The place dreams come true....

Must be the anti-wrinkle facewash :)

2009-11-09T17:55:00.000-08:00

So the softball team I coach decided to take a trip to Florida for Spring Break this year. Now, I can assure you that even though it is my senior year of college....again...there is nothing I'd rather do than drive two 14 passenger vans loaded with high school girls and gear for 24 hours.

We've been looking into all kinds of options and finally found a great field in Florida to go to for a reasonable cost. We looked into hotels, food, prices, etc. and the only thing left to do was look into getting our two vans so the other coach and I could drive the girls down. After two hours of calling I finally found a place that had two available in Madison! It finally looked as if it was all coming together until we came across a slight glitch...

I am too young to rent a car!

I'm glad it's ok for me to take 14 underage girls out of state as their guardian for a week, just not in a rented vehicle.

On to plan B...stay tuned :)

Hey FOLKS!

2009-10-08T16:17:00.001-07:00

SOOOOOO, it's been a while....like half a year. But, I decided to throw one out there on this rainy day!

Things in Madison are going well. I'm student teaching 7th grade at Hamilton Middle School and totally loving it. I would LOVE to get a job in a middle school next year but we'll see how things go.

I also just got a job at the one and only SUPERTarget in Fitchburg so I'll be working there in the meat department. Rock on! It's as close to Walmart and Kwik Trip as I can get right now so I'll take it and hope to move up ;)

Anyways, in 6 months, that's about all I got. Later folks!

Spring Break= Girl Gone Wild!

2009-03-08T20:43:00.000-07:00

So, my cousin CC requested that I dedicate a blog specifically to the crazy spring break I have planned next week. Let me tell you, it's a doozy! As you will see, I plan on doing all your typical Girls Gone Wild things...... just in my own way since I have to student teach in Madison over break :) Woooo-hooooo let the fun begin!

Day One:
1. Student Teach
2.Soak up some rays....by hitting up the local tanning bed. No waiting since everyone else actually IS on break getting tan!
3. Softball practice.

Day Two:
1. Student Teach
2. Act like a star by going to the spa for a hairstyle...by using my $5 haircut coupon at Great Clips!
3. Softball Practice.
4. Curl up with a hot firefighter in bed.....by watching my latest Netflix delivery: Rescue Me- Season Two.

Day Three:
1. Student Teach
2. Celebrate my spring break with loads of alcohol....by downing a bottle of Nyquil to kill the cold I probably got during day One or Two from one of my students.
3. Softball Practice.

Day Four:
1. Student Teach
2. Strip down to my underwear....so that I can do my wash across the street since our washer's spin cycle broke.
3. Softball Practice.
4. Gourmet steak dinner....since Healthy Choice had a $2.50/unit sale at Wal-Mart this week!

Day Five:
1. Student Teach.
2. Bed...to recover from my wild and crazy Spring Break!

Don't you wish you were living the crazy college life like me?!?! I thought so!!!! WHOOOO-HOOO!

Kwik-y

2009-02-24T16:38:00.000-08:00

Aunt M.C.- Let me know if this was an acceptable blogging topic approved for your list you provided me with :) You do know you can call me, too, to get the scoop.

The big news is I got a new job...at Denny's! I quit 2 days later. Now, let me clarify. I have never before quit a job so this was new territory for me. I made a list of things I wanted to do in 2009 and getting a waitress job was one of them. Quitting was not. However, long story short, when the manager told me they wouldn't serve black people I kindly told them I subsiquently would not work there. Easy come easy go...I'm still babysitting, tutoring, and working in the school of ed. office.

Next on the 2009 to-do list...running a half-marathon. I just paid my fee yesterday and start training tomorrow (Fat Tuesday and running just seem like a bad idea!). Anyone up for a race May 24th?!?! COME ON DOWN to Madtown :)

And the BIG news is I got another new job: talk about how everything works out for a reason.... I'm officially the assistant Varsity Softball Coach at Madison West! How cool is that?!?! I am very excited and the season starts in 18 days...not that I'm counting or anything :) The team has a pretty poor record but then again they've never had a Curtis in the program!

Anyways, that's about all the news I've got. No Spring Break plans b/c I don't have a spring break; UW and the Madison School District are on two different schedules. BUT, I am totally enjoying student teaching. My class is awesome and those kids have given me enough stories to last a lifetime.

Hope you're all well in LaCrosse...I mean everywhere! :)

Tagged

2009-02-18T11:16:00.000-08:00

My cousin Katie tagged me....so I'm in:
This is a picture of my friend Jordan and I on the eve of election night.

Here's the game:
1. Go to the 4th folder where you keep your pictures on your computer.
2. Post the 4th picture in the folder.
3. Explain the photo.
4. Tag 4 fellow bloggers to join in the fun!

Tagged by Me:

1.Margie
2.Colleen
3.Karen Konkel
4. I dont read any other blogs beside people who have already been tagged.

Don't have a blog?...GET ONE!!! We want to stalk you too :) haha

It may not be Kwik Trip but....

2008-12-23T03:00:00.000-08:00

Today marks the 2nd anniversary of NKHASO or Nkhata Bay AIDS Support Organization, Inc. In our two years, HIV/AIDS rates at the site have dropped to just seven percect, twenty-six percent below the national average and twenty-three percent lower than our first month of testing. Nearly 800 people were tested this quarter alone and nearly 2,200 people in the community were educated by the organization. Clean water has reached 30 homes in the past month and 6 latrines were built. There are now SEVEN Nkhata Bay AIDS Support Org. clinics in the area, six more than the original site. We've distributed 10,000 condoms in the past three months and over 3000+ informational handouts to locals.

However, despite this progress, there is still much to be done. WE NEED YOUR HELP! Please consider a donation to NKHASO, Inc. Anything you can contribute will help as our projected budget for the next three months is nearly 800 dollars...a small cost when you consider all the lives this will save.

Any donors please contact Bailey at bcurtis@wisc.edu

Here's some quick info to show our progress:

Nkhata Bay AIDS Support Organization, Inc.

Unofficially established Dec. 2006 in Malawi (33% positive)
Legally established in Feb. 2007 in Malawi
Legally established in July 2007 in Wisconsin

Biannual report summary for January-June 2007 (19% HIV positive) 14% < Ntl Av.

•131 clients by June, death rate lowered from 60% in January to 11.4% in June
Due to increase ARV medication distribution to HIV positive individuals
•Only 2% absconder rate by June 2007
•Area population of 35000, only 3321 tested from 2000 to June 2007
•30 people trained this term for Home Based Care (Care Givers PLWAS by National AIDS Commission)

Programs established this term:
Established Home Based Care Program (care/nutrition for those with AIDS)
Resource Center (library, handouts, etc)
School Travel for Youth Education

Quarterly Report Summary for Sept- Nov 2008 (7% positive) 26%< than ntl average•SIX Outreach clinics established in area, up six from original one clinic in Jan. 07
•739 clients tested, 47 positive down- 12% from June 2007
•Youth Advocacy- 8 in school programs, 6 out of school programs
•Condom Distribution – 10,000
•Home Based Care Program- 47 registers, 21 on ARVs, 10 supported with food
•Water Purifying Solution- 30 houses reached, 6 pit latrines constructed

Session offered:
HIV/AIDS-15 (603 attendance)
TB- 5 (310 attendance)
Malaria-9 (478 attendance)
Nutrition-12 (310 attendance)
Diarrhoea-8 (458 attendance)

Material distributed:
oHIV/AIDS- 1171 brochures
oMalaria- 964 brochures
oDiarrhea- 566 brochures.
oNutrition- 423 brochures
oTB- 291 brochures

Projected budget for next quarter-800$ or 94,500 Kwacha
Counselor Allowance- 54,000K
Transport- 3,200K
Rubbing alcohol- 4,500K
Condoms- 14,400K
Medical Personnel Allowance- 3,000K
Email and mail fees-6,000K
Contingency- 2,000K

If I write a blog on Kwik Trip, I know you'll all read it!

2008-12-07T19:47:00.000-08:00

If you're reading this, you probably are related to me. If you're related to me, you probably think one of the greatest place created by God himself is the local Kwik Trip....am I right?!?!? I mean how else can you explain a place that sells sixty-four ounce sodas for $1.29 and three hot dogs for $1.19??? Got a K.T. card?? Well you just saved yourself up to 8 cents a gallon on your gas, thank you very much! I love it. And so do all Curtis'. So when I was driving back to Madison from Up North with my friend Clare last weekend, it should come as no surprise to you all that I made her stretch out her bladder from Wausau on down just so we could stop at the Kwik Trip in Stevens Point. You know the one, don't pretend you don't! So as I'm giving her my explaination of why this place is so great, I happen to mention how most of my family feels the same way. I mean, come on now, some of my fondest childhood memories involve my uncles and cousins taking me to get a 64 oz. slushie the size of my head and 3 hot dogs to top 'er off (maybe a Mr. D's on the side if there was time). Picture this now: Clare and I walk (some faster than others) into the K.T. and being a Curtis I get so excited I have to go to the bathroom. So when I came out of the bathroom at the Kwik Trip and saw Clare hamming it up with the guy next to her at the Cafe Karuba machine, it wasn't a shock to me that the guy she was chatting up was my uncle, TERRY CURTIS. I swear to you, my family is the only one who could bump into each other in the middle of the state at a Kwik Trip!

The family Reunion at the place that makes Wisconsin proud!

Home for Thanksgiving and obviously not growing.

It could be worse if I took a picture next to this giant...

World AIDS Day 2008

2008-12-01T05:16:00.000-08:00

Hopefully you all have your red ribbons on today in celebration of loving life. Here are a few pictures from our World AIDS Day celebration two years ago in Malawi on Dec. 1st.

The update

2008-11-10T09:21:00.000-08:00

Obviously my monthly updates would be WAY too long to write about so I'll do the picture update instead. Those are more fun anyways.

This past weekend, I went to Boston to celebrate my friend's birthday. Here we are at Fenway Park.

LOBTERFEST 2008 in Boston

We also went to the Celtics/Bucks game on Friday night and got to surprise the birthday boy with a surprise visit to the locker room to see Coach Rivers ( a family friend) who was SO incredible to the guys. They had a blast!

Madison went crazy when Obama won. I'm stealing this quote from my cousin Ann Marie who stole it from her adoption agency but I think it's very powerful:
"Rosa sat so Martin could walk,
Martin walked so Barack could run,
Barack ran so my children might fly."

I went with my roommate Sarita to visit my cousin Jenny and her husband Jeff and see UW play MSU in Michigan.

Madison

2008-10-03T10:56:00.000-07:00

Living in a pretty liberal Capital city sure has its advantages. The other day, as I was walking home from class, I ran into a lady who I thought looked strikingly familiar. After returning home, I heard some comotion down my street. I walked down to what appeared to be a political rally and it all made sense: Michelle Obama was in town! The lady I had seen was Obama's wife, here in Madison to give a speech! I stayed the 20 minutes she spoke and thought how awesome it is to live right in the heart of things.

On a similar note, another interesting election event happened today in one my classes. Upon discussing race and culture in the classroom, my professor turned and responded to a statement I made about Obama asking me "Bailey, why do you perceive Barack Obama to be part black?" I think I responded "are you kidding me?" between my uncontrolable laughter at such a dumb question! I know the whole PC thing is kinda a big deal in the US, but come on...obviosuly the dude IS part black...duuuh!

The bday celebration went well, too. A few friends came into town and we had a blast on Saturday night since it was my roomie, Sarita's birthday too! My family came up on Sunday for the actual day and took me out to Perkins and Wal-Mart....nothing says "Happy Bday Back in the States" better than Chicken Fingers and rollback pricing :)

My roomie, Clare, making me her mom's famous dirt cake that Mrs. B makes me whenever I leave the states :)

The roomies on gameday...one is missing

That really is Michelle Obama but I only have a camera phone these days :(

Sarita and I goofing around as the birthday girls :)

Teaching

2008-09-24T20:46:00.000-07:00

Wow- it's been a busy few weeks so I'll bring ya'll up to speed. Started my practicum teaching (second grade at Leopold Elementary), got two jobs, playing softball for UW club (already had one tourny at U of I this past weekend), and having friends come in for my b-day on Sunday! Things are going great, but my days are buuuusy! I'll fill you in on a couple cute stories from the week:

1. I started babysitting this week for a 4 year old girl on the north side of Madison. When I went over to meet her, I noticed their newly redone kitchen and told her "this is very nice!" She replied "Thanks but it's not finished yet. We still have to put in the damn kitchen fan." Her mom was mortified! I'm sure little Olivia had just heard so much about the "damn fan" she thought it was a brand name by this point.

2. The same day, Olivia noticed the bandaids on my leg. I explained that I played softball and had slid into home and scrapped my knee. Her mom mentioned how great it was that I played and said how the neighbor lady was the head coach at Madison East. Olivia chimmed right in saying "That's Lane's mom. Lane has two mommies!" Stereotype....enough said. haha

Classes

2008-09-10T17:46:00.000-07:00

School started on Sept. 2nd and so far I am in love with it: I have one class a day and none on Friday.....so far. My student teaching begins Sept. 22nd and I'm already nervous. I'm at Leopold Elementary school and no offense but those little guys scare the h-e-double out of me. I gave a presentation to a second grade class in June about Africa and I was SO not ready for some of their questions (ex. "how big was the elephant?" "Really big!!!" "No, like 25 feet big or 28 feet big?") So, needless to say, doing this K-2 in Spanish is a little intense.

Good news is, I LOVE my one class a day. Ok, they are 3 hour night classes so after a day of teaching I'm sure my butt will be handed to me later in the year. But for now without teaching in the morning, I'm loving it. FINALLY, stuff that really matters for what I'm going to do! THANK GOD....I mean, how many nutritional science classes can one take before you just want to go up to the professor, show him your thunder thighs and scream "THIS ISN'T WORKING!"

The roomie situation is working out great. We're all enjoying the "easy" first couple of weeks by playing "airsoft gun war" in the house and using laser pointers to taunt the neighbor boys! Saturday, Sunday, and Monday football is a must and I'm loving my first fall in the USA since I was a teenager!

Can't wait for camping this week with the extended family, another great fall tradition I've missed for years (along with my b-day, Halloween, and Thanksgiving). Hope you're all doing well!

Here's a picture of my World Language Education Cohort (E):

Okaaaay.

2008-08-29T21:28:00.000-07:00

So due to popular demand, the blog is back. However, I promise to try to keep this one fun and I won't be updating as often. A quick catch up: I had an awesome summer at camp, Up North, and in Canada. Now I'm back living in Madison one block west of the football stadium. My 4 roomies are 3 friends from high school and one random (but her boyfriend is the Badger's starting linebacker star so we let her sublet so he can help us move heavy things). I'll use today's entry to give you a little insight into my last adventure: a Canadian roadtrip with my cousin.

