gratitude

just feeling grateful for my life, all the challenges and rewards, for my brain, for the people i love..por todos :)

i've had so many interesting experiences and learned so much in the last few days.  mostly of the spanish language...not to be a pompous ass, but i'm getting pretty good.   this week i will start intercambio, so i will be assigned a spanish student at the university with whom i'll practice my spanish while they practice their english with me.  also, our neighbor has two little ones (2 and 4 years old), and asked if i could teach them english for one hour a week, so i'll start with that in a couple of weeks. 

javier grew these tomatoes at his mountain refuge, and sandra made this amazing (and very aesthetic) salad.  my roommate maranda and i are going to camp at the refuge with several other american students in the next few weeks.

maranda and me at el parque maria louisa, which is pretty much in our backyard:

a lot of the stores have these pig legs chilling out in the heat all day, it's pretty gross:

the view of the city from el torre de oro:

i get a kick out of this painting of the virgin mary protecting the nina, the pinta, and the santa maria.  and i know somebody is going to say "you like EVERY painting of the virgin mary."  but this one i really like because it was painted in the 15th century, so you can still see the muslim influences, like the light around her face and her black cloak.  it's too bad i couldn't get a better shot of it.  i think it's great. 

both the old and the new architecture in this city is stunning as all hell.  me encanta mucho:

aaaaand this perrito i just photographed because i felt so bad for it: