How to not lose a man.... organization

Well our trip to Cordoba was really fun. We went to Medina Al-Zarra, which is an Arabic ruin… now I’m assuming most people reading this post are saying… Arabic? I thought you were in Spain. Well, the Arabic people invaded Spain a way long time ago (I learned what century in my history class, but I just don’t remember!!!) anyways, they invaded Spain and there are lot of arabic influences in Spain now. Anyways, the ruin was really cool. Here are some pictures.

Also, we went to La Mezquita… which is an old Muslum mosque… Anyways, the Arabic people built this mosque and had basically totally control over Spain, until the Christians invaded them, and took over. The Christians didn’t want to destroy the Mosque because of its significance, but since they did not support what the mosque stood for, they built a cathedral on the inside of the mosque. Other than the cathedral, basically everything else in the mosque is original… which is surprising because on one of the walls it is written in Arabic “Ala is the only God, and Mohammed is his prophet.” It’s kind of weird to me that the Christians kept that in there, but I think they just wanted to keep the history of everything alive. Here are some pics.

So I figure I need to put a senora update in here.One of the things that Britton and I find extremely funny is something that Gracia does during mealtimes. I think I have said before that the TV is like another member of the family. It is on during every lunch and dinner. Anyways, we will all be talking, watching TV, eating, etc, and every once in a while, Gracia will just yell out “Mira!” which means “look” and she’ll point to the tv. Most of the time Britton and I aren’t sure quite why she wants us to look at what it is we’re looking at, but we just look, and try to pretend interested… If we look for a second, and then turn away, she yells out “Mira!” again. Another thing--- There have been several times where we aren’t really watching the tv, we are just talking, and I will start to ask Gracia something, or just say something to her at all, and she will put her hand in my face, shake her head, all the while her eyes are glued to the TV. After she has finished seeing the news clip or whatever it was, she will turn to me and say “now what were you saying?” It’s so funny because Britton and I get the hand all the time. Our relationship with Gracia has gotten to the point where we just mess around with her all the time. She takes jokes well, and she can dish back the insults just as well. Most of the time Gracia makes comments to us in relation to her cooking. She’ll look at us and go “She (ashley) doesn’t like seafood, and she (britton) doesn’t like fried food.” And she mocks us in the way that we talk. Afterwards Britton and I will start to say something, and she tells us to be quiet, and then goes “I’m mad.” She can give us a hard time, but Britton and I know that she secretly likes us though. Also, Britton and I haven’t been messy at all here, but according to Gracia, were never going to be able to keep a man because he will leave us because we are so disorganized. Gracia also doesn’t like the way we make our beds. One day, I was making mine, and she came in and tells me to stop, and she finished making it for me. Britton had already finished making hers, but Gracia didn’t think it was good enough but since it was already made, wasn’t going to fix it. She then looks at us, and says “the only reason Ashley’s bed is acceptable is because I made it!” Maybe one of these days I’ll learn how to properly make a bed… until then, I have Gracia to teach me!!! Gracia also doesn’t know our names. She only ever calls us “chica” which means girl. One time Britton and I asked her if she knew our names, and she goes “yep” She pointed to Britton and goes “chica,” then points to me and goes “rubia” which means blonde. She then says “no I really do know your names, I just cant pronounce them.” Well, I think that’s all the stories I have for this post. Love you all!