Today I woke up late and only got to one of my classes. I missed the first two. Javi, the director (principal), told me not to worry about it (probably because he knows I haven’t made a habit of just not showing up). At least I made it to the third class of the day. The first two I just help out in with the other teacher present. The third class I prepare completely…so of all the classes for me to wake up for that was the right one. Luckily I only live a few minutes away from the school.
The Day of Peace is tomorrow. Yesterday I tried teaching the 4th graders how to make origami cranes with instructions in English. They at least seemed to pay a little more attention but as an activity it really wasn’t a success. We didn’t have enough time, the kids wanted to finish even though they had to go to PE and we screwed up one step so the cranes didn’t really open very well. I reassured the kids that we could try again next week or later so they would let it go. Today we continued working on our MLK Jr. mini books in the 3rd grade class. I was really naïve to think we’d get it done in one class. We spent two cases working on it and kids still didn’t get it done. Also, a bunch of kids lost their book from last week so they had to start over. Apparently it doesn’t matter how many times I say “Don’t Lose it!” in either language. The books have about 7 pages and each page had a drawing for them to color and part of MLK Jr’s hope for the future. (MLK Jr hoped one day we could all work together. MLK hoped we could all pray together, etc, etc.) I was going to have us translate the text as a group but we didn’t have time.
During recess I spoke with Javi and Sebas. Javi mentioned in the past that the hardest part for the auxiliares is usually Christmas. It’s reassuring to know I’ve probably gotten over the hardest part. I also mentioned in my frustration that although I seemed to have made friends they never call me or invite me to do anything. He explained that’s just not how they do things around here…that he’s never called someone to ask if they wanted to do something. People just always run into each other and happen to decide to do something. That makes me feel better. At least it’s not me. I thought they just didn’t want to invite me to things and felt obligated to include me when they saw me. It also gives me a clear way to improve the situation without feeling like I’m imposing on people. I have to be the proactive one that calls people and tries to make plans. Good, good, good to know.
I went home and had hot soup and risotto because it’s COLD. There is snow in the mountains just above us. People are predicting that we probably have snow in the next few days. Daaaaaaaang it. Last week’s nice weather was such a tease! I can’t wait for spring!
I had juuuust laid down to take a nap when I got a call from Ben and Eve (I don’t usually take naps…I like the idea but usually end up trying to finish other tasks during the siesta time. It would figure the one day I try to take a nap someone actually calls me to make plans.). They were in Siles having lunch at the high school (the Thursday fancy lunch with the culinary students that I went to with the teachers a couple months ago). When they were done with lunch I met them at my school. They had come over with one of my adult pupils. Pilar, the wife of my adult pupil and a nurse who works in Puente Genave, also came with them because she is learning English. We all headed towards Mezquita to have a coffee. On the way Erika Martinez (the infamous mannequin head actress starring in their web series Pueblo) took some pictures with a dog. There was an old lady on the other side of the street giving us the evil eye, probably wondering who these freaks were carrying around a mannequin head in their backpack and then bothering a poor dog with their antics. Haha. At Mezquita we chatted, practiced English, made paper cranes, had a coffee and talked about projects. Pilar mentioned that Spanish people don’t have “projects” besides getting coffee. Haha. Eve and I talked about doing photo projects together. I would really like to try to go through my Artist Way book again and take on some photo projects. I have such amazing scenery at my disposal, and so much to take pictures of, and I just haven’t been able to make time to do it. Ben and Eve pointed out that maybe I have too many projects and to-dos running through my mind and I should focus on one a week. It’s a good idea…we’ll see how successful I am with it. I do have a habit of trying to multi-task to the extreme. They also mentioned that they choose not to give private lessons during their stay here because this is the one year in their lives they will have to relax…that they prefer not to make much money and have more time. Sometimes I wish I’d taken on that mentality, but I think it’s also impossible for me to have too much free time. At least Ben and Eve have each other in La Puerta…if I have too much time alone, not doing anything I get bored and depressed.
Having three Americans in Siles was pretty crazy. I told them they have to come back when Laura and Chelsea get here. 5 Americans would probably be some sort of record!
