News is on the way!

I got an email today saying I will get a letter in the mail by July 16th with information about my placement in Spain!!! Oh, the relief. Can't wait to find out where I'm going. :-) :-)

Not quite a tan....

So...the weather has been beautiful and hot. It is a bit too much sometimes, but overall, I'm grateful for the sunny days. The other morning I went with a friend for breakfast in the park and then a ride on his motorcycle. Wow, was that great. 9-10 O'Clock in the morning is perfect here. The park is on a river and there just happened to be local firemen practicing dive-rescue training when we got there. Oddly enough, I knew a bunch of them there from the firefighter training center I work at once in a while. I love that I'm getting to know people and run into them when I'm out. As for the bike ride, the wind on my face was downright dreamy. I wasn't planning on that much outdoor time though and didn't get a chance to slather on the sunscreen before leaving the house. I was getting scared as it neared noon! Luckily, I did have it on my face and chest so I didn't fry completely. My skin must be getting used to it because I got a little red on my arms at my shirt line and a spot on my forehead. Whew!! So, I won't say I have a tan exactly, but hopefully I'll look sun-kissed when I return. :-) The freckles are already in full bloom, now I just have to get out of the restaurant once in a while.

Only 97....

This last week, we have seen over 100 degree temps everyday. I'm sure it got to 108 once or twice. I found myself looking at the forecast the other day and seeing the prediction for tomorrow...97 degrees. The words actually came out of my mouth, people! I said, " It'll only be 97 on Friday". Who woulda thought. When I was leaving MI, everyone talked about the heat I was going to encounter, but they all said, "yeah, but it's DRY heat". How right they were. I can actually tolerate these temps because I'm not sticky, icky. I actually wore jeans out to the store yesterday and wasn't dying. Mind you, I am grateful for my wonderfully air conditioned car and house. I used to be such a wimp during that inevitable hot, sticky, hide-in-your-house week every August. This year when I come back I just may be that tourist we make fun of in long sleeves and pants when it's 75 out. :-) Then again I may punk out when the humidity gets above 10%. (The other day I think the humidity in MI was in the 80% range and here in NM is was about 6%. Don't quote me on that, but you get my point.) I can't wait to come back to visit and have a little moisture back in my skin and big poufy hair!

Love you lots,

Haley

(Sorta) Update

Hey there. I want to give an update on my job in Spain. Unfortunately, I don't have much more to tell. I still know I'm going to Andalucia (the southern region) and I'll start the last week in Sept or the first week in Oct. From my understanding, I am waiting on a letter that I will get in the mail from the Andalucian government. I've been accepted by the Spanish government, now my name (and hundreds of others) has been passed to the Andalucian govt for them to place me in a specific city and school. It is kind of like if I was accepted by the U.S. govt for the program and then they send a bunch of names to MI, NM, etc for them to place people and handle the details. As soon as I get that letter I can make an appointment at the Spanish Embassy (probably in Houston) to turn in my paperwork to get my visa. Then a few weeks later when I get my visa, I can purchase my plane ticket.

So far, I'm still thinking I'll return to MI the first week in Sept, give or take. I want to have plenty of time with everyone before I go. I'm making progress here. I've started to go through storage stuff. I purged quite a bit when I moved to NM, but I still kept so much stuff that I won't need now. I kept things like kitchen dishes and bathroom towels, and books, so so many books. The housewares stuff isn't worth keeping if I end up staying a second year in Spain. But, that isn't something I'll know until a year from now, so I don't want to save it and then leave it for my mom to deal with. (She may have to take one for the team when it comes to the books. :-) She did raise me in a bookstore after all.) I'm also getting some bites on my car. I'm hoping to sell it as soon as possible. I'll miss it, but I'm certainly not going to need it across the big pond.

Well, that's all for now. I have to get up early in the morning to check off more things from the ever-expanding list before I go to work.

Til the next update!