Yo estoy a casa.

Yesterday was one of those days that just doesn't go as planned, but Praise the Lord it still found me asleep in Gridley, IL at the end of it.

1) Flight took off and I didn't even mind as we left WARM GDL behind knowing I was headed for Illinois. But about 30 minutes into the flight I noticed that the sun had switched sides of the planes. hmmmmm... Sure enough, some minutes later the Pilot came on the intercom to let us know that we had turned around and were headed back to GDL. One of the computer screens was saying there was a malfunction. They didn't know what the malfunction was, but since we were closest to GDL we were headed back for maintenance. I had kind of stopped caring after hearing "regresamos a Guadalajara." (returning to Guadalajara). Noooooooooo. Back in GDL we unloaded the malfunctioning plane and directly loaded a different plane. Got to Chicago just about 2 hours late. Unfortunately,
arrival boards in Chicago hadn't been updated with the delay. Not cool. Not cool. Especially for my parents. :(

2) Finally reunited with Mom and Dad! Yay!! I took some great big deep breaths to finally be home. And just to celebrate we three went on an adventure!!! Taking the long way home! The never-before-seen-long way home!! :) Yay for accidental
spontaneity!! :)

Hasta!

Yo estoy dando prisa.

I'm all itchy, antsy and impatient to get to Illinois.
I've been listening to Christmas music as my background soundtrack while studying these past couple of weeks and thought I'd share a bit with you before I leave tomorrow.

I like the song "Indiana Christmas" by Straight No Chaser because it's about going home for Christmas but really wish it was Illinois instead. So I took the liberty and did a little switch-a-roo..

The moonlight shines on a sycamore
And now they are calling to me
In the city its snowing
The sidewalks blowing

But there's somewhere I'd rather be
Thousands of people all walking by
But Somehow I'm still alone
I'm gonna spend winter my way
Again on the highway
I'm ready to find a way home

Illinois, thats where I'm going
This time of year you know how I feel
Illinois, thats where I'm going
Where Christmas will always be real

We'll build up the fire tell a story or two
With good friends we always invite
The old and the young come together as one
and we sing into the night

Illinois, thats where I'm going
This time of year you know how I feel
Illinois, thats where I'm going
Where Christmas will always be real

And I remember those who are gone
looking down on my home from above
Deep in December its where I belong
Sharing the days with the ones who I love

I've kind of become a bit of a YouTube addict over the past couple of years so of course I've afew videos for ya too. I don't have this song among my Christmas music collection so sometimes I've gone to YouTube specifically to listen to this song.



"Then rang the bells more loud and deep
God is not dead, nor doth He sleep
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men"

or sometimes I go to YouTube to distract myself and instead find stuff like this.



Hasta!!

P.S. I just wanted to center all of the song lyrics, but it centered everything instead and I couldn't figure out how to do it differently so....I just left it :)

Yo estoy en los ultimos dias.

Thought I'd get a quick blog post in before I started for the day. Sorry if it's rushed, got a long ways to go before I can crawl under my covers again tonight.

To be honest, I was a little apprehensive last Friday when the French girls arrived back in GDL. I'd fallen into a study schedule, which I knew definitely wouldn't work with guests. But thanks to the grace of God I was able to be flexible and quickly adapt to a new schedule for those last days of their time in Mexico. It actually proved to be a benefit to me because having them stay here assured that I actually got out of the house at least once a day.

On their last morning we went out for breakfast and then I took a little time to show them a few last things in GDL. Took them to my favorite pastry shop and we had a comparison taste testing. Had the Mexican croissant tested against French taste buds. Mexican croissant versus French croissant. They throughly enjoyed it!!!!! I liked how Marlene summed up her opinion..."I'm French so I can't say that it's better than a French croissant, but...I give you permission to eat this." :)

We also stopped at the Galerias mall. In the years past they've had a ginormous Christmas Tree there. To our disappointment instead of a huge tree this year they had evil looking elves and sad looking jack-n-the-boxes.

I liked the huge jingle bells they had hanging though. If you can't see us, we're right.....


...there!!!


It was a little hard for me to listen to all of their stories from their week exploring the Yucatan. I could have gone with them. I could have dropped my studying and gone off exploring, seeing new sights and meeting new and interesting people. Sigh. It is so hard to sit and not be able to travel. I'll never see the world studying my life away. When Satan pokes at me with those envious and unfair feelings I just need to ask myself one question.
Q: Is this worth it? Even if I never never ever get to travel again, is He worth it?
A: Yes. Yes, it's worth it.

Hasta!

Yo estoy francesa.

L to R: Me, Morgane, Marlene

Hi I'm Morgane!
We are having such a good time here in Mexico! Christy makes us visit Guadalajara, and my favorite part is the restaurants... mexican food is sooo good (and a french "gourmet" is talking to you)! Unfortunately we only have 2 hours left in Mexico...
Muchas gracias Christy for this mexican experience!
Hope you can come visit us in France one day!
Bisous

Hi I'm Marlene. I am writing for the second time because I have just deleted everything! So let's write everything again!
So Christy and I met in Boston for the 4th of July thanks to Pablo that was my roomate in Boston and studying in the same university of Christy in Mexico. Then by a beautifull night sleeping in my garden in Boston with Morgane, we have decided to go to visit Christy in Mexico... and we did it!!!! So after spending all our money in the flight tickets and made the 22h trip we finally arrived to GDL. We spent almost one week in GDL with Christy. We had so much fun ! I had, thanks to her, my first Thanksgiving! She made me running in the morning! Sound normal to you but not to me! She introduced us to her friends that are really lovely too. I felt really welcomed(she kept a piece of the chocolate cake during the week I was in Merida!), and she made our trip really unforgettable.
I hope that she will come to France (skiing/climbing in the Alps) that I can welcome her as well as she has welcomed us. And I'm looking foward to go to visit her again!!! Hopefully in August in NY!
Merci beaucoup, a tres bientot.
bisous
Marlene

Yo estoy una ermitaña.

Yesterday I was so thankful that November only has 30 days in it. The last 4 had passed so slowly. I thought December would never come. That was yesterday. I woke up this morning and cannot believe it's December already. I was wrong....I take yesterday back....can November have 31 days this year, or even more. Ahh! I feel like a little kid who decided mid-slide that going down was a really bad idea and is now trying frantically to break/stop before he shoots off the end.

Up until last week it was still nice and warm in the house. I had my fingers crossed that it would last a few more weeks. Sunday it decided cool down. I'm not frozen yet, so I'm thankful for that. But then again since Sunday my hands have dried out and have their first few cracks so perhaps it's colder than I realize. I studied downstairs on the couches this morning to study. The sun comes in through the many windows. I'm thankful for the nice warm sun. Comparing myself to the last time I hermitized myself this is about the opposite. Last time by mid-afternoon I'd be sitting reading over my book and trying not to move or I'd start sweating. Can't really say which I prefer...

Hasta!