Literature, both of which were the same as always.

We came home and had lunch. Today it was this incredible bow tie pasta with some sort of sauce that I will learn how to make someday. We also had hamburger patties and bread. Afterwards, both of us came back upstairs and napped from about 4 o'clock to 6 o'clock.

At that point, I got up and got ready for the fútbol game tonight! I took the 89 bus to Blasco Ibáñez to meet up with everyone who was going. Then we headed over to the Mestalla for the game. It was Valencia CF contra Dinamo Kiev, the Ukrainian team, and it was definitely an exciting game. The Valencia fans were CRAZY!! My favorite players were number 11 Asier del Horno and number 21 David Silva. They both scored :) However, the final score was 2-2, and being the home team, it was a loss for us. Melanie and I walked home at 11:45. It was a really nice night!

Amando mis tortugas,

Leigh

Ash Miércoles

My alarm did not go off this morning. Good thing Lindsey's did. We got up, got breakfast, got dressed, and got out of the house. I hate wearing coats, because even though it's cold outside, as soon as I start riding that bike, I sweat, and then it's just no fun. So this weather is not good to dress for. I don't have enough warm clothes, but I can't wear summer clothes yet because I don't want to wear a jacket. See my dilemma?

Anyway, today was the best day of class. Conversación and Composición. After class, we had a quick ISA meeting, and then I went to the ISA office to eat my lunch and do some homework. At 3:00 I had my Historia class... more word evolutions. My favorites :)

I rode my bike home from class today, at 4:45, and hung out until about 6:30. I left to go meet Megan, Lizzie, and Chiara at the Cathedral for mass. The schedule was kind of off, though, so we ended up going to the Basilica instead, and we didn't take ashes :( I was bummed about this. Afterwards, we walked around a little bit, then I left to meet up with Elizabeth and Anna. We ate dinner at this INCREDIBLE sushi place, Miss Sushi. It was by far the best sushi I've ever had in my life. Isn't that cool?

I came home around 10:00, and since then, I've been cleaning my room and chatting on FB.

For Lent, I'm giving up shopping (within reason: I can get souvenirs for people and necessities from the grocery store), taking taxis, and carbonation. I'm adding reading my bible in English AND Spanish, daily, and trying to be more consistent in my running. I'm also sacrificing minutes of sleep in the morning, so that I can devote more time to the Lord, be awake BEFORE I leave the house, and be on time to places.

Vuestra Tía Sexi,

Leigh

Franz Ferdinand Is Taking Me Out

(Tuesday)

Last night, I ended up meeting Macy and Jessica downtown and then walking to our intercambio at a bar called The Lounge. I talked to three guys, Barto, Miguel, and Clemente (who was really, really good-looking...) for what I thought was like, an hour, and turned out to be 3 1/2. It was great though, because the entire time I was talking in Spanish. I'm getting better!!! I caught a cab home, and went to sleep around 2:45

This morning is one for the books. I woke up at 8:00, showered, ate a leisurely breakfast, and got myself ready INCLUDING make-up. All in time to leave before 9:10 and get to school promptly. We rode our bikes today and I almost died when a car that should've been paying attention to their red light when I had the green bike light pulled in front of me. I had to swerve, and I dinged my bell at him with all the ire I could muster. Crazy Spanish driver.

Today was the longest day of school in the history of the world, and I don't even know why. We had Culture and Literatura. They seemed to drag on FOREVER. When it was 1:15, finally, Lindsey and I rode our bikes home. For lunch we had paella with vegetables, mushrooms, bread, and strawberries. We also had a thick olive oil sauce for the paella. I don't even have the words to tell you how good it was. We cleansed our palates with a nice cup of English tea. Mmm.

After, I came up and siesta'ed for a little while. I also worked on some homework, postcards, and studied a little. I skyped with Mary Evelyn, for the first time in over a week, and it was so good! That was definitely the longest we'd gone without talking.

