You Can Sleep When You Are Dead

Saturday February 16th I woke up and Victor came over and I gave him his Valentine´s present. He forgot his keys to his house so stayed in mine till his parents came back while I went running with my friend Kristen. Kristen ran cross country and track in college so needless to say she´s way better than me. She also decided to ask me a lot of questions while running so I couldn´t breathe from running or talking. But it was fun and good to have someone to push me. Then we went and munched strawberries, water and cookies at her house and soaked up some sun on her balcony and talked to her Irish roommate. She actually lives pretty close to me. Then I walked home and went to Victor´s house and to get my keys so I could shower because I was filthy. Victor was especially nice and sweet and asked what Adrian was doing today and when he was going to be home. Right then I knew that Victor had left my keys in my house, which was of course, true. Also locked in my house was my cellphone with all the numbers of anyone I could call to get Adrian´s number. Victor started to call random people to see if they had Adrian´s number or someone who might have it, and after about 5 calls finally got the number and called Adrian who didn´t answer. In the meantime, Pepa apparently knew that you could jimmy a lock with and x-ray and we had tried it once but it didn´t work. When we couldn´t get ahold of Adrian, we tried again. So we used an xray of Pepa´s latest mamogram and by some miracle opened my front door with it. Pepa´s explanation was that her breasts are miraculous. I just felt awkward and scared to know that you could open a door with a boob. So I was finally able to shower, after over and hour, and then Victor and I went out to lunch. We first went to Il Gondoliere, a really nice italian resturant that we have been to before but there was a huge line. So I suggested this place Wok we have been wanting to try. It was this nice Asian Buffet place where they cook the food in front of you. I was imagining a really nice Japanese place I went to once with my family in Bakersfield, but what we found was completely the opposite. I would compare it to the Parkside Dining Commons but larger, noisier and only asian food, all of which was fried, including the bread. So it was pretty gross. Not the delicious, romantic Valentine´s dinner I was hoping for but at least now we know what its like and don´t have to go back. Then we drove around some pueblos and talked and then came back home took a nap and then stopped by Nacho and Alicia´s place. They were having some friends over and we visited there for a bit. I had been trying to get Victor to go to tapas with my friends and me all day but in the end I couldn´t convince him. He´s just such a homebody after all his travelling. But he did drop me off where they were. So we were getting tapas for Samar´s birthday and then we went to a few other places and I left around 3 or so. I wasn´t feeling that great and I was exhausted and didn´t want to pay the 10€ to get into the next place. So I came home and hung out with Victor for a while and finally went to bed around 5 again.

Sunday February 17th when I woke up rather late, I didn´t feel well or like going to church so I cleaned up my room and showered and rested at home. Then Victor, Pepa and Emilio and I went to lunch at a restaurant near our house and all ate habas con jamón with fried eggs. That’s a green type of bean with ham and fried eggs on top. It was pretty good. We were there for a long time and then went home and took a nap. Then Victor had to pack because he was leaving for Mexico, from Malaga that night. So he packed and left to got to Mexico for 2 weeks and I went upstairs and started to clean. That night I was invited to Samar´s for dinner for her birthday. She made gandul stew but I can´t remember the name of the bean in English. It was a green pea with a name like chick pea, but it wasn´t a garbanzo. Anyway, it was delicious and nice to hang out. In the end I was really glad that I had gone to Michelle´s Friday night when I didn´t feel like it because there I got invited to plans for Saturday and Sunday night. So we visited and ate the stew and cleaned out a tin of Lebanese sweets Samar had brought from home in Christmas and then after a while went to the Mae West, a huge club that is free on Sunday nights. It was pretty fun but I was pretty tired and we all left around 3 or so, when I got home, like a crazy person, I finished cleaning the house so I wouldn´t have to do it the next morning and could just sleep in. So I went to bed at 5 AM for the 3rd night in a row.

Monday morning my roommates woke me up at 11 when they got home because they are inconsiderate so I got up and went running and showered and ate lunch. I can´t remember what else I did except go to work at 4 and then to the Academy, and then I practiced guitar for a bit. That night Emily was arriving from Madrid at 8:00 so I went up to the bus station to meet her. I was a little late and a little worried because I knew Emily hates waiting for people but it wasn´t a problem as the bus got there about 45 minutes late. She finally got off the bus and we went back to my place and dropped off her stuff and then went back out to get a schwarma, the Turkish/Moroccan burrito sandwichey things. Then we walked around a bit, back home, got her bed and everything ready and went to bed.

