My Story

Micronesian Fair in Guam

2009-10-29T16:33:00.000-07:00

sunset

Dancers! :)

I put a tattoo on the pig! Eww! :(

This guy rocks

Which one would YOU date? ;)

Yup - I fit in.

Dusk - my favorite part of the day....

Guam Pics! :)

2009-10-11T04:26:00.000-07:00

Just a few pics of the island to make you jealous!! :)

First Day Off in Japan!!

2009-09-25T08:11:00.000-07:00

Today was my first free day in Japan and I was able to walk around Tokyo! I did not find all the gifts I was looking for, but I did find a few little things for me!! :) but :(

The pursuit of my purse is on... but I didn't find it even in the largest Louis Vuitton in the world!! 5 floors of overpriced yumminess!!

Near Otomesando Hills

Looks like a boring pic, but that phone looking thing touches your face and analyzes your skin!!

Wierd!!?! Let's go in!!!

You know... just another ordinary house....

my fave pic...

oooga booga take 2!!

I know I'm a nerd, but I'm showing off taking advantage of the amazing (and still cheap) Japanese Couture!!! :) better than the flimsy kimono tho, right?

TTFN!!!

Sendai, Nugoya, Fukuoka, Osaka, (Japan)

2009-09-24T08:43:00.000-07:00

View from my hotel room in Sendai

1 of each, please....

Food Art!

Airport!

Sendai Liaison

Nugoya :)

Jojo!!

Complimentary Kimono @ Nugoya Hotel!!

View from the restaraunt in Fukuoka!!

Liaison in Osaka!! Great friend, now...

So basically I suck at writing, but pictures are easy (except for when I feel like a geeky tourist.)

Japan has been amazing and I have seen 4 cities this week. Traveling has been majorly time consuming obviously. Each city required a flight or bullet train. The Japanese people are more than friendly and doting and I am simply beside my self at what I get to do for a living.

Hope you enjoy my updated blog of photos. Btw, it took me 30 seconds to upload each set of 5. When I was in Spain it took approx 8 minutes for each set. Geez!!

Zurich & Basil, Switzerland

2009-09-24T08:30:00.001-07:00

I basically cried when I saw this clock.

Zurich.

For Dad...

Sunny! :)

Delicious & unique treats, and a funny friend!

Skyline from the local gym.... Yes, seriously.

Other side...

Hat Fun...I totally look like Erik (sans hat)

Basil

Moo.

Cow turned building red?

Hat take 2.

Found someone to be a fool with me. ...

Take 4....

Barcelona

2009-09-24T08:21:00.001-07:00

Famous Rockstar!!

2009-06-04T16:26:00.001-07:00

Ok, I know! I know! I'm sorry!! I'm too busy and too lazy to write!!! Don't pressure me!!

Ok, here's the brief story (but lots of beautiful pics) of Madrid!! I had a great time and was on a very popular TV show called Fama! (you can find me on youtube hehe - jojo diggs, fyi.)

Anyway!!

Here's Lush in Spain!! :)

Late night city walk

My VIP room!! With FR!!

My "Manager" LOL!!!! (No, not really)

Self proposed Glamour Shot - BadaBing! (me before filming! I had my hair and make-up done!!)

So wierd!!!!

Mom Statue maybe?

Just a boring tower, but it looks cool!

Castle!! :)

Called Crystal Palace!

Distant view!!

Me and my hair. Too funny!

Statue + FR

AND THE BEST PICTURE IN THE WORLD....

PLEASE NOTE THE SIMILARITY IN HAIR, AS WELL!!

Ok, so its short!! But hey, you get your pics!! :) I'm having too much fun to blooooggggg!!! hahah

Love you!

jojo

Failing Riter!

2009-05-14T05:10:00.000-07:00

Well, the weeks have had nothing to write about and the weekends I'm too busy to write!! Plus I did not chose to take my laptop to London. But I hope to make it up to you with an inordinate amount of photos from my trip to London! :D

The train station I arrived at

I really like how it bends on the side

THE best place in the entire WORLD to shop!!!

so pretty!

the apple store

this place was cool, too

a cool salad pizza combo thing. i really liked it!

"whats a blejm?" "my future ex-husband's new last name."

(had to.)

a map of carnaby. you can see me!

very windy

the streets of London

the square

not the london bridge, bc that one falls down...

view from the bridge.

the tube

the palace!

FR, the palace and a wonderful statue!

an awful picture of me and my 'flatmate' underneath the 'Eye'

sunset view of Spain from the plane home

Flubber Rubber

2009-05-08T14:53:00.000-07:00

I wrote a blog last night that for the Blog God's whatever reason didn't get posted and I couldn't retrieve it BUTTTT I will try to reproduce that same thrilling blog again today.

The main points go as follows:

I had to get off my fat butt and start training this week again because I'm headed to London this weekend to teach master classes. I am very very excited and want to be prepared. In LA I was training and dancing every single day, and here I just haven't been motivated. I am excited to be able to take class there, as well. I will also have some new and exciting pictures! :D

Other than that, I don't really remember. This week has been great, just busy. Starting to get busy organizing the workshops and trying to remember where I am going which weekend, what I'm teaching, and what level and blah. LOL. Isn't my life tough?? ha!

I leave tomorrow morning.

Life is good!! :D

Freaking Router!!!

2009-05-05T16:04:00.000-07:00

Oh my lanta!!

This week has been so frustrating! We were out of internet last weekend, which you knew, and then when we came back the internet has been so slow! I haven't been able to open up my email in standard view. It's been in HTML all week and sometimes I can't even access it. Also, when I'd try to log onto the blog it would take so long to load it wouldn't let me access it.

So very frustrating! I've been dying to tell you about my Sunday in Portugal!!

So, Teri and I left the hotel that morning after a really nice delivered breakfast. We had croissants, homemade orange juice, meusli, and cappucinos. Yum! We wanted to find a spa and have a beachy day. The spa prices there (as was everything else) was super cheap, but the only spot we found was booked.

We decided to drive until we found the beach. Couldn't be too hard - we're on the coast in Portugal. Drive south. There's beach.... right?

No.

Nope.

Nothin.

Where is it? This isn't beach. This is a mushy marshy thing. Why can't we drive farther?
I noticed a "Playa" sign and told Teri to park. We started walking down this dirt path that then turned into a bridge, over marsh and swampy mess. We were completely confused. Next we see a tiny train set of train tracks. Again, swapping confused looks and moving onward. Now, here is a good sign. People walking our way! But, we pulled a "man" and didn't ask any questions.
We continued to walk more for about 15 minutes. Up ahead we saw a hill with something that looked like a large life donut.

As we passed the last bend, there it was. A completely private and gorgeous beach. It was absolutely breath taking. Why was it so hidden? There was a little cafe that served [my favorite] beer and the best cheese burger I've ever had in my life. We laid on the beach and laughed and laughed at the wierdest beach front we've ever seen. There was not a hotel for miles. There were people on the beach, but very few. We had most certainly found a locals jem.
So lucky.

So, we counted our blessings and took some pictures in this amazing Anchor Graveyard that was there. How unique.

We were knuckered and decided to drive home. On the way home we discovered a large castle. We decided to pull over and check it out. It was compltely open! Nothing was closed off. It was empty inside, and HUGE. We walked all through it. Teri was a bit scared, and so was I, but we decided to journey up the dark, uneven stairs to the next level, and then the next. What we found was so breath taking! I couldn't believe I was standing in a real castle!! So awesome. There was royalty there one day, long ago, and the view was open for miles and miles of hills. I think it must have been there to view any attacks!

We took lots of pictures and really enjoyed the view. We both had to pee before we left and decided that almost no one gets to pee in a castle, so we took our turn. Have YOU pee-ed in a castle?? :)

I am hoping the worst internet service of my life is behind me now!!
Enjoy the pics!! :)

Life is good, even when you're lost!

Anchor Graveyard....

Aguzaderas

so huge

man im so european! :)

driving away, with the sun setting...

Failing Router

2009-04-30T14:52:00.000-07:00

My internet has failed the last few days!! It's been lonely and boring! Grr!!

Now our service has been more than slow.... So I can't upload pictures, but hopefully things will be resolved within the next few days.

Sorry!
OxoOXoxoXo

Fleeting Rain

2009-04-28T15:07:00.000-07:00

We woke up early this morning to try and catch the Sunday market in Sevilla. To our dismay, it was raining quite a bit. We figured we'd give it a try but unfortunately we were correct; it had been canceled. We drove around a bit taking rainy snap shots and looking for a quickie souvenir shop, but didn't find much in that regard, either. We decided to abort the Sevilla mission for the time being and get on the way to Portugal. I had booked our hotel night in Sevilla and Teri was in charge of booking the Portugal hotel. She had printed out the information to our hotel and I went to plug it into the GPS. However, I took one look/thought at the GPS and said out loud “Oh shit.” Teri looked at me and knew exactly what I realized. The location is in Portugal. We are in Spain. TomTom doesn't know Portugal!!! Eek!!

So, we set the GPS to Ayamonte, the most far east city in Spain and hoped we'd find it from there.

We stopped at a gas station in Ayamonte in search of a Portuguese map. This is the real Spain, not the fluffly, heavily populated British Spain I live in. When I went to the register to inquire about how to get to Tavira (Portugal) the man behind the register was giving me information (in Spanish.) I understood some, and kept saying “Si.” The other worker standing off to the side says quickly and under his breath “Todo es si.” They laughed. The clerk then asks me “Me guapo?” and I replied “Si. Te guapo pero soy mas guapa. No se mucho Espanol pero entiendo un poco, muchas gracias.”

What just happened? He's giving me information, I kept saying Si. The other gentleman thinks it's the only word I know, so the clerk tries to trick me into saying he's good looking. I respond “You are good looking, but I am better looking. I don't know much Spanish but I understand a little bit, thank you very much.” Take that! I know how to curse them out but we didn't get that far. So they laughed with me, and then I asked the comedian for more clear instructions once he was convinced I was somewhat able to communicate. 2 pats on the back for that one! :)

The bad news is the gas stations didn't have any Pim's, so we kept having to buy imitations. We called them Pam's. Not bad, but not a Pim.

