Updates

Ay! So whats been happening since I last wrote.... well for one, I went skiing. I havent been rushing to write a blog about this cause we only took a couple of photos and none of me! Oh the horror! We went for Marcos´s 33rd birthday, we skied for 2 days and stayed overnight only one night right on the slopes. I haven´t been skiing for a couple of years, I was never really good at it, but I could ski and didnt fall down too much, this time though....different story. I think I skied worse than on my first ever day learning. Granted the sun was beaming and Andalucia had spring type weather the previous weeks, meaning no snow. So it was completely icy. Thats my excuse anyway. I could barely tackle the beginner runs, and I fell over 4 times on the first day... not just some tumbles some BIG falls. One where I fell on my face, dont ask me how I managed that but it happened, lost control, twisted facing the hill and face first snow sandwich. Then the fear of falling got into me and I spent the rest of the day and the following, ocasionally falling, and having a tantrum at the top of almost all the hills. Marcos didnt have the fear of god put into him and was skiing like a bandit and only fell once when he was waiting at the bottom of a hill for me, doing nothing, just standing then bam, on his ass. There was also once incident where I was shocked and impressed to see Marcos skiing backwards, wow, he is a maniac but he can actually do it, Marcos told me later that he didnt do it on purpose, was just waiting for me and started going backwards, couldnt stop and just kept going, he twisted around the right way at the end and if he hadnt of told me it was an accident i would think he should be in training for the winter olympics.
So we stayed overnight in a cute little apartment overlooking the mountains. We were absolutely exhausted after the first day of skiing but as it was Marcos birthday I made him a big pasta dinner and we had champagne. When you are that tired and exhausted, alcohol does funny things to you. We were completely drugged and we could barely string sentences together. Really. We collapsed into bed at 930pm and when Marcos Mum woke us up ringing us at 10pm, Marcos looked at the ringing phone in his hand for 10 seconds before he realised it was a ringing phone and he had to answer it. Then he started talking to his Mum in english! Next day he doesnt even remember that she called. And we didnt even finish the champagne! Disgrace!

Also in breaking news... I got a job!! Its for an advertising agency here in Seville. www.thebrandweb.com if youre interested in checking it out. I started exactly the day after I finished at my last job so there was no time for rest. And its true that its not what you know but who you know. I got the job through my now friend, Isabel, who was my boss at my first job here in Seville. She now works for the equivalent of the state government and the company that I now work for is doing a massive campaign for them. She works for the department of innovation and information so there are lots of projects relating to the web. It is really quite interesting and I am quite excited about the job. However.... they have a minimum work day of 9am to 8pm!!! MINIMUM! I mean REALLY! Its also in the middle of nowhere, in a village just outside of seville city. I cant even ride my bike there! sob sob. She has been left at home since last week and will probably RUST! Noooooo! I have to take a bus. The horror! The money is better than my last job so i shouldnt complain toooo much... You aussies would be shocked to know what I earn, (approx 25K AU$) compared to OZ wages, Spain is 3rd world. The cost of living is alot cheaper here but still.... wages are LOW! And what I earn is considered good here! Before I was on approx 20KAU$! and in design here its very very normal to earn alot less. So I should feel lucky to be working 10 hours a day in spanish village... yeah lucky real lucky. Stop it Kristy. Positive thinking. Breathe. (I have these little talks with myself sometimes).

Well who doesnt need their day to be brightened up with this photo of Little Baby Betty. She is getting bigger now and starting to look like a real person instead of the alien she was before. OK she is still alien like but maybe just a little less. Precious! NOTE TO SISTER: BRING HER TO VEGAS.


Hmm someone needs supermodel training. SHOULDERS BACK! Look at the camera dammit! and SMILE! Or maybe my sister needs supermodel mother training, pull her little top down so you can see she actually has a neck even if it doesnt work yet, please.



Maybe my sister was wearing a low cut top and Betty was hungry, she does look like shes got her mind on other things. I even think that skirt looks a little flamenco style. I think I might have to get her some spotted flamenco heels to go with this outfit. (You can actually get them here for babies - they are so cute!)

Carnival de Cádiz

On Saturday night I accepted a job from my good friends at Discover Sevilla, (I do all their design stuff) to go on one of 8 buses they had taking over 400 american students to the southern Andalucian city of Cádiz, 1 1/2 hours from Seville, for the Carnivale. It was all pretty simple, all i had to do was dress up, at the meeting spot I had to check off names, put on arm bands and later in the bus on the way let them all know the rules for returning and some other tips for Carnival etiquette. I also had to chose a "best dressed" on my bus to give a prize to. Then when the bus arrived in Cádiz I was free to party with all my Discover Sevilla pals and other helpers who I already knew. Chosing a best dressed was actually quite difficult, everyone dressed up but no-one really stood out. I personally stood out like a sore thumb not really cause my costume was that fantastic, just cause I looked so damn hideous. Most of the girls on the bus were doing sexy dress up, porn pirate, that sort of thing. I personally have never seen a pirate in fishnets and hotpants, but I suppose single gals gotta shake their thang.

I don´t know why it is but everytime I dress up for something I bypass the whole sexy thing and seem to make myself look as hideous as possible. Beards & monobrows are fun I say. Check me out here. I went as a sexy doctor. Obviouly the boys were lining up for a sponge bath. Actually, most of my friends there could barely speak to me! The voice that they knew was coming from a hideous unfamiliar face and it was all quite trippy. My face is outrageously red cause I gave myself red cheeks to make myself just that little bit more sexy, even though I don´t think I needed it cause my face is already so attractivly tomato naturally. My friend Rachel (who works at Discover Sevilla) went as the same thing and we got ready together with Marcos (being a wog himself and naturally knowing about these things) helping us paint our monobrows. Aren´t we hot?

The Carnivale de Cádiz is quite famous in Spain. It is essentially a street party that goes for 1 week and apart from the drinking on the streets there are bands called Chirigotas that compete in a Best Carnival 2008 Chirigota Group competion. They are groups dressed up singing comdeic type songs in a particular style unique to the Cádiz Carnival. There are also "illegal" chirigotas, (being illegal cause they are not actually official competing) that pass through the streets singing some tunes, playing music and getting the crowds crazy.

Saturday night at Carnival is one of the big nights even though it also goes through the day. On the streets of Cádiz on Saturday night, they said there was around 500.000 people out, all dressed up, (I don´t actually recall anyone not dressed up!) So you can imagine the atmosphere was pumping.

I finish my job here on the 14th feb, they aren´t going to renew my contract, which was completey expected as there is no work to do and 5 people from my department had been retrenched in the past few months. I am happy for the change as even when there is work to do here, it is really quite boring stuff, I have been going for jobs and quite frankly I am a damn expert at spanish job interviews, I don´t even get nervous anymore. I am waiting to hear back from a job I really want, it looks like I´ve got it but they haven´t told me the pay yet so I am hoping for a miracle that they actually pay an acceptable wage. I need the euros for Vegas! Ching Ching...hit me! So cross your money fingers for me.....