Around 7pm Ben and Eve went back to La Puerta. I left and tried to go to the grocery store. There were a couple guys outside of Mezquita (not Spanish guys…immigrants) who started shouting random words at me in English to get my attention. Sorry, I don’t respond to “Yes! Yes!” or “Rubia!” I can have an intelligent conversation. I’m a human being and I don’t respond to physical descriptors. Sorry.
I ran into Thomas and Silvia. I stressed again that next time they go out they should give me a call. Thomas also reassured me that I could call him anytime I was bored or wanted to “tomar algo.”
After that I ran into Maria del Mar and Eva (guess it’s true what Javi said about just running into people). We chatted briefly and they told me that apparently we’re doing Day of Peace activities tomorrow, but there’s no schedule and it depends on the weather. I knew we’re having a race at 12:30 but I didn’t know about any other activities.
I ran into Casa Gregorio to put a few euros on my phone, grabbed a small pack of M&Ms and headed home. I changed my clothes, went back to Mezquita to pick up the umbrella that I forgot and then headed to the gym.
Today was a good day. Some days feel really hard and others I’m just in a groove. Today was one of my ‘groove’ days. It was awesome…another 3 miles on the treadmill. Tomorrow is squats day though…we’ll see how that goes. Last week Javi told me I should do the squat machine once a week to start. He asked me yesterday if I wanted to do the machine. I explained…well…if you think I should I will…but I prefer to do it Friday so I have Saturday and Sunday to recoup (the gym isn’t open on the weekends). He laughed at me and said ok.
My walk home is always to longest and hardest part of going to the gym. I really can’t wait until I go to and come home from the gym when it’s still light outside and isn’t so cold. When I got home I made tortellini for dinner to warm up.
I added another private lesson today. That’s 2 more for the week. 8 private lessons a week and 2 intercambios, plus my normal classes and my adult class. I’m planning on taking a break from private lessons when Laura, Chelsea and Amy are here. I am going to really miss the extra income but I don’t want to spend all my time giving private lessons when they’re here. I’m afraid they are going to be bored enough in Siles as is!
Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Friday, January 7, 2011
Party Hard, Sleep Hard
Today was fairly relaxing. I went about my usual, uneventful day. I went to the gym, relaxed…really nothing exciting. The one thing I had planned was that I was possibly going to get together with Gloria at night.
Today was one of those days that unexpected, epic nights out occur. I started off at Menphys. Almudena, Maria, and a bunch of the other girls I had met on previous weekends out where there. They seemed surprised to see me. I was a little annoyed to see them…not because I didn’t want to hang out with them, but because I haven’t figured out why they don’t invite me to hang out with them. They always welcome me in if I happen to show up at a place where they are at, but they never call/text/tell me when they are going to do something. I’m not really sure what I have to do to change that. Anyways, I hung out with them for a little bit because Gloria wasn’t quite there yet.
It was my first night out with the new smoking laws. I’m glad the new smoking laws are in effect, but it doesn’t solve all the problems. The main problem I have is that I’m one of maybe half a dozen people in this town that don’t smoke. All the smokers seem to save up then all go outside at the same time to smoke together. This leaves me with two choices…stay inside by myself, or go outside with all the smoke. So much for getting away from the smoke!
I hung out with Gloria and her friend Elizabeth for the rest of the night. I also chatted with several other people they introduced me to, all of which are only here for the week. I seem to be really good at making friends with people that aren’t actually living in Siles right now. I really enjoyed hanging out with Gloria and Elizabeth. Elizabeth and Gloria are both learning English so we switched back and forth from Spanish to English.
I didn’t realize the discoteca was going to be open…it was a Wednesday after all. All of a sudden Gloria and Elizabeth grabbed their coats and said they were going to the discoteca. I was surprised. Apparently because the following day was a holiday (3 Kings Day) the discoteca was open. We danced the night away and around 5:30 or 6 I got home. I crashed IMMEDIATELY. I was SO tired, but it was nice to have a good night out and not be home.
