Warning: HUGE catch-up blog

Whoa. I haven’t updated in 2 weeks? I’m such a slacker!

Ok, let’s back up to Tuesday the 7th. It was puente (vacation) and I decided to go to Ubeda for the day to do some Christmas, grocery and clothes shopping. Ubeda is about a 2 ½ hour bus ride from Siles. I got up super early to catch the 6:30am bus hoping I could get to the stores right when they open and have all day to do my shopping and sight seeing. Well, this ended up not being the best plan because I had to wait for over an hour when I got to Ubeda for all the shops to open. I stopped and got breakfast and a coffee and went for a walk. There were lots of clothes and shoes, but nothing really struck me for Christmas gifts. I wandered around for a long time and actually ran into two other girls from Siles that I know who had taken the 8am bus. I wandered into the monument area of town to take a break from shopping. This really wasn’t a super fun trip. It was raining and I was cold (like every other time I’ve tried to leave Siles and do some traveling…I think I might be cursed). I tried to take some pictures but I was juggling my camera, my umbrella (which broke in the wind) and my backpack. I was irritated. Eventually it was getting to be the middle of the day and the stores were starting to close. I decided I wanted to head back to the bus station and go back to Siles. I didn’t feel like spending the rest of the day there. I was tired, hungry and wet. As I was heading back to the bus station I debated whether or not to stop at the grocery store. I had been saving that as my last stop so I didn’t have to carry the weight around town. I was cutting it close and I wasn’t sure I was going to make it to the bus on time if I stopped. I ended up stopping anyways. It was one of the reasons I went to Ubeda and it wasn’t going to be worth another 6 hours in the bus and 20 euro to come back later. I wandered around the grocery store trying to find the things I wanted…no luck…NOTHING on my list was there. I rushed off to the bus station but I didn’t make it in time. The next bus wasn’t for 7 hours. Uhhhhhhhhhh, awful. I decided to buy a ticket to La Puerta and hope for the best once I got there. I was only going to have to wait 3 hours for the bus to La Puerta. I went in search of food but a lot of places were closing for siesta. I found a little café and had a coffee and a bocadillo (sandwich). I hung out there for awhile then decided to try and find the even bigger grocery store since I had time to kill. I got directions and headed off. Jackpot. I found a Carrefour and even though they didn’t have everything I wanted, they had most of it. There was even a movie theater and I considered staying catching a movie and taking the later bus after all. I did my shopping and then was running out of time so I basically ran back to the bus station. I got there just in time. The roads heading back were crazy. It had been raining all day and the ground just couldn’t soak it all up. There was water on the roadways and visibility was pretty low…which is scary because the roads are so dark and windy. I knew Ben and Eve were in Morocco for break so I was nervous that there wouldn’t be a bus to Siles, that I wouldn’t have a place to stay or that I would have to call someone to come get me (and I would feel bad because that’s a 45 minute roundtrip with no benefit to them). I got to La Puerta and luckily for me it was Tuesday. On Tuesdays and Thursdays there is a bus from La Puerta to Siles at 7:10pm…10-15 minutes after we arrived in La Puerta. Perfect! Only downside is that it is the bus that goes to all the small towns in the area, so even though La Puerta and Siles are only 20 minutes apart by car it’s an hour-long bus ride. Bllllllllah. It’s one of the worst parts of these little trips I’ve been taking...after a long day of walking in the rain and being cold that last hour being SO CLOSE really sucks. Then, to make matters even more interesting we got stuck in Orcera. There were cars parked on both sides of a road and the bus driver tried to make it through…unsuccessfully. We had cars honking all over the place and people coming out of the woodworks to give their 2 cents on the situation and offer solutions. After basically a town meeting in the street the owner of one of the parked cars got into his car and moved it, giving us enough space to get through. The length of time it took to come up with this solution was really amazing. Also, I was the only one on the bus. Whenever I take the 7pm bus from La Puerta I’m always the only one. So I’m sitting there in a dark bus, by myself, munching on an empanadilla and just laughing at the chaos that this day has turned into. We were finally on our way again and I got back to Siles around 8:15pm. Finally! I think I’ve decided not to do anymore traveling until spring unless it is absolutely necessary (not including my trip to Murcia of course). These solo trips in the rain just aren’t very much fun.





