He comprado una guitarra!

The blue one was sold so I bought the red...which is probably better anyways because when I had a purple guitar in the past I was embarrassed of it all the time. So I am the proud owner of a red Takamine!!!

Mi nuevo piso/My new apartment

Estoy aquí y me encanta! Tuve mi primer noche y fue bien!  
I'm here and I love it! I had my first night and it was good!

Since the show...

here's what I've been doing:

• Resting! Although my sleep is all off. I'm going to bed when the sun comes up and waking up in the very late afternoon...I suppose it has something to do with dating a spanish vampire.
• Researching guitars - so far I found an Epiphone AJ 100CE for 197 Euros and I think that's what I'm going to get. But I still have 6 places to go check out. I will write down what they have in stock, in my price range, and then go home and research the reviews before I buy one. I'm hoping by July 1st to have one. And I have lots of ideas already for my songs.
• Watching fútbol - I saw the Dutch beat Cameroon, the Spanish beat Chile and yesterday I saw the EEUU get eliminated by Ghana...oh well. I was still really impressed with our team. Today is Mexico.
• Moving to my new apartment in the Macarena - all my big bags are there already. I basically live on the roof which makes my view spectacular but it also makes for 4 flights of stairs to carry my things up.
• Looking for new flamenco classes - I think I'm going to take with Concha Vargas - Aurora and BJ should remember her!!!! And hopefully Isabel Bayon too. This summer will be for Bulerías!
• Gambling - JUST KIDDING! But one day I was with 2 friends, I gave each of them a Euro so we all could play a round of roulette together - and it landed on my 7 so I WON(!) - 14 Euro baby!

Fotos y Videos del Espectáculo en Alamillo

El Primer Día

Here's me on the way to the 1st show - CRAZY NERVOUS!

Here is the stage before the people arrived

Here's me, dressed for the Soleá, & Josua

Me & Mathilde - SHE DANCED BEAUTIFULLY!

Here's the video of the Soleá - in the beginning you

can hardly see me but by the end you see me so well.

Here's Kurty, me & Joss at the entrance to the show

Me & Jose Luis

A little video of Luisa dancing - not only is she a

great dancer but she has the best outfits.

Here's me after the Petenera - the skirt (that you

can't see unfortunately) was the best part.

My hairdo - there's another peineta on the

other side...what a mess.

The video of the Petenera - you can't really see

me a lot but you can see the dance.

El Segundo Día

It was a beautiful stage...

and lots of people come to the shows.

Another video snippet of Luisa but from the 2nd

night because she & her outfits are SO GREAT!

Video of the Seguiriya (it's kind of crappy)

Me & David

Me & Josua

Video of backstage

El Último Día

Mis amigas

Waiting to dance

You can see my skirt!

America & Norway - SHE'S A GREAT SINGER!

Blanca, Me & Roser - Roser looks hot!

Joss' mom - his parents watched the whole 3 hour show!!!

Joss' dad - they sat in the front row & he took lots of photos.

Joss' dad took this photo of me...I like it

Look what the dancers in the last dance wore as peinetas!

She's from Cuba and she super good.

On the way to the after party in Alemeda

At the entrance to the Macarena

My profesor favorito again - HOLA RUBEN!

My friends Gregory, Blanca & Roser.

A video of people outside the bar:

3rd show!!!

I'm all done!

The Taranto went as I expected...not so great. But who cares - I had a good time. Although I am sorry that Joss' parents didn't get to see one of my better performances. Although they did stand up to applaud a singer so I think they enjoyed themselves (hopefully) and I'm so glad! And afterwards I went out with all the people from my school, and I met lots of new people that I think I could love forever. ALSO - the best part (!) - we were walking through the center of the city and we all heard someone, somewhere, yelling, "America, America!" We look up and our teacher Ruben is hanging over a balcony waving to us!!!! He's says he could hear us - jajaja! HE'S THE BEST. (Of course I took a photo.)

2nd show

Yesterday's show was good too - the Seguiriyas - and it felt good. I made 2 mistakes (darn it) but overall it looked cool. Tonight is the Tarantos and then tomorrow I'm buying my guitar.