The next day I didn’t do anything. I slept literally all day (and no, I didn’t have the hangover of the century. I was just totally wiped. I think it’s because I was getting sick). I had been told that Three Kings Day was mostly for the kids, and that the only thing they do is play with their toys in the streets and at the park with the other kids, so I didn’t feel too bad about not getting out of the house (although in hindsight I know I probably should have at least taken a stroll to see if anything was going on). I had been planning on grabbing a coffee with Gloria before she went back to Granada but that didn’t happen. I didn’t hear from her and I was pretty content sleeping the day away.
I slept for almost 30 hours straight, with short breaks to go to the bathroom and get something to drink. I woke up at 2:30am. I didn’t think I was going to be unable to get back to sleep and that I had totally screwed up my internal clock. Luckily for me I watched on episode of Glee and fell right back asleep. I didn’t wake up again until 12:30. CRAZY! I was planning on going to the gym but was feeling a bit weak after being in bed so long. Luis sent me a text asking if I wanted him to come over and have dinner. We ended up going to Mezquita instead to eat calamares and gambas (shrimp). After that we grabbed a drink at Nicols and called it a night.
Today was one of those days that unexpected, epic nights out occur. I started off at Menphys. Almudena, Maria, and a bunch of the other girls I had met on previous weekends out where there. They seemed surprised to see me. I was a little annoyed to see them…not because I didn’t want to hang out with them, but because I haven’t figured out why they don’t invite me to hang out with them. They always welcome me in if I happen to show up at a place where they are at, but they never call/text/tell me when they are going to do something. I’m not really sure what I have to do to change that. Anyways, I hung out with them for a little bit because Gloria wasn’t quite there yet.
It was my first night out with the new smoking laws. I’m glad the new smoking laws are in effect, but it doesn’t solve all the problems. The main problem I have is that I’m one of maybe half a dozen people in this town that don’t smoke. All the smokers seem to save up then all go outside at the same time to smoke together. This leaves me with two choices…stay inside by myself, or go outside with all the smoke. So much for getting away from the smoke!
I hung out with Gloria and her friend Elizabeth for the rest of the night. I also chatted with several other people they introduced me to, all of which are only here for the week. I seem to be really good at making friends with people that aren’t actually living in Siles right now. I really enjoyed hanging out with Gloria and Elizabeth. Elizabeth and Gloria are both learning English so we switched back and forth from Spanish to English.
I didn’t realize the discoteca was going to be open…it was a Wednesday after all. All of a sudden Gloria and Elizabeth grabbed their coats and said they were going to the discoteca. I was surprised. Apparently because the following day was a holiday (3 Kings Day) the discoteca was open. We danced the night away and around 5:30 or 6 I got home. I crashed IMMEDIATELY. I was SO tired, but it was nice to have a good night out and not be home.
The next day I didn’t do anything. I slept literally all day (and no, I didn’t have the hangover of the century. I was just totally wiped. I think it’s because I was getting sick). I had been told that Three Kings Day was mostly for the kids, and that the only thing they do is play with their toys in the streets and at the park with the other kids, so I didn’t feel too bad about not getting out of the house (although in hindsight I know I probably should have at least taken a stroll to see if anything was going on). I had been planning on grabbing a coffee with Gloria before she went back to Granada but that didn’t happen. I didn’t hear from her and I was pretty content sleeping the day away.
I slept for almost 30 hours straight, with short breaks to go to the bathroom and get something to drink. I woke up at 2:30am. I didn’t think I was going to be unable to get back to sleep and that I had totally screwed up my internal clock. Luckily for me I watched on episode of Glee and fell right back asleep. I didn’t wake up again until 12:30. CRAZY! I was planning on going to the gym but was feeling a bit weak after being in bed so long. Luis sent me a text asking if I wanted him to come over and have dinner. We ended up going to Mezquita instead to eat calamares and gambas (shrimp). After that we grabbed a drink at Nicols and called it a night.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Holidays in Spain
Happy 2011!
