Thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving yall!!!!

I had an INCREDIBLE weekend.  This being my first Thanksgiving away from home I was a little worried, but we actually did more celebrating than normal (mostly because the last 4 years, Thanksgiving has been overshadowed by football and with the time difference I had perfect time to do both!)

Thursday: Tom flew in Thursday super early as my number 1 Thanksgiving surprise.  It was awesome to catch up and spend the day just the two of us.  When he got here he was hungry and I said, "There is some Special K in the cabinet." Ha. Ha. Ha...I forgot how much the kid likes to eat.  We ended up going to the grocery store for eggs and bacon and came out with our Thanksgiving meal number one.

My personal chef...........I'm having withdrawls

Sweet Potatoes with spinach leaves and chicken with some sauce Tom whipped up

After we cleaned up, we went to Plaza de Espana to do some touristy things likeeee take a picture with every city he's been! Still don't have one of us in Madrid together, booo. After our day of walking around and me officially convincing him to move here early January (happy thanksgiving, merry christmas & happy new year to me!) we took a siesta then went out with some of my teacher friends.


Friday: I honestly cannot remember what we did Friday considering we did just about everything you can possibly do in the city Thursday, haha. Ummm... we cooked, or I should say I cooked a cheese cake and chocolate moose to take to the Thanksgiving dinner we had that evening... (such a lie, we know who did the cooking...but I did insist on taking all the credit and he let me hahaha).  Some of the teachers in Sevilla had a Thanksgiving dinner at my friend Caitlin's just right up the road and it was a lot of fun :) We tried super hard to make it to watch the LSU/Arkansas game butttt we didn't make it... I was bummed but I realize the opportunity to celebrate such a sweet holiday with friends was worth it.

YouTube: "How to carve a turkey"

The spread

The 2 Austrailians first glipse of the turkey 

"My" Desserts

Saturday: First & Foremost: IRON BOWL. I put on my jersey first thing in the morning as Tom & I RAN to catch the train to Cordoba...This Thanksgiving #3 was majority ruled by southerners sooo it was food I was definitely used to.  I made a salad as my contribution...haha going all out, I know, but at least it was a big one! I got to see some old faces and meet some new ones but all in all it was SUCH a fun day.  2 of the owners of the house are Auburn fans and there was one other University of Alabama student sooo we even got to watch the game with rivals.  It was a super fun day.  We went and toured the city while Alex, Audrey, Mary Duncan and Allie slaved away in the kitchen.

When we got back we played a lot of games and then finally stuffed our faces! My favorite part was when everyone in the room bowed our heads and held hands as Rob blessed the food.  All the different faiths & cultures coming together to thank God for our friendships, opportunities & food...I got chills for sure.  I didn't take any pictures of the food, butttt I am posting a link to Allie & MaryDuncan's blog where the video of the day is.

inside Cordoba's biggest tourist attraction: La Mezquita

stealing oranges off the "sacred" trees

trying to take a picture with the pretty background and NEVER succeeding

Some of my friends posted this video from our final Thanksgiving Celebration in Cordoba :)

http://bienaventuranza.tumblr.com/post/13409464537/happy-thanksgiving-weekend-with-all-of-our-amazing

I did take a picture of my plate that night!

Sunday: We woke up and had Thanksgiving #4 for breakfast...the leftovers.  The hands down best part! Sooooo good!  Then Tom & I hopped on the train and had a relaxing afternoon by the river and went to bed early so he could catch his flight and I could go to school, buttttt I've been home sick the past two days... Even though I have been down looking back on this weekend and thinking of all of you I know how thankful I am to have each of you in my life.  To have adventures, to have love, to have support, encouragement, my little brother visiting in two weeks, Alabama's victory, and hopefully a Heisman trophy & a ride to the National Title Game (trying not to jinx it) so I can see the tide play forreal and tailgate with all of my friends!!  In reality, I am sooo blessed and I have it all. I love you and I will see you super soon.

Breakfast yall

XoXo

Future Me Fail.

Background: A couple of months ago my friend Julie received a super cool email...what made this email so special, you ask?  It was was written by her to herself...a year before.  She found a website called "FutureMe.org" and you can write yourself a letter and choose when you would like to receive it...  I planned on writing one for a year later (like Jules did), but I was in a major funk so I decided to write it for a month and a half into the future...that future arriving today.  I did it to show myself how fast things change and to remind myself that only a month ago I was happy, but wasn't extremely happy, and my heart just wasn't really here...so I made a checklist of things "I no doubt have done at this point" and basically failed on all accounts.  Haha.


