Daylight savings time is just an excuse to party an hour more

Happy Halloween everyone!

Yesterday I slept in until 12:30. Considering I didn’t go to bed until 3:30 I think that’s just fine. Heck, it was a Saturday on a holiday weekend. The day before I had successfully done one load of laundry of laundry (the little pictures/symbols on the washing machine are not really bilingual) so yesterday I needed to do the rest of my laundry. I don’t have a dryer here. In Murcia I could understand that…I didn’t necessary like it, but I understood it. It doesn’t rain a lot there and the temperature is pretty decent year-round. Here, it was raining yesterday. It started raining Friday night and has been drizzly and very Washington-like ever since. You can’t really put clothes outside on the line to dry if it’s raining. And later this winter when it starts to snow? I REALLY don’t think my clothes are going to dry then. So, this is what life looks like without a dryer…







I do love my towel warmer. I put my jeans on that, and it still took a long time, but I got them dry in one day instead of three. I have clothes on my tables, clothes on the chairs, clothes on the banister and clothes on desk…it’s beginning to sound like a Dr. Seuss story.

I also spent some time doing dishes and sweeping. Dust tends to gather really quickly here so I feel like I need to sweep every couple days.

I showered and got ready, and then got to talk with Brittany a little bit. We didn’t get to chat long because I ran out of money on my phone, but it was still good to talk to her. My plan was to go to Murcia tomorrow (Pepe is going to Murcia to look at a new car and said he could take me) and have coffee with Brittany.

After all that I headed out to do my errands. I went to Pepe’s house to drop off the phone he lent me and confirm tomorrow’s plan. Pepe wasn’t at the house but Rocio was. She said her dad was at Mezquita…of course he was…I think he is there, or in the area 90% of the time. Rocio was prepping her Halloween costume with a friend. Then I headed to Dia. I wasn’t sure what their hours were going to be, or which days they would be open because of the holiday weekend. I stocked up on food and jotted down their normal hours so I would know when to go in the future. I stopped in at Mezquita for coffee but it was really busy and I had my bags of groceries anyways. Pepe was there, and the group from the night before. Pepe said that they decided to go to Murcia next week instead. I was disappointed. I’m not sure when Pepe is actually going to go. He said he was going to go last week, and then moved it to this week, and now its next week. These trips to Murcia are way more complicated than they should be. It’s only a little over 2 hours away but there is only one or two buses that go that route each day, so if I go to Murcia I have to stay overnight at least one night. Brittany doesn’t have an apartment yet and I’m hesitant to shell out the money for a hostel until I start getting paid. Blah. I’m sure I’ll figure something out eventually.

I went back to the house, put my groceries away, send some e-mails, worked on my blog and dried off a little (stupid rain).

I was planning on going out again but wasn’t totally sure what time. This would be my first night here that I had plans to meet people and go out, instead of going by myself. QUITE exciting! The party at Mezquita was suppose to start at 1am and my group said they were going to go at 2am. They also said they were going to go out before the party, so I wasn’t sure what time they were going to call. I decided if they didn’t end up calling I would head to Menphys at 12:30 or 1 and see if they are there.

Later I received a text from Maribel saying they were planning on getting together at Menphys at 11:30. I took my time getting there, knowing it wasn’t likely they would actually be there right at 11:30. Menphys was so crowded. I definitely have to get used to that environment again because I was totally overwhelmed. It was really difficult to hear people, and basically impossible unless they were talking directly to me. I was underdressed too. I went in jeans and a fun shirt but all the girls were in heels and dresses. Part of me wanted to go home and change but I didn't. I should have saved my little black dress for this night instead of Friday. We had a couple drinks they headed to the discoteca at 2am. Cover was 6 euro, but it included a drink, so it wasn’t too bad. The bartender at the discoteca couldn’t understand me, and asked Almudena to clarify for him. It’s so frustrating…I know I’ve only been here a week and I’m not a native Spanish speaker, but I can hold such good conversations with some people and I’ve had many people tell me that I speak Spanish well. But then there are still people I can’t understand, who can’t understand me. Grrr.

It took me awhile to get adjusted to the discoteca. I was even more overwhelmed here. At times I just wanted to head out, or at least go outside for a minute, but I stuck it out. The concept of personal space is completely different here. Luckily the group I was with was really good to me. They kept checking in to make sure I was doing alright and having fun.