Tuesday February 19th, I woke up really early, went running and then showered and went to guitar at 9:15 because I had a second session of hair removal at 11. So I went to guitar and then to hair removal. When I got out, it was pouring down rain, and I stood under a covering and talked to my old roommate Alicia for a while. Emily had gone out to do stuff and didn´t think she would be back for lunch, so I stopped by the 7th floor to use the internet and ended up eating lunch with them. Then I watched TV and went to work at the school, then with Carlos and Marta. Emily called me when I got home to say that she was at Soufian´s house and that they were going to go to a tetería if I wanted to come. So I went up there and called my friend Jenny who had called me earlier when I was working, but she and her boyfriend Juan were way far away and we probably wouldn´t meet up. Then at Soufian´s Emily was there as well as Soufian, and 4 of his friends, only 2 of which spoke some Spanish. So I listened to a lot of Arabic, and watched and listened to a lot of Arabic TV. They were smoking hooka and we were drinking Moroccan tea, which was so delicious and authentic made by Moroccans. So we were there for a while and finally around 12PM dinner was ready. It was a delicious chicken and potatoes dish, but served in Moroccan style which means the dish in the middle of the table, pieces of bread spread all around the table which everyone uses to grab food out of the middle. It was so good, but I was surprised and a little felt strange being out of my cultural comfort zone. But that´s a good experience every once in a while and I learned something new and lived a new adventure and ate a really delicious meal. So then we stayed a little while longer and finally went home. I was still so exhausted and planned on going straight to bed when I got home. When I actually did get home around 1:30 Raquel was over and Emily went out into the living room to chat. Since she did, and I´m trying to keep my New Year´s Resolution of sleeping less, I went out to visit too. Then Adrian came home and since Fidel Castro had resigned the presidency of Cuba that day, we ended up talking about the history of Cuba and politics the rest of the night. I finally had to go to bed at 3:30 and the rest of them stayed up till around 5!

Wednesday I obviously didn´t have a very good day at work, I was extremely tired and I am still hanging on to my cold. One thing I did do was invite a bunch of people to a potluck at my house that Friday. I had been wanting for some time to have a potluck at my house in old school Granada style and decided that that weekend was going to be the perfect time. Then after work I came home and ate lunch with Emily. Then we watched Fama and I didn´t have class again with Conchi and Valentina, andI think Emily went out to do stuff and I went shopping, running, practiced guitar and then had class with Nacho and Alicia. I didn´t watch Sin Tetas No Hay Paraiso, in case Emily was going to be at home, but she went to dinner at Soufian´s again and I went to bed even though Raquel and Manolo were over again. She called me around 3 to let her in and I went back to bed.

Thursday I went to work, came home and ate lunch, watched Fama and then went to guitar. After that I went shopping to get the last few things I needed for the potluck I was hosting on Friday. I also went running but only for 10 minutes as I was running late to meet up with Emily at 9 and didn´t have time for more. Then I met up with Emily, Soufian and 1 of his friends and we went and got tea, juice and free crepes in a tetería. We were there for a long time and then when we left Emily said she was going to go to Soufian´s to get some of her stuff. Soufian and I had a tapa and waited for her until his friend came back and said that Emily was up there hanging out. So we went up to his house ate dinner with the rest of the people who were there already eating. Then after a while I left and Emily came with me. Then I went to bed.

Friday February 22nd was a good day at work because I had a couple hours off and that day there was a lunch for the Día de Andalucía, which is February 28th. Michelle came to work for the lunch as did Emily. It was fun to see all the teachers relaxed and not in teacher mode and the food was really good. There were a lot of appetizers, shrimp, cold cuts, cheese, chips, nuts, bread, filled rolls, and then we had lamb chops and caldareta which is lamb cooked in a stew broth. It was very good as well, lamb isn´t my favorite but it was good. Then we had fruit and little cakes for dessert. I had to leave a little early because I had to go to work. So I took the bus to work, worked, and came home and started to get ready for the party that night at 9. I unfortunately had to start with washing all my roommates´ dishes they had left when they left for the weekend along with Adri´s perpetual pile. Then I bought celery twice, made a potato salad, cleaned up and set up, changed clothes and made chocolate chip cookies. People started coming over and the first people to arrive were Michelle, Jenna, and Pierre Anne, Michelle´s new roommate. In the end there were about 20 people, all from the same teaching program as I am and we had a really nice time. There was a lot of great food, no neighbors complained and people helped clean up before we all left. That night we went to the Vogue. My favorite club from when I was there before which Emily and I had wanted to go to together since summer 2005. The group that ended up shrank to Emily, me, Samar, Michelle and Jenna. We were there till 7, because we were looking for Jenna and didn’t want to leave without her. After a while we called her and she was home in bed. So then we went home and I got in bed at 7:30.

Saturday morning I woke up at 10:30 when Victor called me while partying in Acapulco, went back to bed and that later at 1 or so when he called me again. I munched on leftovers, mostly mayonnaise based and went back to sleep till 4. Then I rolled out of bed, ate some more leftovers, Michelle came over to get some stuff she had left at my house the night before and then I went back to spend some more time on the couch in a coma. In the evening Emily showered and went out, but I stayed home with my lack of sleep hangover. I went downstairs to ask Pepa if she would make us paella tomorrow like she offered to and brought up the computer. I think I went to bed around 2.

Sunday morning I woke up and went running and showered. Emily went out to do something and when she got back, we went down and had paella with Pepa and Emilio. It was delicious as always and then we went upstairs and watched TV for a bit. Then I went to church and came home and started to clean the house with Emily. Emily talked to her mom on the phone for a while, and I finished cleaning and then watched TV with Adrian for a while and went to bed. I think that was for sure the most sleepless week and weekend I have had in a long time.