We get onto the road to Tavira, and I for some reason decide to check if TomTom switches countries. Low and behold! He does! See what happens when you go with the flow? It works! We plugged in our address and again, off we went.

We arrived at our quaint little hotel in Tavira, Portugal. Now, I must say that the advertising on the internet was a tid false, but we still really enjoyed the hotel. We were in the family suite which had adorable wall paper and a fold out couch, with a view of the city. Tavira is an itty bitty teeny weeny city with a beautiful river going through the middle of it. Most everything is in walking distance. The manager at the front desk gave us a map and told us where the tourists and locals eat. He also told us that we had lucked out considerably – there was a fair today! In fact, it was the last day of the cultural fair and it was literally right outside our door and across the river.

Teri had some work to do on the computer but I was outta there! I stuck on my headphones and headed out to Tavira. What a magnificent day! I fell in love. The fair was amazing – so many wonderful and quirky boutiques. The people were so nice. Now I really had no idea what anyone was saying because I speak English and only a morsel of Spanish, and now they're speaking Portuguese! But everyone was so kind and friendly. I shopped and shopped and shopped. I headed over to where the manager at the hotel said the locals eat to sit down and have a sandwich and a beer. The sky couldn't be more blue with a gentle and cooling breeze. I sat outside and read my book “Mastery” while eating a sandwich with home made bread and drinking literally one of the best beers I've ever drank called Sangres. Actually, I had 2 of those. I sat and read and listened to the beautiful French sounding Italian with a dab of Spanish Portuguese and the bridge. My 6 Euro tab for the meal was a pleaser, as well.

I heard music! The town fair now had a live band playing. Teri and I decided to meet up at the center. I got to dance with one of the instructors in the middle! It was so much fun! I took a short video (posted down below) so you can hear the music and see all the joy that was happening there that day.

I just love Portugal so far! The views, the weather, the people, the culture, the clothes, the prices, the music, the style, the food!

I headed back up to the room and chatted with mom a bit online. Shortly after this we lost our internet – explaining the lapse in blogs. Teri and I decided to walk around and see what was open for dinner. Well, we ended up getting a bit lost and walked a huge circle around the entire city. Fortunately for us this only takes about 40 minutes. Nevertheless, we had already walked off what we were going to eat.

We found a cute little place with the soccer game on. I got a glass of white wine, with Filet Mignon in an almond sauce. This, my friend, was crack! Geez! What are these people trying to do to me? Ok, Ok! I get it! Portugal is amazing. Stop yelling! Teri had a peppercorn steak that I'm pretty sure my mom would die for. I haven't been able to stop thinking of Daniela here. I feel like I understand her more now. I miss that crazy girl.

We walked home to our quaint little hotel room. We had breakfast coming to the door at 9 am so we figured we'd head to bed.

I love Portugal.

Life is good.

P.S. - FR is a well traveled bunny!!!

Random bridge shot... but I love this pic!

Bunny at the market! :)
river in Tavira, medium tide

view from the top of the stairs, mid village

My bed in our cute room! :)

Flamenco Rocks

2009-04-26T01:06:00.000-07:00

After class was over on Saturday we headed out to Sevilla. We took our time leaving, and after classes and my private lesson we didnt get out of Costa Del Sol until 4:30. With a 3 hour drive and our TomTom getting slightly confused we managed to get parked and checked into our hotel by 8:30. As we are sitting in the hotel room looking at what to do while we're here, I am google-ing and decide to research Flamenco. There happens to be a show, with available seating at 9:30! So, we reserve seats - 55 Euro for a seat with Tapas. Two please! I walked downstairs to ask the front desk lady in my (still) very broken Spanish how to get there, and it turns out we are around the corner!! Perfect!! Still recommended we drive, however. Well TomTom really took the piss. He had us driving in circles for about 25 minutes. So much for being on time! We finally aborted the GPS renamed DickDick and found it ourselves.

We walked in right at 9:30. The place was GORGEOUS! Very quaint but so full of beauty and culture. We were shown to our table. The 55 Euro included a bottle of wine, 2 drinks, an appetizer, and 2 full courses of Tapas, and then dessert. We were glutenous!! We had so much fun. It is so amazing when going with the flow ends up above and beyond your expectations! :)The dancers were amazing. They brought them out 1 by 1, in pairs, against one another, singing, clapping, with and without castonettes (hi mom) and at the end they got into a 1/2 circle (what we call a cypher) and freestyled. They got IN!!! I cried from this one woman. The expressions on her face were just so amazing. She was so.... into it! She was gone - not on this plane any more. The spirit had touched her and she was merely a body showing it. I was certain this was her church.

Absolutely a fantastic experience that I would do again.

After we parked in the 19 Euro parking lot (the cost for 8 hours) we headed up to the hotel room. I convinced Teri (the boss) to stop next door and have a beer while the soccer game was on the big screen. It's not the same, but it's better than nothing! We had a beer and a coke light for 2.40 Euro. Ok, so note: the food and drinks are super cheap. But shitty hotels and parking are outrageous! (ie, they hate the tourists lol)

We are headed off now to a local market and a bit of sightseeing. We won't stay here long. We are headed to Portugal later today, where our 4 star Family Suite at a hotel is only 60 Euro and we have Spa plans! :D

I can't wait to see Portugal. Of course I'll keep you posted! oxxo

Life is gooood!! :) Thank you Seville! AND Thank you Flamenco lady for touching my life!
p.s. I think the Flamenco dancers here are the equivalent to our drag queens!! Werk!! :)

My Favorite

The Battle...

The Cypher

Foot Rest

2009-04-23T15:28:00.000-07:00

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately... on who I am and what I've become. One thing that is more apparent to me every day is that we are all talking to ourselves. Each and everyone. The information that we know and share is what we like to hear, or in many many cases what we want to hear.

If someone asks me for my opinion I am of course going to address the issue in my shoes. Generally this happens without being aware that I am giving my Self advice. This also happens in the case of gossip. If you ever hear someone spouting off on someone else, you can generally turn those words around back on them, and the description is probably going to fit. You may not agree, but test the hypothesis and you will either be silently giggling, and/or stop gossipping.

Someone once told me that we are all hypocrites. I remember it made me feel so mad. Then it made me mad because it made me mad. I knew that the only reason it would anger me is because I was afraid it was true.

We are all hypocrites. I am a hypocrite. What we preach is what we need to hear. What we declare about ourselves is us convincing. Are there exceptions? Most undoubtedly. But I am also certain that the exceptions live within those that already knew that it was an exception.

Anyway, I'm learning about life and people. I am learning, and I am happy for that.

Tomorrow morning I work with a Spanish tutor (one of the students' mom) and then off to dance.

Life is good.
jojo

Fresh Rest

2009-04-22T17:06:00.000-07:00

View from top of mountain drive

Happy Boss Terri

Me feetsies (aka beach boots) on the Titanic part of the boat

the new Couture in glasses

I think I'm supposed to be paying attention

before my glasses broke

so pretty

the port in Benalmadena

I have not written in a few days. Things have been busy and I've been dealing with some stuff - so I haven't been in the mood to write, BUT, I can update you that Terri and I went on a fun Dolphin boat and had a great time!!

Here are some pics.

I am headed to Sevilla and Portugal this weekend, and that should be amazing!!

Life is real good, even when I am frustrated!

jojo

Freedom Ring

2009-04-18T16:24:00.000-07:00

Life and all its wonderful gifts are so amazing.

Working with these kids has been really special. I feel so blessed to be around so many people who are open to growing and changing inside. I see the girls growing and changing emotionally, and to be a part of that is so rewarding. I am learning and growing, too, both emotionally and in my dance. I am reminded of the simplicity of life – to smile and laugh when mistakes are made.

Life is SO good.

aFRica

2009-04-16T15:28:00.000-07:00

Today began eeeearrrrlyyyyy. Had the alarm set for 4:45 am... well, actually I had three alarms set, just in case. We woke up and fussed with directions and details for parking. Mom & Dad attempted to go to the neighborhood market but its Spain and no one here wakes up before 11am. It was worth a try, though.

We made it to our destination perky, and on time which means for the Bormans 15 minutes early. The perkiness faded as the bus to pick us up was 5 minutes late, 10 minutes late, 20 minutes late, 45 minutes late. Wow!! They're here! We hopped in the very full greyhound-ish bus and headed off to Tarifa where the boat we were taking was leaving from. Well, or so we thought. Just as Pedro was 45 minutes late picking us up, we were also 45 minutes late to the dock and well, the Captain just wasn't interested in waiting for Pedro.

While the bus was waiting for a few minutes for action plan B I hustled quick inside the station to use the bathroom.... Would it kill em??

Pedro decided to take us to Algeciras - a place about 40 minutes back west to another ferry which PROMISED to wait for us! Off we were. The ferry was actually quite nice and customs was super easy with our tour sticker.

As we got into Africa it was pouring down rain. FR and I knew we had quite an adventure ahead of us. He stayed mostly in my bag this day. I copped the front seat on the travel/tour bus and was able to score a most gorgeous view of the sites. Since it was raining (and we were then an hour or more behind schedule) we really couldn't get out to see the sites so the tour guide spoke very good English in a very strong Fahrensche accenteh.

We stopped just outside the Casbah (don't judge me for potential bad spelling, I'm too tired to look it up!) and walked towards the city. We ate a very enjoyable traditional lunch with an egg noodle soup, lamb kebaps, a chicken cous cous dish, a honey bread and mint tea dessert. Musicians were playing in the back ground. We headed outside to walk to the traditional rug makers shop to hear the presentation.

