. Oh I love Jackie soooooooo much, she is just darling.

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Here we are, father Fred and I in Barcelona. We are having a marvelous time along with my dear sister Jaqueline, despite the heat. "The hellish heat", according to dad. Here is more from Fred Starr: headed for snow country manana. Ok, thanks for those resounding words of wisdom dad. we will now sign off.

Today I found dried black beans at the market and cooked them up into a tasty black bean soup. I have waited months for this day.

Yesterday Isaac, Jackson, Cesar (the new kid from Chicago), and I biked down to the beach. On the way we stole fresh ripe nectarines and apricots off the trees. We met Yoli, Joanna, Jose, and Joniker for lunch on the sand and then paddle boat action in the ocean. I realized that I like the ocean so much more in the Canaries because it is less salty than the Mediterranian.

Tomorrow I hope Jac and Dad arrive, but flights are full.

Approximately 50 days until I walk into the Minneapolis Saint Paul International Airport. I know how it smells. The shift nob of the WRX will be hot in my hand. My room's wood floor will creak as I walk in. I will have Boca product for dinner out on the porch. Then I will miss my climbs here.

Roly Polies

I was in the movie store the other day and to my surprise heard some english being spoken. It turns out they were the exchange kids from the university here in town. Most of them were from Scandanavia and so, by default, their common tongue was english. One of the kids was an American, but he was not an exchange student. He was friends with the group but instead of studying he plays professionally for the Alcoy Roller Hockey Team. HAAAAA! Roller hockey is really quite big here, behind indoor soccer and basketball. He said he grew up playing inline in Seattle and when he graduated from highschool last year he got a call from Spanish scouts here. Pretty slick. He told me that he too always enjoyed meeting other Americans here because it is such a rare occurance. He recounted having met three huge Americans. The Husband, the Wife, the daughter. All huge. Walking around the streets like big fat tomatoes. The three of these characters had crossed the Atlantic to have parts of their stomachs tied off in order to lose some weight, they told him excitedly. He said he was fascinated to hear this, tell me more. In the U.S. this operation costs $45,000 but here it is only $15,000. This is what I learned at the movie store.

I Miss, In No Particular Order

Pie

Tofu

Cake

Lakes

Rivers

Carpet

Forests

Houses

Crickets

Than Do

Kleenex

Tex-mex

Mailboxes

Black beans

Good pizza

Being Alone

Wood floors

Big showers

Spice drops

Picket fences

Hot Tomales

Fresh cookies

Thunderstorms

County Road 24

Free grocery carts

Quality WRX time

Good Bike Shops

Screened windows

Fake meat products

Minneapolis skyline

US speedlimit signs

Barefeet in the house

Non-dubbed movies

The sound of central air

Square shaped pillows

Trashcans in bedrooms

Pancakes in the morning

Non-metal window blinds

Grass lawns (oh the smell!)

Kitchens without florescent lights

Milk that needs to be refridgerated

Paper currency for values under five

Deciduous greenery that turns gold, orange and red

Lower percentage of people who obsess over their appearance at all times

Absence of an overwhelming quantity of cat-fight-screaming-superficial-women tv shows

The correct pronunciacion of the words parking, camping, Ford, Playstation, jogging, and sandwich

Decent movie rental stores (these places make Blockbuster look like an international independent film wharehouse)

Today a glistening emerald serpent waved itself across the road just to my left
Ojo! Un serpiente! Eye! A serpent! I, serpent, Sam the Snake, crest these spanish dunes
Slithering along on two rubbery skinned skinny wheels, not touching the same spot twice too often.