the sabbath.

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I went to church in Bilbao today and this has been my theme song for my Spanish adventure so far. Every time I walk through the cities and countryside I turn on this for my soundtrack. It's just too bad I didn't have my ipod when I got lost trying to find the ward in Bilbao and was 'walking the old eroded streets'
Luckily, I made it just in time for sacrament meeting. I met the Branch President. He is this wonderful man from Colombia. They have a class for single adults and I already made some friends. After church, I took a little walk around the Guggenheim.
That thing is amazing. Bilbao is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever been in. I contemplate never leaving...
Then I found out the Metro/subway was closed to get back to Gorliz. I still don't know why. It is a 45 min Metro ride, so walking was out of the question. Then I saw two girls from church by the Metro station and they helped me find a bus that would take me half way and then I would have to change buses to make it the rest of the way.
Many nice people helped me out along the way. This older lady that sat next to me on the first bus even called one of her friends on her cell phone to see when the buses to Gorliz pass by and where I should get off.
Now, at home finally, I will rest, like the sabbath requires.

Aaron, Guess what this smelled like????

if you guessed Uruguay, you are right!

yo vivo aqui!

a bridge in Plentzia, Spain. This river runs in from the bay of Gorliz



Gorliz, Spain. taken from a hill in Plentzia, Spain


Jone was tired of riding her scooter, so I took a turn and she took a picture


Josu and Maite walked a little slower than Jone and I


this is Jone and I. She is the older of the two girls that I tend. This is the best vacation ever!

not having a cell phone is weird....

Attention everyone: I am in Gorliz, Spain. Luckily we were able to set up wireless in the house of the family where I am staying, so I will be able to blog a lot! I am an au pair, if you did not know. I just met the family when I arrived here yesterday. They are very nice and this area is sooooo beautiful. I wasn't nervous at all to go across the world and stay with people I did not know, until a few seconds before exiting the plane, when I realized I could not remember what the dad looked like who was coming to pick me up....AH. When I walked out of the salida, I saw a man and woman and waved, thinking it was them, but they just ignored me, so I looked around and saw another man with a little girl who looked very familiar and that was them and they recognized me right away.

We had a 3.5 hour car ride back to Gorliz from Madrid and it was fun to conocer the country side to Basque country. In Basque country, the capital being Bilbao, they speak two languages, Spanish (Castellano) and Basque. Basque sounds really similar, but is written so differently. Quite a few times, I hear people speaking, think it is Spanish, can't understand AT ALL what they are saying, and finally realize that they are speaking Basque.

The weather is a lot like San Francisco and other coastal parts of Northern California. We live really close to the beach and go down to a plaza right near the beach a lot. It is humid, but not too hot, so it's ok!
Their house is so beautiful! I have my own bedroom and bathroom. There are no closets here, just big built-in cupboards/armoires. I think I love that. Also, did I mention that I love bidets? and also Spain. I love it.

ps: pictures coming soon.

Voila!!!

Here is the bike I have been working on. I loved fixing it up and now I can't wait to ride it everywhere!!! After I got it painted by my neighbor's paint guy, I put the crank shaft and handlebars back on by myself.
I went to the bike shop one day to buy some new parts. I told the guy I needed to fix the corroding handlebars and he gave me a Schwinn set of bars that they were going to throw away, so I put those on instead of the old ones. They look so great!!

Then my friend Casey helped me put on the back brakes and the derailers. He wasn't sure how to hook up the cables, so I took it to this shop and they made it ride really nice.
Today, right when I got it home, I stuck on these HOT PINK decals that I bought from Hungary via ebay.

It is sooooooo pretty! I don't think the pictures show how bright the colors truly are...but one day I will be riding down the rode and you will spot me on my custom made bicycle...

Futurific!

Susan had a birthday, shout hurray! We decided to welcome her future of being in the 30's by having a theme party. Theme: the future. We all got carried away and had a blast dancing like robots/aliens/spacemen, eating milky ways and watching Spaceballs.




Now that I have seen a little glimpse of what the future looks like I can tell you, believe me friends, you are gonna love it. The future looks bright.



my friends will and kyle made this video to show at our party, (may not be suitable for children) but hilarious for everyone else

Any advice for a long flight???

Last night as I was looking at my seating assignment for my trip to Spain, I started feeling tired and claustrophobic with a sudden urge to use the bathroom, but the inability to do so freely because you have to make someone else get up each time. I am not really nervous or scared to be in a new country with people I don't know for three months, I just am dreading the airplane ride over the atlantic. It's 5 hours from Las Vegas to Philadelphia, then another 7 hours to Madrid. Right now, I am wishing I could teleport
Any advice for a long flight??

Tagged!!!