Here’s a bit of a summary of how I spent my holidays…
Christmas Eve I was at home most of the day. Originally I was suppose to be with Almudena and her family that day, but they decided to spend Christmas Eve with her boyfriend’s family and it wasn’t really her place to invite me to that. So then I talked to Stefi and Edu about maybe spending Christmas Eve with them. They said that if Edu’s mom ending up coming over to their house for Christmas Eve that I could join them, but if she refused and they had to go to her house that I wouldn’t be able to come. It ended up that I wasn’t going to be able to go with them. Luckily for me Luis’ family doesn’t do anything for Christmas Eve, so he came and spent the day with me at my apartment. He made ham and mushroom risotto for lunch and brought a bottle of cava. Cava is like champagne, except since it’s from Catalonia it has a different name. We hung out most of the day and for dinner he cooked two other kinds of risotto…salmon risotto, and a chicken and cheese risotto. All of it was fantastic. After dinner I got dolled up in the dress I bought in Ubeda and a pair of heels (my first time attempting to wear heels for a night out in Siles). We met Luis’ brother at Pub JJ for a drink because Nicols wasn’t open yet (not open yet…at midnight!). After Pub JJ we went to Nicols and hung out for awhile. We had a drink, chatted and were given souvenir Nicols’ Santa hats. We left Nicols around 1:30 and walked to Luis’ house to get the car. (I can’t remember why we needed it). However, someone had parked behind the car and we couldn’t get it out so Luis’ brother and I walked up to my apartment while Luis got some things out of the house. At 2am I got to web chat with my family, and about 30 extended family members who were at my cousin’s house having Christmas Eve dinner. They took turns passing the computer around and then they put the computer at the end of the table so I could be apart of the dinner table prayer. Everyone started singing and I could tell Luis and Javi were amused and wondering what was going on. I ended the chat and then headed back out. We went to 1900 for awhile but it was really frustrating. The music was turned up RELALY loud making conversation virtually impossible for me. Plus, I got introduced to a guy whose accent I couldn’t understand very well, and who kept talking about things he didn’t really like about the US. I kept looking for a way out of the conversation, but it took awhile. Luis, Javi and I didn’t stay for too much longer. Javi went home and Luis and I went to the discoteca. Luis introduced me to a bunch of people at the discoteca, including a guy named Tom who is auditioning for a TV host role in Madrid. We drank and danced the night away, and I finally went to bed about 8am.
I like the fact that Spaniards have big crazy nights out for Christmas Eve, but I think there is one flaw in the tradition. Usually people here have a nice dinner for Christmas Eve, and a nice lunch for Christmas day. It was the first time in my life I’ve set an alarm for noon knowing I would only be getting four hours of sleep. It’s too bad people don’t have a nice dinner for Christmas instead of lunch so we have more time to recuperate after the previous night’s celebrations.
Christmas day starting off a little frantic and frustrating. I didn’t wake up right when I should have and so I rushed to get ready (I had been led to believe that people dressed up for Christmas). A couple weeks ago Almudena had told me that the lunch would be at her parents’ house. Last night when I saw her at the discoteca I confirmed with her and she said, no, the lunch was going to be at her house. This led to a whole slew of confusion on Christmas day, and me eventually showing up late to her parents where everyone was there waiting for me so they could eat. After eating our meat and seafood lunch (that’s the typical Christmas meal here) Almudena wanted me to take some pictures of the kids so we had a mini photo shoot with everyone that was there. Overall I was only at Almudena’s parents’ house about 2-3 hours, which is comparison to some lunches I’ve gone to is pretty short. I went home, relaxed and slept the rest of the day. A lot of people decided not to go out Christmas night because Christmas Eve had been so crazy.
