Mi Bella Vida

I am loving Spain! There are so many great things to see here! Lots of museums, parks, and OLD towns. The first couple of days were spending roaming around Spain. Checking out the different districts and becoming pros at riding the Metro around town. I will be posting my favorite pictures once we get back to the states. I need to go through them on a bigger computer. The mini isn’t cutting it but I still love it.

On Tuesday we went to Toledo and O-M-G!!! Definitely my favorite place. It is so cool to see all the different religious architecture around town. The Cathedral there is AMAZING. Super Massive!!!! I can’t wait to go through the pictures from the town

On Friday we went to Segovia to check out the Roman Aquaduct and the Palace. Both places get 2 thumbs up. It is so cool and amazing to be standing next to something that is hundreds and hundreds of years old. Gets you thinking how on Earth did they build this without the kind of technology that we have. Just crazy and amazing.

We took the highspeed rail to Toledo and Segovia, making it a 25 minute trip. Pretty flippin cool.

We have done lots of walking. LOTS. It also became very apparent that while I have been running at a small incline just about everyday before we left, I was no where near in the kind of cardio shape to be working around everywhere Sad. Going to have to up the cardio. I can’t be defeated by walking.

While I love being here, I can’t wait to get back home!!! I miss my bed and my kitties and my mom! I really miss my food! The Spanish cuisine is really nothing special, for me at least. This nation eats way too many simple carbs, drinks entirely too much coffee, and they smoke EVERYWHERE! There are carbs with everymeal! Don’t get me wrong, I like bread at all but they have their time and place. Like my bowl of oatmeal for breakfast, my fiber one bar, and the occassional pasta or rice dish for dinner. It is just crazy to me how much carbs they consume and still be soo thin! They also drink coffee at all hours of the day and night! People are drinking coffee at 11pm!!! How are they going to fall asleep. I can’t even have tea with caffiene before bed bc I won’t be able to sleep! I’m sure it is no longer the caffiene but the taste of coffee they are after. The smoking here is crazy. I am no one to judge, if you want to smoke then go ahead, do it. Here they are allowed to smoke in the restuarant, which really bugs me. I can’t enjoy a meal because there is smoke blowing in my direction. I leave lunch smelling like an ash tray and my hair smells gross for the rest of the day. I am really curious as what the cancer rate is here. I have noticed people go throught 4 maybe 5 cigs while sitting down to a 30-45 minute lunch. I don’t smoke but I’m pretty sure that is excessive.

I’m on vacation so I’m allowed to be lazy but the lifestyle here is very…relaxed? Chris and I were up early on Tuesday for our day trip to Toledo. Well, not that early,it was 8am. We were having our breakfast when we saw one of our hosts come into the kitchen. We asked if their boyfriend has already made into work? The response…No, he is still laying in bed being lazy. What? I’m at work at 730am on most days and Chris will be in the office at 6am! How is this person still in bed at 815? He probably rolled into the office around 930. They also get a 3 hour lunch break! 2-5pm everyday! Some go back to work and some don’t. Our host does not. He probably only works 6 hrs on a good day. I just don’t get it. Maybe they’re right. Maybe as Americans we are over worked and so tired that we are not enjoying our life and families. Here I always see families together. Hanging, going to the park, or just walking around. I only have family time on holidays! My dad is always traveling, my sister lives in Carrollton and works in Newnan, and my other sister only works on weekends. I can only make it back home on the weekends due to work on the week. Maybe they are on to something but we are too busy to really notice or care.

It is almost noon and I am ready to head out and check out a new district. The sun is out but its only in the high 40’s today. The winter here is much like a GA winter, I like that

We finally made it to Spain!!! Traveling to another country is definitely tiring.

On Jan 13 we both worked half day and after we got off from work we had to drive down to Orlando. We made a 6 hr drive to our friend’s house, where they so graciously let us spend the night. Thanks guys!!!!

The following day the took us to an awesome seafood place on the East Coast of Florida. Chris and I shared 42 shrimpies. We thought that was going to be a lot but we killed them! Kaysen and Casey then took us to the airport so we could catch our 5pm flight to Philly. We  were on a packed flight and there was no room for an upgrade. We were in the middle of the plane that pretty much sucked. There were crying children in front and behind us. So much for a quiet nap.

We make it to Philly with enough time to buy some CFA and eat at our terminal before its boarding time. We board this ginormous plane, the biggest one I have ever been on, and we get the call… “Folks we are experiencing some trouble and there is a leak that needs to be fixed before we can leave. We are going to have to ask you to deplane because it may take up to 4 hours to fix. If the problem is not fixed in 4 hrs then we will have to use another plane.” 4 HOUR delay! Gah. Already 9pm and it is going to mess with my sleeping. My intention was to sleep for the whole flight and then wake up in when we landed in Madrid and 1030 am and avoiding jetlag. Fail, I took a deep nap while we waited to board the plane again. They fixed the problem and take off was 1am, booooooooo!!! I passed out as soon as we took off but I kept waking up every few hours. We finally arrive in Spain at 230 and it takes us forever to get to Customs and then we have to wait in a super long line. We probably waited for an hour because there only 2 lines for the foreigners and like 8 for the EU residents. I spoke to the Customs Agent in Spainish and he called me a gusty American for speaking the language  well. I then told him I was Mexican and he looked even more surprised.

