Visitors and road trips.

I realize it has been a long time since I've written a blog.  This is partly due to the fact that 1) I've been busier than usual and 2)  I'm lazy and 3)  I just haven't gotten around to it.  But now i'm at home with the flu, and decided it was time.  So lets back up to New Years.  My friend from Germany, Burkhard came to Huelva to visit!  I have gotten the question many times how I know him many times.  He stayed with my aunt Carolyn 2 years ago while he did an internship in Minnesota.  So thats how we met,  I realized when he was here that we never spent more than like 2 hours just me and him before, but it was a really fun week!  For me anyways.  I think Burk maybe wanted a little more excitement than Huelva has to offer, but I was assured it was a good trip.  The weather was beautiful, so thats one point for Huelva.

 Burk left on Thursday and school started again for me on Monday.  I really enjoyed getting back to school to see my students.  I was greeted with hugs and holas from my youngsters, and it was a great welcome back.  Tuesday of that week my long lost cousin Tony, who has been teaching in Ghana, arrived in Huelva for this portion of his Europe trip.  It has been so nice to see him again and hear all his awesome stories first hand!  It's so nice to be around family again. He got to experience going out Spanish style, nice weather and a January bbq in the park. Well the week quickly ended and on Thursday Tony and I, a friend of his from Sevilla and a friend of mine started our road trip to Lisbon, Portugal.

Driving through the hills of southern Portugal were amazing.  It was like driving through Dr, Seuss.  Plush greenery, lakes, windy roads, truly beautiful.  We only got lost several times, but made it to our hostal, which was awesome.  I won't bore you with lots of trip details.  Partly because the trip was a little tainted for me because I got the flu.  I had a slight cold when we left but the sharp winds and cold temperatures did me in.  Plus everything we did was outside.  I was able to power through ok I think.  I mean it was either be miserable in the hostel or miserable out doing things in Lisbon, and since I was already there I didn't want to miss out too much.  I'm sure everything would have been much better had I been able to enjoy it better.  So those of you who know my cousin Tony, you should read his blog (when he writes about Lisbon)  for a full detailed account of what happened.  I'll just leave you with some pictures so you can see a bit of Lisbon.  Oh, Lisbon is a city on the water (not the ocean, a port, but still water) and it is also built into hills.  So all weekend I was getting flash backs to Valparaiso, Chile, a city also built into hills.  I got a little bit nostalgic.  But the city is beautiful and we took a trip outside the city to visit a castle.  It was unreal.  The gardens were a maze of caves, towers and greenery.  Felt like the secret garden.  Probably not the best place to spend the afternoon with the flu, but i'm glad I got to see it.

I slept the whole car ride home, and called in sick for the first day since being here.  I probably have to call in sick tomorrow too.  Dang flu,  I wish I had my mom here to take care of me.  I really don't like having to take care of myself when I'm sick.  Good think I have Tony here to make me tea and noodles.  Otherwise i'd be lost.  So I'll just be here recovering,  hope all of you are in better health than me.  Take care.

Love
Katie