Two updates back to back, you know this has got to be good...
Last night I went out with some amigas for some St. Patty´s Day Guiness. I let myself into the apartment (it was deadbolted, so that usually means Ana is asleep) and only the kitchen light is on. I assume she must have gone to bed so I relock the door and leave the keys in the lock like she normally does because this prevents anyone from unlocking the door from the outside. Ooooooh, I'd say about 2 hours after I had come back my phone is ringing frantically and it's Ana that's calling. Curious... She is outside knocking and asking me to come to the door to let her in. She's not in bed? Apparently, she was still out for the night. Now I won't mention times here to keep Dad from worrying, but lil old ladies should not be out that late. Quite the comical way to end an evening that's for sure.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
BCN
Just now getting around to updating my loyal listeners (haha) about my weekend in Barcelona… Thanks for all the great emails I got to come home to! Barcelona was amazing. I know I mentioned it in my previous post, but I was staying with my roommate from last year, Megan. She was an excellent hostess and opened up her apartment to both Jill and me. We arrived Thursday night and Megan took us to a great bar (La oveja negra) to meet her friends. It was so much fun meeting all the kids she has been hanging out with all year and hear all their crazy travel stories and experiences in Barcelona. Friday was dedicated to seeing all things Gaudí, Park Guell, La Pedrera and Casa Batllo. I even have photos uploaded already, so definitely check them out to see what I´m talking about. Since the weather was just incredible Megan suggested we go to Sitges, a beach just outside Barcelona on the Mediterranean. She has been there several times and even went for Carnival! So we spent the day as Spanish beach bums, only we kept our tops on haha I don´t think I´m that Spanish enough yet… Sunday we made it to see the Sagrada Familia and the Olympic stadium. The Sagrada familia was so impressive and after how many years of studying it was amazing to finally see it for myself. Now I´ll just have to return to Spain to see it once it´s completed (hopefully in my lifetime!)
It was strange to hear and see so much Catalán. My untrained ear couldn´t recognize it, but Megan could. I loved all things Barcelona, but didn´t like that people would rather speak to me in English then in Spanish Let’s just say that the people of Andalucía couldn’t talk to me in English even if I wanted them too. After I settled back in, Ana and I had a conversation on why Granada was the best city in Spain. We decided, or rather she told me, that Granada encompasses all things Spanish and that Madrid and Barcelona could never come close. She said we wouldn´t even discuss Bilbao because País Vasco is just too extraño. Haha She cracks me up. I told her Lisa would be studying here in the summer and said she wants to host her. I showed her a picture of Lisa and I and she said she would have to have Lisa as her next host daughter because she wants to host the prettiest girls Ana is the best.
Unfortunately, I missed the grand birthday celebration for my host mom this weekend. While in Barcelona I thought it would be a good idea to get her a small gift… I got her a Gaudí ash ray, I felt it was the best gift to fit her interests haha It was no surprise to me that she loved it! I even came back to a small gift. Ana gave me three small charms that have some connection to an elephant legend… not too sure the significance of it though. Either way I can´t wait to add them to my charm bracelet back at home.
It was strange to hear and see so much Catalán. My untrained ear couldn´t recognize it, but Megan could. I loved all things Barcelona, but didn´t like that people would rather speak to me in English then in Spanish Let’s just say that the people of Andalucía couldn’t talk to me in English even if I wanted them too. After I settled back in, Ana and I had a conversation on why Granada was the best city in Spain. We decided, or rather she told me, that Granada encompasses all things Spanish and that Madrid and Barcelona could never come close. She said we wouldn´t even discuss Bilbao because País Vasco is just too extraño. Haha She cracks me up. I told her Lisa would be studying here in the summer and said she wants to host her. I showed her a picture of Lisa and I and she said she would have to have Lisa as her next host daughter because she wants to host the prettiest girls Ana is the best.
