Viva la Lisp!

After three years of hearing ourselves talk about leaving the country we have finally made it. Let me start by letting you know that 18 hours on a plane is a LONG TIME. In case you have already forgotten one of us is a minature giant. Planes were not designed with 6'3" men in mind. In fact I do not belive that planes were made with people in mind. Probably money on the mind with no consideration for comfort...
So what is Spain like? First impressions are good. The weather is good the people seem nice and the hotels that we are staying in are nicer than a tent! We have not had much of an opportunity to leave the hotel as our days have been filled with orientacion (that is how you say orientation en espanol...hard one I know)! Spanish people love the pig. We have already eaten pig also known as pork or puerco (en espanol) in more ways than I ever thought possible. Raw pork, cooked pork, bacon (not cooked like we do at home...RAW with a little warming), pork soup, pork pork pork!!! We have also had la oportunidad (opportunity en espanol...another hard one try to bare with me) to try some of the famous tapas. Amoung the favorites, octopus, raw pork slices, pork ka-bobs and some other things that we were not quite sure about...tasted good though and that is what is important. Unfortunatly we have not yet had the opportunity to take any pictures but we promise to get on it! The food has been great the people are nice and we are loving the lisp! Hopefully the next post will be a little more enjoyable... You know one with fotos and what not. None of you really want to read you just want pictures!
Peace Out Hommies (As Miss Tylie Would Say)
Eli and Miss Jeanna

A New Chapter is on the way

Trying to remain calm...

So today was the first day that I actually awoke with a little bit of panic. I could hardly believe that it was already Monday and we are flying out in a few days. Thankfully I was finally able to put together a list and get some things accomplished. I guess we've kind of put off packing, but we finally buckled down and got it started tonight. I must say that the bikes pack up quite nicely. I just really hope that we're able to get the most out of them and our time in Spain. I would hate to look back on these coming months with any regrets. Knowing us, Eli will just be reminding me to live in the moment and not worry too much about the future. I'm so excited for this new time in our lives. I feel like I've been waiting so long to have an experience out of the country, and now I can hardly believe it is really here. Hopefully afterward we will finally feel like we are able to move forward in our lives. We are truly blessed in so many ways. We have been so thankful for one another, as well as all our incredible family and their unending support. None of this would be possible without them...

Are we there yet?

I think this time in Triangle Lake is making us even more excited to leave for Spain. It's not that we don't love spending time with the family, it's just that we've never been in a situation where we've had so much free time with nothing to do. At this point, we are definitely ready for our flight. The first two weeks are undoubtedly going to be incredibly stressful, what with orientation, finding housing, talking to our new bosses at our new jobs, getting moved in, getting our Spanish residency and having to deal with the Spanish police and then all the banking stresses on top of it. Today I found out that one euro is equal to $1.42. Not very good news for us. Anyway...we have a couple decisions to make and things to get situated before we leave, but nevertheless, as you can see from Eli, we are anxious and excited for things to start getting underway.

2 WEEKS!

We just got back from a trip to La Grande and can hardly believe we only have two weeks until we head up to Portland for our flight!
We had a really great time in La Grande. Time and distance do truly make the heart grow fonder, but all we made La Grande out to be in our minds quickly dissipated upon returning. True, it was beautiful, and the small town feel where everything is in walking distance was nice, but everything closing at 3:00pm and nothing being open on Saturday was a reminder that cities definitely have something going for them.
It was really nice getting to see Eli's side of the family again. His sister definitely has her hands full with her 5 kids, but they are great and the twins keep things interesting. Avila is adorable as always, and the older girls seem to be enjoying school. We were able to spend more time than ever before with his sister, Mallory, and that was an absolute treat. She has been awesome with the kids and is gearing up to start nursing school in a few weeks. Time with her was definetly one of the highlights.
While we were there we spent a day with our friends Whit and Mavis, and headed up to ride the mountain bike trails up by Anthony Lakes followed by some rock climbing. It was an incredible day. It really doesn't get much better than that.
On the way home we stopped in Portland and got together with some friends for the night. Portland was great and it was so nice to be in a place with options and culture and things to do. For dinner we went to this AWESOME Cuban restaurant called Pambiche. I think Eli felt like he was back in Panama. The food was remarkable and it was so wonderful to spend some time with friends.
We're back in Triangle Lake now. Eli spent the day up on the hill, helping Dad fall some trees, and I've been helping out the museum that my parents help run. My mind has been spinning with all the things I need to do before we leave and all the things I need to make sure I have together. I got the web address for the school I'm going to be teaching at and to be honest, it sounds amazing! The address is: http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/averroes/navasdetolosa/
The kids seems so smart and I can hardly wait to meet them all...I just hope I'm not a disappointment to them. I'm hoping to get some teaching materials from my sister that might be able to help us out...now if only I could figure out what to pack...