This is when the shit broke loose. As we walked the streets there were beggars, and more beggars, and more beggars, and more and more. When I say beggars what I mean is people with amputated legs, eyeballs missing, fingers or yellow teeth missing, cut and torn lips and skin, staggering limps, bruised faces, rags on their bodies, a loss of hope in their eyes, their skin looked like leather. They all had something to sell, but it was the way they did it. It was so agressive. They would walk up to you, and shove something in your way. If you tried to keep walking they would walk with you and drop the price and continue to say the object item over and over shaking it around your hands. The more agressive the better they thought. It was just so much to handle and see. Kids no more than 5 years old with their eyebrows tightened begging you to buy gum from them, or a wood turtle. Not for only a minute this happened - this happened in and on and around all the streets. This happened for the rest of the day.

We went to the rug place, I hustled some cute sandals and a souvenir for my brother. I'm a good bargainer. We headed over to a oil and spice place, where it was the same thing. Demonstration and ability to buy. It was really nice and I spent quite a bit there but got a ton of really amazing things there.

At this point they told us we had 45 minutes to ourselves, but the beggars were just too much so we thought we'd grab a table and play it safe. This wasn't the scapegoat we thought it'd be. Still people coming up to us and begging. It was just exhausting.

We headed back to the bus, with the beggars literally walking us out of town and onto the bus. We headed to do some camel back riding!! Dad didn't ride but he did get a kiss!! :)

All in all, it was a great day. I made some new friends, and had a very fun time talking with them. There was a suprising number of people there from the Virginia area. I don't know if I would go again. My spirit was exhausted for almost anothe 24 hours, but I am glad I did it. I got some great souvenirs for some loved ones, a new appreciation for life and what a "real" ghetto is, and now I'm able to say I went to Africa.

Next, please.

Life is good, so much more than I ever realized until Africa.

mom and FR on the way to aFRica

view from getting off the ferry

thought this was cool

lighthouse built by mohammed V

entrance to the casbah

just one sight of the poverty

me and mom at lunch

the band having fun at lunch

downstairs section of the rug place

rug place and presentation (see mom & dad?)

me and my camel

dads new love affair!!!

Food Recovery

2009-04-15T17:32:00.000-07:00

Granada here we come! Alhambra here we come!! Or atleast we thought! It was supposed to take us 2 hours to get there, but it ended up taking nearly 4 after construction, traffic, and getting lost. Geez! It was such a beautiful day, too. We ended finding amazing parking, however, so we were grateful about that. The rest of the day was a breeze, despite not really knowing where we were going. Also, the Alhambra we wanted to go to books 3 weeks out. Another little loop hole, but we saw gorgeous town and did some wonderful shopping and ate an even more amazing lunch.

The lunch, and even the gelato dessert I'd say, were the highlight. But, trust me when I tell you, they were enough to pull it through to a fantabulistic event. We had tapas at a spot located on the Rio. It didn't look like anything much – well the waiter did – but the overall place was just decent. We walked in and noticed tapas for approx 3 Euro a piece. We started with 6 and decided to go from there. We ordered Manchego cheese, salomi, pork in salsa, fries with garlic mayonnaise and ketchup, calamari, and one other one I can't remember. So amazing. Dad ordered an Alhambra beer which was one of the best beers I've tasted and mom and I shared a bottle of water so big you could bathe in it. But we finished it, and paid our tab. 24 Euro for 3 people with fab food and beer is unheard of.

Now, let's talk about this Cone-Inn-Pizza. Can I take a vote on any one thinking this sounds good? I decided it would require too much head tilting during eating and carrying cases would be too much cardboard waste, mom said it just sounded gross, and dad said they should have buffalo wings as cherries on the top. Gross.

It was really a nice day. We headed back, sat in another 4 hours of traffic, and decided to call it an early evening. We got pizza from Papa Luigi's next door to their apartment and watched a movie called “One Good Year.” Good movie. Good enough for pizza and family! :) I spent the night at their house. Tomorrow was Morocco and we had to wake up at 4:45 am.
It's a good life, but just with lots of traffic and great food!!

I'll have to write about aFRica and today tomorrow. I'm pooped.

thats alhambra behind me

gross.

Fast Ride

2009-04-15T16:35:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lapse in emails. I haven't had internet for 3 days, and yesterday after returning from Africa I was exhausted. So I'll do my best to catch up.

This is FR's special day!! :) Easter Sunday morning – the plan was for the parents to pick me up from my apartment at 10:15am and head out to a new city. Cordoba was really beautiful. The scenery on the way there was gorgeous. Dad got super tired on the way there and even let me drive the fancy schmany rental. Another giant leap for mankind was that we didn't argue at all while I was driving. We stopped and I showed them the Pim's, which we bought and we headed on our way.

Mom and I played the happy game, (a game I made up where you list details in life that bring you joy.)

When we got there we found excellent parking. Rita (the GPS named short for Senorita) got us a little bit lost due to the Easter Parade street block offs, but we shrugged it aside since we had the parking fairy on our side. We walked toward the bridge and took lots of pics. As we crossed over into the other side we found gypsies who told mom “you'll have a short life.” when reading her right hand and “you'll have a long life.” when reading her left hand. I think they were legit, don't you?

We walked through the cathedrals and all the old city. It was really beautiful, as you can see from the pictures. The detailed work in all of the pieces that came together. We discussed how the US is so efficient, but something gets lost in the rush to get it done. It was really a new perspective on the wisdom of the other side. Taking time to craft and build. Hundreds of years later, things still in tact.

Life is good!!

Fat Rabbit

2009-04-11T16:49:00.000-07:00

Of course I ate the most I have eaten today since the whole time I've been in Spain because my parents arrived here. YES! Me mammy and pappy! We met up at the corner McDonald's (because you can't miss it) and headed from there to get Turkish food. The male owner was so funny. We sat outside and had yummy eats.

From there the 3 of us headed to try to find Old Town. We're not sure if we located it, but we did park and walk around a bit. We found lots of little treasures there. There were tiny cafes and beautiful side vendors. Really nice. I bought a gorgeous scarf that I'm so in love with for 5 Euro. I thought of Simone when I bought it. So something she would love and wear. We also discovered a beautiful church but it wasn't open. Interesting though, as we walked into the souvenir store for the church I noticed some Klu Klux Klan clay figurines for sale. I asked the owner what they were and he told us that during the week they have a procession. To them these tall pointed hoods are not KKK, they are a positive sign of religion. Each color represents a different day. So funny how the corn candy hats triggered something sensitive inside of me.

We left there and headed to eat a tiny place called "The Picadero" which means 'the arena.' I don't know why it means that, but it does. The place was filled with interesting art - some modern and some classic. We sat down and ate an 18 course meal.

1 Bottle "Arroyo" (Red) Wine
Warm bread w/ olive oil and butter
Salmon Tart
Spinach Salad with 3 inche large slices of fresh Parmesean
Chicken Pate
Mom & I both had Ox Tail and Dad had Sea Bass, HUGE.
Chocolate fondue for mother and I with fruit, dad had a trilogy of chocolates - dark, milk, white truffles laid on top of white and milk chocolate syrup
Cafe con leche & cappucinno
Dessert biscuits and apricot liqueor (2 shots a piece)

GEEEEZZZZZ..... I feel like a camel. I'm pretty sure I could not eat again for 3 months and be able to survive off of this.

But, life is good. I said "gordo" when they picked up my plate. He laughed. Yes!! I remembered the right word!!

Night!
xoxo
jojo

Fluent Rubbish

2009-04-09T18:39:00.001-07:00

.
The following entry will be written all in the accent I hear every day.

Today was not shab at all. It all started with a bit of tidying up the kitchen area and sweeping the floors. The bin bags were as high as they had ever been and it was time for a good rubbing. All was absolutely dusty to bits, just a nightmare. Following that, the boss and I departed for a fabulous trip towards Benalmadena. I just had to show her the scenery I had been to prior. Other than the tall 6 Euro toll charge it was smashing.

We walked down the boardwalk and found loads of absolutely brilliant jewelry. We bargained with some of the locals and Africans and such and waged our way into a purse, 2 rosaries, some English CD's and finally a bit to eat. Just delicious.

We knocked off around 3 to head back to the studio. Classes went well as planned and the ladies night left us nuckered. We left to the karaoke bar and sang a few and decided to head home. All in all it was just lovely and I would have loved for you to be there, darling. You just must come with us next time.

(Nope, not kidding.)Night!!!

Life is great!!
jojo

p.s. Gotta love my new European heels!! :)

Flipme Round! :)

2009-04-08T03:44:00.000-07:00

The last two days were really fun. There was a team in from Canada that had me come teach them some House. It didn't end up exactly how we expected but we still had a great class! :)

It felt really awesome to be around dancers. The first day I picked up Carla - who was my main point of contact after getting lost for some bit. We had a lunch and went to a local shopping center. It was fun! Afterwords we went back and had some dinner at the hotel, enjoying the free buffet. Headed out later that evening with 20 other dancers and were loud and obnoxious - just how I like it!! :)

Next morning I taught them the House class and we headed to Benalmadena Beach. It is just absolutely gorgeous there! They have different water - bigger waves and the local main strip is much more LA; lots of shops and people buzzing. I will definitely have to come back to this area. I bought a tankini that I adore (if you don't know what that is you'll see in the pics) since I wasn't expecting to beach it afterwords. I flirted with a boy and had great talks with all the dancers. The water was still very, very, very cold but we ran in and had fun. It was really a fabulous day. Lots of ice cream, too! :) :)

Then we went back to the hotel room, got showered and headed out to Sakura and had a yummy japanese dinner and started games we didn't play! :) That doesn't make sense to you, but it makes sense to me! :) As we were leaving the Japanese restaraunt, we saw a trampoline doo-hickey that attaches you to bungee chords. So I paid my 5Euro and hopped on!! It was a little scary but really exciting!! I did two back flips!! I landed on my head once but it didn't hurt. It was really different. I would do it again. I was just basically giggling the whole time.

We went back to the hotel room and had some laughs there. Nothing too exciting. Most of the dancers were exhausted from the week. They left in the morning, so you'd think they'd be partying like mad but I think they were just all exhausted from the week. Anyway, a few of us girls went strolling through the local bars but saw nothing exciting and headed back to pass out.