Around 6:00, I got ready for the night... MTV Winter: Valencia!!! I met up with Macy, Jessica, Lukas, David, Markos, Samu, Cristina, Jazmín, and new friends: Jacobo, Johnny, Anne, Felipe, and Marubel. Then we all headed to La Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias (CAC) for the concert. First was a group called Starsailor, followed by Mando Diao, and finally Franz Ferdinand. It was SUCH a fun concert! It was actually held in what is usually a long, shallow pool next to one of the huge buildings, but that had been drained for the event. There were over 60,000 people there, it smelled strongly of hash, and I'd never been surrounded by so many Spanish people in my life. But I enjoyed it, nonetheless! Thoroughly!

When the concert was over, around 12:30, I met up with Melanie and walked home. For some reason, I've been so tired today (could it be my lack of sleep ;) so I can't wait to get some quality shut-eye.

La Cansada,

Leigh

Un Día sin Nada Especial que Destacar

This morning was DEFINITELY a struggle to get up. But then again, what morning isn't? I forgot to set an alarm, so we were really rushed. But it turned out fine and we got to school, via bus. I had Conversación and Cultura this morning. I love my classes, but sometimes I get really frustrated with my classmates. I try not to, because I understand that we are all at different levels in what we know. And I've probably had the most Spanish classes out of everyone in the intermediate classes. But I feel like sometimes, my peers just don't try. Learning Spanish is not a priority for their time here. And it's hard for me, because it's at the top for me. Class can't move forward when nobody is putting forth the effort to learn. Today was just a really bad day, and our poor teachers were not happy with us. UGH.

During my lunch break I went to the ISA office, ate my lunch (señora packed me a bocadillo of cheese and chorizo), and started writing all the postcards that I need to write while I'm here. It's a daunting task.

At 3:00, those of us with Historia headed back across the street to school for class. It was a good class today - we did alot of exercises of word evolution from Latin to Castellano. It's really hard, but really fun, I think. Here's an example:

SPÉCULU > [speilu] > [espeilo] > [espeḽo] > [espeǧo] > [espežo] > [espeχo] spoken: espejo, which means mirror.

Isn't that cool?? I love it! Here's another:

DĬRĔCTU > [derectu] > [derecto] > [dereito] > [dereĉo] spoken: derecho, which means right.

Definitely my favorite class. After, I caught a bus home. Here, I've just been doing homework, making travel plans, kind of, and relaxing. For supper tonight, we had onion purée, setas (a kind of mushroom), bread, and melted cheese on turkey. For dessert, we ate flan :) YUM.

I'm about to go meet up with Jessica and Macy to go to an intercambio somewhere downtown. Hopefully it will be fun!!!

Hasta luego,

Leigh

Here's Looking At You, Kid

Casablanca, Marruecos, África

February 19, 2009 - February 22, 2009

Thursday:

Woke up at 5:00, 2 hours after I'd gone to sleep. I got ready, and caught the cab with my friend Melanie to the metro station to meet Megan, the third and last member of our travel party. We took the metro up to the Valencian airport for our 8:00 flight to Madrid. We got to Madrid, had breakfast, and waited for our flight to Casablanca. We left Madrid at 1:30, and got to Casablanca at 2:10 (Casablanca is an hour behind Madrid). After going through customs and getting out of the airport, we hailed a cab into the city. Our driver's name was Sahíd, and he was a total sweetheart. It was a 45 minute drive from Mohammed V to the city.

We got to the hotel and checked in. Our room is pretty sweet! We each have a bed, and there's a bathroom in our room!

After we were all settled in, we went to the Old Medina (open air market) to look around. Everything is so different there. The driving is absolutely NUTS. Lanes mean nothing, and they drive whenever and wherever they want. Also, the men dominate the culture. We couldn't even look at a guy for two seconds without him automatically assuming interest on our part and immediately pursuing it. Also, women aren't very present. In restaurants and bars and shops and even on the streets, you don't see very many women. It was strange. But Casablanca was a really cool city, nonetheless.

After, we walked down to Rick's Café

and then down to Mosque Hassan II - the second largest mosque in the world, the first being that in Mecca. It was definitely a sight to see, and absolutely gorgeous. I only wish that the monument, the effort, the devotion, was for the glory of the true God.