1st show

I had the most fun dancing. The show started at 9 so of course I got there at 8 and I was one of only 3 people there! So I waited alone for about 30 minutes, feeling more & more nervous, and then I saw Joss show up! He was probably the 5th person to arrive! I was so happy. Sitting with him for half an hour before helped me relax so much. And he helped me take photos of all my friends and made videos of the dances.

My 1st dance - my Soleá - went so well. Joss said he didn't see any mistakes AND HE'S RIGHT! I didn't make any (jeejee). By the time I danced I felt really good and the dancing felt great. I almost don't care about the other dances because the high from this one is unbeatable.

The Petenera didn't go so well - jajaja! I was feeling so good about the Soleá, and no one would see me anyways, that I didn't stress at all over it. I was so relaxed I almost forgot I was performing on stage...that's bad. But then I'd straighten up and get into it again. I was so relaxed that when a major disaster occurred, I didn't even care. There is a moment in the dance when we do 4 turns in a row - I got wrapped up in the guitarist's cable - jajja! I had to unwind myself after everyone else was finished turning. Joss said it looked like I was doing my own dance! Anyways, the video shows everyone making mistakes and they all looked beautiful so who cares.

Anyways, the highlights:

• Joss said my skirt in the Petenera was the most original.
• My teacher Ruben came up to me afterwards and gave me a hug.
• My friend Kurty showed up
• Kurty told Joss I was the most expressive
• My friend Mathilde danced her ass off - SHE WAS SO GOOD!
• Spain won their match
• I'm super satisfied with my performances

So tonight is my Seguiriya. From here out I only have one dance a night. I'm very well prepared for this dance. And for the 3rd day's, I'm in the back again so I'm not going to worry about it either.

Thanks again everyone for the comments, emails & texts.

YEAH!!!!

IT WAS SO FUN!!!

Tomorrow I will try to post photos & video, and I will list the highlights, but for now know I had a GREAT DAY!

And thanks for all the well wishes and encouragement...I love you guys.

Tomorrow is June 21

Tomorrow is my 1st show! My Soleá will be the very 1st dance! And this is the only dance that I wasn't placed in the very back. I'm front and center for the whole bulerías ending, so I'm both scared out of my mind but also super excited. Although there probably won't be anyone in the audience because the second World Cup game for Spain is happening at the same time! By the second half of the show the audience will be filled and we'll do the Petenera, which I'm NOT nervous about because I'm was placed to dance behind everyone else - all the way in the back where I can hide. Actually I'll probably dance it beautifully because of the lack of pressure. Hopefully Josh will video tape it. If he climbs a tree he should be able to get a good visual of me - jajaja.

Wish me luck!

Dress rehearsal

Here's my class with Ruben! His dance is the BEST!!!!

He says I should go by "America Grover" - JAJAJA!

He likes the way it sounds.

Viva la naranja entera

"Long live the whole orange"

Here's video of me practicing my soleá from Rafa with the music (!), and I posted the lyrics below for anyone interested...the lyrics to the bulerías are perfect for this Orange County girl.

And there are only going to be 6 of us dancing it in the show - 3 boys & 3 girls - and I'm the worst of the group (according to our grades) and I'm still going to kick ass, which means the others will really kick ass, so it should be good.

Here are the 2 letras for my Soleá and then the Bulerías it ends with:

Tu vienes vendiendo flores / You come selling flowers

Las tuyas son amarillos / Yours are yellow

Las mias de todos los colores / Mine are all the colors

Y aqui lo que convenia / And here it was proper

Que tu te fueras a tu casa / That you went to your house

Y yo me voy a la mia / And I'm going to mine

------- the bulerías ------------------------------------------

Ay Mamacita, comprame un pandero de esos de perrillas chicas

Oh Mommy, buy me a tambourine the cheap girls have

Compramelo que lo quiero ay que lo mando yo

Buy for me what I want because I demand it

Como si lo mandara el gobernador y me hago la illusion

Like if ordered by the governor and I'm excited by the proposal

Y viva, viva la media naranja, viva viva la naranja entera

And live, long live the half orange, live, long live the whole orange

Y ese nino tan bonito si su madre me lo diera

And this child is so pretty if his mother will give it to me

Ay toma nino esta naranja y ya vengo de Uterera

Oh take child this orange and I've come from Uterera

Y vengo vendiendo vino de Solera

And I come selling wine from Solera

Quietecito, tu no te levantes

stay still, don't get up

Yo voy a la plaza, vuelvo al instante

I'm going to the plaza, I'll return in an instant

Voy para la plaza, vuelvo al instante

I'm going to the plaza, I'll return in an instant

My final with Ursula

Here's video of me practicing for my final with Ursula.