5 random facts:
1. I love the smell/feel of clean pajamas.
2. My favorite soda is Sangria.
3. I used to do a sudoku puzzle every night before I went to bed. Now, it's at least a couple times per week.
4. I brush my teeth for two minutes every time (my toothbrush times it for me)
5. I always want to hang out with the 17 year olds that work with me, then I realize I am almost 10 years older than them. ha. weird.

there you go teryn! loves! have fun in switzerland! Bon voyage. Nous allons voir en France!!

wish me luck!

Time to re-assemble!!! I hope I can remember where everything goes!!!

"twelfth" is a strange 4-consonants-in-a-row type word

Fact: Megan is an incredible violinist


Last night, one of my good friends had her senior violin recital. She was amazing. I have never seen fingers move so swiftly! She played "Concerto in E Minor, Opus 64" by Felix Mendelssohn. The whole time I kept thinking of the quote from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, "Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em."
Through her hard work, dedication, practice and talent she has become so great at the violin.
I always wish I could be "great" at something. Instead sometimes I feel like Joseph Heller says in Catch-22 "Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them." That's probably why I am so excited to go to grad school. I will have the chance to become great at something by studying and practicing so intensely.
So, the word's out. I will be back at BYU to start my masters in January. WoW.
PS. I just bought this movie and it is one of my favorites. WATCH IT!!

Wiki-who?

HERE is my home from June 30th to Sept 28th. Gorliz, Spain looks amazing! I just can't wait. PS I have Aug 18th-31st off work and want to travel around Europe (mostly southern France and Spain and Portugal) Who wants to come??? Meet me in Madrid!!!

just last night....

this song put me to sleep. yum.

the park by feist
Why would he come back through the park?
You thought that you saw him but no you did not
It's not him who'd come across
The sea to surprise you
Not him who would know
Where in London to find you

With sadness so real that it populates
The city and leaves you homeless again
Steam from the cup and snow on the path
The seasons have changed from the present to past

The past
The past
Turns whole to half
The past

Why would he come back through the park?
You thought that you saw him but no you did not
Who can be sure of anything through
The distance that keeps you
From knowing the truth

Why would you think your boy could become
The man who could make you sure he was the one?

The one
My one
My one

Needless to say....the night-after-the-last-day-of-school is a good night's rest. No more school....EVER!!!

I think I'm in love with these guys....

OR maybe I'm just in love with the 80s!!!!


But look, they are good:
Here they are with Laura Marling! cute.

Memorialized....

We went to my parents' new house this weekend. It is so beautiful. Out of every window is some amazing vista! My sister and her beau were there too. We cleaned up construction mess, went shopping in St. George, played games and watched Perfect Strangers. I kept singing this song....and I keep falling in love with The Magnetic Fields.

I wrote a poem....

Premeditated Seasons
When the leaves in my days turn
or start turning
from green, to yellow, to orange, to red
to brown
a new leaf is turned.
The winter, in a beauty,
strange and indifferent,
calms me with its stillness and
woos me with its silent
white.
Ideas that reverberated
my mind
lay still in
the fog,
unsure of changing
thought patterns
as the seasons
change.

Let's blog it out...

I have this song stuck in my head ever since Suz showed it to me. And I really like the video. YUM!

Laura Marling-New Romantic

Also she sent me a link to an animation from This American Life. I love this couple and the story they tell. If you didn't see it in the theaters, check this out. The husband and wife are wonderfully considerate and caring of one another. Plus, just like counseled, they really have become one individual. ha. sooooooo great.

We are having and 80's Dance-A-Tron...

My roommate made this amazing flier. Rachel & Susan: Bringing You Back!

I am reeling!

which bike should i choose??

Input please. I am painting my bike. What do you like/dislike about these? How do they make you feel? Who do you picture riding these?

a change in the weather vain....

Recently I was reflecting on how much I dislike wind. I remember once, my friends were visiting Las Vegas and said they really enjoyed the wind. I was shocked. It has always been such a nuisance and definitely signifies bad weather. So I decided that maybe I could change my outlook on wind. In order to do that I have become a kite enthusiast. I bought a kite just last week. The day I bought it, there was no wind and I found myself secretly wishing for some wind....funny. Now I am wishing for it. I got the kite up, all by myself and flew it for 10 minutes or more. I forgot how great kites are!!

So lately, as I plan/think/wonder about moving to Denver, I debate about the weather. I wonder if I can handle cold winters with icy sidewalks and cars covered in snow every morning. Where when you are late for something and run out the door without a second to spare, you still have to brush/scrape off your whole car and drive slow slow slow down the road. yuck.
I realize that if I want to move there I have to find something to love/enjoy/embrace about the weather there. Therefore, I have commenced a rigid search for a winter pass-time that I love so much I will be able to handle the cold. IDEAS????
Doesn't Denver look so fun?? Roque and I have fun!

Babysitting 101

Get a mac. Show the kids photobooth. Fun for hours. and hours. and hours. and hours.
Also fun for adults. I took all these great eclipse pictures last weekend. soooooo fun.