DS

School:
I love pink. A great friend of mine was letting me use their "borrowed" pink DS and there is such thing called "brain age." Supposedly a doctor came up with how much your brain works while you are doing different activities. The DS shows your brain with colors signaling how much of your brain is being utilized. This week has been the week of school. The school Michelle and I are attending is an intensive language school called UAB. www.uab.es (I think I have already posted that on here) It consists of four hour sessions of reading, writing and speaking each day. I am not sure my brain has ever worked so hard.... If my brain were registering on a DS right now it would be completed colored, blinking out of capacity to show there is TOO much brain action happening. I leave school everyday FINISHED. I am tired but learning so much! I am trying to forget I ever learned English so that my Spanish will increase. A bit challenging.

My teachers are Javier and Marca. Javier is older, loves futbol <>, and marca is middle aged and has to be one of the most patient teachers I have ever had....more later

Squid: I have been eating so much calamari. Yummy! I realized the other day how comfortable I am getting with just throwing miniature squid in my mouth. Four girls from class went to a Korean restaurant and they had a prepared squid and I munched and munched away. Quite rare for a conservative American girl...

Squishy: It rained some this week. Actually it poured. I couldn't figure out the idiom to describe "it's raining cats and dogs." The phrase simply does not exist in Spanish. Michelle and I ventured to Barcelona last week. We are staying with my good friend Ainhoa's family, so it only seemed natural to meet Ainhoa's twin sister. We trudged through the rain in Barcelona. We finally made it to Ainhoa's sister's boyfriend's restaurant. Neus' bf. It is one of the nicer restaurants in Barcelona. Neus told us that for 6-7 people to eat it can cost up to 3000 euros. That's a lot of money especially when the dollar is 67-68 cents to the euro.

Anyway it was the night of the Superbowl and we ate frozen coconut cover chocolate, and had juice with ice. (The first time I have had ice since getting here.)

Special Moment: In Barcelona, when we were I the restaurant I decided to explore by my lonesome. Sometimes I just need alone time to reflect. The restaurant consisted of glass windows on every side, so I found a quiet place (restaurant had not opened for the night) and looked out on the pier. There were so many boats, specifically lined in rows and rows and rows.... I thought had God has taken me from an childhood that did not look promising to VA to a loving home with my dad, then to college from which i have seen many interesting places. I thought had in that very moment as I watched the boats rock back and forth, how I was in Barcelona, Spain. What I had hoped for for so long had finally come. What a blessing from God, what provision. What an opportunity I can share with others.

Much care and love to all my friends and family,

Krista