Let's GO!!

 

I'm Back!!!

I have missed writing.

I have missed sharing our funny stories, our travels, our family life, and what it is like raising kids while living abroad.

After having kids, I threw myself into loving and nurturing them, and somewhere along the way, I slowly started finding myself again too.

The boys are older now, and as they grow, we want to be more intentional about their privacy. From now on, we’ll call them O and A, and we won’t be posting full-face pictures of them.

Don’t worry, though.

They are still hilarious.

And they are still my whole world.

But I am also back to working full-time, back to living my dream, and slowly finding pieces of myself again.

I’m not quite back to my thinner body yet, but I’m working on it because, as someone very wise once said:

“Your life is only going to be as big as your excuses let it be.”

Okay, fine.

I said that.

In an old blog post.

When I finally reached one of my weight-loss goals.

Apparently, past me had some good advice.

So, let’s hit some highlights.

Nick

Nick still has ADHD.

HAHA.

Some things never change.

He is also an amazing teacher.

This year, he is teaching ESL and two IB MYP classes, so he is SUPER busy.

He is also the official chauffeur of our household and takes the boys to all of their extracurricular activities: drums, piano, gymnastics, and whatever else we somehow manage to squeeze into our lives.

Me

Well...

The last few years have been hard on me.

I was diagnosed with papillary thyroid cancer. For now, I have chosen to monitor it rather than pursue treatment because it has remained very low-risk and stable.

I also desperately wanted baby #3.

That didn’t happen.

And I am slowly coming to terms with that.

I guess after TWO miracles, maybe I shouldn’t push my luck too much.

Acceptance has become a very important word for me.

I also learned something significant about myself: I identify as a compulsive eater and sugar addict, and I finally found a program that works for me.

And professionally?

I LOVE my job.

I am currently working as an English Curriculum Specialist, and it feels like I am finally doing the kind of work I have dreamed about doing for years.

O

O loves Kirby, Minecraft, Luigi, crabs, and the colors red and orange.

He is wicked smart and has some genuinely good jokes.

Cucumbers are his favorite food.

He loves bugs and pretty much all of God’s creatures.

He loves to run and ride his bike, and he is completely convinced that certain shoes make him faster.

It is adorable.

A

A is adorable, sweet, and growing so fast.

He is definitely a lover, not a fighter.

He loves chocolate.

He is a little more hesitant when it comes to all of God’s creatures, but put that kid near water and he has ZERO fear.

The boy is a fish.

He also loves riding his bike, and people are always shocked when they see such a little dude riding without training wheels.

Honestly?

We were shocked too.

And Us?

Our family is still living in Hanoi, Vietnam, and we have just started our fifth school year here.

FIFTH.

Sometimes I can’t believe we have been here that long.

Life looks very different from when I first started this blog.

We have grown.

We have changed.

We have gone through some really hard things and some really beautiful things.

And we have had A LOT of adventures.

So I think it’s time to start writing again.

I want to share more about our travels, living abroad with kids, family life, funny stories, the hard stuff, the good stuff, food,
and whatever else happens along the way.

And trust me...

We have stories.

I’m back.

Operation Kill the Dust Mites - Disaster at the mall

Operation: Kill the Dust Mites

Yesterday, we went to the mall because we recently found out that one of our children is highly allergic to dust mites and cats. So naturally, we began Operation: Kill the Dust Mites and went shopping for things to help make our house less offensive to his immune system.

I made a deal with the children:

“Mommy needs to go to two or three stores, and then you can go to the toy store.”

They were not amused.

In hindsight, I probably should have remembered that I was asking two small children who had been awake for approximately 47 years and had apparently stored up enough energy to power the mall.

Eventually, we made it to the toy store, where I had to explain that going to the toy store did not mean buying a toy.

This information was not well received.

There was a meltdown.

But then… PAW Patrol saved us.

The new PAW Patrol movie had just opened, and they desperately wanted to see it.

I said, “Sure! Let’s go!”

So we bought tickets, got some lunch, saw the movie, and afterward got ice cream.

At this point, I thought we were having a lovely day.

😂😂😂

On our way out of the mall, we saw a bunch of kids playing in the fountain.

Sometimes they let kids play in this fountain.

Sometimes they don't.

Yesterday, they did.

My children immediately looked at me with those eyes.

I hesitated because, honestly, I didn't want to be yelled at by some mall employee.

But then I thought, You know what? They're kids. Let them be kids.

So I told them they could play. We'd just go home in our wet clothes, and everything would be fine.

We grabbed hands and RAN INTO THE FOUNTAIN TOGETHER!

We were having the BEST time.

Then my children noticed some of the other kids squatting over the water jets.

Naturally, they thought this was an excellent idea.

So they did it too.

Now, here's the important information I did not know at the time:

O was wearing underwear.

