IT'S HAPPENING! Vuelvo en 5 meses!

Wow, it's my 100th post. What better way to start your 100th post than to write:

"I finally bought my plane ticket! It's happening, baby! Yooohoooo!"

This is exciting. I got a good deal, too. Instead of flying into Madrid, I will be making my last stop in Sevilla, all for the low price of 1081 bucks, taxes included. Yeah, it's pretty sweet! I was not expecting to find a deal that good for such a small airport (well, in comparison to Madrid's Barajas airport). It is closer to my friends, so that is a plus, too.

I can't believe this is finally happening. I kinda have a hard time believing it.

But, I got my email confirmation and everything...1081 bucks well spent.

I could have waited and waited for the price to go down even more, but let's face it: it's 2011 and the price of oil just keeps on creeping upwards. It was now or never, and I couldn't pass up a good deal like that. Also, I'm returning on a Saturday, and I still managed to get a good deal like that.

So excited! Can't wait to see everyone again, and to get a taste of culture, delicious foods, and beautiful sights and sounds. I miss it all so much.

I think I will be bringing a million camera batteries. This time, I will make sure to take LOTS of videos, too. That's something I really didn't do enough of the last time I was there.

Oh, mis amigos queridos, que ganas tengo! :)

H. xoxoxo

Ok, ticket prices...plummet now!

Nothing has changed, in terms of ticket prices...and it seems it's been a month now since I started checking. I have a bad feeling things will only go up from here.

What to do? Buy now? I still remain hopeful.

Wishful thinking?

Time will tell.

H xox

Here comes the sun, little darling

...but back here in Canada, it's still pretty frickin' cold. The students had indoor recesses ALL DAY. You know what that means. Yeah. Hyper doesn't begin to describe it.

At least it's already mid-February. I know, I know. I shouldn't wish my life away, but dammit, I am a person of light and warmth. I can't believe my former Spanish roommates are enjoying 19 degrees right now...while I am on the complete opposite of that thermometer.

At least the days are getting longer! :) Oh, and one more week until we get to enjoy our jacuzzi...ahhh, that will be sweet.

Incidentally, if you're asking, no. The ticket prices still haven't budged. They are still sitting pretty at 995 dollars...meh. Not bad, not great. I'm inclined to wait some more. I've signed up for travel alerts, so let's see what they can tell me.

Work is going well...busy and tiring at times, but good. I love what I do. You have your good days and bad days, but the good usually wins over. Overall, I have nice kids at my school. I feel pretty lucky.

Tomorrow the students are having their Valentine's Day dance...and this time, instead of supervising in the gym, I'll be supervising the detention room. Fun stuff! Wonder who will be in there...for the Christmas Dance, there wasn't a detention room, so I wonder how many kids got in trouble, or whatnot.

I should be doing some marking...but I'm a wee bit tired and a tad lazy. Oh, well...I think I deserve a nice off night with music and blogging. I've been pretty good with going to bed early this past week...and no napping! Yikes. It's hard. The chiquita in me really loves a good siesta.

March Break is only in a month. Ottawa, here we come! Can't wait to see Cyn again...it'll only be for a day, but it'll be worth it! Hopefully we'll be able to skate on the canal by then...guess we'll see.

Ok, that's it for me right now,

H.

HALLELUJAH

February is FINALLY here. What better way to start this month than with a snow day! No work on a Wednesday is a-ok with me...

It's unbelievable how much snow we have been getting over here. Makes me count the days until I'm back in Spain even more. I was chatting with an old Spanish roommate of mine from Huelva, and he was telling me how they were dying of cold over there with -3 degree temperatures.

Ha. I've forgotten what that feels like. Anyone care for some -28 degree temperatures? Why am I here, again?

Oh, yeah. I've got a good teaching job, a nice house, a good boyfriend..yaddah yaddah yaddah. Let me dream of warmer, sunnier places anyway.

Today I watched the movie Groundhog Day, with Bill Murray. What a great movie, so well written and acted. I can't believe that I had never seen this movie before. I missed out! It must have been hard filming some of those scenes over and over again...

This month will hopefully be a lot less painful. I'm doing a short Carnaval unit with my students, there's Family Day up ahead and our hotel with jacuzzi to look forward to. I'm also hoping that my report cards are alright and that my principal won't send them back to me, with a million corrections.

We are supposed to get more cold, snowy days up ahead...not enough to warrant anymore snow days for quite some time, but just enough to get annoyed by it all. You know what I mean. Those 3-5 cm or 5-10 cm snowy days, where you have to shovel a lot and get up extra early to clear your car...yeah, those. Yucky.

Oh, well. I have some outdoor activities planned for my students for the Quebec Carnaval celebrations. I'm planning on having them play outside tomorrow, but it looks like it will be bitterly cold in the a.m.=-23 degrees. Ick. I might just be able to take my afternoon classes outside. The morning ones will have to wait until it gets a bit warmer again. Such is the wintertime!

At least it'll be sunny tomorrow. Ah, the sun...

Ticket prices are still 995 bucks. Are they ever going to budge? Yeah, probably...but most likely upwards. Something tells me I'll be getting my ticket this month. One can't wait too long before prices skyrocket.

Hasta luego amigos,

H.

OMG

Holy sh**. Will this month never end? I am DONE with this grey, cold, depressing weather. At least we're the 26th, and the end of this much hated month is almost here.

I can't remember the last time I hated January this much. It must have happened before, but why does it feel so much more...biting, this time around? I need me some sun, dammit.

Ticket prices are still around 995 bucks...they are either going to plunge a tad or skyrocket. Yup...still waiting here. I still feel like it's too early to book. That attitude might bite me in the butt, but so be it.