We started by hoping in the car and heading to Toronto without a place to stay or a plan. By the time we got to the border (after a day in Detroit and a stop at the Henry Ford Museum) we had it figured out....kind of. I had gotten ahold of my friends who I lived with in Africa and arranged for us to stay with them for 2 days in Toronto. Problem was, the border patrol didn't really like that idea. After an hour and a half of customs, questions, car searches, and immigration they finally agreed to let us go through. Turns out, a passport that is as stamped as mine sets off flags at borders...who'da thunk it? Toronto was amazing, as was our stop down to Niagara Falls, Detroit to have lunch with my cousins Jenny and Jeff, and dinner with my cousin Chad at Notre Dame. We sure got a lot in in only 3 days! Then Thursday was my first Packers game at Lambeau Field and Friday was move in to Madison. Needless to say, I'm a little tired and looking forward to a break...but that won't be happening with the Badger game tomorrow, parking cars on our front lawn, and a party here afterwards.

My house is what I like to call a "college house"...old. But I have a new hardwood floor and that makes me feel a little grown up. Not really, though. Student teaching starts Wednesday morning and time just seems to be flying by. That's the update for now....I'll write more when I've got something good to tell you all. Until then, if you're one of my aunts reading this to try to catch up on the gossip, just give me a call or shoot me an email and I'll give ya the scoop! haha

Here are some pictures from our road trip stops:

Niagara Falls, Canada

Sitting in the same seat as Rosa Parks at the Ford Museum

At Notre Dame with Chad

The Toronto Skyline

In Detroit with Jenny and Jeff

My new room!

The End

2008-08-14T14:34:00.001-07:00

and here are some random pictures from the summer for ya!

I know that no one is checking this besides my wonderful Aunt Margie so this one is just for her:

THE END! (is that closure enough?)

Long day....

2008-06-03T21:11:00.000-07:00

I've had a long day...flew home from Spain today so I'll make it short.

I had it planned for a few weeks to surprise my family. My amazing uncle Corky and awesome cousin Kailyn picked me up today from Chicago. I popped out of their car to surprise my mom and the twins in our driveway. Then, they treated me to my favorite restaurant in the whole world (literally) and then took me to surprise my dad at his office. Kailyn has some pictures so I'm sure I'll post it later. It was so nice to see my family...ALL of them and eat about 10,000 calories today :) I am super tired and am going to hit the hay. Hope to hear from you all soon now that the cat's out of the bag :) Thanks so much to Corky and Kailyn, too, for making it a wonderful surprise and for the great food!

The despedida.....

2008-06-02T14:53:00.000-07:00

My Spanish friend, Santi, and my American friend, Julie.

I get sick of boring pictures!

Half Spanish Half American amigos at my house for my "despedida"

The group out at a club for my goodbye party

Since I am leaving in just a couple of weeks, my friends decided to throw me a goodbye party this weekend to celebrate my leaving Spain before final trips start for everybody. What was supposed to be a few friends going for dinner ended up being a huge bash...didn't know I had so many friends here! It was wonderful having all my Spanish AND America friends in one spot and obviously it was a bit bittersweet. I couldn't help but reflect on my year here when thinking of going home.....

It will be hard to say goodbye to some amazing people who I have met here. Lucky for me, some of the American friends I have made here are from UW so it will be WONDERFUL having them so close to home. If I had to sum up this year, I would call it "purposeful”. It wasn’t quite life changing like last year, but I learned a lot: about the country, the continent, the people, the city, the language, and myself. I have tried to be pretty neutral up to this point about Spain (on the blog anyways, a few of you know my TRUE feelings) but here it goes…. I suppose as I look back on it, I would give Spain a total thumbs up, Madrid a definite thumbs down. Now, those of you who know me know that I am usually a very positive person so I don’t say this lightly. The attitude of the city, NOT the country, is very….I would call it rude. Over time, I have found myself coming a little bitter towards the general attitude of the “madrilenos pijos” (posh Madrid-ians) who think that they are better than the rest of the world. A lack of customer service and general compassion for your fellow man is very obvious in the city. The hustle and bustle is not something I enjoy being trapped in everyday…..but now I know! I miss the smiles on the street corner from strangers, people giving up their seat to the elderly, the safety you feel in small town America (without gypsies!), and generally people in love with life, not themselves. At the same time, Madrid is the hub of the country; it has been easy to travel and welcome visitors, too so I am glad I was here and not elsewhere. I have learned so much and I am so glad to have realized that I am NOT a city girl! Therefore, because I have learned and grown so much, this year was a very POSITIVE year. Overall, I have had an amazing time here and wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Ok. Well that’s enough of the sentimental junk, just wanted to give ya’ll my overall impressions. Now I better get some of these post-exam to-do things crossed off my list.

Si escuchas a la canción de abajo, cuidadosamente, vas a ver que hay un secreto escondido en las palabras….manana te lo dire, vale?

Exam Week

2008-05-26T07:51:00.001-07:00

The girls at Maroon 5

With Taryn and MTV Day!

It's that time....exam week... so like any good college student I know everyone's current Facebook status and have been Skypeing all day :) Still can't tell you a darn about Spanish Literature but I still have 12 hours until my exam.

This week has been great. Friday was out goodbye dinner for all the people in my program. We had a blast and it was FREE so you can't beat that. It was a really fancy restaurant and they served us fresh paella with crab. Sounds good and fancy....when the actual dish came and there was a WHOLE crab on my plate, I freaked. Not because it still had the eyes, no, but because I realized I was super trashy and had NO idea even what part of a crab you eat (nevermind how to do it). If anyone asks, I am a vegetarian....at least that was the excuse Friday night.

Saturday, I went to the MTV Day-Madrid here and saw Maroon 5 along with some other Spanish bands. We ended up about 4th row and even got our own shout out since he could tell we were Americans!

With exams this week we have no class so I actually have off today, Memorial Day, but it should be filled with studying. Hard to believev come Thursday my Spanish schooling is over (gracias a Dios!). Hope you're all enjoying a cookout and great weather over the long weekend.

Cha-cha-changes....

2008-05-18T14:34:00.000-07:00

all of us at dinner in Dublin

Talking with Gordon and his new son!

The gang in Africa

In Malawi :)

In Malawi :)

A pint with Megan in Guinness

All of us at dinner

Megan and Maeve

The boys and I

Megan, Ryan, and I in front of Andy and Maeve's house

This weekend sure put things in perspective a bit for me. It was our 2 year African Reunion....as many of our Malawi volunteer gang that could make the trip came to Dublin. Here's the breakdown:

Present in Dublin:
Maeve and Andy (married Irish couple who were on their honeymoon in Malawi)
Megan and her finace Ryan (engaged American-Irish couple. Megan was a volunteer.)
Me

Missing:
Maggie (Irish volunteer who I spent Christmas with in Belfast)
Gordon (my old roomie in Malawi: Scotish)
Chelsey (Canadian wonderfulness)
Mike (Canadian who just returned for the second time this month)

The trip started as I was shocked at the airport when Meave greeted me with a plump belly, filled with the new Gacquin twins due in August! Ryan and Megan flew in Friday morning and the three of us hit up the Guinness factory together. As we drank our pints in the skybar atop the factory, we talked about their honeymoon plans: a glorious return to Malawi! Can you imagine it?!? Obviously they are a perfect couple to both be up for honeymooning in Mwaya Beach :)

Saturday we spent at a piping (bag pipes) contest in the north for Ryan and Megan. Afterwards we came back to Andy and Maeve's Dublin home for a wonderful last night together: a Malawi slideshow. We took everyone's pictures, ours and those who were absent, and watched and laughed over pizza and Guinness. We even made a Skype conference call to our friend Gordon, my old roomie, who just had his first son. After Africa, he decided it was time to settle down, moved to New Zealand to be with the love of his life, and is now the proud pop of Jake! It was so strange to have all of us together but with so many changes.....babies, weddings, new countries, etc. My life sure seems boring compared to that(don't worry, Mom, I'll keep it like that for a while!). It was wonderful to see where our lives have taken us and where they continue to go. The great thing is that no matter where we go, we'll always carry little bits of each other with us as we go on our own ways.

Anyways, it just makes me thankful that all of our paths crossed at one time in our lives and that we still cherish the bond we formed together no matter where life takes us.

Portugal and Spanish Nights

2008-05-10T17:37:00.001-07:00

Here are some more pictures from my Portugal trip and some random Madrid nights.

Tonight, Katie and Alex and I all went to a Karaoke Bar we found....it was run by an Asian couple and some of the songs were in Chinese. I also saw a woman with a sixth toe on top of her foot and it was sticking out of her flats. I would clasify tonight one of the most random in a long while.

Basque Country and Portugal

2008-05-05T12:33:00.000-07:00

Santander Beach

Spanish Tapas

Michael and I at the beach

Bilbao's Guggenheim Museum

Bilbao (Basque Country)
Even if you're not Catholic, in Spain you at least love everyone who is because it's because of this wonderful religion that we get "puentes" (bridge weekends). When one of the 20+ saint days falls on a Thursday, Spain decides to take off the whole weekend and thus you get a four day weekend. This week was GREAT as we had TWO puentes....one on Tuesday and one on Thursday so therefore it was only Wednesday that we had class. The first part I spent in Bilbao and Santander Spain (in Basque Country) with my friend Michael. We spent four great days on the beach and exploring the towns. I was shocked at how nice Biblao is. It is very unique as it is both part of the Basque Country and very modern due to the addition of the Gooogenheim (sp?) Museum in 1997. Santander is a great little beach town on the North coast of Spain. We got super sunburned and loved every minute of it!

I flew back for a few hours to Madrid and was soon on a bus to Lisbon, Portugal with my good friend Katie Sheahan and two other new friends I met here. We spent a few days exploring the town and other small cities outside of Lisbon. We even spent one day at a small beach town and we just had a blast. I have never laughed so hard in my life! Highlight of the trip: one of our friends told us about this GREAT burger place called "Barbus Burger". She told us the burgers were as big as our head and sold out of the back of a cart. Of course we were on a mission to find them and we asked EVERYONE we could where this place was with the huge hamburgers. After about 20 people who had no idea what we were talking about, we got a little suspicious. Everyone would laugh at us and point us to McDonalds if we wanted a hamburger. Turns out, our friend did this as a joke so and there is no Barbus Burger!!!! haha we had a good laugh but were REALLY sad we would have to wait for our burgers. Typical Americans!

Anyways, back to life and reality here in Spain. At least for a week and a half before I got to Ireland! Here are a few pictures and I'll post more later!

God totally reads my blog...

2008-04-23T10:40:00.000-07:00

My last blog I was complaining about how stressed I am with all these papers and stuff coming up. God must have been reading this thing because I just found out I got into the School of Education at UW (#2 in the country!). It's pretty competitive as a World Language major so thank goodness I got it. I feel like a huge load is off my back since I'd have to fail 4 of my 5 classes to not be let in come fall... haha doubtful that will happen. (knock on wood). So I am officially de-stressed in a matter of minutes...and it FEELS GREAT! Might go out to night with the girls to celebrate! Why not....it's Madrid and it's totally socially acceptable here...better do it now before I'm a teacher, right? Hope you all are having as good a day as mine. Isn't it great how God sends those little blessings just when we need them?

un poco de "estres"

2008-04-23T03:35:00.000-07:00

So I can go for pretty much years being stress free....the problem is when it hits me, it HITS HARD. I don't know why all of a sudden this week has been so terrible. I actually skipped class today because my stomach in such knots I was doubling over a bit in pain. So bizarre...I'm sure it will pass. I have been sleeping terribly dreading these 8 papers I have to write in the next two weeks so I think this afternoon I'm taking off and going to try to sleep it off a bit. I think it's my body’s reaction to the coming abuse of FAR too many trips, little to no sleep, and lots of work to be done in my last 50 days in Europe.

However, don't think my tossing and turning is going to stop me from being pumped up. No way. I am super excited today that my cousin AnnMarie and her husband Nick legally became the parents to their newest son from Ethiopia. With that and my other cousins who are prego right now, I am already getting pumped to meet all these new kiddos when I come home!

Fun story of the week: Was at the local pharmacy here today to pick up my contact solution. **Note: there are no over the counter drugs in Spain. Everything from Tylenol to contact solution has to be bought from the pharmacist.** I had my hands full with my grocery bags and my contact solution as I made my way to the glass doors. I stood there for about 10 seconds before I realized they were not automatic. I had been waving my foot, etc. trying to trigger the sensors and must have looked like a TOTAL fool. Automatic doors are practically non-existent in Spain and here's the weird American dancing in front of the doors. The worst part is, I’ve done that once before at a restaurant!

do not click on comment links!

2008-04-19T09:10:00.001-07:00

It finally happened. What I have been drading for almost two years overseas....THAT phone call. You know, the one with a choked up voice on the other end trying to tell you something is wrong at home....yeah. So far, my bad news has come by email since it's happened in the middle of the night both here and in Africa. At least the title "sad news" gives me a heads up so I know it's coming but the phone call was the worst. I was at a carnival festival on a trip in the west of Spain when my cell rang. My dad finally choked out that my grandma was sick and if I wanted to I ought to say "goodbye" to her now. Can you imagine that? Terrible. The fact that it now is looking pretty good for her to pull through after a couple of surgeries just makes it awkward ....haha usually the thing about saying "goodbye" is that the person "peaces out". Grandma, however, has decided to stick around for a bit longer and knowing her I'm sure I'm gonna get crap for such a weak goodbye when I see her in two months!

It was quite the scare though and the next time she pulls that crap I'm totally calling her bluff. Let's face it, the woman has more lives than a cat!

In other news, I got the worst haircut of my life yesterday. Luckily my friends are kind enough to pretend it is ok, but secretly I know they're all thinking "I wonder if two months is enough to grow it out to fix it before she goes home!" I thought I was golden since my Spanish is developed enough now that I explained I wanted JUST A TRIM. This new confidence meant that yesterday I wasn't as scared as I was in September that I'd end up with a mullet...boy, did that come back to bite me on the bum. There will be no pictures posted here for the next 59 days, okaaaay? haha

I'll post a few pictures from our trip this past weekend (pre-haircut) to Extremadura (west coast state of Spain). I only have only 40 days left in Madrid and the rest I'll be in Santander, Portugal, Ireland, and Morocco! It's flying by....I'm home on June 16th but off to camp shortly after...so get your resrvations in now :)

ALSO...IMPORTANT...DO NOT CLICK ON ANY LINKS UNDER "COMMENTS".....IT MAY BE A VIRUS!

A serious change in life plans....

2008-04-10T05:14:00.000-07:00

Nah, not really. At least not for me :)

Some of you may know, but I am still waiting on my response for my application to the School of Education in Madison. In the meantime, I had to register for classes "just in case". So, of course I have been looking into "backup plans". Turns out, if I don't get into the School of Ed, I have already earned three degrees in my first three years:
Spanish, Global Cultures, and African-Studies.

Haha, this cracked me up! I'm already a triple major if I graduate today:) I wonder if they have "shoe-tying" or "bike-riding" to add another one onto those....they seem to be in the same catagory as Spanish, Global Cultures, and African-Studies. REALLY?!?

