Deanna y el Puente Part II

So I was talking about Saturday, November 3, 2007, waking up late and having a meal brought to our door. We watched some TV after that, took naps, got ready and went down to get Victor. Emilio always wants to take us on walks and everyone always wants to go but not after you don´t sleep all night long. Apparently when we went down to get Victor, we realized that he had been waiting for us for an hour, but we thought he had already left, and I felt really bad. So when Victor was ready we left and walked around, Deanna bought some postcards, then we went to a tetería, an arabic tea house. We had juices and milkshakes, we didn´t feel like tea, and a honey and cheese crepe. Then we walked down a street with more Moraccan shops while Deanna searched for the elements to complete her room decorations. We wandered by Soufian´s shop once more to say goodbye and then towards a Moroccan tapas place that Deanna wanted to go to. We got some tapas and ordered some food, all of which was delicious. We were all exhausted so after a large yummy meal, we wandered home, watched TV and went to bed.

Sunday morning we had to get up really early because Deanna´s bus left at 7. Thankfully Victor was kind enough to take her in his car and everything went smoothly. It was an amazing time with Deanna, so good to be with someone who really knows you. I´m so thankful for the friend I´ve never had to say goodby to. mua mua!

On our way back from the bus station we stopped by Victor´s (parent´s) house in Los Ojígares, a pueblo outside of Granada so he could pick up his winter clothes, came back and went back to bed. Later I got up and got ready for church, went down and somehow convinced Victor to go with me. We got there late, so we had to sit in this overflow area and couldn´t see anything. I was in a really bad mood by then and wanted to leave but I waited till the end. I don´t know about that chruch. I just don´t really like it. Its so difficult over here because... I don´t know why,,, So anyway we left and went home to eat paella with Victor´s parents and Nacho and Alicia and kids. I was still in a bad mood, and I felt even worse when Victor´s mom asked me about something I had said earlier about just being good isn´t enough to get you to heaven. The people at the table were shocked that I had said that to their dear mother and were instantly silent, and staring at me for a response. I don´t know what I said, but next thing I knew, we were talking about something else, and I was glad. I´m a bad person and sometimes very confused. Lately it seems that God makes it very difficult to understand/believe Christianty, and 1 zillion more times difficult to explain/have others believe.

Anyway, afterwards we watched some TV, played with Nachete, and then Victor went to hang out with a friend, and I started cleaning the appartment. I figured I would rather clean not on my day off, so I got about half done until Victor and Nachete came upstairs to get me. We loaded up the car, and went over to Nacho and Alicia´s and hung out and they convinced us to stay for dinner. Nacho is an excellent and very creative cook, who´s motto is, (that we created the summer I stayed with them, "Intimidad para crear" or "Privacy to create." So this evening I was allowed to be the official helper´s helper. Nacho the head chef, Nachete the helper and me the helper´s helper. So I ended up watching, trying to keep Nachete from making a huge mess, holding the baby, setting the table and cleaning. Anyway, then after dinner and a delightful evening, Victor took me home and then went to Malaga.

Deanna y el Puente

So, the Spanish have a great tradition of making "puentes", or bridges. This means that if there is a holiday on Thursday, no one goes to work on Friday either. So, turns out, the week of October 29th, I had to go to work for one whole day. :) Spain really knows how to relax. Monday I went for a run and cleaned the house. Then I made lunch and laid around the house like a lazy bum, watching tv, untill I showered and went out to do something. Tuesday was more of the same, a run, and then I don´t remember what I really did.