On another note, what do you do when you are in need of a pick-me-up? Why, book a hotel with your sweetie that also has ROOMS WITH A JACUZZI! I am so excited, you have no idea. I cannot wait to savour that experience...been a long time since I was in a jacuzzi. Feb. 20th, here we come!

February shall hopefully be brighter (hotel, family day, shorter month...you get the picture).

Instead of wasting money on stupid valentine gifts, we decided to hotel it up :P Ah, phrasal verbs, you are quite the funny things (if you know your grammar, you know what I am talking about).

I have a super long day tomorrow...hmmm, should probably go to bed. *Yawn*

Nighty night,

H

So it's now mid-January...

...and I am trying to battle the mood demons within. I hate this month. I'm trying to stay optimistic and everything, but I am despising this grey, snowy weather. Every single day (and no, I am not exaggerating) for the past 2 weeks, we've had grey weather. Now I know why the suicide rate is so high in Ireland and the UK. Ugh.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not depressed or anything, I'm still my bubbly self when I need to be for work and all that, but...man! Could we get some sun once in a little while? A break in the weather? It's gonna be a long winter, I believe.

One a more positive note, I dreamed I was preparing myself to board a plane to Spain. Yes, I actually dreamed that. I think that's my subconscious trying to appease itself with thoughts of warmer, sunny weather and adventure.

Every morning, I scrape and clean my car from snow before heading off to work. I'm sick of it. I know, blah blah blah...things will get better and the weather will improve. Let me just complain for a bit, will ya?

I check Travelocity, like, 5 times a day. No joke. 994 bucks is the cheapest deal now, and it keeps changing. I don't know what the heck I am waiting for...it certainly won't go any lower than 900 bucks. But, here I am, waiting patiently in the hopes of saving more bucks. I think the latest I would wait is around mid-March, before purchasing my ticket. Hopefully the prices won't skyrocket anytime soon...eep.

That's the scary part about traveling. Finding the right price for a ticket. It's scary and fun at the same, to peruse several different airfare sights a day...for a traveler like myself, it's become somewhat of a hobby. I was thinking about that actually, the other day...what's my hobby? I couldn't really think of anything except studying languages and travelling. I guess they go hand in hand, eh? I still practice my Spanish by listening to the radio and watching Spanish TV online. Thank goodness for the internet! I'd feel so far away from Europe without it.

So what's new with me, besides hating January and dreaming about airports? Hmmmm...went to a friend's 30th birthday where there was a beer tasting contest...needless to say, I sucked. It was fun, though. Also, I've been in report card writing mode for the past few days...and I'm almost done, thankfully. It's not fun writing report cards when the report card writing system doesn't properly work, so thankfully I started them early and avoided being overly affected by the system's crash on our PD day.

Well, here's hoping the winter weeks won't be too painful...March break will surely be a welcome break!

Hmmm...I think I'm done writing for now...going to do a bit more work on this wintry Sunday.

Until soon,

H.

Around the corner...

...is the year 2011. A fresh, new year for many things to come. Do I generally make resolutions? Not really.

However, for this year that's about to arrive, I do have a big one. Finally. RETURN AND VISIT my lovely, beautiful Spain. It's been too long.

I look at my blog entries, and notice that about a year ago, I said that I would be returning soon...and then that year passed, and look where I am again now. It's been 3.3 years since I've set foot on European soil, and that's far too long.

My Canadian life has been very good to me. I have a great boyfriend, a nice house and a great job. I couldn't ask for more...except to see Spain again, every once in a while. Since these are the holidays, and I get two full weeks off as a teacher, I've had lots of time to think about where I would love to go and how much time I would like to spend in each area. It's quite difficult planning something like this out, especially when all you want to do is stay for a few months and see every city possible.

But, I can't stay for a few months and I obviously can't see every city possible in my 2.5 week planned trip. Now, I say "planned" but it's still tentative.

Here's the route I'm thinking of taking for the summer of 2011, if all goes well:

Madrid-Salamanca (stay there for about 2 days)

Salamanca-Santiago de Compostela (stay about 2 days)

Santiago de Compostela-A Coruna (stay about 2 days)

Now, this itinerary is all done by bus and train. Mostly train. If you look at a Spanish map you'll see where I will plan on taking a bus.

Then, I'll fly from A Coruna to Sevilla and take the train to Jerez de la Frontera, where I am planning on tasting their local sherry with a heaping pile of tapas. Actually, I'm planning on eating great big piles of tapas wherever I go...this is Spain, after all. :)

Then after a two day stay in Jerez, I'll head back to Huelva and stay with my Spanish friends for a few days...and then, take the early train back to Madrid on my second to last day there.

Oh, so much to think about, to plan! I'm in my element. God, I've missed this. C'mon girl...no turning back (unless something terrible happens over here, God forbid...(shudders). Let's hope not). I keep telling myself that I will regret not going if I don't go this upcoming summer. Yes, it's expensive just getting there. The cheapest flight I've found so far is 962 CDN all taxes included, which is actually a steal...(sigh). I have the money, yet I am stubborn and keep waiting for the prices to go down even more. What the heck am I waiting for? That they drop to 29 bucks? Yeah, dream on. I think I'll snatch up my ticket in about a month or two...? It's hard to know when it's a good time to buy, since ticket prices keep changing daily. So far, Travelocity has been very kind to me...please keep dropping that price! I don't expect it to go below 900 bucks, but here's hoping.

So yeah. It's expensive just getting there, but darn it, I deserve this trip. Just thinking about it makes me so happy. That's a sign, right? I did make a promise I'd go back one day...

