the balance

moving

lawall — Wed, 6 Jan 2010 12:03:00 GMT

I'm only halfway done moving and I already want to be done with it. No, no, no, not moving back from Spain (that happened in September, woops, must have forgotten to tell you.) This move is from my parents' home in Fort Mill, SC to Norfolk, VA where I will be starting a new (awesome) job with Operation Smile.

That's right. I took the leap year, I taught English (and Art and Science) in Spain, I didn't know where I was going so I let any path take me there. And it did. I'm in a good place.

Most of you know that I take opportunities to live/travel far away. Ecuador. Spain. Asia. I like seeing new things, new places, new peoples, new ways of life. But I also happen to be particularly fond of my family.

So now I've got it all. I'll be traveling 60% of the time with my new job (yay!), working for a socially responsible NGO (yay!), and living only 5.5 hours away from my parents, 6 from my brother, and 2 blocks from my aunt and uncle (hi, guys.)

So as little as I am looking forward to pulling a trailer and then unpacking it tomorrow (I should really work out more), I know that 2010 is going to be great. And this is only the beginning.

I invite you to follow my blog...again (I promise I'll do better this time.)

Much love in 2010!

Gallery: semana santa

lawall — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 21:04:00 GMT

Gallery: france avec mon amie

lawall — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 23:10:00 GMT

Gallery: poland

lawall — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 22:29:00 GMT

holidays (written january 10, i forgot to upload)

lawall — Fri, 6 Mar 2009 09:26:00 GMT

Holidays. I like the holidays. Which is strange, because if you ask me during the holidays, I´ll say ¨I hate the holidays.¨ They stress me out, make me feel alone, etc. But THIS holiday season was a great one. I had a laid-back Christmas Eve and Christmas, with dinner, and pancake making, and on the 26th, my parents, aunt and uncle, and 2 friends arrived from the States. Let the fun begin! We made our way across Madrid, went to El Escorial, and Toledo. Then I moved into a new flat. Then I went to Barcelona to enjoy a few days with Adam, Shira, and our new friend Mike. All the photos should be on the right. Happy 2009!

starbucks (written january 10, i forgot to upload)

lawall — Fri, 6 Mar 2009 09:24:00 GMT

There are serious amounts of fluffy, white snow falling in Madrid. I, blissfully unaware of the snow, left my house with no gloves and no hat and upon closing my front door, realized that not only was it snowing…but I had left my keys inside! And my room mate isn´t home. So that is how I find myself, snug as a bug, in a Starbucks. Yes, that´s right, I said it. IN A STARBUCKS. I have no shame, it is SERIOUSLY snowing out there. There is one a mere 6 blocks from my house and I thought they might have wifi. They don´t, but by the time I got here I had had it with my Spanish winter wonderland and am thus sipping a tall Americano out of a paper cup with reindeer and snowflakes on it (are they the same at your Starbucks?), typing Word Documents to upload later, and thinking of all the Starbucks I have been in, in the US and abroad. The list goes a little something like this….
South Carolina
   Columbia (The one on Forest Drive, never the one in Five Points. Ever.)
   Fort Mill
North Carolina
   Raleigh (On Peace Street and in Cameron Village)
   Greensboro (that lovely one off the highway that was my half-way point)
   Charlotte
Florida
   Mum and I took a road trip and I´m sure Starbucks was involved
Massachusetts
   Boston
   Wakefield? (That´s a maybe)
Virginia
   Norfolk
Georgia
   Some small town off the highway
Various Airports
   DC
   Chicago
   Logan
   Charlotte
   Atlanta
   Dallas-Fort Worth
Chile
   Santiago
Spain
   Madrid

I wonder if there´s a world record for going to the most Starbucks. I wonder how many Starbucks there ARE in the world. Shira told me they are the world´s biggest buyer of organically grown coffee. I do find it odd that inside this Starbucks, on the biggest, busiest street in Madrid, I have no clue that I am in Spain. Looks exactly like every other Starbucks I´ve seen. Except to get into the bathroom, you need a passcode that´s on your receipt.