Wednesday I went to work, had 2 hrs of class with professors and 1 with kids. I had looked at doing a lesson from the book, but since it was Halloween, the teacher remembered pretty much as we were gonig to class that I was going to talk about Halloween. So she told the class that I was going to bring a lesson about Halloween, and sat down. I was left standing in front of the class, not having a clue what to do. So I took my whiteboard pen and wrote Happy Halloween on the board, and then proceeded to wing the best lesson on Halloween ever. I talked about costumes, decorations, and parties. It was amazing, and I was pretty proud of myself. Also that day I got my first check. I went after school and deposited it, but I couldn´t take any money out untill next Tuesday because of the holiday. Then I went home, ate some lunch, cleaned my room, took a nap, went to the post office to pick up my Halloween package from my Aunt Lisa, came back, ate way too much candy, went to buy De´s birthday present, used the internet for a while and then went to the bus station to pick Deanna up. Her bus was late, but we finally found eachother! I got to talk to my good friend Katie, because she had called Deanna for her birthday, and Deanna and I took the bus home. Then we said hello to my roommates who were all getting ready to go out with friends for Halloween, and made plans to meet up later. Deanna and I prepared a special candlelight birthday dinner of salad and pesto pasta, I gave her her present (an awesome bracelet that I also bought for myself :)) and then we got ready to go out. Deanna wasn´t feeling the costume, so I said she was dressed up as a supermodel, but I went out in my favorite costume, a kitty kat. Which consists of normal clothes, and a drawn on nose and whiskers. Its the best and easiest and you get soo many comments!! So later we met up with all of the roommates, (the first time the 4 of us have hung out ever, outside of the house, which rarely we are all in at the same time either!) We met up at a bar called El Granero and were there till it closed at 4. The rest of the family went home in Adri´s car, and Deanna and I started walking home. But then we decided that we weren´t really tired, and so I called my friends Michelle and Samar from work, and we went and met up with them. But by this time it seemed colder, and we got more tired, and there were extremely long lines everywhere. Because no one can really make good decisions at that time of the night/morning, it was taking too long and we all went home. We made plans to get tapas with them the next night though.

Thursday we slept in, till 11 when some really annoying bells woke us up. We ate breakfast with Rosa and watched TV, and then went back to bed till about 1, woke up again, ate something else, Victor came from Malaga, and we lazed around and watched TV with Adri. Rosa and Zore left again, to spend the weekend in their homes. We sat around all day until we got ready that night and met up with Victor and some friends around 7. We first went to this cafe place and played darts and hung out untill we left and met up with some other friend of Victors. We ate a ton of tapas, switched bars and had some more tapas, went to this realy freaky bar where all the underground crazy people go, and then to a plaza to say good bye to one of their friends who was leaving for London the next day. It was waay too cold to be outside, so eventually we went home around 2 or so. The tapa plans I had with my work friends fell through, they never called to say where they were. So then we went home and went to bed.

Friday we woke up, and went out to walk around. We visited my school and the Granadian pottery exposition near it, El Mirador de San Cristobal, the Albyzin, and the Mirador de San Nicolas. Then we ate more schwarmas and french fries, and Orange Fantas in Plaza Nueva, and stopped by Soufian´s store again. We walked around some more and shopped and then started home. On the way home, we ran into Pepa, Patricia, and Adriana and got tricked into babysitting for a while Patricia went to buy some socks. Adriana is a crazy child. We stopped by the grocery store and went home. We rested, showered, and changed, went down to Victor´s house and visited while he got ready and munched on some ham and cheese they were having for dinner. Then we went and met up with some of the friends from the night before, had some tapas and then went to this cool bar near Plaza Einstein. It was cool because they gave you sunflower seeds with your drink, which I like. We were there till it closed at 4, and then walked to this disco, called the BoogaClub. I saw Michelle there, but she went home pretty quickly, and we were there till about 6:30. It was a really, really fun night, and then we walked home and stopped by Cafe Futbol for some early morning churros and hot melted chocolate. Victor completely fell asleep, but we all finally made it home and went to bed.

Saturday we woke up, really late, and lazed around. Victor brought us up some delicious pasta and meat for us to eat, compliments of Pepa, which was pretty much the best thing that could have happened that day.

I wrote the previous entry the same day that I wrote Ana´s entry but the internet stopped working so I couldn´t finish or post it. I´ll finish it later and add the appropiate photos. :)

To Be Continued...