It's the one I got a 7.5 on - it was hard!

Para mi espectáculo

This is the skirt I'm going to wear for my Tarantos & my Petenera (it's new!) With a black top for the Peteneras, and a white button shirt with a black vest over it for the Tarantos; both with a hot pink peineta, earrings & a flower. Isn't it so beautiful...

For the Soleá, this skirt & these shoes with a black manton that has red flowers embroidered on it, and then a red flower in my hair. Hmm, maybe I'll wear my black shoes.

And for my favorite dance - my Seguiriyas! - the whole group is wearing black skirts and tops with a white slip underneath and a white manton on top that we'll crisscross across our fronts and pin at the lower back...and each with a burgundy flower, 3 burgundy combs & 1 white one.

OOOOOOOOOOOO - no puedo esperar!!!!

Me & Ursula

I had my last day of class with her & I got my grade - a 7.5 (four of us in the class got the same grade.) She said she was surprised how good my feet are but that my arms are still really sloppy. She's right. I have so much to work on still but she helped me a lot. I hope I get to take class with her again in October.

Tenía mi último día con ella y recibí mi nota - una 7.5 (hay cuatro de nosotras que recibimos la misma nota.) Me dijó que ella estaba sopresa como buenos mis pies estaban pero mis brazos están muy sucios. Ella es correcta. Tengo mucho que necesito trabajar pero ella me ayudaba mucho. Espero que puedo tomar su clase otra vez en octobre.

Photos from California in May

The new Cook baby!

Fanning Street

Sarah

My 'thank you' to Bj!

She's so big.

Spain in Orange

Wish I was there.

The Sweeneys have Beiber Fever.

Saying 'hi' to Steenie

(after singing justin beiber of course)

Betis Longstocking?

I took some videos from the Betis game & they are so funny. They're super short & you can still feel how exciting it was.

I think they sing the Pippi Longstocking's song as a game song. I caught the end of it but I think it's still recognizable.

(Josh is cute in this one too.)

Waving the scarves in the air.

The "OOOSH" sound they make when they almost make a goal.

The madness after the 1st goal.

This one is just pretty. Someone cheers and it looks so cool.

And for the last one, the 1st one; the singing and

excitement before the game.

Gatos Españoles

So cats here have 7 lives - not 9!

I think only in the United States 9 exist. Did we decide we needed more than the rest of the world? Because my friend from Holland also thinks there are only 7.

Los gatos aquí tienen siete vidas - no nueve! Creo que sólo en Los Estados Unidos hay nueve. Hemos decidido necesitábamos mas que de las otras personas en el mundo? Porque mi amiga de Holanda crea que hay siete también.

"Te quiero Betis"

He visto mi primer partido de fútbol ayer! Fui con personas que encantan Betis así que fue muy divertido. / I saw my 1st soccer game yesterday! I went with people who love Betis so it was really fun.

Spanish times

Sometimes I feel so spanish.

There are moments when I feel the quintessential spanish experience. Like when I'm walking down a cobblestone street hand-in-hand with Josh, watching all the charming old buildings go by, and listening to him & our friend talking in their beautiful spanish about fútbol. Or after school when a girlfriend and I go to a terraza, have some tapas & a tinto de verano, and we speak in spanish about our dances, our classes & our boyfriends...people & bicycles passing us by.

Hay momentitos perfectos.

America, the beautiful

Now my teacher only calls me "America" - I'm just happy he calls me something. There are other students who's names & countries he doesn't know, and he just points to them...so I'm happy. The other students in class think it's funny too so today, after I danced a pataita por bulerias (I did so well!), one of my classmates sang, "AMEEEERICA, AMEEEERICA!" - like in O' Beautiful! Later the same classmate told me I asked too many questions. HA! I asked her sarcastically, "Does 'America' bother you?!" JAJAJA! We both laughed.