I was really debating calling my dad to tell him the great news: that I could graduate in four weeks and be free from him and his $ forever! Think of it: three years, three degrees, two years abroad...in and out...like every parent dreams, right? The fact I would then spend the rest of my life in a cardboard box or his basement is the only real corkscrew in the plan.

In other news, it rained in Spain today and you would have thought Franco had returned to power. People were running, screaming, and throwing themselves into the street to apparently avoid melting. Chaos! It is one of only a handful of times (honestly like 6 or less!) that it has rained all year and it was MAD. The fact the sun came out literally 5 minutes later meant nothing, all the news channels will be covering it for weeks to come. Wow, people.

Hope you all are doing well! Miss you guys lots :)

Funny Story

2008-04-08T03:06:00.001-07:00

Ok, Ok. I'll admit it: this next story is not mine...but I was there for part of it and everytime I hear it I laugh so hard. I thought you all could use a pick me upper...I need one because I'm sunburned and you all need one because you most likely won't be sunburned until August.

Characters: my friend Katie, her roomie, Alexandra, and their "senora", Victoria,(lady who's house they live in while they are here)

Friday afternoon. enter Alex, the apartment mate, frantically saying something about Victoria, the Senora.

Alex: Katie! Oh no! Victoria just called me and told me that she is in Barcelona and that she wants me to come! I can't go to Barcelona and I think that she is mad at me!

Katie: uh?

Alex: She said that then I need to go to Acuna with her...did she call you?

Katie: uh?

Alex: Well, I will call her....

Katie is now thinking...who's gonna make me my dinner?! shoot!
Alex calls Victoria but her phone suddenly runs out of minutes...so Katie steps in and calls Victoria...(plot thickens)

Katie: Hola! Are you in Barcelona right now? You never said anything about leaving and we are a little confused.

Phone voice: Yes I am in Barcelona, working! I am going to Acuna and I am expecting you to come.

Katie: Uh....well, I am going to stay here this weekend because I have a class trip. I didn't know that you had a job. So....what about dinner...can we use food in the kitchen to make something?

Phone Voice: What! Where are you from, and where are you right now!

Katie: I'm at the house and I'm from the USA...awkward laugh...this isn't Victoria, is it.

Phone Voice: No!!! This is Marcos.

conversation ends in a frantic and extremely awkward apology...Katie now realizing that she asked a random man if she could eat the food in his kitchen.

I was dying and thought this was so funny that the girls were so confused.... we laughed, yadayada. Well now enter me (Bailey). Katie, Alex and Bailey go to the movies downtown two weeks later to a theater Victoria recommends, but the girls get lost on the way. They call Victoria for directions.

Katie: Hi. It's Katie, Alex, and Bailey. We're lost! Can you help us?

Phone Voice: Sure. Where are you?

Katie: We're in Sol right now looking at the clock. Which way is the movie theater?

Phone Voice: I'm not sure.

Katie: Well, what is the address again?

Phone Voice: I don't know. What theater are you going to?

Katie: The one you told us to go to! The one with the movies in Enlis.....wait. (long pause....the girls all realize what is happening) Who is this????

Phone Voice: Marcos.

(click)

I was dying that they had called poor Marcos... again!!! But the plot thickens.
Two weeks later Alex's dad comes to visit her.

Alex and Dad at airport after a flight delay.
Dad: Hi, honey! I tried to call Victoria to tell her I would be a bit late, but some man answered the phone.....

Somewhere in Spain there is a man at Vodaphone changing his number...

My other favorite Katie story was this summer when she called me to tell me her bike chain broke while out on a ride. A kind elderly man saw her on the road, fixed it for her at his house, and then sent her on her way. Not more than two pedals later and Katie broke the bike AGAIN as she rode RIGHT into his CAR while waving goodbye!!!

I LOVE THAT GIRL!

Soulja Boy....

2008-03-31T05:53:00.000-07:00

The next story: after our family vacation you'd think the stories couldn't get better....but they dooooo!

On Friday I went out to eat with my friends Katie and Alex. We decided to give our leftovers to the homeless man outside and agreed that we all wished we could help people like that out more often if we had money. So I came up the brilliant that we could MAKE money by dancing and singing in the Plaza Mayor of Spain. For the past 10 years, Katie and I have fed off of each other's ideas and this was no exception. Before you know it, there were three American girls singing and dancing to the likes of Soulja Boy, Britney Spears, and Queen in the plaza. The hightlight of it all was the group of black tourists walking past who broke into song while watching us dance at random for money in the #1 tourist spot in all of Spain....turns out they were the Harlem Gospel Choir here on tour. We made 5 Euro of small change in 45 minz, bought "hamburguesas" to give to the homeless people on the street, and made friends with the choir and their lead singer. By the end of the weekend we had been to both concerts of the Harlem Gospel Choir, were offically dubbed their groupies (aka the crazies from the plaza got dressed and came to the shows), and were friends with the band and Lois Giles (their lead)!

March 12-15 my friend Michael and I flew up to the northern part of Spain to a place called Asturias. We spent time exploring the area and then hiking in the mountains where were stayed for two nights (one down below and one at the top!) It was my favorite trip by FAR and I already can't wait for our next trip together to Santander in April. Instead of writing, I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Tom Curtis' European Vacation

2008-03-28T14:23:00.000-07:00

Hand down, best Spring Break….ever. Our Curtis family vacation put Chevy Chase to shame, no doubts there.

I don’t EVEN know where to start! It started with mountain climbing in the north before my fam got here... That is a story in itself so I will blog about that in a few days. For now let’s just focus on the top 10 moments of the family vacation.

(Disclaimer: I dearly love my father and without him I would not be where I am. That being said, he alone provided us with endless entertainment on the trip; thus, the following is not meant to hurt him in any way, just relive the funniest freaking family vacation EVER!)

1.I had the great idea to convince my dad driving in Italy would be a good idea. The good news is the rental car company can only take out $500 of his account after the accident (and that covers the parking ticket and forgetting to fill ‘er up with gas upon return, too!), no one was killed the first time he rode over the pedestrian plaza, no one was killed as he backed out of the plaza down a one way street, and the officials apparently didn’t see him swing a U-turn on the freeway when we got to the toll booth by mistake.

2a.We rent the car in Rome. Not only do we have NO idea where we are going but this is all in Italian. And let’s face it, even when we DID know where we were going that didn’t make much difference. At one point we LITERALLY drove in circles around Florence for two hours. At one point Callan was throwing the map on the floor in the front seat announcing he was now “quitting our freaking family and sitting on my lazy ass for the rest of this vacation!!!” , my dad was scolding “why don’t you shut the heck up?” and my mom was in the back telling the boys to stop fighting. Are we having fun yet?!?

3a. We were lucky enough to meet hundreds of wonderful Italians, a true cultural gem! However, this was really only because we were lost at every, sinnnnngle city we came to. Because of this, my dad developed a wonderful spirit of language study while in Italy. He told every person we saw “gracias” instead of “grazi” but said it with an Italian accent figuring that would do just fine….then when we finally got to Spain where he could ACTUALLY use the Spanish, he told people “gracias” when he meant to say “hola”…apparently he was randomly thanking these people for just being alive???

4a.The circus continued in the car at every new hotel. 5 people, 6 suitcases, 5 backpacks…….Kennedy, my mom, and I sat squished in the back of the little Euro car and eventually we got used to the loud thud at every bump. The sound was Kennedy’s head hitting the roof of the car.

5a.As we passed the town of Liverno, I had that feeling in my gut this was NOT a good idea to get off the freeway to eat here. This small piece of hell on Earth eventually saw me screaming: “Dad, this is a road for pedestrians!” In the end, as it replays in my head, I see three heads (Callan, Ken, and Mom) ducked and covered in their laps so as not to be identified later on. My dad has his hands in the air (both of them) and starts to scream “AM I DRIVING?!?! AM I DRIVING?!?!” The looks of terror on the faces as we shoot across the pedestrian plaza of Liverno interrupt the book sale going on in the plaza as we zigzag out of the way of people and tables. We eventually backed up a one-way street to get out and then circled three times trying to figure out how the h-e-double to get out of this town without being caught by the police.

6a. By the end of this adventure, having the drunken cabbie take us to the Milan airport seemed FAR safer than the Audi rental. As my dad threw the keys to the lady at the Eurocar desk, I believe the exact words were “oh thank God, I am so freaking sick of this damn thing!”

7. The first day in Spain was a little rough. Without the car, out laughs were gone…..so we thought. I took my family to Segovia and explained we would go see the Roman aqueducts. My dad, however, thought I meant “aqua duck” like the rides in the Wisconsin Dells. When he asked me if we would be riding on a river or lake, I knew the Spain fun was just beginning!

8. We returned and my pops wanted to do some quick snack shopping Jingles. After the 5 minutes it took me to figure out he was taking about the “corte INGLES” we headed over. The hotel was great; things were calming down for what would be out last day together in Madrid…that was until……

9. Kennedy wanted a fake Burberry wallet. I knew where the street vendors are in Madrid; a big row of them right near the Sol metro. We headed down there and I stepped up to do the haggling in Spanish. As soon as he handed me the wallet, someone yelled “policia” and the street vendors all grabbed their bags of goods and shot off running. Before we knew what happened they were gone, the police were there, and I was holding a boot-legged Burberry wallet in my hand….I slid it in to my pocket as fast as I could and took off while my family was still at the corner going “what’s happening, what just happened?!?!” All I could see was me being deported for buying this illegal wallet….just our luck! But in the end, it WAS our luck….I didn’t even buy the thing as the vendors were long gone. Basically, I stole from thieves….only our family.

10.I have lived in Madrid for 7 months and never had anything bad happen to me. My dad comes to Madrid for 2 days and gets robbed. We were on the packed metro and a gypsy opened up my dad’s fanny pack (that alone should be #11) and took out his wallet….all kinds of cash, credit cards, etc. on the last day of vacation. Too bad for that little gypsy b**** she messed with the wrong freakin’ family! My dad actually realized it was HER and started to yell….then he grabbed her so we knew this was for real! So in pops my mom and she starts stripping the girl trying to get her coat and scarf off!!! All of a sudden the wallet drops to the ground (a tag team as it had been passed off) and we get it back. I had by now made my way to them and realized what just happened. SNAPS for her that I speak Spanish so she picked the wrongggggg train that day! I spun her around and started screaming as loud as I could in Spanish that she just robbed my dad. Then I started yelling that we weren’t tourists, that I live there and know their gypsy tricks, team of thieves, etc…That caused a lot of commotion in the train now since people understood what I was saying. Well, that and the fact I may or may not have said some things about their mother and what I though of her, but I’ll keep this the PG rated version. It was all so fast that they hopped off before we could do anything or even react more. In the end, we got it back and have a great story about the day we robbed thieves and foiled the gypsies! We’re such a classy bunch, no?

All in all, hands down, best family trip ever. So many laughs!!! Seriously, my dad really did do a fantastic job driving in Italy....I really DO think the pole he backed into with our Audi jumped in the way of the car. Now, after this longest blog in the world, I’m off to the bars where I will be for about the next week trying to recover from the family’s visit!

El presidente?

2008-03-09T12:31:00.000-07:00

The gang of some of my favorite all-yearers!

Jacque (played golf with her in HS!), Taryn (my workout/study/dinner buddy), me, Michael (my Asturias/Santander travel buddy), and Reider (guy with the coolest name)

The Plaza de Cervantes in Alcala where I got sunburned (about an hour outside of Madrid)

Wooooo- where to start?

Friday night was super success as I went with my roomies to a hole in the wall theater production. It was an "abstract" piece and they were sure I wouldn't understand, but I got the whole thing! It was nice since they knew the two actors and the director so we got to stay after an have some "vino" with them. Made me feel good that my Spanish is up to that level.

Best part of the night was a chat I had with Andrea, my roomie. I was telling her how I don't understand why people approach me for directions when I have white tennis shoes on and look supppper American. She was asking if all Americans have shoes like that and when I said "most", she goes "yuck, they're so ugly!" hahaha as I'm WEARING them. As soon as she said it she knew.....her face...priceless. Before she could say anything I said "don't worry, you have two last names that are the same and you eat uncooked legs of ham that hang in windows. We're both pretty trashy."

Then last night was a big birthday celebration for 4 American friends of mine. I started the evening by studying grammar with my friend Taryn and then we made fajitas for dinner. About 10pm my friend Jacque came over (we played golf together in HS) for a little red wine before the party. When we finally did get to the pub, it was great! All of the year-long kids were there so it was great to have us all in one spot together. We had so many laughs! It's funny how fast we've all become friends in just 7 months and how close we all are now!

Anyways, enough of that boring stuff. On Wednesday night my friend Michael and I are going hiking in the mountains in Asturias (northern Spain)! Our hotel is a 5 hour hike from the base of the mountain and not reachable by car :) I am super excited to be out in nature again...I am getting a little sick of the city. We'll be there together until Saturday night and then Sunday morning my family arrives!!! I cannot wait to see them even though 7 months doesn't feel all that long with easy communication. We're hitting up Italy for a week and then spending 3 days in Madrid. will write all about it for you guys. Got a few more trip planned, too. In April, Michael and I are hitting up the beaches in Santander, Spain which should be a blast! Then in May to Portugal with two friends and then Ireland to visit volunteers I worked with in Malawi. Only three months left....sooooo sad this is going so fast.

(Oh, ps elections were today so tomorrow Spain will have new president. The elections aren't really "secret" from what I could tell when I went to watch. You pick up your party's paper and put it in an envelope. The ballots are sitting on a table out in the open so even though you go to the booth to put your party's paper in the envelope, everyone already watched you pick what party you're voting for. Only in Spain would that be a "secret" ballot haha.)

ouch....

2008-03-02T14:27:00.000-08:00

...short and simple, I got sunburned TWICE this weekend. Soooo nice in Spain these days. On Saturday my friend Taryn and I hit up a town an hour out of Madrid called Alcala de Hernares. I've never taken the train yet, and am glad I didn't know the history of the one I was one! Turns out, four years ago nearly to the day, THAT train was the exact on that was bombed in Madrid. It was March 11th, right before presidential elections in 2004....Saturday was March 1st and the presidential elections are the 9th! Yikes. Either way, the town was sooo nice! It is the birthplace of Cervantes so we hit up the historical spots and then just chilled in the plaza for a day of people watching. Families out for the day, old men and women out for walks....just a fun European day! Today I went to Retiro park and took a nap for a bit....woke up super red from the sun! Can't believe the weather is so nice here ALREADY! wow.

te echare de menos

2008-02-25T11:53:00.000-08:00

Before I start, this one goes out to a really special lady: Kathy Koehler, who I worked with at Kurtz Realty and knew through my dad. Sadly, she passed away today back in Milwaukee, but I will always remember her for her loving spirit. Before she got sick, I know she had been reading this blog so I'll do my best to make it a good one for her!

