The days are moving along

Remember the picture in the last post of Sarah on our big bed in California? Well here it is once again compared with our bed here in Sevilla.

And here I am giving you an idea of how I fit on each bed.

Rayas has been super happy that we are back home. She fights the cold by constantly wanting to be laying and sleeping on top of us.

We got together with friends at our house to celebrate Rachel's (in the middle) birthday. She is doing the same thing that Wesley and Emma (on the left side) are doing....helping teach English at schools. It all started with a good ol' fashion pizza party.

Then the girls fixed each other up in the bathroom.

And the guys played Angry Birds on the computer. Wesley and I were able to get the Spaniards, Martín and Kike, hooked on the game pretty quickly.

The night ended with us getting our dance on at a discoteca. The Teagues took pictures but I am pretty sure they are all too embarrassing to post.

We hosted another super nice couchsurfing couple. We had the privilege of being their first couch surfing experience! Sezen (on the left) is from Turkey and Jochen is from Germany.
They gifted us a sweet plant.

We also finally got to visit out new friends Andy and Jaime's house. They invited us over for some delicious Mexican food. They live in an amazing area of town where almost all the streets are called kissing streets (being that the buildings are so close together.) The best part about the whole setup is that they have a huge rooftop patio all to themselves. Jaime is going to have her baby here in Spain in a few months!!

The view from their front door.

We took a trip to the Sevilla airport with friends Pablo and Cristina. They showed us the spot where you can stand and watch the planes fly right over your heads.

There was a lot of waiting but we had fun with pictures.

Unfortunately we didn't see any landing (which would have flown closer over our heads) but I was able to get a shot with my zoom lens of one of the planes taking off.

We promised them pancakes.
So a week later we had them over for their first American pancake breakfast.

Pablo makes his first flip.

For Valentines Day weekend, we headed over to our church for a romantic dinner with other couples from the church.

We loved the salad served in the pineapple.

We got to know some couples that we had never officially met so it was a great night. Sarah even got to sit next to the Spanish Zooey Deschanel! The food was phenomenal!

On actual Valentines Day, after a morning at the school, we headed over to the Spa at Hotel Melia once again. It was sooo nice to just relax and enjoy the jacuzzi. Sarah can barely fit in our bathtub and I don't even try, and our hot water heat only provides enough water for half of an American shower. In the evening we had a movie night with the students. I "hired" a few of the musical guys that have been working on some stuff together to sing a song for Sarah. They are hoping to take there show to the street to earn some extra money.

We have our tickets for our flight back to California on July 16th! We were able to use our points to by the flights. But since their was no availability in the economy class we had to bump up to Buisness class! (Thanks to Mark and Vicki for sharing their points) So we are pretty excited about that. It is also going to help a lot with the massive amount of luggage and cat we will have. Rayas is going to be riding with us on the plane the whooooole way.
Check out these seats! And yes .......it is a massage chair if you were wondering.

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there and back again

Well, like usual, we didn't have time to go around and take pictures of the Christmas lights in Sevilla like we promised before we got on the plane, but you can go check out some really nice pictures on our neighbors, the Teagues, blog HERE.

Our time in California came and went so quickly. It seems like it always feels like we will have a lot of time at the beginning, but before we know it we are getting ready to fly back. My camera was in need of some repair so we didn't take as many photos as we would have liked. So now we are back in Sevilla and remembering all the things we really enjoyed while we were home.

One thing we always miss is of course being our HUGE bed!
Look how tiny Sarah is!

and (good) Mexican Food!

Other foods we indulged in that we can't get in Sevilla.....

-In & Out (Thanks Mark and Vicki! - first meal we ate off the plane)
-Taco Bell
-My mom's Enchilada Casserole (with applesauce of course)
-Tri-Tip (Thanks Gma Duyst!)
-Aunt Claire's Ravioli
-Geta Express
-Quiznos
-more Taco Bell
-Me n Eds pizza (Thanks Ashley and Scott!)
-Grandma Bentley's famous breakfast casserole
-BBQ Chicken (thanks Adam and Tiffany!)
-More Mexican Food (thanks Jason and Aaryn!)
-Bagels (Thanks Bruce and Rhonda!)

Most of all we enjoyed.....FAMILY!

and Boo Boo (before)

Boo Boo (after) got another owie on his face
He had to wear a cone this same time last year.

Note: I also REALLY missed my dog Reggie (not pictured)

On Christmas Eve we enjoyed the beautiful weather in Monterey and rode a surrey along the ocean. It was way more of a workout than any of us thought it would be but lots of fun!

Of course we had to stop at Ghirardelli's afterwards for some amazing Hot Chocolate.

Family Photo!

We really enjoyed being back in Hanford too. It was so nice to be close to family and friends. It almost made us not want to leave for Spain again.

All the Bentley cousins in front of Grandma's house for Christmas

On New Years Eve we got together to celebrate Grandpa Duyst's 80th birthday. Grandma had been planning the event all year and it was great to see everything come together. This picture was taken at the end after all Grandpa's friends had left. It didn't quite make the transition to a New Years party but we had watched the ball drop earlier live in New York.

I was in charge of cooking the Tri-Tip.
I had never cooked 6 at a time so I was pretty nervous.
We had an assembly line going to prepare the plates for all the guests.

It was fun to Skype with our neighbors from Spain, the Teagues, while they were visiting family in Alabama. We had gotten used to seeing a lot of them since they moved next door so we really missed them.