While we were at the mosque, we happened to meet a Turkish cargo ship captain named Mehmet who offered to take us out. Since we'd be hoping to go to Rick's, we willingly obliged. We sat at the bar for a while, thinking we weren't actually going to eat there, but after a bit, he insisted that we get a table. We sat on the second floor and had an absolutely divine dinner. I order a seafood pastry. Top notch. I even got to play Sam's piano! How cool is that?

After dinner, Mehmet walked us home (good thing because it turns out that we were walking through a pretty dangerous part of town), and then we went up to sleep.

Friday:

We woke up around 9:30 and went down to our complimentary breakfast. I had coffee, and then there were crêpes and toast with orange marmalade and butter. Such a European breakfast. Afterwards, we called the tour guide we'd met in the hotel lobby the day before, Bushhaaîm, and scheduled a tour for 11:00. We went upstairs, got ready, and met him in the lobby then.

He took us to more places than I could've imagined! First, he took us to the New Medina, another open air market, and bought us each a bouquet of flowers. Then, we went all around Casablanca: to the old fort, to the Anfa area (where all the expensive villas are and the queen vacations), to a museum dedicated to the old king, to the Catholic church, to a beautiful park with every kind of tree found in Morocco, to the lighthouse.... It was an incredible tour. Check out this Arabian architecture:

We also went to this amazing spice shop where we got oil massages and got to smell and try all these spices and remedies. Afterwards, we ate couscous, the Moroccan specialty (still with Butch Cassidy, as he is fondly known) at a nice restaurant in the city centre.

When we were done with the tour, we went back and rested in our hotel room. The day before we'd met an American, and we ended up running into him and his buddy again in the lobby while we were having tea. Matt, from the day before, is a recent graduate of UGA, and his friend Bronan, is as well. Bronan, however, was born and raised in a small town just outside of Dublin, Ireland. Needless to say, his accent was awesome. We hung out with them in the lobby for a few hours, and then, around 10:30, we all went out. Since, in Morocco, the only women who go out are prostitutes, we played it safe and went to the tourist friendly Rick's Café for the second night in a row. We hung out in the lounge upstairs with our new friends for another couple of hours, just talking and sometimes watching Casablanca, the movie, which is continuously playing on the big screen.

We finally headed back to our hotel. The boys had discovered the roof the night before, so we all went up there to check out the view. It was pretty awesome.

We relaxed for a while, then finally went to sleep. Another good Moroccan night.

Saturday:

We slept in, finally. We did get up in time for our complimentary breakfast though. This time I had tea, but it was the same, otherwise.

After relaxing some more in our room, we decided to head down to the beach. It was BEAUTIFUL. It had a lot of rocks, and the water was a nice aqua green.

The weather was perfect. We laid on the rocks and took in the sunshine. I was surprised to see people actually swimming and skimboarding. There were some women there, but it was mostly men. The culture for women is unlike any I've ever seen or experienced before.

Around 3:00, we went up to the McDonald's, which is apparently super classy dining in Casablanca, and got McFlurries. Just in time for our 4:00 reservation at Hammam Ziani. Hammams are the Middle Eastern variant of steam baths, and to me seemed more like the ancient Roman public baths. It was completely divine. The whole time, we were naked, which was a little strange at first, but after a little while I didn't even notice. First, the main woman took us into a steam room off of the big room with five low sinks against the walls. She gave us soap to soak in. After, she brought us back into the main room, one by one, for the scrubbing process. First the front side, then the back, she scrubbed my whole body with rough gloves to exfoliate. Everywhere. When I sat up, I looked at myself, only to see little clumps of dead skin. Kind of gross. She washed me off then sent me to the jacuzzi. After 10 minutes or so with the jets, another woman led me to the massage room. She lathered me in some oil type lotion and then massaged every inch of my body. Even my face and scalp. It was the most opulent experience of my life, I might venture to say. After that, I was off to the seaweed bath. I laid down on the table, first on my stomach, then over on my back, and the main woman, again, covered every inch of my body with a clay-like seaweed concoction that at first I thought was going to scald my skin. But after, it was exceptional. When I was caked, she rolled me up in tight plastic and I just sunk into utter relaxation. After some time went by, she rinsed me off, sent me back to the jacuzzi, then finally to the showers, where I washed my hair and body. At the end, they provided us with velvet robes and led us to the lounge, where we idled until we finally determined that it was time to get dressed and return to the real world.