A was not.

He had started the morning in a pull-up, we'd taken it off before work, and somehow underwear had never entered the equation.

So that fountain water?

Straight up the butt.

And A had absolutely no idea what kind of consequences he was inviting into his afternoon.

We played for a while.

Eventually, A ran up to me.

“Mommy, I need to poop.”

I looked at him.

We were dripping wet.

We were at the mall.

There wasn't exactly a convenient bathroom right next to us.

So I said, “Can you hold it until we get home?”

We decided it was time to go.

As we were leaving, I thought, You know what? This was actually really fun. Let's take a picture!

So I squatted down to take a selfie with my children.

And that's when A started screaming:

“THE POOP IS COMING!”

He immediately started doing that little toddler poop dance, grabbing his butt.

I had no idea what to expect.

Then…

Brown water.

That's it.

Just brown water.

Not much of it.

I stared at the ground.

“Okay. Okay. It's fine. Everything is fine.”

I took the picture.

We continued walking.

I thought, He's done. We're going home. Crisis averted.

HAHAHAHAHAHA.

No.

We got to the motorbike.

Now I had two soaking-wet children, a giant shopping bag full of our new dust-mite-fighting supplies, two helmets, and one child who had apparently entered a new chapter of his life.

I'm trying to figure out how on earth I'm going to get everyone onto the motorbike when—

“MOMMY! I HAVE TO POOP AGAIN!”

At this point, I started frantically searching underneath the motorbike seat for ANYTHING.

Anything.

I found a sock.

So I held the sock behind him like some sort of emergency poop containment device and thought:

Okay. If something happens, I've got a sock.

Something happened.

More brown water.

This time, thicker.

I stared at it and thought:

Surely THAT was it.

I found O's water bottle, used the water to rinse my child as best I could, and tried to get everyone situated on the motorbike.

And then came the words I never wanted to hear again:

“Mommy… I have to poop AGAIN.”

And this time…

It wasn't brown water.

It was the full evacuation.

The entire colon had apparently filed for immediate departure.

Right there.

In the mall parking lot.

When he was finally finished, A looked at me and calmly said:

“I feel better.”

😂

YES, A.

I'M SURE YOU DO.

Meanwhile, I had poop on my child's shorts, legs, and Crocs.

I had nothing to properly wipe him down with.

I had two soaking-wet children.

A giant shopping bag.

A motorbike.

And absolutely no plan.

I looked to my left.

A cleaning lady was coming.

I looked to my right.

People were walking toward us.

And I realized I had exactly one option:

GET OUT.

So I plopped both children onto the motorbike and drove away.

As we left, I could hear people walking past saying:

“Ewwwwww!”

And honestly?

I couldn't even care.

I had done my best.

I felt terrible for the poor person who was going to have to clean up what had just happened, but at that point, survival had taken over.

On the way home, we discussed the important life lesson we had learned that day:

When water shoots up your butt… eventually, something is going to shoot back out.

So I think we can safely say that particular fountain activity will NEVER be repeated.

We got home.

We took family showers.

We washed the laundry.

And eventually, everything was clean and looked exactly like nothing had ever happened.

Except we will remember it forever.

Because this wasn't just a family outing.

This was a core memory.

And somewhere in the history of that mall, there is a cleaning lady who will probably never know the full story behind the mysterious poop fountain incident.

You're welcome. 😂💩

Hospitals in Hanoi, Vietnam

Visiting a foreign hospital is never ideal, and you never know what you're going to get or which hospital you should go to. This is my experience taking my two-year-old and my 5-month-old baby to a Vietnamese hospital.

With so many people touching the boys, it's hard to know where this infection started. However, we are definitely going to be more careful in the future.

A started running a low fever last week, and it only lasted about 24 hours. Then he had some drainage that we didn't know about because it wasn't coming out of his nose, but he started coughing stuff up. His cough progressed so much that he was vomiting up mucus. I was thinking about taking him to the hospital, but then his cough got much better, and I thought he was doing okay.

At the same time, O's nose was running, and we couldn't keep it clean. His runny nose was his first symptom, and two days later he started running a fever of 101. He ran that temperature for four days.

The night before we went to the hospital, A was screaming on and off for four hours straight at bedtime, until about 2:30 in the morning. That same morning was O's fourth day of running a high fever, so I finally decided to take them to the hospital.

The question was: which one?

Nick went to work, and I prepared a bag. As I was getting ready to go, I came down with a lot of anxiety over the whole situation and realized that I couldn't do this by myself, so I asked Nick to come home and come with us.

We decided to visit the Vietnamese international hospital because the cost was significantly lower, and a friend had visited there with their son and had a good experience.

