home again home again

A few hours ago Kelcie and I drove up the gravel lane to the house in the early light of morning after watching the mountains emerge out of blackness on our beautiful drive home from Phoenix. And by blackness, I of course mean STARS!!!! amazing. anyway, when I looked at my watch which was still on Spain time, it had been almost exactly 36 hours from when we'd left on a night bus to get to the airport in barcelona yesterday. I got stuck in Chicago's nasty weather and flight fiasco for about 6 hours so when Kelcie got to Phoenix ahead of me she went to our cousin's house to nap before picking me up at about 2 in the morning. She was then ok to drive and we headed straight home. It feels amazing to be home. (Within about 25 minutes of arriving we were making ourselves some yummy green chili juevos rancheros breakfast dishes and snacking on all manner of chocolate covered fruits and pretzels and such...) The last few weeks in Spain were busy-busy with exams and papers then a lovely visit from Kate Harnish who is spending the year in Bradford, England with MVS. She overlapped a few hours with Kim, so we sat in the airport together and had cafes con leche and yogurt. lovely. Then the next day my sister came and we spent several days touring the city. (I am such a good guide..?) Except it was kinda cold and rainy. icky. Then we headed south to Andalucia. Granada and Sevilla. Absolutely beautiful. We also met some really fun people from all over and cooked and walked around with them. Then we returned to Barcelona, swam in the frigid water (I mean, you have to, right?) of the Med. Sea and got up early to come home. A lovely trip. and now I'm even poorer. (and now I'm even poorer, and now I'm poorer still.....) So, it is officially time to relax and catch up on sleep. and yummy food. and my super-awesome family. And reflect about an amazing semester abroad and one last semester to go at Goshen. I'm quite looking forward to it. (except the weather... ill try not to complain too much. actually, maybe I shouldn't make that promise... I prolly will... at least there's tea. and friends. and life in general. ) Well, until I see you, much love, and have a lovely week. slash new year slash remainder of your holiday time. besos.

insignificants. maybe.

so...i´ve realized something that bothers me about the metro. My sense of direction gets totally screwed over. As much as I try to keep my head straight while going through winding passages and stairs and such, I can´t. And then once you´re in the train and its underground, of course you can´t know where you´re going. So you just have to go in, get out and orient yourself. But you miss everything in between! Of course, they´re fast and efficient and really a good idea for cities. But that doesn´t mean I have to like them. Same goes for my apartment building. I enter on one side wind up the stair s and the balcony looks out over the other side. not hard to understand, but what I don´t understand is how the other apartments work, because I´ve never been inside. I just see where the doors are, and i want to see a floor plan! Silly me.

Hugo Chavez´s referendum didn´t get passed. 51% against, 49 for. This is a rather good thing, I think.

One week left of classes, and then finals. eek, finals? And papers! eek! and then only a tiny bit of time left in spain? que sad! but que awesome to go home!!! (And have kimi and kelcie here for a bit of traveling first!!!!!!) =)