Time to Catch...Up...

sooo... here I am.. I have been missing you all a lot lately... it's funny because things have not been rolling quite my way, as I will ashamedly admit I am a bit used to, but also with the feelings that naturally come with 'Tis the season, which has already begun here, i miss you... something about all the christmas cheer... it is in full bloom... i know, i know--only mid-November, you say? well, I have a theory for that... i decided that is because there is no defining day, like we have--being thanksgiving--to really begin the Christmas season, they begin decorating before Halloween in some parts! it is actually absurd, and takes away a bit of the novelty and excitement of Christmas when they celebrate it for a fourth of the year!

anyhow, back to how I was missing you guys. You are great, and things are still wonderful here, but finding work has just not proved to be as... possible... as I thought it would be! :) I say wonderful because I am really learning the meaning of being happy in all circumstances... One may think it is a joke to speak of "learning to be content" while living in Granada and having a fairly light work schedule, but it is not this that is the struggle... it is the sense that I am not really DOING anything here. I am convinced idleness for me signifies stale feelings. That is the best I think I can describe it... I just have a stirring within me to go build a house for someone or clean out a water tank or something completely primeval yet necessary because all I am doing here seems to have lost sight of what I like to think is really important to me. BUt then I think to myself that it is good I am thinking like this because I am re-assessing where I am and what I am doing and re-installing purpose into my being here. When these feelings began to overwhelm me a bit, I just took a deep breath, wrote a couple (okay, more than a couple) pages in my blog, made myself some hot chocolate, and promised myself to start fresh. I made a list of things I want to accomplish while here, and some plans for ensuring these things happen... so here we go...

1. Go hiking and skiing in the Sierra Nevadas (Audrey, David and I went on an excursion yesterday, check!)
2. Find a mentor in the church I have recently begun attending
3. Paint and read more...
4. Go to the gym
5. Find some ways to help people
6. Invest myself in someone and allow people to continue affecting me
7. Continue to immerse myself in Spanish
8. Really soak up all the unique aspects of this city

So these are all the original reasons I set out here, but in the run of every day here and there, I seem to have lost track a bit, and in course, lost the purpose of being here. Lost sounds so desperate. So not lost. Just fogged over. I was still doing all these things, but I had lost the impetus, the focus and reasoning I had for doing them.... So my rededication is here on this blog, and in my heart, awww... what cheese! No, but for real, it is important for me to know the reason for doing things and where I am headed, so this little heart-to-mind get-together I had for myself was important! And now, as promised... PICTURES... we have internet in the house now, so I don't mind so much sitting around waiting for them to load! Enjoy!

Still Here...

Audz looking angelic out in the mountains on day when we were visiting a friend's house for Sunday lunch!


David being the Monhombre (MonkeyMan) he is....!


Crazy spider, cool foto...


The Alhambra... such a blessing to just walk up on any given night and see it...


the two spanish boys I babysit on out way to Flamenco guitar class... check out that view.. ahh, the snow.. Glorious




Well.... good day, all!

So.. the new news... I have found more work, but the people are pretty scattered and tend to call and cancel, so it has not proven to be so dependable.. However, I HAVE applied to work at a ski resort in the Sierra Nevadas, which are a mere 30 minutes from town and tons of people commute, so it could be really great! I would work in the mornings and help people check in and get their gear, and then I could ski the afternoons! haha.. pretty rad, but who knows, it is actually kind of late to be interviewing for jobs up there since the ski season is actually fairly soon to start! A lot of people commute from Granada to the mountains, so it would be no problem getting there either--much better than taking the bus all the time, which is what I am doing now, running around to all the pueblos around Granada giving lessons..!

So, for Halloween, me, Audz, and the two Catalanyas--Maria and Estefania--went out together... they were Waldo, (here Wally) from Where's Waldo, Audz was a pirate, and I was AMy Winehouse... yeah... it was a bit ridiculous, and I really looked NOTHING like here, but they aren't as familiar with here over here--more just that she has tattoos, crazy hair and a missing tooth and says "NO, No, NO...!" so I pulled it off, but probably not something I would have gone for in the US...!

Audz and I have been at work in our piso... i moved rooms, to the smaller room that was gonna be the living room area because the other one was just too great of a hang-out space, but I really love my room now.. our house is coming together and it feels so much better to be there!

Also, I found a church that I really love and met some wonderful people there! I am really excited because they have a really large and active group of people my age, so it is really exciting and I cant wait to get back there! It was actually kind of emotional really being there because I have just so greatly missed a church family over this past year, so this really was such a blessing to find! Well, that is about all that is new for now... I think about you all often and really really do miss you deeply... Paz al mundo!