two weeks and counting...

So it begins, two weeks and counting. I've started to pull things together for the trip and clean up my belongings so I can fit them all into a 5x5 storage space and leave them behind.

 

That includes a dandy trip to the Salvation Army (or Sally Ann's house as my good friend Abby puts it) to purge items from my old life that look completely foreign to me, namely my business suits and closed toed shoes.

Emailed the hotel in Madrid to find out which of two Metro stops were closest to it. I found the metro stops listed on a Google map after figuring out what subway line to take from the airport. Been reading "The World is Flat" in which Thomas Friedman talks about technology and the internet flatting the world to where we are all connected in many ways and it certainly is true.

Testing my language skills, i emailed the metro question in Spanish. Got a coherent answer back thanks to the espanol i picked up quickly via books and livemocha.com They offer free lessons online similar to rosetta stone but it also offers instant messaging with people around the world to help you brush up on your skills. In one day I talked to a carpenter in Mexico about kayaking and a woman in Jordan who was curious about who i prefer in the primaries: Obama or Clinton.

Pre-Trip Items:

1. work work and WORK.
2. Get art supplies.
   
3. Sent a letter to Tio, the family i have never met, to formally introduce myself and thank them for their hospitality (all in spanish)
4. Change my name to Penelope
   

Apparently, after reading a woman's blog about her solo trip through Spain, I found out my name sounds a lot like the spanish word for penis. My sister tried to tell Tio that my name was Penny to which he gave a weird look. I now know why. She then told him my name was Penita. If I didn't want to be named penis, the last thing i wanted to be named was "little penis".  

While considering the opportunity to introduce myself as Penis from Key West to complete strangers, i decided to change it to what most people think my real name is anyway - Penelope.

I just got a new camera which is incredible. It's a cannon elph and can take macro digital shots which i plan on using for my paintings. The shot at the top is the remains of a snail that was completely eaten by ants in one day. You can actually see an ant in the bottom part of the shell looking for what's left - sorry buddy, it's all gone!