The moment we walked through the door, we were greeted by an English interpreter. We told her what was wrong, and she started the process of getting us checked in. Both boys took a COVID test, which was negative, and then we headed upstairs to see the doctor.

We didn't wait very long to see the doctor. It was very interesting because the doctor and nurse stayed in the rooms while the patients came in and out, which was much different from what we're used to in America.

The doctor examined both boys and told us that A was much worse off than O. She wanted him to see an ophthalmologist and dermatologist and have an X-ray. Both boys also needed to visit the ENT, have blood drawn, and take a flu test.

Luckily, all of those doctors were on the same floor and right next to each other. There were no long lines to wait in, and everything was pretty easy, especially with our amazing interpreter.

First up was the blood draw and flu test. Both boys did that, and their flu tests came back negative.

Then we visited the ophthalmologist. She examined A's eyes and told us that he had conjunctivitis. She massaged his eyes, taught me how to do it, and gave me instructions to do it once every day.

After that, we went to the dermatologist and had a long conversation about A's skin. She believed that he had eczema and gave me creams and ointments to treat it. We were supposed to go back in two weeks.

Next up was the X-ray, and that took about two seconds. I held A down while they quickly took an X-ray of his chest. Not even five minutes later, they handed us his X-ray, and we went to lunch.

After lunch, we went to the ENT, and both boys had their ears, nose, and throat scoped.

A was up first. He had a lot of wax, so they had to clean out his ears. They quickly discovered that he had two severe middle ear infections with pus, and they were very worried about them rupturing.

O was up next, and it was a huge struggle to hold him down. It took me and a male nurse to hold him still. He had an ear infection on one side, but it was not severe. They prescribed antibiotics for both boys.

After the ENT, we went back to the doctor, who reviewed all of the results with us. The boys had very high white blood cell counts, which meant they had an infection, so they were both going to be put on antibiotics.

A also had bronchitis, and the doctor told me that he needed to stay in the hospital for five to seven days because he was so young and had a lot of things going on at once.

However, they didn't have any room to accommodate him there and asked me to go to a different hospital and have him admitted.

Our interpreter helped us call three other hospitals, and none of them had room.

We finally called the French hospital that had been recommended to us by another friend, and they happened to have space.

Nick and I decided to divide and conquer. He would take the scooter home and pack a bag for A and me, then come back to the hospital and take O home.

When I got to the emergency room at the French hospital, I gave them all of my paperwork. They told me that I had to go through the process of seeing the doctor again so she could verify the information and make the decision about whether we needed to be admitted.

They quickly took us back, checked A, and we met with the doctor all within about 15 minutes.

She examined him and noticed how happy he was. Although he had two severe ear infections, overall he was doing okay.

She asked me if I would prefer to stay in the hospital or go home.

I told her that because I had an older son who also needed medicine and attention, it would be much better for me to be at home with both of my boys.

She agreed and told me she would give me three days. If anything happened or changed, I needed to come back before then.

I was so happy with this news because I was having some serious PTSD. I really did not want to experience hospital time with A in a different country.

Both boys were champs during this whole crazy and hectic day.

O was held down several times while they put things up his nose, in his ears, down his throat, and drew blood from his arm. After the first time, he learned very quickly that he did not want to enter any new room and would fight us every time we tried to go in.

Luckily, most of the appointments were for A.

Now one of O's new sentences is:

“A's turn!”

It's pretty cute.

Giving them medicine before meals, after meals, in between hours—blah, blah, blah—is so hard, and it wears on you. I'm exhausted just from being a mom nurse.

So far, the meds are not going well. I have to hold O down and use a syringe to get the medicine into his mouth. A throws up his medicine less than a minute after taking it.

Overall, we have been changing clothes and diapers about five times a day because of throw-up or diarrhea, so it is just NO FUN!

Tips for Long Plane Trips with 2 littles

July 18, 2022

Flight to Montreal: 2.5 hours
Montreal to Tokyo: 13 hours
Tokyo to Hanoi, Vietnam: 5 hours

A daunting travel itinerary, even without children. Yet, we were about to do it with two under the age of three.

3 totes
3 large bags
2 carry-on bags (well, they were intended to be carry-ons)
a stroller
a car seat
a wagon
3 backpacks
and other loose things like blankets, stuffed animals, and snacks.

They say you pack way more when you travel with children, but we may have gone a little overboard.

This is what we faced on the last leg of our summer of transitions. One last push to fly to the literal other side of the world, and then we would finally be in our home for the next two years.

We were comfortable with the idea. Having lived abroad before, the unknown of a new country wasn't that scary, but having two children in tow posed challenges I'm not sure we were entirely prepared for.

With our experience, I collected a series of tips I'd like to share.

Traveling with kiddos TIP #1

Pack diapers everywhere! You can live without wipes, but not diapers.

Pack more diapers EVERYWHERE.

