Happy February!

Hey, exactly four months ago, I was leaving Iowa for this crazy adventure. I'm not gonna lie -- the first two months here were extremely hard. I was terribly homesick at times, I didn't have many friends, and then there's always that language-barrier lingering about. December was better, and January was really awesome, with the exception of being separated from the lovely Molly. At this rate, it seems like everything can only continue to get better, which I'm totally cool with. Things are going pretty great right now.

I changed host families last Friday, and the transition has been pretty smooth. My host dad, Juan, is a lawyer, as well as my Rotary counselor. He is very nice and loves cooking, so I've already learned how to cook a few Spanish dishes, including paella! My host mom, Ana, is a family doctor, and is always chatting with me about life: school, work, my life back in Iowa, everything really. It's really nice sometimes to just chat for a while. Juan and Ana both speak English, but they only speak to my in Spanish, which is fantastic!! In just this past week, my Spanish has improved SO MUCH, by only speaking Spanish in the house. (Remember that before, my host dad was English, and there was inevitably much more English than Spanish in the house.)

Juan and Ana have helped me find a running club, so I'll be starting that tomorrow! I'll let you know how it goes. Also, I'm in the process of finding Spanish lessons to help better my Spanish more quickly. Here's a mini-update on my Spanish: I can understand almost everything that people say when they talk slow and simple. When people talk fast, I can usually get the idea of what they're saying if the subject-matter is simple. I can speak in the present tense okay. When speaking in the past tense, I can usually get the point across. I don't know any future tense, so I use "Voy + a + infinitive verb", which is like, "I'm going to _____". I know the conditional past tense a bit, and I've almost got down past participles using the verb "haber" ("to have"). I don't know what this means to you guys, but to me, it means that my Spanish is better and I'm content for the moment. I'm on my fourth Spanish book right now -- it's 70-something pages, so I'm feeling like a boss. Chapter books baby (we're in third grade again)! Sometimes, I really beat myself up about how poor my Spanish is, compared to what I'd like it to be. However, the truth is that I know I'm improving daily and that I've got to just keep trying.

On Thursday, Juan, Ana, and I went to a city called Ronda that is up in the mountains, 750 meters (about half a mile) above sea level. May I just say that I was swept away by the beauty of this city. Although it was quite chilly up there, about 35 degrees Fahrenheit, I could've just stayed there all evening looking out to the mountains and ancient ruins that remain. It was incredible.

A bit of Ronda

Views from Ronda

Ana and me!

Ana has some family in Ronda, so I look forward to going back sometime soon! I didn't get any good pictures of the ruins, so I'll have to make sure to get some next time. Speaking of pictures, I'm 99% sure that my camera is broken for good :'( This means that I need to buy a new camera very soon, but I have no idea which to buy. If you have any suggestions, please let me know!! I'm going to Melilla in a few weeks, as well as possibly Ireland next month and Switzerland in a month or two, so I will NEED a camera!

I think I had more to tell you guys, but I can't think of much else at the moment... I'm loving life here -- I don't want to think about leaving. The thought of having to leave all the amazing people I've met here and Spain's unique culture makes me want to cry. Leaving Iowa was extremely hard, but leaving here will be so much more difficult because I have no idea when I'll be able to return. Can't all you guys in Iowa just come live here in Spain? It'd be much easier.