Day by Day

wow...The mesquite or mosque in Cordoba is amazing. It is huge because Cordoba used to be huge. It is the only remaining mosque in Cordoba because the King at one point ordered That it be. Catholic and so they put in an altar. had it nit been used everyday it would have been destroyed as the other mosque's were when the Muslims were pushed out. we were allowed to take pictures inside so I will insert them when I can. Y DES ription would not do justice to what we saw. Even Katie, who has had no teaching in school yet on the different religions, could not stop taking pictures. When we got to the gold part I could not believe how many gold treasures there were. Religion should be based on faith, not money. the rest of Cordoba reminds me of Mexico more than the other places we have visited here in Spain. it is warm and the buildings are like Toledo but all white and yellow. Old Cordoba has cobblestones and narrow roads that cars actually drive on. we also had a Span...

I am not one for museums and we had to zip through this one quickly but I have to say I loved looking at the art work. I do not like the statues that much, but the religious pictures and the scenery pictures are incredible. I am glad we went

today we went to Toledo which was once the capital city. It is a city surrounded by walls. it is an old cobblestone village which you take an escalator up to get in because it is so highg up. There is a cathedral which is so incredible. because most people could not read centuries ago, they paint pictures to represent the stories of the religion. As in the outside of the temple in Barcelona, this cathedral inside In Toledo has incredible sculptures and significance symbols for Catholicism. We could not take pictures but even those would not give it justice. Then we went to the oldest synagogue in the country. it was so simple compared to the ornate cathedral. It did have a cross becUse the catholic kings made the Jewish people put one in there. e also went to another church named after st. Thomas, but we went in to see The Greco. this is Grecos most famous painting that has never been reproduced. he was paid by the catholic bishop (I believe)to paint this scene of a person...

there have been people to help Katie and I when we were without our other chaperones (the Spanish teachers who speak fluent Spanish)there was one incident that was not too good. We were asking for coffee and cream and sugar. The server could not understand us and she was in a hurry. There were people behind us who did not speak English. One man offered me money;he thought I did not have enough money and was trying to be helpful. A woman finally came and helped us to translate. the server was not to nice. Iu derstood her say why didn't she just say that. I learned how hard it must be for people to come to America and not know the language. I hate it when people say that people who come to our country should talk The language and now I will be really upset when people say that because until you have walked insomeoneelse's shoes do not criticize.

I forgot that the last night in Barcelona we walked through the gothic part at night. I cant wait to add pictures to the blog entries. The buildings ha e huge wooden doors and there is one balcony that is so beautifully made. we were walking on cobblestone and the quiet of the night made it feel as though we were back in the 1600's. Plus there was a full moon.

Our guide told us that not many if any high school tours use the Ave to get from Barcelona to Madrid. This train goes 200 miles an hour. I have never ridden such a smooth train before. The land is beautiful. What I would call mountains are just hills to the Spaniards. here are windmills and olive trees. There are little villages with houses that have traditional tile roofs. It is so nice to see something g different.....hardly any land development at all. Nature at it's best.

The temple is fascinating. It is a catholic church that was started by vaudeville and still is not finished yet. It has been over 100 years and it has not been completed. It will be finished in 2026. Katie said she wants to get married here. The exterior has all symbolism of Catholicism. For example the front of the church (this is all on the outside) has built into it the s ends of Jesus' birth. The back of it has the scenes of Jesus' being crucified. The symbolism includes a serpent (not for the devil) but for Judas standing for his betrayal; there is a cross over Jesus' head but it is perpendicular representing God watching over Jesus as he was crucified. There wer grapes in the structured representing the blood of Christ. I would love to buy a book on all of it because the tour guide had to say so much I didn't get it all and we were there on Palm Sunday. we could not go into the church. It was amazing.

We took a guided tour. I learned the story behind Gaudie. He was a genius architect who was rich. He was thought to be crazy because his thought processes were way ahead of his time. He used broken pieces of tile from the tile factories and created beautiful structures. Also he was a modernist so he made e drugging in the form of nature which is why everything he built was round. If you think of a leaf, it does not have a definite straight structure. I am not explaining it as good as it s told to us, but I totally get the concept. Anyway, he bought 60a res of land up on the hill in barcelona so the rich would buy plots and build, but it was a business that failed. I will tell you why in a minute, but first I must tell you that the property was on the hill because the rich live up one hill and the poor were supposed to live down in the lowlands at the bottom of the city on the Mediterranean. Oh and we put our feet in the Mediterranean sea last night. So it failed because wh...

it is beautiful. we say Gaude'work yesterday. He started building a church that has not bee finished over 100years later. He built an outdoor stadium with all curved ceiling and he took tray tiles from all places and put them together to form decoration there. I will put in pictures once We return to the states. he also did not build anything straight. everything he built was curved or crooked. he is where the word Gaudie comes from. The flight over was good bit tiring. eight hours during the night....smooth ride though. It is so fun to talk to students as we walk. Most of them are so nice and fun to get to know. Margarita is making me talk in Spanish which is good but so frustrating when I don't know the words. It makes me realize how hard it must be for foreigners in our country. Katie and I are getting along for the most part. She is very easy to travel with. It must be hard for her to be with 27 students from 11th and 12th grade who come from a very well to do backgro...

1:30 am on Saturday night....can't sleep due to dog stomach noises....get up and he follows to he couch.  Rub his belly, hoping to ease any discomfort.....still can't sleep....2:08-dog sleeping soundly-me....awake for good now....Silly dog-silly owner.

In a rare moment on Saturday, Katie, Brendan and Keera were all in the kitchen and we had a discussion.  It is rare because Brendan is hardly ever home between work, friends, school. Our conversation went from thing to thing (hardly any related) and Keera got to the point of raising her hand just to get a word in.  It was a Shining mother moment...so of course I wanted it to last forever.  I therefore kept the peace by saying okay you next, you next, etc., while trying to actually listen to the stories. A funny strand of conversation came out when we (Bren, me and Katie) were sharing a story (the parts each of us knew) of a student who was just expelled from Connor's high school because of something she did.  Keera raised her hand and she said "I have a story to share."  She went on to share that Doug received a color change (the discipline method in our elementary schools when a student has negative behavior...they go from green to yellow to I d...

I was frustrated as I got ready for work yesterday....no details...just a low moment. As I walked out the door I mumbled "I wish someone would just take care of me."  Connor was following me and I was sure he probably didn't even hear....it was somewhat under my breath and just thinking out loud. I dropped Connor at school and then within ten minutes I received a text.   When I got to work I opened it. It was from Connor and it simply said, "I love you".  For a 15 year old boy he has a strong understanding of people and how to love them.