Nuestra Granja!

For the month of June, Michelle and I are going to work on a farm that we found through the organization WWOOOF in the island of La Palma in the Canaries!
Here are some photos of where we will be staying...
After that, I'll be home!
See you all in July!!!!

Oh what a world we live in

Here is a very lazy blogger's recap of my last couple of months :)
La Feria de Sevilla

(most of these photos were stolen from the talented Michelle DeBruyn...)

Spanish Holy Week




Roadtrip to Portugal!

¡Una vida nueva!

The daughter of my madre had her first baby,
a beautiful girl named Leire,
on Sunday--which was my mama's birthday
and Mothers' day! What a special day, indeed.











Here she is with her very proud grandmother.














Here I am with the little angel!









Her cousin Hugo is very excited to welcome
his first prima into the world.

And here is Michelle holding little Leire.

Hey! I'm officially a blogger!

It's about time I improved my correspondence

with all my loved ones overseas!
Here are some of my most favorite moments
from my life in Cádiz that I would love to
share with all of you.

Christmas Adventures

Here are some highlights from all the places I was lucky enough to travel to over Christmas break with my best friends Emily and Michelle!

We started with Amsterdam.


Gorgeous.With the nicest people in the world. One time while carelessly crossing the street, we cut off a bike rider, whose response was waving and yelling "A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU!"

I Amsterdam.

I haven't stopped thinking about this magical city since the day we left, and I know it will remain in my thoughts until I return someday.

Next, we hopped on the train to Bruges, Belgium where we would spend Christmas.


For Christmas Eve we treated ourselves to this incredible Belgian hotel, which we found out weeks later was listed as one of the 1,001 places you should visit before you die...

Emily and Michelle on Christmas Eve getting cozy in our hotel room after taking hot bubble baths.
We woke up Christmas morning to our stockings hung on the heater,and a perfect Christmas breakfast awaiting us in the cellar downstairs next to the tree.

On the evening of Christmas we went ice-skating in Bruges' Central Market. I only fell once.

Belgian hot chocolate is intense!


Our next destination was Paris, where we got to meet up with one of our best friends from Seattle,
Karina!Here we are at Notre Dame.
And the Eiffel Tower.

Oh, and then we ran into our buddy Will on the Champs Elysees :)
Because we were there for the New Year, the first three nights the entire city of Paris was booked. So, we found a couch to sleep on for free from the life-saving website couchsurfing.org. Here we are with our host, whose name is Pierre (of course), on New Year's Eve at a party hosted by one of his friends in an old vacant theater.

Nothing like a french apricot pastry and capuccino to start your day before jumping on a plane to Dublin!

Ireland was green and sunny, exactly what we needed after traveling for so many weeks in freezing temperatures. We spent a day at Trinity College relaxing in the grass and sunshine.


Michelle and I spent another day getting lost in the Guinness Storehouse. Here is us at the top in their Gravity Bar, where you can see the entire city sparkling below you through the glass walls.

As if my travels weren't already perfect enough, I had the pleasure of being welcomed back to Spain by the familiar faces of my mom and Russ, and spending a week with them in Sevilla and Cadiz.




My best friends and I got to do in one month what most people in the world aren't able to do their entire lives, and I try to remind myself everyday how lucky I am for that :)

En Carnaval, nada es lo que parece.

Carnaval is the Spanish equivalent to Mardi Gras in America-- the last hurrah where you are allowed to indulge in whatever vice you need to get out of your system before the period of Lent begins.
During the Spanish Civil War and the years of Franco, Carnaval celebrations were strictly forbidden throughout the entire country-- besides in Cádiz, that is. Ignoring the government's decree, the Gaditanos did what they do best and continued to throw parties every year, although they were significantly smaller than usual (the usual being the second largest Carnaval in the world, next only to Brazil's). The Gaditanos' determination to kick up their heels and be merry in the face of any opposition is what has resulted in their pre-Lent parties being the most famous throughout all of Spanish history.
This year, with all the worry of the economic crisis congesting the streets, many feared that Carnaval would once again be a smaller celebration than the enormous, world-renowned parties a more economically-stable Cádiz had hosted for so many centuries now. But Carnaval of 2009 was no disappointment-- every room in the city was booked both the first and second weekends, the city's population more than doubled for the week, and I, along with my fellow Americans, had one of the craziest ten days of my life....


My best friend Michelle and me
getting into the Carnaval spirit!


You always hear about Catholicism being more
social than religious in Spain, and here is proof
of that: our cathedral on the first Friday of Carnaval,
overflowing with costumed and inebriated party-goers.


What is the cheapest and quickest
costume you can put together from
the selection at your local bazaar?
A fairy!


The best memories of Carnaval I have are from the nights
we spent in the streets until the sun came up.
Here is our group of friends, some from Cadiz, others
visiting from Sevilla, and others are surely friends that
were made just minutes before this photo was captured.

OLE!






A group of women dressed as the mascot
for the beloved beer of Spain, Cruzcampo.


And, at the end of the night after all the
celebrations, here is what every street
in the city looks like.