Merry Christmas everyone!

For the Holidays: Europe by Train

Suzy:

An update on our actions. We'll be leaving tomorrow for Zaragoza to spend Christmas with Cayetana's family. After that, we'll be spending a few days in each of the following cities: San Sebastián (in the Basque country), Bilbao (North of Spain), Lille (North of France), Amsterdam (Netherlands), and Brussels (Belgium mmm beer). We'll finally fly back here on the 16th of January. We'll take lots of pictures as always.

I taught my kids to sing "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer" but it was kind of like that scene in "A Christmas Story" when Ralphie and his family have to go eat at the Chinese restaurant and the Chinese people try to sing them "Deck the Halls." (Which, consequently, I made Greg download so I could watch it this year with our roommates. It's one Christmas tradition that I can still participate in.) I miss you all very much.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and we love you.

Why I like teaching in elementary school

Suzy:

Got a Christmas card from a 3rd grader.

Front: "Merry Christmas!"

Inside: "Hello Susan: I wish you happy Christmas and Santa Claus you bring a lot of things for you Been very loving and good. Besides I want to thank all those that we teach. Lucía xxx"

This one's political: be warned

Suzy:

I've been wrestling with an upper respiratory tract infection for about three weeks now. Bad thing is, there's no real treatment for it and you just have to get over it on your own. Means even more tea than normal and oranges and soup and lots of liquids. Meh. Now to the point.

Tomorrow on December 16th we celebrate the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. I believe this is another decisive time in American History; one that could determine whether we remain the world's superpower and whether we wield that power by example or by force.

Who's the best candidate out there right now from either side? Ron Paul (Republican, Tx). Please, don't take my word for it. Check out his website for yourself. Also consider checking out the other links that are provided on YouTube.

Homepage
Wikipedia Entry
Position Video: Where he Stands on the Issues

I like Dr. Paul as a candidate for this reason: he has always voted according to the Constitution.

He believes in cutting back the power of the federal government and getting back to a government that the founders intended. This isn't just political speech. He has introduced several bills to Congress that would limit the broad federal claims across all issues: from foreign policy and monetary policy (he supports bringing home the troops and saving the $3.5 TRILLION pricetag from growing even higher) to civil liberties (he voted against the Patriot Act and continues to fight government efforts to keep ever-growing files on its own citizens).

He believes that candidates who get elected for federal offices shouldn't owe favors to big companies for financing their campaigns. Dr. Paul has raised almost $15 million from individuals across the social, economic, and political spectrums. What does that mean? If he gets elected, he doesn't have to do favors for big business (read: oil companies, pharmaceutical companies, agricultural companies, etc.). And yes, I've personally donated. I think it's important.

This guy is too smart to fit into 30 second sound blurbs and video clips, which helps explain why you might not have heard of him on the news. He has a huge internet following who have started massive grassroots efforts of support--monetary and otherwise. People from around the world are making political videos and starting campaign drives and writing rants on blogs... they're crazy about him because he's the only candidate who is calling for limits on federal government at a time when our country is borrowing $300 billion EVERY DAY from foreign banks. I can't even imagine how much money that is. No wonder the value of the dollar is dropping like a rock! I mean, it's great for us while we're getting paid in euros, but is it starting to suck for you guys?

I think that the person leading our country shouldn't be a career politician. Dr. Paul retired into politics after a career delivering babies. I think that the person leading our country should write books and essays about what (s)he thinks is right for America. Dr. Paul has written 13 books and countless essays (which you can read on his website). I think that the person leading our country should hold nothing higher than our Constitution. I think that one's obvious.

If you like him, email a link to his homepage to your friends and families. Talk about him at work and at school. I think it's every American's duty (and all of you are smart enough besides) to be able to make informed decisions about his or her vote.

Do you know how your candidate votes?

Holy Sevilla Awesomeness, Batman!

We got back from Sevilla the other day.... Sunday night, in fact. But it was a late night; I'll tell you all about it.

Sevilla is beautiful (this is Greg.... Suzy is anti-blogging at the moment). We've got pics up at the site at the usual place. As always, they are a little out of order b/c photobucket uploads the newest first, even when you upload 20 at a time, and I tend to just scroll through the pics.

As for the trip, we took Caroline, Neil's car (b/c there is a child's tale about a turtle called Caroline and his car barely makes it up some hills... not even joking), to Sevilla but stopped at a small village called Osaka, or Osana, or something along those lines. This village has some 500+ year old architecture like a church that is still open to the public and a few other buildings.