I had diapers in the diaper bag and in both carry-on bags, but when I was forced to check those bags, my brain didn't think, “Grab diapers.”

It thought, “You a-hole… who are you to make me do this?”

During our first flight, I realized I only had one diaper for each child left—and I still had 19 hours of FLYING time left.

I ran through the entire Montreal airport looking and asking for diapers and couldn't find any. Finally, on my way to the gate, I spotted another mother with an infant and toddler.

I approached her with tears in my eyes and a sense of urgency because my flight was currently boarding. She was happy to give me some, and then another mother chimed in and gave me more.

I thanked them sincerely and ran off.

It was a beautiful moment of solidarity in motherhood.

Traveling with kiddos TIP #2

For all the moms who are breastfeeding and pumping: prepare for your baby to completely change the plan.

I thought I was prepared. I thought my 5-month-old would breastfeed more and bottle-feed less.

The opposite happened.

A would NOT even consider breastfeeding, so I had to pump around the clock to provide milk for him.

I was prepared for this. I packed a cooler and a ton of batteries for my Medela pump. But when my battery pack started to crap out on me, I got worried because guess where my hand pump was?

Yup.

In the carry-on that got checked.

Here is what I packed:

A good pump bag- it flies for free as a medical bag

All my pump parts and only two Medela bottles

Medela wipes to clean those parts

Medela milk bags

Cooler

Ice pack- make sure it is 100% frozen when you go through security

2 battery pack for my pump, they held 8 batteries each

Lanolin

Gallon zip lock to hold clean parts

2 feeding bottles of choice



Traveling with kiddos TIP #3
Get yourself a blow up foot rest. 

Get yourself a blow-up footrest.

This thing is a game changer, especially for long flights or flying during nap time.

It was easy to blow up and place at our toddler's feet. He was able to sleep soundly for several hours because we laid the baby's nest on top of the footrest and seat.

We were also able to lay O down, buckle him in, and add his favorite blanket and stuffed animals so he could sleep comfortably.

Traveling with kiddos TIP #4

If you are traveling with an infant in arms, ask about a bassinet seat.

I was confused about when and how to request it, so I called Air Canada and sat on hold for 2.5 hours, only to be told they would take care of it at the gate.

That information did not sit well with me, so I did some reading.

I found out that the bassinets only hook up in the bulkhead rows. These seats are highly sought after because they have extra legroom. I also found out that they are first come, first served, although I read that younger infants may be given priority over older infants.

The night before our flight, Nick checked us in and made sure we were in the bulkhead for all three flights.

Our first plane was too small to have a bassinet.

Our second flight was more complicated.

Nick couldn't book all of us together because someone had claimed the middle seat in the row of three. When we arrived in Montreal, Nick went to the desk and asked if we could all sit together and get the bassinet.

They happily changed our tickets.

When we boarded the plane, we found another mom sitting in the middle seat and requesting a bassinet. Her husband was sitting on the other side, where Nick and O were also supposed to be.

I showed her our tickets and explained that we were all seated together.

She moved over with her husband, and the next flight attendant got an earful from the situation.

We were super sweet as we explained everything.

He asked how old our babies were. Her baby was 7 months old, and A was 5 months old.

We were told to stay where we were while they moved people around so the other couple could have another bulkhead area.

I was very happy with Air Canada because they shifted people around to accommodate both families with babies.

What we learned about using the bassinet:

• It holds up to 14 kilograms.
• You can only use it when the baby is sleeping.
• You can't use it during takeoff and landing.
• You can't use it during turbulence.
• It's basically baby jail. Once the baby is inside, you have to Velcro and snap it shut so the baby can't fly out if there is unexpected turbulence.
• Even if you are sitting in the bassinet seat, you still have to request that they bring the bassinet to you.

Traveling with kiddos TIP #5

Pack toys and things to keep your kiddos busy—but be flexible.

For O, we wrapped different cars and construction vehicles. The plan was to give him one every hour.

That did NOT work.

He wanted to unwrap all of them one after another. He threw a huge tantrum, and it caused more trouble than it was worth.

So we let him unwrap them all and put them into a bag.

Then he was able to choose which one he wanted to play with.

This actually kept him busy for most of the trip, even though I had also packed books, water-painting books, stickers, and his tablet.

Which brings us to Traveling with Kiddos Tip #5a:

Be flexible with your plans and procedures.

A mostly chewed on his hands and played with his Eric Carle ladybug!

Traveling with kiddos TIP #6

Pack a LOT of snacks.

This one might seem like a duh-red-truck kind of tip, but pack a lot of snacks.

O did not like the airplane food, so he mostly ate peanut butter crackers and cheese.

I had all of his favorite foods in little snack bags, and we did not regret giving up the luggage space.

In fact, when we arrived at our destination, those snacks got us through until we could go grocery shopping.

