wow!

So that's it. I spent the last 8 1/2 months in Malaga and now it's time for me to temporarily head back home. I went to my favorite little spanish cafe this morning and had my usual breakfast, a cafe con leche, a pitufo with aceite y queso manchego. I was writing in my journal and going through old journal entries and I was like, DAMN, I am a HAPPY girl!

I know that I must have done something right in order to have such a satisfying life. I made a right decision somewhere along the line... otherwise I wouldn't feel this way...

This experience has been phenomenal. Although I will be back in September, I feel like I am closing a huge chapter of my life.

I live my life in chapters it seems, one chapter after another, some longer than others, but each chapter equally exciting and interesting. Looking back on this chapter, I'm so grateful to have had such wonderful friends, an amazing man, a super job, and the means to travel around Spain, and the world! I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT I'VE LIVED ON THE Mediterranean Sea in the south of Spain FOR THE LAST 9 MONTHS! It blows my mind to think about it! SERIOUSLY! AND I finished a freakin marathon!! HOLY CRAPOLA! lol. crazy shiizzziiitttt.

OK, I'd like to post some pictures, just for memories. I have a few more days here, but I'll be visiting my friend in Extremadura, then off to NYC!

My goodbye dinner with my coworkers:

Me, my boss, and the young staff, haha:

A trip with my students to El Torcal:

I'll miss my girls, our experiences, not only dancing, but doing girly things:

Me and my best friend in the world and the most gorgeous girl in the world (I am blessed that we shared this experience together):

and of course most of all, I'll miss my handsome boy:

AND our famous cookie making experiences! hahahah:

Skippy & the beach.

Mini cars (or SMART CARS) are SOOOOO European, and I LOVE THEM! For this reason, we rented one for our weekend road trip. I fell in love with this car, we named him Skippy and he was our greatest companion! haha.

It was perfect because we were staying in a small village where the streets are so tiny, and in order to drive through them, you need a tiny tiny car like SKIPPY!
Skippy took us on a great adventure along the Costa Del Sol into Cadiz where the most beautiful beaches in the world are! When we saw a beach we liked, we stopped, and visited it. One beach in particular blew my mind! It was so natural, the water was so clear and warm, the sand so white and soft, with each step our feet sunk in and were naturally massaged; the backdrop was so perfect with small undulating hills, and roaming, free cows, I felt like I was in a dream. I never wanted to leave, me and Alex stood holding each other forever, it was the perfect place for us to just be together, without any worries, without any stress, nothing but me, him and our beautiful surroundings.

OK, back to the excellent adventures of SKIPPY! We hopped back in and continued on our Spanish coastal journey... CUBAN RAP BLASTING, THE WARM BREEZE, THE BEAUTIFUL SCENERY... everything was perfect.
For me, Spain is perfect, so to experience all of this, especially with such an amazing person, it is what my dreams have been made up of my whole life!

That's the truth. Nothing even compares to this.

ok, ok, back to Skippy and beaches:

We made it to the small pueblos of Cadiz, Spain is known for it's white villages, every house in the village is painted white. The one we visited sat on an amazing long beautiful beach. GORGEOUS!

we swam, flew a kite, played soccer, relaxed and kissed for hours and hours! :)
Us and our love Skippy. We will miss him!
More soon. xo.

Marbella

wait wait wait wait wait... where was HE my whole life??? OH IN SPAIN, WHILE MY ASS WAS WORKIN LIKE CRAZY IN NYC MESSIN WITH ALL THE WRONG PPL... ok, ok, ok, haha... ok, I'm off my tangent now. Well, my Alhurino started his two week vacation this past weekend. He took off from work so he can spend my last two weeks in Malaga with me! We started off the countdown with a weekend in one of our favorite places-- his treat! MARBELLA! Beachfront hotel, three pools, room with a balcony, very nice and relaxing... but most importantly, we got to see how it would be to live together, well, at least I got to see it!

It's interesting because I think I learned more about him this past weekend than I did in the past two months of being with him! How he folds his socks, how clean and neat he is, what he normally eats in a full day, how sensitive his feet are (perdoname baby), how much better I am than him in beach paddle ball, haha!

It was a special weekend that I will never forget: dinners, dancing, beach, pools, HUGE breakfast, $30 beers, ha, and how quiero un novio que sabes que quiero un perdiodico cada manana especially while I am relaxing poolside! :) this is important for our future! haha. the truth is, it was fabulous, I can see myself living in Spain for the rest of my life... and I can't say, just yet, why that is... but most people can guess.


Well, all in all, I am amazed, swept off my feet by it all, the romance, the adventure, the experiences, everything... I'm sure ppl can tell by all these blogs, my apologies for the mushiness ppl, I'm sorry.

Currently on my mind: my amor

I need to write a more formal/intimate blog about ALL my thoughts, in general (I have 2 more weeks here), but what's on my mind right now is my Alhauríno, aka, mi cariño.To have a Spanish boyfriend is to live a dream! He is super romantic, always telling me how beautiful I am, how good I smell, how beautiful my hair is, kisses in the street, holds me all the time, takes me out, and is so attentive to my needs, it's a fairy tale. PLUS, I think he is SOOO handsome. He bought a ticket to NYC for this summer and is making all the arrangements for me to come back in September. I am the luckiest girl in the world! More soon.