I've been daydreaming about it, dreaming about it at night while I sleep...I have to go. I've reached a certain point where it's now or never, basically. I have got to stop making excuses and do this for ME. I need this adventure. I need this experience again. I don't even think that I will have any travel partners for this one, even though I would love for my boyfriend to experience this with me. I don't think that he will be able to come, since he is thinking of taking another online course for teaching job.

Oh well, it's not like I haven't done this before! If I do end up going alone, I know I'll be okay. I'm not sure that my parents would like the idea, but parents are parents. I did quite well on my own for many months in 2005 and 2006.

That's not to say I won't somehow try to get myself a travelling buddy. One wants to experience something with another, right? Plus, it's a pain always asking strangers to take pictures of you grinning goofily and pointing towards some kind of statue...

Anyway, consider this blog back up and running. I'm really going to try to do this for 2011. Spain, my love, let's make it happen soon.

After more than a 2 year hiatus...

I can't say goodbye. Not fully.
It's been more than 2 years, but...dear Spain, I miss you.
I can't forget you.
And I'm not sure I want to.
Stay...tuned?

Dear Spain,

I remember how scared I was of starting our relationship. I didn't know if we'd go well together, and prayed that the language barrier wouldn't be so much of an issue. I knew that I would eventually improve my communication skills, but it was quite tough at first and it took a few weeks before I was comfortable being with you.

You weren't slow in opening up to me, that's for sure! Loud, colourful and full of zest, you took my hand and led me from city to city, zipping this way and that, showing me beautiful churches, old monuments, and gorgeous beaches. Thanks for reminding me to take my camera, by the way. You know how forgetful I can sometimes be.

You're quite amazing, you know that? Yeah, you're something of a macho and you really SHOULD stop smoking like a chimney, but I loved you nonetheless and wouldn't have changed you for the world. I'm glad you got rid of your mullet after the summer of '05...although lately it has been slowly growing back. Chop it off for good, ok? Miss France is starting to gag...

However, all good things come to an end. I can't be with you anymore. It was really fun while it lasted and I'll never, ever forget you, but I have to leave. It's not your fault, trust me. I just have to go back to climb up that ladder called life.

I know, I know...it's...painful. There's no easy way to say it. It's now or never, I guess.

I don't have much time left and it's better to end it now than to wait at the last possible moment and let it be even more painful.

There aren't many bad things I can say about you. It seems like the longer we were together, the more I fell in love with you. Damn you for introducing me to chorizo, chistorra, tortilla...and how on earth did you manage to make me love olives? You're quite the little devil, aren't you?

Don't worry. I'm not saying that we'll lose touch and that this is the end, forever. One never knows what the future holds and someday I'll come back to visit you and we'll toast the event with a Cruzcampo Caña and a nice bowl of fresh, green olives. You'll blow smoke in my face and forget to apologize to me when your feet bump into mine under the table, but I won't care.

Living in your surroundings was one of the best things that happened to me. Wow, do you ever have heat over there. I'll miss those 200 plus days of sun...any chance of leaving me a bit in my suitcases for when I move back to the land of poutine?

Ok, so I'll end this here. It's not a final goodbye, but it is goodbye.

I guess I don't have to say that I'll shed a tear at the airport.

Side Note:
Thanks Guys: Gavin, Dearbhla, Caspar, Kevin, Iñigo, Aloha, Donna, Theresa, Belén, Abel, Mercedes, Angel, Carmen, Mónica, Inma, Juan Fran, Lloic, Roberto, Vince, Kelly, Katie, Jason, Randy, etc..."Rock On." You guys made my last 2 years incredible.

I'd also like to thank my friends and loved ones back in Canada...thanks for not forgetting about me, guys. Your emails, postcards, letters meant the world to me.

I'm now off to Rome. Exciting times are ahead.

I'll be home soon, everyone.

(kiss kiss on both cheeks)

Heidi xoxo

Bohemian Like You

HAPPY 2ND SPANISH ANNIVERSARY, CHIQUITITA!
Exactly 2 years ago, I set foot on hot, spanish soil. Excitement and fear were in my bones, but I was prepared to make the most of my time here. And boy, did I ever. There are too many great memories that I experienced, too many great people that I met here. I'm glad that I also kept a paper journal to record all of my weekly doings.
I feel so...blessed. Happy. I'll leave Spain with a big fat smile on my face (and probably a sad tear or two) knowing that my stay here was a success.
These experiences made me realize that I've changed in many good ways. I'm much stronger mentally (perhaps even physically from lifting all of those disgustingly heavy suitcases?) and know that I can make it on my own. Being away from all those you really love gives one time to think, and yes...it was hard in the beginning, but it always is a bit, ain't it? Then it gets easier.
I want to say thank you to my friends and loved ones who read this blog. I'm glad I kept close contact with all of you...thanks for the post cards, the letters, the emails, etc...it was appreciated.
Oh, the Knoo wants me to let you all know that she says hi. Ok, ok...now get off my lap, Knoo.
Today I'm celebrating with the kids the last day of school...bought some little cakes, sweets, kinder chocolate...they should be happy.
I know I am.
xoxoxoxoxo H

Lisbon: A Plethora of Pictures

One of my favourite pics, oddly enough.

Apparently, the whole world loves insults.

Comments? I had a fabulous time in Lisbon and really enjoyed the food as well.

I've been crazy busy at work, which explains my lack of writing a novel here, like I usually do.
2 more weeks of work left!

Can't believe it.