Well, I was a little tired after Fiday night (and Saturday morning) out with the girls. The bus driver told me he felt sorry I had to work so early on Saturday morning....I didn't have the heart to tell him I was still coming back from Friday night. Soooo...my friend Rebekah came over and we passed the day away drawing on my new gift. Ok, this is a story in itself, but during exams my awesome cousin Katie from Holland sent me this gift. It is an aquadraw mat that is basically like a big "painting" etch-a-sketch. Instead of paint you use water to draw and when it dries, it erases so you can start all over again. It says 18+ months on the box but these two 21 year-olds were eatting it up!!!!! Best gift ever....

Moving on...my roommate kept asking if I had done drugs this weekend because I kept saying "mi telefono ha muerto" (my phone has died). I guess the phrase "to die" doesn't translate to electronics like it does in the states so they were all thinking I was finally wigging out. Same roomie woke me up screaming last night at 4am when her countryman won the Oscar. I told her that mine would win all the rest and that I needed to get some sleep so shut the hay up. I never did fall back asleep but lucky for me I got her back. She has this "friend" (I guess the word "amigo" isn't exactly what they taught us in school!) named Ruben who she has been seeing. She keeps tellin me they are only "amigos" which is a big, fat lie. Anyways, I have never met him and today this guy rang our bell. I was the only one home. I answered the buzzer and he said he was Andrea's boyfriend. Of course I let him in the bulding and went to the door to open it since I was dying to meet this "friend" of hers I have been hearing so much about. I open the door and say "hola, Ruben?" and he says "uhhh no.....Miguel". I nearly wet myself right then and there. I then pretended I didn't speak Spanish since there was no way I could talk my way out of this one. Secret's out on this one: she's playing the field like the Real Madrid soccer team!

Another quick story: went to the bakery on my way to a friend's house, had my hands full so I stood at the automatic door waiting for it to open. I wiggled my leg out a little bit to hit the sensors when the man behind me walked around me and kindly held the door for me. AUTOMATIC DOORS DON'T EXISIT IN SPAIN! hahaha he must have thought I was the oddest American ever. Almost as bad as the first time I saw "tirar" on the door which means "throw" so clearly you'd think that means "throw forward". When I kept on walking forward, all cockily knowing Spanish so well and smashed myself into the glass door sending echoes down the hallway of out building, I finally learned "tirar" means PULL! Duhoo.

There is so much other stuff that happens everyday but I guess I can't write about it all or even remember it now. If I have learned anything from Kathy it would be to just keep enjoying these moments that God has put in my life and cherish everyday. So, I guess I'll just keep on doing that. In the meantime, you all take care. PS 3 weeks until my family comes!!!!! Cannot wait!!!! (ask me on the 8th day of the trip and that response might be a little different haha)

classes, trips, and a whole lotta nothing

2008-02-18T10:15:00.000-08:00

Hey all- good news, I so far have passed four of my five classes with fairly high marks....a miracle in my eyes. I would have easily taken a D so I was pretty much shocked to get the grades I did.

So far this new semester my classes are 10002923 times better than last semester so that is GREAT news. I am taking Spanish Literature, Ethnology (is that the word in English?) of South America, Spanish in Business, Ethnolgy of Mexico, and Spanish Grammar. I really enjoy the "etnologia" classes since they are the study of cultures and traditions in society. Super interesting to me after traveling.

Even better, I planned my first few trips of this semester! My friend Michael and I are flying up to Asturias in the north of Spain for a weekend at the start of Spring Break. I am soooo excited as Asturias is filled with mountains and our hotel in the mountain is a 1.5 hour hike from civilization!!! I am so lucky I found such a great travel buddy who is up for "small town" travel and a little hiking in the mountains and on the beaches, too, we hope! We both cannot wait!!!

Then, my friends Andy and Maeve from Ireland (met in Malawi) invited the whole "African gang" to their house in Dublin in May! It will be so odd that most of the group who planned the World Aids Day event will be back together...in the first world nonetheless! We are all really excited to see each other. Needless to say, we have fairly stong bonds after our experiences together.

Hmm, I finally bought a comforter for my bed...in the past 3 year I've never been in one spot more than 5 months so I finally ditched the sleeping bag I had been sleeping in (right now my mom is giving me that "Bailey, what the heck were ya thinking?!" voice) and bought the IKEA comforter. Not gonna lie, the all you can drink soda, sweedish meatballs, and all you can eat ice-cream is a huge draw. Ok, the ice cream isn't REALLY all you can eat but FYI, if you get a spoon you can scrape it out of the cone and fill-er-up again!

haha wow, I just wrote about my classes and my comforter....I actually just bored MYSELF. It was a good weekend, went out with some Spanish friends, went to a French bday party, and my roomie brought me back chocolate from Paris this weekend...finally catching on about how to win over an American!

Hope you are all warm and dry and not shoveling...but that's unlikely. Sorry for that. So come and visit before July 1st!!!!

good student

2008-02-15T07:57:00.000-08:00

Well...I think this might be a good "learning" experience for me in that I may very well fail my first class ever. No joke. I know we all say "oh, I'm going to fail" but let me give you an idea of a Spanish test:

The professor arrives 20 minutes late to class. She then makes an inapropriate joke about Valentine's day and being relaxed for the test. Hands out the test. In the middle of the it, a Spaniard starts to cry it was so hard. She trys to get up and leave but the professor (who has been on her cell phone the whole time) pushes her back into her seat and tells her she cannot leave. The professor then dissapears for 5 mintues while everyone else in the room whips out their notes to cheat "muy rapido". The professor returns with a beer and a pack of cigs and hands them to the girl and tells her to relax.

Ok you might think I am kidding...heck, I barely believe it myself but it's a true story.

Then I get home to my apartment and open the door. My roomie has been waiting there to scare me as I open the door. I jump a mile and swear at her...but in Spanish so that was a good reaction! She then tells me she has been waiting for me to come home to tell me about her dream:

We are both in a bathtub. Yeah. Then suddenly it starts to fill with water and I scream that we are going to drown because I have my boot on (did I tell you I have a fracture in my foot? yeah, I'm 'booted' for a while). Anyways, Andrea, my roomie, then decides she will not allow us to die and saves us both. Then she woke up. I was laughing at how random she is until she says: "but wait, Bailey, I have some bad news....you still had your accent. But don't worry, I'm sure it's hard to lose it, even for a dream." This is the same girl who told me her full name last weekend; it took a mintue and half to get through what she could remember. The Spanish keep ALL names so she actually has like 15 last names, that she can remember, two of which are the same! So when she made fun of me for making pancakes, I just said "laugh all you want, you have two of the same last names "don Manuel, don Manuel!" Her family is coming to visit tomorrow and her sister is just back from Wisconsin so I can't wait to talk to her.

Anyways, so much has been happening I don't even know where to start so I'll leave you with that for now. Now that I have a few free mintues I'll keep posting.

Cambio

2008-02-08T14:16:00.000-08:00

What do ya think?

Today a couple of my friends convinced me to go with them to get our hair trimmed. They were like "you should do something crazy." And so I did. I haven't really changed my hair since the 5th grade so I might as well have gotten a perm here in Spain. In Spanish, it was literally like going to the horse races...a total gamble!

After that, my friend Katie, her roomie, and I went to the park to kick around our new soccer ball when a few 70 year old men gave us a huge long speech about how "you Americans and your money come here and act crazy" or something to that extent. It was hard to understand but basically they did not seem content with girls, Americans, playing soccer in the park in their t-shirt and capris. We had a good laugh which just made them more mad.... an interesting day.

Gordita.....quizas.

2008-02-04T23:27:00.000-08:00

Well, it's 6am and I'm getting and early start on my favorite day of the year...FAT TUESDAY/MARDI GRAS/GORDO MARTES. In whatever language, you get the idea...the one day of the year you God lets you stuff your face without feeling bad about it. Clearly this is my favorite day of the year to be a Catholic!

I already made plans to have a few girls over for "make your own pizza night". (They learned I can't realllly cook so they've been good to me on having me over for meals lately so I owe them a few) Seeing as today is Super Tuesday AND Fat Tuesday, we will be celebrating our American greatness by wearing sweatshirts, jeans, tennis shoes, and stuffing our faces all day long...to conclude our day, we will head to the polls at midnight here in Madrid to cast our votes in the primary election from abroad. Can you imagine anything more American than this day? I sure can't :)

The elections here are perhaps an even bigger deal than in the states and the candidates are lovingly refered to as "el negrito" y "la mujer" (the black and the woman) FYI- "el negrito" literally means 'the little black' and is also the word the super market uses to sell brownies....PC? I THINK NOT! haha. I giggle everytime I go by that aisle, almost as much as I giggle at the Americans who refer to blacks in Spain as "African-Americans". I'm sure somewhere there is a happy medium regarding PC but I've yet to find it! Either way...I can't believe that by my second presidential election I'm able to vote for a black man or woman....wow!!!

Hmm, not too much new besides that. Oh, I did watch the Spanish "Oscars" called the Goyas with my roomies. Well, I started to until I realized that there are really only like 2 Spanish movies made each year so it's just the same two movies winning OVER and OVER and OVER so I excused myself from that little bonding activity.

So, that is all...have a good, eat lots, and GET OUT AND VOTE!

Busy Week!

2008-01-29T20:36:00.000-08:00

Me at Columbus' Tomb....or maybe not since they're not actually sure if he's in there but let's charge you $8 to see it anyways :)

Hey Peeps!

Well, the good news is the Euro to Dollar rate dropped to from $1.54 to 1Euro to $1.48 to 1Euro. Bad news is my plan to become a Coyote Feo dancer to pay my rent is scratched. Due to these turbulent economic times, I will however keep practicing in my room ...just in case.

Exams are this week, which is why I'm writing my blog. Anything to keep from reading about another freaking Spanish king. Seriously, if you're all named Carlos and Felipe I WILL NOT REMEMBER ANYTHING ABOUT YOU! But, at least I have a 50/50 chance of getting the questions right on the exam by picking one of two names regardless of the century. I've had numerous "study groups" with my friends which usually end up with us just giving up, downing loaves of bread, red wine, and olive oil, and teaching each other all the funny Spanish words we learned that week. I think my roommates think I've become a recluse which is easier than trying to explain I'm only in my room so much because I have the reading level of a third grader and it takes me days to figure out who ACTAULLY won the Thirty Years War. I asked tonight who won a battle and when my roomie replied France, I was surprised to find France was even in the war! I didn't let her know that and represented the USA by saying "oh, of course." Go me!

I kind of messed up my foot while running. Haven't run in almost three weeks now so my marathon plans might be scratched. Went to the free hospital (ghhhettttooo) and they wrapped it in a soft cast, said it might be a tendon and I need an MRI and maybe some sweet crutches. I x-ed THAT idea as soon as I remembered that they don't have crutches in Spain. They all use those little Tiny Tim sticks and hobble around throwing their sticks AND legs everywhere....right, that will NOT be happening. Worse, since no female in this country, maybe continent, is athletic, it will be assumed I fell off the bus or got my American foot caught in a McDonald's deep fat fryer since no other injury is possible in Spain....hence the sticks. I'll keep you updated on THAT situation.

Besides that, life is going great :) Can't wait for some post-exam freedom and new classes. Hope you're all doing well...it's 60 degrees here right now and it's 6am....just wanted to rub that in. Much love!

Mucho que????????

2008-01-24T07:30:00.000-08:00

Spain's culture is weird. I tried to convince myself it was "different" and "unique" but today I have finally reached the conclusion it's just odd.

My roommates had a play today that they were all staring in so I wished them "good luck" and then quickly corrected myself to say "break a leg Turns out they are both wrong in Spain. I am supposed to say "lots of s***". Amazingly, this did not surprise me at all. I had just finished reading a magazine that listed the best erotic shops amongst the best restaurants in Madrid. Really? This got me thinking about why I think this country is weird.

-everything closes and life stops between 2pm and 5pm so people can nap.
-There are more legs of ham in stores than there are people.
-People drink more olive oil than water.
-Dog poop is never picked up; apparently it is easier to clean your shoes every night than bend over to pick it up.
- the same teacher who yelled at me for using my PDA to text in class (turned out to be my English/Spanish pocket dictionary) answered her cell phone 5 minutes later.
-50 degrees or below mandates than every Spaniard must complain about the weather and no one understands what I mean by "sunburn".
-the post office workers are NICE!
-Smoking in front of a NO SMOKING sign does not draw attention...neither does lighting up in class.
-McDonald's asked me if I wanted a beer with my Happy Meal.

I could come up with a million more but basically I have learned to go with the flow and never be surprised. Still 8 more hours left before bed...I'm sure lots won't surprise me in between then.

Lo que todos queremos es mas tiempo....

2008-01-22T07:37:00.000-08:00

Hey All-

Well what a weekend it was :) My cousin, Jenny, and her husband, Jeff, arrived in Madrid Friday morning and did we ever get a lot done in a few days. We started off by heading the Hard Rock Cafe where Jeff added to his Hard Rock collection. It was amazing for me to have some "real" food for once. Not that I need anymore American food as Jenny and Jeff brought the wonderful goodness that is Sam's Club to Spain: giant Chex Mix, giant Honey Nut Cheerios, and giant maple syrup. We also went to Retiro park on Friday and a Flamenco Show at night.....I was more tired than they were and I wasn't even jet-lagged :) Saturday meant a trip to the Royal Palace, the city center, a wine bar for tapas, and a great day seeing all the tourist spots we could. We hit up the Prado and Reina Sofia to see some amazing art (as well the the President of Peru!) on Sunday after El Rastro (giant flea market). It was so much fun seeing my own city as a tourist and I had an even better time seeing Jenny and Jeff. They are just such great examples and I am lucky to call them my family! A highlight: I managed to learn a lot about wine from the Goforths...port wine, legs, letting it breathe, surface area, etc. Before this weekend my knowledge revolved around who sold the cheapest box :) Hopefully they're caught up on their rest by now...it was a busy weekend.

I was also glad they were here to talk to (in English mind you) as the news about my former coach/teacher surfaced. Pretty tough to handle for everyone who knew him and I hope that by the Grace of God his family can get through this. Thanks for everyone who sent a note or checked in; it really means a lot to have so much love in my life during the tough times.

With exams coming up I know I better go study so I'm off but will keep you all updated.

Lo que todos queremos es mas tiempo....
Tiempo para ponerte en pie...
Tiempo para madurar...
Tiempo para dejar pasar...
el tiempo.

Nalgas!

2008-01-15T08:43:00.000-08:00

Watching the Packer Game...LIVE!

"NALGAS!"

