Alcalá festival!

This weekend there is some festivities going on in Alcalá. I went last night with some friends. The one thing I absolutely love about Spain and am going to miss so much when I move back to the states is being able to walk around outside, visit parks and plazas and people watch! They are everywhere here and I love them (the parks and plazas--not the people)!

It was a Roman theme...I think it was for the Alcalá holiday called Santos Niños. Anyways...they had a crepe stand...so Orialí and I shared a banana chocolate crepe! Mmmmm.

There was a concert at 10. We stayed for a few songs. I really really like they way they play the Spanish guitar and sing. This video is pretty poor..it's from my phone. I bought this guys CD for 5 euros because I feel like I should have real Spanish music.

OnE yEaR-pArT d

More places I visited!

Venice. I know, I already included Italy on one of my blogs...but I had to include some Venice pics because I loved that city. Here is one of me doing my favorite thing in Italia...eating gelato!! It was so cheap in Venice too...cheaper than Florence, but wait...Bellaria was even cheaper...so never mind about it being cheap in Venice.

I must say...I love cities on water!

And, one other country I missed---while in Italy, we took at day trip to the Republic of San Marino! I know...I'm spoiled and lovin' it!

And my most recent visit to a new land was in June when I visited Emerald Island. My MA friend, Bethany, was the person to visit in Ireland! Everything was green, or tinted green...seriously. It was crazy man. I think little green guys lived through this gate.

Beth and I taking a Sunday afternoon stroll in a park in Dublin.

So, I guess that's it. I think all my new countries visited are in these blogs. I'm very blessed to be in Spain working at IMM. I've been put to work with my editing skills...my fluency in Final Cut Pro is better than a year ago. I know more shortcuts and fun stuff like that. I've learned Color, DVD Studio Pro and some Motion-but I hope to become better skilled/fluent at these and more! I know a little more about compressing and all the various QT settings--but there are so stinking many, that it's hard to know what's what. I've used Photoshop a bit. I know how to transcode and use all the machines in our TOC. We have a great team at IMM and it'll be growing in the coming months and years. God has something big in store for us and for the ministry and for those who will view our programs!

Speaking of fluency a few sentence ago: mi español es mejor. Hablo español con amigos a veces pero necesito hablar mas y con mas personas. Yeah, my Spanish is better than last year, but still needs major improvement. But, I can say THANK YOU in lots of languages (spelling may be wrong): gracias-Spanish, danku bell-Nederlands, Dutch, danke shan-German, kiitos-Finnish, tack tack-Swedish, grazie-Italian, mutlumesc-Romanian, thanks a million-Irish English. Que bien!

My favorite language to listen to is ITALIAN!! They are so passionate. It's similar to Spanish so maybe I could understand something, probably more in reading it though. When I travel to other countries and come back to Spain I feel like its home, because the language isn't so foreign to me. I also like that I feel like I can recognize various languages being spoken-in Spain and other places. I may not understand what's being said, but I can usually know which language it is (okay...not all but some). Yeah for culture and new languages!!

one. year. part. c.

My European Christmas Vacation added many countries to my list of countries, including:

Denmark. I had a layover here on my way to the next country. But I don't have any photos to prove it. oop.s

Finland. I celebrated with Christina's (my friend from college) au pair family. The parents of the family she works for live in Helsinki, Finland. I experienced and enjoyed my first Swedish/Finnish traditional Christmas. For Christmas eve dinner, pictured here, we ate lots of varieties of seafood, which I usually don't like much, but this wasn't so bad. We had many sorts of salmon and caviar!! Yep, probably one of the most expensive meals I have and will ever eat!

Sweden. Christina and I enjoying the yummy yummy Swedish meatballs at one of her favorite cafes in Stockholm! We spend about 3 days in Sweden after Finland, then headed south.

Latvia. Our layover from Stockholm to Munich was here. Yes, we actually walked on the ground, outside when we had to get on a shuttle bus.

Germany. Land of my ancestory...but didn't find (or look for) any. Here we are in Munich.

Austria. New Years eve was spent in the land of the "Sound of Music." This is us on our tour of the sound of music. This is the gazebo used in the famous "16 going on 17" song!

There ya go. After Austria we crossed the border again to Germany and went to Fussen (where the famous Neuschwanstein and Ludwig castles are). Then up to the medieval town of Rothenburg and I flew out of Frankfurt back to Spain. This is was jam packed 13 day trip semi-across Europe. It was great! Fun! Lots of new language and culture! Yummy food! Great photos ops! Good times with friends!

1 Año. Part B.

Seriously...ever since I've been getting older, time seems to fly by. A year is like a snap of a finger. That's crazy man!

More fun traveling pictures: this is me at a windmill park in Holland. I spent a long weekend there over Thanksgiving to be with "family," the Thomassens-good family friends of mine and fellow missionaries. Yes, I love this picture of me.

This is me in Italia!! This is one of the countries I definitely wanted to visit while living in Europe and I actually got to go--work related! We had a Southern Europe Missionary retreat in Belaria, Italy. I took a couple days of vacation to visit Venice before, and Florence after (pictured below, me on the Ponte Vecchio).

Here are some more Spain images. This is me with Alexandra, a baby girl I often see at get togethers of friends from the church. She is adorable! Mmm. Her daddy is a Spaniard and her mommy is from Chicago. Her parents say she always seems comfortable around me and that she doesn't go to people she doesn't know very well....but I what can I say...I'm Auntie Crystal!! I love getting my baby time with her when I can since I'm so far away from my own!!

And these lovely ladies are Sephora and Orialí, my friends from France and Dominican Republic respectively. Sephora was here for May and June for an internship. Ori was studying in Madrid and was sort of an intern here, she's leaving at the end of August to go home :(

It makes me sad-because we have fun together and I can practice my Español with her. She'll be missed. But now I have a reason to go to the Dominican!!

One of the highlights of the year, truly, was having my 3 good girlfriends from home visit me for a week of fun in Andalucia, the southern part of Spain! Angela, Amanda and Emily flew over for a little spring break and to visit me of course! They were the first of my friends/family to visit me all the way from the states! We had a great time. It was so great to have close friends to talk with and just have fun! Thanks girls for coming!

At the end of my 1 year blogs, the first person to know (and tell me) how many new countries I've been in (including airport layovers) gets a big Spanish beso from me next time I see them!