La Penúltima

Monday 25 August Victor got up really early to go to work. His vacation had officially ended and he had to drive all the way back to Malaga, to catch a plane to Dublin. Pepa was up making him coffee and after Victor left I just waited around for Emilio to take us all back to Granada. Back at home I went to the other side of town to pay a parking ticket Victor had gotten that weekend. It was funny because as I paid it, the banker said, "Don't do it again." I looked at him perplexed because the paper clearly said Ignacio Bullejos (Victor bought the car from Nacho) and I obviously wasn't him. He lauged and said "I know, but still..." Then back at home I played on the internet until Michelle got to my house from her tutoring job. She was tutoring my old student Pablo everyday in English and would stop by on her way home. We made ourselves a yummy little brunch of pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, juice and milk and ate it on the balcony. Then we just hung out and did nothing, napped, watched tv, etc. and in the afternoon went and looked for more appartments for Michelle. We did that all afternoon and evening and then I came home and went to bed.

Tuesday 26 August I woke up, went for a run and Michelle came over after her class. She hung out in my room with me while I took all the things down from my walls and started getting things in order. Then she went home for lunch and I made lunch too. I had leftover chicken and yummy sauce from Sunday. I also made mashed potatoes. Then I washed up and kept going through stuff in my room and deciding what was staying, going, being donated or thrown out. I made several trips down to Victor's, brought stuff up, went through it and then took what I was taking back, back down to Victor's and started again. It was quite the process. Then I went with Michelle to visit a piso that only cost 120 euro! We went with Sergio, her special friend, and saw a ton of our students in Triunfo, which was rather embarassing. It was her dream piso, but the girls said they would call her to see if she could have the room, but she really, really wanted it. Afterwards, they went to get some tapas, but I went home and watched tv and went to bed. I was going to continue packing but just couldn't.

Wednesday 27 August I woke up and went for a run, showered and cleaned out my room. It was really strange because someone rang the doorbell but only once and I didn't answer it. I had been slightly nervous about the landlord just stopping by and finding me there again. Adrian had said that he didn't stop by once during the 3 weeks I was gone and didn't even come by the day I left to check and see that I had moved out. He only called Adrian who told him I had left. So I had cleaned out my room and moved a lot of my stuff into what would be Jenna's room. (Brad and Jenna were still planning on moving in.) She got the stuff that was still usable but I wasn't going to bring it back to California with me. The rest of the stuff had gone downstairs. When Michelle came over we both went downstairs and I started the actual packing process. We bought down my laptop and Michelle was playing funny comedian videos and stuff online the whole time. That was the only thing that got me through the packing process, I was completely distracted. We also had Emilio there all day. He had gone to buy bread and bought us a loaf. He left to go for lunch and finally we got hungry enough to stop. Just as we were about to go up, I got a text message from Adrian saying that the landlord was there! The mystery doorbell ringing had been him. We waited till Adri sent me a message that he was gone, which was a long time, an then went up. We had been waiting so long that we ate th entire loaf of bread while waiting. That ruined our appetites but I made a little salad for Michelle and I and we watched tv with Adri. He said the landlord looked a little puzzled about the 2 rooms looking slightly inhabited, but didn't say anything. I had successfully dogded the bullet. Then we went back downstairs and finished packing. We were watching America's Funniest Home Videos and afterwards went upstairs and continued for a while. Then we headed to Michelle's so she could get ready to go out with Sergio. On the way there, Alicia called me to see if I wanted to come over and make pancakes for them. Pepa and them had been working finally moving houses. They had been cleaning the old house and doing a ton of work. They had to get ready for the renters to move into their old house, and move themselves into Los Ogijares, untill their new house would be ready. I said yes and bought some oj, grabbed my stuff and went over there with Emilio. I made pancakes, with syrup, scrambled eggs and bacon, with milk and juice. I was pretty nervous to be cooking for them, but Alicia helped and Pepa set the table. It turned out to be a huge success! I was so happy and proud (and lucky!) I told them that now I only owed them 574,328 more meal and we would be even. The best part was that Pepa had seconds... wait for it... and THIRDS!! I was so happy to be able to do something nice for the people who have done so much for me. After cleaning up, we were all so pooped we went to bed.

Thursday 28 August I woke up early and had breakfast with Pepa and Alicia. Then I went with Alicia to her old house to pick some stuff up and take it to their new house, which I hadn't seen yet. It was sad to say goodbye to their old house, (also my old house when I lived with them) but it was nice to see them finally moving into their new house, because they had been through a horrific house buying ordeal. Then back at home I waited for Michelle to come by, but she didn't because of a miscommunication. So I went to the post office and bought a huge box to ship stuff home with. I saw a really cute puppy on the way home too. He was just a little bit bigger than a Beanie Baby and I wanted to take him home. Since Michelle was doing other things that day, I went with Emilio back to Los Ogíjares for lunch. I took a nap there and came back with Emilio after he was done with his nap. Then I went and met Michelle who was out looking for more pisos in the blistering sun. We walked back to her place and watched "Knocked Up." After hanging out some more and maybe going for a walk, I went home and went to bed.