Next day…Wednesday the 8th…once again I got sick. Without fail (no matter how many clothes I bring, if I bring an umbrealla, etc) nothing keeps me from getting sick on these rainy solo trips. I didn’t feel super awful initially and spent the morning relaxing, cleaning, laundry, etc. In the afternoon Luis asked if I wanted to get a coffee so I met him at the Parador café that has the chimney. Thank goodness because I was feeling chilly. I hadn’t seen Luis in a few days because he had been sick. He had gotten a fever and then this super painful blister-like rash showed up on his hands and feet. It’s called “Mouth Hand Foot” disease. His nephew had been here a week or two before with the same sickness except his dermatologist had said that it wasn’t contagious. LIES! That’s when Luis told me that it takes about 7 days to incubate in your system before you see the symptoms. Ohhhhh crap. I had dinner with Luis the previous Thursday and spent all evening on Saturday with him. We both started thinking positive thoughts that the sickness I had been feeling all day was from walking around in the rain, and not the same thing that he had.

We left Parador to go over to Mezquita and get something to eat. Luis’ parents were there. When they were done hanging out with their friends they came over to say hi. I introduced myself but his mom said “Oh I know who you are.” Haha, uh oh! Almudena and Maria were also there so I briefly went over to say hi. Luis and I had some wine, tostadas and pâté and then decided to head off to see if Steffi and Edu wanted to hang out. Luis said “I’m going to send them a message that sounds like you wrote it.” Heeeeey, wait a minute…that means that I speak differently than you! What makes a text message sound like it’s from me? Luis started going through text messages that I had sent him and explaining how he would say it. Good learning experience. Anyways, we sent a message to Steffi and she said they were having a mini ‘80s party at their house. The first time I read the text message I thought they meant they were partying as if they were 80 years old (meaning not doing anything) but the second time I understood. We got ready to leave Mezquita and the waiter told us that our bill had been paid (Thanks Luis’ parents!). We headed over to Steffi and Edu’s house and Edu was hanging out in the kitchen with his flashy rockstar sunglasses and they had their new 80s music CD blasting. It was a really good mix! We chatted for several hours but I progressively felt sicker and sicker. Eventually I decided it was time to go home. I was freezing and could tell I had a fever. Fausto, one of the other guys that had been at Steffi and Edu’s house had a car there and drove me home. I immediately climbed into bed with 5 blankets and went to bed (at 9pm…super early here).

The next day (Thursday the 9th) my alarm went off and I laid in bed debating for half half an hour whether or not I should go to school. My to-do list won. I had so much to do that day plus it was my short day…I only had to go to two classes. I got up, showered and got ready to go to school. I kept switching from being cold to sweating profusely. I layered up and headed to school. I was surprised that it wasn’t cold when I went outside…go figure since I had layered up so much. Throughout the day I actually felt better. Getting up, showering and moving about made me feel better. In my third grade class I tried to teach them Silent Night via the teacher’s request. It didn’t go that well. It’s a hard song to teach, especially when I don’t sing! Oh well.

Friday (the 10th) I got the confirmation I didn’t want…I had the same thing as Luis. The spots had started showing up on my hands the night before and were noticeable worse when I woke up. It still wasn’t nearly as bad as Luis but I went to the doctor to get medicine anyways since the doctor’s office wasn’t going to be open all weekend when I would probably need to go. I actually didn’t end up with very many spots on my hands but my feet were covered. It hurt to walk. It felt like I was walking for hours on end in high heels with really dry feet up and down the hills of Siles. Yeah, not fun. Luis was already over the worst of it and volunteered himself to take care of me all weekend. His mom had babied him all week because he was in such pain. He was anticipating that I probably would be too (although we were both hoping that wouldn’t be true), and since I was here alone he didn’t want me to be stuck in bed unable to make food, walk or do any other basic task.

Saturday I was home all day but super restless by the time nighttime came around. We decided to go to Menphys for one drink just to get out of the house a little. Well…in true Spanish style “one drink” wasn’t true. We went to 1900 after Menphys. I was glad we got out for a little while though.

Overall the sickness didn’t end up being too bad. It hurt to walk for about 2 days but I didn’t end up getting very many blisters on my hands. I definitely didn’t have as much pain as Luis and my skin didn’t peel. Plus, since Luis made me dinner every night I ate way better than I usually do! Haha.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I had class like normal. I had one private lesson on Monday and one on Tuesday but the rest of the week was pretty typical.

