Hi, Mom!

I just wanted to say hi! I know you read this once in a while :) Hi to Dad too, but I am not so sure he reads this.
That's all.
Oh, hi everyone else that reads this too!
PS. I'll call you when we get home from Boston. (Just Mom and Dad)
Probably we'll talk before I go too.
haha this is like an email!
Oh, for all you who didn't know, Bill and I will be in Boston :) from this Saturday till the next.

To Nicole: more work woes

Laura: Good afternoon, Academic Affairs.
Stupid girl: Hi, actually, I'm calling you because I can't find any other number. The number for the general information at BSU isn't working anymore? It's not listed?
Laura: Ummm, what number did you call?
Stupid girl: 751-2001
Laura: I don't know.. 751 or 755?
Stupid girl: The phone book said 751.
Laura: Yeah, I don't know I've never tried to call it. Can I transfer you somewhere?
Stupid girl: Yeah I'm trying to get a hold of *some prof. Ed. professor*
Laura: OK, I can give you his number, but then I'll transfer you to the Pro. Ed. department because they'll be able to help you more than I can if he's not there.
Stupid girl: OK...

Then Laura transfers her and looks up Bemidji State University in the phone book. 755-2001
WOW

I have nothing to say. I just finished taking the first section of the first practice test for the GRE. It's gonna suck. I have to go. I need to run, and the other worker is here. You should check out her blog: thisweighsonme.blogspot.com
you can see what we have to put up with at work.

brown grass and a significant pull

They're watering the sidewalks again. And by doing so, me as well.
I just visited the University of Iowa. The grass was brown. It switched from my number 2 choice to my number 1
(Especially after I saw the sprinklers at Madison the next day).
Green, green grass is not the only thing that makes a campus beautiful.

more good

OK, I have another thing to let you all know about that was really cool. I thought.
So I was riding my bike home from the bank yesterday and ... wait I gotta see when the Twins play and if they're on TV ... OK thanks.
Anyway, the light on 10th and Bemidji Ave. is really quick, and it was green but I knew it'd turn soon. It did, yellowy-orange, oh no! So I hurried and did something I NEVER do... rode over the curb! AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!! I hate going over the curb. Of course, as happens whenever I go over any significant bump (which I didn't think of obviously) my stupid bike pump fell off. Well, as I said the light was yellow... I couldn't just run back into Paul Bunyan Drive in the middle of the afternoon to get it.
Anyway, this man in a red minivan didn't go. He just waited. He pissed off everyone behind him by not going when the light was green. And I just watched from the other side of the road. One amazing thing to me, is that only one person honked, and I mean there were a lot of cars... they all just passed him and drove really close to my poor stupid bike pump and he protected it until the light turned red for him and green for me. What a nice thing. He saved that wreched little pump that always falls off in inoportune times. I like that about this region. Minnesota, they're nice :)

Español

Quiero escribir en español. Lo siento. No es malo, pero mis amigos no pueden leerlo. Posiblemente, Brandon pueda traducirlo para Julie, y otra Julie pueda leer otras palabras. Quiero hablar con fluidez. Creo que escribo bastante bueno, pero hablo peor. Siento que mis amigos no hablan español, pero encontraré algunos en la próxima universidad (espero). Pero no voy a dejar atrás a mis amigos/as de hoy. Esto os prometo.

go veggies yeah!

I have this friend that I feel a hundred times closer to since we've been in different towns (not to mention different countries) for over a month. What the heck?
Distance, while rather inconvenient at times, isn't ALWAYS terrible.
But I hope to see you again soon!! Oh wait, I will this weekend. Lovely.

learn/teach, teach/learn

My mom said, "You learn so much when you teach."
She used to teach in HS, Special Ed. (I figured that out during high school after years of thinking she taught English)
She also has taught in college....... and me.
JULIE, AMY, back her up. Cuz I love learning, and I want to teach, and so, back her up for me! Shout it out cuz it's true!!!!!! :) YAY for us. (Especially those of us who are already there) I've got another year... just one more year... (unless I don't get accepted to any grad programs, in which case I will bitterly become depressed for the rest of my life. Not really, I'll run and paint and then my bitterness will desolve with the passing of time and life will go on and I'm a dork).
But I am excited about teaching and learning, and learning and teaching. And eating TVP and TSP. :)

kids

I went to KC for a couple Twins games. But we also went to the Truman Presidential Library. OK you all know that I have my political opinions and things but historical knowledge I am lacking. Wasn't sure how interested I'd be in this whole Library deal.. I mean, in the first place, it's called a LIBRARY. ?? I don't go to libraries (at least not till I get to grad school... that'll be a different situation for me... interesting).
But anyway first there was a 45 minute film and it was good, interesting, and it kept my interest. Good job. That's all I really needed, but I walked around the museum and other things caught my attention too. I mean, of course the biggest thing he's known for are the bombs, but he did so much more, good things. Like, he was advised against recognizing Isreal just because it would jeopardize our oil supply. Hmmmm,,, but he recognized it anyway because it was the right thing to do..... Wonder what our esteemed leader today would have done? I know I know it's speculation and my opinion all wrapped up in one, but seriously, what do you think?
Anyway that wasn't even the point of this blog. I meant to just tell this one story... As I was walking through this museum, set up chronologically, I came upon the entrance to "Europe during the war years" Not a pretty scene. This young boy, probably about 10, ran up there real fast and just stopped short, turned around, and said "I think I'm not going in there."
Why can't adults be more like children sometimes. Their intincts are maybe smarter than our minds.