The opening paragraph was as follows:


Wowzers! Heyyyyyy girl Heyyyyy! Please tell me you at least have pictures up in your room? If not...seriously Audrey. Get ON the BALL! AND I hope your Spanish has improved a ton..if not...I mean just go home. What are you doing there again?


First of all...don't judge me...haha I was supposed to read it privately not share it with the world wide web, buttttt, you live you learn.  These words struck home to me very very much.  Mostly because I don't have pictures up in my room  (thanks sister.............) and my Spanish really hasn't improved...I mean it has in the aspect of confidence...I am obviously using it 99% more than I was in the US, but I am not working on any aspects of grammar or anything.. so that's a problem...The words just keep replaying in my head: "What are you doing there again?" Can we say harsh?  You would think writing to yourself would be a more pleasant experience, but at least this email was EXACTLY what I needed to confront everything going on in my head...a wake up call per se... What am I doing here?  Some days I ask myself this and just start counting the days until I get home for Christmas...but today when I read these words, for the first time I didn't even have the slightest desire to pack my bag and travel or go home... I wanted to do the opposite...I want to enjoy Sevilla and breathe in every aspect of this unique opportunity given to me.  I am so sick of throwing a pity party for myself while disguising it as a real party...I know that doesn't make sense, but I am too proud to admit I am not happy here so I just pretend I am and try to make myself make the best of it...Don't get me wrong, I love my job and this is an incredible experience, but gah.  I miss my girlfriends...I miss just walking over to Preston Place to watch the latest tv shows, I miss snuggling up with Aimee to watch Dirty Dancing, I miss Gallettes, I MISS ALABAMA FOOTBALL! I miss lunch at Pi Phi, I miss all my kiddos, I miss Benjamin just stopping by, ESPECIALLY when I hate boys and let him remind me there are a few good ones left, I miss lunch at Granny's and Daddy's "special" pancakes, I miss Oxford, AL and watching my boredom turn into quality time with my mommy, I wish I could pick up and go to Applebee's for Happy Hour with Britt, Tay, Anna & Heather (hahahahaha)...Are you kidding, my sister is PLANNING her ONLY wedding without her MOH (..which I am reminded of daily), and one of the friendships I cherish the most [childhood friends, inseparable high schoolers, transitioned to college together, life-long friends]...Taylor Britt is also planning her wedding and I don't even get to attend a tea?! ...I miss so so so many things, but I realize more everyday that that is completely normal...I just graduated college...my life is already in transition...and I would be missing these things even if I was in Atlanta...everyone misses those things.  It's part of growing up,  I just happen to be super far away in the process.  


So starting today I am asking myself, "What are you doing there again?" every single day and hopefully everyday I will have a new wonderful answer to tell.  Today I am going to work on my Spanish and help these precious children sitting across from me fall in love with the english language.  


Soooo it's time for you to ask yourself... What are you doing there again? ...I hope your answer is worthwhile and you are happy where you are every single day...if not...it's never 
to late to change... You only live once, and I mean what are you doing there anyways? :)


P.S. Forgot to mention that they gave me a picture at school today of all the teachers at Pedroso that we took on School Picture Day...I guess that kind of answers both of the questions, huh?  And people say God doesn't have a sense of humor ;)


Besos!!!


HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!! You don't look a day over 35.
CONGRATULATIONS KATY!! Can't wait to meet baby Wyatt at Christmas!

El Pedroso

Reasons I love my job.


1. Primera A... First Grade, Class A.  The other day we were going over parts of the body.  We showed the kids flashcards of eyes, ears, nose, mouth, etc.  When we pulled out the picture for face, one of the kids said, "Que fea!"  Which means how ugly!  Manu and I looked at each other and laughed...The girl was beautiful...especially by American standards...Perfect skin, beautiful eyes, straight hair... We said, "She is beautiful!"And the kids reply?  "No, Audrey is beautiful."  Seriously?  Need I say more?