I had so much fun with these people!! I hope to be able to go to Canada and teach with them. We discussed it, so we'll see if it actually goes through! Would be nice to travel to some other parts!! :) Either way, It was just so nice to hang out with dancers and get some attention! I have been lonely in these Spanish parts! Not as many hugs as I'm used to!! :) But, I'm back to business and I go to teach today.

Have a wonderful day! Life is grand! :)

Fun Rays

2009-04-05T14:07:00.000-07:00

In response to the tons of emails today asking if I'm OK (sarcasm) – yes, I'm fine. The car accident went as smooth as it could run. My self and the other lady are healthy and well. Not much happened. I will call the rental car place tomorrow and see what we need to do from here.

Today was really great, despite having exactly 2 hours and 23 minutes of sleep. Last night was really crazy at the club – bathroom coke deals, offers to do coke (refused, fyi), a dominatrix, a random overly extended and uncomfortable hug from a guy stranger who made inebriated gestures in a poor sign language give me a cigarette I love you type of way, a woman asking me to go home with her, a man telling me he can get me anything I want so I request a cow to milk and a camel to ride, being the most under dressed woman in the bar with nice jeans and cute shoes on, women (plural) falling over from dressing too sexy in heels too high, bottles (plural) being dropped and broken, table service, a pack of cigarettes, sitting with the alternate DJ and the owner during most of the evening in their VIP section, playing talk to your mom on the phone to walking by patrons with the hookah pipe, a car accident on the way home, waiting in the police station for the rental car place to open, crying to the officer, and finally - arriving home at 8:40am. What am I, 22?

Anyway, I woke up this morning at 11:30 am to a phone call from one of the dancers moms asking me where the beach was today that the other dancers and myself were headed to. We got ready and drove off to pick them up. While we were waiting I found a new Kebap place that I think is even better than the other one that closed!! :( Tasted so fresh and was so inexpensive. YES!

We headed to Victor Beach. Really gorgeous sand with lounge chairs, and a little hut behind us for music and drinks. The Sea was freezing, but I want to live life with elaborate and silly memories so I heated up in the sun and made a run for it. There was definitely screaming involved but I made it! Really – quite cold.

The girls are just beautiful and they are just so nice. I played with them all day of course, acting silly and being the big sister. We laughed at the homosexual humping mini dogs. We threw the Frisbee and ate pasta salad and nutella sandwiches. We had just a smidge of Sangria (for me ½ wine glass including the fruit) and sunned and sunned and sunned and sunned some more. I took pictures here and there for the girls, and now you can 'meet' some of them. Just a relaxing day. No nap time though with these girls so I am headed off to bed.

I have the most amazing life. I took a bubble bath tonight, with a sunburn from giggling next to the Mediterranean Sea with moms and silly girls, being afforded by my passion for dance that I get to live out extensively, all while expressing my Self physically and artistically in any manner I please. I am able to wear my hair how I want, and pierce my face and have tattoos. I am able to wear a ponytail on top of my head and have no one think I'm crazy for it because I'm just "an artist." My clothes never have to match and when they do it's quite odd. I have a pet stuffed rabbit named FR who gets into trouble with me and no one thinks its odd I'm carrying around a small bunny.

Life is really great.

The birds eye view of the area just above our area on the beach.

Chillin with the inkers on the rocks.

Some of the amazing girls here:
Andy

Sasha

Ines

Freshly Reckless... or reck-full

2009-04-04T23:32:00.000-07:00

you may have thought i didnt blog, but in fact i was just getting into a spanish accident. no, not an accent, an accident. it was totally my fault. got into an emergency sitch and thought the clutch was a brake. fuck. 8:33am

night.

:-/

Friday Rules

2009-04-03T16:29:00.000-07:00

Not much to report, other than it's Friday. I was a smidge un-non-hungover this morning.

:)

There shall be more interesting posts as the weekend approaches.

Love you!

Night! :)

FR is hanging in there!

:)

Life is good!

Five Rounds

2009-04-02T17:57:00.000-07:00

Well, well, well. Look what we have here. A little lounge singer, eh? Please be alarmed that the person writing this blog is a bit inebriated. I was told by the Brit locals that's just a “posh word for pissed.” LoL!

Today was nothing out of the ordinary except... I woke up, practiced, stretched, choreographed, and then went to teach. Classes were great as usual. Then, after words I got dressed up and went to a launch party. That's where we thought we were going anyway. As we drove up it was TOO freakin' crowded so we bounced out and headed to a local karaoke bar. Now, if you've known me for more than 6 months, you know that I will not do and have not done karaoke. BUT for some strange reason I wanted to get talked into it; so I did. I 'performed Amy Winehouses' “I'm No Good” and “Rehab.” I tried to do “Single Ladies” but they didn't have it.

Anyway, people actually stopped me after words and told me I had “a brilliant voice.” Are you kidding me? You need to get out more. Did meet some cheeky girls who seemed fun and who promised to call me to tell me where the good clubs are.

That was really it.

So, now I'm “pissed” and ready for bed.

It's a good life.

Fapril Rool's!

2009-04-01T15:03:00.000-07:00

LOL. I just wanted to say April Fool's.

I would say today was pretty normal. I woke up, practiced outside for an hour or so, stretched, choreographed and got ready to teach. However, it is quite odd that you can live in a place for four days without knowing that there was a time change. Huh. That's weird. Totally didn't know the time had been moved forward until we were an hour late to teach. To explain a bit about how laid back everyone is here, when we walked in no one stirred or said a word. They just got up and danced and were happy. :) Then, the next group of girls came and were ready for hip hop. But no, I said, it's time for Jazz Funk. No, it's 5:30 they said. Right, Hip Hop is at 5:30. Right, it's 5:30. Right. But it's 5:30 now. HUH?

Hahahah.

That's really all the excitement I have to share today. Classes went amazing. The girls here dance so hard and I can already see so much improvement in them. I love it.

Life is good! :)
Miss you,
Jojo

Feeling Rejected

2009-03-31T16:26:00.000-07:00

The poor bunny got left home today on accident!!! :( I swear FR it wasn't intentional!!! I love you!! How did you hop out of the purse into my other bag??

Today I woke up and hopped outside like I have the past three mornings to catch some morning sun in my sexy eency weency black bikini. We decided to drive to Ronda which according to the map was about an hour away. We grabbed our clothes - and jackets too this time - and hopped into the car. Oh, sorry about the hopping FR. No pun intended... :-/

It was a gorgeous drive!! Beautiful windy roads. It reminded me of the drive to Big Bear Lake. It was very windy and very pretty. We stopped a few times. Dad is going to LOVE it here! This the golf capital of Spain and there are tremendous courses here and even greater views of them. We ended up in Ronda right on schedule. And yes, we stopped to get Pim's. MmmMMMMmMm.

We walked around a shopped the local venues. It definitely felt as if we had stepped into a time capsule. Not only were the buildings traditionally old, but it also was so interesting that it was only an hour away from Marbella which is heavily populated with high class and much more so industrialized. I bought a present for my parents and we bought an illustrated book about Southern Andalusia. Really pretty.

My favorite was / is most certainly walking onto the turn where you can view the Puerto Nuevo or "New Bridge" in Ronda. I feasted my eyes upon this huge bridge built with stone during a time period where there was no electricity. It does not matter how many times you see it in a movie or read about it. When it is there, staring back at you with so much strength and confidence and security, you wonder what has changed? How is it that they were able to construct this and make it last with no computers, no machinery to lift, no technology but their bare hands and minds? It really was breath taking for me. As I rounded the corner and walked down a bit, I began to hear a Spanish guitar playing some jazz. It was funny - I felt like I was then in a movie, in slow motion, turning the corner and hearing the man play me a tune. And then, when I was still holding in tears a flock of doves came swooping down and made circles in and around and over and under the bridge tunnel. It was spectacular. I literally felt as if peace and calm were flying into my heart and the feelings I had built up by myself of self-doubt and fear and worry were being replaced. Funny how I could literally feel years being changed by the perspective of this view. I was seeing in front of me how small I am compared to the size of the world and it's goings on, and then even more importantly, what one can accomplish with unabashed tenacity. A final breeze kissed my face and I knew it was the perfect moment.

Isn't it interesting that there were people next to me taking the same pictures and yet having a completely different experience? And I will never see them again, in my life but they were there when I went through something.

We grabbed some lunch in a little alley that we realized was Little Italy. The food was delicious enough and I was able to have Ham & Melon (hi Dad!). It was the best of any Ham & Melons I had EVER had; that makes it best out of two! I had fish & chips and finished with the ever popular Tiramisu and cappucino.

We walked back to the car and headed home. It was a peaceful drive. A great day.

I went out for a drive tonight. The stick shift is beginning to feel good. Power in my feet and hands. Feels like.... a boat or something. I don't know. Anyway, its great practice for me for my white Porsche Carerra. Mmmm.

Its a good life.

Love you, night.
Jojo MF Diggs!!!! :)

The trip.

Ooga Booga

The place where IT happened

Green Eggs & Ham & Melon

Little editing I did...

Active Bullring in Ronda

The view from a local school yard. Can you imagine this being your every day life?

Church

I just love this picture. Spanish tyle.

Free Romer

2009-03-30T18:18:00.000-07:00

The big triumph for today: I made it into our steep hilled, tiny entrance, 9 second window opening gate today on the first try with a stick shift!! Woohoo!!

I took the car and went to Marina Banus today. It felt so good to be by myself. I sat on the rocks peninsula stretched out into the ocean and thought about life. Spent about 3 hours out today just walking around and being me. It felt really good. I think it's the first time I've felt a little independence since I've been here. The car thing has been a little stressful. Probably sounds so silly. Probably is silly. Just feels weird. Today was great, though. It was nice weather, too. Bought a stripey shirt, had some veggies at our kebap place and read a few pages in a book by Victoria Osteen.