H xoxoxox

El Rocío, una locura verdadera

"Oh what a world, we live in...why am I always in a plane or a fast train? Oh what a world my parents gave me..."-Rufus Wainwright

I had an incredible weekend at El Rocío. It was really nice seeing everybody dressed up in sevillana dresses and the men with their "Cordobes" hats. Donna, Roberto and I left on Saturday evening and prepared ourselves for a night of dancing, drinking and eating...





There were soooo many different "hermandades" (brotherhoods of all the different villages) parading throughout El Rocío, showing off their oxen/horses carrying tributes to the Virgin Rocío. Unbelievable. There were also firecrackers/rockets going off every few minutes, with people shouting: "Viva la blanca paloma, viva la virgen Rocío..."

El Rocío can be a maze, and we walked through the deep sand for what seemed like hours, trying to find Roberto's "Hermandad". Somehow, we didn't seem to care though. It was great walking around and seeing everybody so happy and in a festive mood. There were people dancing and singing in every house.

We were offered drinks at every house we went to. It was great. It was a good thing that we ate an ENORMOUS dinner (best pork everrrrrr) because I might have been writhing/spazzing on the floor after all the "copas" we had that night.

We didn't sleep at all that night. At around 3 a.m., perhaps from being slightly delusional or from wanting to master the art of the sevillana dance, I announced,"Let's just not sleep." It seemed like a wonderful idea. I danced like an imbecile around the other great sevillana dancers, trying to imitate them but ultimately looking like a fool. Yikes. Even Donna was doing it better.

At 7 a.m., the night was still going strong. Taking our copas with us towards a little park, we walked around for a little while, taking in the sunrise and breathing in the cool, crisp morning air. I felt like I was walking in a dream. It was all so surreal. Then Donna decided to go cuckoo on us (lack of sleep? too many copas? I'm still amazed at how well I behaved myself...somehow) and announced to the world all the promises that she would keep in her lifetime. It was awesome. Comical girl. She made me promise some things too, and I did say some things which I will never forget. The only thing Roberto would promise was to finish his copa and to push her into a river if she didn't shut up.

Priceless. I've even got a video of Donna sitting in the middle of the road, yelling gibberish to Roberto and me yelling something back along the lines, "I love you, Donna!" Then Roberto asks her to marry him, lol. Then he tells her to shut the hell up and to make promises to the virgin Rocío and not to him.

Now, at 11 a.m., after going for more than 24 hours without sleep, you can imagine my condition. Roberto had an unbelievably painful idea which wouldn't have been so bad on a normal day, but given our lack of sleep, was quite torturous: "Let's attend Mass!!!" This being El Rocío, the mass should have lasted 2 hours. I only succeeded in staying awake for about 20 minutes. For shame.

The mass was held outside in the hot sun, to make matters worse. We were all given free fans, and I somehow managed to fall asleep, sitting down, with the fan over my face to shield my shamefull lack of devotion. I just couldn't stay awake. My eyes were made out of lead.

Roberto finally woke me up, and we decided that it would be best to just take the bus back. Unfortunately, we had to wait for the bus, and rested in the park for a wee bit. A man took a picture of me sleeping, apparently. I'm sure my mouth was wide open and everyone could see my tooth fillings.

So there you have it. It was really fun. I'm glad I went :) People were all very welcoming and friendly. It was worth it.

This weekend we are (hopefully) going to Lisbon. Angel has been sick these past few days, so we'll see if we do go in the end. I really hope so, but won't be too disappointed if we go another weekend in June. Oh man, there really isn't that much time left. June will be very busy and will go by in a flash. The kids' shows are coming up...thank goodness I've finished most of their masks. I'll try to take some pictures of that as well..we'll see if I post them on my blog.

Ok lovelies, miss you all

xoxoxoxo H

Where in the world...?

Searching through YouTube for some funny, original videos, I came across a gem today. "Where the hell is Matt?" It's about a 30 year old guy who decides to quit his job in Brisbane and travel all over the world. The video shows him dancing in some of the remotest, most beautiful places on earth. It made me smile.

It's not just the goofy dancing, it's his attitude and risk-taking that really inspired me and brightened a cloudy Sunday. I searched for more info on him and across an interview, where he says things like,"I used to be a video game designer, but I wasn't happy. I decided to quit and travel all over the world until my last penny ran out. I guess the hardest part of the trip was actually deciding to go. Once you've decided to actually undertake a big journey, the rest is much easier. You'd also be amazed at how safe and cheap the world can actually be."

He's still travelling. Of course, his video made him famous and everything, but he is still not rich and only works part-time as a video gamer and website designer, to make ends meet.

wherethehellismatt.com is a cool website, where he describes his travels in details. I envy him. There are still so many places that I want to see, someday.

If you watch the video, the most touching scene is where he is dancing with little kids in Rwanda. I don't know, it just seemed like such a simple, happy moment.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I hope to never stop travelling. The good thing with being a teacher is that I can pretty much count on having super long holidays for the summer, so I expect to see a little more of the world, bit by bit.

Travelling is like a drug, really. It gives you such a high to be in a different part of the world, to discover new foods, smells, sights, etc. It's a rush. Once you've been bitten by the travel bug, you can't stop moving around (at least I can't). I know I'll be sedentary in Canada for a while until I finish Teacher's Ed and get a good job, but I'll be booking those tickets as soon as I've got some moolah and a few days off.

Speaking of travelling, I just remembered that I need to get a Lonely Planet Guide for Italy.

