Pasión--Rodrigo Leão (canta Lula Pena)

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No, no digas que yo me muero
Amor, mi vida es sufrimiento
Yo te quiero en mi camino
Por vos cambiaba mi destino

Ay, abrázame esta noche
Y aunque no tengas ganas
Prefiero que me mientas
Tristes breves nuestras vidas
Acércate a mí, abrázame a ti por Dios
Entrégate a mis brazos

Tengo un corazón penando
Yo sé que vos lo estás escuchando
Con mil lágrimas te quiero
Pasión, sos mi amor sincero

Ay, abrázame esta noche
Y aunque no tengas ganas
Prefiero que me mientas
Tristes breves nuestras vidas
Acércate a mí, abrázame a ti por Dios
Entrégate a mis brazos

I went to Spain this summer. I went to several cities in Spain: Madrid (obviously), Toledo, Córdoba, Granada, and then stayed in Sevilla for about 2 1/2 weeks, and finally ended my trip in La Azohía in Murcia. These pictures are from La Azohía. I cannot possibly explain my experience there to give it justice. These pictures were from the best afternoon I had in Spain by far. I decided to go hike the mountains that were overlooking the ocean. The feeling of reaching the top is unequalled. You must do it yourself to be able to know the rush. It truly is like being on top of the world. I felt elated, and did not want to come down. But alas, nightfall was looming over the horizon, so I had to go down, back to town. The hike left me full of life. I can still feel the awe, the excitement, the total amazement at what a trip like that can do to change your perspective of life. Your mind is opened up to so many things you were not able to understand before. I felt rejuvenated. This even topped my skydiving experience, because it left me with something more tangible and real. When I remember that experience, and think about what I came to understand, I can truly say that I am happy. :)

P.S. The third picture shows a big rock with a smaller rock on top. That was my mark on the mountain. It was too tempting, and since I felt like I could move mountains, I decided I would at least move a rock on a boulder and claim it mine. :D

You just have to keep on going!!!

Alas, humankind must plunge through life with its ecstasies and devastations. It is while struggling through the ruins of shattered dreams that one realizes that life is a series of events which guide a person into laughter or tears. It is through these hard times that one comes to understand that life is not permanent, that it is but a journey through unknown waters, and that there is no concreteness to life. Each person at birth becomes like a stone in a moving current guided by the hand of God, and what life brings at you will also be left behind as you are polished and made more beautiful. Life hurts just as it is filled with joy, but in the hurt is when one really finds out how precious each one of us is, and how priceless each individual is to the One who awaits our final resting place at the end of our journey. There is no wrong or right way to feel when one crashes into deep banks of jagged rock. It is our right to feel all those emotions, because we are alive. But we must also realize that in living we must also fight to claw our way out of the rocks, as it is humanly impossible to stay there. And no matter how alone and how much suffering one feels, God is there, whether we feel Him or not, no matter how angry or disappointed we are with Him, no matter how much we insult and blame Him. God is always there, patiently waiting for the hurt to give way to pleading, so that He can move his Spirit within our souls. It takes time, because we are stubborn, we are unwilling to let go because we want to feel that we have some control of our lives. But hang on to the passing time. Eventually you will realize that God has been there with you, healing you little by little, letting you be the one to inject his peace into your heart. Keep screaming, keep praying, keep yearning for his healing. It is this unceasing will to overcome what hurts inside of us that God uses to heal us. And know, know that you are not alone. Know that I am praying for you. Know that if I--a person just like you, capable of loving and hating, rejoicing and suffering, blaming and embracing--can love a complete stranger whom I will never meet, then how INFINITELY MORE GOD does love you!!!!

Historia de la Humanidad: "De Ushuaia a la Quiaca" de Santiago Santaolalla

Historia de la Humanidad: "De Ushuaia a la Quiaca" de Santiago Santaolalla

Costa Rican Summer

I lived in Costa Rica during the entire summer break. Two and a half months in paradise... You guessed it; I DID NOT want to come back to reality! But alas! Society requires humankind to work for a buck. So I'm back in Houston, often reminiscing about my time spent in my native country.