Came home and cooked a great dinner for both of us; steak with vinegar and spices, new potatoes, and corn. Ate, watched a movie (Woa!) “A Good Year.” I liked it. Great message. It opened my eyes.

Life is good.

Night!

Freaking Ridonkulous!!

2009-03-29T15:51:00.000-07:00

Today was amazing! I woke up at 10am of my own accord to a beautiful sunny day in Spain.

Terry was still asleep so I slapped on my eency weency bikini and headed to the balcony where two warm green lounge chairs and a view of the ocean awaited me. Mmm. 30 minutes later I heard Terry stirring. We decided to travel to Tarifa today since it was nice. Tarifa is about an hour and a half away, recommended to us by friends, due it being known for its large waves and beautiful beaches. We decided to cook some chicken curry and rice for a beachy lunch. I threw on my denim mini jumper and some cute boots, Terry hopped into her camisole and shorts – we looked so cute! :) I grabbed the water and my bag that has speakers, Terry grabbed the ipod and the food. We were off!

It was a really gorgeous drive – once we figured out where we were going. TomTom (the GPS with a Brit accent) really didn't know what was going on. We realized what we knew is that the ocean needed to be on the left and we drove down the Motorway – 120 km/hr. We stopped and got some Pim's, which I am addicted to.

The view was amazing. It was hard for me to take pictures since I was driving a stick shift and trying to roll down the windows. We had on a/c. Too much multi-tasking.

So, as I said I was driving. Obviously the Motorway is not challenging. Get into 5th gear – you're golden. I had to drive in the city – not too bad. I had to parallel park – maybe. Parallel park on a hill - okay now you're pushing it. So, the time came. There was a bit of a slope, but I surprisingly pulled through and parked the car into a spot. I had to reverse twice. It was a clean job. I looked over at Terry with much pride and she said “Now you've done one of the hardest things you'll have to do.” With a big chester grin on my face my foot became disconnected from my brain and let go of the brake... and that would be us hitting the car in front of us. Huhm. Not too much damage. Just the license plate. Still funny, though. How do you say Murphy's Law in Espanol??
After making fun of me for a bit we opened the car door and WHOOOSH!! The wind hit us! It was definitely NOT the same weather as Marbella. Can you say 11degrees Celsius? That's about 25 degrees Fahrenheit. Not feeling so cute in my jumper anymore. But! No fear because the beach was going to be beautiful, and at least I had on my boots!! Thank goodness for the boots! My rock, my salvation!!Sooooo, we started to walk down to the beach, where it was even windier. We found out that Tarifa was also known as Wind Surf Beach. You can see the pictures of kites – there were probably 30 kite surfers out there. It was really cool to watch. As Terry got stuck trying to light a cigarette in 25 mph winds I continued to stroll down the beach, appreciating the huge waves, my scarf, the sun, my pockets, the sand, my boots. As I continued to stroll, I looked to my right to see that there was a big puddle of water on the beach, completely separate from the ocean. I thought to myself “Hmm, that's weird.”

So I continued to walk and appreciate the scenery. The next thing I know, I look down and I am now “stranded on an island.” The water has dribbled up all around me from the waves slowly washing upon shore. How could this happen to someone? Wouldn't they notice? Yes, you notice the wave is coming. And then you realize it's going to puddle anywhere you walk because of the dips in the sand. Well, I just lost it. I thought this was one of the funniest things that has ever happened to me. I'm sitting there throwing a fit, hands in my lap, bent over howling on the beach by myself. Such a scene. One of the surfers who was at the edge of the water most undoubtedly thought I was a few crayons short of a box, but I didn't care; I was rolling. Here is this white girl in Spain in a little denim jumper in boots at a notoriously winded beach stranded in a puddle on shore. There was just no getting out of it – the shit was funny. Anyway, unless I waited until the water evaporated I was going to have to tread through 3 inches of ocean water in shmooshy sand in boots. Jojo, why didn't you just take off your boots and walk barefoot? 11 degrees Celsius – that's why. Anyway, it didn't matter. This moment was priceless. So hilarious. I am still laughing. That is why you see the picture of sandy mudded boots. My souvenir for life. I will never put those on and not think about being stranded on an island.

We walked around for a bit and headed back up to the car after only about 45 minutes. We ate our beach lunch in the car and drove over to the cliff that you can see in the photos. It is the “Southest” point of Europa. We were able to drive half way up it and see the boats leaving for Africa. On one side is the Meditteranean, the other is the Atlantic. The difference in color was literally a light jade to a deep, dark purplish turquoise. So interesting to see the calm waters on one side of the rockas and then these HUGE waves. Anyway, that is Africa in the background. So cool. 10Km away. “Hey guys, I'm headed to Africa today I'll be back later.” Woa! I'll definitely be going to Tangier in Morocco when my parents come on the 8th of April.

So, we headed home, stopped so I could take a picture of the donkey and one of Gibraltar. Got back into town and stopped at a grocery store to grab some yummies. We found a movie that has English! :) Terry said she thought she might die without TV in English for one more day.
Tomorrow we are going to call a local place that offers cave repelling. I think that sounds like so much fun. Hopefully not as cold, and I definitely won't be wearing a skirt to it. Maybe my beach boots though. Who else can say they have beach boots? I am unique.

I was contacted by a few people in the past few days that found out I was in Spain through YouTube or friends or something that will be setting up workshops in Madrid, Barcelona, and Switzerland before I leave to go back to LA. Very excited about that, and will keep you posted when things are booked solid.

It's a good life.

Enjoy the pictures. Night.

Entering Tarifa, Africa in the background...

Kite Surfers!

Stranded on an island...

Makes for muddy boots...

Me in my "cute" jumper...

"Southest" point of Europa

Boats to Africa...

Rapunzel's house maybe?

Mediterranean Sea

thats a cop car

soooo cute

Gibraltar

sunset from my balcony

Saturday 28th 2009

2009-03-29T03:30:00.000-07:00

My apologies for not writing yesterday. There was really nothing to write, I was going to post a small blog but then my computer crashed late night. So, here's my one for yesterday for those of you who MUST know. Mainly, I taught for 6 hours. The dance scene here is non-existent so we are not only building the dance studio but we are building/selling the whole concept of dance, as well. The great part about that is that I am working with a lot of beginners. This is not LA level dancing by any means. Sometimes teaching beginners can be more challenging because the teacher is required to make the dances attainable and somehow still “cool.” Making choreography likable is much easier to do with out restrictions emotionally or physically. I do miss the challenges of my body that I have in LA, but there are new challenges here. Working with kids, being patient, and learning how to let go and remembering how to just have fun without thinking of it as a career. I am being refreshed and becoming more independent in my decreasing need for approval in my artistic expression. Sounds easy. Isn't. For me. Anyway, since it was the close of the first dance week I sat a few of them down post-class and asked how they were feeling. I had similar responses; they felt safe here, they felt like they could be themselves, and they felt like they were finding themselves. One girl cried and told me a story. I cried with her, because I remember feeling all the same things. It feels so amazing to make a difference in someone's life, especially one so immediate. I have a few projects (dancers) I'll be working on and helping build. I really love the kids here. They aren't exposed, but they are open. They have my heart, already. Also, I did an eency teency bit of shopping (2 jeans, 2 shirts, earrings and a eency teency bikini.) We left the studio club and went out to the local mall in La Canada. I don't have the little Spanish n on my keyboard, but its Can-ya-dah. Anywho, big fabulous mall. Folks I'll say this – be grateful about your Ben n Jerry's ice cream. We went to get some after our food court dinner, and it is 8Euro per pint. That means you're looking at about $9.50 for a pint. HOWEVER, they do have something called 1 Brownie Cheesecake (why the 1?) and that my friends is Freaking Ridiculous. Why aren't they selling this in the States?? Are they selling it? Did I miss it? Lastly, I got all dressed up to go out and the club I went to was closed. That's right, folks - closed. What club is closed on a Saturday night? Don't they know I squeezed into Spanish jeans and drove a stick shift at night for this?? How rude. So, I decided to do a little personal photo shoot. I'll spare you the details, but this one turned out okay.... Well.... look at that. I guess I did have something to write. Shrug.

Fly Roller (again!)

2009-03-27T16:31:00.000-07:00

so worth 13 Euro!

this bird looks really sad to me... :(

this guy looks fierce!

free bird!

definitely have time to think here....

life is growing everywhere!!!

make it a bud light.

ya, he's a Fly Rollah again!

I woke up at 9:30am today!! Woohooooo!! I practiced getting into 1st on the neighborhood hills for a bit (didn't fare too well. 8 out of 15. not ready for spain plains yet.)

We headed towards Malaga to try to catch the Falcon show that was recommended to us by the pequeno English speaking Spanish woman. She informed us that if you take Exit 222 you will see many, many signs that will direct you towards the cable cars. However, this was not the case for us.

The area - Benalmadena was packed! In my week here I haven't seen this many people total. It was like driving in New York with spanish signs and smaller roads. I can not emphasize enough that Spain is not industrialized in many areas the way that we are used to. Driving no es bueno!! Very scary! And I wasn't even driving.

We arrive late, so we missed out on the Falcon presentation. There was a market when we parked that we hoped to haggle with when we returned but they were long since on ciesta by the time we got back. We'll have to go back. It was packed with tents and what looked like some yummy fruits and cute jewelries!!

The cable ride was really beautiful as you can see from the pictures. At the top of the lift there's a path to the right you can walk down and see Eagles and Falcons. The trainer did a wooden fur trick thingy where a falcon schwoops down and grabs a piece of raw meat tied to the back of it. Kinda crazy. On the left there's a path to grab a bite to eat and stare at the view. One of the birds must've gotten discombobulated and ended up on the counter next to the draft spouts. I got a cheese pizza. I think he's on a liquid diet.

Headed down the hill and had a much easier time getting out - no reversing out of a wrong way driving situation with people standing and driving in front of you this time.

Taught classes - they were great. Came home, made supper - peppers, onions, zucchini and potatoes with Vinegar, salt, sugar. Very yum.

Miss you all! Night!