H xoxoxoxo

Mar Adentro

Sand, sand everywhere. I close my eyes and take in the sounds of crashing waves and people happily chatting away.
I grab a broken seashell lying next to me and start scooping the sparkling brown diamonds, finding more broken seashells underneath like some sort of forgotten, buried treasure. A black beetle angrily scuttles away, having been discovered in its cool, moist lair.
"Let's go for a walk," I say.
The wind whips at our dehydrated skins deliciously, and the dancing sailboats wobble from left to right, right to left in its grasp.
"It's great that the seashells don't hurt our bare feet, isn't it?" says my friend.
Our white toes clash painfully against the earth's tanned floor. However, if we just let a few sand grains swim onto our skin, it seems as if we've been granted a few specks of gold. That, or ghastly freckles.
"What's that?" we both ask, suddenly.
An enormous, bloated white jellyfish lies in the sand, seaweed clinging to its bulging corpse. It is clearly dead, and may have been so for a few hours.
It seems so fragile, yet so strong at the same time. Its clear, rubbery body glistens in the sun and its head is about the size of 1.5 large dinner plates.
I gently touch it with a big seashell, wanting to know its outer body's resistance to harder objects. It's extremely firm and flexible at the same time.
"Fascinating creature, and one that hasn't evolved much throughout mankind's time", I think to myself.
We walk on, and spot various families and old men trying to find little coquinas (edible oysters) in the shallow sand. Swish, swish, they go...twirling and twirling their feet in the brown, heavy earth.
At this point the wind starts getting harsher.
"Let's head back", I advise.
After struggling with sandy flip-flops, shorts and t-shirts, I turn back towards the water and breathe in.
I'm smiling.
H.

Why, you little...

It's trying, being a teacher sometimes.

God help me.

There are about 3 students I want to exterminate out of 56.

Too bad that bad apples always abound...

This and That...and then some

Yay, it's allergy season!!! No breathing through my nostrils for a few weeks...awesome. I'm loving Spring, but man is it ever hard on me. Itchy eyes, itchy ears, sneezing, blocked nose...seems my allergies get worse every year.
Even the cat's not doing so well and it twitching all over...going to bring her to the vet tomorrow morning if I can get an appointment. Yes, cats can get allergies too. Poor Knoo.
This entry will be a little bit about this and that...just cuz I said so. I'm too allergy-ridden to properly concentrate and am trying to wheeze through my mouth...so forgive me.
Malaga was great. We had a grey weekend, but it didn't rain. It's a small city, but has an awesome nightlife. One only needs 2 days to see most of the city.
This ship here to the left was actually a restaurant, surprise surprise. It probably features posters of Captain Sparrow and has a sweaty/slimy Orlando Bloom greeting customers at the door.


"...where everybody knows your name..."


I never really followed that show, although it did provide me with some laughs on the odd days I'd catch it. Oh, one thing: Kirsty, dang! What a pity.

The Picasso Museum was really interesting, although it had the structure of a labyrinth. Seriously, when you need to hire 25 people just to tell tourists through which doorway/hallway to go through, you should definitely call those architects back and give them a little spanking. Of course, not the good kind. And if you do give them a spanking, make sure to sport a Dali moustachio...just to be an ass. Cuz everyone knows how crazy Dali was. Haha, oh Dali...you crazy boy, you.

Another church...another person getting doomed by God. When we walked into the cathedral, there was a boy/man (gremlin?) playing with the security switches. It only took security 5 minutes to politely tell the gremlin/boy/blob to take his hands off of it.

Preparation H, anyone?

This was a nice fountain right by the port...I somehow managed to strategically hide the kissy couple that was making out riiiiiiiight behind it.


Love the details on the ceramic tiles. Everything has ceramic tiles here in Spain. Just 3 days ago, I saw a woman wearing a ceramic-tiled hat. Then her feeble body crumbled and she sank into the ground. That sucked, man.

The view from our hostel. We were located at an awesome sport that overlooked main street.

Notice the drenched streets. I lied, it did rain...but just at night. No drops hit my lil 'ol head during the day. :)

On Sunday, we went to Ronda...a beautiful town located about 65 km North-West of Malaga. The air was so pure, the grass was so green, my nose was so blocked. Ahhhhh, Spring.

This is the really old bridge that makes Ronda famous. I'm not quite sure in what year it was built, but it might have been sometime during the invention of bread.

Down, down, down...couldn't take it all in. Quite the sight!

Who feels like a little serenade? You've got to hand it to the spaniards, they sure know how to make their balconies look all cute and stuff. Well, Cordoba rules in that area, but I still found Malaga and Ronda beautiful with its flowery balconies and little streets.

I truly had a great weekend with my friends.
My next trip will likely (and hopefully) be somewhere in Portugal. I'd die to go to Valencia and Barcelona again, but unfortunately they are just too far for a weekend getaway. Oh well, at least I've already been ;).
This upcoming week will hopefully be short and sweet. No classes on Tuesday, and no evening class on Friday (there might also be a slight chance that I'll finish at 7pm tomorrow!). May's the last long work month, really. God, the weeks are flying by faster and faster.

Hopefully I'll be able to breathe better soon, but I doubt it...May was worse for me last year than April (eep!). I've got pills, but I don't want to take them every day, ya know?

Other than that...I'm dying my hair tonight! I'm also going to be heading over the hairdresser's this Friday...be shocked, be amazed, be surprised. This girl's gonna look different.

I heard rat-tails have become popular again.

xoxoxoxo H

Weekends are for Winners

I had a d'oh moment yesterday. Ha!

Carmen had asked me to take down the curtains for her, since she wanted to wash them. Thinking that I'd be doing her a favour, I took them down for her yesterday morning and then also decided to wash them for her. Big mistake. Lord knows I'm not the washing queen (Shane recently made me aware of the fact that you can mix 25,000 different shades of colour together in cold water without having everything turn pink or black...so there.).

