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.
Showing posts with label vacation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vacation. Show all posts
Friday, January 7, 2011
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Pushing Past the Plateau
OK, I have to be honest. The last week and a half or two weeks has been pretty hard. I feel really distanced from everyone. There has even been stiff, awkwardness in between Maria and Almudena and me. I don’t know if it’s because I was sick a week, and then out of town so we couldn’t hang out for awhile or what.
I also think another factor is that I’ve gotten complacent. I found a few people initially to get together with and then I stopped going to the bars and restaurants by myself to meet people. The weather started sucking and I didn’t go on as many walks. Now I just feel like I don’t know how to meet more people.
It’s depressing.
However, I believe everyone living abroad hits the same breaking point. Like the saying goes, that which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Early this afternoon I went to the post office and the bank. When I run these little errands I always hope I’ll run into someone I know, and that we can grab a coffee or something, but lately that hasn’t been happening. Almost all of the teachers are out of town for Christmas break, so that the number of people I know and can possibly run into is significantly lower than normal.
So, today, after my errands I took a short walk down El Paseo then headed solemnly back to my quiet apartment. I knew I was approaching my breaking point. If I don’t do something about this soon, I’ll be unhappy and alone for the next few months and I know I’m not ok with that. So my mind started turning…how could I possibly meet more friends?
My first plan of attack is to take at least one walk everyday, unless it’s raining.
Part two is actual duel-purpose. I plan on heading to Mezquita or another bar/restaurant every day to have a coffee and do finish some pages in my Spanish workbooks. Most of the time when I’m in my apartment I have things to do, and I get some of them done, but I’m easily distracted. I have several goals for my stay here, and several books I want to get through. Therefore, I’m leaving my apartment at least once a day to sit in another public location, with the possibility of running into people I know and still making progress on my other goals. I know that my acquaintances here frequently go to Mezquita during the day to have a coffee or other drink. What I don’t know is when. If I happen to be there when they are they always invite me to join them, I just never get a call or text to invite me to these gatherings ahead of time. I’m hoping that by camping out at Mezquita I’ll increase the number of times I run into them.
So that’s my plan for now. I generally think it will get better after Monday anyways, just because the teachers will be back in town, classes will be in session again, I’ll have to spend time lesson planning and my private lessons will start again. All of these increase my human contact time so I think I’ll be happier. I love vacation time, and the ability to just spend time relaxing, but 2 empty weeks here in Siles gives me way too much time alone.
I also think another factor is that I’ve gotten complacent. I found a few people initially to get together with and then I stopped going to the bars and restaurants by myself to meet people. The weather started sucking and I didn’t go on as many walks. Now I just feel like I don’t know how to meet more people.
It’s depressing.
However, I believe everyone living abroad hits the same breaking point. Like the saying goes, that which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Early this afternoon I went to the post office and the bank. When I run these little errands I always hope I’ll run into someone I know, and that we can grab a coffee or something, but lately that hasn’t been happening. Almost all of the teachers are out of town for Christmas break, so that the number of people I know and can possibly run into is significantly lower than normal.
So, today, after my errands I took a short walk down El Paseo then headed solemnly back to my quiet apartment. I knew I was approaching my breaking point. If I don’t do something about this soon, I’ll be unhappy and alone for the next few months and I know I’m not ok with that. So my mind started turning…how could I possibly meet more friends?
My first plan of attack is to take at least one walk everyday, unless it’s raining.
Part two is actual duel-purpose. I plan on heading to Mezquita or another bar/restaurant every day to have a coffee and do finish some pages in my Spanish workbooks. Most of the time when I’m in my apartment I have things to do, and I get some of them done, but I’m easily distracted. I have several goals for my stay here, and several books I want to get through. Therefore, I’m leaving my apartment at least once a day to sit in another public location, with the possibility of running into people I know and still making progress on my other goals. I know that my acquaintances here frequently go to Mezquita during the day to have a coffee or other drink. What I don’t know is when. If I happen to be there when they are they always invite me to join them, I just never get a call or text to invite me to these gatherings ahead of time. I’m hoping that by camping out at Mezquita I’ll increase the number of times I run into them.
So that’s my plan for now. I generally think it will get better after Monday anyways, just because the teachers will be back in town, classes will be in session again, I’ll have to spend time lesson planning and my private lessons will start again. All of these increase my human contact time so I think I’ll be happier. I love vacation time, and the ability to just spend time relaxing, but 2 empty weeks here in Siles gives me way too much time alone.
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!
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