After spending countless hours working with Scott and Ashley, we were finally able to finish the super shiny and difficult Star Wars puzzle that Scott got during Christmas Bingo.

We found time during our visit to do a little work on my mom's hall bathroom.
It was in need of some repair and a new floor.

There was a slow leak in the wall behind the shower so some drywall had to be replaced. We also found old termite damage and lots of ant living inside.

New tile!

New toilet! It's two inches taller than the old one. Sarah wasn't happy to find that her heels no longer touch the ground but it's perfect for me.

It was the least we could do for my mom letting us stay in her house and eat her food.
Thanks mom!

Since time ran out so quickly during our visit and we were busy with projects, we didn't get to see everyone we wanted this time around, but we will be coming back for good in July!

Until then...we have been busy getting things ready at the school
and the students arrive tomorrow!!
We are hopeful for a great last semester!

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Home, Wood, Food, Tuna!

Hello friends and family! We haven't been too inspired to post lately (for lack of material). But we wanted to catch everyone up until we come to California for the holidays. We have been fairly busy here but also we have been taking the time to enjoy the city. Their are lots of little special events that happen around this season so we have been enjoying some of the traditional Spanish fiestas. But of course we are excited to be back in California soon! We will land in San Francisco on the night of the 18th!
Our American neighbors and good friends, the Teagues, lucked out and had someone contact them about renting their apartment during the holidays while they are back in the states. We figured we would advertise our place and see if anyone would want to do the same with us. So after some cleaning and de-cluttering we snapped some pictures of our apartment. It has been awhile since we have posted any pictures of it so here we go!

We recently bought a rug for the salón. Rayas really appreciates it and it helps a little with the cold.

The front door with the stairs going up to the loft.

We bought the baby oven and put up spice racks in the kitchen. Sarah really likes the coffee station.

The curtains that we hung for the loft.

We use this picture on our couchsurfing profile to show people where they will be sleeping.

We have improved this bed a little with bed risers (thanks mom Lyftogt!) and some extra padding from Ikea. Still is nothing compared to our amazing Cal King in California. We grew some grass in the window for Rayas to eat.

New shower curtain and rugs (from Walmart). Spain's stuff costs twice as much.

Great for multi-tasking!

The patio

Word got around about my carpenter skills, and since nothing is made out of wood here people are afraid to work with it, so they called me. Marcos, our Cuban youth pastor friend, wanted a stage built in his youth room at the Baptist Church in town. The framing is made up of 3 raggedy wooden pallets.

Then one of the maintenance guys from the church asked if I could repair some old pews for them. He showed me the pew graveyard and I was able to scrap and glue a couple together. I was really interested in the organs I found in the back but they seem a little too far gone.

Sarah has been busy at the school but she also found time to host a merienda time (like coffee time) with our friends. The Spaniards always get really excited about American style treats because Spanish treats never taste as good as they look.

Brownies, Snickerdoodle cupcakes, banana bread, and there was a carrot cake!

This doesn't happen often, but it makes us feel at home.

Sarah was in charge of making apple pies for this years school staff Thanksgiving.

It was a big hit, but people were too full to dig into the other one.
I was happy we got to take it home.

We actually got to eat 3 Thanksgiving meals this year. On Thanksgiving day we ate with the entire school at a cuban restaurant Azucar de Cuba, who does a pretty good job with the food every year. Then on Saturday we ate together as the school staff. Then on Sunday we headed over to friend and coworker Ana Bello's house. I was definitely thankful that Spaniards embrace the Thanksgiving eating traditions.

Last night we headed out behind the catherdral to watch the Tuna bands sing to the statue of the virgin Mary to celebrate her immaculate conception. Wierd huh?

I don't know where they get the idea that Mary was immaculately conceived, but the music is fun. When it started to rain heavily we could't help but think it was a sign from God that he did not approve of the festivity. Once the umbrellas went up, we couldn't really see anything.

Different Tuna groups take turns singing to the statue, so when they are not there, they are singing in other parts of the city. We followed this group into our favorite little plaza for a more intimate show.

Lots of cool stringed instruments, good harmonies, and a guy dancing with a flag.

What is a tuna band you may ask. All I have heard is that they come from different departments in the local universities. I found this description from www.huntinspain.com which I really enjoyed.

The tuna is a consummately Spanish concept, which of course makes it virtually impossible to explain. Essentially, a tuna is a roving band of semi-professional musicians and singers, hardcore partiers, would-be womanizers (though a lot actually have steady girlfriends) and small-time con artists who dress up in costumes that date from the seventeenth century — black shirts with puffed sleeves, breeches and huge capes decorated with patches from various conferences and concerts and ribbons. Each patch supposedly represents the love of a chica.
Most of their songs are about women, drinking or being from a certain region of Spain (or Portugal or Latin America, as the case may be). About half are minor-key laments; the other half are up-tempo dance numbers, and there’s a handful of songs that are both or a mixture of the two.

It seems that most of the songs sung on this night were respectful songs to the Virgin Mary. My favorite part of the night was when one of the Tuna broke out into a (most likely inappropriate) song about a girl. People were starting to sing along but then another Tuna made him stop. He was pointing upward at the windows of the convent next door. I guess he knew that the nuns would not approve.

We hope to take some pictures of the Christmas lights around the city so that will mean one more blog post before we are in California!

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