And while we´re on the subject, the Starbucks symbol has always been quite the mystery to me. So it´s a mermaid, yea? But it looks like her tail is split in two…strange. All opinions on the tail debate welcome.

why living in el centro is better than not

lawall — Mon, 2 Mar 2009 05:31:00 GMT

-at least 2 metro lines pass by your flat

-there are things open and sundays and holidays

-good restaurants

-dance classes (http://www.centroelhorno.com/), art classes, languages classes, you name it

-always a lot of people out

-bars

-discotecas

-walking home afterwards

-everyone wants to go to YOUR house

-kebab

-falafel

-24 hours stores

-being close to everything

thoughts (complaints) on jogging in a large city

lawall — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 10:42:00 GMT

after being stuck in bed for 3.5 days (the other .5 was on the couch), i couldn´t wait to get outside and be active. this morning i woke up and took advantage of the 40 degree weather and sunshine and went for a jog. the first one in a loooong while.

you know how it feels to start jogging again after leaving it for a long time? you know, good in a way, but also like a gorilla is sitting on your chest and cotton balls in your throat? combine that with a runny nose, cold air, car exhaust from morning traffic, and billows of cigarette smoke. i wanted to be inside the gym down the street from my house, warm and cozy, jogging away on a tredmill with the latest issue of glamour magazine sitting in front of me.

i know that soon, jogging will be easy again, the weather will be warm, and my runny nose will disappear. i´ll get used the the morning traffic, too, but i can´t say i´ll ever get used to running through pockets of cigarette smoke.

san valentín y tal

lawall — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 00:24:00 GMT

i am happy to anounce that madrid has just the right amount of valentine´s day sickening-ness. it´s nowhere near as commercialized here as it is in the US, so that´s refreshing. i´ve spent the whole week sick in bed, so i wasn´t able to give my little kiddos (who are all my valentines) the valentines mum sent for them. but i will on monday, that´s right, on monday i will be sucking them into the american commercialism, complete with disney princesses and spiderman, and i could not be more excited. what 6 year old DOESN´T want a little valentine? she also sent me heart stickers, which will go over big, cos these kids love stickers...

so i´ve decided to try to blog more and with more interesting topics, so if you happen to read this blog (hi mom), keep checking in.

also, usairways e-savers has incredibly affordable tickets to madrid right now, as long as you buy before monday the 16th and complete travel by march 8th. i have a comfy futon!

sending out much love.

brrrlin

lawall — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 00:21:00 GMT

i went to berlin in mid-january to visist two friends from ecuador who live there, marlis and barbara, and had a great time. berlin was amazing, a huge city full of art and history. i only spent two full days there, so i didn´t even make a dent in what berlin has to offer, but it was so wonderful to see barbara and marlis again. and yes, it was cooooold.

Gallery: brrrrlin

lawall — Mon, 9 Feb 2009 05:49:00 GMT

Gallery: i don´t speak catalán

lawall — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 08:47:00 GMT

Gallery: feliz natal

lawall — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 08:40:00 GMT

Gallery: snow

lawall — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 11:33:00 GMT

feliz natal!

lawall — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 11:25:00 GMT

that´s merry christmas in portuguese. i had the good fortune to spend christmas eve in good company at marcio and alexs´ house with some good friends and some new ones, as well!

we ate a feast! we each brought things...i brought mum´s lasagna, YUM. i got to try lots of brazilian foods and delicious brazilian desserts. the next evening, christmas night, we celebrated with pancakes at my soon to be former apartment!

feliz natal!

snow

lawall — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 11:22:00 GMT

to celebrate vacation, i went to navacerrada, up in the mountains, with some friends. the pictures are under ¨snow.¨ it´s me, alexs, marcio´s brother junior, and marcio´s greek friend antonia.

we spent a great day escaping madrid, enjoying the snow, and ¨speaking portuguese.¨

Gallery: land of guinness

lawall — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 09:38:00 GMT

Gallery: stranger in a strange land

lawall — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 09:00:00 GMT

ireland

toledo

lawall — Tue, 2 Dec 2008 09:45:00 GMT

i took a day trip to toledo this weekend, but am, unfortunately, too lazy to write about it. i did, however, add pictures under ¨toledo.¨

best.

Gallery: toledo

lawall — Tue, 2 Dec 2008 09:27:00 GMT