El Virus de Bilbao.

So It's Monday and a LOT LOT LOT has happened. I'll give the short versions... mainly because I can't remember everything... and I'm in a cafe and really have to go to the bathroom and don't want to pick up all my stuff and then set it all out again...

So I joined Joseba's gym and I like it a lot. It is incredibly nice and not very crowded... It's also smack dab in the middle of everything I do so I can't make excuses. 

What else... last week was a really freaking stressful. I'm extremely grateful that I have had a lot of experiences away from home otherwise I would be a mess. First off, starting Wednesday - I had absolutely zero time to myself.

Wednesday I had to bring the girls home from lunch... so I dropped them off in the morning, went to the gym with Joseba, went straight to pick the girls up for lunch and then took them back at 3… so I had until 4:30 to myself.

 Then Thursday... Leire apparently got the "virus de Bilbao" which pretty much meant she woke up in the middle of the night to throw up for like 3 hours straight. So of course of course of course I knew I would get it. The kids are pretty obsessed with my water bottle and even though I tell them not to - they often use it. So the girls stayed home. I got to go to the gym, but then had to come straight home to help with them. Then Jon came home at 5 and Iciar went back to work. So from 12:30 until about 9:30... I was alone with the kids. In the house. and we couldn't go outside. or watch TV. My goodness. I wanted to put benadryl in their drinks ahah They were SO HYPER... bathing them was tought. So when Iciar and Joseba got home they told me to go do whatever I wanted and they would give them dinner and put them to bed. That was nice. Then when I came to eat dinner with them they kept saying... Tu tienes la cabeza ASIIIIIII (making a huge circle with their hands... pretty much saying my head must be the size of this room because they drove me crazy today). I have much more respect for mothers now. 

Here are some pictures of the girls the day they stayed home.

I wondered where she wandered off to. Without saying a word she decided to stop playing and go do her homework. 

Happy little thang

Pans for Toys

I've also realized there is a HUGE difference between watching one child (easy). watching two children (still easy). and watching three children (a whole new ballgame). They're catalysts for each other... it's crazy. 

So Thursday was a bit crazy. But then they told me that since I have friends coming in town this weekend (Rachel Westmoreland - correction:friend haha) that I can do whatever I want tomorrow. So I told them I'd still help in the morning but that after that I was going to go meet up with Rachel and her friends from her Architecture program. They all go to A&M and are doing a study abroad program in Barcelona. We walked all over Bilbao. We went to the Casco Viejo to a bar called Guri Take which was great (This is the bar that Genaveva (ISA) told me belonged to her family). Then we went shopping and sight seeing. We went to the Guggenheim but I only went into 2 galleries then went to look for a hair wand because I bought a year long pass to the Guggenheim and wanted to go back another day when I was alone and had nothing to do. That night we went and had Chinese food (real authentic I know) and then we were all so exhausted and I started to feel a bit sick... 

We get back to their hostel and I realize I am going to be VERY sick. I hail a taxi as quickly as possible. My taxi driver (Emilio) was very nice... He walked the thin line between friendly and creepy and I really don't know which he is. He gave me his phone number and said we could be friends and he would show me Bilbao. He seemed very earnest but I really have no idea... He said to call him on Wednesday. I'll admit I am hurting for friends a little bit... but I don't think I'll be indulging that friendship... 

So I get home... and I wont go into graphic detail - but I spent the majority of my night on the bathroom floor. Saturday I had plans to go with Rachel and the other Aggies to San Sebastian - a very beautiful beach town but instead I spent the ENTIRE day in bed. I literally was vertical for maybe one hour of the entire day. I must have slept 20 of those 24 hours. I was very dehydrated and my whole body hurt. then of COURSE Sunday I woke up feeling spectacular. It was a real shame and horrible horrible timing. 

Joseba and I have gone for walks the past 2 days to practice his English. We walk the length of the river until the sidewalk stops and then turn around, cross a bridge and go back to the house on a different route. I can already tell his English is going to improve tenfold by doing this. He is really hell-bent on learning English. Today he admitted he is a bit obsessed with it. But good for him... He wants to be able to teach in English. He said this time last year he knew almost nothing.