Thursday was a different story. Earlier in the week I had talked to Inés and she said that the 1st-4th graders were going on a field trip to Jaén on Thursday and that if I wanted to come I could. I called the extranjería to see if my residency card was ready. Thursday was going to be day 38 after my appointment and they had told me that I needed to wait 40 days to pick up my card…so close! I called and, lucky me, it was ready! Thursday morning we all had to be at the bus stop at 7:45am. It was freezing. We all piled onto the bus and started the 2 ½ hour trip to Jaén. I’m not really sure which is worse…4-4 ½ hours in a quiet bus or 2 ½ hours in a bus full of crazy children. Almost immediately we got the inevitable question “Are we almost there?” We arrived at Feduca (the carnival where the kids were going on their field trip) in Jaén a little before 11. I asked for directions to the bus stop and headed on my way while the remaining teachers and kids headed in for a chaotic day of fun. The guys who had given me directions said I needed to go to “not this roundabout, but the next one.” I walked and almost immediately passed the first roundabout. I figured the next one wouldn’t be far away…so I walked…and walked a little more (now on the side of a 4 lane road) until I got to a gas station. I stopped and asked where the bus stop was. He pointed me a little bit further and said it was next to the Corte Ingles sign…on the other side of the road. “Umm, is there a crosswalk somewhere?” “No,” he said as he started a mini game of charades, “you have to look both ways and then run!” And that’s what I did. I found one bus stop, but it was only for days when there are football games…and I found another bus stop…same thing…finally there was a third bus stop that was for normal days. The guys back at Feduca had told me that the bus was going to come in about half an hour. It had taken me about half an hour to walk to the bus stop. I waited for the bus for awhile, but then was afraid I had missed it. I decided to head towards the city center on foot. Of course about 5 minutes later the bus passed me. I eventually got to another bus stop that took me into the city center, really close to the extranjería. Just as I was about to walk in the door I realized that I was supposed to go to the bank and pay for my card first. It’s a different set-up here than in the US. You go to the bank to pay these fees instead of paying directly at the extranjería office. I went to one bank but the teller said I couldn’t pay for it there, that I could go to any other bank, but not there. Umm…ok…so I went to another bank. When I got to the next bank the teller told me he couldn’t do it. “Por qué? Why?” I asked. “It’s not the right hour.” Whaaaaaaat? The right HOUR? Apparently you can only pay things like this on certain days at certain times. For a country that seems so lax on schedules I have a hard time understanding why things like paying a 10 euro fee have to be done at specific hours. He decided to try running it through the system for me, but said it wasn’t working. Feeling defeated and like I had made the trip to Jaén for nothing I headed towards the door. Just as I was about to leave he shouted after me to come back…it was working. Thank goodness! I paid the fee and headed back to the extranjería. I showed up, waited in line a bit and was seen shortly after and handed my residency card. Woo hoo! Victory! It only took 3 trips to Jaén to get it!

After that I wandered around the city a bit, then got something to eat. I chuckled a little bit when the other people at the café all ordered beers. It seemed so early but I looked at my watch and it was already 1pm. Oh, ok…it’s 1…beers are no big deal at this hour. Haha. Afterwards I started to look for a bus to take me back to Feduca. I debated taking a taxi too but figured it would be expensive. As I walked around I stopped in at a clothing/shoe store when a pair of red heels caught my eye. I bought a new red dress for New Years Eve and a new pair of red shoes to go with seemed like a good idea…wrong…I went in and all of the shoes had super high heels. I don’t know how women here do it! I can’t go out for hours and hours in heels none the less ones that are that high!

Anywho, I continued my trek, bought a brownie, looked at some nativity scene displays and found the bus. I was told the bus comes every half an hour on the hour and half hour. At 2 the bus arrived but the bus driver told me he was doing a different route that wasn’t going to go by Feduca…I had to wait until the 2:30 bus. Hmmm, I had to be back at Feduca by 3pm to catch the bus with the kids back to Siles. That was pushing it a little…especially since I thought the bus was going to the same bus stop that I had been at before and not directly to Feduca, so I would have to walk as well. A taxi dropped someone off across the street and I asked him how much it would be…4 euros and a little bit. Oh, is that all? Taxi it is. The driver was super nice and told me about one other time he drove 2 Americans. We also chatted about teaching and careers. He dropped me off at the door of Feduca and I had plenty of time left over.