I put them in the washer, spin-dried them and everything. When I hung them up, part of the window's glass could be seen from the bottom...I had somehow shrunk them. A lot. But HOW??????? I wailed, and wrote Carmen a message before leaving, which went something like this (of course in Spanish): "I washed the curtains for you, and in cold water too...but don't they seem shorter to you?"

When we all finally met up at the WOK (yummy chinese restaurant), she explained to me that the curtains shouldn't have been spin-dried...and that she had re-washed them in the bathtub and hung them up (still wet) so that they could stretch out. Apparently my note gave her the laugh of a lifetime, too. "Of course they seemed shorter to me, Heidi! There was practically a foot missing!!!" :-P

Let's not even talk about ironing. My ironing in Spain involves using my hair dryer and a nice, solid table. Oh yes, high five!

It's Friday, hooray! I'll be leaving for Malaga tonight after my class...pretty pumped :) On Sunday we'll be going to other little villages and beautiful places such as Ronda and Arcos de la Frontera...should be good, weather permiting.

Weather's been weird these last couple of days, very hot and then slightly chilly and cloudy...might rain today, too. Hopefully not.

This week flew by again. I don't know what it is, but I'm assuming it's because I'm loving Spain and am clinging on to the last few weeks as much as possible...

It's funny because I remember counting the weeks and months I'd be here...I stopped counting sometime between starting work at Covent Garden and Xmas. Guess it means that I'm just really comfortable here, and don't feel the need for a countup/countdown?

There's only 1 full week of April left, and on the 1st of May we have a holiday since it's Labour Day here. It'll be strange having a day off on a Tuesday, but we gotta take what we can get, eh?

I booked my flight to Rome! 94 euros...so excited for that as well. Now I'll just have to start booking hostels and planning our route.

In other news, thinking about having to find new roomies in September is scaring the bejeebers out of me. I hope that I'll find a good place close to UWO...with normal, fun people.

In other un-related news, I've been having bad dreams and my allergies have been preventing me from getting any decent sleep. Yes, I've caved and am taking my meds now (this time I even managed to avoid mixing them with beer...I earned my star for the day). They aren't as bad as when I was living in Logroño, but they're still poopooing my nights.

I think I'm gonna be a nerd and continue playing my PC game...I mean, c'mon...last time I played was in February...swear to God. What?

xoxoxoxox H

Times are a changin'

Paris was amazing. Can I keep on travelling forever? After a shitty night of trying to sleep on uncomfortable airport benches, I touched down in Baguette Country at around 8 a.m.

Our hotel was located in the very northern area of Paris, but it was still in a good location since a metro stop was within metres of our bedroom and could be seen from our window.

Oh...where to start? We saw and did so much in that one week we were there together! We were lucky that it didn't rain, and were blessed with sunny (albeit sometimes windy) days. Ha...people at work have been commenting that I tanned a little. Go figure!

I was extremely tired on the first day (due to aforementioned lack of a good sleep) but we decided to go to the Louvre. Yeah, that pic up there is of the Notre Dame (reason being that it took me practically 2 days to find a good battery for my camera...don't ask, long story.) but just stay with me. I'll get to the Notre Dame soon.

The Louvre was HUGE. We only managed to see a few floors overall. We weren't impressed by the Mona Lisa or Venus de Milo, but did enjoy our visit. I'm still surprised that I didn't pass out in the museum...I was THAT tired. Good thing I had a nap that same evening because afterwards we went out for some drinks at a little bar close to our hotel called "Fischer's" which had great ambience and nice service. Shane made me try Kronenbourg 1664 and I fell in love with it :) Very good beer indeed...

On the next day, we went to the Notre Dame...and boy was it beautiful. It was pretty windy and chilly on that day, but we queued just like everybody else and waited to get the chance to climb the steps that led upward to the Great Bell. I think half of that queuing was spent with me waiting to get hot cocoa and coffee for us at a nearby stand...bunch of chinese that all wanted different crêpes...grrr.

Notice the blue sky...are we really in Paris?





Gotta love the Tim Burton-esque metro signs. Oh, sorry...I just noticed that it's a bit hard to see in this pic...but trust me, it had its goulish charm :)
The metro in Paris costs 1,40 euros. Yikes, that's 40 cents more than in Madrid...but hey, it's Paris. This is a city where a normal coffee goes for around 3-4 euros, depending on the location.






Feelin' Groovy in downtown Paris. I miss him already. We had a great time together and even went to see the musical Cabaret...not to mention an ass-kicking great Rocky Horror Show with live actors. The best part was when they thrust a plastic doll's private parts into my face...several times.

And why on earth did I keep jumping the wrong way for the Time Warp? Even Rif-Raf was unimpressed and gave me the evil eye. I think I wet my seat.














On the 3rd day we finally went to the Eiffel Tower and started queuing at around 10 a.m. It took us about 45 minutes to get into the elevator and it cost us around 11 euros. Not bad at all, since we had expected it to be around 20 euros or so (hey, this is where crazypants Cruise proposed after all).
It's really a gorgeous structure, although I had expected it to be jet black and not some light brownish hue. It was sooooo windy up there on that day...we slowly felt our fingers freezing off...totally worth the wait though.

After the Eiffel we went to see the Catacombs, much to Rachel's delight. Quite creepy, and like a true wuss, I held onto Shane's arm for the first few minutes while we walked through the narrow passage ways. Millions upon millions of bones and skulls just lined the walls from left to right...incredible.

