Soup

These beautiful women are, from left to right; Signe, Pastori, and Rachel.
Signe made a wonderful soup with ham and potatoes. In the last pictures we are eating a Thai soup with a friend of Signes, and Maria and Rachel are holding a spinach and garbanzo bean soup Rachel's mother made. What do I contribute? Bread.
Tomorrow they are going to teach me how to make tortillas, which sound like they might be like omelets. They have eggs and we are adding chorizo.
I'm not getting any thinner here.

Seville

Last weekend I went into Seville. Here's a picture of me drinking a beer in a sidewalk cafe. And the other picture is what I was looking at while I was drinking the beer. I only had one because I had to drive home, and I can be really good at getting lost. I also ate. I did not want to tempt fate.

Gibraltar

So I saw everything on Rick Steve's list of things to see in Gibraltar. I saw the monkeys, I went inside the mountain where the British dug secret passages, and I saw the views. It was windy.
The end.

I finally got scared.

It's been a while since I've posted, so I want to catch up. Two weekends ago I went to Gibraltar, which you may remember is a small British colony stuck on the end of Spain. So I made a reservation on the Spanish side in a town called La Linea de Conception. The plan was to stay here then walk across the border to Gibraltar where it's really cramped and crowded and hard to drive. But when I got there, I got freaked out. I couldn't lock my door with anything but that little button in the middle of the knob that you push, and the patio doors didn't lock it all. And there was this strange man sitting in a car outside the hotel. So I just picked up my stuff and left. It's the first time I've ever done that. So the first picture is the view right outside the hotel,where I could have been walking. And the second picture is a view of the lobby of the hotel in Gibraltar where I actually ended up staying.

A couple of Coastal Cities

The first three photos are of a new place to me, Estepona, on The Mediterranean. I saw the signs and had to see what was up.

The last photos are of Concil de la Frontera on The Atlantic side of SPAIN. I think I was looking for a Mission Beach sort of set up with a house right on the beach that we could rent, but I don't see that. Everything is sure pretty though.

I drive to Gibraltar

The first picture is my first sight of the Mediterranean right out side of Malaga.

Next is an interesting ticket stand that shows up along the Mediterranean Highway in many places, it sells ferry tickets to Ceita and Tangiers, both on the African coast.

Next, a woman about 100 years old, smoking a cigarette came out of this little trailer pulled by a little Nissan. She's probably French. That could be Bob and me someday?

Finally, looking down at Malagapp and the Mediterranean Sea.

My hotel

Here's what the tree outside my window looks like with snow on it

The second picture is in the women's bathroom. What do you think that means?

Ski lifts were closed

So on Saturday it started to snow, and we made our way up the mountain.

Amy, I am so happy with my new waterproof warm shoes.

The winds were greater than 60 miles an hour so the skilifts did not open.

Singles retreat Sierra Nevada

I went on a singles retreat sponsored by the Chaplin to the Sierra Nevada mountains. I made a presentation, so don't think I wasn't working. Here's what my room looked like. And here's a picture of the big blue butt that I followed, in the pouring rain, all the way up the mountain.
The picture outside of my window shows the rain.

La Rambla

La Rambla, outside of Cordova, is one of the ceramic Meccas of Spain. It has people who actually make ceramics, like Cati here seen painting, kiln in the background, and people who sell ceramics in a warehouse sort of style. Oh, and also pottery which is different huh Fran? I went with a couple of women from the base who have been before and knew favorite places. Lucky me, I would never have known.
Here we are after shopping, it was freezing BTW, having the menu del dia. ( I need to stand in front of a mirror and practice smiling. I can sure look goofy to me sometimes). I had paella.
BiBi is drinking a cafe bonbon. That is a little bit of unsweetened condensed with espresso on top of it. There is also cafe cortado, espresso with a little bit of milk, leche manchada ( which means stained) so stained milk, you know, milk with a little bit of coffee in it, and my favorite, cafe con leche, half coffee, half milk.
It was so cold I kept my hand in my armpits and not on the camera, so on the way home I took a couple pictures out of the window to remind myself of where I went. Sorry about the lack of photos.
Hasta Luego

How I Get To Work

If I walk out of my hotel and face North I am looking right at the building that houses my office. That's the first picture, and that is also really North. Just East of that are the three dorm buildings that were once full, and now appear to be empty. The third picture is the track I walk across to get to the school where I have been spending every morning. That is the building on the far left of the picture. To the right (E) of the school is the pool, not open now, then the gym where I take the classes, then the bowling alley and finally the Youth Center where the nicest women in all of Spain work. Next in line, if I face South, I am looking at the side of the hotel, a little to the West is my car. Really. And finally, my favorite Gato, who has been walking along the wall, purring and rubbing my leg. He is here every day when I walk back, and he is always purring and friendly even though I am not the one who feeds him. But you never know, I might.
So this has been my life without a car so far. Starting Thursday I am going to put some buildings on the flight line in rotation and that requires a car. Probably.
So this is where I work, and know you know the rest of the story.

Hasta Luego