After that, we made it to Seville and stayed in a fantastic hostel called Oasis that has sister hostels in various cities around Spain. We totally recommend it to anyone wanting to hit up the most fantastic city in Spain. It was the first hostel we stayed in where we didn't have a private room (it was set up like a dormitory; there where eight beds within two rooms that didn't close off from each other). But it worked out well, was really affordable, and nearly everyone actually spoke English.

Which brings me to my first tangent: I love the city but I suppose I'm glad that we didn't get placed in Seville b/c there was too much English. I feel that I really wouldn't have learned Spanish like I am had we been placed in our anticipated location.

In Seville, we roamed around, hit up Starbucks (I'd rather hit up a "privatier" coffee shop but there aren't any coffee shops around), went to a couple tapas bars, etc. We spent a lot of time in one of the parks. We rented a four person bike-car thing and rode that around the park and had paté and cheese sandwiches like real life Europeans... well, I actually felt really French (is that a French-type thing Caitlin, Kade, Rob or anyone else?). It was really just a huge break in a city that Suzy and I could totally retire in.

For those that don't know or don't remember, I'll mention this here. Seville is the sister-city to Kansas City. We have a copy of La Giralda tower (there are a couple of pics) above Cheesecake Factory (I think) in the Plaza, as well as the Plaza is modeled after Seville. Architecture, horse and buggies, the whole shebang. There is also a fountain in Sevilla that KC has a copy of in the Plaza. We pretty much tried to steal it all as Americans tend to do and then pawn it off as our own :P

We visited the Plaza de Espana (Star Wars Ep. II used this place as a palace for the emperor or something), other plazas, La Mezquita in Cordoba, flamenco joints, along with many other things I just can't really write about. However, we totally planned on letting you all experience it as well which is why we took a bunch of clips and are planning on getting a video out for you all shortly. Suzy will be directing this one so bug her about it this time ;)

Then we got back late and we wanted to sleep. There, I told you all about it.

Be patient with the pics as they will take some time to get them all up.

Update: the pics are all up

Puente: December Edition

This holla is brought to you by Greg and everything that is like Greg. Like Greg's pants.

We've previously mentioned that we get a vacation nearly every month. Our puente this month is this Thursday and Friday. It couldn't have come at a better time because Jesus is still in the hospital (apparently doing better each day) and Judith had her own classes to tend to at the Almeria University. That left the substitute we finally received last week and myself to teach these two classes. Technically, there is always supposed to be a full-time teacher with me as I am just the assistant but rules were made to be bent. And folded in thirds, cut lengthwise, beaten with a crowbar, and scattered over broken glass. With Tyra Banks watching.

Yes, I have taught nearly all my classes this week by my lonesome. If there's one thing that I've learned from this lesson it's that Suzy is out of her freakin mind. Don't get me wrong. Suzy is absolutely intelligent and skilled for this position but this is not a fun trade.

I suppose all I can do is troop along as best I can; each day is another day learned. I am still forever grateful for this opportunity but I came out of my third class this morning needing a good scotch... at 11:30.

Oh, kids will drive a man to his death.

But on this puente, we've made plans to go to Sevilla and Cordoba. Freaking Seville! How cool?! I know! From what we've heard, these are the only places where the Spanish gets worse than this area. Ohhh, another challenge. Plus, it's way colder around that area than it is here (we're probably averaging 55-ish during the day, 40-ish during the night). Thus, Suzy is out shopping right now for a wool coat to roast her during our stay. We'll let you all know how our next trip goes soon.

Coconut Soup

Suzy (you should have guessed; it's a food post after all):

Greg and I bought a coconut from the store the other day but didn't have any idea what to do with it. I decided that it would be tasty in a soup. It turned out fantastic:



You would be surprised how difficult coconuts are to open. After dulling all of the knives in the kitchen (but to my credit I did manage to drain the stupid thing on the first try), Marijke suggested giving up centuries of tool development, wrapping it in a towel, and smashing it with something hard. Afraid of breaking tiles inside, I sent Greg outside to pound it to smitherines against the sharp edge of granite that ledges our balcony. And Emeril insisted that we toast it in the oven first. Bah! No oven needed!

After peeling the coconut you boil it for a long time in milk. The result (brace yourselves) is coconut milk (contrary to popular belief, the water that comes out of the coconut is quite clear and not sweet at all... what most think of as coconut milk is the result of cow milk and coconut) which happens to be an extremely tasty base for soups. Just add some black beans, a handful of rice, and some extra spicy chorizo slices and you've got it made.

I went with my students last week to some caves that are near Almería. You'll find pictures of the trip on our site. Click on the photos for descriptions of each one. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside of the caves themselves, but the memories of putting on mining helmets and lights and crawling around in the dirt and balancing on ledges will be good enough for me.