Serious Blog Time -- Ana

So I haven´t figured out how to get the pictures where I want them (for example at the end of a blog,) but here is one of Ana and I in the Mirador de San Nicolas. Apparently I am an amazing photographer. :) Here we are ready to go out Saturday night. Notice new red jacket from Alicia. Victor is also a good photographer.
Here is a picture of Said, Ana, me and Soufian, outside of his shop.

Ok sorry for those of you who got mad at my lack of blogging during the last 3 weeks or so. I have been so busy doing things to write about that I didn´t have time to write! And that´s a good thing in my opinion. Who wants to know about how many times I brush my teeth a day...

Ok... so Friday with Ana we walked around and hit all the spots on her list, shopping and visiting old friends. Then we came home, rested, got ready and waited for Victor to show up from Malaga. When he got there we visited, and then went downstairs to meet the parents, and then went out for tapas at Ana´s favorite place. Our friends from earlier, Soufian and Said (Ana Accion´s latest Moroccan love interest) met us there. We had one round there and then got in Soufian´s car and went to a nearby pueblo to have fried fish tapas. Soufian keeps his car in a really sketchy underground garage and drives like a crazy person, so it was all a little frightening. But we made it there and back safely, and enjoyed some hearty tapas and Soufian´s impressions of forgien tourists in his shop. Then we walked around Calle Elvira a while, but since Soufian was sick, he went home, and Said went with him. Ana, Victor and I tried to got to all the old hangouts, Babylon and Dolce Vita, but apparently they now suck. We stayed as long as we could, but Victor went home because he was exhausted and we wandered around from place to place, cold and dissapointed with the Marcha, we found in Granada that night. We ran into Deanna´s old roommate, Ghislaine, on the street, totally by accident because she now lives in Malaga too. It was great to see her and catch up a bit. Then we finally gave up and went home around 3??' and went to bed.

Saturday, October, 27th, we slept in, ate some of Pepa´s delicious paella, and went out again to walk around the Albyzin, get some more tapas, and buy the last couple of things Ana wanted, and wanted to see. We came home in the afternoon, ate some dinner and watched TV and were waiting for Victor, but he had gone out to take some pictures. We had been dissapointed with out going out Thursday and Friday nights, but we were ready for Satruday to be the mother of all marchas. (Marcha means going out in Spanish.) So around 9 we went down to look for Victor, but he was still MIA, and we called him and he had ran into some friends and was hanging out with them in the Albyzin. Just around then, it started POURING DOWN RAIN, LIGHTENING AND THUNDERING!! It seems that going out was going to be difficult. Said also called and said he was staying home because of the storm. So we waited a bit, debated what to do, and finally went upstairs to get ready. It was a very difficult process, what to wear, where to go, who else we could call.... Finally Victor came home and we tried to convince him to go, to no avail. But we did convince him to take us to the Mae West, and huge new disco in Granada. We had a good time until the place filled up so much that it was impossible to move around, and the only people who hit on us were really old, gross men. We left there around 4AM and started walking home, and stopped by Merengue, an old Salsa place where Ana saw some old friends. We stayed for a while, and finally made it home around 5 or 4 because that night the time changed, and went to bed.

Sunday, our friend Maria, and old director of our program, picked us up around 2, and took us to her house for lunch. We had a nice time visiting and eating homemade bread with cream cheese and membrilla, a thick, sweet, jelly like thing. We stayed for quite a while, then walked back and stopped by Soufian´s shop to say goodbye and Ana´s favorite schwarma place for one last schwarma. Then we came home, Ana packed everything up and we visited with Pepa and Emilio until Victor took Ana to the airport and then went on to Malaga. I then ate some dinner, watched TV and went to bed. Ana is the best, and it was great to have one of my old girls back in Granada with me!

Weekend with Ana

So I´m quite a bit behind, but Friday, October 26th, I slept in, because my first 2 periods had a test. Then I went to work and was almost late, worked for 2 periods, the first made me want to cry and the second went really well. The 2nd one was the oldest class, so they actually want to learn English. Then I met Ana in Plaza Nueva, and we had schwarmas for lunch and then walked around and shopped and visited all the sites that Ana wanted to go to and our old friend Soufian and his shop. Ok i don´t have any more time. I´ll try again later.

