2 weeks and counting!

I hope you never look back but NEVER FORGET...

We NEVER have a boring day here in Spain, even when we have to go to class! We actually made it to our first class on Tuesday before it even began, which is good because the teacher locked late people out of the room! This is the teacher who looks like Krissy. I'm not sure her name, so we always refer to her as Krissy. Anyway, Krissy is REALLY strict and gets angry very easily. She's kind of intimidating and definitely breaks the mold of the normal Spanish teacher. I'm pretty sure that class, Spanish Regional Economy, is going to be the hardest one we have here, and it also is the most time consuming, so I'm sure I'll like it the least... We have a group project in there right before break, and we have to turn in the Powerpoint slides for it by Thursday, so we're going to work on that this weekend. Henrietta, the girl from Denmark who is the female version of Henry, is in our group. We're comparing the average family incomes of Spain, Denmark, and the USA and investigating reasons as to why they're different.. pretty exciting, huh?

We also started our Spanish language class on Tuesday. I guess it's sort of like a block class at MSU, as it is not as long as a normal class. We went over some very basic elementary Spanish on the first day, and then we played games. Oklahoma friends are in there with us! It seems like it'll be fun, but we're actually going to have homework in it -- oh no! :) The final is also 70% of our grade.. no fun!

We had another little surprise when we were going to "work" on Tuesday. We headed to the bus stop, like always, slightly before 6:00 and waited for good ole bus #31 to show up and take us to Blasco Ibanez. First, it took FOREVER to get there. We saw so many other buses come and go. Finally, the bus appeared, and we were disappointed to see that the driver was the mean, old, grumpy man. Whatever. We boarded the bus anyway, but as soon as we got on mean, old, grumpy bus driver asked if we were going to Blasco Ibanez, and when we said yes, he said he was NOT going there! He proceeded to yell at us in quick, confusing Spanish that we didn't understand and made us get off the bus. Back to the sidewalk we went, and he drove away. We had NO idea what was going on, but we called Maria, the lady we work for, and she explained that there's a strike going on with both the bus AND the metro. I guess strikes here in Spain are a little different than the US. For one, the strikers schedule days and time to strike. For example, they aren't striking today, but they are going to strike the next week, but they don't strike all day; they only do it at certain times. They are forced to do minimal work, so they have to drive around, but they can refuse to pick people up and take them where they want to go. Supposedly the reason they're striking is because they're mad that people never pay. Well, that makes sense, but instead of being annoying and not driving the poor American students without cars around, why don't they just create a system to make people pay?? Seriously! :) Oh well.. I just hope the strike ends before the family gets here, or else we'll probably be flagging a few taxis or taking the subway at awkward times. Whatever!

Wednesday is our busy day at campus, but it went pretty smoothly. We have one four hour class called "Web Design", but it basically came down to "make your own facebook page class". Our webpage just consists of information about us, links we like, and pictures of places and people that make us happy. We also have to make up an idea for a website, but we don't have to actually build it. Our idea is ehostel.com. (Kind of like eharmony, you know? :)) It'll be a dating site where people looking for love can meet in hostels because we have observed that most people who go to hostels are looking for people to hook up with. Of course, this is not the case for us! :) Our teacher thought it was pretty amusing.

The REAL excitement of Wednesday didn't happen until late that night after class and grocery shopping, though. It was around 11pm our time, and Emily and I had both just taken super long, relaxing showers. All was well in the world. Then, someone buzzes our door. At 11pm. Of course, we screamed, especially when we looked through the peephole and saw this old man standing there. We were not about to open the door to some strange man who was insistently knocking on the door and yelling. The door was locked, but Emily threw herself up against it. The man would NOT leave. He kept buzzing and yelling. We had no idea what he was saying. In the meantime, I was on instant messenger freaking out to people because, you know, that was really helping the situation.. He finally went away, and we calmed down. Then, he came back! More yelling, more banging, more buzzing. He added a new phrase in there, though. He started yelling "policia! policia! policia!" Uh, yeah, we were not about to fall for that; we knew he wasn't the police! Finally, our phone rang. It was the landlady. She informed us that the creepy man was actually her relative who lives below us and we needed to open the door for him. By this time, Emily and I were both on the verge of tears because we were so scared, so she kept saying "tranquila, tranquila!" (Calm down!). When we opened the door, the man saw us, realized that we were Americans who speak poor Spanish, and felt SOOOO bad for yelling. He just didn't understand why we would not open the door! Apparently he had explained to us the situation, but we didn't understand it. It turns out that our shower was leaking onto his ceiling and flooding his bathroom, and he wanted to come and look at it. Our bathroom was not leaking, but he led us downstairs and showed us his. He lives with his mom, we think, and she was mad at first that we had refused to open the door for ten minutes, but when she realized that we're just "stupid Americans" she, too, felt really bad, and Old Mama gave me a big hug. The creepy-man-who-really-isn't-creepy-but-in-fact-really-really-nice also hugged us repeatedly and apologized for being so aggressive, but he just didn't understand why we wouldn't open up. On the bright side, we now know our neighbors, and they're really nice! On the downside, our shower isn't getting fixed until Monday, so we're stuck "showering" in the sink. Good thing I'm becoming a pro at not showering.. just kidding! This is actually kind of gross, but we'll manage.

Thursday was another boring day of class, but as soon as we were finished, the weekend started! The first thing we did was book plane tickets to Paris for April with Abril! We're going to spend four days there and hopefully seeing most of the main sites and spending a day in Disneyland! It's going to be SOOO incredibily fun having Abril with us! She's amazing.

I also got a little package from Cash on Thursday -- Spanish Bibles to give to people we meet! They are so awesome. It's a very thoughtful thing. I can't wait to see opportunities that arise for me to give them away. Thanks, Cashmo! :)

Aside from that, we actually have a lot to do this weekend; we have a few group projects coming up, and I have to teach my lesson in English this upcoming week because the teacher will be gone, so I need to make a Powerpoint for it! We went to work today instead of yesterday because yesterday the transportation services were striking but not today. Crazy! I think we'll have a night in tonight. We have dates with homework, sparkling grape juice, and ice cream. In reality, I think I prefer homework over creepy men, especially creepy 30 year old men who lack facial hair.

It's supposed to be in the upper 70s tomorrow, so we're heading to the beach. Then, we're going out with Lucia, Alberto, and friends to celebrate Alberto's birthday!! We haven't seen Al in so long; we're pretty excited!

Of course, another exciting thing is the fact that I will be with my family in London at this exact time in two short weeks!!!!! I can't wait to watch my dad's interactions.. can't wait (love you, daddy!! :))! And, of course, I can't wait to just simply spend time with my parents and brother (although I'll miss my kitty greatly.. sad day!)! :) This means that the halfway mark of our journey is rapidly approaching. Where has the time gone?? Thanks to you ALL for the continuous support, prayers, and kind words. You all have made this experience much smoother and easier! Love you!

...all the ones who love you in the place you left.