Spring Break!

Can you believe it is already Spring Break time?? I can't, that's for sure. After this little 3 week hiatus I will only have ONE MONTH left in Espana. (!!!!)

That said, I'm not actually doing anything official for the next week, mostly because I a) don't want to spend too much money, and b) wasn't sure where to go last minute. I'm excited to stick around Bilbao though because the last weekend I spent in Bilbao was in February! So i think it's about time I spend some time with the locals, especially now that the kiddos think I'm hilarious(ly bad at Spanish) and there will be Easter parades all week for Semana Santa- what better way to learn about a country than watch some religious celebrations with booze!

Speaking of the kids/family, things are going super well these days. Marta and Esti have always been sop friendly and helpful, and now they really treat me like a member of the family with extra sarcasm, etc., but the biggest change so far is the kids' acceptance of me in the fam. They've started hugging me and greeting-yelling at me when I come home from long trips/days, and Telmo (the 5-year old and my new bfffl) has even started remembering things I like, how old I am, and how high I can count (it's kind of a big deal to him, he can only count a bit past 100, whereas I can count to a million! Yeah not infinity, at least not in Spanish). It's a pretty good feeling when I realize they are finally relaxed around me and I get to see/hear/live Spanish jokes and stories through these little developing personalities, especially with the parental commentary (I've learned many a command and sarcastic comment that way). They definitely still give me odd looks sometimes when I struggle through pronunciations (I will EVENTUALLY learn to roll my r's), but that hasn't stopped them from trying out embarrassing jokes on me, usually involving a play on words where I say some sort of bathroom word yet don't realize it- kinda like Spanish-nino hazing. Ah well I will take all the embarrassment and silliness with this family because they have honestly helped me improve not only my Spanish, but my new-situation/family coping skills tenfold. It makes a bit sad, too, to think that chances of them coming to America for any reason are pretty slim so I might not see them again for a long time, if not forever, but I guess that's all the more reason to come back to Spain. :)

As for Spring Break plans, the fam (Mom, Dad, Will, Catie, and Teej) come next Thursday when we will spend a day in Bilbao then fly off to Brussels to see where the rents were married/lived, as well as where Will was born. I'm pretty excited to have the whole family back where it all started at my parents' practically-medieval-it's-so-old church, I'm sure the family photo will be a backup Christmas card for years to come because of the story behind it. After a few days in Belgium we'll drive down to Paris where Pops will depart (big AAA plans) and the rest of the fam will stick around until Wednesday and then fly back to the States (bummer). THEN Linden is meeting me on Wednesday in Paris for some quick extra sightseeing and on Thursday we'll be whisked off to London for 5 days filled with sights, (supposedly awful) British food, possibly a day trip to Dublin, and finally my two favorite parts of the trip: ENGLISH AND STONEHENGE! Bahhh remember how psyched I was about the Aqueduct? Yeah Stonehenge is like a million times older and cooler than that so as you can imagine I am UBER PUMPED to touch some prehistoric rocks and do touristy cartwheels on the grass in front of the main circle while taking sweet picssss. Yeah, that's happening. I'll update anything exciting this week but if not, I will have a mega entry in two weeks all about my travels through Europe! A luego!