I have returned!!

....I'm back!

....

And I'm feeling all sorts of displaced. Where are all the Spanish people with their shnazy shoes, genie pants and mullets? Where's my tiny coffee, and tubos, and chocolate con churros?!

The ENDING of vacations suck. it. big.

The day I got back, scratch that, the EARLY EARLY MORNING I got back after 20 hours of travel and five hours of sleep, I dragged myself out of bed and went to class. There's been an unexpected normalcy to being a student again and I like it. I am getting a little more nervous about making it into the program though because I keep running into other contenders....but I'm trying to think positive. I have to go back to work tomorrow which is just the worst feeling ever. I feel like I've been gone from work for years. Like, will I remember where everything is, and who is who, and how to work the computer??? Funny how for not one second on vacation did I stop to think about work. Not one itty bitty second. Tomorrow's gonna suck.

ANYWAYS, Spain. Lovely, lovely, Spain. It was so much fun. There's so much to say, so many amazing places we went to, so many weird foods, so many drinks, and laughs, and new experiences, just so many so manys. I went out to dinner with Pete's family last night and I felt like the ONLY thing I could talk about was Spain. Spain Spain Spain Spain Spain. I'd like to do a better post about the trip with pictures and stories and everything, but it might be a while. We have like 5000 pictures between all of us, and just today we started going through them a bit.

The only other thing I can say about the trip at this point is that Coral and Tony were THE BEST, and really out did themselves this time. Those two sure know how to have a good time lemme tell ya.

Eh, I'm so tired, and I don't want to fall asleep because when I wake up it's WORK. How totally LAME. Laaaaaaammmmmeeeee.

Super Secret Spain Post

HOLA!

Me es having mucho funo in Espana! I've picked up really quick on the language as you can see. In fact today, after asking for another muffin (in Spanish!) the man replied lots of Spanish words at me and in shear panic I tried to tell him I couldn't speak Spanish but instead said "Don't speak Spanish to me!" whoops.

We just arrived in Granada tonight and I am very, very, glad to have ONE place to stay for the next seven days. Don't get me wrong, traveling to different cities is cool, and in Segovia and Toledo we saw really awesome things like midevil castles and crazy cathedrals, but hotel jumping and luggage loading/unloading gets old quick. So does hours of plane/car travel.

I'm really excited to be here too because Granada looks like it should be a LOT of fun. It's a lot more city than I had imagined. Like I was expecting huts or something? Because it's Spain and Foreign Land and I am a dumb American or something? And was afraid I wouldn't be able to buy toothpaste? But no, I was wrong. Fortunately.

Anyways, I'm writing this blog secretively because everyone else in the house is asleep. And I don't know about everyone else but I am a little creeped out. I get to be the lucky one that sleeps on the couch alone and Jaffy mentioned how it smelled really strongly of perfume in her room, and HEARD SINGING (we'll ignore the fact that her room is right above a street for the moment, for the creepy effect) and when she told Coral about it, Coral was totally all "whhat??" like she didn't know where the weird smells and sounds were coming from! And, and!! It's really cold in here with lots of weird noises and it's dark and cold, I know I said that already, but, it's really really....really cold. Eeeerie....

I should be on the couch now waiting for my Tylenol PMs to kick in, but I decided to post because I was tagged by Bex and Whit for a Swine Flu picture blogchain thing. And I'm supposed to take a picture of myself without primping (not cool guys) and load it up and post. When I first read the tags we had just gotten to our second hotel and I was super excited because I had discovered a little patio outside our window and so I had Coral take a picture of me acting, well, super excited. Doesn't quite count because I didn't take it myself, but, I think it will work.

..............Or it won't work. I'm a little Mac computer retarded and can't resize and edit pictures and my sister has a really slow connection, so guess what folks? No dice. Maybe tomorrow when I can have Tony learn me how to use a fancy Mac I'll try again.

I guess this blog was just to say hello then, and to distract me from all the spooooky noises going on right now. What do Spanish ghosts say? What's Spanish for "boo"??

This one's for YOU Buddy!

1. Totally should be packing/cleaning

2. May slightly be obsessed with Jib Jab

3. More than slightly don't care about Jib Jab obsession.

Work it Girl!

There aren't many things I will miss while in Spain.

