X-mas in Amsterdam

What is going on here?? I love this country. Street urinals for men. These are located throughout the city and often are located next to a canal for a peeing experience with a view. ahhhhhhhh much better. CLICK HERE for a link to more exciting photos of Amsterdam with comments included. MERRY XMAS and HAPPY NEW YEARS to all. Mucho love. leif

Lisbon, Portugal

Street codoms? Why not! Jesús gives Victor a quick lesson on safe sex.









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Street alcohol. yummmm taste like cheries.

Lisbon the city

Jesús and I taking a quick rest in the front doors of a beautiful building














Whatever happend to police officers riding horses? or bikes for that matter?

Swimming in Dec.

When is the next time I will get a chance to swim in Portugal? I do not know and for this reason I had to do it. Despite the sun going down, wind, a lack of a towl and swimming trunks I had to do it. Although I have no pictures to prove it I stipped down into my underwear and ran into the surf like a mad man. My roommates followed shorly there after and jumped in as well. We looked crazy and cold and one guy even took a picture of us in our skimpies, but it made me fell more alive then I have in along time. ahhhhhhhh the ocean. The picture is of Jesús and myselft shortly after the swim.

Lisbon for a day

Lisbon is about 3 hours from where I live here in Spain. Saturday two of my roommates and myself spent the day exploring the city and trying to see as much as we could. Here is one of the old trolley cars that you can find in this beautiful capital city. Click here for more pics.

Thanksgiving Spanish style.

Hello All!!! Despite not being able to find a turkey, my Thanksgiving dinner turned out to be a Blast. 3 Americans, 2 Brits, 1 Italian and a bunch of Spainards. All told we were 12 and me head chef. 2 chickens, mashed potatoes (White Miller style ( my dad) ) veggies, gravey, pumpkin pie, apple pie, etc. Throw in a spanish omlette and 12 liters of Sangria, two guitars and your friend Paige singing La Bomba while standing on a couch and you have one great dinner. It was the first Thanksgiving for everybody minus the Americans and all in all I think in went over well, we even took turns giving thanks at the table. I have to admit that I lied and told everybody that we were eating baby turkeys. Hope everybody had a great Turkey Day. Tell next time. Adiós!!! CLICK HERE FOR MORE THANKSGIVING PICS

Who's that touching my arm?

Hello all!!! So, this is my first BLOG while being abroad. Exciting stuff. The title comes from my bus ride from Madrid, Spain to Caceres where I live and teach. I sat next to a "older" lady (40 or so) who was going to Caceres for the Med Evil festival. Spanish people do a lot more touching then Americans and have much smaller personal bubbles. At first I thought the lady was hitting on me (not really) but I did think it was interesting that she grabbed and touched my arm about every minute or so. This is very common in most conversations with friends and with strangers. I am known to be a close talker and sort of a toucher as well, so this bodes well with me. The lady on the bus and I had a conversation for an hour or so I got to know all about the Med Evil festival before I even arrived. Well, that is that.
The three guys in the photo are my roommates from left to right : Victor a.k.a. Licra, Jesus a.k.a. Piru, Jaunto and Gui-leif (guiri is slang for white English speaking person) This pic was taken after a game of Parcheesi. We each have our lucky hats on.

Take this RICK STEVES, Leif and Paige do Italy.

During my time off for Semana Santa or Holy Week as we know it I got the chance to visit Rome with my good friend Paige. We visited Venice, Rome and Milan, Rome being my favorite of the three. Check these photos out.

Sevilla

I went to Sevilla multiple times as it was a transportation hub for many of the cities I visited in Southern Spain. Click here for some of the picts I took while in Sevilla. PHOTOS

Valencia, Spain

This is were my friend Cristina lives and were I spent my last couple of days in Spain.
Click here for more Pics

Jerez de Los Caballeros

Jerez de Los Caballeros is were I lived and worked in western Spain in the province of Extremadura.
Click here for PICS

Walking off into the land of BLOG

Hello all. As I am out and about in this world, I thought it was time to do a BLOG. This is new to me, but hopefully this helps out with communication while I am abroad in Spain or just far from friends. My hope is to share stories and pictures with others.