A streetcar named turkey

I am a slogger... a slacking blogger... between school work, volunteer work, being kind of sick, trying to keep myself in a positive head space (really really hard right now), applying to transfer to MSN programs at Vanderbilt and UVa, and (most importantly at this moment) looking for a place to live for next semester - I have been letting myself get behind on correspondence and on my blogging. I really apologize if I haven't written - I think about you guys a lot and I hope to get back to being better about staying in touch soon.
I just ask that you all keep your fingers crossed (and toes and eyes and whatever else is crossable) for finding a place to live here for next semester and for getting in to Vandy and UVa...
Happy belated Turkey Day and Happy start to the Christmas season... :)

I went to Sevilla 2 weekends ago to see the "fam" down there... It was really nice to see Manolo and to spend time with Isabel (my friend in Sevilla, not my señora). Seeing Eloisa and her family as well as Manolo's friends was nice, but there was some serious drama going down that made my stay a little less pleasant than I was hoping for.
I spent a very happy night with Manolo and a fun afternoon on Saturday with Isabel, though. I stole away some hours by myself to take some pictures of a nice fall day in Sevilla... the ubiquitous street artists (yes, that is a person and not a statue - when a kid went to throw a coin in his hat, he moved all wind-up-toy-like and you'd think the kid was going to pee in his pants it scared him so much), the popular pastry shops (La Campana is one of the oldest and most famous in the city... it's turrón (nougat) time during the Christmas season), people selling roasted chestnuts in the street, the Giralda (of course), the Plaza de España and the new streetcar that just started running... And they are going to have to take them out of service (again) because advertising that covers the windows has been declared illegal and then dismantle the poles this spring for the Semana Santa processions... Only in Sevilla... You wonder what politicians are thinking sometimes...

















































Zoilo, Manolo's buddy, works at the 24hr Sevilla fútbol tv station (the station is in the Sevilla stadium). He was "on call" so we had to go to the station on Sunday to check on something... So we got to play around the empty stadium and explore the announcers' studio... Twas fun... :)































Zoilo, Juan, Manolo and Eloisa at the best seafood place in Spain that I have been to so far... shrimp, big squid, small squid, etc... They went through a lot of beer that afternoon, and they kept teasing me with my Diet Coke and water... "be careful - that coke will really get you tipsy"...




Thanksgiving was celebrated at Karen, Jeremy and Daman's with a lot of fanfare... and hamburgers. No oven meant creativity for the Turkey Day meal, so we decided on burgers since Karen had been jonesin' for some... Jeremy cooked up some cowboy potatoes and Karen made a chocolate peanut butter pie... We even splurged on cheddar cheese to put on our burgers... It was an all-American, even if it wasn't all-traditional, thanksgiving. Guga and Jackie came over as well (Guga is nursing-premed and Jackie is international relations). Guga did some tango moves with Karen and Jackie and Karen did some salsa moves with Daman. Jeremy and I sat and watched. Daman seemed to prefer me to be more of a jungle gym than a dance partner :P He was a very energetic entertainer for us all for the evening.

Daman decided that the mustard bottle was filled with chocolate and was determined to eat it... When he discovered otherwise, he was not happy.










































We had a good time. Good company, good food, good Thanksgiving. No turkey but that is ok. Who needs turkey when you have buddies in Spain to make Thanksgiving hamburgers with?






Love and hugs to everyone across all the respective ponds :)

Martha