Set the scene: I'm in class with 100 Spaniards and then there's me. I sit in the front row everyday, have not missed class, and have NEVER talked. The class is called "The Latin American Novel" and on a good day, I understand half of what we're talking about. The problem isn't that I don't know the Spanish, the problem is I don't even get what we're talking about in English (existencialism, trancendentalism, whogivesafartism, etc...). However, today was my shining moment. The book we're reading a Puerto Rican novel. Since Puerto Rico is a US territory there are a few words in English in the book. I giggled through every line our teacher read because imagine her trying to get through words like "quiet" and "all"; since two "l"s in a row make the "y" sound in Spanish, she kept saying "ay is kwee-it". Then she kept making policitally incorrect statements/impressions about Chinese and gays and I kept giggling thinking about how she would have just lost her job in the US. She was not amused at my giggles. So when she came to ask the class what the word "nalgas" meant from the book, I knew it was my time to regain some points for Team USA!

Let me explain. Nalgas is a Spanish word, yes, but only used in Latin America so the Spaniards were at a loss. I, however, have mastered all vulgar Mexican Spanish from a young age and knew that nalgas means "butt cheeks".

"Who knows what 'nalgas' means....come on someone has to know?!?!" Silence from the 100 Spaniards. Then the shy little, ghetto-ly dressed American girl in the front row raises her hands. I can literally hear the jaws drop behind me and the teacher looks at me thinking "she must have to go to the bathroom". "I know....it means, well, ummm the cheeks of a butt." (literally translated) The class choked a bit on their laughter thinking I had to be kidding. But to their surprise, I was correct. Butt cheeks...those will be the two words I say all year in the Latin American Novel class but I will be going down in a blaze of glory. Butt cheeks...the day the American knew the Spanish that the Spaniards did not. Today was a good day!

MOM: discovered "Fingers of Chicken" in the grocery store and nearly flipped a lid. I bought all 8 bags of frozen chicken fingers + a jar of honey which may have been overkill but better safe than sorry...rumors of Honey Nut Cheerios in aisle 2 proved untrue. Oh well, I'll take what I can get.

PS: My cousin Jenny and her husband Jeff are coming to visit this weekend and I am more pumped than ever!!!! Such a surprise, they let me know over Christmas and I cannot wait :) It will be a quick trip; I hope they're not too tired with the jet-lag but I'm sure it will be a blast.

Can't be broken!

2008-01-12T18:31:00.000-08:00

My last blog I wrote about Katie coming and how it must be in God's plan to have us together, etc, etc. and this weekend that already has proved completely true!

Yesterday I went out with Katie and some of our friends to dinner, but we were exhausted and called it a night around 11pm and then just sat and talked for an hour or so by ourselves. It was so great to have one of those "girl talks" with someone who knows everything about you. Katie and I are pretty positive people, in fact probably the most positive people I know, but this week/ weekend has NOT been good for either one of us in about 1 million ways so there is no one else in this world I'd want here more right now than her. We talked more today, vented about everything from Spain to cellphone contracts to boys and basically came to the conclusion we are going to get through this together....just as we said that, my Kodak digital camera slipped from my hands and fell down the entire flight of winding stairs bouncing off the wall and finally smashing into the door at the end. There were parts everywhere...literally broken apart...and there is no better way to sum up our friendship....OF COURSE THAT WOULD HAPPEN. We both sat on the stairs half laughing and half crying just looking at the mess...so metaphorical it wasn't even funny...but I turned to Katie and said "dude, I've had that camera since the 7th grade and it will never die. I promise you this poop head will work." I've been wanting to get a new camera for years but this one has been to 15 countries, 3 continents, scared by paint and numerous droppings, but I cannot kill it! Looking at the pieces you wouldn't believe me, but the camera does still work!!!! I think it's a sign that WE can't ever be really broken (or Kodak is the Toyota of cameras).

So to celebrate, we went out dancing at an amazing hole in the wall Cuban salsa club AFTER of course watching the Packer game at an Irish pub. We had an absolute blast at the club and even got the DJ to put on a few "American" songs like Usher and Lil Jon. We taught the Spaniards how to really "Get Low" and they taught us all their fancy stepping moves...it was like a scene from a movie, the three American girls pretty much owning a club where people would hollar and yell with every new move. It was just too funny and we met some great people, too. All in all a great night, but I'm knackered and better hit the hay. Will write more later.

Best part of the week: Getting an Inspi(red) card from the German family (who are really Irish)and a Product Red pin (African AIDS charity products). Seriously talk about turing your day around when someone is thinking about you! :) Thanks guys!

I'm alive and I'm free, who wouldn't wanna be me?

2008-01-08T08:21:00.000-08:00

Katie and I (and the gang) and the "trouble" we cause!

Hey DUDES!

Well, in keeping with my new years resoulution, I'm updating this thing.

As you know, my friend Katie got here on the 5th. Now Katie and I have been best friends since something like the 7th grade. Imagine, your best bud in the world for years and years and suddenly God plops you in not just the same country, but the same city and school?!?! (and we didn't plan it either! honest) The combo has already been unforgettable.

It started about 10 am when I got to the airport to pick up Katie. She has given me the wrong flight number so I couldn't tell if her flight has landed or whatnot. After almost 2 hours I was sure something was wrong so I called her parents to say that her number was wrong and she wasn't there. Good thing I feel comfortable calling their household at 5am US time because we soon figured out her flight was cancelled from Italy. There was no way to figure out what flight she would be on, etc. so I had to wait it out at the airport calling every major airline, etc but to no avail. After a total of nearly 8 hours, I got a call from Katie saying she was in terminal 4 in Madrid....when I finally got there she was nearly in tears (she'd been up 24 hours and paid $100 for her new flight) but it was sooooo good to see her! As I have had a killer high fever the past couple days, we were both pretty out of it but did manage to pull an "us" when the bed we were sitting on came crashing to the floor while we were chatting. We sat there laughing and crying as that was pretty much the way the day had gone for both of us!

She's been at orientation this week but I did bump into her in the hall at school today. Ok, doesn't sound that cool considering we were "locker buddies" in Brookfield but PEOPLE, we're talking about bumping into each other in the 100,000 student Universidad de Complutense de Madrid in SPAIN.......that's pretty amazing! Anyways, it's back to classes today and it was good to see all my other American friends and catch up with them. BUT I do miss my friends back home. I got a package from one of my "real" American friends today who sent me a Christmas box with my favorites: Chex Mix, Andes Candies, and even better a green football t-shirt with my number, 45, on it. Talk about putting a big smile on my face....the same friend who sent me a package in Africa last year so with postage as it is, it was so sweet! Makes me really miss my friends back home!

Hope your 2008 is off to a great start...much love!

2008 is gonna be GREAT!

2008-01-02T18:52:00.000-08:00

Christmas Americana with Megan, Maggie, and Ryan

My Irish Christmas with the Devlin Family

Melodie and I in Madrid

Mel, Andrew, and I in Segovia

Hey Folks- Literally. My dad emailed me to tell me to update this since my phone calls home are mostly about my credit card bill, money, or just to inform the fam what country I'll be in for the weekend. This blog was not a good idea, it's WAY more like a chore now, haha.

I'll go fast: I spent Christmas in Scotland/Ireland. I spent two days in Scotland with my friend Megan and her fiance Ryan. We were joined by our friend Maggie who also was a volunteer in Malawi. It was so odd to be together in the first world and do all the things we talked about in Africa. The main event was our Christmas dinner made my Ryan. It was fantastic! Then, Maggie and I took the ferry over to Northern Ireland for Christmas. I stayed with her family and they welcomed me as there own. We stopped at her brother's house in Belfast for a night which was a real trip. The next morning Anne Marie (Maggie's friend) gave us a ride to Cookstown (their home town) where Maggie's family opened their home and hearts to me. Christmas was different but so amazing. I really felt like I was at home listening to stories of the Troubles, being called a Yank, and enjoying all the traditional food of the homeland. It was just lovely. Her whole family (aunts/ uncles) and friends welcomed me as well and I got some AMAZING Christmas gifts from everyone to help me remember my Irish Christmas.

I flew home on the 26th and had an 8 hour layover in Barcelona. I did quick run through of the city hitting up all the tourist spots. I got back to Madrid at 3 am and was back at the airport to pick up my friends Mel and Andrew at 11am.

They flew in from Chicago to come and see me! Actually, Mel is the principal of Nativity Jesuit Middle School and Andrew teaches in California, but I know them both from working at Nativity's summer camp. We had SUCH a great time. They are just wonderful people and it was amazing to start the New Year with them. (Mel of course led us in a 2007 review and 2008 goals/predictions meeting!) We zipped through Spain taking overnight buses to Granada and Sevilla and toured Segovia. Along the way we ended up waiting in line and freezing for 3 hours in the mountains trying to get tickets to the Alhambra in Granada, sharing one bed in Sevilla to save money, and eventually returned for New Years in Madrid. We had so many laughs. We headed to the Puerta del Sol at 10pm but after eating our traditional 12 grapes at midnight for good luck, we had to go to the bathroom soooo bad (maybe it was due to our CruzCampo 40's). It was literally like "Happy New Year....run!!!!" What a great start to 2008. BUUUUUT, the whole holiday season away from home really made me think how great 2008 is going to be....friends from around the world have made my 2007 fantastic and I know that 2008 can only get better with so many people who love me in my life. In fact, on Saturday my best frined since middle school, Katie, gets to Madrid to study for the semester.....oh the stories we'll have to tell. My 2008 blog goal: keep this thing updated so my daddy isn't mad. Feliz Ano!

Feliz Navidad!

2007-12-18T03:19:00.000-08:00

Been a while, hey? I knew this would start to happen with the blog. I´ve been here now for almost four months so life becomes ¨life¨....those little everyday things that I feel no need to write about. I officially live in Spain now, got my green card last week! Even though I´m pretty settled in one spot now, I´ll try to fill you in on the details. I am totally loving where I´m living. These past few weeks have been SO hard with school. I´ve had exams, tons of papers and presentations to finish, and all that ¨junk¨. I know I should be saying I´m learning from it but the truth is: not really. I TOTALLY miss the US education system. Yeah, it´s easy and they baby us...BUT I feel like classes are fun compared to here. Madrid classes are really just professors talking for 90 minutes about the agriiculture of Spain in the middle ages...imagine that in another language thinking the whole time ¨great... and in another 400 years Columbus discovered my country!¨ BOOOOOooooring. My literature class is great and very interactive but the rest...not impressed. I´m hoping it´s only because I picked bad classes this semester and next semester will be better. One can hope, right? I do know one thing, I can´t WAIT to go back to Madison!!!!

I think I learn the most when I´m with my roomies...I´ve finally reached the point where I can understand some jokes and even make my own. They have started answering the telephone ¨hello¨so that all of their friends slowly say: ¨H-o-l-a....I-R-E-N-E por favor.¨They think it´s hularious that they can pretend to be me and have their frends dumb down the Spanish thinking it´s me. No, in all seriousness, as much as I say I have not, I have improved. A lot. My roomies keep saying, ¨think of your first day, the first one...and now look, you´re speaking spanish!!!¨ Irene and I compared pictures of Paris the other night and I was trying so hard not to laugh. All of hers were gorgeous, sophisticated, artistic. I had to explain why there were multiple picture of me slapping the butts of ancient greek god statues in the Lourve and pole dances in front of the Moulin Rouge. Niceeeee. So American of me.

Super excited, tonight my friend Taryn is coming over to ¨study phonetics¨ but since we´re pretty much already done with our papers this is just an excuse to watch Christmas movies in English and eat taco dip....YAY! I can see the light at the end of the tunnel already :) Since I was pigging out a year ago today as it was my first day back in the States, I figured I will make Dec. 18th an annual ¨feast¨ day...any excuses people!

Leaving for Scotland on Dec. 20th and then off to Ireland on Dec. 22nd. I´ll spend the first two days with my friend Megan and her fiance in Glasgow and the rest with my friend Maggie from Northern Ireland and her family. Both were volunteers with me in Africa and I could think of no better way to spend my Christmas this year. Then on the 27th, my friends Andrew and Mel come to visit me from the States and let me tell ya, I´m feeling the love already! How sweet of them to come over here to celebrate the new year!!!! Will keep you posted :) Until then, God Bless and have a very Merry Christmas. If you get some time, shoot me a Christmas email at bcurtis@wisc.edu .....I´d love to hear from you all. FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!!

A romantic weekend

2007-12-09T04:05:00.000-08:00

On Rou du Rivoli

On top of the Eiffel Tower

First of all, congrats to my cousins Kevin and Jenni whose wedding I missed. The pictures from Aunt Nancy looked so beautiful and it looked like everyone was having lots of fun! Wish I could have been there, but.....I was in romantic Paris instead.

So I have literally travelled around the world, but I have to say Paris is my all time favorite city....I know, I know. I rip on the French all the time, but they were actually SO much kinder than the people of Madrid! We arrived Tuesday night and stayed in a hostal right across the street from the Lourve. I got up everyday at 5:30am to go run. Imagine running in the dark with no one around for miles on the river Seine past the Lourve with the Mona Lisa, the famous concierge prison where the revolutionaries spent their last days, seeing the Eiffel Tower, etc. So incredible!
In our four days we were able to visit the Eiffel tower at night, during the day, see the Lourve and the famous Mona Lisa, the modern museum with the famous Van Goughs, the Moulin Rouge and red light district, we were able to "storm" the Bastille, drink coffee in little cafes, have a baguette and cheese, tour the famous districts, see the grave of James Morrison, the Notre Dame cathedral, and on and on and on. Just amazing. My friend Katie was a great travel buddy and we were able to see so much of the amazing city. I think I am studying the wrong language :) Everyone in that city is in love, even if it's just with the city itself...would love to go back someday.

World AIDS Day!

2007-12-01T04:24:00.000-08:00

Hope you all are having a wonderful World AIDS Day. It's sooooo hard for me to think last year I was in the middle of Africa celebrating the day with an infected population of 33%. Now I'm in a European capital city where our education and socio-economic status doesn't allow that, but the problem is still a worldwide one. What a difference a year can make.

Hope you all are wearing your red ribbons!

This week was exam week so I am exahusted and BEAT! I'm working on my School of Ed. application today and then celebrating a friend's birthday tonight. I won't stay long, I honestly feel a little crappy celebrating on days like this one where I think of my friends in Africa who have nothing to celebrate. I called Malawi today to check in, it's always so good to talk with them to make sure everyone survived this month. I guess the volunteers decided to continue with the World AIDS Day celebration that I started last year. AWESOME! Haha, I love how I tried to change to topic to school and Spain but somehow got back to Africa. Can you guess where my heart is?

Anyways, things are good here. Leaving on Tuesday for Paris with my friend Katie. I can't wait! I am so gratful to be so blessed!!! Hope you all are doing well and remember: LOVE LIFE: KNOW YOUR HIV STATUS! Tawonga ukongwa!

Thanksgiving (Spain Style and better-style!)

2007-11-24T06:17:00.000-08:00

This would be when the table was collapsing!

My roomies eating their first Thanksgiving meal

The Spanish charades team singing the national anthem.

ROOMIES!!!

The Spanish say "pAtAtAs" in their pictures and this is how it turns out!