After going through Customs we pretty much walked the length of the airport just to get to the metro. I now see why these Spaniards are so damn skinny, walking everywhere! I don’t mind at all but when you have a winter coat and luggage to carry around it gets hot and tiring.

The metro is a big thing here and it is pretty much awesome. Marta comes nowhere near the metro. Luckily, the place we are staying is right in front of the metro so we didn’t have to travel far once we got off the train. We are staying with some really cool guys and they gave us a key and everything. We come and go as we please. After we got settled into our room and showered we were off to do a little bit of exploring. We got to the flat at like430, we talked with the guys for a little while, showered and got ready it was 730. We went and got some food and then we explored the market. Holy crap!!! That market is amazing!!! There are individual vendors within the market. It was pretty damn cool. We didn’t know where or what else to do so we headed back to the flat. We turned in for an early night at 9 pm but I had a hard time sleeping. My body was tired but my mind was wide awake. Boo

I’m still alive!!! It has been FOREVER since I had time to make a blog post! So glad I have time tonight because I have some great things to share

I have been on cloud 9 since December 23, 2009. That is the day that my bestie proposed to me That’s right, I’m getting MARRIED!!! You ready to hear how it happened? Here goes.

We knew that Christmas was going to be super busy. We - I- decided to do Christmas early between us. Just me and him I gave him his gifts first. I got him The Witch’s Son,  which is part of the Wizard of Oz series, and a book light. I thought the book light would be an AWESOME idea but I was mistaken. He likes to read in bed and I like to go to bed early but the light he was using was bothering me. This book light is like 100x brighter than the light he was already using I fail but I’m sure we can totally use it as a flashlight or something. Then it was my turn Chris makes getting presents soo much fun. I get so excited I love birthdays, anniversaries and Christmas because of him.  Chris starts giving me my gifts in small batches. I got teas, a really cool calender, a cutting board made of recycled stuff, sticky notes, and pens. These gifts REALLY made me want to go back to school! He then told me it was time for my last gift and he told me to close my eyes again. I had been closing my eyes everytime he brought out presents. I hear the cats stirring and I open my eyes and there is a big box in front of me. I thought ‘How cute, he brought me my kitties.’ I open the box and I see a brown square box. First thing that pops in my head ‘Looks like I either got earrings or a necklace.’ Why did I think that? Around Christmas time there are a bunch of jewelry commercials and that is what I thought. In the commercials you always see the cute romantic couple and it looks like the guy is going to propose but its something else instead. That is why I thought that. I opened the square box looking for earring but instead I found a round brown box with a pink bow on top. That is when I thought ‘ Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap!!!’ Pretty sure I verbalized that, actually. I’m trying so hard to get that box open that I don’t even think about untying the bow!!!! I finally get the box open and I see the ring, start crying, and freaking out!!! I turn to look at Chris and he is down on one knee!!!! Holy crap!!! Is this really happening??! YES!!! Chris then asked me to Marry Him and of course I said YES!!!. We slip that sucker on and we are engaged!!!

Look at this beautiful ring!!! He picked out all by himself He has great taste. The picture really doesn’t give it justice!! It is gorgeous!!!

I am so excited!!! We won’t be getting married until sometime in 2011. We have some saving we want to do and we really need to get started on the house.

I had the best Christmas ever We had so much fun with our families For New Year’s we had a small get together at our house and it was awesome. It was like a grown up party, almost. 2 people did get super drunk but it wasn’t that bad. I was a terrible host though. I had to work New Year’s Eve. I was up at 530 am so I could get to work by 7. I made it, got off at 1 came home and hung out with our friends from Orlando. Well, as soon as we rang in the year I was in bed. I was so tired

I also have some more good news. Chris and I are going to Spain for 2 weeks. yay!!! Going to  Europe for the first time! Excited! We are still working out our plan but it should be fun. Down side… we are going to be there during winter. Yeah, that is going to be cold.  Yay!! Spain. I need to make sure to take pictures. My fingers might fall off.

More good news!!! My job contract got extend till the end of Feb!!!! At the end of the month we are going to discuss the possibility of a permanent position.

2009 was a great year and I hope you had a wonderful year as well

2010 is going to be another great year and I have many goals planned for the year but I decided that I would not share what they are. I think I would rather just surprise you!!! I have some ambitious plans and I’m keeping my fingers cross I can accomplish them all I wish you the best in 2010 and if you made any resolutions, I do hope that you keep them.