Belfast, a quick tour, 2009.

I have a vibrant and radiant addiction to Belfast. The city I spent just about a year living in 3 years ago. I went back to pick up my diploma, and I did all the things I loved so dearly doing while I lived there. This time I had my best friend in tow.

Going on a black cab, political tour through the conflicted and segregated neighborhoods:

signing the peace wall on Falls Road.
a traditional Irish breakfast, YUM (this is the vegetarian option):
Christmas tent, having hot chocolate with whipped cream! perfect!
At the Crown, the most famous and oldest pub in Belfast, opened in the 18th century.
at the Brazilian birthday party!
a magician made me a doggie balloon, aww... :)
at the newly renovated Ulster Museum
at the Botanical Gardens
At the city hall Christmas market
rain drops keep falling on my head.
holler!

one of the trucks that helps the drunk people with free snacks, tea and coffee (no, I didn't need help, just wanted free tea at 2am!)

my university, one wing.

fake snow starting falling down on us at the mall!!!

I felt what I have been smelling for years...

I am just a simple American girl that grew up on the streets of Brooklyn, New York, mom on welfare my whole life, dad missing for half my life, the odds were against me at birth.

Despite that, I was the first one in my family to get my Bachelors Degree.

And now, I have just become the first to hold
a Masters Degree
(In Comparative Ethnic Conflict in the school of
Politics, International Studies & Philosophy at Queens University,
one of the best Universities in the United Kingdom.
(According to USA Today, only 8.9% of Americans hold a Masters Degree,
I make up a small part of the percentage)

I am proud of what I achieved, and it was all on my own! No excuses, I NEVER made any excuses, even when people told me I couldn't do something,
I continued on,
STRONGER-THAN-EVER.

Now on to get my PhD...

CHRISTMAS ADORNMENT!

Oh Christmas TIME!

The city is so beautifully decorated.

The people are happy and vibrant.

Spanish guy and I are happy to simply take walks around the city at night.

Here's a glimpse of Malaga during Christmas time:

randomness:

One of my many rants and raves:

Well, last night I spent one of the most wonderful evenings with Spanish guy decorating the house for Christmas, we played Christmas music, drank Cider, and we were supposed to bake cookies, but I think we distracted each other, ;) haha.

I have 2 more weeks of work until I have over a month off for the holidays! YAY!

My best friend in Spain is on the train right now, she'll be here in Malaga tonight, THEN we are heading to the airport tomorrow morning to get the traveling started! We'll be visiting one of my favorite countries in the WORLD! Northern Ireland! woo-hoo!

I'm in the first stage of training for my 3rd international Marathon and I feel healthier than ever!

I continue to be happy and optimistic, and every morning I can't wait to see what the world has in store for me!

happy happy ME!

A trip to Malaga Airport.

So my students and I went on one of the most fabulous school trips EVER! TO THE AIRPORT to see how things are run! We went behind closed doors to visit the animals that are sent out to kill the birds that fly by (so they won't get stuck in the engines or wherever when the planes take off or land), we went through customs with fake passports, and saw all of the behind the scenes aquariums AND the best part of ALL: We visited the airport firehouse! They did a demonstration for us on how they put out fires and then we got to play with it all: the foam I mean! YAY! I AM A KID AT HEART! I love my students in Malaga, and I love all of the unique opportunities that I am experiencing!

An American in Spain: Thankgsgiving NUMERO DOS!

THANKSGIVING DINNER #TWO:

So we rocked out at another Thanksgiving dinner last night at my new friends house! There were like 20 Spanish people and four Americans, :). We made everyone (even though they were embarrassed) say what they were thankful for, and we had a HUGE dinner and desserts, and WINE WINE WINE! We spent hours and hours there, singing Karaoke, talking, and getting to know one another (I only knew 2 people, but made friends FAST) Afterwards we went out to the center to PARTY!

It was a GREAT night, and as always I felt blessed (and thankful) for having such unique experiences and for meeting such great people! WHAT A MIX OF CULTURES THIS WEEKEND HAS BEEN! THANKSGIVING IS MY NEW FAVORITE HOLIDAY!

Oh yeah, and this time there was a Turkey, haha!

The American in Spain: Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving 2009:

Last year at this time, I was heartbroken, in Spain, alone. I passed the day with a co-worker, an older Spanish woman who I loved. She and her husband cooked for me and we spoke and drank wine together for hours. It was a unique fabulous experience.

This year, I am blessed to have the best man in the world at my side. We decided to celebrate together and invite one of our favorite couples over to celebrate with us. It was his first Thanksgiving (obviously, Spanish don't celebrate this American holiday). He was so excited and talked about it all week. On Thanksgiving after we both finished working, we went food shopping together, ALL AMERICAN STARCHES! Cheese, different types of bread, pasta, potatoes, yams, wine, beer, I made home made vegetarian gravy (IT WAS GREAT-- I couldn't believe it) salad, and of course desserts CHOCOLATE CAKE (brought by our beautiful guests!)

YUMMY-YUM-YUM!
mmmmm...

We cooked together and prepared everything with mucho amor (as he says) and it turned out DELICIOUS! Our guests told us that it was the best mac and cheese they've ever had in their lives! TOMA!!! Eso es que necesito, positive feedback!

After dinner, desert, champagne, we went dancing (of course).

It was a fabulous Thanksgiving. This year I am thankful to have Spanish guy in my life, Alex is a blessing that I would have never seen coming at this time last year. I am a lucky woman. I was happy to show him what an American Thanksgiving is like, after all, I am living in his country and he is always showing me and teaching me new things about his culture, this weekend it was my turn!

3 weeks til my 28th b-day:

And I still got a killa SWaG...

GoTTa keep my Brooklyn tude,

it's hard when I'm surrounded by Europeans all the damn time!

BUT I TRY!

Jerez de los Caballeros

I went wild mushroom picking in Extremadura this weekend (the western part of Spain, 4 hours from Malaga by car, 6-7 by bus)!!!

I was there visiting one of my best friends in the world and we drove to the wilderness with cute little baskets and looked for wild mushrooms to take home and eat (I don't like them, but it was fun picking them). I NEVER in my life would think that I would spend hours in a forest looking for and collecting mushrooms, but that I did and it was amazing! I mean, it's not something I'd like to do everyday, I'm not much of a nature person, BUT it was a great experience!

You need to have some special skills to know which ones are edible and which ones aren't OR grow up in the country of course. A city girl like me, coming from one of the biggest cities in the world, New York, I was like, what the heck, they all look the same!!???????? I didn't have any idea what's good and what wasn't. BUT I learned quite a lot along the journey.

Here's some documentation:

This one isn't edible, you can tell by the shape and the color:
This one is edible, the color is duller, but beautiful!:
So as we were wandering around looking for mushrooms (and asparagus) we found the most perfect tree in the world, that's only in fairy tales, and we decided to CLIMB THE TREE! We are young at heart, and there's no better place to get it all out than in the middle of the forest with no one watching!

Here's more pictures of beautiful Jerez de los Caballeros and my weekend there...

Beautiful and delicious home cooked meal SOME PEOPLE KNOW HOW TO WORK IT!:
Low lying clouds on the fields of Jerez on a lazy Sunday morning:
a magnificent night with my BFF keeping warm by the fire:
Whatcha think, I can't keep the fire going? I AM A SAGITTARIUS I GOT TONS OF FIRE TO KEEP BURNING, haha:
The city wall:
I made a friend with a dog (as always) I think I need one in my life!:
Extremadura, Jerez de los Caballeros November, 2009. More to come baby! Happy and safe Mushroom hunting everyone!