B. The entire faculty. Right after this happened, Manu said, and who is the best looking teacher at the school? The kids: "MANU!!" About 3 seconds after, the door opens and Paco (special needs teacher, one of my favorite people ever!) pops his head in, "Excuse me?" Probably one of the funniest moments ever.  I now wonder if he just sits and listens to our class for the best moments to pop up.  Haha, but honestly I laugh ALL day!


C. Kindness. Soooo I am a big complimenter.  I like to tell people they look nice when they do or when I like their outfit,  I like to compliment.  It's just me.  Weellll, yesterday I complimented a colleague on her scarf.  The conversation went like this... Me: "Aww Isabel, I like that scarf a lot!" Isabel: As she is taking her scarf off, "Take it." Me: "Noooo, noo, nooooo, I was just saying I like it."  Isabel: "No seriously take it.  Now when you wear it you can always remember your experience teaching in Spain."  Me: Speechless (yes, beyond rare, I know).  Just standing there nodding my head...finally "Thank you." ... Later when I was telling everyone at recess about how sweet it was, Paco looked at me and said, "See, in Spain we give...In America, you sell." Hahahaha...sadly true though!


Yes, now is when you start to worry about me ever coming home!
Love yall!

Glee Auditions.

Okay, I have been blowing up all forms of social media that I own, because I really love this girl.  She was a freshman Pi Phi with me last year and always just so sweet.  She knew my name from the first day and always made an effort to say hey to me.  


She deserves it...and I love Glee and I think her idea is beyond awesome and I can see it being a part of the show...


At least listen to the video and if you like it (which I don't see how you can not...) click the like button under it :)


Thank you!!!


BESOS!!




Hannah Green Link to Glee Audition

Roll Tide Anyways!

First of all, sorry I haven't updated...I tried on multiple occasions but could not access my account...long story. Mostly you would have just missed a whole lot of pre-game hype about the LSU game...which as we now know the verdict.


I know, I know.. everyone is making excuses for our team.  I will not, because the outcome is the outcome...I just feel super sorry for our kickers because they are getting some hate mail right now I have no doubt.  The only thing the game proved is that we ARE the 2 best teams in the nation.  Even know we will not be going to the national championship we still have the opportunity to continue winning (...I mean, it's what we do) and keep our name at the top of the BCS standings...even with a loss.  I can sit and dwell on the loss or say Rollll Tideeee all day every day... and I choose the second. :)


Madrid


Last week I went to Madrid straight after school Wednesday...happy as a lark.  I had a blast spending time with my familia espanola and just relaxing.  The only thing I was not quite as happy about is how fast the kids have ALREADY grown!! ...and Veronica's belly :) Okay, secret is out! The kids know so I can tell you...WE ARE HAVING NUMBER 5!! A little girl named Veronica!!!!!! I CANNOT wait!!!  I mean we all know she will be adorable...That is completely obvious...look at them all.  She is supposed to be coming right after my spring break (which I will be spending with them) soooo I am hoping she comes a few days early so I can see her before May!! Marcelo says they are completing the cycle...First born Marcelo, last Veronica.  I adore this family and am SOOO happy for them...and me...haha, just another little rugrat to call my own.  Also keep Chelo and Vicente in your prayers because it is a lot harder for them now with Vero & fam in Poland.  I am going to go back to Madrid to see them sometime before Christmas, but I wish I could go more often...just wish it was closer... They are so good to me, and I love them so very much.  Also pray they sell their house! It is SOOO big for 2 people!


Now for the photos from my long weekend of laughs, smiles, tears & disfraces!! (halloween costumes)

Can't believe I don't have a picture of Casilda's little pumpkin witch photos! Ahh! So adorable!

My little Marshmallow the second (Marcelo is Marshmallow #1)

Rosie cheeks from the cold :)

:D :D :D

Halloween

I came back Monday for Halloween and to celebrate Taylor's birthday (which happened to be Ian's also :( ... why hasn't anyone invented 2 places at once yet?).  I was a dead zombie...Here they go more for the classics ... vampire, witch, zombie, monster... Not as many cutesy nice costumes... the theme here is a lot more dead...

Pueblo

Carving a pumpkin with Candela and Pablo.

Cazalla is in the mountains so the temperature is fast tracking to winter there!!

School

Manu-the English teacher I assist 

All of these pictures are from Halloween activities with the 3rd grade class...I love my job :)