On the 4th day we went to the Montmartre area to see the Sacré-Coeur, Moulin Rouge, and other places. It's a really nice area with lots and lots of tourists. Notice again the blue sky.
We went into the Moulin Rouge to look at ticket prices, and promptly left again when we saw that the cheapest tickets were going for 89 euros. Yikes. We were quite happy with our 25 euro Cabaret tickets (and lucky too, since the theatre was half-empty and we were able to get seats that were much closer to the stage).











Not as pretty as in the movie (d-uh). Still pretty cool though.
There was also another mill called Moulin de La Galette, but we couldn't get near it because they were doing some construction...wonder if it would have been worth it. Looked pretty cool from afar.






Probably one of my favourite pics that I took during my parisian stay. What a gorgeous city. It's definitely everything that I had thought it would be.
Clean, surprisingly green, and has got a vast repertoire of things to see and do. One could never really get bored in this city, I believe...










The wall of "I love you", located in the Montmartre area, was pretty cool. It had I love you written in many different languages, and of course I tried finding the ones for English, French, German and Spanish. Quite a cute idea.







On the fifth day we went to Père Lachaise's Cemetery, and went to visit the tombstones of Edith Piaf, Jim Morrisson, Molière, Oscar Wilde and some other famous "personnes" of our time. Wilde's tombstone was totally defaced with lipstick and graffiti, but the others were all nicely intact and clean.
It was a wonderfully quiet and peaceful morning, and we met up with Oli afterwards for a few beers and dessert...hmmm. It was great finally getting to know her, since the last time I had seen her had been over 2 years ago and I only really remembered her from Tommy as the Acid Queen.
On the 6th day we went to a market and just strolled around the stands, glancing at old furniture and interesting postcards, some of which were from the 1940's or even older...very interesting reading material, heheh. I found a nice postcard where a woman was accepting a marriage proposal (almost bought it actually...was touched). I wonder how these old postcards got collected and why the owners didn't keep them, or at least give them to their relatives for when they passed on? Will a stranger read my poscards one day? Will they somehow land up in a 1 euro/dollar/God knows what currency bin?
In the evening, we met up with Oli again and went to the Latin Quarter. What a great place for bookstores and cheap eats!!! Too bad we didn't find it earlier, otherwise we would have eaten there a whole lot more. I finally tried frog legs, hehhe. Yes, they tasted just like chicken. Shane ordered the snails, and they were quite tasty as well, to my surprise. Sacré Bleu, que c'était bon!
It was on my very last night in Paris that we decided to attend a Rocky Horror Show that was happening in the area. I'll never think of the Village People the same way ever again. I think that my song of the year is going to be "Sex Over the Phone". If you haven't seen the video yet, youtube it and you won't be sorry. The actors did a hilarious rendition of it all with a huge plastic telephone...priceless.
My trip back proved to be torturous. An 8 hour bus trek from Madrid to Huelva ended up being a 10 hour one due to traffic jams. It was a quite pathetic Easter Sunday, and I wished that I was with Shane and Oli in the Notre Dame, attending mass with them and having a picnic in the gardens...
Oh, but what a lovely time I did have :) I'd go again one day...I totally needed the break, too. I'm feeling energetic enough to finish this last semester. I can't believe that I only have about another 2.5 months at the Covent Garden Academy. That's peanuts, that's nothing.
On another note, I'm going to be attending Western University in the fall. Although I did have my heart set on U of T, it's not the end of the world and I'm not feeling sad anymore. I'm actually looking forward to it all now. Western's supposed to be a good school, and I'll be close enough to everyone...at least I won't be a whole continent away. Hurray for weekend visits, right? I'll be so busy anyway, judging from my schedule that they sent me...
I'm also certain that those 8 months will just fly by. Now I just hope that I'll find good people to live with close to the uni...
New changes again for little old me. Exciting, scary...I'm looking forward to meeting new friends and reconnecting with the old ones.
Alright, and because I'm me, I shall now book my flight to Rome and send my deposit to Western via internet banking...
xoxoxoxoxo H

Cádiz, and..."Where'd I put my green wig from last year?"

Oh yeah, it fell on a dirty Logroño bar floor and a drunken dude stole it. Damn. I want it back. Beer/Sweat stink and all.

Wow...I've actually got a bit of time to write in this thing right now? The past 3 nights have been spent correcting exams and whatnots...so here goes. I still have 57 report cards to cover this weekend. Fun times ahead, indeed.
So Cádiz was beautiful. Very small overall, but simply magnificent. Mercedes, her boyfriend Juan, Donna and I all had a great time and were able to relax a lot (although some people just cannot walk for more than 10 minutes sometimes...ahem.) Here's the cathedral...which was located super close to our great hostel "Fantoni".






Hmmmm. Seafood is just amazing in Spain, especially in Huelva and along the coasts (d-uh). I never really used to eat seafood in Canada, but I've grown to love it a lot here. Nothing like skinning prawns and scraping out oyster meat! This fine dish cost about 7 euros...about 10 canadian bucks, I believe.







Donna, me and Mercedes in front of the theatre in Cádiz. It was much bigger than the one we have in Huelva. We were pretty lucky with the weather (but heck, this is Spain...there are far more sunny days than anything else) and it was roasting hot on Saturday...I think we had about 26-27 degrees at one point. I'll repeat myself: I shall die in Canada.








Me and Donna acting like a couple of twits in front of a church. I purposely downsized the pic so as not to make you all turn to stone from our medusa-like grimaces.








