I really wish I could get a 4 week sabbatical this summer. My sister found a 4 week intensive study program in Barcelona, where you can obtain a world-reknown teaching license in TEFL and/or TESL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language or Second Language). It also costs about $2000, but considering that includes housing and some living expenses, that's really cheap. Plus, you can then work anywhere in the world.

Ok, so I feel I'm a little old to be trapsing around the world like I used to. But what else do I have in store for me? I wonder how long my cats would have to be quarantined to take them there..but then again, it's only 4 weeks.

Anyway, I remember looking into a program like that years before, and it was probably the same program because that one, too, was located in Barcelona. However, Laurie wants to get the certificate and then stay in Spain and teach. I just want to come back to the U.S. and settle down. I used to want to live in Spain, and marry a Spaniard, and spend summers in the U.S. But my desires have drammatically changed over the past few years, especially since 9/11. I love my country, and I know it's the promised land. I am not ethnocentric, but I recognize it for what it is. I want to marry an American, preferably a veteran, who knows and understands truly how precious our country is.

Which reminds me again how much I miss him. He was everything I had ever hoped for, even his desire to serve a mission; even his weaknesses. How the heck could I possibly top that?

*sigh*.