¡AY AMOR QUE SE FUE Y NO VINO!

Oooookkkk!! So its been awhile since I blogged, but here we go...

Last Thursday night when I came out to wander around the town, I shopped around for winter coats, which are way too expensive for me, espceially when the dollar to €uro exchange is 1.4..... I also asked about getting a European battery charger, which is also way too expensive... One amazing thing that happened was as I was walking up the street I saw this guy sitting on a moto (a scooter/motorcycle) at a stoplight. I stopped, I knew he looked familiar, I knew I knew him, I knew his name was Wali, and as I sat there thinking about all of this.... he looked at me and goes, "Rachel!! What are you doing here¿?¿?" Wali is one of Victor´s friends and it was so awesome to run into somebody I knew in my old town. I shopped around a bit more, looking in the Arabic, touristy shops and then went home, ate dinner and went to bed, really tired.

Friday morning, I got up early again for work, went, met Michelle on the bus and we sat there while they refigured out our schedules. Then we looked at them, and said they they were pretty uneven for us to choose between, they rearranged again, and we finally setteled. Right now we only have 10 hrs/week and they are going to be giving us 2 more hrs. Then Michelle and I were walking back and a lady from the school offerend to give us a ride back to the city center. What she meant by that was drive for an hour in the ridiculous city traffic and take us to the Parking structure in front of my house where she picked up her kids from school, instead of to the city center where we actually wanted to run errands. Driving in Granada is not the best mode of transportation. But I invited Michelle to my house, gave her some Arroz con Leche, and then we walked back to the Police Station where I was too late to get anything done. Its great how even though you have been standing in line for 30 minutes, the Spanish are still capable of shutting the window right in your face at 2:00. Truly it is a boldness that is to be admired. We ran into a bunch of Americans and a guy, Francisco, from El Salvador, who all suffered the same fate so we went to get some tapas. I had a nice time getting to know some of the people, who were Michelle´s friends, but some of the other people were lame. It was definitely nice to be doing something instead of being bored and lonely. Then I went to the CLM to use the internet again, made some photocopies, and went back home. I cleaned up my room, which is so small it gets messy really easily, showered and got some groceries and a new shower curtain liner for when the other girls came. Then I watched some TV and Victor came from Malaga. We went to get some dinner, and ran into Francisco from earlier that day. He was lost and trying to find the other people, but decided to tag along with us. He is actually a pretty nice guy. Victor and I were so tired though that we went home sooner than later and went to bed, me on the 8th floor and him on the 7th.

Saturday morning, I woke up at 9 still exhausted because I have been tired since I got here, and I dinked around because I knew Victor would still be sleeping. Then around 10, I heard all this noise in the hall and I knew my roommates would be coming. I rushed around getting the laundry I had hung out to dry on their balconies and tried to act natural when they came in. They came in with their moms and dads and aunts and uncles and I don´t know who and truckloads of stuff. The 2 girls are really nice but it was just too wierd, so I got dressed and got out of Dodge, so they could clean and do whatever it was they had brought all those people to do! I went to Victor´s house and hung out with his mom and Marina untill he woke up. We ate breakfast and went out to for Victor to get his haircut. That was a difficult task as apparently everyone wants their hair cut on Saturday morning, but we finally got it taken care of and came back to his house for lunch. Pepa made arroz (paella) and a yummy salad. During the lunchtime conversation she told me about this seminar she went to where this Jesuit priest had studied the arecheilogical facts that proved the Bible to be true. His conclusion was that not all the Bible can be proved through arcielogical ruins (I know spelling is wrong.) Well then Emilio starting talking about his views on religion and I had a chance to share with them what mine were. A very intersting and frustrating lunchtime conversation. Then Victor and I went to Nacho and Alicia´s house to watch the rugby world cup, which meant taking a nap while the game was on. Then later we chatted with the rest of the family when they woke up from their siestas and we came back home, changed, went for a run, showered and went back for another game and dinner. Alicia asked me if I had a winter coat, I said no, and she said oh do you want my old ones, I just bought new ones. I said YES! and she gave me two amazing, and expensive coats. So at least I wont freeze until I can get some more money. I swear, it never ceases to amaze me how God has provided ABSOULUTELY EVERYTHING for me here in Granada. I am spoiled to death. After the game ended Victor and I went to a friend´s birthday party really close to where we live. It was fun to see the whole gang again, and talk with everybody. His friends are really nice. Then we went home and to bed again.

