End of 2010.

I haven't been keeping up on my blog recently because I guess I've just been busy and there isn't a whole lot of exciting stuff to blog about. I've just been home, working at Walgreens (again) but this time a new store. My old manager took me back and it's been great because I really need the income and I've worked almost full time hours every week since I've been home. Christmas was great, chillin with the fam and eating yummy food. I really wish Marin could be here though. I think about how great it will be when he is here, experiencing the Roehl Family traditions and getting a taste of MN living. I don't feel settled because I won't be until I get a full time job I want to do for awhile and until I marry Marin, I'll be living with family and not in a place with myself, which is fine because I need to save money by not paying rent until needed. I hope in the next months I'll land a job that is decent pay, something that utilizes my skills/experience/degree and that I at least somewhat enjoy. Is there a job out there for me...we'll see. Saturday starts 2011. Maybe then I'll write about great things that happened in 2010 and great things that are yet to come next year!

Home. MN. Cold. Winter. Sick. Family. Friends. Marin.

Those are a few words that describe my life these days. I'm back at home in MN, enjoying my family and seeing some friends. My 24 hours of travel got me sick with a cold. Jet lag with the cold makes me tired all day long. I can't stop thinking about Marin and wish he could just be here with me or that we could talk more easily/cheaper. He needs to get internet so we can Skype. It's actually hard to believe I'm back. Doesn't really seem real quite yet. It's going to take months to get in a normal feeling mode. I look forward to Thanksgiving with all the great food and company and playing games. Why can't we just have the best of both worlds. Maybe I can once Marin gets his sexy booty over here!

2 weeks...and counting!

Who can believe that in exactly 2 weeks I'll be somewhere in the sky, flying over the Atlantic, on my way back to the land of the free and home of the brave!

It's hard to believe this chapter of my life at IMM is coming to an end. I know "once an IMMer, always on IMMer" will be a part of me, but I won't actually be here doing the IMM stuff. I'll be...doing something else. In the near future, planning a wedding and trying to land a job I enjoy and that pays the bills!

However, as this chapter ends, yet another one opens! And one that is sure to be exciting, adventurous, a learning experience, lovely, happy, stressful and fun! Of course, you all know that I'm talking about.

Until my next post...have a great day!

PORTUGAL=AMAZING

When Christina and I decided to venture our way on over to my neighboring country of Portugal, we mostly wanted to go because "it's another country to add to our list" and "we've never been there" and the beach! We did not expect it to be as great as it was. Really, almost everything was great. Everywhere we went-stores, restaurants, hostel--everyone spoke English! Portuguese is a Latin language, but somethings are quite different from Español and we may have not understood if they didn't speak the great international, business language of English.

The beach--best part. Thanks God for giving us PERFECT weather! The forecast said it would rain Saturday, but it didn't! Good memories made on the sand. Relaxing time. People watching. Picture taking. Taking in the sun!

This cute beach city was easy to navigate. We found our way to the beach/city centre from the bus stop-without a map, without directions, just following another couple, reading signs and using our great sense to find our way!

Many great photo ops here. Loved it!

Albufeira, Portugal, I don't know if we'll meet again in this life, but know that you were the perfect last hoorah with Christina as we bring our European travels to an end.

I'll miss....

this guy and the beauty of España! Olive and sunflower oil. The warm weather. But I'll mostly miss Marin while we are apart.

2 Años en España!

August 1 was my 2 year anniversary in Spain. Whoohooo!! I'm late blogging about this but that's cause I have more important and real life things to do. It's good when real life has more things for me so I'm not wasting my time doing internet/blog/fb things. But of course those still take up hours of my life every week.

A few things I WILL NOT miss about Spain when I leave:

1. everything is so SMALL here....roads, parking spaces, elevators...

2. the non-customer service you get when at stores

3. the euro stealing 26-50% of my money!!

4. how things/people work and think in Spain. I won't be saying "this is Spain" much when I'm in the US.