Friday was the culmination of my great Thanksgiving idea: cooking for my Spanish roomies. Lucky for me, my friend Katie offered to help and she's a pretty fancy chef at the American Club! So, we had all that we needed...more or less. I bought all the stuff at the store here, a little hard to find some of it. But, we got it all by Friday. We started cooking in the world's smallest kitchen around 6pm and finished by about 10pm. Only one ball of fire with the gas stove and we were good to go! We had turkey, stuffing, cranberries, gravy, mashed potatoes, corn, red wine, bread, TACO DIP (aka Mary Pat's dip), and even pumpkin pie and ice cream....pretty close, hey?!?! When we put everything on the table my roomies were in awe! They kept saying "it's like we're on Friends!" We decided to take a picture before dinner and it might be the best picture EVER. We were all hungry, wanting to eat, but decided to put the self timer picture option on quick to document the dinner. Andrea (my roommate) set it up and then ran to be in the picture. Sometimes she can have a little too much energy so when she came flying in for the picture she ran right into me and then caught herself on the table. Did I mention it is a cheap folding table? The picture we captured was as the table was folding in half with all the stuff still on it!!!!!! PERFECT TIMING. Click.

Not to worry, we caught the table and had a great meal. They were complaining about the post-meal cramps and bloating....I did't say anything about my American-ness rubbing off on them when two hours later they brought out the leftovers. They even ate it again for lunch! We ate, loved the food, and then played charades for a few hours. In the end, the Spaniards (and actress majors) declared themselves the winners and got up to sing the Spanish anthem in front of "Team America". A lot of laughs, culture jokes, and a great Thanksgiving...I've got to be thankful I live here with them! :)

Thanksgiving (American Version)

2007-11-22T15:21:00.000-08:00

You MUST be joking...apple pie does NOT contain flan, Spain! haha

At dinner :)

We're both so "guay" that Taryn and I bought the same coat!

So, since Thanksgiving in an American holiday it's not too big of a deal here in Spain. Since it's my second one in a row away from home it's not too bad, either. Last year we were killing the birds in the morning to eat at night....today I was in a gourmet Spanish Restaurant. That's something to be thankful for right there! Our American program payed for our meals and we even got apple pie...WAIT....it was actually flan with apples on top!!! No joke...all I could do was laugh.

I decided to cook a "real" Thanksgiving meal for my Spanish roommates so tomorrow my friend Katie (who is a cook at the American Club) is coming over to help me :) That will be my REAL Thanksgiving meal. Truth is, I pretty much have thanksgiving everyday since I've been blessed with so much again this year!!! Seriously, how awesome is it that in just the past year I've been to 7 different countries, lived in 3 of them, and attended 2 amazing universities!?!?!? A roof over my head, electricity/water for most of the year, food on the table, and a whole lot of love......couldn't ask for more and I'm thankful for every moment of it!!!!!

Other than that, school is getting a little intense now with midterms coming up. I did however make time to go out with my roomie, Andrea, and her friend who was visiting. Her friend is from Brazil, is of Korean decent, and they met in London so last night we were speaking Portu-Engli-anish...my head felt like exploding trying to figure out what language we were in! I think I need a Thanksiving nap...or a siesta! It's now past midnight here so Turkey Day is over here but I hope you're all enjoying your meals right now, taking off your belts. And if you just ate a meal with friends and family, took a nap in your house, watched the Packer game on a television, and then turned on your computer to log on to the internet, you've got plenty to be thankful for this year!!!! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! (PS they started playing Christmas music in Spain today...just like at home...bring the season on)

Dear Mom,

2007-11-16T06:35:00.000-08:00

So after reading my blog my mom keeps asking if I actually go to school or not. I put this song on here just for her and would like to remind her that I still have a pitcure of her toothless at a wedding....so go ahead and keep on asking, lady! Just kidding...love ya, madre...and YES I do go to school :)

All I want is a cup of beer!!!

2007-11-15T15:50:00.000-08:00

Oh the mistakes continue. Look, I promise to all I actually am learning Spanish but my lastest mistake takes the cake! I went out to a play with my roomies last night to practice my Spanish and actually understood the play! I was pumped and on a Spanish "high" feeling all confident and exctied at how good I am becoming. "Bang"...that plane got shot down FAST. We went to a bar afterwards with their whole theater class....I actually know a lot of the people since they have either been here or I have been to their house, right? One of the guys asked me what I wanted to drink so I told him the tap beer or "cana"...well I mixed up my vowels and said "cono" instead. Not a big deal, they'll know what I mean, right? Turns out thte one thing in the world I should NEVER say is cono...I guess vowels do make a big difference. My roomie spun around saying "what did you just say?!?!" and then died of laughter. I guess I asked the slang term for genitalia....I rock. My roomies have joked all day asking if I want something to drink....haha. At least now I am able to speak well enough to tell them how much I think their language stinks and that no one should make words like that so close together....I guess we're mall good sports. My one roomie invited me to Christmas with her family...in Africa (Morocco). I would have said yes but already made plans. On the 20th I am flying to Scotland to spend a "first" Christmas with Megan (volunteer with me in Malawi) and her fiance, and then will take the ferry over to Ireland to spend Christmas in Cookstown with our friend Maggie (also a volunteer) and her family. I am soooo excited to see them both AND to have two Christmas' with some of the greatest people I know! They are so sweet to have me stay with them and I am so blessed to have such great friends here. December will be a crazy month visiting France, Germany, Scotland, Ireland, and Barcelona...oh, did I mention that on the 27th my friends Andrew and Mel are flying from the states to come visit me while they have Christmas vacation??? Can you imagine how pumped I am????? Better do my sleeping now :)

Fix You

2007-11-11T06:43:00.000-08:00

I just got back again from the airport for what feels like the 100th time this year. For all I know, it was the hundredth time; to be honest; my head has been in a fog for most of it. I was saying an indefinite goodbye to my friend Megan for the second time in ten months; the first was along a dirt road in a place that now seems so far away and only we will know, understand. We met in Malawi.... and for us there is nothing else to add after that.

We came home last year and talked your ears off about our "trip"....or so you would call it. But how could any of you have known that we weren't on a trip...we were at the center of our lives. I sat at the airport today crying for the first time not for Africa, but for me, processing the sweet melancholy of all that has happened to us in the past year. We came home and tried to tell Africa's story, not our own, and this weekend we started to piece ourselves back together, which decidedly may be as far as we ever come to being "fixed".

All in all, it was a great weekend filled with as much Spanish culture as we could get in....Europe's largest flea market, flamenco dances, park visits, sangria, etc. but I think for both of us the visit was so much more than the tangible things. I already can't wait to go visit Megan and her fiance, Ryan, in Scotland later this year!

Cheer up...and so I did.

2007-11-07T05:28:00.000-08:00

My dad has always said "Cheer up, things could get worse....so I cheered up, and sure enough, things got worse!"

The past few days have been a few of those "days" all strung together. Before I begin, don't feel bad for me. I'm of the mentality that you have to find humor in everything so I'm only sharing my misfortunes in hopes you all get a good laugh out of it, like I have. From the top:

While I don't write about it much (booooring), I actually am in school here and it just got HARD! My phonetics teacher, who the majority of the class has dubbed as crazy, has decided to "deviate" from the syllabus provided and has added a new paper....15 pages, a summary of the 300 page grammar book we have to read, all due next week. Thanks for the 7 day heads up...the fact the book isn't in the library doesn't help much either. In my novel class, I am the only foreign student out of 100 and I have the honor of giving my "semester final presentation" FIRST! Can’t wait…I still get the words “embarrassed” and “pregnant” mixed up so I’m sure at some point I’ll end up telling my fellow students about how “pregnant” I am.

Next, I had this mysterious rash on my knee after running a few days ago. I changed my pants and though nothing of it....the next day it was my WHOLE leg! Then it spread to both!!!! I was freaked, washed everything I own, and tried to think of what it could be. Turns out the hard candy I bought at the Lidl Supermarket is ACTUALLY a daily multi-vitamin and the rash was probably due to the fact I was basically eating the equivalent of half a bottle of Flintstones every day and was OD'd on zinc or vitamin E or something random like that. What an idiot.

Since I was lacking in vitamins (I haven't taken any since the rash), I was craving protein and decided to cook some chicken. Problem was our lighter was out of fluid to light the as stove....after trying a few times to light it with sparks, it finally lit....up my arm and my sweatshirt. Nothing like the smell of burned arm hair in the kitchen! No damage done but I decided to get a new lighter.

Sooo…I bought the lighter today (along with my imported bottle of $35 contact solution) and was thrilled to find that all they sold were lighters with marijuana leaves on them. So there I am with my rash, my 25 hours of homework, my burned arm hair, and drug paraphernalia walking down the street when I get home to find a bird somehow got into my room, pooped on my desk, and then got out. NO JOKE! You think I was lying hey?!?! Gets better…now, as I'm writing this blog, I have realized that the piece of gum that was on my plate for lunch has fallen off, landed under my computer and the heat has melted it between the keyboard and desk.

I am supposed to go to basketball practice and Capoeira class tonight but I am too afraid to leave the house! I think I’ll take a nap and laugh myself to sleep….:)

Cousins Weekend.....going Dutch!!

2007-11-04T04:13:00.000-08:00

Where to begin? My “cousins” trip to Amsterdam was absolutely amazing! Katie is a superstar of a cousin, starting with picking me up at 12am from the airport…no biggie for me until I realized how FREAKING hard it is when you have kids (or even stay with them for four days!) Curtis and Johnny are sooooo well behaved and such great kids, but come 8 or 9pm each night I wanted to call my own mom and thank her…because if she had to chase after me like that all day, it sooo wasn’t worth it. Katie is seriously a super-mom AND manages to do it all in a foreign country. I even caught her doing the “soccer mom hand” on ME in the car when she hit the breaks! But not to worry, Katie is still one of those “cool” moms. I mean it. First of all, there is Amsterdam: when we took a wrong turn and wound up in the MIDDLE of the city, there were words coming out of her mouth I didn’t know existed. I can also say Katie is the only one of my cousins who would ever buy me a chocolate covered waffle to eat while we looked at sex shops together! And who kept telling me to look at the naked women in the windows in the red light district because it was “legal, their choice, and you’re only here once!”? Haha, in all seriousness, Amsterdam was a crazy city and it was much more fun to say I “saw” it with Katie rather than “experienced” it.

A quick summary to catch you up: Thursday, after opening my birthday gifts (can you believe that!?! That's cousin Katie for ya) we went to Delft and went out for a great lunch (where I got a pancake the size of my head AND broke the Delft faucet in the bathroom….sweet.) Then we bummed around town shopping and hit up the churches. Thursday night, after only spending a few hours with the boys I have never been so tired in my life and was asleep by about 8pm. Friday we went to the “Queen’s Park” on bikes and then Erik treated me to the best dinner I’ve had in Europe! We walked around Den Haag and saw where the Queen practices. It was such a fun night and the food was amazing. Saturday Katie and I went to Amsterdam, took a canal tour, saw the red light district, the coffee shops, and the Anne Frank House. It was SUCH a different city from Madrid and I loved it. It gets such a bad rap but is actually a BEAUTIFUL city!!! Then it was off the Pancake House with the boys and their friends before trick-or-treating. Yup, I’m twenty-one and went trick-or-treating…in Holland! And today it was up at the butt-crack of dawn to take me to the airport for my 7am flight. If any of the Leavers ever need a kidney or liver I guess I better be the first in line after all they did for me this weekend, hey?!?! Well, I am pooped OUT so I’m going down for my Sunday Siesta….but thanks to the Leavers….it was an amazing weekend I won’t ever forget!

Otra vez...por favor

2007-10-30T14:57:00.000-07:00

Random picture of the three Spanish Education majors

So....I was talking to my friend Katie the other day on one of our bi-weekly US-Spain calls, bragging about how much better I've gotten with my Spanish over the past few weeks (almost all of my dreams are in Spanish now!) I told her that once you actually understand pretty much everything, there aren't so many funny moments. Guess I forgot to knock on wood!

In my literature class I needed to find a tutor in class, but the majority of the kids are foreign and I needed a Spanish student. So, I took the plunge and started asking....I was rejected about 10 times before one girl finally said "yes". I was pumped! I went on to explain what I needed, etc. and then she asked me a question. I think. I didn't know what she said so I asked her to repeat it. She did. I STILL didn't understand. I apologized and asked her to repeat it a bit more slowly. This is where is gets bad...I still didn't understand her! Haha, soooo I had to ask for a THIRD time. She said it again and I was LOST....what the heck?!?! I STILL DIDN'T UNDERSTAND. I was staring at her thinking, how the HECK am I going to be able to ask a fourth time?!?!?! 4 times?!?! I wondering what would happen if I just turned around and bolted out the door.....trust me, if I didn't need to class to graduate I would have taken my chances running. Needless to say I still don't have a tutor and I don't blame her....unless they pay extra for helping mentally handicapped Americans, it's soooo not worth it.

On an awesome note: I leave for Amsterdam tomorrow to visit my cousin Katie, her husband, and their two kids. You know that hand rubbing thing I do when I get excited, well I have blisters on my fingers this week! When I was little....wait....younger....I used to go visit Katie and Erik in Notre Dame and I can't wait to spend another Halloween weekend with them...Euro-style this time.

Weekend

2007-10-28T07:24:00.000-07:00

Well, it's 3:30pm and I'm the only roommate awake right now....just for those of you who didn't believe me that the Spanish schedule is COMPLETELY different!!!! Nope, it's not siesta time...they're just still sleeping. I'll start from the beginning:

So Friday night we all went out for one of the Marquette girls' birthdays. At about 2am most people wanted to go to a disco, but they're way expensive so a few of us went out with a few of our Spanish friends to another bar so we could talk and practice our Spanish. It was great, but getting home at 6am is never easy...for the Americans. But it was my one night out this weekend, right? WRONG! Then last night my roommate Andrea took me out again with her friends for "dinner": while we were both sitting shoeless in the metro at 6:30am this morning talking Spanglish to each other I was trying to figure out what the heck happened to the low-key dinner?!?! One of her friends from class was having her birthday dinner and since she speaks perfect English from living in Miami I always like asking her for slang translations that most Spaniards don't know... so I decided to go. Well, at about 2am I was mentally DEAD from listening so hard to everyone's convos. That's when they decided to go to "boys town" in Madrid to the "super-cutre (trashy)" gay bar. Haha, in case I wasn't totally beat before, seeing half- naked dudes make out to "It's Raining Men" will do it. It was a change from the usual clubs, I guess. By the time we left at 6am when the Metro reopened I was pretty much flat-lined. We had to wait half an hour since the Metro broke down and it was the roughest Spanish conversation of my life..."I was, I am, you are....he IS" was a rough translation of what I sounded like fumbing for the right words. Andrea and I have never spoken more than 2 word sentences to each other in English but she started telling me a story in Enlgish about how she fell asleep in the metro once and rode for hours.....and after hearing English I gave in and just spoke in English for the next 10 minutes home. I don't think she understood much but I didn't really care. I totally cheated but I did dream in Spanish all night so something must be working!

