Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Slept in until about 12:30 and Julia was so glad to see us. We had a little breakfast (much smaller than what we’d been having during the trip!) then ate lunch about an hour later. It was so good to be back “home” (I’m struggling with that, we decided to call it “our place” instead) where there’s warm homemade meals every day and no map-reading necessary. We gave Julia her gifts – a free scarf and an olive oil pourer jar thing. She absolutely loved them and I have to say they were pretty much perfect! She uses EVOO for every single meal and the colors match her tablecloth and living room. She was so appreciative of them and I know it was genuine. After that we sat down and showed her our pictures from Paris, Nice, and Madrid. She was really interested in all of them and kept cupping her hand below her chin and saying that her “teeth were down to here!” aka she was surprised/happy/jealous/old? Haha we haven’t exactly mastered all the local lingo but we’re working on it... She told us about a trip that she went on around Europe when she was younger so it was cool to share stories. She also lived in Madrid for most of her life and in one of the pictures of the Puerta del Sol you can see the building where she studied for a few years. We had our computers out so when we finished we shared pictures of our families and friends. She really liked how Taylor’s whole family is redheads and when we were talking about nationalities she basically dismissed the fact that she’s French and German and was positive that her family is 100% Irish. When she asked about my heritage I explained that I’m Dutch and German but she looked at me and said, “no, I think you look more Italian.” What? You can’t say no when someone tells you their heritage… Oh, Juli Juli J She said that I definitely look like Dad and that the three of us girls have the same smiles but we look much different. Laura – dark eyes and dark hair, Mandy – clear (light) eyes and dark hair, and me – lighter hair and dark eyes. Usually we hear the opposite, that we could all pass for twins! She also loved seeing pictures of our boyfriends – she was intrigued by the contrast between Musa’s dark skin and curly hair and Taylor’s pale skin and red hair. She even said, “if you had babies they would be chocolate con leche.” Hilarious! She also repeated a million times that our boys are muy guapos but we’re much more attractive than them. I let Rob know that she thinks I’m dating down and I don’t think he appreciated it too much J After about 2-3 hours of that we went to the school to use the internet and check when our classes were. I have class MW 8:30-10:00 and TR 8:30-10:00, 11:30-1:00 and 3:30-5:00. I also have French but I don’t know when that will be, I have to take the level test tomorrow then I have no idea when it starts. Came back for dinner then I had a Skype date with Rob. It’s so weird that I hadn’t talked to him for a week and a half. Ugh. It’s bad to say but we’ve both decided this time is easier than Mexico because since he’s been in Kansas City we can’t spend near as much time together. It feels almost normal to go 3+ weeks without seeing each other even though we’re used to talking several times a day. After that Taylor, Mitch and I headed out for some tapas then to Hannigan’s for a bit to catch up about each others’ trips. Grabbed some candy on the way home and probably stayed out too late because class is at 8:30 tomorrow!
Random side note – I got these weird bumps on my face for pretty much the whole time we were traveling, I don’t know whether it was the lotion I was borrowing, body wash, water, gross towel, or what but they’re pretty much gone by tonight!