New Years Eve I went to Hostal Cruz (a restaurant) with Luis and his parents. We had a big expensive meal (which Luis’ parents were generous enough to treat me to) and chatted with the people all around us. It felt like a big family gathering the way it was set up, except it was just a bunch of random people from the town all together. I met a lot of people, most of whom initially used Luis as my interpreter because they didn’t think I spoke Spanish. One of the older gentlemen there said that I could be Miss America or Miss North America. Haha. I got seated next to a girl from Germany (who is dating a guy living in Barcelona, originally from Siles). More than one person commented on the fact that they put the two guiris (foreigners) together. We had lots of tapas, wine, beer, our main courses, dessert and polvorones (cookies, chocolates, sweets). I had fish for my main course and Luis ordered the meat so we could try both. I really liked the meat dish and wish I had ordered it! We watched the countdown on TV and I was excited to eat my 12 grapes. Spaniards eat 12 grapes at midnight (one with each strike of the clock) and it’s supposed to bring you good luck in the coming year. The only thing that made this a little challenging was that the seeds aren’t pitted so you have to stuff a bunch of grapes in your mouth, eat around the seeds and then pick the seeds out after the clock has struck 12 times. Supposedly in some cities they were selling pitted grapes for New Years but sadly, Siles was not one of these towns. I guess that just makes my experience all the more authentic. The restaurant owner also gave everyone a bag of goodies (party hats, noisemakers, etc) to don while ringing in the New Year. After eating the grapes everyone went around the room wishing everyone a Happy New Year (¡Feliz año!) with the normal cheek kisses. Shortly after, the younger generations headed off to the bars. Luis and I headed off to Nicols. Luis’ parents stayed at Hostel Cruz but not for very long. We had a few drinks, chatted it up with people, hung out with the German girl and her Spanish boyfriend and eventually decided to go back to Hostal Cruz so I could see the older generation living it up. Haha. They were listening to music and dancing, and Ana, Luis “second mother” (who is super tiny) tried teaching me to dance. We stayed there for a little while, then headed off to Menphys. We ran into Maria and Almudena on the way. They were heading over to the discoteca so we decided to go straight there instead. Luis called up a friend in Barcelona to say ‘happy new year’ and then we went inside. It actually wasn’t too crowded when we showed up (around 3am). It didn’t take too long though before the place was PACKED. You really couldn’t dance. You just had to move around in the same place. I like going out in Spain but nights like this still stress me out. Maybe it’s because I treasure my American concept of personal space. Even if there is space it seems like people will just run into you without making much of an effort to go around. We stayed there for awhile, had a few drinks (I eventually changed out of my high heels and into the flats I stowed away in my purse) and later on we headed back to Nicols. It was a little less stressful there. I’m glad we went to the discoteca but *uffff* SO many people. I preferred Christmas Eve in the discoteca when there were still a lot of people, but not as many. I believe I finally went to bed around 7-8am.
And thaaaaaaaat was my holiday season in a nutshell. A *small* change from the typical low-key family gatherings I usually go to! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season!
¡Feliz navidad! ¡Feliz año Nuevo!
Here’s a bit of a summary of how I spent my holidays…
Christmas Eve I was at home most of the day. Originally I was suppose to be with Almudena and her family that day, but they decided to spend Christmas Eve with her boyfriend’s family and it wasn’t really her place to invite me to that. So then I talked to Stefi and Edu about maybe spending Christmas Eve with them. They said that if Edu’s mom ending up coming over to their house for Christmas Eve that I could join them, but if she refused and they had to go to her house that I wouldn’t be able to come. It ended up that I wasn’t going to be able to go with them. Luckily for me Luis’ family doesn’t do anything for Christmas Eve, so he came and spent the day with me at my apartment. He made ham and mushroom risotto for lunch and brought a bottle of cava. Cava is like champagne, except since it’s from Catalonia it has a different name. We hung out most of the day and for dinner he cooked two other kinds of risotto…salmon risotto, and a chicken and cheese risotto. All of it was fantastic. After dinner I got dolled up in the dress I bought in Ubeda and a pair of heels (my first time attempting to wear heels for a night out in Siles). We met Luis’ brother at Pub JJ for a drink because Nicols wasn’t open yet (not open yet…at midnight!). After Pub JJ we went to Nicols and hung out for awhile. We had a drink, chatted and were given souvenir Nicols’ Santa hats. We left Nicols around 1:30 and walked to Luis’ house to get the car. (I can’t remember why we needed it). However, someone had parked behind the car and we couldn’t get it out so Luis’ brother and I walked up to my apartment while Luis got some things out of the house. At 2am I got to web chat with my family, and about 30 extended family members who were at my cousin’s house having Christmas Eve dinner. They took turns passing the computer around and then they put the computer at the end of the table so I could be apart of the dinner table prayer. Everyone started singing and I could tell Luis and Javi were amused and wondering what was going on. I ended the chat and then headed back out. We went to 1900 for awhile but it was really frustrating. The music was turned up RELALY loud making conversation virtually impossible for me. Plus, I got introduced to a guy whose accent I couldn’t understand very well, and who kept talking about things he didn’t really like about the US. I kept looking for a way out of the conversation, but it took awhile. Luis, Javi and I didn’t stay for too much longer. Javi went home and Luis and I went to the discoteca. Luis introduced me to a bunch of people at the discoteca, including a guy named Tom who is auditioning for a TV host role in Madrid. We drank and danced the night away, and I finally went to bed about 8am.