Unfortunately, I missed the grand birthday celebration for my host mom this weekend. While in Barcelona I thought it would be a good idea to get her a small gift… I got her a Gaudí ash ray, I felt it was the best gift to fit her interests haha It was no surprise to me that she loved it! I even came back to a small gift. Ana gave me three small charms that have some connection to an elephant legend… not too sure the significance of it though. Either way I can´t wait to add them to my charm bracelet back at home.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
otra cosa mariposa
otra cosa mariposa
another weekend here in Granada... the weather here has been absolutely amazing and I have been taking advantage of it! Saturday I spent the entire day outside hanging out on the plaza that over looks the Alhambra then made my way over to the shopping district and made a few purchases. The answer is yes, I am embracing the Spanish culture, including its couture. I love putting together new "euro" outfits. My favorite purchases include purple boots and black skinny jeans. I have even adapted my workout clothes. When I go running I like to say I go "euro jogging" in my spandex pants. I swear everyone does it here, I would look weird if I didn't own a pair. Luckily, I came prepared. Sunday I spent the day exploring new river paths around the Sierra Nevadas. This week I have a few essays due, an exam and an oral presentation... just finishing up some work then I'm off to Barcelona for the weekend! I am WAY excited for this weekend because I am staying with my sophomore year roommate that has been in Barcelona for the year. So it will be great to have someone so familiar with the city to be hanging out with!
another weekend here in Granada... the weather here has been absolutely amazing and I have been taking advantage of it! Saturday I spent the entire day outside hanging out on the plaza that over looks the Alhambra then made my way over to the shopping district and made a few purchases. The answer is yes, I am embracing the Spanish culture, including its couture. I love putting together new "euro" outfits. My favorite purchases include purple boots and black skinny jeans. I have even adapted my workout clothes. When I go running I like to say I go "euro jogging" in my spandex pants. I swear everyone does it here, I would look weird if I didn't own a pair. Luckily, I came prepared. Sunday I spent the day exploring new river paths around the Sierra Nevadas. This week I have a few essays due, an exam and an oral presentation... just finishing up some work then I'm off to Barcelona for the weekend! I am WAY excited for this weekend because I am staying with my sophomore year roommate that has been in Barcelona for the year. So it will be great to have someone so familiar with the city to be hanging out with!
Monday, March 2, 2009
Sunday, March 1, 2009
longest post ever put on your reading boots.
First update since returning from Ireland and England here’s the recap:
After taking the midnight bus to Madrid, I caught my flight into Dublin on Friday morning (Feb20). Before leaving Ana packed me a shopping bag filled with 2 sandwiches, 7 mandarin oranges, 1 plastic container full of leftovers (fork included, this is detail comes in later), and 6 juiceboxes, and a brick of cheese. Leaving with enough food to feed an army, I finally was on my way. I only traveled with a backpack because Ryanair charges extra per checked bag, so to avoid ridiculous fees I packed a lot of black, hoping to avoid obvious re-wears of outfits. One backpack is roughing it, let me tell you.
Day 1 Dublin: spent the rest of the day exploring the city with Christy and Jill. Picked up dinner along the way and spent the evening at a 3 story bar along the river. I had my first Guinness in Dublin. I even tried the suggested black current (for ladies) in Guinness. Turns out, the additional black current is like dropping sugar packets into the beer. The bartender should have warned this is a lady’s way to completely change the flavor and pretend to like Guinness in front of others (that’s my theory at least). Needless to say, I left that glass sitting on the bar.
Day 2 Dublin: Knowing that we had 3 full days to explore Dublin, Jill cleverly suggested we take one day in the country. We spent the entire day bus touring around the Wicklow Mountains. Best day spent in Ireland. The tour guide was great and with only a bus of 20 people, he let us jump on and off the bus to snap photos of the beautiful scenery (included horses and sheep in the fields!). On our bus I ended up sitting next to a NYU med student. Made friends with him and his girlfriend and ended up meeting up with them later that evening. In search of the real Irish experience, we found a bar that had live Irish dancers. The nightlife in Dublin was outstanding. The streets are packed with people going out at all hours. Because there is a pub where ever you look we managed to look into quite a few including what claimed to be the smallest pub in Ireland. This pub could probably at max hold 20 people and somehow we managed to squeeze in. We also told every bartender at each bar that we went to that we were on a pub crawl and were looking to pick up a souvenir at every pub, so at the end of the night we ended up with several business cards, wine lists, beer lists, and a few more friends haha. A funny story at one of the bars… we weren’t sure if it was rude to say “irish car bomb” so Jill decides to try to order one anyway…
Jill: “I’d like to order 3 bombs.”
