well hello world!

Conclusion: Love conquers all. It always triumphs. True love makes long-away hearts feel as though they're not so far away; instead of feeling a missing piece for that distant love, it makes you feel like it was there the whole time.
It is the thing in which i put all of my hope. That fact that love cannot be conquered.

friends are grrrrreat!

and i'm still jetlagged. :)

give it up for 3rd winds! woop woop

Something Neat

"What I can say to my family, and my community, is that the most important thing is love, not money. Sometimes they say that they don’t visit us because they have nothing to give us. We need love, not things. Even with money you can still feel alone inside." -Inocencia,16
Maputo, Mozambique

check out this website. it's very cool.

also check out Kristen Vogel's blog. (right over there, on the right). She's got some awesome things to say.

*sigh*

thursday night i had the most amazing time with a spanish guy i met through my italian friend, Roberto. The spanish guy (Gabriel)(like the angel) took me to see this animated french movie, Persépolis. From the moment we met al metro Plaza de España, conversation never ceased. We saw the movie, which was grrreat, we talked a little during the movie (he had to explain some spanish phrases to me...etc.) we were already having a good time. afterwards, when he found out i wasn't in a hurry to get home, we went to this Kurdish hookah bar in Sol, and i picked the flavor (peach) and we ate from a mini fruit plate and sat on cushions on the floor and talked for 2 hours. we talked about life, the spanish view of america, life some more, books, poetry, music, spanish grammar (always). conversation was easy. we laughed a lot. it was normal. but above normal. it was fantastically enjoyable. i had an extremely happy night.
at the end of the night, he walked me halfway home (which is a lot considering i live about a 35 minute walk from where we were). like a gentleman, or a good friend. or both.

funny thing was, it wasn't a date. we were only alone because cassidy couldn't come. she was hanging out at a hookah bar with sweet italians/teaching english. (see her blog, it's pretty sweet too). (it's just to the right, there.)

i'm happy.

last night, 3 hours of FOOZEBALL in a spanish bar.

can this get any better?! (oh wait, it does every day.)

love you Madrid.

love you too, reader.

i can't wait to be at home for christmas, and not be able to WAIT to come back here. it'll be a good feeling after the few "what the hell am i doing here?!" 's.

p.s. cassidy, if you dont' know her, is QUITE a chick. she's the best friend a frightened, intimidated, homesick, longing, complaining, lost, or normal girl (or guy) could ever have. look her up.

hmm...

“This is why we need the death penalty. Without it, you always run the risk that a Democrat will come to power and start releasing all the prisoners sentenced to life in prison.” -Ann Coulter


"It does seem that liberalism is a mental disorder. But as a Christian, I can see that it goes even deeper than this and, like many mental disorders, must be caused by spiritual infirmity. Liberalism is opposed to human life because it is opposed to God. Liberalism is proof of the truths of Romans l: “God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! … since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them” (Romans 1:24-25, 28-32, emphasis mine). They are, in short, Godless." -Tim Challies


should I check myself into a mental hospital?
or does this just mean i'm more a sinner than my Republican friends?

sounds like i'm screwed either way.

Humla

i talked to my whole family last night on SKYPE. My mom and dad and brother and brother´s girlfriend Taylor and Bill and Karen (who aren´t family but might as well be). I even said hello to my dog, Max (which is a special treat because he´s an outside dog). I laughed at them, especially my mom when she said ¨flamingo¨ instead of ¨flamenco,¨ and at Karen when she used the f-word a couple times to express how much she loves me.

I´m sick, but i blame it on the Spanish weather and Sex and the City. It doesn´t help when you don´t sleep, and then watch all the episodes a second time, with commentary.

Strangley enough, that show has made me emotionally (though i hate to admit it) realize how much i love home, and how i´ll always have that to go to. My identity, though formed and changed by my experiences WHEREVER i am, is rooted at home. It´s where i learned to love people.

I have this friend Cassidy, who, when she cooks incredible things like falafel and cookies and peanut sauce, graciously and without hesitation, offers me "as much as i want". She also offers me time in her apartment to use internet (free for me, only a short 15 min walk), hot tea, and a hug and an "aw" when i´m being homesick.

Love her. She´s legend.

Life is so real! Live it! I´ve spent time fantasizing about what europe would be, and was wanting to be there so very promptly, so much that i wasn´t living at home, with the people that love me! Now, it hasn´t lived up to my impossibly high expectations, and has only left me to wonder what else is missing. How much more can i want want want without realizing it´s amazing amazing amazing?!

This place is AMAZING! I love MADRID! and i love the people! and the Panaderías!

and don´t you forget it!

Happy Thanksgiving! Share some turkey with someone who doesn´t have any. :)

I´ve learned a new English word (from real English people of course): Fiddlybit. Estaría dicho a menudo y con mucho cariño.

In Love

Is it possible to miss a place that isn't home? Not only that, but a place that you were only in for 5 days?
I've fallen in love with Paris. Everything about it is beautiful. The buildings have antique designs but at the same time in a very clean, modern way. There is a monument of some kind around every corner. The river that divides the city is incredible, with the glowing lights under the bridges at night.

French is a beautiful language.

Couch surfing rocks. We stayed with the coolest people. The second apartment we stayed in was an apartment right around the corner from the Eiffel Tower, and the two guys that lived there, Felipe and Fred, were so funny and nice. They even took us to a local bar and we had an amazing time. It was so good to get to know them, and they were so welcoming and friendly and trusting. They lent us their keys to get into their apartment. What if everyone could be that trusting of human beings? It's funny but it makes me feel like there IS some sort of unity in human kind. We can help each other like i think we're supposed to, like i think we need to. We can be selfless and trusting and accepting of everyone. Couch surfers are incredible people. it was a humbling experience.

It was Fall in Paris. It was cold and the air was moist. and i actually saw trees that were different colors which gave me that warm feeling of home that i had been missing this fall season.

There's something about that city that made me feel more beautiful. I don't know what it was.

Thanks to Pat and Cas for making it fun/funny. I laughed a lot this week, and hard.
Pat was tired of Cassidy and I saying how much more we liked Paris than Madrid. What is it about Madrid that I am not in love with? I was captivated with Paris.
What is IT?

Alegría All Around

my mom and i have been playing an e-mail game where we send e-mails back and forth so it´s like we´re chatting. She doesn´t know how to download AIM, so it´ll have to do. But she always asks me if i want something from home, and she´s going to send me christmas cookies. i love her. she also told me to buy a coat.

Cassidy also told me to buy a coat. Sarah too.

OK I´LL buy a freaking coat. sheesh.

everyday i feel like we discover something new in Madrid, as if the streets shifted, like the stairs in Hogwarts, bringing us everyday to a different door to open. it´s fun fun. We also went to Toledo last weekend. beautiful.

today (well tomorrow, but tonight we´re staying in the airport) Cass and Pat and I are going to Paris. ól Paree. Louvre. Notre Dame. French wine and cheese. i guess i´m excited.

love you cassidy.

I also can´t wait to get involved in the service oportunities through two different churches here. One´s an english church and one is a spanish church. Both volunteer and help the community. yay. helping people.

Karen Hinde sent me a package, and within this package there was an entire container of her famous vanilla-ee chocolate chip cookies. I ate them all in one sitting. ew! but oh so good. thanks Karen.

Spain is wonderful. you should try it sometime.

happy wednesday.

Here We Go

pray for something. it can never hurt.

it´s 3 degrees outside.

it's so cold and i can't feel my hands.

hi anne, i found your blog. your's is now on mine.


happy monday from Madrid.