I will NOT miss hearing my alarm everyday at 7 am, 7:30, 7:45, and then finally 7:50.

I will NOT miss wearing scrubs.

I will NOT miss driving to work, or working AT. ALL.

I will NOT miss how tired and grumpy I often am after work.

I will miss my lap top.

I will miss Kitty Bear.

I will miss you too Pete.

And maybe most of all, I will miss seeing this woman who dances on the street I work on, dancing everyday and making me smile. By the way, thanks for those smiles Dancing Sign Lady, you rock my world.

Make sure you continue to do your thang while I'm gone.

Zoo Adventures

I told myself I would only slack off on the computer until 12:30. It is now 12:3536. Crap.

I went to the Zoo yesterday with Pete, Carly, Don, and Liz. It was good time, lemme tell ya. Side note: it will always be a Fun Adventure going anywhere that combines Liz with many, many, small children and their many, many, small children ears.

Our day started out just fine, but then, three pictures deep into the Zoo Adventure, Carly's camera died. No worries! I had my camera and I was there to Save The Day. But wouldntyaknowit I took one picture and "battery exhausted". GRRRREAT. So all I managed to get out of our Zoo Adventure was one lousy monkey video. That's it! And a couple pictures of some lions sleeping with their backs to us. W-O-W.

I was disappointed, clearly, but! I did learn a whole lot from them there crazy animals which made me smile. I learned that dears pee just like dogs do, and sometimes I see a turtle and think "Look a frog!", and sometimes worm-like-things come out of bird's butts and they like to try and eat it, and monkeys scream just like humans, sit just like humans, and roll their eyes at dumb people just like humans, and Man Oh Man do creatures like to poop! Oh, and one monkey showed us the "Spread Eagle" and went to town on herself. The End!

And that was my day at The Zoo.

Now I have to leave you to do some packing. urgh. I loath packing. What I wish I could do was go on a shopping spree because a big reason why I loath packing, especially for this trip, is because I have ZERO Fashionable American clothes to make me look like a Fashionable American. And I'm afraid people in Spain might confuse me for a Gypsy. A blond Gypsy looking very confused in her worn out flip flops and jeans.

Happy Birthday TonRo!

It's my brother-in-law's birthday today, and because I am very very broke, I couldn't afford to give him much. However, his greatest goal in life has always been to become a Rhythmic Gymnast, so I thought at the very least I could help his dream become a reality. I choreographed a routine and coached him, along with my sister Coral, for months. As it turns out, Tony has amazing ability as a Rhythmic Gymnast. He's turns aren't the best but his splits are superb!

Watch for yourself:

HAPPY BIRFDAY TONY!!

I'm feeling like complete TERD right now.

Yeah, that's right, I SAID IT.

I'm uberly stressed out about my recital dances, maybe because they're half made up at best(or choreographed but un-taught) and after tonight's class I arranged an emergency practice tomorrow night to help prepare them because I'm leaving for two weeks and they will miss two practices (or just have them, but without me, ya know, their TEACHER) and so they need to KNOW the choreography so they can practice while I'm gone and so yeah, extra practices and run-on sentences.

POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP.

The thing is I always work best when I'm time crunched. Hardcore deadlines drive me, make me work harder, get my creative juices a flowin', and this is all fine for ME, but the girls need time to get it down and looking good. Because YOU ARE REPRESENTING ME AND MY TEACHERING SKILLZ SO LOOK GOOD DAMMIT! or something like that.

Big Fat Sigh.

Anyways......Go check out this awesome guide Coral and Tony put together for us for our Spain Trip. A warning though, while surfing the site, try not to drool over all The Cool Things I will be doing because you might short circuit your keyboard and then I'll feel bad. And I like to feel good.

Spain is going to sneak up SOOOOOO fast on me because of all this dance worry, and extra practices, and Thursday night TV, and Zoo on Sat, and next thing I know I will be on a plane.

I need to pack!!

P.S. This post makes me sound like a Weirdo.

P.P.S. Oh God! AM I A WEIRDO?!? Why didn't you people tell me?

P.P.S.S. I blame how sleepy I am.

P.P.P.P.P.S.S.S.S. I have no idea if I went through the right progression of P.S.'s. I should go ask Rylee. I bet she'd know. She's like 13 already.