second time around.

if only yall could see where i am sitting right now, waiting for my last flight. a little shack, where the doors are wide open to the world, called the sansa regional airport, right next to the sjo airport. i have arrived in costa rica and im waiting for my next flight. its sure to be an adventure seeing that i am one of two passengers on this plane. no idea what the plane looks like, but im slightly nervous. landing in san jose felt like i was just returning to a second home. i had the biggest smile on my face and in my mind i kept hearing, "welcome back." i saw a restaurant as i was landing that i ate at last time i was here. i knew i remembered being really close to the airport and there it was, right on the side of the runway. flying down was a breeze, which is always a blessing. my feet are crazy swollen. i sat next to these two youth pastors both taking different groups for mission trips in san jose. its always funny who i sit next to on airplanes. love it.

so, like my title says, im here...second time around. it was funny walking with one of the airport guys who took me to the smaller shack airport and talking about my last time here. i had a full spanish conversation the second i stepped off the plane, and what a blessing it was to hear him say my spanish actually sounded really good. im so excited to practice and really have full conversations with people.

so since im here, and have an abundance amount of time until my next flight, i might as well mention my goals for this trip. scott and i had dinner last night and its funny to me that he asked this question before i went to spain, so i knew it was coming for costa rica. so we made my goals list again and welp here it is:

1. spanish spanish spanish. necesito hablar más español.

2. try new foods, and eat more fruit that i really should

3. prepare fun lessons for my students and really encourage them in learning english

4. surfing lessons. it might sound crazy, but why not when im in one of the best places in the world to surf. yes ill be careful. no i wont swim in rip tides. mom: dont worry.

5. be observant. eyes opened. heart opened. and ready to receive.

6. make local friends. i want to be able to go to a fruit stand in the mornings and stand and have conversations with the vendors and get to know them

7. share jesus. always.

8. finish !gracias! and read the book radical. might as well add writing so much that i get to the second journal i brought

9. learn more about hinduism, and simply be a light to the hindu roommate i have.

10. skype or video message my watauga kids. miss those guys.

11. help in the conexión christmas projects (obvi going to be the best part of the trip)

12. give conrado THE biggest hug possible

13. walk in fullness of love and joy. each day.

this, my friends, its going to be one of my biggest adventures yet. i know i will be stretched, but i also know im going to be learning and growing in deeper ways. if youve talked to me about my future in the past year or so, you know its been put on my heart to teach abroad. i love that i was born and raised in the us, and i love all that it has to offer, but there is so much more in the world, so much that people need to hear and receive, and i want to share it. i think these next six weeks are going to be the biggest test trial i could imagine. i want to really soak in my time here to see if this is real, if this is what the lord has called me to. spanish ministry and latin america just have a special place in my heart and chances are, its one of the first few things you learn about me. soo it will be interesting.

but for now, this has been long enough. im just entertaining myself in the shack. ill let yall go.

besos.

what else is new?

something in me really want to start this blog post with the lyrics of christmas vacation..."its that time..." but i didnt. but the reality is that itssss that timee! yall know i cant stay in the country for too long. so im headed back to costa rica again! i will be teaching english for 5 weeks at a bilingual school in nicoya, cr. its closer to the pacific side of the country in the nicoya peninsula. just google it :). the last week i am there i will be back in san josé con mi familia de conexión that i was with in last summer. i will be helping with their christmas projects which are kind of similar to samaritan's purse's operation christmas child. i am beyond excited to be reunited with mis abuelitos conrado y mamá.

student teaching these past 10 weeks at watuaga have been such an adventure. my kids were hilarious and i know i will miss seeing them everyday. they were pumped to be able to add me on facebook. funny lives.

anywho. tonight i am leaving boone and saturday morning at the crack of dawn i am flying out. it will basically be summer there, so its been difficult to pack (seeing that i have had to scrap icey frost off my windows the past few days and have seen snow twice now). but i am very excited to get my tan back while everyone will be nice and pale when i get back in december. you see heres my plan: ill go to costa rica and get nice and tan. then in december/january when im applying for jobs, they will see that i was a spanish major, and notice that in the middle of winter im tan. so they will think im spanish, naturally, and hire me for anything and everything i apply for. not true. but its a well thought out plan, you know.

but for now, i have lots to get done, but ill post again before i leave. just thought id let friends know: im leaving again! but im sure you already knew that :)

besos.

el fin.

today is my last official day in madrid! i cannot believe how quickly this month has gone by. we had our finals yesterday and went and saw a flamenco dance as our last class adventure. yall, i want to learn how to do that. coolest thing to see. they stomp their feet so quick and the clicker things (i have no idea what else to call them) are really great. so glad i got to do that. our teach came out to dinner with everyone last night and thats always a good time.

today im doing some last minute shopping (really i need an extra small bag to take home with me...heavy presents. whoopsies). and spending the night out and about with amigos!

so since its my last day i figure i would do an update on the goals list, because who doesnt love lists?

1. make a new best friend: welp thats a definite check. i have loved everyone i met and my host mom has been incredible. love these besties.

2. go to a professional soccer game: fail. but the bull fight took the place here.

3. stick my toesies in the mediterranean sea: CHECKKK!!

4. learn spanish better: más o menos.

5. read these 2 books that 2 dear friends gave me: check. both were so great. thanks guys :)

6. meet a bulgarian (simply because its a fun word to say): fail. but i did meet the dutch, spanish (obvi) french and plenty of others.