Tee-hee, how cute. It's a wee lil boat made out of metal...wish I could have somehow twisted it off its pole...then I could have put it on my head and told people I was Poseidon, directing Odysseus to doom and gloom. Yeah, I'm pathetic...I still haven't finished The Odyssey because of my workload, alright?

This was my hostel. I'm a queen. Pfffff, yeah right. I'm not too sure what the heck this was, but it was located close to La Caleta, where there was a nice pathway that led up to a castle (which was unfortunately closed off to locals and tourists...heaven knows why).

I could have sat there all day, it was so nice and relaxing...the sea, the breeze, the waves...we really don't need a lot to be happy in life. I miss nature. I couldn't stop smiling.

I went bonkers when I saw this little Harry Potter carousel in a kiddy park. Not only was the park GORGEOUS, but it had Professor Snape's image in it, too. By far my fave character, he possesses a ruthless and cunning wit, is rarely caught off guard by any comment or insult and often leaves his verbal combatants with little to say.

Oh Alan Rickman, I don't know why I love thee so much. Or perhaps I do?


In other news, there isn't any news. All I've been doing is working my ass off and trying to get everything finished on time. I didn't even think I'd be able to update my blog until next week, but surprise surprise, you all got lucky.

I guess when it rains, it really does pour. Just so much to do.

2 out of my 17 "English Alive" students failed their last exam and I have to give them a make up exam...pffff. WTF. Everybody else got between 80-90% (seriously...we fricking revised everything and I told them exactly what they needed to study) the other 2 should have just studied more. More work for me, and for what?

I've been miss cranky pants for the past few days, considering the mountain of work I'm expected to do for the next few days. The good news is that when this weekend will be over it'll be a bit more smooth sailing up ahead...(I hope). Shane's also coming on Thursday, so that is also considerably lightening my mood.

I swore to myself to go out tomorrow night for St. Patty's Day, regardless of how much work there is to do. I'll just get up early enough in time to go out and meet up with my friends at an Irish Pub (gotta love Irish Pubs that advertise:"The Autentic Irish Sperience"...I shit you not).

Tomorrow is Bono's birthday...I better make sure to call him.

I don't know when I'll have time to post again...perhaps during the week when Shane's in Morocco.

Oh, and I'm still deeply jealous of Eve's The Shins concert happening TOMORROW. Argh (shakes fist). It was all me, baby.

H xoxoxoxox

The Wait...

I need a vacation. Being a teacher in Spain sometimes means becoming deaf and mute. Mostly deaf. Spaniards just CANNOT control their tone of voice...seriously. During the last half hour of my last class today I played a game with one of my 12 year old classes, and (as usual) they were yelling like banshees. DAMMIT. Don't scream in my ear when I am a mere 10 cm away from you, telling me that the other team's point didn't count. I wanted to strip off his skin layer by layer and then chew on it a-la hillbillie style. Where's my spit bucket?

I totally discipline that class, that's just how they are. Even my boss' sister (who's also a teacher) had to deal with their noise last year, so it's not just with me...

My voice has been transformed into steel. I don't lose it because I've strengthened it so much from disciplining. On the other hand, I might already have the hearing capacity of a 92 year old.

My ears actually hurt, they were being so obnoxious during the game. Thank God my other 12 year old class isn't like that.

I'm just tired. Plain tired. I need a vacation. Now. Paris can't come quickly enough...well, at least I'm going to Cadiz this weekend with some friends (hostel's already booked and everything, thanks to yours truly...as usual). I'm such a great trip planner. Seriously. If you ever need a good travel buddy, then I'm that one person in a million that you'll truly cherish spending tied-to-the-hip moments with. I'm a planner, organizer, get-your-shit together kinda person. I'll even find you a hostel where they'll leave you triangular shaped chocolate hearts on the pillows (or Knight Rider stickers, if you're into that sort of thing).

On the plus side, I'm loving my 5 year olds more and more. They're great, and pretty smart too. My 6-7 year olds on the other hand...kinda iffy. It depends on the days, really. Strange, cuz at the beginning of the year it was the contrary. My, my...how some children improve and how others just seem to disintegrate before your eyes, losing curiosity and the will to learn...

I work hard. Did I mention I need a vacation? My ears, at the very least, need one. Maybe I'll package them up nicely and send them off to Cancun where they'll be able to rest on a hammock or something.

My job is gonna prepare me nicely for when I'll be teaching in a real school. I wonder how Canadian kids will be...I don't expect them to be better than the Spaniards. I mean, they can be loud too...we'll see. It really depends on the kids. There ARE lots of kids in my classes that I simply adore, but of course there are some that you just wanna -BLEEP-!

Welcome to the wonderful world of teaching. Get used to it, H-Bomb.

Oh, I had a telephone interview with Wilfrid Laurier U yesterday. It went well enough, I think...considering I had to call AT work because of the time difference and everything. It sucked that I also had to call them...sheeesh. Universities can't afford to pay long-distance calls? Yeah, and Britney loves her kids. (rolls eyes)

It's the only uni out of my 5 chosen ones that needed an interview. Thank God for that. What a hassle...took me so long to get through, too (they were doing interviews all day). I'll know on April 2nd if I did as well as I thought or not.

Besides all of this...hmmm...just been chilling with friends in Punta during the weekends. The weather's been kick ass great. 21 or so degrees here (TO had -21 yesterday, WTF)...I'm so gonna miss this. Most things in Spain are amazing (I'm not gonna say everything due to slight deafness right now)...I look forward to going to Cadiz and seeing another great city. Pictures will follow, my lovelies...don't worry.

Report card season is coming up...this will be a busy month. 22nd, are you there? Hello?

H xoxoxoxoox