I'm Home for Christmas!

Hola hola!!

So, I remember being super sentimental last year while listening to the Bing Crosby "I'll be Home for Christmas" song when I wasn't going home... well, this year I'm listening to it from the comfort of my parents' home in Seattle, in front of the fireplace cuddling with Ohana and Sky (dog and cat) while gazing at our beautiful Christmas tree. I'm so happy to be home! I'll be here for an entire month because I flew in a week early and will be flying out a week late.

Haha, I was originally going to arrive in Seattle on Christmas Eve, but British Airways employees threatened with a strike from the 22nd of December until the 2nd of January, so I immediately changed my date of departure to the 17th of December (the latest I could fly out... but before the 22nd, all of the flights were full!). It was the longest trip I've ever gone on! Because my trip was so last minute (I booked it two days before departure), the midnight transportation to the Madrid airport from Valladolid was completely full. So, I had to take the 9 pm bus the night before, which dropped me off at the airport at 11:30 pm. Because I had so much luggage, I didn't feel comfortable at all going to sleep, so I stayed awake and passed the time watching movies, reading, and writing my maid of honor speech (for Linnea's wedding) between the hours of midnight until the 5 am check-in time. I checked in, talked for two hours with a professor from some UC school and another gal in the same program as me until we got on the plane. Then I chatted it up for a bit the a Spanish man and a dude from Venezuela who was going to visit his family in Canada. Then during my 5 hour layover in the London Heathrow airport, I wandered around and didn't do too much. My last leg of the journey was the grueling 10 hour flight from London to Seattle. You can't imagine my excitement when I saw my seat on the plane... I had selected the exit row, hoping for a little more leg room, but what I didn't expect was to not have anyone in front of me. That is exactly what happened. :) So, I was able to drink as much water as I wanted without worrying about disturbing my flight neighbors when I wanted to get to the bathroom. I felt like I was in first class!

So, now I'm home. I've just been chilling with the fam damily and relaxing in our spacious home (which I appreciate a ton more now after living in a tiny piso with a devil cat). I don't have a ton planned yet for my Seattle vacation. I'm thinking that this break will be mainly composed of family time, coffee dates, get togethers, and hopefully some snowboarding (if the weather cooperates and we get more powder in the mountains), and definitely a lot of wedding fun.

Life has been good in Valladolid. I'm still really enjoying my Spanish classes and am getting to know a few of my classmates. Teaching English has its ups and downs, but recently more ups than downs, which is good. I love the teachers and the other two U.S. gals that I work with. We were going to go on an excursion in Palencia with one of the teachers today but, obviously, with the change of flight plans, it is indefinitely postponed. :)

Wow, I just remembered that I have a lot to catch you all up on. Mainly my two Thanksgivings, trip to Southern Spain, and Christmas. Which is what I'll do sometime in the next couple days...