A few things I WILL MISS about Spain:

1. MARIN until he gets to MN!!

2.the awesome fruit and veggies, and Friday market to buy these

3. working at a job that I love (mostly cause it's ministry and going to touch lots if lives, but the whole editing for 8 hours a day thing--I won't miss that too much for a while)

4. diversity

5. my great co-workers

6. my sweet and short commute to work...I'm going to miss this A LOT!

who wants to lose weight...?

in my first year living in spain, i lost about 10 pounds. i guess from walking (yes, we walk in europe, we don't have the luxury of driving door to door to every place we want to go), eating healthier--fruits and veggies are amazing here and i don't really buy pre packaged and ready to go food. i think last summer helped shed some cause it's soo HOT here and i just don't eat as much when it's HOT. so, i just weighed myself today to see where i am... 57.5 kilos (approx 127 pounds)! that's, if my memory serves well, about 19 pounds smaller than when i left mn for los hueros. i put that exclamation point not for excitement but for shock! i'm actually not too thrilled that i keep losing weight. my pants seriously are not fitting me, i have to wear belts with everything except my shorts that have ties or elastic! i don't have money to buy a new wardrobe! i guess the surgery and not eating for a day then being sick last week and not eating and puking up acid and saliva is the cause of this most recent loss of fat. i hope my muscle isn't going away. my butt doesn't seem smaller, but i guess it is since my pantalones are sagging on me. let's just hope my breasts don't deflate into nothingness. i need what i have to fill out my wedding dress next year!! :)

moral of the story: move to spain if you are in need of shedding some pounds or kilos.

Some nasty pics of me ears...

Last Thursday, I had a stapedectomy. Here are some pics that represent my life in the last week. This first one is my ear with the drops just sitting around because it cant' get through the packing that's in there.

Here's my ear after it's been cleaned with alcohol by my Mr. Piper. Nasty, huh.
In one way, I look forward to getting this packing stuff taken out of my ear cause it's quite annoying...the feeling of your ear being plugged up for 2 weeks. Annoying it is. But I can also imagine it will not be pain less when the doctor pulls this thing out. I hope it is quick!And here's me laying on the couch in Barcelona for 3 days post-surgery, in a non AC'ed apartment. Not fun but I survived.
Keep praying for my recovery. It's been quite the week as not only did I have this major surgery, but before the surgery I had a slight cough, I still have the cough and today I got my period and it was a bad time, I pretty much wanted to die. I guess all the pain I've been through is prepping me for some babies in the future, eh?!

I'M GETTING MARRIED!!!!

Thanks Marin for proposing to me (for real, this time with a ring) last night, June 22 in Spain! Te Queiro mucho!!

June!

I think I've had my start of months messed up. I think June 1 was start of month 23 at IMM. Anyways, I've been here for 22 months now. It's gone by pretty fast I must say. I've experienced a lot in the last almost 2 years....mostly all good things. Met great people. Made new friends. Learned. Worked on a project for thousands of hours that will hopefully be put into many many languages in the years to come and seen by millions of people who need to hear of Jesus or who need to be encouraged in their faith!

My parents come 5 days to visit me!! yippy. the first and only of my family to visit me. Good thing I had my 3 girls come and also my friends living in Europe the same time as me. God has truly blessed me during my time in Spain!

Hugs and kisses from Madrid.

20.

