Here are some pictures of the things I have been doing.  This past weekend I went with my Uncle and Aunt to the Canary Islands for an evangelism training weekend.  It was so beautiful and the evangelism went great.

The first day we got to visit a banana plantation (platanero de platanos) and see how bananas grow.  Did you know that they don't actually grow on trees, but instead are plants that are in the herb family.  They don't have trunks but 30 layers of leaves.  Each plant grows, produces bananas and dies in one year, and they are like 80% water.  It was fascinating.  You can see how big the thing of bananas is compared to Uncle Jake.

Most of the buildings on the island were these cool colors.  It felt so islandish.

This weekend I got to practice my Spanish....A LOT!  A three year old taught me the word for butterfly, mariposa.

This is what the island looked like.  Not very green or lush, but still beautiful in its own way.

When the tide went out the rocks were covered with crabs (cangrejos).

These are some of the wonderful people from the church.  The girl to my left, Lilliana, and her husband directly behind her were wonderful.  They helped me practice my Spanish (they spoke even less english then I speak spanish).

We took a hike our last day and we saw this man fishing off the cliff.  The next picture shows how high the cliff actually is.  We thought he was insane until we saw him reel in one fish after the other.  We asked some of the Canarians and they said this is a common way to fish in the Canaries.

You can just see a little red dot of a man at the top.  It was a really long way down!

Our flight home.  For future reference to anyone thinking of flying internationally with Iberia.  Don't.  They are three for three at losing my bags; when I came to Spain and to and from the Canaries.  That doesn't bode well for my return flight.

Just got back from London this past week.  A couple of the other teachers and I went for Spring Break.  So here are some of the pictures of my adventure.

First of all here is the nerd picture I promised.  The socks and shoes were definitly the funnest part of my outfit.

I saw this sign and thought I must have taken a wrong turn and ended up in Africa.  Apparantly that is what the Brits call a crosswalk.  And did you know that Brits don't say the last letter of the English alphabet like we do as "zee", but say it like "zed". Interesting.

This is me standing on the Prime Meridian.  I actually met a Londener who didn't know what the Prime Meridian was.  Scary.  And she was a journalist!  I am never watching BBC again.

The girls and I at Picadilly Circus (some famous shopping district).

Can't go to London without getting a picture of the phone booths.  I forgot to get a picture of the cabs, but they were so cool!  They were new, but they all look like old 1940's gangster cars.

Took this picture over about 500 peoples heads and through a fence, not bad if I do say so myself.  That is as close as you can get to these guys now.

One day we hopped a train and went out to the countryside outside London.  It was so quaint along the Thames.

This is in the same little country village.

Doesn't this look like the gate to the Secret Garden!

Out in the country the daffodils were exploding everywhere.  It was like a white and yellow, fluffy carpet.  Absolutely gorgeous!

Me in front of the Tower Bridge.  Ignore the hair please, it was windy!  Someone told me that when the Americans bought the London Bridge this is the bridge they thought they were buying.  Oops!

Well I had a fabulous time.  God has been so faithful in allowing me to take these adventures.  I don't know what he has for me in the future, but I am sure enjoying the present!  I miss all of you very much.  I can't wait to see all the fabulous things the Lord has been doing in each of your lives.  Hugs, T

Okay so today is Nerd day at school.  I decided to have school spirit and dress up nerdy or do my best.  Ben did a great job.  I will have to upload the picture tomorrow.  But until then.  I got back a few weeks ago from a weekend trip to Valencia (the city famous for oranges).  I didn't see too many oranges or much of the city for that matter, but here are a few pictures.

This was the first stop on our trip.  Apparantly Spain has taken some old buildings and turned them into hotels, and then Spain gets the money from people staying there.  It was so neat!  I would love to stay the night in an old Spanish castle!

This is outside the castle.  You can see a little Roman watchtower in the background.

After doing the evangelism training weekend at the church we went out to evangelize.  The location that the church had chose was in front of Valencia's bullring.  Funny...we were still preaching in the Puerta del Sol.

Orxata (in Andalucian) or Horchata (in Castilian) is a think, chalky, milky white drink made from the Orxata root.  It is famous in Valencia.  They have Orxatarias which are solely for buying orxata or they have these little stands where you can get it.  It had a really interesting flavor.  Sort of a mix of of sweet mint, and pepto bismol.

I did get to see the beach the last day for about an hour.  There were all these Spanish men fishing and the beach itself was beautiful.  It had fine white sand...I should have picked some up while I was there.  The topless sunbathers though, those I could have done without.

Love you all and miss you much, just over 2 months, Hugs

Currently Reading Watership Down By Richard Adams see related

I just got back from a week in the south of Spain in a town called Nerja.  We were able to go to the beach, put our feet in the Mediterranean, and even go to Gibralter.

We drove through the countryside and there were the cutest little goats.

Don't mess with me....I want chocolate!

This isn't our villa, we did stay in one (doesn't that sound so Mediterranean!), but the villas were like this hanging off the cliffs.

This lighthouse was right on the edge of Gibralter....on the right you can just see Africa across the Mediterranean.

These were wild baboons in Gibralter....one grabbed hand and tried to take me away...it was so fun!

The monkeys ate pieces of carrot out of our hands as well.

This is one of the beaches of Nerja.

Aunt Julie, Grandpa, Susie and Ben were brave and got into the freezing cold water of the Mediterranean.  Cristie, Grandma and I had more sense.  Uncle Jake ended up in the water but not of his own free will.  You can see by his expression how cold the water really is.

Hope you enjoy....talk to you all soon.  Kisses, T