I like the fact that Spaniards have big crazy nights out for Christmas Eve, but I think there is one flaw in the tradition. Usually people here have a nice dinner for Christmas Eve, and a nice lunch for Christmas day. It was the first time in my life I’ve set an alarm for noon knowing I would only be getting four hours of sleep. It’s too bad people don’t have a nice dinner for Christmas instead of lunch so we have more time to recuperate after the previous night’s celebrations.
Christmas day starting off a little frantic and frustrating. I didn’t wake up right when I should have and so I rushed to get ready (I had been led to believe that people dressed up for Christmas). A couple weeks ago Almudena had told me that the lunch would be at her parents’ house. Last night when I saw her at the discoteca I confirmed with her and she said, no, the lunch was going to be at her house. This led to a whole slew of confusion on Christmas day, and me eventually showing up late to her parents where everyone was there waiting for me so they could eat. After eating our meat and seafood lunch (that’s the typical Christmas meal here) Almudena wanted me to take some pictures of the kids so we had a mini photo shoot with everyone that was there. Overall I was only at Almudena’s parents’ house about 2-3 hours, which is comparison to some lunches I’ve gone to is pretty short. I went home, relaxed and slept the rest of the day. A lot of people decided not to go out Christmas night because Christmas Eve had been so crazy.
New Years Eve I went to Hostal Cruz (a restaurant) with Luis and his parents. We had a big expensive meal (which Luis’ parents were generous enough to treat me to) and chatted with the people all around us. It felt like a big family gathering the way it was set up, except it was just a bunch of random people from the town all together. I met a lot of people, most of whom initially used Luis as my interpreter because they didn’t think I spoke Spanish. One of the older gentlemen there said that I could be Miss America or Miss North America. Haha. I got seated next to a girl from Germany (who is dating a guy living in Barcelona, originally from Siles). More than one person commented on the fact that they put the two guiris (foreigners) together. We had lots of tapas, wine, beer, our main courses, dessert and polvorones (cookies, chocolates, sweets). I had fish for my main course and Luis ordered the meat so we could try both. I really liked the meat dish and wish I had ordered it! We watched the countdown on TV and I was excited to eat my 12 grapes. Spaniards eat 12 grapes at midnight (one with each strike of the clock) and it’s supposed to bring you good luck in the coming year. The only thing that made this a little challenging was that the seeds aren’t pitted so you have to stuff a bunch of grapes in your mouth, eat around the seeds and then pick the seeds out after the clock has struck 12 times. Supposedly in some cities they were selling pitted grapes for New Years but sadly, Siles was not one of these towns. I guess that just makes my experience all the more authentic. The restaurant owner also gave everyone a bag of goodies (party hats, noisemakers, etc) to don while ringing in the New Year. After eating the grapes everyone went around the room wishing everyone a Happy New Year (¡Feliz año!) with the normal cheek kisses. Shortly after, the younger generations headed off to the bars. Luis and I headed off to Nicols. Luis’ parents stayed at Hostel Cruz but not for very long. We had a few drinks, chatted it up with people, hung out with the German girl and her Spanish boyfriend and eventually decided to go back to Hostal Cruz so I could see the older generation living it up. Haha. They were listening to music and dancing, and Ana, Luis “second mother” (who is super tiny) tried teaching me to dance. We stayed there for a little while, then headed off to Menphys. We ran into Maria and Almudena on the way. They were heading over to the discoteca so we decided to go straight there instead. Luis called up a friend in Barcelona to say ‘happy new year’ and then we went inside. It actually wasn’t too crowded when we showed up (around 3am). It didn’t take too long though before the place was PACKED. You really couldn’t dance. You just had to move around in the same place. I like going out in Spain but nights like this still stress me out. Maybe it’s because I treasure my American concept of personal space. Even if there is space it seems like people will just run into you without making much of an effort to go around. We stayed there for awhile, had a few drinks (I eventually changed out of my high heels and into the flats I stowed away in my purse) and later on we headed back to Nicols. It was a little less stressful there. I’m glad we went to the discoteca but *uffff* SO many people. I preferred Christmas Eve in the discoteca when there were still a lot of people, but not as many. I believe I finally went to bed around 7-8am.
