lovin' it

amanda faye has recently discovered the 60 cent cone at everyone's favorite fast food spot. at least she's lovin' it. here is a spot that aj and i went with the criders for a sunday morning brunch. a couple of them had club sandwiches. weird. i had coconut pancakes with maple syrup. mmmm....i think i'll be revisiting. jonas is now walking on his own, only he perfers to hold a hand now and then to steady himself. watch out barcelona!

coffee

Café (Spanish) Caife (Irish) Koffie (Dutch) Kaffee (German) коФe (Russian) КАФЕΣ (Greek) Kaffe (Sweedish) Kopi (Indonesian) Kahawa (Swahili) Kahvi (Finnish) Kawa (Polish) Kafa (Serbian) these are just some of the many ways to say one of my favorite words. to see more ways so to: http://www.travlang.com/wordofday/98.html it all started with a gift that i recieved today in the mail. christy sent me an awesome mug that is covered with a map of the world and the word coffee translated across it. it is a beautiful gift and it got this kid excited.

what bricks teach me

today i drew bricks again for going on my second month. mmmm....interestingly enough i love it. we change little things every class period like perspective or angles or adding something to enhance the overall composition but basically i have been drawing bricks for two months. it is suprising what you can learn by drawing bricks...here are some examples... -our eyes can trick us -it is freeing to have a pencil in my hand -things always apear larger on the side closest to you -coffee goes well with a two hour drawing class -it is good to mark the dates on the paper of my drawing notebook. it is like a picture journal of my artistic journey. -it is ok to be messy. it is fun. it is alright to be wrong. it is just part of the process. -it is good to understand my perpective so that i can better understand what i am drawing. anyways i enjoy the opportunity to be in school again and learn more about something i have always had a passion for. i think these classes in a way help me understand things about myself. hmmm...that would be another post for another day though.

coffee conversations and women leaders

if you read cnn.com , you'll know that i borrowed these fotos from their site. these two ladies, from top to bottom, are michelle bachelet and ellen johnson-sirleaf. they are incredible ladies and they are making history. one thing that i love about my spanish friends is their wide range of conversation topics. they aren't afraid to talk about anything...and for long periods of time. last night i was reading a book while two of my friends were studying their english in a coffee shop. the studying and reading turned into talking before we realized. it is amazing what you can talk about all in the span of one cup of coffee. we discussed globalization, fair trade, religion, languages and politics. we had a good conversation. many of my friends here make me want to learn more about my world. so last night and this morning i got onto cnn.com (jo are you proud?) and saw the stories of these two women. bachelet was just elected the first woman president of chile and johnson-sirleaf was inaugrated today as the first woman president of liberia. both are couragous and innovative. and i believe they also bring much hope to their countries. i plan on following their stories.

terrace

i've had a lot of hard conversations with people from home lately. lives are changing and loved ones are sick and people are moving away. it's not that i didn't know this would happen when i left home. it's just that i don't think i understood how hard it would be. i feel like i'm standing on my terrace and my world is just walking on by and i don't get a say in it at all. i hope i'm not being too melodramatic, but i probably am. i like or love my life here most days. but when i ocassionally get glimpses of those at home that i want to help or love better or just be there for i feel torn. is this what it feels like to grow up? i don't know. i just have to trust that my relationship with God will sustain me through it all and will take care of the details. i'll post something happier or just different in a few days.

alemania

i went to a retreat center this past week an hour and a half outside of frankfurt, germany. it was for new personnel in my ngo. it was a good time of meeting people, spiritual renewal and just being outside barcelona for awhile. these are some of the pictures from my time there. germany is pretty amazing huh?

año nuevo

sometime around 9am this morning i wondered why i was still awake. and then i remembered....ahhh....my first new years eve in spain. amanda and i knew it would be a long night, but really! it started around 9pm when susanna and loli arrived with enough crepes and chips for my whole neighborhood. we ate and hung out till the magic moment came and THEN...the twelve grapes....yes ladies and gentlemen...that is how we usher in the new year. we stuff 12 (seeded!) grapes in our mouth for the last 12 seconds of 2005. if you get them all down then you are going to have good luck all of 2006. let's just say i might be in for trouble. i was too distracted laughing at the ladies to chew...ah well. we then went to michael collins (irish pub in one of the above pics) where we go most saturdays to listen to live music. we got about 3 hours of pure elvis goodness. yes...grapes and elvis! doesn't that say happy new year to you?! anyways it was fun. all in all an interesting first new years. i'm paying for it today (i think i've had at least my weight in coffee today) but i've made it to my second calendar year in spain! if you want to see more pics and a more organized version of our evenning you can check out amanda's blog at: http://www.captivatedbygrace.blogspot.com feliz año nuevo!