Check in

Sorry about the lack of communication! As always, I'm staying very very busy. Let's see. . . In the last week I've been to Córdoba (holy cow. Impresionante) to see the mosque-church. Stupid church. They knocked out a huge section on the middle of this amazing mosque and stuck a catholic church in it. Nothing against the catholic, but that wasn't very nice.  Also went to nerja for the day and sat on a beach all day long- lovely. Mom, I put some of my peanut butter on a piece of chocolate Brandi gave me and just sat there on the sand feeling like the happiest person on the earth. Then yesterday I went to a cello/orchestra concert in the Cervantes theater. SO NEAT AND CLASSY! and only seven euro! new today I am off for northern Spain on a very interesting adventure. interesting in that I booked a ticket to the wrong destination and am now having an adventure!

Gotta get down on Friday

And indeed I did. Got a whole little list o things done today from printing my flight ticket to Santander (doing the Green Spain scene this coming week) to catching up on emails, budgeting, and the ol´ blog. Note- I need to take an accounting class.

Bueno, this last week has been school and learning and RAIN and good things like that. Classes are still super interesting and I wake up in the morning excited to attend and see what type of architecture the visigoths used in their churches and why. Also, check out Carme Chacon from the PSOE party here- badass woman that is 37 and has been super involved in politics, held a bunch of cabinet positions and is currently Minister of Defence. She traveled to Afghanistan 7 months pregnant to check on relations there, and the great thing is that the pregnancy during her term as minister of defence made not a whit of difference. She does her job and happens to be hugely pregnant at the same time. It´s never a big deal, it´s never her focus in press conferences or political interactions. She´s not a pregnant lady, she´s a representative of her party and of her government. GO WOMEN! :) Interesting note- it is illegal for a woman to be portrayed in a demeaning way in advertising. Can´t even show a woman by herself in any ad for appliances, etc. ALSO, waist size minimum for spanish models is a 36 (I am a 36-38). They look at least somewhat healthy here.
So I head off to Santander/San Sebastian/Bilbao/small french town recommended by our new french friend on Wednesday, come back the following monday. I will try to take pictures from my phone so I can upload them to the blog. I can´t figure the camera-to-blog-scene quite yet because I don´t have a computer here. :) It´s so neat here to come into the ISA office, sit down at a computer, and overhear people planning trips to portugal, dublin, paris, africa, italy. Then they kind of just look around and say, ¨who wants to come with me to southern france?¨ And if someone wants to go, boom. They start making plans. It´s a neat and very unique vibe, being able to do that.  Off to find a milkshake with my friend (we´re missing america a bit).
-Captain
 

Better:   The soups. Elena´s soups. They make me want to cry. Some are like, garbanzo beans and magic mixed with some peppers and more magic. Others I don´t even ask. I just eat. Also, eating bread with every meal. My host dad makes fun of me when I have one hand in my lap while eating because it´s so strange to them not to have it holding bread.

Worse: Too much fish, and they expect that having small spines in there is totally bueno. They eat them. Fish meatballs are no longer bueno.

Different: Roofs are tile. But curved tile. I like it.

Grandma, I love you.

This past week started out really well but then it got pretty cloudy and a little rainy, and my high died with it. Yesterday I was just in grump city and feeling down. Then I got a package from my wonderful grandma g with my favourite teas, information on different places to travel, a little letter, and a note that a little trip planning money had been deposited in my account. Grandma, you made my day. Thank you so much. After that, I splurged on a cute jacket and warm shirt, ate a huge baked potato, and bought a chocolate truffle. Things are looking better. :) this morning it was raining when I got up early to run and I almost didn't go,  but go I did (my señora thinks I've lost it) and today I feel good. It helps that the sun is out. In other news, I am back to running (and tracking the mileage on the shsxc site ;) I KNOW NO OTHER WAY!) And today is my first day volunteering at Ceper, a live-in center for mentally handicapped people. Their goal for each person is complete integration into mainstream society, and to this end Ceper works on life skills among other things on their little campus a bus ride out from the center. I have not a clue what I will be doing, but I am excited for today. :)
Besos
-the captain

Romeo

He will not hold still. But I do believe this captures the true spirit of Romeo.

Plaza at night.

These are all from awhile ago, and today I went to nerja. Coincidentally, this Saturday was the best Saturday if my life. google nerja caves. Then google nerja beaches (specifically playa carabeo)- definitely hot enough to dunk in the Mediterranean twice. Then, thanks to my friend Rick Steves, I led my friends to mind shattering all you can eat paella on the coast. Legit paella, with the huge pan and fresh, full shrimp with little eyes that looked at you till you popped them off and meat chunks on the bone. We were also given a round of drinks by the really sweet waiter who ended up giving Brandi his number. Then cruised the streets and found bomb deals on all things leather. We've decided to go back every weekend we're not busy. If just for the paella, it would be worth it. Oh, also washed the five pounds of food down with caramel gelato. Six hours later and my stomach still hurts. WORTH IT AND MORE.

Right before going dancing.

Boy, do I not know how to dance. Luckily, Caitlin and I met these two very nice guys (one French engineer, Jean-Baptiste, the other Argentinian, Miguel Antonio) who didn't mind, danced with us anyway, and joked around with us. I didn't remember how grody Spain Spanish is until I got to talking to the guy from southern America. Beautiful, crisp, understandable Spanish that made me want to cry. Ah. I miss Mexico.

Beautiful string quartet playing on the streets.

Stopped to listen, and was transported. music really does transcend language.