I went in to search for Inés to let her know that I was back. I ran into Eve first, who had her arms full of the kids’ balloons. Next I ran into Antonio who was hanging out with a group of kids and a potter that was helping the kids make ashtrays, jars and bowls out of clay. Antonio also got to make a jar and eventually I did too. I waited for awhile to let all the kids go first. The potter had quite a bit of fun with me. He showed me how he could make an ashtray without even looking. It’s true! He was rather impressive. Then he had me sit down so “I” could make a jar (really he does all the work, but you get your hands all covered in clay and you feel like you got to do something). We made my jar but he wasn’t done with me yet. He told Antonio to get ready with the camera and then sculpted something underneath my hands so I couldn’t see. At the very last minute before the photo was taken he backed away to reveal (and capture in a photograph)…me…and a giant clay penis. Wooooonderful. Haha. Yes, we were at a kids’ fair, but that didn’t stop him. We laughed it off and then it was time for us to leave. We got all the kids’ coats and backpacks and headed out into the hallway to eat lunch before getting on the bus. We ushered kids into the bathroom to avoid making 50 stops on the way home and two poor little girls got stuck in one of the stalls. The door got jammed and they were hysterical. I kept trying to reassure them that I was there, I knew they were there, we weren’t going to leave without them and that security was coming to fix the door but they were just screaming. We got the door undone, finished eating and headed to the bus. All the teachers were thinking that after running around all day the kids were probably all going to crash and sleep on the way home. Soooo wrong. I think 2 kids slept. The rest were just as wound up as ever! It was amazing. I just couldn’t believe it. All the teachers were exhausted but the kids are like little energizer bunnies! We dealt with kids beating each other with balloons and screaming and standing up on the bus the whole way.


(Bathroom break means a bus load of kids running off into the olive groves to pee...on the way back they all squated next to the wall of a public swimming pool in plain sight. Funny sight.)






I was tired and stressed. We were supposed to be back in Siles at 5:30 but that didn’t happen. I was supposed to have a private lesson (with the family that constantly shows up early) at 6:30. I had called them earlier in the day to warn them that if they came before 6:30 I wouldn’t be there, but we didn’t get back to Siles until 6:45. I ran up to my apartment thinking they would be waiting but they weren’t there. They hadn’t called me so I wasn’t sure if they were coming later or not coming at all. Around 7pm I got a call from the dad saying they showed up at 6:30 but I wasn’t there. I explained the situation and they came over for the lesson. We got done around 8-8:15 and I was flustered. I ate some dinner, then met Luis at 1900 for a drink. We planned on staying for one drink since we still had to pack for our trip to Murcia and be up early the next day…but like I said earlier…just one drink never happens. We were out for several hours then I went home to sleep a little.




Luis came by early the next morning to give me a suitcase (both of mine are huge and unnecessary for a weekend trip). We headed off to meet Carlos (a friend of Luis’ dad) at 7:55am. He had to go to Hellín and said we could go with him. We rode with him to Hellín and took a bus from there to Murcia. The whole trip took 3 hours instead of the 8-9 hours it would have taken us if we had to take a bus the whole way.

When we showed up in Murcia there was a map with a list of hotels, restaurants, etc so we jotted down the numbers of some hotels and went to the payphone to see if they had empty rooms. We headed off to one of the cheaper hotels in a good, central location. They had rooms available so we dropped our stuff off, showered and got ready and went exploring. We went to Movistar first to put some more money on my phone, then called Brittany to let her know that we were there. Afterwards we stopped in at Intersport and I bought a new winter hat. I don’t usually like the way I look in hats but I think this one is pretty cut. After that we checked out the Christmas market. There were lots of nativity scenes, jewelry, food, wine and lots of other stuff. Then we decided to get a little something to eat…not a lot because we brought food that was waiting for us in the hotel. We stopped at Café del Arco which is one of my favorite lunch spots in Murcia. We had chicken and fish croquetas with special sauces and they were divine. We finished up the croquetas and wine and headed back to the hotel for siesta. Brittany called us later to let us know that we could meet them at 9pm in Plaza Santa Domingo. She had to work all day. At 9 we headed over to Plaza Santa Domingo and there was a ton of people. There was some sort of youth celebration going on that included a small concert. Brittany called us up to let us know they were having a hard time finding parking. We decided to meet them over by the university instead. We stopped in at a bar/café called La Toga (formerly Las Palmeras). It’s been renovated since I studied in Murcia and is way classier. We had a drink while we were waiting for Roberto and Brittany. They showed up, we stayed for a little while and then we headed over to Troya. Troya is mostly beer. We had a drink there then it was finally time for our dinner reservations. Our reservations were at 10:45pm for dinner. A lot of businesses/schools/etc are having their Christmas dinners with their employees this week so we couldn’t get reservations any earlier. Once we got to the restaurant they weren’t quite ready for us so we had a beer outside while we were waiting. Eventually we got in and oh my goodness…it was worth the wait. The food was SO good. It’s the best Italian food I’ve had in my life. We had wine and appetizers, main courses and dessert and were SO stuffed. I had tortellini with vegetables and the sauce was incredible. They make all their own pasta at this restaurant. It’s a really good thing we don’t have good restaurants like that in Siles because I would probably weigh 500 pounds by June. After dinner we went to the Roneria for a little bit. The Roneria specializes in rum and they have tons of different kinds. We each had a drink but were so full and tired we went home/back to the hotel after that drink.