When we left, we caught a cab to the hotel and could find in ourselves nothing more than the energy it took to sit in the hotel café and order dinner. We each had a panini - mine was ham and cheese melt. Very good. We went back up to our room, watched some horrible American program, and went to sleep around 10:00

Sunday:

We woke up around 8:30, ate a leisurely breakfast, then packed up. It was sad saying goodbye to all of our sweet friends at the hotel, but we had to. Butch Cassidy (our guide) had arranged for the same cab driver to pick us up and take us to the airport. We got there around 12:30, went through customs, and waited at our gate. We flew from Casablanca at 2:40 and got to Madrid around 5:25, where we took the metro to the train station. We had dinner at a little café in the train station (I had a breakfast panini) then took a train from Madrid to Valencia. We got to Valencia around 11:45, and Melanie and I took a cab back to our houses.

This weekend was amazing. I still can't get through my head that I've been to Morocco in AFRICA. It's just so unreal. The Lord is giving me so many opportunities. I've just got to figure out what to do with these experiences and what it means for me to be learning everything that I am. I will post pictures to accompany this incredibly long post later. The real world is creeping in with every tick of the clock, and I've still got to get some sleep before it's here!

Bendecida,

Leigh

Wednesday, several days late

I didn't have internet Wednesday, then left Thursday morning for Casablanca, but here's a recap of an amazing day.

Lindsey and I woke up on time and ready to go on Wednesday. We biked to school for Conversación and Composición. Wednesday's are always the best days. After class, I went to the ISA office to hang out and eat my lunch with Ken. During my downtime, I looked up info for a possible UK trip.

At 3:00, I went to my other class, La Historia de la Lengua Española. We always learn amazing things in this class - derivations of languages fascinate me to no end. People just decide what they want their language to be, and so it is. That's how Castellano evolved from Latín vulgar.

After that class, I went back to the office because we had a 5:30 meeting, and I didn't have time to go home and come back. I was talking to Dottie in the office, and it turns out that she too was interested in a UK trip, so after our meeting (about Fallas and such) we ended up booking it right then and there. We're going to Dublin, Liverpool, and London from March 5 to March 9. It's going to be a crazy packed trip, but SO much fun. I can't wait.

After we finished booking everything (flights, trains, hostels, etc.) it was about 7:30. I met up with Jessica and Macy and we hung out for a bit. At 9:00, we met Markos, Samu, David, María, Cristina, Carla, Toni, and two new friends, Joanna and Alison, at the Cabañal (Valencia's other train station) to share food with the homeless. We split into two groups. Jessica, Macy and I went with María, Samu, David, and Alison to walk around the University downtown area. We met several homeless people and gave them bocadillos and Colacao, and just talked with them for a while. It was really hard. I tried not to cry but I just couldn't help it. I've never seen stuff like this first hand, and it absolutely breaks my heart. These people have nothing. They live in alleys with cardboard boxes. It's not just stuff you see in movies. It's real life for them. My eyes have just never been opened to it. The Lord has really put a burden on my heart for these people, and I'm grateful for it.

When we'd found as many people as we could, we went over to the port to hang out for a while and wait for the other group. It was around 1:00. The other day David overheard me singing, and being a musician himself, always wants to hear my sing. So to kill time, everyone decided to pressure me into singing. Usually, I love to sing, and will sing happily whenever, but this night, I was just so so embarrassed! I absolutely refused and refused, but they would not take no for an answer and persisted heavily until finally I did. I was embarrassed. But looking at it now, I just laugh. I felt like a 5 year old.