I had even packed extras in the carry-on bags that ended up getting checked.

Traveling with kiddos TIP #7

When everyone is overwhelmed, move.

What do you do when you're overwhelmed, the kids are crying, or someone is throwing a tantrum?

This happened several times, especially around nap time and bedtime.

A would be asleep and then get woken up by O screaming—or vice versa.

These were some of the hardest moments.

We learned quickly to pick up the child who was upset and go for a walk.

That helped keep the other one asleep and gave the screamer something new to look at.

People will stare.

People may be annoyed.

But you have to do what works best for your child and your family.

Traveling with kiddos TIP #8

Totes!

Our military friends told us that when they move, they use black totes with yellow lids because they are heavy-duty and can be zip-tied shut.

They worked amazingly well.

If you decide to use them while traveling abroad, make sure you put extra zip ties inside in case security or customs opens them.

Traveling with kiddos TIP #9
The WAGON!!! 

The wagon was a last-minute addition to our giant pile of stuff, and it made all the difference when traveling to the gate and moving between flights.

We checked our stroller and car seat and used the wagon instead.

It held O and some of our stuff while Nick carried A in a baby carrier.

It was AWESOME!

The cost of a Child

If you are lucky enough to be my Facebook friend, it means that once upon a time we had a good relationship, and I have no qualms about telling you my personal business. I am about to share something with you, something that is very tender. If you don't want the details of our story, don't read it. It will include female anatomy and bodily functions!

Last year, I left Facebook because of everything I was personally going through. I couldn’t physically, emotionally, or mentally keep up with it. Life has hit really hard in many ways, but the most bothersome is what other typical women can do so well and my body can’t do. This will be the first time that I speak out publicly, other than in my unique Facebook support groups.

Nick and I are barren.

I will let those words sink in, and then I will tell you what that means to us.

Nick and I knew a long time ago that children weren’t going to come naturally to us. Whatever gave us that clue... maybe the fact that we have been married for 11+ years and we still don’t have a child.

When we moved to Boston, in the back of our minds we knew that this would be the place to discover what had been wrong with us all these years. Finally, doctors who listened to us. Finally, doctors fighting on our side.

The horrible, awful truth came out, and I want to shed some light on things that many people don’t know exist. In fact, there are only a few doctors in the world who treat it, and I happen to live near one. Coincidence? We don’t think so.

Asherman’s Syndrome: where the uterus has adhesions (scar tissue), typically due to a D&C, but they can form in other ways. Some cases are mild, moderate, or severe, and the scar tissue can be in the cervix, located in a singular place in the uterus (mild), or everywhere (severe). I was, unfortunately, a severe case, although I had never had a D&C or other surgery to cause it. Everything was scarred shut, including my cervix.

Right before my surgery to remove my scar tissue, I was also told that I had a low ovarian reserve (aka a low number and quality of eggs). This was another devastating blow to my womanhood.

If you thought that my womb being filled with scar tissue and my eggs being crap wasn’t bad enough, we also found, through a biopsy of my uterus, that I had gone through menopause. It wasn’t active at all.

I had no idea that not having a period for over a year qualified as and was considered the start of menopause. Looking back, I figured out that it had to have happened in my mid-to-late 20s.

At this point, we had no choice but to either give up on our dream of becoming parents and call it a loss or have surgeries and go through hell to figure it out.

We chose the latter, and surgery after surgery, pill after pill, we finally got to the point where my uterus was reactivated and 80% scar-free, and we were cleared for our first round of IVF (In Vitro Fertilization).

We had no other choice because of all the factors: the 20% of scar tissue covered both of my tubes, I had a low egg reserve, and I didn’t ovulate on my own.

I was on the highest dose of several medications that I injected into my tummy multiple times every day. This process was unpleasant, but we were hopeful that the results would be worth it.

Finally, the time came to see if all of our $$ was wasted, and happy news came!

We were pregnant.

We were so happy, but also hesitant to tell people and to really enjoy the news.

As we entered our 6th-week appointment to hear the heartbeat for the first time, we were giddy. The ultrasound tech did her thing in silence and then called the doctor in. They began to whisper. She said we were done and started to clean up.

I quickly asked if I could hear the heartbeat.

She put her hand on my knee and very gently told me that there wasn’t one.

They handed me a box of tissues, apologized, and walked out.

I was so shocked that I couldn’t even cry at that moment.

We went to see our doctor immediately after, and as the receptionist read the letter from the previous test, she looked at the tears rolling down our cheeks and brought us to a room where we could be alone.

We were told that the pregnancy was simply not viable, but they would double-check everything in a week to be sure.

It was the hardest week. After reading and hearing a lot of miracle stories, I thought I was also going to have one of them, but I didn’t.