Start of month 20 at IMM in España. cool. times gone by pretty fast. I've done lots of fun things a lot of people don't get to experience in life. i feel like i'm in college again at times...it's Thursday night at 10 pm (the start of a 3 day weekend for Semana Santa (Easter) and I'm still working. We have a big, huge project due on dvd by next Monday night and my part of it is just taking way longer than I hoped. Always things to fix and challenges to work through in video production (actually, in all things in life that are worth the time and struggle). I don't really want to work much this weekend, so I'm trying to get lots done tonight! And, I want to sleep in and enjoy some on the decent, but not really really nice weather we have finally, this weekend. If I only I got paid for overtime...nah, this is missions!! But, I'm super excited for when this project will be DONE because 1. I've been working on it for over a year and 2. our first foreign language is African French at the end of April! 3. it's a sweet production with a story and message that changes live!

march madness!

it's true---this month i can easily call march madness! once i get time to upload pics of my fun activities from the weekends with my housemates (including some very spanish cultural things) you'll see how the madness has occured. then there's the thing that takes up more of my life...work at imm. we are coming close to the deadline of the open the bible: gospels project...por fin! but we have been encountering challenges as we like to call them! lots of work. lots of working a bit of longer hours than normal. stress. headaches. lower back pain. edititis (a new word cheree made up. it's the problem of the pain i have from editing too much, sitting in the same position too long and using the mouse the same always!!) so, with that, there's also other issues in my personal life and the issues that come with living with other people who don't exactly know how to clean up after themselves the greatest and leave left overs in the fridge far too long since they never go back to eat it! then it becoming very nasty and smelly around my food! and what not. then there's the taking an online course in spanish and having to write a 4 page paper in spanish by april 20. oh, and also having a passion to make a human trafficking awareness video and really really need the help and guidance of God to make it work because i need Him! getting tax stuff ready to send with someone to the states. making cards for my friends who've had great events happen lately and getting those ready to send. trying to convert a pal timeline to ntsc but having issues (that's what i'm doing now as i write this). constant IT problems that slow me down at work. just straight up stress, annoyance, busyness, not being able to fall asleep when i lay my head down. this makes me a bit on edge and perhaps my housemates have felt or seen it. sorry gals. not to mention missing my super adorable nieces and nephews that i see pics of on fb. that' s it... only pics. no vids. :(

so, please keep me in your prayers because i need it!

month 19 almost over. month 20 on it's way. good thing I'm extending til november, because thinking of leaving in 4-5 months would be crazy!!

*listen, i know my life is greatly blessed and so much better than about 97.9% of the worlds, i'm just in need of venting and happen to be doing it on here so alicia and christina can read it because they are the only 2 people who regularly read this. and if you're not one of them, please tell me so i can be surprised!

Start of Month 19!!

Did I count that right? I've been here since Aug 1 of 2008. I think 19 is the right number. Wow. Who can believe it? These months have gone by pretty darn fast! 2010 has already flown by. It's so weird to think that this is the year I'll be moving back to the states. It's probably not going to be at my official 2 year mark which would be Aug 1. I'm thinking of staying just a bit longer because there is a lot of transition and staff changes this year and I think my boss will appreciate me staying...well, I know he will, he's hinted at having me stay longer!

This month is March Madness! No, I don't care about college bb. My housemates only have 5 weeks left and they have a list of things to see, places to go, and what not...so we have many weekends booked for fun events! This Saturday-a Flamenco show!! Our friends found it--it's a not too spendy and looks really good! Other things on the tentative schedule: a Jazz club, the Rastro - huge market, Monet museum and a girls slumber party... which is also happening this weekend!

To add some fun content to this blog and break up the text, here's an adorable image of Alexandra. I had coffee with her mom and my friend Tiffany the other weekend. Lexi is seriously the most precious and adorable baby in Spain! Her daddy is a Spaniard and her mommy American. She's like a precious moments doll. Her eyes, that curly hair....too cute!!

What will I do when Cheree and Julie leave? It won't be as fun. I'm sure more peeps will come to visit--we have 2 interns this summer, so I've heard. A bunch of MA's are in the works, but who knows when they'll get here.

Another reason for March Madness: countdown to the Open the Bible: The Gospels project is due!! April 1 baby! I'm juggling various projects at work. Taking an online course (in Spanish) on intervention of prostitution and human trafficking-which is basically research for a project I feel I need to do while I'm here...an awareness video for human trafficking. There are a few parties lined up in March for co-workers leaving and co-workers adding a baby to their family! Oh so much to do and seems like not enough hours in a day--especially when I like/need to get at least 8 hours of sleep a night!

