joanna and i this morning as they were getting ready to leave....THANKS students for giving your month to be here and learn the lang and culture...also, thanks for your encouragement and friendship! 

this is the left overs of one of the BEST things that i've eaten in awhile...it is called the cubanito..a mixture of orxata (kind of like soy milk) and chocolate....Mmmm 

gothic cathedral at night 

parque de la ciutadella...one of my favortie places in the city. it is peaceful...an escape from the city, but there is also always something going one there 

are you sticking your tongue out at me?!  

eileen and loren at a cafe in the old city...they say that the cafe is the living room of spain...then i must spend a lot of time in the living room! 

i think drew has found dinner... 

jana must be super excited about the candy at the market!  

at montserrat there is a room where people leave personal items or items of a family member that needs prayer. a pilgram left his hiking boots as a way to ask for prayer from the benedictine monks that live there. i don't think those shoes would have gone much further anyways! 

many people go and light a candle at cathedrals here in spain while they are praying for a specific need or for a loved one. 

the view was just TOO incredible...i had to have a better look..haha..just kidding! this was from when we went to montserrat...beautiful monestary and landscape. it is known for the black virgen. 

just some of our city...can you find me waving?! :) 

this is us (minus lindsey..thanks for taking the picture) at montjuic 

dad, what in the heck is this thing? i figure that your amc or history channel show has probably taught you about this beast. we saw it on montjuic here 

i was thinking of my jo today so i thought i would put her on my blog page...jo, i'm SUPER excited that you get to come and visit soon!...i don't think that you'll need that umbrella though! 

vendor prophet

i was with loren as we left the residencia this afternoon to go and do a couple things across town. as we walked out the door, she stopped at the nearby vendor to buy a coke light (the european version of diet coke...better i might add!) and so i did the same. joanna had talked to him a couple days agao and mentioned how interesting and talkative he was so i wasn´t too suprised when he started talking to us. here are a couple of the things he said... he said that we feel pleasure when we are around babies and children because they are completely honest. they don´t know how to be otherwise. we love that kind of sincerity and crave to be around it. he says that we love them, not because they are children, but because we most clearly see the nature of God in them. he say we also see the nature of God in creation. when we are sitting in a park, looking at a bird (well ok for me that wouldn´t work...haha) or enjoying the details of a fallen leaf, we are experiencing God and his nature. i think i might buy another coke light tomorrow.

potato chip feeling

so i was sitting with the students last night eating pittas here in the city when they started talking about the potato chip feeling. since i didn´t know what they were refering to, they explained this... when joanna was younger a friend invited her to come hace a sleepover in her tent in the backyard. when asked to bring something, her mom went to the store and brought some chips..well...let´s just say a really BIG bag of chips. immediately joanna felt sad and regretful that her mom had spent this money and there was no way they would actually eat all of those chips. it also made her miss her mom. she now describes the potato chip feeling as one of homesickness or regret over not being able to eat all your food. i love the idea!

two days

so we have these summer students here for about three and half weeks. they remind me so much of myself over the past few months and even now. being in a new culture and using a foreign language constantly is tiring to say the least! they are going to do so great though. they've only been here two days, but i can already tell that they will adjust fine! they are all super laid-back and relational people, which will mix perfectly with the rhythym of life here and the culture of the students that they will be living with. well, ha!...i will actually be living with them as well.

jonas is either a)loving the park, b)trying to impress the ladies or c)being a bubble maker...we love that cheesy baby smile! :) 

here are the lady summer students! from left to right, they are: jana, loren, eileen and joanna. way to represent ladies!  

here are two of our summer students here for the month of june. loren's so photogenic!