I've got basketball practice in a few minutes so I better run but love to all back home. I leave for Amsterdam to visit my awesome cousin Katie and her family on Wednesday so I am supppppper pumped for that and will have some great updates, I'm sure!

Getting better....

2007-10-23T17:22:00.000-07:00

Our roommate dinner: Sandra, Irene, y Andrea (and her Brazilian friend David who was in Spain for the weekend)

My Capoeira move :)
Out at Plaza de Espana with our new Spanish friends

Hey Dudes!

Well, this week has been pretty busy already. On Friday night I went out with some girls from Marquette to meet their Spanish friends at a park here. There were about 10 Spanish guys and the four of us so we got a LOT of practice speaking in Spanish. Then Saturuday, I was exhausted from Friday night but at 11:30pm my roommate asked me to go out with her and she's way to much fun to turn down. We walked about an hour across town to meet her friends and there were about 10 of them at an apartment. Of course everyone wanted to ask me questions and I felt like Andrea's (my roomie) pet since sometimes she had to "dumb down" the questions to simple Spanish! It was cute b/c she was so protective of me and wouldn't let ANYONE speak English to me. We went out later with just a few of them to a few bars and again it was GREAT practice. However, since the bars were all local Spanish places, she got a kick out of me pretending I didn't speak Spanish to the guys who were trying to talk to me because I was an American. It gets annoying after a while. Anyways, Andrea randomly announced early this week in the kitchen "cebolla [sa-boy-a]" which means "onion" while holding it up. I told her I actually knew that word, but thanks. I was so confused because she kept saying it over and over and finally was like "Bailey, 'cebolla' where my SISTER is! I'm going there for Christmas!!!" I was DYING of laughter since her sister is in SHEBOYGAN! That would have taken me YEARS to figure out but I sure got a taste of my own medicine...they must feel like that everytime I open my mouth.

News of the week:
I finally mastered my break-dance move for my capoiera class....some kids are still on cartwheels so I'm like on cloud nine! Even the Spanish and French kids could tell I was excited when I was on my head going "oh my God, yes....yes...I'm doing it...ahhhh!!!"
I had my first dream in Spanish which means my mind is slowly adjusting...just not as fast as I'd like.
I joined a basketball team here so I need to learn all the Spanish commands ASAP (i.e pass it, I'm open, shoot, etc...)

Nothing too excting but I'll keep ya posted.

I wish I was HOME....

2007-10-18T14:30:00.001-07:00

I haven't had a single moment that I wished I was at home until right now....my little brother Callan got his first job and my mom went in to see him at work. Here is the picture of Callan and my mom at Callan's new job.

Seriously how the "H-E-double hockey sticks" did I miss this?!?!?!?!?!?!

gutten tag!

2007-10-17T04:58:00.000-07:00

Bavarian Castle
In Hainburg, Lena's town
Me, a Lamborgini, and a Prada in the same picture!
Elke, Lena, and Me
Frankfurt Skyline

Hey all!

I'm back from my amazing weekend in Germany. I am totally in love with the easy transportation here in Europe. Lena, our exchange student, was at the airport Thursday night waiting to pick me up with a white friendship rose. On Friday I awoke to an AMAZING breakfast she had made....my first sit down meal in a long time! Then it was off to Bavaria to see a castle, a bit of Oktoberfest, and to grab a latte at a tiny street cafe. In the afternoon we headed to the town where Lena's mom, Elke, was staying. She's at a spa during her time off of school so Lena and her dad were home alone for a couple weeks. The town was amazing: fall colors, cool temperatures, great hillside views, etc. We went for a hike to a Bavarian cafe and I got to try the Bavarian dumpling! We returned to Frankfurt for dinner with Andreas, Lena's dad, which was at first a bit awkward as he speaks NO English. By Sunday, though, we were best buddies! Friday night we went clubbing German style and spent the day Saturday on tour of Frankfurt. The weather was so nice we even went for a walk along the Main River and had dinner again with Andreas. I have no idea how we got so much crammed into one weekend, but it was amazing! Saying goodbye to them was almost as hard as saying goodbye to my own family since both Lena and her mom have lived with us in the states and they treated me like a queen for the weekend! In fact, I had so much fun I am thinking about going back in December for their Christmas Market as they all said Germany as Christmas is impossible to miss. We'll see...with flights as cheap as 50 bucks it might be worth it!

Last night I had my first "intercambio" or language exchange meeting with a woman from Madrid. She wanted to practice her English and I need to practice my Spanish so we went for tapas at a few different places. She wants to show me some places in the city so I'm not one to turn down Spanish friendship!

I also started teaching Lengua Inglesa II (second year English) at the university today. It was so funny to see all the Spanish kids in my shoes! I started by telling them all about my "naked milk" and "cheek kissing" stories so that they would know that I know EXACTLY how they feel. I have about 30 students in my class, most from Spain and between ages 19-27, and a few of them came up after class to ask if I wanted to hang out with them sometime. I was so pumped; I guess I'm just THAT cool!!! And then I realized that clearly they all just want A's....haha!

Week in Review

2007-10-10T14:05:00.000-07:00

The "bullfight" of the decade!

(wish I knew why it was so good)

Bull fight "Plaza de torros (bulls)"

Hey All-

Well, this week has been crazy busy so I'll fill ya in with the short version.

Sat AM: I spent Saturday morning at the bullfights! One of the matadors had like the "fight" of his life and we got to see history made as he was carried out on the shoulders of some people through the "big door" of the plaza. I don't know what that meant, but it was all over the news b/c it's really rare! So that was great.

Sat PM: My fever spiked and I was feeling miserable after being sick all week. My lymph nodes were painful to the touch so I caved and went to urgent care at night. I WAS so proud of myself for getting it all figured out in Spanish. AND I had no idea that medical care AND medicine is free in Spain!!! I thought they were kidding...whole thing took 20 minz and the clinic is off my street....I was kicking myself for waiting so long! FREE...it really made the US look pathetic!

Sun: Spent the afternoon in Retiro Park "people watching" with some friends.

Weekdays: Classes have been good. I start working as a TA in the English department next week and I still have Capoeira class Monday and Wednesday. I'm thinking about joining am indoor soccer team but I don't know how much time I'll have...I'm pretty much always busy now (oh because I'm running lots now because I signed up for the Madrid Marathon in the spring!!!)

Thursday-Sunday: I'm leaving tomorrow for Germany to visit our exchange student Lena and her family. It's my first Euro trip and I'm excited to be getting away for a bit. It's a good time to leave, too. Tension are a little high in Spain right now as there were a few terrorist attacks in the northern part of the country this week and there is some unrealted tension with the royal family as well. I think everyone's a little on edge. Not that it's dangerous, it's all politically motived Basque stuff but still has everyone a little worried about the whole "wrong place, wrong time" thing.

I'll keep you posted on the trip!

a "chill" night on the town!

2007-10-05T17:21:00.000-07:00

Spanish Senate building
Where the Spanish started the War of Independencia vs. Napoleon

Me in front of the Palacio Real

Madrid's first Plaza Mayor, built in the 1500's

My friend Liz and I decided today that we were going to spend the night "chilling" in Madrid. I met her at her house a few blocks from where live. She lives with a family of two older Spanish woman, a mother and daughter. That's usually a common set-up in Madrid, the "senoras" rent out rooms to make money as most are widows who are too old to work. Rather than give you a detailed description of our night, I'm going to try to do it in a "touristic" sort of way so you learn a little about the city. First, we headed south towards the "downtown". Liz and I live in northern barrios of the city so our area is newer (think last 200 years). The "downtown" is really the central/southern part of the city in relation to us. The "downtown" is centered around the Plaza Mayor, a lot of government buildings, old churches, and basically "old Madrid" in general (think 500 years ago). It is also where many of the night clubs, bars, etc. are now. We ended up grabbing dinner around 10pm at a place called "pans" (much like a panera..."pan" means bread, get it?). Dinner here is usually around 10pm for everyone and it's common to see little kids out on the street at midnight. Here, afternoon doesn't start until 2pm or later and "night" doesn't start until after dinner. Often people will say "good afternoon" to me at 8-9pm and it is totally dark outside! Anyways, after that we headed a few blocks west and we were in the "governmental" area of town. We took a look at the Palacio Real (royal palace), the local basilica, and even the senate building. It was really neat to see so much history in one place. The royal palace doesn't house the royal family anymore. In fact, the king is starting to lose face with the Spaniards as much of the youth don't believe in an inherited governmental position. After Franco's reign ended in 1975, the government became a "parlimental monarchy". This means decisions are made by congress and the senate, there is still an elected president, but the king is more of a political figure of support. He has no power, in reality, but exisits more as a tradition. Today, Spaniards are calling for a complete republic, meaning everyone will be voted into office (hence, no monarchy) as they don't like their tax dollars paying for his lifestyle without being voted into office. On a side note, the palacio real was also the site where Napoleon tried to put a French king on the throne in 1808, but the Spaniards rebelled and rushed the palace. It inspired Goya's famous paintings, The 2nd of May 1808 and The 3rd of May 1808, both of which I saw at the Prado museum last week. Wow, so there's your Spanish history lesson for the day :) It seems like everywhere you go here there is some historical meaning behind the location which is really neat.

In sticking with the tradition of having a sense of humor:
Funny story: As you may or may not know, Spanish men are known to be a "bit" forward. This could inspire like a million other stories but I'll keep it simple. Sometimes it can get annoying, but most of the time I have no idea what they're saying anyways when they make their "peliropas" (like cat-calls?) so I could care less, especially since 60% of them have a mullet...keep it moving, buddy! Well, I got a wrong-number phone call the other day and could barely understand what this guy was saying. When I got off the phone, I was telling the girls that he actually sounded nice, I thought he said he worked with blind people! The convo went somethin like this: "Bailey, what exactly did he say?" "Well, I couldn't tell for sure, but something about "disfuto las citas a ciego" which I could only roughly translate as "enjoying something with blind people." Turns out the dude "would enjoy a blind date!"....I must have laughed for an hour at myself after this one. Just knowing the word "blind" doesn't help too much! LEARN SPANISH ALREADY, Bailey! haha

a haircut...in spanish

2007-10-04T15:50:00.000-07:00

Well, I took the leap and got a trim today! I practiced what I was going to say about a million times: "Please, just cut the ends one inch. That is like two fingers. I am an American. No mullet, please. Thank you very much. No mullet." (but in Spanish, clearly.) The "mullet" is all the rage in Europe right now (now you wish you were all here!). I was terrified something would go wrong, a brain surgery would have been less frightening than my haircut today! But, in the end it all worked out. When I got back to the house I was having lunch with the roomies when my cell phone rang, it was my friends talking in English. My roomie asked in SPANISH who it was so I said "Oh, I can't really hear them but I think it's my friends because they're talking in English." About 30 seconds later I came out of my room to ask my roomie if I had said that in English. Yup! Awesome. At least I asked for naked milk in Spanish!

In other news, I bought my first pair of skinny jeans. I caved and I just lost like 8 friends because of it. I got sick of standing out in Spain so I'm trying to "blend". That's the excuse I'm using, anyways. They're from Penelope Cruz's store, Mango, because you know what they say "when in Spain....."

Funny story #something: I'm taking Capoeira. Youtube it and then you'll see why this is so funny.

A 21st in Madrid

2007-09-30T08:05:00.000-07:00

My roomie, Sandra, and I and my 21 in candles :)

Jessica, Me, and Michael in my apt.
The girls at the Chinese dinner

Well, I survived my 21st birthday in Madrid. The day started with 2 exams and a paper due so I spent the next few hours napping. Aren't I an excting birthday girl? However, as a great aficionada of naps, I would have to say that it was a GREAT nap! Here's the best part, though. When I got back from classes, my roommates had blown up 21 balloons, drawns Picasso faces on all of them, and even bought me some little gifts! They came into the family room singing "feliz cumpleanos" with a few "happy birthdays" thrown in! Considering I only moved in two weeks ago and can barely talk, they sure are amazing roomies! After my nap, about 8 Americans came over to my apartment for a few drinks. We had a great time and then headed out for Chinese food nearby. After dinner we made a quick stop home where my roomie and her boyfriend had yet ANOTHER surprise. This time it was Tiramisu and they had even bought those #'d birthday candles for me!!!! They had made it for all 8 of the Americans...how sweet, hey? We spent the rest of the night/morning at a few bars and clubs in the downtown area. Since we didn't leave until the metro opened at 7am, I think we all slept in until the late afternoon the next day! Last night I went with my friend Rebekah to see "Sin Reservas". I'm not sure what the movie is in English but translated it's "Without Reservations". It was so much fun since the whole thing was dubbed in Spanish and I could ACTUALLY understand it!!! That's a good sign of progress. We have off of school tomorrow...I don't know what Saints Day it is but I'm sure it's somebody! Then the University officially opens on Tuesday (I had been in summer school before). Wish me luck!

enough already!

2007-09-26T16:31:00.000-07:00

I did it again. I had 7 Americans over studying at my apartment and my roommates joined us. One roommate was explaining our notes on Spanish Architecture when I MEANT to asked her "What do you call this? Abside (alter of a church)?" but instead said "What do you call this? Aseos?" Well, I learned both words this week, 'abside' and 'aseos', but it turns out "aseos" are toilets. Yes, Bailey. Those are the toilets in the front of the church. After the laughter subsided, their first question for me was if the exam tomorrow was in English. what does that tell you???? In between EVERYONE'S spurts of laughter my roommates both announced, in ENGLISH mind you, "Bailey... you no say ASESOS tomorrow in exam, okay? NO ASESOS!" I should point out that I also learned the Spanish word for SOB tonight, too :) We all had a good laugh and seriously, my roomies are reallllly great! I'm super lucky to be living where I am.....we even had ate ice cream from the container and watched Friends this afternoon together... amigos are amigos everywhere in the world :)

Now I have a huge paper due Friday and three exams between today and tomorrow. I am looking forward to getting done with them as Friday is also my 21st b-day and we have a 3 day weeked so we'll see what I end up doing. It's been one heck of a crazy year, that's for sure, and I'm just glad to be here to see another one. When I think of all that's happened in the past year, it's amazing to think what another year will bring and all that I will see, do, and learn in the next 365 days :) Thanks for sharing some of the past 365 with me!!!

La noche en blanca

2007-09-24T11:31:00.000-07:00

At the Teatro
For my Dad! :)
At the Prado after being trapped by the Tour de Espana
In front of the Prado Museo

Well- you all mised an incredible weekend here in Madrid. I spent Saturday out on a walk with my friend Liz from Marquette and we talked and went "people watching" in a park for a few hours. It was classic Europe: sitting outside a little cafe, sipping our cokes, an acordion player, kids out in the park...just perfect. That night my roommates took the two of us to "La noche in blanca" which is the phrase for an "all nighter". The top 5 major European cities have this night where all cultural activities in the city are free. We went to an interpretive dance in a really nice theater in town (see picture above). Then, my roommates treated the two of us to REAL tapas with REAL Spaniards. It was a lot of fun and great practice for learning the language. Everyday the 3 of us who are home eat lunch and watch what I call "AMIGOS" even though the translation is still "FRIENDS". Nothing makes you feel more at home then Joey, Chandler, Pheobe, Ross, Rachael, and Monica!

