Hola

Buenos Dias de Barcelona!!!! Hello from sunny or rather mostly cloudy Barcelona. It has been beautiful and warm though. We got here on Sunday and spent the day walking around, finding our hotel, sitting comfortably on the beach and eating some paella. (Spanish rice dish). I really thought I liked this but found it kind of bland.

Monday was a lovely day. We knew we needed a lot of relaxation so after having the breakfast buffet, we scheduled some massages and took full advantage of the hotel spa. They have a few different hot tubs as well as a hammam (turkish sauna) and a regular sauna and some nice showers that spray out some minerals and other things that are good for your skin. After that we went out to grab some food and then went to the Barcelona aquarium. It´s the largest in Europe, but definitely not as big or as cool as Shedds. But it did have this awesome 75m tank that you go under a tunnel in. There were lots of cool sharks, sting rays and this weird 2d fish. We also liked the penguins. The aquarium is down near the harbor so there were lots of boats and you can see all the cruise ships coming and going. One cruise ship was delayed and so all the people were staying at our hotel. The craziest part was seeing all of their luggage piled up when they finally left. It was a lot of crabby tourists. I am now trying to convince Matt we need to go on a Mediterranean cruise for spring break, Greece, Italy and Turkey....

Tuesday we were lazy again and just spent the morning sleeping and having a late breakfast. We went to see the Sagrada Familia, The Sacred Family. An AMAZING church that Gaudi spent 43 years working on. It´s still under construction and won´t be done for 30 years.!!!! It´s is so intracate. There are currently 8 spires and 10 more to be built. One face is the birth of Christ the other is the death. The carvings are so cool. Can´t wait to post pictures.
We also went and saw Casa Mila, apartments that Gaudi made. The roof was the coolest part. All the smoke stacks and water coolers were made into art. It was really cool. We walked around the rest of the afternoon and then came back to partake in a Siesta, keeping with Spanish tradition and all. We had a 10:00 dinner and then came back and went to sleep.

Today we just decided we needed to walk around and explore. We found Las Ramblas, touristy shops, street performers and lots of good food. We ended up at the Ciutadella Park and had a coffee overlooking the beautiful Cascade Fountain. After that we wondered over to the Picasso Museum. We liked it but were a bit disappointed because all his most famous works are at other mesuems. After that we went to the Santa Maria del Mar, a church that if it were built one meter higher would crumble because it would be structurally unsound. We then went and watched the sunset over the back of the city. Sadly it doesn´t set over the water. But it was still big and pink and orange. We got a nice photo. I then realized I was missing our Barcelona book. We retraced our steps and luckily found it back in the church. This is a funny story worth mentioning because our ¨Barcelona Book¨ is about 10 pages ripped out of a big Europe Travel book. Matt stapled the pages together and we have been using it to have a small map and know about some tourist attractions. If it was lost it really wouldn´t be a big deal. Except, this morning I wrote down our reservation number for a dinner we´re going to tomorrow. I was crazy about getting it back but Matt didn´t care. I was much happier once we found it. :)

We went down and walked along the beach for a bit and stuck our feet it. It was cooler today but hopefully it sounds like we may get a beach day on Friday. We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant near the Olympic Harbor. It is a really popular area, but it was funny cause we went to dinner at 7:30 and NOONE was there. It was because it was too early. When we left people were just starting to come out for dinner. Guess we just aren´t the partying type. Maybe tomorrow or Friday we´ll stay out a bit later.

Well that´s all for now! Please prayer for my sister tonight as she is traveling to Ghana, my cousin Shawna who is worried about her baby. And Matt´s side of the family! We´re all praying for you back home and counting the days until Christmas. We can´t believe at the end of this trip we are going back to Maastricht and not coming home. We miss and love you all!!!!!!

Why did I wake up at 4:45???