And thaaaaaaaat was my holiday season in a nutshell. A *small* change from the typical low-key family gatherings I usually go to! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season!
¡Feliz navidad! ¡Feliz año Nuevo!
Monday, December 20, 2010
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!
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!
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Resting up so I can live it up
Yesterday was pretty low key. I dozed off and on until 6pm hoping I would feel good enough to still go out with Fernando and the other teachers. I got up and got showered, and as I got moving I did start to feel a little better. I received a toque from Maria, and a little later someone rang the doorbell. I tried to use the call system to let them in but it didn't work so I went upstairs but there was no one there. A little after that Almudena called and asked where I was. It had been her and Maria that stopped by to see if I wanted to go to Mezquita with them. I still had a little bit of time before I was going to meet up with Fernando and the others. They were at a conference about...you guessed it...mushrooms. I wasn't sure how long the conference was going to be so I headed to Mezquita. Almudena, Maria, Rulo, Antonio and Jose Miguel were there. Luis (who I met the same night I met Steffi) was also there and joined us. We hung out for a bit and then Fernando called me to say they were also heading to Mezquita. We had a couple beers and chatted about a variety of topics, including that I should join their band (Christianita y los Papas Fritas) and play the drums and that I should go pick mushrooms with them in the morning. After awhile half the group left and the other half went to Pub JJ. They played a lot of American music at this pub and we had a lot of fun. We stayed there until about 3-3:30 in the morning and then Luis walked me home.
(Christina, Felipe, Me, Fernando)
(Me, Luis, Christina, Felipe, Me, Fernando)
Unlike yesterday I got up at a semi-decent hour (10:45am) and have been feeling a little better. I'm still congested and my ears are plugged, but I'm not having the temperature regulation issues I was having before. Tonight I think some people are going out, so I may join them, but I don't think we'll be going out for long. Lots of people are dealing with this cold and are opting to stay in this weekend and try to get better. I hope I continue feeling better tomorrow so I don't have to teach on Monday feeling so crummy.
Hope you are all doing well. I keep seeing the Facebook updates about Christmas lights, Christmas shopping, red Starbucks cups and other holiday related items. I can't believe it's already November!!!
(Christina, Felipe, Me, Fernando)
(Me, Luis, Christina, Felipe, Me, Fernando)Unlike yesterday I got up at a semi-decent hour (10:45am) and have been feeling a little better. I'm still congested and my ears are plugged, but I'm not having the temperature regulation issues I was having before. Tonight I think some people are going out, so I may join them, but I don't think we'll be going out for long. Lots of people are dealing with this cold and are opting to stay in this weekend and try to get better. I hope I continue feeling better tomorrow so I don't have to teach on Monday feeling so crummy.
Hope you are all doing well. I keep seeing the Facebook updates about Christmas lights, Christmas shopping, red Starbucks cups and other holiday related items. I can't believe it's already November!!!
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