With one week left in the states, I would have wanted it to be relaxed and calm so I could finish packing and say goodbye to my family and friends and not be to stressed when I got on the airplane. As it was, it was mostly consumed with all of the wedding festivities for Cori and Mark's wedding, showers, being a bridesmaid, etc. And it was good to see a lot of old friends, and make some new ones, but it also meant that my exit was more hurried and less calm. I had four houseguests the night of the wedding, friends from college, and we had lots of fun, but then I had one more night in the US and that was it.

I got on the airplane Monday morning with way too much stuff. Had re-arrange my suitcases and check my carryon because my main suitcase weighed in at a whopping 60 pounds, and I was only allowed 50. So I got on the plane with my knitting, book, iPod and purse and prepared for the 3 flights it would take to get to Madrid. As soon as I got to Dallas, the flight was running an hour late, which would only give me an hour to get through the JFK airport for my international flight. Don't worry, the man behind the desk assured me, I am 100% positive that your flight from JFK will be late too, and you will make it no problem. Plus, you won't have to go through security again so it won't take long to get to your flight.

Lies, all of them. I got to JFK with 50 minutes before takeoff; my flight to Madrid was NOT running late, and JFK goes down in my books as the most poorly marked and confusing airports that I have encountered, and of course, I DID have to go through security again. I made it just as the the gates were closing. All of this wouldn't have mattered so much...getting to Madrid late wouldn't have been too horrible, if Carlos wouldn't have been waiting for me at the airport, and if I'd be late, I would have had no way to contact him or find him. But I made it, and when I got to Madrid, he was waiting for me, even though my bags weren't--they hadn't made that quick connection in JFK. .

Carlos and I had a day and a half in Madrid, which was only slightly spoiled by the fact that I had no makeup, clothes, or brush. We did still manage to have a lovely time though. As soon as we went to the hotel and got cleaned up, Carlos took me for a surprise, which was going on rowboat ride in the middle of Retiro park, which was so lovely. The park's lake is surrounded by beautiful monuments and parts of a palace, and it was so surreal there with my boyfriend after so many hours of travel, and I had skipped a night's sleep as I'd gotten on the plane in the afternoon and arrived in Madrid the next morning. Then we walked through a used book district and bummed around the city. Carlos took me through a lot of the city's monuments and explained who all the people were. Strolling down the Gran Via, we passed a bunch of theaters, where we saw that Monty Python's "Spamalot" was playing. We went on a whim, and the production was great. It was in Spanish, but luckily having seen "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" helped me understand, especially when discussing the rates of speed of unladen Afrian swallows.

The next day we took a train home, but midway through we discovered that some train tracks had flooded, making the rest of our journey in train impossible. The rest of the trip was in bus, and we ended up getting home pretty late. I could have done the trip to Almeria alone, but I am so glad that Carlos was there to keep me company since it took us about 8 hours to get there. Plus, I am not sure I would have understood when they told me in Spanish that the tracks had flooded.

So, me voici, here I am in my sweet apartment in the middle of the city. The first week was a bit tough as I didn't have much to do, and didn't know many people in the city yet. Plus, Carlos and I were acclimating to how our relationship works when we live on two sides of the same city--how often we see each other, etc. But I finally made some friends, and I have a few roommates arriving in the next couple of days, not to mention that work starts on Thursday so I have my own life starting to shape up, so everything is looking up.

I made Carlos accompany me to work to go meet my boss and see where the place is right when I arrived. He had told me that he had gone to the Escuela de Idiomas for 4 years, but wasn't sure if the people would recognize him. I introduced my Almeriense (from Almeria) boyfriend, and everyone was so surprised to see him! They all knew him, and his parents who had previously worked in the same building as the school. So everyone was really amused to say the least to see their alumnus dating an American who would be working at the school. Everyone was really friendly, and I am looking forward to starting work in Thursday. My communication with the teachers is primarily in Spanish. All of the teachers are English teachers so if I really needed to, I could speak in English, but the assumption is that we will speak in Spanish, so here we go...

Carlos is a bit of a food snob so throughout all of my time in Almeria, he has made it his purpose to take me to all of the best restaurants in the city (and even in cities around it), so last week he said he was in the mood for jamon--which is amazing Spanish ham, which was not been cooked, but salted. It is not light pink like American ham, but dark pink or dark red, and I might even say that jamon is to Spain what cheese is to France. So last Thursday we went to La Bodega de Jamones or the Jamon Cave, and when I saw newspaper clippings about the man there being the second best jamon cutter in Spain (that was in 2005, I bet by now he is the best), I knew I was in for some serious jamon. The guy was gorgeous...dressed all in black and with a ponytail...the kind of Don Juan spaniard that you imagine. And when he presented the beautiful plate of jamon, and informed us that there was a certain order to eat the jamon according to the arrangement on the plate, I realized that eating it is an art form too. Along with the delicious red wine, it was an experience that I won't soon forget. Mmmm... An experience only to be repeated on special occasions...but with our 2 year anniversary and Carlos' birthday coming up, I am sure we will find a reason to go back.

I thought that somewhere in the 5 weeks of being in Mississippi--no car, no job--so literally stuck in the house all day, I would be bored and update my blog way too often with uninteresting quotidian details, such as what I ate for every meal, how many minutes I spent in the shower, etc. But on the contrary, I have been really busy. One reason is that I have rediscovered my love for reading. Majoring in English (and French too at the last minute!) really killed my love for reading. Every weekend in college, I had several novels to read, papers to write about them, things to analyze. And after that I needed a break, but now I'm over that, and luckily we have a house full of books so that has kept me pretty busy. I also have been focusing on my real (non-blog) writing skills. I took a class at the local independent newspaper in Jackson on creative non-fiction, which was fun and has also rekindled my desire to work on my writing.

I have done my annual room clean out--somehow I don't add to the contents of my room, but every summer I can find several trash bags of stuff to give to GoodWill (one of my priorities has become not accumulating so much stuff). If anyone ever gives me a trinket or doodad or whatchamacallit again I will send it back to you. I have enough crap in my room to decorate and fill an entire house. So I am working on minimalism.

I have been catching up with friends and family a lot who are around town. Susan's wedding festivities started the day I got back, and since so many of my friends came to town for the wedding, I just pretended like it was all a big welcome home party for me! It was, of course, awesome to see Susan and Hedge who have since settled in Shanghai. Talking to them made me remember that no matter how "foreign" things seem in Europe, it is still western civilization. Even for me, it is hard to imagine going somewhere so different. If I knew how to write good luck in Chinese here, I would. Good luck, Sue and Hedge.

My trip here was long though smooth-enough. I went to Madrid a day early because I wouldn't have time to catch a train there and get my flight in the same day. Since I had an afternoon to kill in the city, I went to the Thyssen-Bornemisza museum, which is not the Prado or the one where you can see Guernica, but the other one. I had seen it 4 summers ago when I backpacked through Europe, and I remember loving it, but at that time, we were near the end of the journey and suffering from severe museum fatigue after seeing so much great stuff so it was hard to appreciate. This time, I got to really take my time and enjoy it.

The next morning I had to get to the airport with all of my things, which was no small task, considering that I am so cheap that I refuse to take taxis. That is right, I insisted upon taking the subway which involved no fewer than two transfers and an uncountable number of stairs. What really struck me while I was travelling was how much more friendly and helpful the Spanish people were than the French. I have gone through Paris with lots of luggage many times, struggled through subways and all of that, but NO ONE has ever helped me. In Spain, several people helped me get my suitcase down the stairs or onto the subway cars. They always asked in Spanish if they could help me, and if I hesitated to respond, started speaking in English. The difference between the countries is almost tangible--there is definitely an element of friendliness that was not (as) present in France.

Now it is my last week here, and I have not accomplished much on my to do list--such as eating lots of good sushi and doing some of my other local favorite things. And I am also pretty busy being a bridesmaid for Cori. Last weekend I attended no fewer than 3 parties for her and Mark, and this weekend will be full of festivities. It will be great (and so convenient!) to see all of my college buddies who will be coming for the wedding. I guess I can sort of pretend like all this is a farewell party for me.

Anyway I have to run. It is so strange how these 5 weeks which I thought would be relaxing have felt more like a marathon!