kidlet #3

too sweet for words.

Emiko Tirzah. age 2.

this baby is a baby no longer! she is still growing and changing so much while i am gone. She said "i miss you, Jenna!" on skype the other day, and I just about died. She's going to be a kid when I get back and no longer a baby. thats weird.

she LOVES books. she loves caring for others, whether it be taking care of her baby doll orpicking up all of your things laying around (phone, keys, paper from your desk that you really don't need) and giving them to you. she's a cuddler. she loves running and squealing. she just loves life.

this concludes the kidlet series. WOAH A SERIES ON THE BLOG. this blog is going profesh.

i miss them. i love them. i can't wait to see them!

just a little sneak peek...

so i've been back from Italy for a week now, and no update. sorry, y'all! but they're coming. so here are some pics to hold you over, because I know you're all fretting over this and just dying to see the pictures! i hope my sarcasm translates through the computer machine.

i will tell you this, all sarcasm aside. Italy was wonderful. It was beautiful, exciting, foreign (yes, you may call me captain obvious), magical, and delicious. We will unpack this in future posts.

so there was this bullfight...

all the way back in september (september! it feels like that was just last week), i got to go to a bullfight with some friends. I didn't know what to expect, and I had heard everything from they don't kill any bulls to they kill 6 bulls. It turns out it was the latter. It was kind of hard to watch (especially the first couple bulls), and when I think about it, I didn't watch the whole time. I spent a lot of time facing my friend bri, saying "oh my gosh. oh my gosh. oh my gosh.". I'm glad i went...it was a good spanish experience.

Have you ever heard about how a bullfight is like a dance? It really is cool how the matadors move and the presentation of it all. It was also fun to play with my camera and take some cool pictures. If only I had better zoom! alas, i do not. enjoy the piccies anyway. :)

i hath discovered...

i have a favorite spanish word!

I've always wanted one, but nothing has ever stuck out to me. But I definitely found it, and i use it quite a lot, just because i want to say it. Are you ready? readddyyyyy?

the word is...

tiquisimiquis.

awesome, right? you pronounce it: teekeesmeekees. Its so fun. I just say it all the time. And when I was looking up the spelling on Word Reference, the english translation is JUST as awesome. How? let me tell you.

The word means picky. Like, "she's really picky about what she eats." But when I looked it up on Word Reference, the english word is: fusspot. What is a fusspot? Apparently its someone who is fussy or picky in english. Who knew, right?

It was also halloween on Friday at school, and some girls and I dressed up 80's. I definitely listened to some MJ and looked up some 80's lingo to get me in character. My favorite word I found was bodacious. It just rolls of the tongue. I will be using that word more often as well.

I love expanding my vocabulary.

kidlet #2

this little gentleman is Jonas Micah, affectionately known as Jojo. Yes, he was born at the peak of the Jonas Brother's fame and yes, I did think he had the coolest name ever. No shame.

Little Jojo here LOVES cars and trains. Typical boy. He has a curious little mind that keeps everything interesting. He has the biggest gut chortle [favorite word] that makes everyone around him start laughing. He also adores his sisters, and when not being the typical pesky little/big brother, he hugs and kisses and loves on them.

He's treasured.

just a little sevilla.

just some shots of my sevilla::

the cathedral thats BEAUTIFUL and in the middle of the city. we all just walk by it like its nbd.

pretty designs from the tile in my house.

the window from my house.

the view from my house.

coca cola light=necessary when its almost 100 degrees out! we're also super classy and drink it out of a 2 liter bottle with ice.

kidlet #1

So this precious little girl has already been introduced on the blog, but here she is again.

Miss Kalea, age 5.

She has the prettiest green eyes, the greatest smile, the biggest giggle, SO MANY facial expressions, such a sweet heart. She also loves español. When I lived with my sister this summer, all I heard was, "Jenna, how do you say watermelon in español? How do you say book in spanish? How do you say [insert any word in the english language] in spanish?" She's a girl after my own corazón.

So this is kidlet #1, who I miss dearly. More kidlets to come.

Fui a Córdoba!

We get to reminisce a little bit here about the first trip I took while here in Spain. We went as a school to Córdoba, a town a couple hours from Sevilla. It was super different from the big city that we came from, but it was a quaint, small 'pueblo' with SO much history. jackpot.

The primary reason we went was to visit the mosque there, which has a pretty cool layout. It was first a Visigoth church, which the muslims converted into a mosque when the took over the area. There are different sections of the mosque that get more and more elaborate as the kingdom grew more wealthy and the emirs wanted to showcase the splendor of the kingdom in the mosque. Then the Christians took over Córdoba, and decided to build a 'cathedral' in the middle of the mosque. There are so many layers of history in one building, and it was beautiful.

brb.

.

guys, i leave for Italy tomorrow. I CANT BELIEVE IT! I haven't really started thinking about it until this week, and its still so surreal. After last week when i was sick and swamped with tests and homework, this is going to be such a fun getaway.

I'll be gone for about a week, and I'll be hitting up Rome, Venice, Pisa, and Florence. Not in that order, just in case there are any friendly Italian stalkers out there [hi!]. We've finished booking everything, so now we're just having fun deciding what places to visit, what food to eat [all of it, duh.], and what things to do.

being the experienced blogger that i am, [stop laughing] i've scheduled posts for your reading pleasure! I actually just figured out how to do it the other day, but I do have posts set up for you. This is going to be fun!

EXPLORE.

have you heard of the term wanderlust? According to wiki [yes, it is where i get all my information], wanderlust is a strong desire for or impulse to wander or travel and explore the world.

I TOTES HAVE IT.

Don't get me wrong, home sounds really fabulous right now, but traveling and exploring different places is what i'm all about. I was wandering [bahah] on the internet today, and found these videos. They're actually promotional videos for a language school, but are so well done. They're so pretty make me want to visit each and every place. check it outtt!

p.s. the barcelona video is so similar to sevilla! happy day.

Lagos

contrary to what the title of this post may suggest, i am not talking about lakes in the spanish language. Instead, i will chronicle the weekend spent in the beautiful city of Lagos, Portugal! Some girls and I took a bus to Lagos, which is on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of the most beautiful places I have EVER been. Shall i fill you in on the weekend spent there? No? i'm going to anyway.

We stayed at a hostel in the center of the city, and had some fun experiences there. It was so fun to wander the city and find what became our regular gelato shop [it was italian. it was delicious.], markets, tapas bars, cafes, and so much more.

What takes the cake [where does that expression even come from?] was the beaches and caves. The absolute highlight of the trip was taking a boat tour. That sounds all official, but it was a fishing boat and a hilarious portuguese man who spoke no english. He drove us around for about an hour to see all the huge rock formations, and because the boat was so small, we were able to duck [literally] into little caves. He would always holler at us and pat his head signaling us to duck, and when the tide went down, he'd scoot the boat in. It was an adventure, and it was SO MUCH FUN.

We stopped by a beach and got to basque in the beauty of it all. and eat bread. Those are two very important things. Basically, it was a joy of a weekend! It was such a blessing to spend that time with the girls who went, and I got to see Portugal! very good.

p.s. i have TONS of instax from this trip. they will be added in due time. :)