Bartender: blank face
J: “3 car bombs”
Bartender: blank face
J: “yeah 3 car bombs”
Still blank face
J: “you know IRISH car bombs”
Bartender: “oh you should have said so in the first place”
Not that I didn’t have any embarrassing moments… right. We decided that we wanted to try the different drafts at different bars. Trying to order a new round I shouted out “3 CADBURIES!” the bartender just starred, I had just ordered 3 chocolate bars and not the beer I wanted which was Carlsberg :)
Day 3 Dublin: A list full of things still left to see in Dublin, we woke up early to attend a Sunday morning service at St. Pat’s Cathedral (the biggest in Ireland). We had no idea of the service hours but figured if we arrived around 9 we would definitely be able to catch one. We arrived to find out we had an hour to burn before the next service, so we went to look for a coffee shop. Again, finding out what a small world it really is, I ran into another AOII studying abroad for the semester (she’s studying in London)! Having no idea Catherine was in Dublin that weekend we ran into each other at the café! So we talked over a coffee and then continued our separate ways. A great way to start the day! The service in St Pat’s was impressive; we got to hear the choir in action and all. The day continued with a visit to Trinity University, Book of Kells, Guinness Brewery tour, and the Jameson Distillery tour. On the Jameson Distillery I was one of eight who got to be an honored whiskey taste tester! I even received a diploma stating my expertise. Not that I needed one, but now I have official documentation haha I now know the difference between scotch whiskey, irish whiskey, and American whiskey. Knowledge to last a lifetime. The Guinness brewery was amusing, but not what I expected. It was cool to be able to pull my own draft at the end, but the tour wasn’t guided and was kind of like a big walk around nothing too special. The Jameson Distillery was far more interactive and interesting.
Monday morning and I was on my way to London!
We flew into Gatwick (not Heathrow because Ryanair never flies into mainstream airports, this detail becomes important later as well). Upon arriving we knew we would have to take a train into the city, so we bought our tickets and headed to the train we thought was ours. Almost the moment we stepped aboard the train took off… little did we know were now riding first class and on the express train (neither of which we paid for). An off duty engineer explained this too us, but said not to worry about and we made ourselves comfortable. When the on duty ticket checker (is there an official name for these people?) came to our cart, she firmly explained how we were on the wrong train, at this point the off duty engineer claimed he had no idea we were in the wrong place and would have said something had he known. (wink, wink) First impression of London turned out well. We checked into our hostel and then we were on our way out again.
Here’s a condensed list of everything to save some time:
Tate Modern: Free! I love modern art more and more each time I encounter it. Dalí and Miró are definitely worth going to see in any city.
London Eye: Great views of the city, especially since we went at night! Right on the Thames river and seeing Big Ben and Parliament at night is amazing.
Indian food: a suggestion from my travel guide, turns out there’s more Indian restaurants in London then there are Pubs in Ireland. I actually have nothing to back that up, but it certainly seemed like it. Either way first encounter with Indian food was a surprisingly delicious one.
Indian beer: makes Indian food taste even better
Westminster Abby: like one big famous crypt packed not only with famous dead people, but also great history. Amazing architecture. I even learned some things from the audio tour.
Buckingham Palace: This should make you laugh… so we come up from the underground, figure out where we are and start heading in the direction of the Palace. We are approaching big decorative fences and all of us are looking around, not in amazement, but rather confusion. We are not impressed and decide we must be at the back door, so we walk around the entire perimeter of the place only to discover we had initially approached the front of the palace. I now have appreciation for how large the palace grounds are, not the splendor of the palace.
Globe Theater: Now I might consider re reading a Shakespearen Play, maybe now I’ll appreciate them the way they are supposed to be. Exit, pursued by bear.
Harrod’s: Probably my favorite London museum. Saw beautiful things I could never afford behind locked glass cases.
