WALK: Victory

Hola! First of all I want to apologize the sporadic postings over the last month; it's been a little crazy to say the least. Last time I posted it was a few short days before Cole’s visit, and now it seems like our time together was forever ago. We spent five days here in Zaragoza and three days in Paris, and every minute was amazing. It was so nice to be able to show Cole Zaragoza and how I live my life here. I don’t think he really understood what my life here consists of. I secretly think he thought that I wake up, get on my moto, hop over to school, play a few games with the students, only to come home and enjoy a platter of tapas and sangria before retiring to bed. Nevertheless, he got the full picture–including a visit to my school. The kids were entranced by him and (not so) secretly followed 2ft. behind him ALL day. At one point one of my 8th grade girls shouted out “Your boyfriend is very Beautiful”!! Cole looked at me (half questioning the girl’s eyesight, as well as my abilities as an English teacher) and asked me whether or not she knew what beautiful was. I just nodded and smiled because in my head the statement was true, but really I was just happy that she was actually speaking in English. Little victories... those are the ones I celebrate. As an English teacher in the country with the lowest English proficiency in the European Union, I have to take what I can get.
Additionally, I think I have another reason to celebrate. I’m not sure if he’s completely sold... (yet) but I think I may have shown Cole a glimpse as to why I love to travel. And really that was the main reason for me asking him to make this trip. We had a tough moment at one point during our time in Paris when we were trying to order a meal. I had forgotten the dictionary and after we had given up on Spanish and English words along with hand gestures, he commented to me that this is “why I only want to travel to English speaking countries.” I responded to him, “this is exactly why I don’t only want to travel to English speaking countries.” That interaction (like many others) gave us something we didn’t have before; now only did we learn new vocabulary, but that interaction gave us a nice little reminder. It reminded us that not everyone speaks English and that’s OK, as well as a renewed sense of patience, humility, and grace. That's what I love about traveling- you get to learn so many new things, and a lot of the time...those things are about yourself.

RUN: Flying High

First and foremost I have to apologize for being MIA recently. For the past two weeks I have been playing hostess to two different sets of friends and I have been a bit distracted... in the best possible way!! It was so nice to reconnect with old friends, to make a few new ones, and to speak ENGLISH. I can’t believe how much I miss speaking English sometimes. And now I am preparing for another English speaker to come visit me this week. Cole Nathan Hutchinson will be in Zaragoza, Spain in just a few days and I can BARELY contain myself with the excitement and nervousness I feel. Even though we have been together for 4yrs (as of two weeks ago) I still get butterflies in my stomach when I see him, but this time I have butterflies for another reason. This trip will be Cole’s first trip outside the country and I feel an extraordinary amount of pressure. When Cole was deciding whether or not to move to Texas he came for a visit to see if "he could see himself there". One trip to the Broken Spoke and the Salt Lick and Cole was sold. So, this trip is my one and only sales pitch to get a thumbs up for Spain. I’m not sure that Cole understands why I love being in Spain so much, and I need him to love (or it least like) Spain so that we can one day share a life here. Now I’m realistic and know that he will never move here on a long term basis, but I want him to share my passion for the Spanish culture, people, and food so that we can come back and share it together... as our passion rather than just my passion that he happens to support.
 So, I have 10 days to put my best foot forward and share all (or most of) the things I love about Spain with Cole. Here goes nothing!