Makin' Moves

As for Cordoba...I'm officially over this town, I have been planning BIG trips all weekend and I am getting soooooooooooo excited and overwhelmed for it all!! Tomorrow I am meeting up with my friend Laura and her boyfriend to see the Sevilla futbol club play against Villarreal and I will stay the night and then catch the train into Cordoba to make it to work on time! I am excited, this is my first live futbol game since I was in middle school probably! My parents booked their tickets for December 15th-December 31st. Tori only wants to go to Italy really so we are going to do that for about a week of their visit and spend the remainder of the time in Spain!!! I am so excited for them to come, I miss them so much. I miss everyone for real though. Heather and I were looking at places to stay in Paris for New Years!! I found an apartment that we could rent for 4 nights for only 110 euros a night (equivalent to a hotel or even better)!!! Its all coming full-circle. The problem is...is you have to plan these big trips out and we are planning a bunch of big trips together like me and my family going to Italy and then I would go straight to Paris. And Heather and Andres are going to England for Christmas and then would go to Paris. It is just costly and we only get paid once a month...and Andres wants to go to Barcelona this month to catch a futbol game and I want to go to Madrid at the beginning of December for my birthday celebration...money goes fast when you are living abroad, I tell ya!!! But I'm not complaining!

I did celebrate Halloween if you could call it that. It was seriously only myself (as a cat), Heather (as Wendy) and Andres (as Peter Pan) and then the weird Spaniards dressed up in scary costumes. The Spaniards that celebrate Halloween think of it as scary only. We started kind of early because we wanted to watch the Barcelona futbol game then another auxiliar teacher with Heather is in this band and we were going to catch his show (ya know, do soemthing different) and it turned out to be a 7 euro show so we didn't end up going. We needed something to eat and afterward went to this Irish Pub, Banaghers, who were in the spirit of Halloween (all the bartenders were dressed as vampires, very cool!) but Heather and I got in this HUGE blowout and ended up screaming at each other the entire time and then only took it to the street and began walking back to our apartment yelling some more. It was embarressing that we did it while we were around friends but I'm glad that we have our argument because we laid out just how we were feeling about everything this time. We talked about our own personal struggles with each other, culture shock, homesickness, money, Andres, etc. It was good and we found a commonplace and realized that we are in this together and this whole experience is going to be amazing...its just about effectively communicating and we've been trying to hang out together more.

We actually signed up on fitness.com to do a program because its been hard putting together a daily exercise routine because of scheduling conflicts, etc. I feel good about it and I feel motivated to make a change. We went for an hour and 15 minute walk today. Anyway, I want to come back to the states and look and feel great, and actually like myself when I look in the mirror. I am so hard on myself and it is time to start loving me for me! We also started planning Dia de Gracias at our apartment and its going to be a big potluck probably with a bunch of other Americans, but I am so excited for it! We will have to do it on the 27th because ya know, its a whole day of cooking and we all work on Thursday all day...but nonetheless! We have to have a chicken though, kinda wack...but seriously, Spain doesn't have much here man. I'm afraid we wont be able to have a pumpkin pie or creamed corn casserole because they don't have sour cream or canned pumpkin. Unbelievable!

Haha...I have 4 boxes of stuffing though. I asked my Dad to send me some for T-Giving and what does he do??? Send me 4.

Homesick For A Clock That Told The Same Time

Heather (properly renamed Heathcliff) and I have arrived! Liverpool is boss! It is quite lovely and there is so much to do and see...liked Manchester...but WOW! We enjoyed our last day in Manchester by going to the Man United Stadium tour and took many a coaches around the town which was quite fun! Even though MU isn't my favorite, Peter Wright sure knew plenty about his team.

We arrived in Liverpool around 19:00 (that's right!) for the best Chinese dinner I have ever had...I cannot ever do Chinese takeout. I'm loving the tea in the mornings as well. Did you know that they call the three courses of the day Breakfast, Dinner and Tea. So wild.

Anyway...Sarah took Heather and I into Liverpool today and we walked around the waters edge and went to Liverpool Center where it was like a HUGE town full of shops that just went on forever and they were all modern looking. Heather and I will be making our way back on Friday when it is a free day for us...and we will get to venture out on our own. We may even take the Duck Tour to explore the water. It was cool seeing that Liverpool dedicated the whole city to The Beatles...they seemed to be everywhere. I can't believe that Sarah lives down the road from Penny Lane. Pretty Cool.

Now we are watching Saint Trinians (a proper English film on school girls. It's quite funny..although Mischa Barton's attempt at the English accent is horrific). With that...I'm out. TRAAAAA.

The Long And Winding Road

I feel that the title is appropriate...since I will in fact begin a long and winding journey (I mean 9 months can really fly by, but I pray it doesn't.) ohhh and for the sheer fact that I'm going to the UK baby and will be making a quick stop in Liverpool where those Beatle boys began!!!

So anyhow....I cannot believe that I will be finally beginning a new chapter in my life. I mean completely BRAND NEW.

Heather and I are sitting at the Burger King in the Orlando Airport waiting to get on our 10 hour flight to Frankfurt, Germany. I got this $7 neck pillow that I have to inflate myself, I'm sure I will not come across looking at all falac (sp?) while I blow all my hot air out to sleep comfortably.

It has not even hit me that I will be actually living and supporting myself fully in another country. Another language. Another mind. I cannot wait to lose myself in the culture and the people.

As soon as Heather and I get off the plane from Manchester we will be seeing the sights for the afternoon (I really should have brought that black jacket...which is quite appropriate for the English rains..and chill...but I felt I had to leave it begind. Kind of silly really.) From there we will be playing soccer (errr football) with Heather's friend Sarah, who is on a club team.

I can't believe I have to meet people in a foreign land with this shit on my face (I waxed my eyebrows for the first and LAST time I can promise you that). After I told Heather my horror story with my own face, she and Rahera decide to wax their upper lips and how Heather not only tore skin off the sides of her lips but her actual lip. Being a woman is so stressful and expensive.

Well the plane is leaving in 15. Ciao. See you in Britainland!

I Want to Keep My Soul

A serendipatious happening while I was looking for Erykah Badu remixes. I came across Troublemakers today, a French electronic band. I am absolutely enamoured with "Lemon" which is off of this now-duo's 2004 album "Express Way". They are totally rad and I admire their powerful lyrics.

So I leave you with how I am feeling on this beautiful day and with shared thoughts of the Troublemakers....

"Forget about your money. I want to keep my soul. My soul. Time after time and day after day I'm feeling more and more free. I want to keep my soul. Free like Marvin Gaye. I want to be free. For once in my life. Try to reach the sky. Like a bird. Free. Like the morning sun. I want to be free. Like my heart. Free. Like the moon at night."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9L28qMqFgg