More pics!!!!

I have so many pictures that I took this weekend, and I can't decide which ones to put up. I hope this gives you a glimpse into the beauty that I experienced this weekend . . .

San Vicente de la Barquera (Santander)

Crowded trains and busy streets have become my norm here. I'm so used to people pushing me on the train that it doesn't even seem as annoying as it once did. I know that I'm not tall enough to reach the bar to hold on to, so I'm getting accustomed to flying left and right at every stop along the way. I'm starting to understand that going shopping on a Saturday means fighting my way through crowds of people who refuse to smile and grab the exact object that you want right in front on you. So, you can imagine the feeling on complete contentment as I got into the car on Friday, ready for an excursion outside of the city. With Madrid quickly behind us, I started feeling normal again. It was dark, but along the road I saw tiny little specks of lights, tiny villages where I'm sure the Madrid style of living doesn't exist. It took four hours, and it was dark, but it was the best dark I've experienced so far. Complete blackness, with stars twinkling in the sky. Stars. I had forgotten how much I loved them. I had forgotten what they looked like in general. We arrived, very late at night, to this tiny little place that is called a pension in spanish. It's kind of like a mixture between a hostel and a bed and breakfast. When I awoke Saturday morning, I looked out one window and saw tractors and holsteins and jerseys and was greeted by the smell of countryside. Another aspect I didn't realize how much I missed. Out the other window was a small hillside where animals roamed freely and the beach framed their images. I could hear the water splashing even from our pension, and it was with much enthusiasm that I awoke to greet this day. We met up with some of Abel's friends and went exploring. Everything was beautiful. Driving to the beach felt like an out of body experience. We were up on the hillside, so you could see the little town we were going to and the beach from miles away. It was kind of like a mixture of West Coast ocean and Missouri countryside. I don't think I've ever seen or been anywhere quite like it. I managed to get some amazing pictures of Abel and Sergio surfing--and Zoe! Zoe apparently likes surfing and she kept following them out into the ocean until a big wave would hit and then she'd swim back and wait. It was incredible to watch. I think she needs a surfboard. Imagine a black lab surfing--perfect picture, eh? I spent a lot of time eating, and eating a lot. We found some little bar type place where the menu was in English also (woo hoo!) so I actually knew what I was ordering for lunch. But it didn't matter, because knowledge was the last thing on my mind this weekend. It was all about feeling, about experience, about forgetting what you have to do the next day and just letting the sound of the ocean overtake your body and make you feel whole. We ended up meeting up with another friend Saturday night and eating at this strange restaurant in the middle of nowhere. I swear, it was surrounded by the woods and nothing else. And it was amazing. It was like an old movie where you walk in and it's just the locals with a dusty piano in one corner and a woman behind the counter whose eyes smiled at you when you walked in the door. Perfection. I even managed to play a couple of songs on the piano, which was nice. Wish I had my guitar. Sunday was kind of the same. The three guys went surfing and I stayed on the beach --I hate surfing-- and graded papers. Well, actually, I sort of graded papers and worked on untying the knot of the kite so I could fly it. Unfortunately, I never got the chance as Zoe ran away in the middle of the experience and attacked the trash cans along the beach. Fortunately, no one saw this but me, so I was saved from minor embarassment. I also picked up more Spanish, although I'm not sure that they are words that I should be learning. Surf language of the Spanish. In general, it was one of the most amazing and beautiful places I've ever been, not just in Spain.

Ok ok! I'm posting!!

After fifty emails telling me that I needed to make a new post, I'm finally getting around to it. Life has been busy lately! After my mom left, I had exactly one week to plan three new books for my classes and the homework that went with them. I spent hours every day working on it, and then came back to school, grudgingly. Right now I'm fighting with the Spanish mail system since they've stopped a package at customs and are making me go through ridiculous hoops in order to have them tell me whether I'm allowed to keep it or not. And if they let me keep it then I have to pay taxes on it. Fun. All for some damn chocolate and toothpaste (I don't like the Spanish toothpaste).

My apartment building has FINALLY ended the construction and now I'm able to walk to my door without scaffolding everywhere and weird Spanish guys saying things that I don't understand. I also can hang my clothes outside, which is nice, but considering that it's freezing here, I haven't been doing that much. And I have a secadora now!

Hmm, what else? I'm tutoring like crazy trying to save money and transferring Euros into dollars. I opened my first CD the other day which made me feel kind of odd. Grown up in a weird sort of way. It's funny how money can do that to you. Instantly change you from a child to an adult. I guess that's capitalism for you. I tried to go out to a movie last night and made it as far as my door before I realized that all I really wanted to do was curl up in bed and go to sleep. I've been taking pictures like crazy with my new camera and really enjoying the results. I'll post some later.

Right now I'm at school, typing while my students are reading, since I never seem to have time to do this updating at home. I love silent reading days!

Oh, and Zoe is doing well to all who asked. Yesterday I came home to a trash heap as she has now discovered how to open up the top of the trashcan and pull everything out. That was fun. However, she was quite proud of herself and sat there sort of smiling at me. I swear she was saying something like, "See Mom! I can open a trashcan! And look at all these treasures!!" I did not have her same excitement.

I think that's it for the moment. Mail problems, and male problems. But that's another story =)