Fright Rider

2009-03-26T16:38:00.000-07:00

Today was eventful to say the least. I'll have to keep it short due to the fact that its 12:30am (AGAIN) and I need to start trying to readjust my body schedule.

First, I learned how to drive stick today. Fright Rider was very much bug eyed. FR is a rabbit, so it doesn't say too much that he had white knuckles but you get the point. I did much better today than expected - I only stalled once on a super steep hill. If you saw what I was driving through, you'd pray for an automatic also. I'm not bitter... Second, went down to the beach and took some pictures and touched the Mediterranean Sea. Beautiful beach and beautiful people. Badabing!! :) We also got to walk down by the Marina. Lots of money and wonderful shops and pretty restaurants there. Third, classes today went really great. I love the ways kids learn. When they mess up they make some overly exaggerated body movement, giggle and try again. Can you imagine if adults were able to do that? I think the world would run more smoothly. Lastly, apparently in Spain you are not supposed to park on a curb with a yellow line. You may see 10 other cars there, but they will only be parked there long enough for the cop to see them one time. If the cop sees you twice, away you go. 177Euro and a cab ride later we got our car back. Fun, huh? :)

I'm off to bed. Food today – nothing fancy. We had McDonalds chicken wraps for lunch and home made Fajitas for dinner. Weather was really gorgeous today. Tank tops. We hope to catch a cable ride tomorrow morning.

Night, love you!

P.S. Pictures – Terry thought it was a pilgrim. Pesquera means fish.

Fearless Receptionist

2009-03-25T17:25:00.000-07:00

I woke up feeling really lonely and disconnected from my Self today. No one here my age who speaks my language. Haven't been dancing very much, and I don't get to go to classes every day and hear people tell me how great I am. It's hitting me that I have to rely on my Self for just about every ounce of love... I'm also really missing hugs. I did a little meditation. I had (another) amazing chat with Mike Slack last night. So grateful for him. He is one of my spiritual mentors. Great person, great words, great deeds. Anyway, today picked up and actually Teri and I talked more today than since I've been here. That helped, and I'm over my Self a bit, just ya know... sometimes I feel like that.

On the logistic side of things....

We had to go BACK to DMVodophone again today. Apparently the money we had placed onto the internet was actually placed onto the phone, so we ran out of minutes. When I walked into the DMV again today the lady took one look at me and said "Que pasa?" (What happened?) This poor poquito English lady finally got us through it AGAIN (after an hour.) I'm sure I'm easy to remember. I'm the one with the bull ring in my nose, which I'm sure has been made into some sort of Bull Ring/Spanish/Bullfighter joke right in front of me in Spanish. Wish I could've heard it so I could tell you.

After getting that sorted out we went to Sol Mar Car Rental which is out in Malaga - about 30 minutes away at the airport. Stopped at a gas station and I caught this AWESOME picture of the cities edge, city, and ocean. We wanted to see if we could get the car switched to automatic, but they didnt have anything available until April 1st, and then it would be an extra 8E a day. Not sure about that. I might have to be a walking fool, or just suffer through a series of stalling and trying to get into 1st on these steep hills and tiny parking lots. Ech. Just don't want to. Can someone send me a car please?????? (Automatic... with a CD player and a sunroof! A smart car will do!!! Hmm.... White!)

I taught my first set of classes today since the workshop. The students are truly amazing. They did so great. I love them. It's really rewarding. I think dance and the studio will do well here and I'm honored to be a part of the start of it all.

Other than that, we ate at the Kebap place again bc it's right by the studio, and headed home. I noticed this sign because I am most certainly my mothers daughter.
Love you, miss you.

2009-03-24T14:43:00.000-07:00

Self portrait

Today has been full of events. We decided to wake up “early” and get a head start on the day. We had lots of errands to run. The internet went down last night a little past midnight. If you know me, then you know I'm pretty addicted to internet, but also Terri's main source of life is the internet. She works on another job from here, so its important that she has it all the time. Plus, she has to keep in contact with her husband, of course, so internet is a must. We also needed to get my name registered on the car, grab lunch, buy some groceries and get some more Euro.

We started off this “morning” (aka noon) on first priority – the internet. Anything wireless is monopolized by a company called Vodophone. They basically run things here (poorly.) You have to purchase a wireless modem (just like a punch drive) and a chip. A modem is 50E and then anything after that is per Mb or Gb, depending on if you have a contract or not. If you have a contract its not too bad of pricing, but it requires a local bank account and a 12 month commitment. So, we're doing pre-pay and paying out of our bung-hole. Its 19E for 150mb. That's not a lot in case you don't know. But, if that wasn't so bad, it's obviously frustrating when you're overpaying for something that isn't working. Vodophone at any given time has about two people working the desk and about 14 people waiting in line. Each transaction takes approximately 15-25 minutes. It's basically the DMV of the internet, but in Spanish and without any waiting music or electronic holding numbers.

After our initial 30 minute visit to Vodophone telling us our internet is fixed we returned home (10 minutes away) to make sure they weren't lying. They were lying. So we returned to the store. Another 45 minute transaction later they told us we had to go to another store. We stopped to get lunch and found a fabulous Turkish Kabop place. It's actually the best meal I've had since I got here and the least expensive. The food was fresh, delicious and the service was amazing. We sat outside and gobbled. We also found a really great clothing store that had great prices that I plan to spend too much money at. Back to business now. Headed out to the other Vodophone store. Another V store later we recovered internet and later found a Bull Ring, (not the one in my nose) a grocery store, a fantastic view of the ocean and a toilet. (note: view not from the toilet.) We did a lot! Phew! We bought some yummy pastries (11Euro's worth, 8 of which are mine... oops) and got groceries.

It's interesting how so many things here are different than at home. Vegetables can often come in glass jars, the shopping carts have luggage-esque dragging handles, there's 4 different aisles of cookies. I can't calculate what makes those cookies separated. Also, the grocery stores here are either larger than China or smaller than an apartment. The one we went to today was pretty tiny but it did have massive fruits and vegetables and a very wide selection of cheese and milk which wasn't the case in the Chinese sized store ironically. There were no hanging pigs, either. In the picture you can see a machine where oranges go to die. Here I purchased a 0.5 Liter of freshly squeezed OJ. You toss a few oranges in the top of the swirly machine and it runs it through a spiraling metal tunnel where it hops into a case with a clockwise and counter clockwise wheel. These have small 'buckets' that the orange will drop into. When the orange meets up with the contrary rotating wheel it gets smushed and then sliced into two. Underneath this meeting place it drops into a lower bucket where the two halves sit continuing to get smushed by the rotating wheels. The juice then drops through a small filter and then into another smaller bucket where there is a spout. The contraption is very Pee-Wee's playhouse. I loved it. Farewell concentrate!!

I am speaking Spanish! I can understand a surprising amount of what they're saying, but all I can really retort so far is si, bueno or no. But it's been interesting because I'm not only learning Spanish but also body language because that's a large part of all I have now, too. A guy came up to me today and had a “Dad” moment. He walked up to me and said “Olive-o's?” Now, I was pretty sure that the translation for olives isn't olive-o's but I gathered the old guy was doing the best he could and I pointed to the glass jars. Did he think I worked there? Did he think I was a local? Do I have a lisp?

I took some pictures of the sites as we were driving around and when we'd catch a pretty view I'd make Terri walk over to take pics with me. We're a bit in the country in Marbella. The city is located more in Malaga. But, I talked to Booby Suzy today who was in the Vodophone store and she said life will change dramatically once May hits. She said then there will be parties during the day everywhere, the parties at night go until 6 in the morning, and there will be 10 times as many people circulating around and at the beach. I haven't even touched the ocean yet!

Also, in case you thought bankers hours were ridiculous, here they are open from 8-2 during in season months, and 8-1 during off season. Enough said. Everything lies in perspective!

Lastly, I'm voting to get an automatic car because right now there's nothing more intimidating than learning how to drive a stick in a place where I don't know where I'm going with signs in a language I don't speak with 293 roundabouts per square mile, tiny roads and steep hills. Who wants to do that? So we planned on adding me to the rental car today, but after 8 hours of running errands we headed home to grab dinner, put away groceries, and use our beloved internet. Hopefully tomorrow we can continue to adjust our hours and wake up in what I consider the “real” morning. I teach tomorrow! It'll be the first day of the kick-off week. So excited to dance!

In the pictures:

The one with the driving circle and the massive building behind it – that is a SuperStore containing a grocery store.
You can also see a bull ring, one of the pastries I bought (the tower is a Meringue), the view from the place we ate lunch, another view of the ocean, the weird luggage shopping carts (and Terri) and the massive fruits and veggies, and a few others.

Enjoy!

P.S. Bano is so outdated. If you're cool you say “Donde esta el toilet?” (I'm just making this up because all the signs and Brits say toilet.)

More Photos

2009-03-23T14:13:00.000-07:00

We went to dinner last night in City Square. I had canneloni and tiramisu and some lemon champagne thingy. Was super yum.

A few pics of the apartment and the view from the balcony.

Took a nice walk today, and got to see some flowers and different views. Did a little off road walking (not much) and had a little private adventure. It was peaceful.

Freakin' Rack!!

2009-03-23T04:56:00.000-07:00

From Top To Bottom: (Mental Note - the pictures appear in the reverse order that I upload them.)

Waterfall down the path

Sitting area

Flower....

Our driveway (try this with a stick shift)

Spanish Chocolate Croissant (isn't it huge!?!)

-- instead of flakes of chocolate inside it contained a gooey center - very Nutella - esque

Tony at VIPS the first night we ate dinner.

Side of the house path to walk down to the pool and sitting area.

Flowers on the path.

Our pool

Rock garden and sculptures on the side of the path.

Rear view of our place (from the pool area)

London airport

Inside of an airplane jet

Pop Quiz!! How many pics is FR in??

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Freakin Rack is speaking of two different things. One, 'booby Suzie' who is the owner of the club we are temporarily working out of until the studio is finished. (Enough said about that. We are temporarily teaching/dance in a local nightclub because the work on the dance studio isn't done yet. (One of the parents yesterday said that the workers here are so laid back they're almost horizontal.) So, it's not a big suprise that the studio isn't completed.

