Buenos Días!
It is Wednesday morning and I am on a 7 hour bus ride down Andalucia (southern part of Spain). Everyone is fast asleep because last night was Carnival! It is a big weekend celebration that ends with Tuesday night before Ash Wednesday. All weekend there were people in the streets with costumes and there were also a few parades.
But rewinding back to last week….
During the week I was able to watch the Edina hockey game online (it got too late to watch it live, but I caught up the next day!) I am bummed I will be in Andalucía with lots of activities during the state tourney, but I am going to try to watch the game…or at least read and watch the reviews. Have so much fun Connor J !! I cannot believe you are a senior, its crazy!
On Thursday it was the birthday of Amy, a girl in my group and we all went out to dinner at Bon Apetit! I was so excited to get the pasta Andy got when we went there together. That and my brownie with ice cream was an amazing dinner. After that we went out for the night and had lots of fun dancing and celebrating!
On Friday I did not have to teach because the kids had a fiesta for Carnival at school. We toured another church in Segovia, this one had nuns living in it and was a little smaller than the others we have toured. It was equally as impressive though with all of the gold and detailed pieces. That night was lower key because it was raining like crazy and nobody wanted to go out. Dana, Anna and I got together and hung out in a bar for a while. It ended up being super fun and we did a lot of talking in Spanish! Later, we met up with a couple guys from the group and went dancing.
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| Coque outside! |
Saturday was a big day!! In the morning, Dani, the boys and I went outside until lunch time. The boys rode on their bikes, I sat and watched them while enjoying the sun and Dani did a couple of errands. She got the ingredients we needed to make the chocolate chip cookies and we started those when we got home. It was hard because I had to convert all of the measurements into grams and on top of that, they don’t own any sort of measuring utensils, so we ended up using glass cups. Dani ended up doing more then I did, even though it was my intention to teach her haha. I think she realized I am not the greatest cook or baker! The boys also helped mix a little and stuff. There were no chocolate chips anywhere, so we chopped up a chocolate bar instead. The cookies were good, but definitely did not taste anything like my moms, or any other cookie that is made in the US haha. I taught them all how to eat them warm out of the oven and dip them in milk J they all loved that!
After we had lunch we all went to a movie, Rango. It was in Spanish and it was pretty cute! That night we got masks for Carnival and wore them out! There were some pretty great costumes that we saw in the streets and people usually dress up in groups. In the Plaza Mayor there was live music and people dancing all over! We joined in the fun and even sang the theme to Bob Esponja (Sponge Bob). |
| Dani and I with matching glasses |
On Sunday, Dani brought Coque (Jorge), Didi (Diego) and I to her apartment. It was about a 5 minute walk and the boys rode their bikes. On the way Dani took us to a Bulgarian market and bought us some goodies to try. At her place we met her mom and husband. They are both soo sweet. “majo” is the word she used to describe her husband, which means something like, all around great person. Dani had given her mom a pair of my socks that had holes in the toes, and her mom sewed them up for me. I thought that was the funniest thing! She asked if I liked them and I just started laughing and said yes of course! On the way home we stopped and let the boys play at a park. The boys fight a lot and Dani gets super frustrated. She always says she is too old to do this (she has two sons, 27 and 24). When we got back I spent the rest of the day studying for my test in Cine (cinema). We had to know 9 different Kings from Spain and be able to write a page about them, then our teacher picked two for us to do in class. It ended up not being too bad, but I did study a lot!
It was really great to get to spend the weekend with Dani. I spoke a lot of Spanish and wasn’t nervous because I knew she wasn’t judging me too much. She came here 5 years ago and learned Spanish here. She also taught me a few different recipes this weekend, which I am hoping I will be able to make when I get home. She showed me how to make tortilla, the hardest part will be flipping it in the pan! She also taught me how to make crema de calabacin, which is my favorite soup! She showed me a few other things too, like how they make fried egg and vegetable soup.
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| Friday night carnival celebration |
After class on Tuesday I started feeling very sick! I spent the whole day in my bed and couldn’t even get out to pack. Coque and Didi went out with Dani, dressed as Batman and Spiderman. I really wanted to go out with them, but I could not move. Although that was really unfortunate, Andy and I got some flights booked for April. I am starting my trip in Dublin for two days to meet up with Andy’s family and I am sooo excited to see them!! After that Andy and I got 12 euro flights to London. I am glad we have gotten a few things figured out, but I have no idea how I am going to only pack in a carry on for over two weeks. For this weekend alone I have a suitcase and a back pack :/
I finally made myself get up and out of the house around 8. I met some people and we watched the parade! It was the most people I have ever seen in the streets and everyone was dressed up so crazy!! The parade had a lot of different groups in different costumes. They definitely did not throw out candy like in our parades at home, instead there was one lady who handed people one mini ritz cracker haha. The last group in the parade was dressed as zombies. They had crazy makeup and looked super scary. After that I had to go back home because I still wasn’t feeling well. I couldn’t eat dinner and I stayed in. I was bummed I missed the Carnival celebration that night, but I am glad I am feeling a little better now.
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