Maybe I should just live at the zoo. Hmm. . . .

Hi everyone :)

I would like to begin by saying "thanks" to everyone who left encouraging comments on my blog post from last week. I feel so blessed to have family and friends who speak life into me! I love you all so much.

I think that my "November Blues" have lightened up a bit. I'm trying to stay positive and stay busy, whether it's by exploring the community or just throwing myself into a hardcore Spanish study session (alliteraton - aw yeah!). Molly and I were going to take Flamenco classes together, but they're all either full or too late at night. Boo. So now I'm looking into some art classes. I want to really immerse myself into the culture here, but it has been so difficult to find things to do! I wish that activities were just done through the school like in the US - all the sports, clubs, theater, etc. Actually, I think that my school might be doing a Christmas play, but I'm not really sure. Either way I signed up to act so I guess we'll see where that goes!

This past week hasn't been too terribly busy, but it sure feels like it's been. Here are the highlights...

On Wednesday evening, a friend of Paola's came over and brought her 10-year-old daughter, Clara. Clara was so sweet, and she is sort of like a little sister to me now. I wish I had host siblings so bad! Anyways, we ended up making a video together. Check it out! (It's mostly in Spanish, but that's the fun part!) --->

Good times! xD

On Thursday I read aloud in class from my Economia book, in Spanish of course, and my class clapped for me! Little things like this make me want to dance! It was about three paragraphs and I'm not exactly sure what I read, but I still feel good. The only downer on this incident was afterwards when my class asked me, "Que pasa?" (what's up/what's wrong) because apparently my face and neck got really red as I was reading! Urgh! I explained to them that sometimes I get flushed when I get nervous, and they found this very funny. Oh well. I've been getting compliments on my Spanish improvements lately, and again, it gives me that dancy feeling inside!

On Saturday I explored Marbella and San Pedro with Molly and Gabriel, an exchange student from Canada that currently lives in Fuengirola (a city not too far from Marbella). Yay exchange students! It rained basically the entire day, but we tried to make the most of it. Later in the day Matthew joined us and we all headed over to Nina's (a Rotarian) house for the night. Nina and her husband were so nice! I felt so at home with them. We had an amazing dinner, watched a movie, and went to sleep exaughsted from the chilly, wet day. On Sunday we went to the zoo in  Fuengirola! Yes, I know, my second zoo in one month. It was rainy again, but we still enjoyed ourselves. Molly and I saw a white tiger poop! Okay, maybe you didn't want to know that, but we did. Last weekend sort of reminded me of Rotary weekends back in Iowa, but in a smaller, Spain version.

Matthew, Gabriel, Molly, and me at the zoo!

Today I went to Malaga City with my Rotary Counselor to get my student visa. Well, as it turns out, the police station -- or wherever we were at -- was having problems with the computer today, becuase for some reason or another they couldn't access such and such file and now I have to go back on Friday, hoping that we'll simply have better luck. Okay. I did get to see a little bit of Malaga today though! I saw the cathedral, The Roman theater of Málaga, and I even went to Picasso's house! Well sort of - you see Picasso was born in Malaga and lived there until he was about 10. Now, the home where he grew up in is open to the public and you can see his house, as well as some art pieces by him. It was very cool!

Malaga has so much interesting history, being one of the oldest cities in the world. It is about 2,800 years old! I have touched on this briefely before, but I need to tell you again - I love the history here [in Europe]. Much of what I saw today is older than the U.S. all together. It is one thing to read about history in books, but to see it, to walk in it, to feel it as you pass by is completely different. The kids in Malaga go on field trips to Picasso's house for goodness sakes! Don't get me wrong, I like the pumpkin patch and all, but it can't really compare with Picasso and 400-year-old cathedrals.

Roman theater of Málaga

"Still life with spoon" by Pablo Ruiz Picasso. As soon as I saw a spoon, I knew I had to take a picture for Shelby. Love you, Shelbaby *Hose B!

Part of the Málaga Cathedral. I have found that it is difficult to photograph cathedrals because they're so big!

I was planning on making a Thanksgiving meal for my host family and the other exchange students next weekend, but instead I'm just going to help with Christmas dinner and throw some American food in there. I absolutely love Thanksgiving, and  it makes me sad when I think about not spending it like normal with my family and a big meal and the parade and afternoon napping. Okay well I guess I'll have a siesta, but you get the point.

I think that's all for now. I love and miss you all! If I don't post before Thursday, have a fun and safe Thanksgiving - eat some extra food for me, okay? :)

Love,
Josie

xoxo