Also, today I get to upload a Freakin Rack of pictures for you!!!

Today, the journey will begin to begin even more. Tony has left for Australia and now I must start being here on my own. As you may or may not know Tony is like a brother to me, but he is also my mentor at times and always my advocate. It was good training for me to have him around and try not to use him but its also going to be good to get back to having him not here. That sentence was really confusing. LOL! But, we had a really great talk last night. It's hard not to get attached to Tony. He's so strong and secure inside that you wish you had that chunk inside you and want to learn how to get it! And he's funny! :)

I just woke up and its 1pm, so I'm not sure what I'll get done today. We are hoping to get unlimited internet at the house soon. I haven't even really been able to research what to do here because we've been paying per Mb. Today we have unlimited (hence I'll be uploading) and will be able to plan out the week and such.

Love you all, miss you all.

P.S. He's in 4 pictures.

Finally Real

2009-03-21T20:50:00.000-07:00

Things are starting to set in, as life becomes more normal and I'm starting to do activity and get settled. Finally Real and I are feeling like we might actually be in Spain now.....

Today I woke up early - 9am. My body is still not adjusted to Spain time difference - 8 hours ahead. We headed down early to the club. The studio we are using isn't ready until 3 weeks from now, so we're renting out a club until then. Fun! The club is called Tabu, and is located in the middle of the Marbella Town Square. Tony and I walked around and had breakfast. Nothing is open until after noon, but we found a TGIF that a breakfast deal for 8euro. It wasn't that good, but it wasn't that bad. Apparently they have baked beans for breakfast.

We headed back to the club and danced a bit together until the students arrived. At 2, they started to show up. Tony taught hip hop, I taught Jazz, then he taught hh again. It was good. The students were receptive, although shy. Tony and I are both really adament about dancers dancing rather than doing choreography, so we were really trying to get them to open up. Time, though.

After the classes stopped, it was just a bit after 8pm. I headed to the grocery store, Tony headed to the bookstore, and Teri headed back to the house to pick up her information for the internet she wanted to re-up on. I will be able to post pics tomorrow! :) I bought about 45euro in groceries. Everything here is so expensive! Tonight I bought a Corona that was 7euro. That's about 8 dollars for a beer! And we went out to eat the past two nights. Average cost was 27euro a head. Geesh!!!

We headed back to the apartment and Teri baked us a veggie lasagna which was YUMMY. I had a seperate [broccoli - free] lasagna baked for me. I just can't do it, I've tried. Anyway, Tony and I sat around eating lasagna and watching Catherine Tate episodes laughing and talking and sharing as always - like soul mate friends do! :) Then I decided I wanted to check out the club that we had been teaching at tonight.

Tony was convinced and we showered and got ready.

The trip there was..... interesting. Well, first of all the car is a stick shift, and if you've ever seen any part of Spain, man oh man!! It's curvy, with an average rate of 283 roundabouts per mile, and all the roads are tiny. Also, people will just park wherever they want or drive however they want. Theres really no need for courtesy here. I think he stalled about 30 times.... but I'm NOT judging. The reason I haven't driven is because I'm not handy with it, and definitely not with the parking sitch at the our apartment. When I post videos you'll see. At one point he and I had to reverse out of this tiny thingy road because someone had parked their cab in the middle of it for no reason. As we were trying to reverse out of this tiny space Tony got more and more nervous, and I doubt my incessant laughing was really helping. A neighboring sitting cab was laughing as well. I could hear him through my window. He finally got out and put his hand on Tony's wheel and directed us out. I was dying. Stupid moments make for amazing memories.

The club was decent. Apparently I was supposed to wear a black dress and strappy heels... but I didn't. I'm ok with it. I danced as I usually do and we had lots and lots of fun housing together. I had three Coronas - two of them for free (dancer life pays! wee!) and we just kicked it.

Got home safe, despite the suspicious security car shining his light on us. Got home, now I'm typing you. Finally Real was with me during the day at the club, but unfortunately he's not old enough to get into the club at night. Tomorrow we teach again and then Tony's off to Australia so it'll be just me and Teri... looks like I'll have to learn stick if I want any independence at all.

Miss you all, g'night.

Fly Roller

2009-03-20T15:19:00.000-07:00

(I have downloaded some FABULOUS pictures of the apartment and surroundings, but we're paying per Mb until we get internet at the house next week. Until then you'll have to use your imagination unfortunately. I'll update the blogs with the photos. They are really beautiful and FR has been keeping me company)

Well, so far the trip has been amazing. I checked in easily albeit it with a $45 dollar charge for my suitcase that was 15lbs overweight. The line / the wait was extremely short and very easy. I walked down the halls after the shuttle and my eyes caught a sign that read “British Airways Lounge.” It looked VIP, but I figured there was no hurt in trying and shimmied on in there like I belonged. No one said a word or even stirred. And there it was… this magical land full of free sandwiches, chips, cookies, beer, wine, liquor, juice, water, soda and WIFI! Holy guacamole! British Airways is not playing around. I found myself situated in the comfy blue couchy chairs and plugged in my laptop, pw was London. I suddenly realized both me and the bunny were Fly Rollers! (In case you don't know, the bunny will be with me the whole trip, "hopping" into photos and his initials - FR - will change name frequently.) I enjoyed watching and listening to the 70’ish white man laugh in 20 second intervals on his cell phone for 10 minutes and speak what sounded like poor japanese. But he was speaking japanese and that was cool! He had one of those laughs that took about 7 seconds start to finish belting out nothing but pours of wind like milk out of a jug.

A lady announced it was time for boarding and I packed up my things. Everyone working on the plane and in the boarding area had an English accent. I was loving it. I considered testing out the validity of my accent, but was too nervous and didn’t go through with it. I still have time.
The plane is huge - a 777. I’m in the back but I asked the Universe for an open seat in my row and I got it. So grateful. The plane isn’t packed but there are some full rows. I’m glad I’ll be able to stretch out. I also hoped for an aisle seat and got that as well. Usually I’m a window gal, but with 8 hours on a plane I’m going to want freedom to move about the cabin. Wrong airline?
I’m sure you don’t care about meals or details about cute ice cubes so I’ll go on.

But, I just have one question: When you crawl out of your seat and waddle to the bathroom with the green vacant sign, you lock, you leave your business and look in the dimly lit mirror… after you do all of these things, where does the piss go after you flush the toilet? Does it go into the air? Flush and then Vwhoom!? Maybe somehow the piss gets vaporized into thin air because the altitude is high enough it will get caught up by clouds? And then would that means it gets soaked up by clouds? Because, therefore one day I will be peeing on someone’s head! I don’t think people would like that.

The flight was amazing besides not being able to sleep. I just can’t do it upright. A few times I’d slip into dreaming but it always felt short lived. I definitely am a fan of BA from here forward. If they had some sort of chat room I'd go on and pledge my allegiance. They had an awesome nature documentary on Hammerhead Sharks and Sperm Whales that kept me entertained and with my free snacks from the BA Lounge (not to be confused with the BK Lounge) I stashed away in my bag for the flight I felt like I was in a movie with my popcorn and my soda. Oh, and a kit kat. The dinner was chicken pasta with all sorts of yummy side things. I definitely feel like a Fly Roller today. About 30 minutes till I’m in London and then a 2 hour layover.

FR is hangin’ tough.

Layover in London felt short lived. There was barely enough time to get through a very long and grumpy line in customs. I got through and had about 10 minutes before boarding. I was able to snooze a bit on this ride. It was only 2 hours, so after my shabby sandwich I replaced my eye mask and caught about an hour of zzz’s. This was definitely not the same BA that I had experienced on the other flight. But I was able to have another chance at an empty seat in our row so it was nice to stretch out a bit.

Fly Roller and I landed on time in Malaga. I usually have remarkable baggage luck and was expecting it once again, but after an hour I was still staring at the luggage track like a lost duckling. I didn’t have any bags and didn’t know who to ask (in Spanish) why they weren’t here. I tried to ask someone where I should go and he looked at me with a firm “No!” and pointed to a sign behind him that said no re-entry. In hindsight it’s funny, but at the time my eyes started to well up with concern. I waddled my way over to the lost luggage office and made a claim with no address and no phone number. She immediately knew my name and said that one of my bags was still in London. The other, however, was with them. Phew! It was the big one with all my toiletries! I atleast had that, so I was still grateful. I also had decided to keep my electronics and money in my carry-on so I wasn’t too worried. It was just clothes. I knew God was still taking care of me!

Tony Czar was there to meet me, and Terri and him and I drove to the new apartment. It is so gorgeous!! It’s actually in Puerto Banos rather than Marbella. I was pleasantly surprised to have marble floors, leather couches, a private room and bathroom, washer & dryer and a spectacular view of the beach and some villas. Our patio is a large red brick standing area. I couldn’t’ have asked for something prettier. The pool is insane, the walkways are covered in flowers and everything looks and feels like I'm in a movie.

We drove around town running errands and getting groceries. We ate a 3 course meal at a restaurant in downtown Marbella called VIPS. I had potatos fritas to start, barbecue ribs (I know, how un-spanish) and a chocolate brownie with ice cream for dessert. Give me a break!! I was still adjusting to being in Spain. I’ll start being all cultured tomorrow. Right now, me and Fly Roller are EXHAUSTED.

I’m really glad Fly Roller is here with me. Tony, too. It’s so nice to have a friendly face to hug and laugh with and eat with and laugh with... (I said it twice on purpose.)

I am exhausted. I haven’t slept for 2 days. Not sure what the plan is for tomorrow since we don’t have internet. Probably the first plan is to get internet. Then we’ll be able to research what we can do. Tony leaves Monday and we’ll be teaching all weekend so this is his party day. I, of course, will keep you posted.

Love and miss you all already, Jojo

p.s. As always, please follow and/or comment so I know you’re out there.