Happy Halloween!!!

Ok I love my Aunt Lisa for sending me American candy. Warning, eating a bucket full of candy in 1 sitting is not advisable.

So its been a long time since I blogged and I think I´m going to get kicked off the computer soon because its 9PM. I had a great weekend with Ana and Deanna is giong to be here in 45 minutes for the 4 day weekend. Spain is amazing and really knows how to make the most out of holidays.

One thing I forgot about my last real blog. After the missing juice incident Monday. Tuesday morning when I came home from my run, my roommates were eating breakfast and I started to too. Then I noticed that my new juice had been opened and half emptied. So I took it out, poured me a glass in front of them and didn´t say anything. There haven´t been any missing food complaints since. We´ll see how this all goes!!

Ok so Wednesday October 24th I went to work, came home ate, and got ready for some private English classes. I have 2 hours, 1 to Valentina, Victor´s 10 year old cousin, who I met when I was here before, and then to her mom, Conchi, who doesn´t know any English. I just helped Valentina study for an exam she had the next day, but with Conchi it was difficult. I had no books, no plan, nothing. We decided we would get a book and continue from there. Then after that, I went and had a conversation with one of the teachers from my school María Angeles. She wanted to do and English-Spanish Exchange, and I said I could only do an English-€uro Exchange. She agreed. I actually had a really nice time talking to her, and getting to know her. She has a fabulous house and is really nice. Even though she paid me for an hour I was there an hour and a half. When I left it was POURING DOWN RAIN and she let me borrow and umbrella, but I still got home soaking wet. Then I talked with Zore a bit, ate dinner and watched Kyle XY with my roommates. They are addicted.

Thrusday Oct 25th, I went to work and in the after noon, probably did some shopping and cleaned my room because my friend Ana was coming to visit. She arrived around 7, I went to meet her at the bus station, we came home, made dinner and then got ready to go out with my roommates. We went with Rosa and Zore and their friend Rocío who picked us up in her car. We went to this really cool bar in the Plaza de Toros, the bullfighting ring. They had good tapas and the girls know the owners and a lot of the people who work there. We tried to leave several times, but everytime we did, somebody they knew stopped us, invited us to a round of something and we stayed a little longer. There is something to say about having flirty, hott friends who dress to kill. Then we were finally able to leave and went closer to the city center, and finally went home. I wanted to go home before we changed locations but I was the minorty. It was really the first time I´ve been out since I´ve been here, so it was fun.

Ok now I have to go pick up Deanna, so, till next time, a bit is better than nothing. Oh PS, I tried to upload the video of Pepa dancing twice and it didn´t work. Sorry. I don´t know what the deal is. It´ll give you and excuse to come visit!

Fotos de Personas

Here are some pictures of the main character´s in my story. A face to put to the name´s I´ve written before. If there is anyone else I´ve mentioned that you would like to see, please let me know, and I´ll be glad to put them up.

My guitar teacher, Antonio Fernández Galvez de Moya:

Old roommates, L-R, Aurora, who now lives in Bilbao, northern Spain, Magdalena, who now lives in the Canary Islands, and Alicia, who lives in Madrid:

Patricia, Raul´s wife and Adriana: Emilio, Victor´s dad, sitting on his throne in his castle:
María Josefa, or Pepa, Victor´s mom, dancing Sevillanas, video soon to follow:
Víctor Manuel:

Nachete, Victor´s nephew: Marina and Alicia, Victor´s niece and sister-in-law:
Nacho, (middle) Victor´s older brother at his Master´s graduation ceremony:
Raúl, Victor´s oldest brother and Victor, in Pepa´s house in La Herradura:
Adriana and me, Victor´s other niece, Raul´s daughter:

Fotos de la Vista

So here are some photos of the view from my balcony.