NOTHING is IMPOSSIBLE

I finished the marathon last Sunday in 4 hours & 20 something minutes, almost 40 minutes faster than I said I would for my new years resolution, and more than an hour faster than the Belfast marathon 2 years ago.

I was SOOOOO happy! I knew from the second I started, pouring rain, wind, cold and all, that I would continue running the next 26.2 miles without stopping and that I would be fast. Something told me I would be successful, and I was. All the training paid off!

I decided that part of my identity from now on will be marathon runner, I'll try to run one every year. I want to be more expressive about this, more detailed, maybe in another blog soon...

Picking up my number, there's my screen!
Stretching before the race, 20 minutes to go at this point, I was COLD!!!START, lil me running with the big dogs:
Finished! I was HAPPY and SATISFIED, not like my last race, this was MUCH better, no pain at all!! I WAS SMILING ALL THE WAY THROUGH!

Training

Tomorrow morning I leave for Madrid. I'll be staying in a hotel for a few nights and on Sunday morning at 9am (3am NYC time) I'll be starting the 2nd international marathon of my life.

I've been training 5-6 days a week for 6 months. 

I used this preparation as a tool to get over heart break. I used it to work out all my problems, I used it to find strength in myself when I thought I had none left. I used it to make my mother proud. I used it to be healthy. I used it to gain newfound confidence. I used it to prove to myself that I can accomplish something HUGE on my own. 

Most importantly, I used this training to heal my soul, develop my health, and focus my mind.

It all comes to fruition this weekend.

the beginning of relationships...

...are always so beautiful.

The feelings, the experiences, learning about each other. The first time you laugh together, the first time you kiss. Introducing him to friends and hearing their thoughts and smiling when they admit that he is a great guy...

Butterflies with every touch or thought, and random thoughts of him when you're alone.

I'm in the beginning of a relationship, and it is the most beautiful feeling.

(don't worry, I'm counting down the days until the honeymoon period is over, I know it's coming sooner or later, hahahahaa)

Semana Santa-- my thoughts

Semana Santa, Holy Week, was amazing for me. I spent so much time with my friends and boyfriend. We traveled around, ate, and just chilled. My favorite place was Ronda (a separate blog to come).

THE MOST EXCITING NEWS FIRST! My roomies and I found an outdoor-hole in the wall- MEXICAN JOINT with AMAZING CHEAP FOOD in MALAGA! It's been TOO long since I had a quesadilla, a margarita, and guacamole! TOO TOO LONG! It's like writing in your journal everyday, you need it to stay sane, then one day it's gone and you miss it for months and months, and then, there it is! Okay, maybe that's not a good example, but you understand I'm sure, lol.


I was a happy girl! So happy, the next night I went back with my handsome love!!! He loved it just as much as I did-- unlike the vegetarian restaurant, lol! YAY! (I think he had one too many Margaritas, the Spanish aren't used to tequila!)
OK OK enough about the Mexican joint--- On too my favorite place in Spain, MARBELLA (again), ha. I went back, a THIRD time, this time to Puerto Banus-- the super posh area. It was gorgeous, I felt like I was in heaven the whole time. Between the huge boats, shops, ice cream shops, bars and beaches, I never wanted to go home. I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT! Also, I was wearing my $25 shades from Urban Outfitters which appeared to be like $300 so I fit right in (in my mind, ha)! I had SUPER company as well, Cristina & Joost, my loves.

(dancing at the light house, it's called the happy dance, lol)
I was waiting for the owner to come back to his car so I could start up a conversation, lol. Well, let's see what else... oh yeah, the traditional processions in Malaga. I have to first say that I appreciate the cultural aspect to Semana Santas processions, BUT I wanted to shoot myself after two parades. Let me explain-- During the whole week, Jesus and The Virgin statutes are taken out of every church and carried through out the streets (by men, never women). A band walks behind them playing music. THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE THROUGH OUT THE STREET FOR 7 DAYS STRAIGHT! People follow the saints making promises, for example, "if you help my mother get better, I won't eat meat for a whole year". People cry in the streets and sing religious songs; they wait all year to experience this. Oh yeah, there is also incense burning all day. This goes on from 11am until 5am. ME, living in the middle of the city could not escape Jesus Christ! Everywhere I turned I saw him and his followers (also, I couldn't sleep at night with all the noise). After spending a full day with my friend watching all this, I was happy to get home, THEN my roommates made me head out at 1am to see more! I said, oh no no no no no, I'm not going. They bribed me with chocolate and sunflower seeds (I needed something to keep me calm, I am not a passive viewer, I need interaction). The sunflower seeds helped relax me while they enjoyed Jesus and made promises. Next year, I KNOW I will go away the whole week, not just a few nights, I won't be able to handle it again! ha. OH YEAH-- they wear KKK looking outfits, here it's a positive signal, in the US, terrible. It made me feel uncomfortable.





It was a unique religious experience. I am happy I experienced it, don't get me wrong, it's just not for me. After that, I needed to dance with my girls, so I did.
GREAT WEEK.

fun people.

explorations.

cultural experiences.

road trips.

PERFECT LIFE.

More blogs to come about my travels.