The pregnancy wasn’t viable, so we scheduled a removal for two days later in the OR.

The pain, numbness, and faith-shaking emotions we went through during this time were heart-shattering.

The doctor took out the sac, and just like that, I wasn’t pregnant anymore.

Or so I thought.

A few days later, I started experiencing a lot of bleeding and told them what I was feeling and seeing. I asked if it was normal because it didn’t feel normal.

They reassured me that I was fine. I had a scheduled test the following day, and they would see then.

It turns out that my HCG levels were still very high, and I knew exactly what was wrong.

I ignored that doctor’s office and went back to see my Asherman’s Syndrome doctor the next morning.

I had an ultrasound that showed that a large chunk of baby stuff was stuck in

Summer is over

We can't believe summer has come and gone so quickly. We definitely had some amazing highlights.

1. We graduated with our Masters in Teaching English as a Second Language.

2. We traveled Europe with Lon and Jennifer.

3. We lived with my brother, his wife and family for a few weeks with Nick's brother and family. Duncan and Devan were looking for a place to live because Duncan got into med school!

4. We went to Maine and did a lot of swimming and relaxing. Sorry no pictures taken.

5. I ran away for a weekend in Nashville to see Shania Twain live with my sister.

6. Brought Joe to Boston for a week and change.

7. We bought a car and we moved to a bigger apartment... With a ton of windows.

We had a fun and crazy summer!

Salamanca, Spain I miss you

Right now it's a cold and rainy spring morning in Boston and as I was sipping on some tea I started thinking about the warmth that Salamaca, Spain brought into my life. I had a lot of intention to finish this blog a long time ago but I lost track of myself. 

The Madrid airport is the hardest airport to navigate! We were in and out of it several times and each time we saw multiple foreigners lost and confused.  When we arrived to Madrid for the first time it was late and of course we had to call our hotel shuttle to pick us up, but how could we call without a phone? We learned very quickly that people do not speak English there and our Spanish was very limited but that didn't stop me. I went up to the information desk and asked a man if I could use a phone to call our hotel and he agreed. We got to our hotel and passed out in enough time to miss breakfast and head back to the airport to catch our bus to Salamanca. In all the drama, I realized that my brand new laptop was not with me. The hotel called the airport and everything was just a huge mess. We retraced our steps and finally at the info counter I had been at the previous night, I located my laptop. Now, it was time to find the buses and purchase a ticket. After walking for a long time we figured out that tickets could only be purchased online. AGAIN, we did not have a phone with data and the airport wi-fi would not allow us to use it on our phones.  I took out my laptop and said a prayer and poof the wi-fi allowed me to access it. I was able to purchase the tickets but now the problem was, WHERE DO WE CATCH THE BUS??? There was not 1 sign NOT 1!!! We asked and people would say go to terminal 4 or 1. We went to both of the terminals and saw nothing. Finally we found someone to tell us that at terminal 4 you have to leave the airport and go towards the rental area and the buses are there. We found our way to a line of foreigners and asked if they were waiting for the bus. Finally we were on our way to Salamanca. When we arrived to our beautiful city we decided to walked from the bus station to our apartment to meet our new landlord. We were shown our room and around the house; met our roommates, saw the mound of dirty dishes, the disgusting bathroom, and kitchen. IS IT to late to change our minds? Our fourth roommate we met at 1 am (AM stands for MORNING!) because he thought it was fun to watch movies and have a party when our rooms are half joined together. He didn't speak ANY English and so our conversation went like this:

Lauren: "Hola"

Not amigo: " Hola"

Lauren: We are trying to sleep!

Not amigo: no intendes

Lauren: *Puts hands together and under head and makes snore noises..... then looks at him and covers her ears and starts screaming! YOU ARE TOO LOUD!!!!

Not amigo: lo siento

He closed his door and turned down the music and then everyone started whispering! We could still hear every word but at least we could sleep through it. We found out the next morning that another roommate was moving at the end of the week and we asked to have his room. They agreed and we had three weeks of peace and quiet.

Although our living situation was less than ideal we picked an amazing University and town to take classes. We fell in love with everything immediately.

We did a lot of exploring and leaving our comfort zones, and once we figured out the town it was time to leave. Still, we tried to enjoy it to the fullest while we were there. We ate out a lot once we figured out how to get cheap tapas and the best breakfast pastries in the world. Who wouldn't want churros dipped in a thick chocolate sauce for breakfast?

A popular shop was the tobacco shop, so we decided to see what all the jazz was about... just kidding! Remember that I hurt myself really bad before we left? Well I bought some tobacco and put it on my skin to help the bruising and pain. It worked and it also stained my skin... haha

One day we decided to take a walk because Nick really wanted to take a midday siesta in his hammock. We walked a mile or more before we found the perfect spot. This beautiful area was on the other side of the city. Once we crossed over an old Roman bridge we walked down a path and played in the water. Nick found the perfect spot and took a nap while I studied and then went exploring.