They had a special guest at the discoteca last night…Jenny from the show Mujeres y Hombres y Viceversa on Telecinco. I of course had no idea who she was prior to last night, but it was fun. We got a picture taken with her, which hopefully I’ll track down from Maribel at some point.

Gloria is freaking amazing. My night turned around and I had a lot of fun, mostly because of her. I really just can’t even express how grateful I am for her, for taking me under her wing, introducing me to people right and left, and breaking me out of my shell. She also took me up into the DJ area because her boyfriend is the DJ and he did a shout out to us over the PA system. We danced the night away, and I got to chat with quite a few people. I think a lot of the people were pleased to see that I wasn’t super uptight, because up until last night they had only seen me at Menphys trying to maintain conversation with them. I’m very sad that Gloria is only here for the weekend. I told her that I may try to take Laura and Chelsea to Granada, and if we do go, I’ll meet up with her. She is also going to be in town for Christmas break.

When I was in Murcia a lot of American music was played in the bars. I was pleasantly surprised that majority of the music played at the discoteca last night was Spanish. Gloria said yes, things are different in Andalucía.
Last night/this morning was daylight savings time here. I asked around 4am when the discoteca closes and Gloria said 6am because it’s a holiday weekend…and with daylight savings time…it feels like 7am. I think if I can survive last night, I’ll be set for the rest of my time here.













I went to bed at 7am (6am with the daylight savings time adjustment). Holy guacamole. I can’t believe that’s possible in a town this small. My ears were ringing so bad at the end of the night.

I woke up once at 11:30 and was shocked. I didn’t expect to be up until the day was mostly over. I closed my eyes again and didn’t wake up until 3. I tried to make potato wedges but burned them really badly. I think I have a high power oven. It said to cook them 15-20 minutes and by 15 minutes they were totally burnt. It’s a good thing apartments don’t have smoke detectors here because I definitely would have set them all off. And now I’m sitting in bed, enjoying patatas alioli and updating this blog. My only two goals today were to update the blog and finish my conversation cards for my adult English language class. Quite the life I have! And I don’t even have to work tomorrow!

Tonight is Halloween. I’m curious to see how many kids will actually end up going trick or treating since it is raining. I don’t have any candy to give out. Sad. I think there’s a store in town where you can buy it, but I don’t know where it is and it’s probably closed today. It’s definitely not like the bags of candy you buy in the states for Halloween. Who knows, if I end up going trick or treating with my students I won’t need candy anyways.

Random side note...I took this picture of the Siles directory sign. Notice that *the* gas station (gasolinera), *the* pharmacy (farmacia), *the* bus stop (parada bus) and public parking (parking público) are all destination points. Welcome to Siles!

Halloween at school, the payaso show and a beautiful sunset

Yesterday I got to sleep in a little. I don’t have to work on Fridays. However, even though I don’t have to work on Fridays I went to the school. They were having a Halloween celebration and I told Inés I would go to help take pictures. I got there a little bit before recess and a group of the kids were being gathered in the teachers’ room. The teachers had put dark curtains up over the windows and the kids sat on the floor. Eva played scary music and every so often someone in the hallway would knock loudly or slam the door (causing all of us, even those of us that knew it was going to happen to jump). Towards the end of the scary music 3 of the teachers, who were dressed up as scary creatures, bust through the doors and scared the kids. The kids loved it. I took pictures of it all, although my flash batteries were pretty toast, so the flash only fired every couple shots. After the scary story the kids took the skeleton masks they had made and went out to recess. I took my camera out and the kids LOVED it. They all wanted their picture taken. I took SO many pictures. After recess everyone went back to their class but only for a little while. In addition to the Halloween celebration there was also a field trip. At one point the classes were getting lined up in the hallway, and I don’t know why, or how, but all of a sudden the kids started chanting my name. I was so amazed. Apparently they’ve taken a liking to me! As the kids headed out to the patio it continued. It was so funny. I felt like I needed to go out to the patio for my encore and remembered that I had my other camera with video with me. I pulled it out and got a clip of the tail end of their chanting (although it did start up again later as we were walking). In addition to feeling flattered I was also a little concerned about what the other teachers thought of all this. I’ve only been here a week and have a school full of children chanting my name. I really think that’s why they do these things though…I’m something new and different and I look funny, and that makes me fun in comparison to their normal teachers.


