The "A-Team" in Segovia

I'm overdue for another blog here... Let's see... My cold turned into the flu so I spent the Saturday and Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend in bed where it was somewhat warm in my heatless house. Monday I felt better so I went to school and one of the teachers gave me a space heater to borrow. Yea! That was great because I had started to look for new apartments but the idea of looking, moving, and readjusting to new roommates and a new place wasn't sounding too appealing. So, for now, I am going to stay here in my humble abode with my humble little heater. Besides the chilliness, I'm quite content.

While sick in bed, my laptop kept me company (and worked as a good substitute for an electric blanket...thanks, Mac). I did lots of research and ruled out some possibilities for my future. I will NOT be joining the Peace Corps, doing another master's in California, or applying to a PhD program. Instead, I think for next year I'll be looking for a job in Chicago or Michigan. BUT...you never know.

This past weekend was another four day "puente". (Did I ever mention that they have a lot of holidays here?) Despite it being a holiday, I gave two English lessons on Thursday, did things around the house, and caught up with some American girlfriends. On Friday seven young adults from my church here came over for some tex-mex (picture above). Then, we called Jane, my former colleague, on Skype and they shared their testimonies with her Spanish class. It was a lot of fun and very cool. After I got that cleaned up, I took off for Segovia (an hour away to the west) and met up with some Spanish friends. I stayed with Alicia (red head in middle photo), who I had met when she went to León with Ana and me. Ana was there as well staying with her mom so the two of them entertained me and introduced me to their friends. It was a refreshing weekend...lots o' Spanish, as you know is good since during the week it's lots o' English, unfortunately. Anyway, Ana and Alicia are awesome. (An entire sentence of words beginning in "A"...alliteration, another "A" word...yes, language nerd, I know.) Their friends are great, too, and it was the first time I got to see one of my favorite Spanish cities from a local's perspective. By the way, the other "A" in the photo is Antonio, Ana's boyfriend. Curiously enough, he just got back from a two month military stint in Afghanistan. We are glad to have him back safe and sound (or sano y salvo, healthy and safe, as they say in Spanish).

The final picture is taken from the balcony of Alicia's bedroom. Can you imagine living right next to an ancient Roman structure? It's so weird...you just don't hear people in the U.S say things like "I live at the beginning of the aqueduct" or "I'll meet you in town square under the aqueduct".

Well, if you didn't make plans with me yet, I'll be in GR from December 23 till January 5. I hope to see you then (unless you live here, in which case I hope to see you before and after that)!