The bridge! and you can see the city behind Nick.

Did I mention that we ate a lot of food? One thing I would say to any traveler is don't don't go in somewhere just because you are nervous. Suck it up and just do it. Yes we ate some really bad food because the menu was not translated into English, but you live and you learn(speaking from experience. I ordered a meal on our second day and got food poisoning!! Picture of that food is on the far right) This pizza was at a beautiful restaurant. We ate outside and did a lot of people watching. The water was expensive and so was the pizza, but it was worth it. OH AND THE OLIVES!!! SO DELICIOUS!

If you know Nick  then you must also know his love for Pizza. All the foreigners had their favorite pizza place that they would recommend, but Nick wanted to know which one had the best pizza, so we did an experiment. We went to EVERY pizza place within a few blocks of our place and ordered the same pizza (Nick's favorite is pepperoni and mushroom). I can't remember the names of the places but I do remember that all of the pizzas tasted different. They all had distinct different crust, sauce, cheese, and pepperoni.

A fun tradition that we have when we are visiting a place for the first time is going to the grocery store and buying a lot of different snacks that we have never seen before. Then we eat them!! Here you can see store bought flan and some kind of mint cookie. SUPER GOOD!

Seriously this trip feels like a lifetime ago. I truly miss it and all the fun times we had. I miss all of the olives, tapas, soda, pastries, smothering hot nights, freezing mornings, and most of all I miss all of the friends we made and our Spanish classes!

Our favorite Spanish teacher! So great!

Our last few days... we finally figured out a great cheap place for Tapas and finally hanging out with friends. Overall, if you want to live abroad I have learned that 1 month is not long enough. It took us 1 month to figure things out and to start feeling comfortable, so I would definitely recommend 6-8 weeks to get the place figured out and enjoy it!

I hope you enjoyed our memories just as much as we do!!

The Rock of Gibraltar

We left Seville in the afternoon and drove a couple of hours to see this huge rock.  It's one of Pillars of the old world. From our parking spot the rock looks amazing. As you can see it was a beautiful clear day and that made me happy because it turned out to be the LONGEST day. I'm so happy that we kept things happy and positive because all of us almost lost it today. We parked the car in Spain and walked into Britain. As went through customs the first time and got to the bus area and realized that we already had tickets but we had to talk to our travel agency and guess what.... they were in Spain, so we walked our cute butts back over there. We found the booth fairly quickly and it was closed... So we walked through customs a second time. We spoke with nice people along the way and they were very helpful with directions.

We took a one-way ride up to the top because we planned on walking down (you will learn later that this was a bad idea) As we exited our gondola there were signs everywhere warning about monkeys. These monkeys did not care how close you got to them, but you didn't want to be close... I promise. We watched as baby strollers were attacked, back packs were attacked, people who were holding things in their hands.... you guessed it... were attacked. These monkeys were crazy.

well except for this tiny baby, he was cute.

We stayed at the top for a long time because as we stood there we watched clouds form around us. For me this was the highlight of the whole day, and we saw Africa! Below you can see Africa in the distance. SOOOO cool!!

I was hoping that the monkey would fall off but he didn't :/

Here are two great pictures where you can see a cloud forming. We took a lot of videos because it was really neat. 

Because we had been eating and driving a lot we decided that we needed to walk down the rock. We met some kind people halfway down who told us about this picturesque suspension bridge but they didn't know how to get there. Well, we found it and had some fun breaking the rules. Rule #1 don't rock the bride... oops We made it out alive!

As we neared halfway we had a decision to make... left or right. We chose to go right which led us to this. 

and then to a beautiful, tall, gate with a sign that said DO NOT ENTER FALLING ROCKS.
We all started thinking, "How are we going to jump this fence!" We started talking strategies on what we were going to do and as we got closer to get a good look, Nick found a narrow path down the steep rock. We didn't hesitate and we were down and back to the streets of the little town in no time.  Well, really, the whole walk took us like 2 hours.  A lot longer than we had originally anticipated. Now the questions were, where can we find a bus, and where is food? Food was the higher priority so that happened first. We shared a $20 pizza at a restaurant with the worst service we have ever had. The bus wasn't so easy we had to walk a mile or so to find it and then when we got on we only rode it for about 5 minutes before our stop :/ We crossed back over to Spain and headed to our car and, finally, we were Granada bound.

Seville, Spain

Two Americans and an Australian went on a road trip........ sounds like great beginning to a hilarious joke. Well it was, as all three of us and our luggage had to fit into this tiny car, at least it was a convertible.