This morning

Moving
It was a painting, but not
I looked into it and saw the blues and green and greens and greens and browns and the little white specks that dotted the edges and the quacking brown dots as well. The freshness of the hues and deepness of the tones and shades and tints all surrounded my surrendered body.
Breathing
Why do people ask me why I run?

chocolate/nuts

Working on the last dark chocolate covered almond--life sometimes is better

And I even read in Men's Health (Bill's), that eating dark chocolate once a day can decrease your chance of getting diabetes by making your body do something that makes it more resistant to whatever it is that makes you get it, so I figure with my weird blood-sugar thing that I got from my mom (but it's OK, I forgive you) I should try it.

Besides, Mom, because of you I get to spend way too much money on probably the most delicious food in the world after raw carrots and peanut butter,,, and really crunchy-juicy red apples. Yum.

Recap, not re-, just Cap

Haven't let you know what's up since the day Bill got to Madrid:
-Ate really good however full of olive oil food
-Just, were, together---finally
-Did I tell you all I got strep throat in Salamanca? It sucked, really bad. Wanted to speak English with someone I knew and trusted. Couldn't call my sister because I was sleeping at 2am when I'd have to call to catch her, couldn't call Bill ,, could, never answered his phone, Couldn't call my mom, she was in Madrid, tried to call my mother-in-law, she had taken a day trip to the cities.....sucked.... ....... didn't cry.
-Ate Cuban food, really good, already tried to make fried banana chips, wasn't the same. but good
-walked around Madrid- a lot- saw the royal palace and the royal armory (Bill loved it)
-got bus tickets to Segovia (using Spanish of course)
-Went to Segovia
-leaned against the most well-preserved Roman Aqueduct (didn't even know Rome was that far out),,, for a hard rock concert (I've seen better) but the situation was awesome.. That was on our Anniversary
-for dinner that night, we went to a vegetarian restaurant in Segovia that the really nice guy at the visitor center who spoke English recommended. Then we saw him and his girlfriend there.
-had a hostal at least 2 miles away from the center of Segovia. Made a nice hot walk, especially in the afternoon. I think I almost died. No, not really.
-It rained the day bill got there...rare and wonderful (only 1 other time)
-Got lots of nuts and trail mixes and I fell in love with corn nuts--not those gross processed ones you find here, but real, big ones.
-bought delicious fruit and cherries from fruit stores
-discovered that i like drinkable yogurt
-really REALLY missed my raw carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower (not anymore! bought lots)
-had a smoothie made from a fruit they call acerola and we call haw,,, never heard of it before,,, in the plaza mayor in Madrid
-went to the Prado, 3 times (once with Bill)
-laughed about the name of a band that was performing in Segovia (Ska-P), then saw them and it was AWESOME,,, later bought the CD on amazon.com
-Took the renfe (train) to Toledo from the station Atocha (one that was bombed last year)
-discovered why it got bombed,,, absolutely no security,, hello people,, but then in all the years it has been there and all the days people move freely in and out, it has been bombed,,, once
-bought and ate delicious european chocolate.
-drank a lot of wine (about the same price as water) GOOD wine, and ate delicious olives with the pits and "frutos secos" Nuts, people, nuts
-drank Cava (same as champagne, just made in Spain, not Champagne, France)
-discovered the best restaurant in the world.. vegetarian,, but had free-range chicken and also fish... got a shot of honey rum from the Canary Islands after dinner,,,free. YUM.. through this restaurant we discovered a new food that is pure protein and zero meat... we already made it. It's in Madrid, worth the trip just to go there,, GO
-Had rude people be rude to us in the Prado, only bad part about it...Man Spanish people are generally rude... way to go Kamran beating the shit out of those guys. ha ha.
-Maybe not rude, just have a different attitude about themselves, and yes I've traveled in the states a lot and have been to MANY large large large cities, even bigger than Madrid,,, remember, I went to Buenos Aires in January.... not rude, and Mexico City is hard to beat when it comes to population. So I have justification all you arguers out there. *(Bill)*:)
-saw cathedrals and synagogues and museums and life in general and took siestas almost every day (still do, but trying to get over the habit) and lived and loved and fell in love and cried in the airport when we had to come back and flew over the ocean and didn't fall in and noticed a man sitting kitty-(not catty)corner from me in the plane reading "Angels and Demons" (which I read in Salamanca) and then noticed that same man sitting across the aisle from me from Newark to Minneapolis........ and now I'm back and eating raw veggies and more olive oil than I used to and trying to remember those things I love about this country and wanting to go to Brigid's Cross and excited to see Kauffman Stadium this weekend and the Twins of course and my parents and sister and Jeremy, and excited beyond belief for August when I will see my other brother-in-law and looking forward to but nervous a small bit about college visits (at least one next week) in Iowa, still waiting to hear from Madison and Illinois (Urbana-Champagne, NOT Chicago)... and missing my friends because reading blogs is fun and interesting but not as fun or interesting as them.
Love you all can't wait to hang out again...Or go back to Spain