Anyways, big difference for field trips here and in the US…we were walking down to the high school, not taking a bus. All the kids from the infantile (ages 3 and 4) and the elementary school (grades 1-6) lined up and we wound through the streets of town. It was like the Siles version of Serpentine (only my fellow Snohomish folk will know what that is). People in the town came out of their houses to see all the kids go by, and a group of the kids took turns chanting my name and Inés’ name. I was totally dumbfounded that the teachers could keep that many kids organized while walking through town. Seriously, if the kids decided to mutiny and all start walking off there’s nothing we could have done! Anywho, we got down to the high school without any disasters. At the high school we were going to watch a ‘payaso’ show. ‘Payaso’ is ‘clown’ in Spanish. This particular organization puts on these shows to make money so they can go to places around the world and visit sick children in hospitals to cheer them up. Several of the children and one of the teachers got to be involved on stage and it was a big hit with the kids…most of them at least…we had one little boy hiding behind the curtain next to me and Inés because he was afraid of the clowns. By the end of the show he had mostly warmed up to them. The show was about an hour and then the parents were waiting outside to pick their kids up. Yet another thing that would never happen in the U.S. We always have to get back to the normal school to be picked up, not at the field trip location. A couple other teachers and I got a ride from one of the moms (who actually turned out to be one of my neighbors). It’s puente (a long weekend/vacation) and it was sunny so everyone was really happy to be done for the day. I also got to meet Inés’ husband and 1 ½ year old after the show. Inés is pretty petite and her baby seems so big in comparison. Inés said her brother in law is coming in to town but if they decide to do something she will call me so I can join them. I seriously love her. I’ve heard stories about some of the coordinators in other regions who are completely inattentive to the auxiliares. I could not have asked for a better person to help me get adapted to life here. When I got home I started debating with myself…do I go out alone again to the bars? I really didn’t feel like going out and awkwardly hanging out at the bars by myself but it was Friday night. The only nights to go out here are Friday and Saturday and if I started making a habit out of staying in, I would never meet anyone and it would always be awkward. I listened to this song “A Little Bit Stronger” by Sara Evans that was the little extra push I needed to convince me to go out…that which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. I threw on my little black dress and headed towards Menphys praying that someone I knew would be there. No such luck. I got there and didn’t know anyone. My wonderful, favorite Siles bartender was there and she checked in with me, asking how teaching was, how my week had been, etc. etc. She also pointed out the new bartender to me. It ended up being a very successful night. Initially I had to deal with the extreme discomfort of not knowing anyone and trying to figure out what to say and how to “friend date.” After not *too* long Antonio and his friend from the weekend before showed up. Thank God. Antonio waved me over and introduced me to two girls sitting at the bar…Maribel and Almudena. I chatted them for quite some time and eventually even more of their friends showed up. Almudena even invited me to spend New Years Eve with her and her family. I also got to meet her husband (Rulo). Really, honestly, everyone knows everyone in this town. As people come in, they greet everyone. Eventually Maria (also from last weekend) also showed up as well as a whole bunch more of their friends. I talked for a long time to Gloria. Antonio had told me about Gloria last weekend. She is studying English in Granada. I am really sad that she isn’t in Siles all the time because I think we could be great friends. I talked with her most of the night and she is fantastic. She said if I end up staying here for Christmas she is going to call me all day long to make sure I’m not lonely. I exchanged phone numbers with several people and they said they would call me to go out the next night. There is a big party at the discoteca on Saturday and most everyone is going. Around 2:30 I decided to head out. While grabbing my coat the group of guys near me (that I also met last weekend) started talking to me. Now for whatever reason I cannot seem to understand a darn thing that these guys say. I can carry on complete conversations with people like Gloria, and then not understand a word with other people. I believe they were trying to set me up with their friend (orrrrrrrrr propositioning me for sex…) so I went over to the one girl in the group and asked girl-to-girl what the heck they were talking about but she didn’t know. Ultimately I just got uncomfortable and headed out. On my way out my favorite bartender said she was surprised I was heading out so soon. Haha, yes…heading out at 2:30am is “so soon.” I also ended up chatting with the other bartender briefly. He is actually from La Puerta and knows Ben and Ava (the people I went to Jaén with). He expressed interest in learning English. I told him we could get together for intercambios and speak half Spanish, half English and he seemed excited and grateful. He took my hand, kissed it and I was off. Maribel was quite infatuated with the new bartender all night, so maybe I’ll be able to hook her up. :) It had been raining while I was in at Menphys. That was the first time it had rained since I’ve been here. Winter’s a’comin! Bedtime: 3:30am.
These sunset photos are unedited...straight out of my camera. Pretty cool, huh?