I skipped our last class on Friday to run and grab the car because the rental car shop closes for 3 hours so they can take a siesta (gotta love Spain). I was running late so I literally ran there because it was 30 minutes away on foot. I made it just in time to see a beautiful sign "be back in 5" I was not the only person waiting for their return. Finally they came back and it was my turn to speak the best Spanish I had because I had been practicing what I was going to say in my head all day so I wouldn't sound stupid. I approached the counter and the jolly man said, clear as day, "Hello, How are you doing today? What's the name on your reservation?" I was shocked but determined to practice my Spanish so I answered in Spanish, " Me llama Lauren Stevens" He responded, "Oh you prefer Spanish, Okay" Then he proceeds to speak very fast and I gave him the deer in the headlights look and he said, "That's what I thought!" I made the transaction in English :(

I took my time checking over the car and figuring out where the buttons were for everything then I took off to find a parking spot near our apartment. I was shocked how easy it was to jump back in to driving a 5 speed because I hadn't driven one in 8 years. As I was concentrating on both finding a parking spot and not killing the car I had to drive around the block twice before I found a parking spot. On my second time around someone yelled at me. I quickly recognized the man from church. We had been over to his house a few times and he doesn't speak any English. I pulled over and he yells, "Esposo correr" I thought my husband is running.... NEVER.. and Yelled back, " Ropas en Melletas, Adios" and I drove away slowly as I was so confused. Next thing I see is Nick in front of me huffing and puffing and it hits me like a ton of bricks, OH NICK WAS RUNNING AFTER ME!! JAJAJAJAJA! Turns out that I passed him in front of our apartment but didn't see him. He decided to run after me yelling and screaming in the street like an idiot. I never heard him.

We packed up our stuff and went to pick up Kylie, we were running late and had no way to tell her so when we got there she was nowhere to be found, so we waited. She arrived and told us that she second guessed herself and walked across the street to make sure she was in the right spot. She added her bags, jumped in and we took off for Seville!

Our ride was wonderful here are some of the views.

The bull billboards are everywhere and they were fun to look at. We wondered why they are there and if there is a certain purpose to them. Turns out there is a really cool reason read about it here.

We arrived in Seville with plenty of time to explore but we had to find our AirBNB first. We got lucky and found a great parking spot so we jumped out and went searching on foot. Nick was told through text we would have a parking spot available to us and all we needed to do was talk to the "gordo, gordo hombre" (she wrote those words in the text) As we were searching we knew we had the right building when we saw the fat man guarding the door. We said hello and walked upstairs to our apartment. When we exited we didn't see him so we decided to search for the parking garage on foot first before we got the car. We found the garage quickly and went to grab the car. When we arrived back to the garage it was open so we went in and parked. As we opened our car doors we heard the gate closing. We all got a little worried at this point because we didn't know how to make it open. Nick ran to see if the metal door was really closed and if he could open it. It was shut and there wasn't a button to let us out. We had an "oh shiz" moment then we knew we had to act if we wanted out!

Nick and Kylie picked me up so that I could see out of the top and then I proceeded to yell at people walking by. Finally a lady stopped and in my panicked Spanish I told her our situation and to please to get the "Gordo, Gordo Hombre" she left and a few minutes later returned with the fat man. He let us out but he would not open the garage so we could get the car out. The conversation turned a little heated so Nick, trying to think quickly on his feet, showed him the messages from owner of the apartment. The man became enraged and started yelling at us and then he just walked away. As he walked away Nick looked at his phone and realized that the man had read and realized that he was the "Gordo Gordo Hombre" Whoops!

A minute later a woman pulled up and opened the garage with a clicker. She laughed at our story and helped up get the car out.

 Us inside the garage.

Us outside the garage.

Once we parked the car in a free area we ate and walked into the main part of the city. The views on the way were beautiful. If the sun was going down then it's around 9 or 9:30 PM.

Right when we entered the city we were attacked by a man who wanted us to purchase a fan. Kylie and I walked away..... we thought Nick was right behind us but when we turned around the man had Nick and wouldn't let him leave. We walked over and snapped a picture. The man displayed his fans for Nick and then realized we took a picture so he posed for the second one. Nick bought a fan.

We decided since we only had so much time to spend on Saturday that we would go see one of the places now. Our 25 minute walk turned out to be a 1 hour walk but the sight was worth it. The
Basílica de la Macarena was beautiful!

We walked back to our apartment and we took pictures a long the way.

The next morning we got up and walked into town again to visit the Plaza de Espana. Guess who passed us on a bicycle? Yup, the gordo, gordo hombre. Then, we passed him as he took a smoke break. We couldn't help but laugh.

Next on the list was the Real Alcázar de Sevilla. It was a beautiful palace with amazing gardens and tile work. It was one of my favorite places out of our whole trip!

After we finished our visit we jumped in the car and drove to our next destination.