7. try a a new food item at least 4 times a week: yes, yes i did. i may not have liked it all, but i ate way too much here.

8. learn to dress like those sassy spaniards: coming back with sas.

9. real talk pillow talk with roomie: me and rooms had real talk, but since she stayed out until 6 in the morning most nights, the pillow talk wasnt quite there.

10. take cool pictures: ive got a little over 2000 in an album, check.

11. blog about the adventures: obvi.

12. use the metro without fear: professional metro rider.

13. find a cross for the collection: check.

14. love people and love them well: they can be the judge of that.

but in all honesty, i have loved getting to know a completely different group of people, and learning so much about them. small talk turns into real talk, and simply loving people where they are at right now can change things in the future. i have no idea what part ive played in their lives, but im so excited that these friendships are coming home with me. its not over yet :)

tomorrow i hope to sleep most of the flight to try and get myself on american time pronto when i get back. going straight from the airport to a cookout with way too much family, so hopefully i can last until 5am spain time (aka 11pm)

ill send another link to pictures when i get the last of them up.

but for now, happy wednesday fam (yall know its always my fav day of the week).

besos y mucho amor.

león.

so this past weekend we had not only field trip friday, but field trip weekend. we took a 4 hour bus ride friday morning into the mountains and ohh how glorious that was. madrid has been in the 90s for the past week (97 today!) and with no air conditioning, its just freaking HOT!

anywho: field trip included a weekend stay in the providence of león. we visited monasteries, and a vineyard on friday! yall, the vineyard was so incredible fun. it was in a beautiful location, we got to try 3 different kinds and have bread and cheese. loved it.

saturday we went on a crazy hike from the town we were staying in. the camino de santiago (google it) runs through the town we were staying in so we hiked a bit of that. our professor said it was going to be super easy and not bad: lies. it was crazy. but so beautiful the entire way there. afterwards however: my knees hated me for 2 days straight, like couldnt walk normal because they were so achy. whoops.

but after the hike we went to las medulas which are these old gold mines from the romans that they flushed out with water. we got to go through one of the caves too. they make you wear a hilarious hair net under the hard hats and then give you a flashlight to go have fun.

after the caves we went to a lake then back to the hostels for pizza. the next morning we did the usual travel, see a cathedral, something old, then headed back for the longest trip into madrid. it just seemed to take forever to get home. 6 hours including the metro ride. just a tad bit longer than any of us wanted. but this weekend was incredible and beautiful and totally worth it!

what i loved is that we got to go on this trip as a class and it was so great to really get to know people that i didnt normally go on adventures with during the week. and although conversations were not "deep" nor crazy real talk, they were real, and opened doors, and it was just really rewarding to see the lord do these things. im pumped that most of these friendships are going to continue when i get back to boone which means its not over thursday when i fly back home. (yes, i fly back to the states on thursday, and yes i am VERY EXCITED!) He's faithful, thats for sure.

as for this happy monday, we went to class, take two of the reina sofia (modern art museum) then hit to pool since its the only cool place we could go. and now its time for cena!

pictures.

and for all you non-facebookers out there: here is a link to view some of the pictures i have taken so far. and by some i mean 200 out of the 1200 on my computer :)

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1903740958589.2095378.1393680174&l=95a7ffa743

enjoy!

alicante.

i think this past weekend was my favorite so far! i took a train to alicante down towards the south east side of spain, right on the mediterranean sea. um, can you say most beautiful place? yes, yes it was. i got there thursday night and caitlin and i went and got dinner, sat in a park and had real talk, and then gelato! yall, gelato is bangarang. just saying.

and that night i got to check off sticking my toesies in the mediterranean. i dont know about you, but i think thats super cool.

friday we had an interesting day. one of the girls caitlin knew was planning a "spa" day out on the beach. so she found all these online recipes for facials and hair stuff and loads more. i thought it was hilarious. but i did get my first "facial" if you call oatmeal, yogurt and some other stuff a facial. but it had the cucumbers, so you know its legit. but we enjoyed the day on the beach, then headed back to have dinner on the pier area.

that night caitlins roommate, margaret (latvia's finest) was having a going away party since she was leaving the nest morning. she says she has a tradition of burning her class notes and things from the classes she hated most each semester. so what did we do, we burned her stuff. and someone played the laud while we walked everywhere and i have not laughed that much in a long time. quite the adventure.

but i got to meet people form spain, lativa, russia, france and the netherlands that night. i LOVE accents. and i kept asking funny questions to find out new words. dutch is my new fav language. i think i would like to learn it.

anywho. saturday we took margaret to the airport then caitlin and i were ready for a nap. we took lunch on the beach and were lazy for most of the day. then we hiked up the castle (alicante's biggest attraction) and got to see the town from the highest point. i love being up high and being able to see for miles and miles.

sunday was a fun flea market excursion where we found really awesome spanish antique items. i may or may not have gotten the adventures of tom sawyer book in spanish. after spending the rest of the afternoon together, we said out sweet goodbye at the train station and i headed back to madrid.

LOVEDDD seeing caitlin and it was such a blessing to have a dear friend in the same country as me. loved real talk. loved seeing where she has been living for the past 5 months. and love even more that she will be back in the big US of A the same day i get back :) caitlin: youre seriously the best most beautiful thing!

reunited!

reunited with miss caitlin sheffield and its incredible! happy weekend from alicante :)