Sunday morning, I woke up at 9 again, and tried to sleep through the noise of the army of people who were still there from Project Move In. They all finally went to breakfast and I got ready and looked around the house. The army of people did an amazing job. I had cleaned, but I knew I was only taking off the first layer of grime. Now everything sparkled, and they had brought new dishes, towels, rugs everything and reorganized and threw away a ton of stuff, including the new shower curtain I had just bought for their arrival. I guess that´s what I get for cleaning and trying to be a nice roommate. After I got ready and looked around, I went to Victor´s house. We watched TV, read the paper, ate lunch, took a siesta, etc, and were really lazy until the afternoon when he went to go swimming and I went to find the old church I went to, to see what time they had services. I walked there and back and around the mall for about and hour. Then I came back and talked a bit with my roommates, and went back to Victor´s house, visited with his parents and then Victor had to go back to Malaga. Then more visiting with my roommates whose names are Rosa and Zoraida or Zore, and are really nice. They are really pretty, and skinny and 20 yrs old but I think its going to be good. Then I was still exhausted and I went to bed.

Monday morning, yesterday, I woke up early again to go to school to meet with the teachers, get the books and start planning lessons. It was beneficial, borring, and intimidating. Apparently these teachers didn´t get the memo that we actually have no teaching experience, studied Spanish in college, and have no idea what we are doing or how to teach English. So they decided to cut their large classes in half, and give us 15 Spanish degenerate, adolescents, in a separate room all alone. We suggested that maybe for the first week or so we could be in the class with the teachers to see how this all goes, and thankfully they agreed, but still told me to bring the lesson. I´m really nervous. On the way home I made the final photocopies and got pictures taken for my residency papers, tried to use the internet a little, bought a phonecard, and went home to make lunch. I was really hungry, made a Spanish Rachel Pasta Salad, and ate with my roommies on the balcony. The night before I told them that I was protestant, and today they wanted to know more about it. So I had another chance to share. Then I watched TV with Adri, and called Alicia (Victor´s sister in law) because she was going to take me to Nachete´s school to turn in my resume I had printed on Saturday and left at her house. She had completely forgotten, and left the resume at home so I went to Victor´s house to see if they had a printer. They didn´t, and didn´t have glue, so I was rushing around like a crazy person trying to find this stuff when most of the stores are closed. I finally got everything together, and we went to his school. Nachete is 3.5 yrs, and his English school is called, Inglés es Divertido, or Engilish is Fun. It seems really amazing, working with all sorts of little kids and I really hope I can get a job there. They lady said she would call me, because she was really busy then. Hopefully she does. Then I came back and went to the post office to mail my old roommies Aurora, some pants I had brought her from Ross! At the Roman Monkey brigde, I ran into Victor´s dad, talking to a friend. He stopped me, introduced me and we continued to have a conversation about fashion, Granada, religion, and how he wants to be my father-in-law. He also made usread a poem written by Federico Garcia Lorca that is inscribed on the bridge, hence the title of this blog entry. He then told me to come by later for dinner. I have a hard time in Spanish because people use imperative commands very freely. Instead of saying, you should, or your can, or why don´t you come by for dinner, they just say come for dinner. Being the polite and obedient girl that I am, I don´t know how to respond to so many orders. So I finally made it to the post office, tried to internet again, but one of the rooms here just doesn´t work for myspace or blogging, and went over for dinner. We had delicious ham sandwiches, cheese and mangos. We talked and I finally had to leave against their will. When I got home nobody was home, and I sent them a message asking where they were. Victor called me and we talked on the phone for a while, and then I went out to meet my roommies. They were with some friends and some random people, and we had a good time. It was nice to be out till 1AM on a Monday night. Then we came home and went to bed.

This morning I got up early again, to turn in my residency application. Even though I got to the police station20 minutes before it opened at 9, there was a huge line. Thankfully there wern´t that many student applicants, and I was done by 9:30. I guess in Salamanca where Deanna is and in Madrid, people have been camping out for days. I´m so relieved to have that giant chunk out of the way and got the process started. Then I came to the Centro, and have been here interneting since. Today I have to prepare my English classes for tomorrow, and tonight we are going to a ceremony for Nacho who is getting a master´s degree. I might try to visit my old guitar teacher, and my roommate Rosa brought a computer, so soon I should be able to have pictures up here. Well, now there are more students at the CLM, last week I think everyone was on vacation, so there is a line and I feel bad stealing their internet so I´m going to go. I love and miss you all. -- Rachel