And here's Plaza Cervantes in Alcalá de Henares! I love this place. Just gorgeous. This was taken last week on my phone...not bad huh? Oh my-I'll miss Spanish plazas when I leave this country.

Weather or not...

I guess comparing the temps in Madrid to the temps in MN usually puts a smile on my face and a thought "I'm so glad I'm not there right now". I know this type of thing will only last so long, so while I'm living in Sunny Spain--I'm going to milk it!

Next winter, I'll be back in the frozen tundra, chillin' with the fam, looking for a job and trying to readjust to a new culture once again. In some ways I look forward to it and in other ways not. So for now I'll look forward to the warmth the sun down here brings!

Almost the end of the month blog.

There's only 10 days left of this month. That is crazy. Where do the days go? Well, I know recently since I don't blog as much it doesn't go to blogging and wasting my time because I know not many people read this. A lot of communication seems to happen via fb. And that is where a lot of my time goes...to wasting time looking at peoples pics and seeing what's going on in the lives of those I went to high school and college with. I admit...I feel like I am on it too much, because an hour or 2 goes by before I know it. It's addicting, I say. With 4 new people living in the IMM apartment-mansion, my nights have been filling up with community dinners, girl chatting and showing them the ropes of being an MA with IMM-particularly being a tour guide. It's all good though, I'm happy to have chicas to hang out with and when I need to be an introvert I just go to my room and close the door and hope no one knocks. ;)

Tips for the new year...

I got this off of Christina's blog. I thought it'd be good for me to do a check of what I need to work on, and I think it's going to be a lot. My thoughts are in parenthesis, and what I need to work on is in pink.

Health:

1. Drink plenty of water

2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar (good advice, but sometimes not possible, dinner is usually my biggest meal)

3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants (living in Spain helps a lot, so I already do this!)

4. Live and express yourself with Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy

5. Make time to pray

6. Play more games (now that my house is full I’ll have more people to play games with…well, card games because we don’t have too many board games to play L

7. Read more books than you did in 2009 (I don’t really like reading, but I know I should read more)

8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day

9. Sleep for 7 hours

10. Take a 10-30 minutes walk daily. And while you walk, smile.

Personality:

11. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about. (it’s hard not to compare my life to friends….most of them are happily married and starting or continuing to grow their families, but they aren’t traveling Europe and Spain!)

12. Don't have negative thoughts of things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.

13. Don't over do it. Keep your limits.

14. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

15. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.

16. Dream more while you are awake. (is dreaming the same as thinking way too much about the future!?)

17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

18. Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner of his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness. (if only I had a partner I could remind)

19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.

20. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.

21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.

23. Smile and laugh more.

24. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree... (this is good)

25. Challenge yourself to listen more if you're a talker and to talk more if you are a listener.

Society:

26. Call your family often. (how about the other way around, my family should try calling me too)

27. Each day give something good to others.

28. Forgive everyone for everything.

29. Spend time w/ people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6. (I wish I could spend time with my nieces and nephews, I hate that I am missing so much of their lives!)

30. Try to make at least three people smile each day.

31. What other people think of you is none of your business. (Only God's opinion truly matters)

32. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch. (this I do all too well, it’s green because I have some people in my live who need to hear this!)

Life:

33. Do the right thing!

34. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

35. Remember GOD and TIME heals everything, not me.

36. However good or bad a situation is, it will change. (keeping it real this way)

37. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

38. The best is yet to come. (I will try to wait, as patiently as possible, although I’ve had some of the best experiences in my life in the past year or so)

39. When you wake up alive in the morning, thank GOD for it. (I'm not much of a morning person)

40. Always exude joy.

2010

HAPPY NEW YEAR! FELIZ AñO NUEVO!

Who can believe it's already 2010?! I can't. wow! Let's make it a year to remember!