This link describes what we will be doing this evening when the clock strikes midnight! We'd love to have any of you join us! ... and if you do, please send pictures!
http://www.foodrepublic.com/2011/12/29/how-eat-12-grapes-12-seconds
Details and pictures of this crazy evening shall be posted in the next couple days!
We are grateful for another year of life and all of our friends and family! Happy new year! Feliz ano!
Con amor,
Court & Brian
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Feliz Navidad
We were invited to spend Christmas Eve and Day with an American family we met at a church here in Madrid. Such a sweet offering and huge blessing for us! Oddly enough, the wife (Elizabeth) went to Fuller Seminary a while back and her husband (Al) is currently attending online. Small world! We enjoyed sharing in their family traditions... opening a Christmas eve gift, eating delicious egg casserole and homemade cinnamon rolls (yummmmm!), opening gifts, spending time with their family and then an amazing meal with a few other friends who are far from their families! A feliz navidad it was!
Spending Christmas in Madrid was an experience we will never forget and at the same time, hope to not have next year. Now I know what the day is about, but so much of it is tied into family... the traditions and spending time with loved ones. Christmas in Madrid was a reminder of how much we love, appreciate and are grateful for our families. We were so blessed and are very thankful to have spent Christmas with a wonderful family during the holidays. We just hope Christmas 2012 is full of Babbs, Hodges, Bernards & Palmers!
Hope you all had a Feliz Navidad!
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
The first month and a half
We are going to play catch up. Here's what the past month and a half has looked like for us...
Nov 8 - Our last night with some friends and family (and my 28th birthday)
Nov 9 - leave LAX & land in London on Nov. 10th
We were in London for 4 days and we had a blast! We were very grateful that our lovely friends Becca & Peter allowed us the privilege to crash at their house. The journey from Heathrow Airport to their flat was the deciding factor: we had WAY too much luggage! After 3 transfers & many flights of stairs in the Tube, a train and a bus, we were quite ready to leave all our things behind on the side of the road.
While in London we did the typical "touristy stuff" as well as spending a weekend in a small village south of London. Peter's parents were sweet enough to house us all and we enjoyed food, wine, games and 'because I-can-still-work-it-in-England...' half-priced tea and AMAZING scones (that's a story for another time). Needless to say we had a wonderful time in London with our friends and we were ready to continue our journey down to Madrid.
Nov 15 - Train to Paris
Of course we saw the Eiffel Tower (I was in awe) and we ate way too many delicious pastries!
Nov 16 - Sleeper train to Barcelona
A great way to travel! See a bit of France, eat not-so-tasty food, go to sleep and wake up at our destination!
Nov. 17 - Train to Madrid (unfortunately we didn't spend any time in Barca but we plan on it!)
Nov 18 - Orientation for our 4-week TEFL course (teaching English as a Foreign Language)
Nov 21 - Day 1 of a VERY intense 4 weeks!
There were 7 people in our class (Brian the only man)... 5 were from California (Redondo, Manhattan & CHICO) ... it really is a small world! The other 2 were from Ghana and France. The 4 weeks basically consisted of learning English grammar & of course ways to teach it... the first day of class we (Native English speakers) had to take a level test and we all failed! Pretty hilarious if you ask me.
Anyway, it was a very intense course with papers and tests and all that junk that comes along with going to school! I (Courtney) have not been in school since 2005, so needless to say it was not easy to jump right in. Brian of course, loved it (My cute little nerd)! We are glad it is over!
Dec 9-11 - We spent an incredible weekend with friends from back home (Nick & Jasmine) in Munich, Germany with a day trip to Salzburg, Austria. We walked around every Christmas market eating amazing food and drinking Gluhwein and beer! A much needed time with great friends!
Dec 20-24 - Rome, Italy
Colosseum, Palatine Hill, Forum, Vatican City & St. Peter's, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Borghese gallery, pizza, pasta and the best gelato we've ever had!
This is our month+ in a nutshell. We will try and blog as frequently as possible and in a better style than this first post! Tomorrow we will post about our first couple weeks of teaching ... and if we enjoy it or not! Stay tuned!
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