Today is the first day...

2009-03-18T09:52:00.000-07:00

...of the rest of my life.

Tonight I leave for Spain! I feel like it's so monumental. Since I have been hired on this trip I have seen several parts of my life change. Relationships with my family and my Self, my confidence in my career, and my overall projection and feeling of accomplishment. It's been validating. I feel proud to be me.

It seems as though when someone is chasing their dreams they are looking for success and too often forget that chasing their dreams is success. There was some sort of destination for me to find approval from my parents to show them I wasn't crazy for being poor all those years. Now, I feel proud of my Self finally with them and because of that I'm able to open up to them and be a part of their life. I feel like I did it. I made something. I'm transferring over to the successful side of the books. I get to be in the Christmas letter! :)

A few people had told me I was selfish for following my dreams and a tiny part in me remembered it at times and hoped it wasn't true.

Anyway, I'm releasing so much shame and self doubt that my entire body and mind feel different. I am most definitely experiencing yet another transformation.

Suffering doesn't seem like suffering anymore. It's just growth.

I leave tonight at 10:15pm. 7ish hours to London, then 3ish hours to Malaga. I will be there tomorrow at 3:30. Exhausted, I'm certain.

Fly Roller will keep me company on the plane. :)

Thanks for reading.

Please comment and follow me so I know you're out there!

It's been two weeks?!?!

2009-03-16T20:40:00.000-07:00

It's almost here! I leave the day after tomorrow!! (Wednesday, 1015pm, Dulles) These past two weeks have been really great for me. I have been very blessed to reconnect with so many familiar faces and people. I've been blessed to have some money to spend on others (and myself). I have been so blessed to teach!!! :)

I've had parties, and classes and dinners and desserts and lunches and clubs and sweat. So many fabulous faces.

This little guy you see here is FR. (He has those initials on his rear right paw) He will be traveling with me to Spain/Europe and keeping me safe on all of my adventures. He will also be in all of the pictures. Sometimes you'll have to find him! :) The meaning of his acronym will change frequently depending on what we get into. Basically he's my Wilson, but he looks more scared. He was given to me by a dear and loving spiritual guide of mine named Linda. She will be staying close to me!

Also, please comment or follow my blog so I know you guys are out there reading this, and I'm not writing to my Self. Although, I think I'd still do it.

Love you people!

Jojizzle

#17

2009-03-09T21:36:00.000-07:00

A long time friend of mine, tooth #17 left me today. We had a good run. We shared lots of times together. He was there with me through it all, and I finally chose to say good bye. I still have it with me technically, just that now its in a clear blue sealed plastic bag, and before it was in my gum. I wonder if the tooth fairy exists after 24?

Went to see some friends in Springfield tonight. It was good to see that group of people again.

We might go get tattoos tomorrow. We'll see.

Night!

Inside My Head

2009-03-08T00:49:00.001-08:00

The past few days have been an emotional roller coaster. To some this is a "bad" thing. To others; including myself, its just a thing. It's a part of life for me now. I used to want to get rid of it, until I did get rid of it and realized I was losing a part of my Self that created my artistic hunger and expression.

Yesterday was filled with confusion and some frustration in the morning as I battled it out with a close friend attempting to justify my insecurities. It's so funny to me how we human beings argue. We will consider someone ignorant because they judge, yet in that same moment we are judging them. We will get frustrated with someone for being sensitive, yet in that same argument we ourselves are being sensitive to their feelings. We are all hypocrites I see. So ugly to hear at first, but in my opinion, so true. Otherwise, what would we be angry about? What could we see in another that we have not experienced ourselves? So, in my opinion, we are only able to see in others what we have had or are longing for. I don't own that opinion, just something I subscribe to. Each individual in our life is holding up a mirror. We can see us. That is it. This has been proven to me many times by listening to what individuals critique another on. "They are so insecure and gossipy." Turn that right back around and what have you got? They are speaking of themselves.

What's my point?

Who knows.

I guess I'm babbling about my situations and viewpoints before you join me on this three month excursion so you can get to know inside Jojo's crazy brain. Some would say I have a unique stance on the human experience. I guess. You choose.

What goes up, must come down. (learned by Mom on Shockwave, Kings Dominion)

At the end of my evening on Friday night I was beyond blessed to be able to teach at Culture Shock DC's rehearsal. CSDC is and has been my family. They are the family I choose. My blood family is my blood family, and CSDC embraces me in a different way. Not better, different. I love them. We were able to dance, and share. At the end of the lesson we formed a large 30 person circle, and each person went in one at a time and expressed themselves through music. They made shapes, they stopped thinking, they got lost in the moment. Everyone did so differently. At the end I pushed everyone in so they were all dancing simultaneously. I stepped back and looked at the undulation of bodies. It was this huge ball of positivity and energy and love. Unexplainable. I almost cried. Life is grand.

This morning, starting the day off on little sleep I went to La Madaleine in Oldtown with Joni (my best friend aka Bestie) and met up with Celine who is an old CSDC family member. We laughed and shared and ate yummy food.

It was nice weather today, and I called the folks hoping to get a run through on how to open the convertible top. It has been a dream of mine since I was knee high to a tall Indian to drive a convertible. Today was that day!! Can you say camera phone?? Anyhizzle, I was loving it!! I drove around all day with my cool shades and my collar popped and radio too loud. From there, I met up with Ally. Ally is a young girl I've mentored for a few years. 16 going on 134 years old. Without exposing TMI she battles finding a place to call home and feeling safe within it. It's always good to hug her and hope to give her hope. Next, get my hair done. Perfect. Then, otw to eat a fabulous dinner with my parents a beautiful thing occurred. I screamed and cheered at the top of my lungs with the top down on the GW parkway in the dark of the evening. Crazy right? Who cares. It felt amazing. Brisk air hitting a little too chilly, and me, reveling at the silliness of life and dismissing all I worry about. Shouting and laughing at the top of my lungs by myself in my fancy little convertible. mmmm... Yummy food at Landini's with the folks. However, on the way there, I got lost. I don't want to talk about it. It was not during or caused by the screaming portion of this drive.

Came home, changed, off again to a club in NW, DC. Absolutely amazing. I'm exhausted but I just had to share. I wish that everyone could experience the club life how I do atleast just once. To go to a club wearing sweats and a t-shirt, where people know your name. Where the DJ somehow downloaded your top 25 on your IPOD, and you are so connected with God that you danced like you've never danced before. You hug people you've never met, you love people with no names, you leave drenched and thirsting for more. It's enriching.

And those were my two days.

My knee hurts. Left one.

I teach in B-more tomorrow. Hoping/praying that its healed. I believe all of our physical illnesses stem from emotional dis-ease. I hope to resolve this one. Something to do with tribe.

Loving life, and loving that I'm loving life.

Thanks for reading.
jojo

Odds and Ends

2009-03-04T22:22:00.000-08:00

I am going to be intermittent writing blogs until the Spain portion of this story begins, but I wanted to mention a few things about my flight/trip to DC.

The most important part is that as I was trying to squeeze through the aisle past the beverage cart on the plane the stuartess said "You can do it! You're very skinny!" Can you believe it? She said very? It was at this moment I knew Alaska Airlines was delivering high quality customer service. They did offer snacks - a zesty nut bag thingy and a lemon snickerdoodle. I also had the option to purchase a choice of three meals. I chose the sesame chicken wrap which was actually quite good. However, is it me? Or is the picture attached parsley? And if so, what was it doing in my wrap? It was awful! And even more awful having to discretely slide it out of my mouth. Tilting my head was my secretive tactic.

They did call me very skinny though.

Other than that, the trip has been great. I've gotten to see my family a few times already, a few friends, (and received an itinerary that they'll be visiting me in Spain - woohoo!!!) I've hot tubbed in 20 degree weather, eaten hershey kisses for breakfast, taken a dance class, eaten free donuts and croissants at 1 am and assisted in my best friend playing hookie. Its all been yummy.

Tomorrow I hope to get my IPOD fixed in the morning and shoot a little freestyle footage in NE, DC. I don't like to be unproductive so I decided to utilize other bored people and document some of my skills in my lovable hometown. Should be able to keep warm. I'm thinking Arboretum or maybe Strathmore Hall in Rockville. Will keep you posted!!

P.S. Circo (sp?) Restaraunt in Dupont Circle is delicious and great service! And it's open late!

Another Website

2009-03-01T22:48:00.000-08:00

I was recently promoted on a website called Www.LoveEshe.com

I found out tonight I am also on another website: http://web.me.com/sheparts/Revenge_of_the_Smart_Chicks/Revenge_of_the_Smart_Chicks.html

Exciting!!!

That's all!
jojo

Just A Little Update

2009-03-01T12:37:00.000-08:00

Oh I'm so excited! I just found out I'll be able to visit a friend in Barcelona, and a friend in Africa - I think we agreed on Mozambique!!

How exciting!!

Now, I am off to go teach in Long Beach and will be back later. I leave in the morning. I have started to pack. I took 3 bags of clothes to GoodWill and placed the rest of my stuff in a small corner of the closet. I'm subletting to a friend who will watch over my schtuff. Worked out so well.

I have a lot to do tonight! I leave at 1pm tomorrow!

Weee!!!

Intro

2009-02-27T00:35:00.000-08:00

Hey All,

Thank you for visiting my site! I am excited to see where this goes.

I started this because I will be traveling to Spain in less than four days. I will be gone for three months! I was hired to teach over in Costa Del Sol- Marbella to be exact - and will be touring through Europe on the weekends to teach workshops or just to visit.

If you already know me, you know that a lot of fun and funny and interesting and random and bizarre things happen to me. I've been told already many times I should write a book about my life. So, this isn't a book - but I hope to document my journey overseas; both the "good" and the "bad" parts.

I think this will also help me feel less alone while I'm over there.

So, what have I done to get ready? Absolutely nothing. Well, I did try to sublet my apartment, but that fell through. Still working on a new one. I'm sure God will take care of everything. Always does.

Until next time,
Jojo