So, as if having to take a taxi to the airport at 6:30, isn't early enough. We didn't realize Europe changes time a week EARLIER than the US!!!! So we are up right now, at 5:32 waiting another hour until our taxi gets here. HA HA HA. Of course we are too excited to sleep. I woke up still with a sore throat and aching ears. When I pulled up the blinds I saw the big church clock outside said an hour early than I thought it was. Of course this was after I was already showered and dressed. Sure enough it was an hour early or I was an hour ahead. So now we have an hour to wait. I might lie back down a bit but now we have some time to relax before we go and actually eat a proper breakfast.





This week has been crazy. I was out Thursday and Friday due to an awful sore throat. I even managed to go to the doctor Friday to make sure it wasn't strep and see what he could do. He said I was fine just a really bad cold, no swollen lymph nodes or anything. The nice thing about this doctor is it has a pharmacy connected right with it. So I did get some stuff to help. Nothing does the trick like IB profen though for me. The office is a ten minute walk from our house which was nice. Though feeling sick and having to walk yourself to the doctor in the cold morning wind wasn't too nice. Our assistant principal had to take her daughter too so I saw them and it was really nice to have a familiar face there.



Last weekend:

Matt and I had an asweome weekend. We went out for dinner on Friday with my teaching partner Suzanne and her husband Mathew. It was fun because we got to go to their house first. Suzanne was a great hostess. She gave us tea and pie while we waited for Mathew to get home from work. Mathew is English and he and Matt get along great. Mathew is a musician so they have lots to talk about. Suzanne and I also get along great. They are newly married too with their first baby on the way. We went to dinner in a German city, Aachen. It was really cute and Matt and I hope to take a day trip there soon. We ate at a Mexican resaurant and then went to another little bar and caught a late train home from there town. They live about 30 minutes from Maastricht.

Saturday we had dinner with the other American teacher at our school and her husband. Haley and Ken. He is here for his job and she came with. They just got married this summer. They are from Seattle and going back in January. We went to a great Italian restaurant right near our house. Yum.

Sunday after a great morning of church we went to the mill for some soup and tea. Hopefully a new Sunday ritual! Yum! It was so beautiful out we finally decided to rent bikes. We got to keep them until Thurday because the company was closed until then. So we rode for about two hours all along the East side of the river. (pics in fb) We rode to the city of Eijsden, there was a little castle there we saw. We then crossed the river into Belgium via a ferry and rode back up to Maastricht. It was so beautiful and great to be out in the country.





Bruge:

We had a great time a few weeks ago in Bruge. We took the train down on Saturday checked into our great hotel early and then walked around the city. It was market day so we went to the market and then toured the big belfort there. It was cool and is where the movie, In Bruges is formed (yes this movie despite how horrible it is made us want to go to Bruges.) We climbed a bunch of stairs and then could see the whole town. We could also see all the cogs and wheels for how the clock tower worked. After that we saw the main church and went to an old hospital that is now an art museum. The sun finally popped out after that so it was time for a boat tour. There are so many canals, Bruges is the Venice of the North. ON the tour we saw the towns only brewery. So of course we had to go there next for the tour. Matt loved it and I did too. We had a great tour with a funny guide and then enjoyed a tasting of course. After that we headed to a lovely dinner at The Flemish Pot and had a yummy stew. When dinner ended we went to relax at the hotel.
Sunday we had a great English Buffet breakfast and then enjoyed the hotels pool and sauna. After that we walked around the town some more and went to the fry museum and the chocolate museum. Then we caught the train home. It was a lovely weekend.

Please keep us in your prayers this week as we travel to Barcelona for some much needed R and R and my sister as well as she is leaving for AFRICA to teach for 8 weeks before coming to stay with us. Can't wait!!!
Lots of Love!!!!

A quick note

http://michurch.nl/Welcome.html

Here is our church website in case you are interested! We are totally exhausted at the end of this week!! A crazy week at school. We did however, have an AWESOME weekend celebrating Matt's birthday in Bruges, Belgium. I'll give the novel update sometime later this weekend. I am also trying to load the pics to facebook. Take care everyone!! and please keep Matt's Aunt Sue in your prayers. She is having some health issues and we need God to work some miracles :) Which we have faith He will!!!
Blessings!!!