Friday 29 August I woke up and went for a run. Then I went to the store and made sure I had all the stuff to make enchiladas for Michelle and Adrian and stew for Pepa and family that weekend. I started with the preperations for the enchiladas and made guacamole and the sauce. I cooked all morning and made a really impressive lunch for us. It was really fun and I wanted to have a special meal for 2 of my closest friends in Granada. And I made some freaking awesome enchiladas and I was so proud of myself. So I washed up and Michelle and I went out looking for and at more pisos. She was so frustrated because she hadn't heard from the 120 eruo one and it was almost the end of the month. We stopped to rest in Triunfo and just then the 120 place people called her to say that she could move in! She was estatic and we both screamed and hugged like big freaks in the middle of the park while everyone stared. Then we headed back home to get ready and celebrate. On the way I bought a University of Granada sweatshirt which I had been wanting to buy since I studied there. We got dressed up really pretty and walked to an outdoor theatre in Zaidin to see a movie. When we got there, we didn't want to see antyhing that was playing and walked back and got some tapas on Alhamar. It was nice and we talked the night away. Then after 3 rounds of tapas, we headed to Hannigan's where her old roommate worked. We hung out there for a while and I said to her in English, "I wish some guys would talk to us, I'm bored." Usually in a Spanish bar, 2 American girls wouldn't have a chance, but this evening everyone was ignoring us. Right after I opened my big mouth these two, ugly, annoying guys started chatting us up. They spoke perfect English and I'm pretty sure they heard me, so I brought it upon myself. They were ok at first, but then got annoying, asking me if in life I was a pirate or a sailor. I was in no mood to discuss my life that evening with an ugly stranger, so I told him he was a hippy. Then he got upset and asked Michelle if she had had plastic surgery for some reason and we left. Thankfully Victor had called me and we went to meet him where he was. He had arrived to Malaga from Dublin around 10 and drove to Granada. He was going to meet us at Hannigains, but went to the wrong one, (since there are 2.) On his way to the one we were at, he ran into Santi who was on his way to hang out with most of the people from the beach who were botellóning nearby. Victor called me and we headed that way. It was fun to see eveybody all together and we had a really nice time. Michelle went home early, and then Victor and I did. He was a little tired since he woke up in Ireland that morning.

Saturday 30 August I despite going to bed late, I woke up early and started prepping everything for the stew. I peeled and chopped veggies and made biscuits, and made sure I had everything I needed. Then I made Victor take me to Los Ogíjares and I started cooking everything. Pepa was freaking out, and wanted to help me and I gave her a few things to do but otherwise told her to relax and leave me alone. That was impossible but oh well. It took a long time, but I finally prepared a big yummy salad, biscuits, stew and dumplings for 6 adults, 2 kids and 1 grandma. They said they all really liked it and I tried to tell them thank you for all they had done for me. A stew dinner doesn't even come close to sufficing the debt of grattitue I owe Victor's family, but I tried my best. Then we cleaned up and of course, had a siesta. Then Victor and I went to Bea and Antonio's house where the group from last night had been having a bbq. They live in a neat part of Granada that I hadn't really explored before. They invited us to the bbq the night before, but I already had stew plans. They had been hanging out all day and when we got there we hung out too, went swimming, hung out some more, ordered pizza and told jokes till 2 AM or so. Then we all parted ways and went home.

Sunday 31 August I woke up and went to church. Then Victor and I went to the pueblo for migas. Migas are a typical Spanish dish that is like cooked bread crumbs served with fruit, ham, fish, sasuage and all sorts of other things. They are really good, but the first weekend I got to Spain, I got sick after eating them and haven't felt the same about them since. Victor's uncle and aunt came for lunch too, so we had a huge group for my last Sunday meal. Soon after eating, Victor and I headed into town to see "Una Palabra Tuya." It was the movie we were going to see the week before. It starred 2 really funny actresses from our favorite shows, "Camera Cafe" and "Aqui No Hay Quien Viva." The previews made it look like a sweet, light-hearted movie, but it was far from it. It was a good movie if you were mentally prepared for a depressing, serious, twisted, drama. But if you were expecting a comedy to make you happy on your last day with Victor in Granada, you were going to be sorely dissapointed. After that we drove around a bit, talking and went back home and loaded up my suitcases. It was really difficult for us both. Then we drove up to the Mirador de San Miguel. This is a new mirador I had never been to. It was by Antonio and Bea's house and really cool. We watched the sun set over Granada, soaked up La Alhambra and took pictures to try and hang onto the memories. After that we drove around a bit more and tried to get tapas at this one place, but it was closed. Then back at Los Ogíjares we ate dinner, Victor packed his suitcase and did some things online for his trip to Rome the next day. Because all the rooms were filled up in the pueblo because of Nacho and Company, we went back to Granada and slept there. You couldn't help but notice the bittersweetness that permeated everything.