I'm taking a Caopoiera (sp?) sports class here at the University in the evenings. It's a type of Brasilian dance/fighting and since I can't even SAY the word, I'm sure I'll have many stories once that starts.

The other pictures above are from Sunday when I went to the Prado since it's free to the public!
We got there and the whole street was roped off for some stupid bike race so we were stuck and had to watch it until they finished. Turns out, that "stupid race" was the 2nd of 3 major Euro Cup races (one of which you all know as the Tour de Frace!!!!) It had been a 3 week race and we caught the finish line by mistake and all the heliopters, spectators, etc....my luck!

Funny Story #?: I keep getting the word "tu" which means "you" confused with "me". When people keep asking "Tu eres de los EEUU?" or "Are you from the US?" I keep thinking they're saying "I'm from the US" so I went through about 5 days where I kept thinking everyone I met was from the US. I couldn't BELIEVE how well everyone had learned the language. No wonder they were confused when my answer to the question was "Wow, really....you speak really well!!!" I also kept saying "Have I____?" instead of saying "Have you______?" So I kept trying to ask questions like "Have you seen the film Volver?" and it was coming out as "Have I seen the film Volver?" My roommates kept saying "I don't know!!!!!" and I thought THEY were stupid. haha oh man. 10 more months. I wish you were all here to see my face when I realize all of my mistakes...I laugh by myself for about 3 minutes.

those stupid kisses!

2007-09-22T07:34:00.001-07:00

So, you know how I wrote about how when you meet someone you need to kiss them on both cheeks...well again the drama continues. Ok, so by now, I've met so many people (thus kissed them all twice) that I'd def. be called a "skank" in the US. I'm kind of getting the hang of it by now except today was THE WORST! I was out for a run in the local park and got back to my apt. (can you see where this is going?). I was super sweaty and gross and just ready for a shower when I walked in to find my roomie having a really nice lunch with her friends. They all stand up. I know what comes next. And I think just about every bad word in BOTH dictionaries were going through my head. Yup, that's right. I had to kiss them all being sweaty and gross and I didn't even know how to apologize. GROSS! Those poor people, I felt so bad.

Besides that horror, things are well. Tonight my roomies are taking me to La Noche en Blanca which is where all the musuems are open all night so that should be fun being out all night in Madrid with madrilenos. Right now I'm off to study in Retiro Park (like the Central Park of Europe). If I leave you with one thought of the day: Be glad all you have to do is shake hands in the states!!!!!!!!!!!!

SMALL small world

2007-09-19T10:42:00.000-07:00

The above is a random picture in the metro station. Jessica, the girl in pink, told us that is you take a picture while making that tugboat noise, your lips look all crazy so of course....I HAD to try it!

The other day a few of us went to a meeting on the East side of the city about volunteering. When I got back to the apartment, I had an email from a friend of mine from high school. He asked if I was currently in Spain because he was pretty sure he had seen me in the Moncoloa Metro Station. Can you imagine... 4000 miles away from home, we haven't seen each other since graduation, and NOW we run into each other in Madrid! The same night, I came back to meet my third roommate. The first thing she said was "you're from Wisconsin, right?" I was impressed she even knew the state....gets better. Her little sister is studying in Sheboygan right now so my roomie knew all about Lago Michigan, etc. What a small, small world!

I'm off for tapas with a friend of mine who lives across the street so that's it for now. Hasta pronto!

For the 'rents...

2007-09-17T05:53:00.000-07:00

Since I haven't had internet, I haven't sent home any pictures so here are a few at popular tourist destinations. The city was "blanca" today as Spain lost the European basketball championship by one point last night. Sports stuff like that is a HUGE deal here and even our professors were upset today. I couldn't help but think the very first Spaniard I ever talked to was the Spanish b-ball star Pau Gasol who missed the last shot last night. I think my roommates thought I was lying when I said that I had met him a few years ago. With my luck, translating "ball girl" could go VERY wrong so I just left it at that..

Apartment

2007-09-16T15:46:00.000-07:00

Well I'm all moved in and spending my first night in my new apt. here in Madrid. Can you believe that these next 10 months will be the longest I've lived in just once place in the last three years?!? I just loved putting my suitcase under my bed knowing I won't be using it for another month until I go to Germany:) When I got back from dinner, my roommate and her boyfriend were watching the Spanish B-Ball team play Russia and I was pretty sure my brother was doing the same thing in the US today! It's really nice to be able to have free Spanish tutors on call 24/7, as well, except it's a bit hard when I don't know a word b/c they know almost no English.

I've finally got internet connection so if any of you have SKYPE let me know. I'm on under bcurtis45 and would love to chat with you guys.

Funny Story #3: Up until yesterday, I thought all these people were saying "hello" to me when I passed them. I didn't understand their funny looks when I said "hello" back. Well, turns out they were all saying "hasta lluego" really, really fast and slurred as they do here in Spain. "Hasta lluego" means "see you later" in Spanish and here I was saying "hello" back to them in ENGLISH.....duh!!!!!

Ikea España!

2007-09-15T13:39:00.000-07:00

Last night a few of us girls came across this sign for ¨Parque Warner Madrid¨and we couldn´t pass it up!

Since tomorrow is my big move in day, I spent the day at IKEA-Madrid. It took almost an hour by metro to get there, but I was able to get cheap sheets, pillow, lamp, light bulbs, hangers, etc. I´ll keep you posted as to how move in goes tomorrow, doing it by way of metro is going to be an experience.

the grocery store

2007-09-12T13:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a rough day.

1. I went to the grocery store last night and asked for ¨leche desnudo¨instead of ¨leche desnatado¨.
Translation: I asked for ¨naked milk¨instead of ¨skim milk¨. Ouch.

2. Then, I finally came to the realization that the fall fad for Europe is going to be ¨skinny¨ jeans...enough said. Ouch.

Rough day, rough day... hahaha.

Practical Spanish

2007-09-11T05:58:00.000-07:00

Well, classes are in full swing now and the homework and quizes are piling up. Before I get going on some of that stuff, I had to share with you the oddest experience I´ve had here so far.

First, let me set the scene a bit. There are about 30 Americans staying at the University dorm (which is really more like a hotel) and the other half are Spanish students. The groups are a bit segregated, but between the 60 or so of us in the dorm we all reconginze each other, etc. Well, the other night a few of us girls were in my friend Katie´s room hanging out and chatting when she got a call on her room phone. The man said it was the front desk and asked her to stop smoking. She did her best to explain in Spanish that this was an American room and that we don´t smoke, nor were there candles or anything of the sort. However, he kept asking to stop producing smoke in the room and finally settled with her opening a window. By now, the rest of us thought she HAD to have mis-translated something because this story was making no sense. Either way, we opened a window and forgot about it.

Well, later that night after we all were back in our own rooms and Katie was asleep, a Spanish student came to the door, knocked , and greeted a Katie with an odd surprise. He was standing in the doorway with a sign reading ¨Por favor, stop smoking¨ and was wearing a George W Bush facemask! Can you imagine? He didn´t say anything and just walked away. None of us know what this means, but it´s pretty odd either way. Thought I´d share that rondom bit before this studying.
And as our prof. pointed out, we´re thinking of you all back at home on this Sept. 11th! sense.

Weekend

2007-09-08T11:43:00.000-07:00

Hola, Gang!

Well, I´ve started to move my stuff into my apartment slowly, but I won´t move in fully until next weekend when they stop feeding us for free in the dorm....clearly I´ve never been one to turn down free food. I´ve been slowly stealing roles of toilet paper, too, to use in the apartment so that I won´t have to buy any. What can I say?

I already booked my first two trips. On to Germany in October to visit our exchange student Lena and one to visit my awesome cousin Katie who is having me in Amsterdam Oct. 31-Nov. 4. I´m super excited for both of the trips, gives me something to look forward to.

Last night was my first night out on the town here. It was a bit hard since ALL 20 of the Americans went together, but it was still pretty fun. The students here don´t go out until midnight at the earliest so we were out until 6am (and that was early!)....finally a country who ¨gets me¨! Stay up all night, nap all day...what more could I ask for?

As for now, I´ve been focusing hard on saying all the stores I will visit here in Spain phonetically, as the Spaniards say them. Here is a list for you to try and figure out:
es-tar-booocks.
ka-efe-se.
macdoo-nal-ds.
boo-ger keeng.

(Starbucks, KFC, McDonalds, Burger King...all of which are located in Madrid!)

Piso Hunt

2007-09-04T13:33:00.001-07:00

Hola from Madrid, Amigos!

Well you´ll be happy to know that I found an apartment. It´s with three other Spanish girls around my age, in the ¨mixed¨neighborhood (meaning immigrants, older Spaniards, college kids, etc.) so the price is right! I´m withing two blocks of the fresh produce market, the supermarket, the church, a park, and the metro stop is 10m from my front door....and most importantly, the McDonalds! Haha, tough to beat in my opinion. I even get my own TV in my room and WiFi internet which is hard to come by here! Pretty lucky if you ask me, but at the same time I´m just happy with a roof over my head. I´ll be moving into my apartment within the next week or so and will then be able to use my own computer to upload a few photos.

My weekend was filled with the ¨piso¨ (or shared apartment) hunt. The first few phone calls were hard to make as I still don´t understand much of the ¨Spain¨Spanish with the lisp and all. Last night, I went to the Plaze de España with some of the kids from the Marquette program. Turns out one of them was the girl I was told to look for who knows one of my really good friends and when I gave her the name of a few other people I knew at MU, the first person I named was her boyfriend....talk about a small world!

I have also discovered that I was Spanish in a past life. Here, everyone stays up until the odd hours of the morning, sleeps in, eat a late lunch, an even later dinner at 10, and somehow they make time for a nap in the middle of the day! The entire city closes from 2-5 to eat and sleep....EAT AND SLEEP....... in the MIDDLE of the DAY! Ha, I was just living on the wrong side of the pond all these years!

Funny Story Numero Dos: The ¨besito¨. So in Spain, it´s common (and necessary) that when you meet someone or greet them you lean in and give them a kiss or ´besito´on the right cheek, then the left. Well stupid me...when the first door to the apartment opened I went to shake hands with the girl as she learned in for the peck. I was so startled that I forgot to move my hand and poked her right in the stomach!!! Then, I felt like such an idiot I couldn´t remember how to apologize and was stuttering. Ha, all I could do was laugh. Subsequently, I have now learned the Spanish word for AWKWARD.

The Metro

2007-09-01T04:13:00.000-07:00

Buenos Dias Amigas!

Well, these first few days have been a whirlwind of activity. So far, I´ve been trying to keep this thing updated, but that might start slipping as I start the apartment hunt and registration for classes. Monday starts my first intensive culture course which is a 4 hour morning class about Spanish culture, politics, art, history, and language. It also will be the first day I need to find a place to live so I think I´ll be getting busy for a few weeks at least. ¨Real¨ classes start October 2nd so then I´ll be a little less stressed.

As for now, it feels a little like being a freshman in Madison: learning about a new city, where things are, etc. First (and most importantly) I´ve already scoped out EVERY SINGLE super-marcado (supermarket) in the area. Cearly, we all know where my priorities lie when I move to a new place. BUT, you´ll be happy to know the food is very similar to the US, and I even saw a McDonalds with a walk-through window (we don´t even have those in the US!). I also went to the local market which is all fresh produce. I was shocked at how cheap everything was: fish, bread, veggies, fruit, etc. It seemed VERY fresh so hopefully I´ll be able to get most of my food there once I have a place.

Funny Story numero uno: I´ll call this ´The metro´. The first day we were here, a few of us girls decided to go to the local department store. Seeing as it was a few miles away we took the metro. WELL....the line we needed was a circular one and our stop was only two stops down the away. What we DIDNT understand was that there were two trains running opposite directions on the circle. So, we hoped on the first one we saw and were off. After about 10 stops and 20 minutes we realized this wasn´t right. Turns out we had taken a left instead of a right on the stairs at the station and we ended up traveling the wrong way on the cirle. Instead of going two stops down, we went all 28 around the OTHER way! After that hour (instead of 4 minutes) we at least felt like we got out Euro worth. But now I know how to use the metro...

PHONE

2007-08-30T11:37:00.000-07:00

Also, I got my cell phone today so I now expect lots of calls and texts as they are free for me!
That means get SKYPE, call me for cheap, or text me for cheaper. My number is
011 34 675572100.

I think int. texting is like 20cents per message so send me a text once and a while!

I´m sure there has got to be some internet program that allows for free texting and I´ll try to find it for ya. But until then, stay in touch!

Well that was easy.

2007-08-30T05:57:00.000-07:00

I´m not too sure but I think I´ve been up for 2 days now. I flew out of O´Hare yesterday(?) without a hitch. The kids in my group seems really nice and we got to Madrid about 7am Spain-time. It´s only 3pm here now and dinner is at 10pm. I´ve been trying hard to keep myself awake and even went for a run down a main road to try to trick my body. The other students thought I was nuts, but I know I need top reset my clock. I´m off now to find a store with a clock and an alarm and more important: DIET COKE! That´s all I need. I´ll write more later, but know that I´m here safe and sounds and will be in touch! MUCH LOVE!

There she goes again...

2007-08-28T22:31:00.000-07:00

Well, I've finally finished up packing and getting my last few errands done before I head off. The past couple of weeks have been a little crazy saying goodbyes, buying supplies, and sorting out everything from bank cards to taxes. But, here I am...again....heading off to O'Hare and 'peacin-out' of this country (is continental ADD a real thing?). Luckily, I learned a ton of travel knowledge from Africa last year so I'm WAY more relaxed this time around. The way I look at it, no matter how much planning you do there is still always going to be "something" that comes up. I'm just going to be ready to go with the flow. The next few days I'll be taking an orientation class at the University of Madrid to get a basic overview of culture, language, etc. I'll be living in the dorms for the first 14 days and after that, I'm getting the boot and need to be in an apartment. I can't wait to find an apartment...in Madrid....in Spanish...in 14 days. Hopefully my park bench will have Wireless Internet to update this thing if I don't find a place fast enough :) I'll still be using my bcurtis@wisc.edu email (or you can add comments to this page). Please keep me updated as to the happenings at home and stay in touch!

The Start

2007-08-21T23:19:00.000-07:00

Wisconsin to Madrid

Hey Gang!

Soooooo...after sending out e-mail updates from Africa I decided that this would be the best option for the next adventure: Spain. I'm not a huge fan of blogs so I can't promise I'll be the best at updating this thing, but I will try my best. I leave August 29th, 2007 and will be back around the end of June/July 2008 so make sure you check back in over the next year.