The others finally came and we talked about the night and closed with prayer for all of our homeless friends. Dobis (David Dos - the other David) took us back to Jessica and Macy's, and I got my bike and headed home.

I got home at 3:00 and packed. My wake up call was 5:00

Cine Babel

(Tuesday)

We rode our bikes to school today. I think my tires are flat because it was rough. I'm always really sweaty by the time we get to school, which isn't a HUGE problem right now because it's still pretty cold outside and I can resume resting heart rate and body heat quickly. But I'm dreading when it gets warmer. I already sweat way too easily as it is, but in a few weeks, I'm going to be drenched everyday for class. Awesome.

Today we had Cultura and Literatura. In culture we're talking about healthcare for the elderly in Spain vs. in the US, and in literature, we're learning about La Celestina, an obra written by Fernando de Rojas and a precursor to modern theatre. It's all very intriguing.

After class, Lindsey and I biked home for lunch. We had rice and garbanzos. Tasty, as always. I am going to be so spoiled when I come back home. Afterwards, I showered and then met up with Melanie to walk down to the ISA office. She, Megan and I got together to finalize our plans for the Morocco trip that we leave for early Thursday morning. We took the metro to the train station in the centro centro to buy our tickets from Madrid home on Sunday.

For dinner, I bought McDonald's because I didn't think I was going to be eating at home - the plan was to meet up with church friends. I was mistaken, however - our reunion is not until tomorrow not. So, since I'd already eaten, Macy, Jessica and I met up around 9:30. We hung out on Calle Aragón and then went to the Cine Babel (one of two theaters that shows movies in their original version) to watch Slumdog Millionaire. It was definitely the best movie I've seen in a long, long time.

I took a cab home. It smelled weird. Now I'm definitely going to sleep, because it's almost 2:00 am and I have school in the morningtime!

Viviendo la vida,

Leigh

Ver-ver-vertigo

Another rough morning... what's new? I've come to terms with the fact that at least 5 times a week I'm going to have trouble waking myself up. As long as I get to where I'm going on time, I think I can deal. Lindsey and I finally got moving and caught a cab to school. We made it with a moment to spare.

Today we had Conversación and Cultura. Both went well. My conversation teacher gave me back my extra work and told me 'muy bien' :)

After class, I went over to the ISA office, did some homework, ate my lunch, and hung out. Andrew and Ken and I walked around the area for a little while, too. We found this awesome organic store that I'm definitely going to go back and visit... they had rice cakes!

I went back to the school at 3:00 for my Historia class, my favorite. I took a bus home, and hung out for the rest of the afternoon. I had another battle with vertigo this afternoon, and this evening too, at dinner. My poor family. I know they're worried, and they keep offering to take me to the doctor, but I know there's nothing the doctor can do. I just have to bear it! For dinner, we had vegetable purée with grilled chicken, peas, pizza, yogurt, and some more of the sweets Matilde (she told us tonight that she doesn't want us to call her Señora) brought back from her getaway with papá.

After dinner, I hung out with Miguel downstairs and had tea. It was nice to get to just talk to him one on one. Also, the tea made me feel a little better... it was Vanilla Chai. Yum.

So, here's some strangeness... An American satellite and a Russian satellite collided in space on Thursday. An English nuclear sub and a French nuclear sub collided in the Atlantic ocean. A plane crashed into a house in New York, killing 50. Weird things are happening in our world right now... which makes you think about certain political changes that have happened recently. It brings a passage of scripture to mind:

"While people are saying, 'There is peace and security,' then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape." - I Thessalonians 5:3

This scripture is part of Paul's discussion of the coming of the Lord. We are living in the end times my friends! When I heard about the satellites and the submarines today, I felt an overwhelming sense of urgency and purpose in my life. What am I here for if not to know the Lord and make him known?

The rest of the scripture goes like this:

"But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the nigt or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing."

Some pretty serious stuff, huh?

Pensad en esto, y que nuestras acciones se lo reflejen,

Leigh

PS. I've added new pictures to my previous FOUR posts... Check them out!!!!