Saturday Brittany had a lunch with her co-workers. She didn’t get done until 7 or 8pm. We spent most of the day relaxing and walking around a little. It was raining, so we basically only left to get lunch and later to meet Brittany and Roberto. (Rain…I told you! I’m cursed! It only rained like 4 times the entire time I studied in Murcia…I leave Siles and what do I find? Rain!) We went in search of a kebab place that’s supposedly really good but couldn’t find it, so we ate at a different kebab place instead. I haven’t had a kebab in so long so that was on my Murcia-visit-to-do list. After lunch we went back to the hotel for a siesta, which I thought was hilarious. We only left the hotel for lunch but like clockwork, after eating Luis wanted his daily siesta. I didn’t think I would sleep but I actually fell asleep for a couple hours.

Later we headed off to a café for a coffee, then we went to the Cathedral plaza while we were waiting for Brittany and Roberto. We went and saw the Nativity scene display then went to Fizpatricks with Brittany and Roberto for a drink. I got a hard cider which was huge! I was expecting a normal bottle but it was giantic. After that we headed off to a tapa dinner at Las Ventales. We wanted a lighter dinner than the day before. They said the wait was half an hour but I bet we waited at least an hour. It was packed. We had ensaladilla rusa (another Murcia-to-do) and a beer and then got to sit down. We had an assortment of tapas for dinner and then headed to El Ahorcado Feliz (translation: The Happy Hanging Man…very cool atmosphere actually) for a drink before calling it a night.

Sunday we slept until 10:30, got some croissants for breakfast, left our suitcases at the front desk (we had to check out but they said we could leave our stuff there) and headed out to walk some more. We went into the cathedral to see the inside, saw some people blowing huge bubbles for the kids in Plaza Santo Domingo and got another kebab for lunch at a better restaurant. It was huge and once again we were stuffed. We headed back to the hotel, had a coffee in the hotel restaurant, sat and relaxed a little, then called a taxi to take us to the bus station. The bus was supposed to leave at 3:45pm. At 3:45 there was no sign of our bus and Luis looked at the schedule…oh…there is no 3:45 bus on Sundays. Then we looked at our tickets…the bus wasn’t going to leave until 5pm. Laaaaaame. I was cold so we went into the bus station café. Luis had another coffee and I had some tea. I woke up feeling a little sick (with a cold) so I was less than thrilled about the idea of sitting at the bus station an extra hour and a half. Eventually our bus showed up and we headed to Hellín. I tried to sleep on the bus but was unsuccessful. Luis parents picked us up in Hellín and drove us back to Siles. I forgot that I had turned the heat off in my apartment Friday morning because I was really hot getting ready so it was freezing in my apartment. I bundled up under the covers, chatted with my parents and tried to get caught up on my e-mails and Facebook messages. This was the first time in I don’t know how long that I didn’t use my computer for 3 days. I didn’t have any lessons to plan, and was still feeling sick so I ate something and headed to bed.













Today I woke up late and wasn’t going to make it to my morning private lesson on time, so I called and rescheduled. I headed to school and had class with the 5th graders. During break I worked on some more Christmas cards, then I had class with Inés and the 1st graders. Afterwards I finished up the Christmas cards and headed to the post office. I mailed almost all of the rest of my cards and presents and headed home. The lady at the post office said if I don’t hear anything about my package to come back tomorrow and she would call the other post office and see what’s going on. I went home and tried to tidy my apartment but didn’t get as much done as I wanted. The afternoon just zoomed right by. I wanted to get my blog and photos updated and that took quite awhile. I still have to figure out what I want to do with the 4 year olds tomorrow.

On a random note, I found out that Inés was offered and accepted another job. Starting in January she won’t be at the school anymore. I’m pretty sad about that. I guess Javi (the principal) will take over the role of being my coordinator, but I don’t see or talk to him as much.

Wednesday we are having a lunch with all the teachers in a restaurant in town and doing a secret Santa gift exchange. Here they call it an “invisible friend.”

Thursday the infantil (with the 3-5 year olds) and the colegio (1st-6th grade) will all be having breakfast together and the older kids will be singing Christmas songs for the younger kids. There is also supposed to be a surprise Santa showing, so maybe I’ll get my annual Santa Photo after all!

Then Friday is Christmas Eve and holiday break starts! Woo hoo!

(I bought a strand of Christmas lights for my window!)

(Siles under a cloud of chimney smoke)

I’m sure I missed something about the last 2 weeks, but this is the gist of it. I’ll try to stay more on top of it from now on, but no promises! I don’t know where the time goes every day!