Two and a half months. What did I do you ask? Well... I decided to take some Italian classes, which I did. I also visited a "Country" class. No, it's not a dance class. It's actually an arts and crafts class. I went twice, and I've already got something to decorate my room with for Christmas. Yes, Christmas. Pretty soon you'll see the stores stuffed with Christmas decorations, possible gifts, cards, tress, etc, etc. It seems that each year stores put out Christmas merchandise earlier. That's over there. Now here, they at least wait until after Thanksgiving. At least I think they still do.

I also rode the bus down in CR. It's an experience everyone visiting there should live through. I personally like it, because it gives me a sort of freedom to having to depend on rides. Although I'm still without my car, I am free to choose to leave when I want to and to the places I want to. Granted, you have to go by their schedules, but should you miss a bus, you'll only have to wait about 15 minutes for the next one. And, the ride will cost you about the equivalent to 30 cents! It's a great system, and you could literally travel the country using the bus system. Of course, you've just got to be smart about it and keep your belongings safe.

The house where I stayed made me feel like I was on a retreat-type hotel. There were trees all around, many birds (including humming birds), grass, flowers, and the best part, the view at night! It was beautiful! The picture above does little justice to the beauty of seeing the city lights at a distance. I truly felt blessed to have the privilege of being surrounded by awe-inspiring scenery. I can't wait to go back in December! I will be sure to take more pictures to share all I see.

Scary Stuff

So, for the past two weeks my school has been doing nothing but expanding our students' horizon. We were in Interim Term. What's that you ask? That's a fair question. Well, we (the teachers) split into groups to expose the kids to different topics. The students choose which [lets call these] "workshops" they want to be a part of, and they go there for one whole week. The second week they got to go to three different ones. The second week, I taught "Scary Stuff Around the World." My idea was to scare the kids silly so that they'd have trouble sleeping at night. Cruel, huh? :P I wanted to share ghost stories, because that's just something I like to do. I like hearing them, but then at night I'm freaked out. So I sleep with my lamp on. Dork. :D Anyways, I'd like to share a story I was told while interviewing faculty for the class.

(Name was changed to protect real identities.) :P This is a true story, and there are many more out there, believe me!

Lisa was in her senior year in college. She lived in dorms housed in an old victorian home. Her room was at the end of the hall on the third and top floor. Lisa had no roommate, so she felt her room was a safe haven where she could have her privacy when needed. One night, Lisa suddenly woke up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason. This to her was odd, since she never woke in the middle of the night. She always slept til the morning with the sheets over her head because her room was always cold at night. So she took off her cover to glance at the clock and see what time it was. It was about 5 am. For some reason, Lisa looked around the room, and to her horror, she saw a girl standing in the middle of the room, her green eyes staring at her!! She was so scared she quickly dove under her blankets again. A few seconds later, she snuck her head out from under them, but the girl, who had made no noise whatsoever, had disappeared into thin air! The door was locked from the inside, so there was no way that anyone could have snuck into her room or left quickly. Again, Lisa had no roommate. She had felt the girl's presence in her room, or perhaps it had been the green-eyed stare which woke her up. Whether it was the presence or the stare, Lisa will certainly never forget the night when a girl from the past stood watching her sleep.

Scary, huh?

Thought for the day

I was unexpectedly asked by one of my students to fill out a form. Well, because we were in the middle of class--figures!-- I asked her to put it on my desk. I dismissed it thinking it was an absence form, or something like it. Well, I finally noticed it on my desk and decided to go ahead and fill it out to get that over with. But as it turns out, it was a list of quotes. I had to pick one that most related to my own life and feelings. I thought "Well, this is different!" You have to understand, in all my three years working at this school, all I've been asked to fill out were absence forms and rec forms. Anywho, out of all ten quotes, there were three that caught my attention:

"Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string."

"To be great is to be misunderstood." (I couldn't suppress a chuckle reading this one.)

"Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of our own mind."

And then there was a second part that asked me to explain my quote. It was optional, but I decided I was feeling philosophical. So I wrote. --I've learned that in life things may go right, great, really bad or OK. Whatever life brings, I've come to understand that one must take care of one's soul. This is what will carry you through anything and all in your life.--

Can you guess which quote I chose? I wonder which of these would apply to most of the people I've known in my life...?