My Family here in SPAIN!

The first picture here is in the kitchen with Valerie my roomie. We had just finished eating paella for lunch ( a rice dish with seafood and chicken in it....SO good!) Notice how skinny the kitchen is, and the radiator in the background. There is a radiator in everyroom. In fact in my bedroom its right beside my bed and I enjoy its company all night.
The next two pictures are of my madre (Mom) Ana and padre (Dad) Paco. So all together we're Ana, Paco, Javi, Francisca, "bah-le-rrree" and "haz-meen" !!

Feliz cumpleanos Javi!

This is Javier, or Javi as we lovingly call him. He is our Spanish brother and this is in the dining room during his 19th birthday celebration. The abuela (grandmother) is in the background. Her name is Francisca and she is the mother of Ana. We sang Feliz cumpleaños a ti and I even gave a little rendition in english. The cake was different but good. Hurray for birthdays!

GOOD MORNING! or Sweet dreams....

Good morning (for me) and sweet dreams (for you guys). Its a beautiful sunny day here in Spain and I am going to spend the day in Madrid, a fantastically exciting city! We'll probably hit up some museum, I would like to see a modern art one called the Thyssen-Bournemisa. Tonight there is a Carnival celebration in the city with a parade I believe. We will probably go check out all the rage and costumes. I here there is a great party tonight in Plaza Mayor too ( the old city square where they used to hold hearings for the Inquisition) This next week we are off to northern Spain- to Galicia, and actually some of Portugal.
Have a great sleep and great Friday. I love you all so much
Jasmine

I LOVE MULLETS!

Its honestly like taking a step back in time. Here in the Madrid area, kind of in the middle of Spain, a TON of the guy teenagers are sporting these fantastic mullets. I am going to have to get a great repertoire of mullet shots, they are everywhere and I love it.

In Madrid this Weekend

This is some pictures from my weekend. This was on Saturday and we decided to go explore in Madrid. We met a girl who is Muslim at the school and she invited us to come see the mosque in Madrid so we ended up finding it and also finding a little soccer game (futbol). Sazi told us that the mosque is the biggest in Europe! It was cool, we saw the prayer area (facing Mecca) and the place where they wash before they say their prayers and we walked across the women's prayer area. They also have a library, cafeteria, and theater in the Islamic center. It was really interesting and since I've come here I have become more and more interested in Islam and the Islamic countries and people. I have this new desire to study Arabic as my next language...