Soul Patch

Before my job interview, I decided that I should probably shave off my epic mustache and goatee. Given this unique opportunity, I decided to see what I would look like with a soul patch. When I was little, I thougth that it looked soooooo cool. I unfortunately don't think I look soooooo cool.

Saga of the swollen feet

Traveling while pregnant can be difficult. I read that it was important to stay hydrated and be active on the plane so you don't swell as much.  I knew that a 10 hour flight would be hard, so I had a plan.  I would drink water as much as possible and then I would get a walk in every time I had to use the bathroom.  Since I had to go about once an hour anyway.  Good plan, huh?  But I just retained all the water that I drank and didn't need to relieve myself at all.  And I swelled up to my mid calf.  And here are photos of my saga.

These were my feet and ankles that were a bit puffy after walking around the night before we left Spain:

This is what they normally look like:

And these are my feet on the plane.  So puffy!

The swelling was amazing.  But happily it all went away by the next morning.  These are my normal legs and ankles.

 

And here are my ankles later that day after re-swelling.  Just around the ankle because apparently my socks were too tight.

 

Farewell, Spain

We left our apartment for the last time.

Bye bye!  I will miss our front door.  And our 5th story walk-up apartment. And our street.  And the crazy kids who think 2 am is a fine time to sing happy birthday while walking down the street.

It's been great.  And it's a bit weird to be leaving it all.  I feel like it's just a vacation and we'll come back home to Spain.  But we won't.  At least not anytime soon.

Last night in Spain

We still had some fireworks from Valencia, and since we couldn't carry them in our luggage across the ocean, we went to an empty field by the river and blew up all 100+ firecrackers that we had.  It takes a long time to blow up firecrackers if you are lighting them one at a time, so we made large piles to blow up as many as we could at a time.

This is the video of the action:

It was so much fun!

Last visit to Madrid

We went into Madrid and ate at a Moroccan restaurant (one of my favorite types of food).  It was very delicious.  We then decided to go get ice cream.  I had plotted out the best ice cream shop to go to so that I would have to walk the least amount.  (Walking is hard when you are bigger.)  The ice cream was super yummy.  And I had totally forgotten that it was in the homosexual district of Madrid.  I don't know why, but this bar sign cracked me up.

 

The barriers are there because there was going to be a concert that night, I think.

We also stopped by McDonald's so I could get a yogurt for a snack earlier in the day.  They have these new order kiosks!  You place your order and pay, and then just wait for them to call out your number.  It was way WAY faster than waiting in the super long line to order.  I don't know why more people didn't use them.  I think they are genius.

Water Park

Hollis and I purchased annual passes to the Madrid Parks.  We could visit the zoo, amusement park, aquarium, and several water parks throughout 2012.  We planned on going to the water park all summer because we were going to stay home and I knew that it would be unbearably hot.  Well, we are leaving next week so we decided to use them.

It cost us 2€ per person (because we went on a weekend).  And I couldn't go on any of the attractions because I'm pregnant.  However, I did enjoy the pool and loved taking pictures of Hollis.

They don't have the same restrictions in Spain as they do in the US.  They didn't seem to care how Hollis went down the slide.  He even spun some 360s!

I knew I had cut Hollis's hair into a mullet, but his hair doesn't seem that long because it is so curly.  But when Hollis came up out of the pool, I could see how long his hair truly was:

And this is me trying to get into the pool.

It went great until I had to get my belly in.  Then it was WAY too cold.

Hollis made me get in.  And it was nice that he did because it was nice to not feel so heavy.  But I also enjoyed sitting in the shade of the trees.  Especially after they made me take off my sunglasses (even though they were prescription and plastic and I couldn't go on any of the slides, they made me take them off so other people wouldn't want to wear sunglasses too).  I'm not bitter.  (Though I did cry.  I blame being pregnant.)

Saying goodbye

We've started packing for home, sort of.  You know, since we are leaving in four days.  This is how I pack:

 

I just throw everything in the other room.  And have it all spread out so that I can pack it more easily. And then adjust the weights of the bags.

We went out to lunch with the people that we've been having English conversations with all year.  They surprised us and paid for our lunch.  And gave us t-shirts.

(Steve, me, and Joey) 

I'm really going to miss all my co-workers, especially these guys.  We got to hang out a whole bunch and talk while we were waiting for our various classes.  This is the part I hate about moving.  *Sigh*

Chaperoning in Spain

Several students at the school got to go to the amusement park, and they needed chaperones.  I'm pregnant, so I can't go on any of the rides.  But I really wanted Hollis to come because we had amusement park passes, but I couldn't go with him since I've been pregnant.  So since Joey was also going to chaperone, I told Hollis to come too.

Heather, Joey, and Hollis had fun riding all the rides together.  Here they are on a roller coaster that the car spins as it goes around.  I really like it.

 

I hung out with these guys all day:

Yup.  My best friends right now are my water bottle, my spray bottle, and my fan.  They make life amazing.

Everyone is pregnant

Okay, not everyone.  But this is a photo of all the women in our ward who are due this year.  Rachel already had her niño.  Next is Fran, who is due already.  Melba is due at the beginning of August, Noemi is due the middle of August, I am due the beginning of September, Angel's wife (she was visiting, so I can't remember her name) is due a week after me, and Leti is due in December.

I just had to get a picture of all of us.  Fran, Melba, Noemi, Leti, and I are all expecting our first child.  So much fun being pregnant with so many other women.

Ward BBQ

Our ward in Alcalá has some pretty fun ward parties.  The thing that I found the most funny was that they were all very similar.  The women did the cooking, mostly outside, but passed some things through the window from the kitchen.

The men played soccer.

 

Hollis did such a good job playing.  I loved watching him play.

  

Had I not been pregnant, I might have joined in, but at our first social I didn't join in because I was too hot and no other girls were playing so I felt kind of awkward.

Construction

Ever since we moved here our bathroom has had smelly pipes.  We've placed a plug over the drain so I don't throw up when I walk past (because I'm more sensitive now that I'm pregnant).  Then one day I come home to this awesome destruction in our building entryway:

 I guess they decided to finally fix whatever the problem was.

Smoking and Spain

A lot more people smoke in Spain than in the US, at least in public.  But things are getting better.  They passed a "no smoking indoors" law last year that has made a huge difference.  But I really get a kick out of their warning labels:

Yup.  "Smoking kills" is all the warning they need.

Mullet

Well, I finally felt up to cutting his hair.  And as a joke I cut it into a Spanish mullet.  But then it actually looked good! (I mean, like a legitimate Spanish mullet.)  So we decided to keep it for now.

At church both he and I got several compliments on his hair.  One fellow said he wished his wife would let him have such a stylish haircut.

I promise, this is high fashion in Spain.