Just a quick photo of Elliott and me on Christmas Eve.

I'll write more when I get a chance.

Merry Christmas to all

So once again I have been horrible about up-dating my blog. But life in Spain has been really, really, really busy and I now have a moment to sit down and write.

I am currently back in the USA for the Holidays. My parents bought me a plane ticket home about a month ago and since then it was just a countdown of the days before I got on a plane. I am really excited to be back in Nevada. It just feels like home here and so comfortable. I arrived late Saturday night and have been spending my time catching up with friends and family and eating lots of yummy food. I spent a couple days in Reno but am now back in Battle Mountain. I'll go back to Reno on the 28th and then fly out at 6:00 am on January 1! I am going to be exhausted after enjoying New Year's Eve with all my friends but it will be well worth it. I fly back into Paris and will stay there for a day to see some of the city and then will go back to San Sebastian. I will have a few days to recuperate and work on my classes before I head back to work.

I started the new job at the technical school and it has been really fun and entertaining. I only work there 3 days a week for one hour each day and I have to get up really early but I do enjoy it. All my students are males, between the ages of 18-24 so it makes for an interesting classroom. My job is to make them speak in English for that hour and as long as we do that, my job is done. We talk about anything and everything and they make me laugh with the things they say. One day I asked them what they wanted to talk about and one student told me he wanted to talk about why Americans are so weird and why we all have guns. This is a common theme I have been coming across lately and it always makes for a great conversation.

My other job is going great and I can't wait to get back to work. My students are finally starting to open up and talk more. My last week at the school before Christmas break we had little parties in each class and we talked about the holidays. I brought a bottle of cava (Spanish champagne) to each class to do a toast to Christmas and The New Year and they all just thought that was the coolest thing. Apparently no other teacher had ever done that before and they really enjoyed it. I figure that if I can get them liquored up a little bit the conversation may flow easier. Hell, I know it always works for me.

Two weeks ago we had a long weekend off from school so 2 friends and I went to Bordeaux, France. It was a quick trip...we left early Saturday morning and returned Sunday afternoon but it was a lot of fun. We basically just went to eat French food, drink French wine and do some shopping. It rained the entire time we were there but the city is really cute. Maybe one day I will go back when the sun is shining.

Gesse and I in Bordeaux

The night before I left to come home we had a dinner for the school at a very fancy restaurant in Hondarribia. The food was really good and not the typical Basque food I eat every day. It was fun to be able to spend time with the other language assistants and other professors, some of who I had never really spoken to before. I was so tired throughout dinner because it was at the end of the week, but I'm glad that I went.

Mylene and me at dinner in Hondarribia

That is all for now. Elliott is dying for me to pay some attention to him. Merry Christmas to everyone!!!!!