St. Paul’s Cathedral: Attended an Ash Wednesday service. Worship is of course always free, so it’s the best way to see any cathedral. We even got to hear the organ play! The acoustics in St Paul’s were incredible. I know that if we had paid the tourist fee of 10GBP we wouldn’t have experienced how the cathedral functions or how impressive it is to be apart of a service.
Abbey Road: Turns out Abbey road is a busy road. Snapping pictures on this busy avenue was quite an amusing adventure.
We Will Rock You: we purchased half price tickets to this musical based on Queen songs. I think I have a new appreciation for british humor. It’s basically ridiculous. Either way this show was entirely entertaining.
Tower of London: Biggest jewels I have ever seeen. New goal is to find Prince of a husband to buy me equally impressive diamonds haha I also have met a Beefeater and know what that means.
Camden Market: best part about London. Thoroughly investigated London fashion and even made a few purchases to take back with me. Tried falafel, completely delicious.
Trafalgar’s Square: We hung around for over an hour and let the city sink in. amazing.
Now here is where all the details fall into place. Our return flight was from Liverpool. Liverpool is not in London like Ryanair claims. Liverpool is a 6 hour busride from London. Also, remember how I could only bring one backpack? This now comes into play. Well, after making a few purchases, there is absolutely no room in my bag for anything else and I refused to pay the checked bag fee. So I layered. Several layers later, I fit it all (on me or in the bag). Now going through Liverpool security was other thing. So I place my bag on the xray machine only to have security pull it out of the line and ask me to open the bag to inspect... He askes if there is any other liquids in my bag, I reply that they are all in the clear bag in my hand. He starts searching through and pulls out the small bottle of whisky I had bought from Jameson. WHooops! totally forgot about that... but there's more. He puts the bag back on the machine and again asks me if there is anything I should tell him that's in my bag. I say no, but feel free to look. He then more specifically asks, "There appears to be a fork in your backpack, do you know anything about that?"
Ooooooooh yeah, that fork Ana gave me. Apparently not flight safe. It did however pass through 2 other airports. Funny. I think I connected all the details, yes? The best part was when all my clothes are spread over the table and he asks if he could help me put everything back. He could tell it had taken precision packing to stuff everything in this small jansport backpack :)
that should do it. this has been long enough!
huuuuugs from Granada!
After taking the midnight bus to Madrid, I caught my flight into Dublin on Friday morning (Feb20). Before leaving Ana packed me a shopping bag filled with 2 sandwiches, 7 mandarin oranges, 1 plastic container full of leftovers (fork included, this is detail comes in later), and 6 juiceboxes, and a brick of cheese. Leaving with enough food to feed an army, I finally was on my way. I only traveled with a backpack because Ryanair charges extra per checked bag, so to avoid ridiculous fees I packed a lot of black, hoping to avoid obvious re-wears of outfits. One backpack is roughing it, let me tell you.
Day 1 Dublin: spent the rest of the day exploring the city with Christy and Jill. Picked up dinner along the way and spent the evening at a 3 story bar along the river. I had my first Guinness in Dublin. I even tried the suggested black current (for ladies) in Guinness. Turns out, the additional black current is like dropping sugar packets into the beer. The bartender should have warned this is a lady’s way to completely change the flavor and pretend to like Guinness in front of others (that’s my theory at least). Needless to say, I left that glass sitting on the bar.
Day 2 Dublin: Knowing that we had 3 full days to explore Dublin, Jill cleverly suggested we take one day in the country. We spent the entire day bus touring around the Wicklow Mountains. Best day spent in Ireland. The tour guide was great and with only a bus of 20 people, he let us jump on and off the bus to snap photos of the beautiful scenery (included horses and sheep in the fields!). On our bus I ended up sitting next to a NYU med student. Made friends with him and his girlfriend and ended up meeting up with them later that evening. In search of the real Irish experience, we found a bar that had live Irish dancers. The nightlife in Dublin was outstanding. The streets are packed with people going out at all hours. Because there is a pub where ever you look we managed to look into quite a few including what claimed to be the smallest pub in Ireland. This pub could probably at max hold 20 people and somehow we managed to squeeze in. We also told every bartender at each bar that we went to that we were on a pub crawl and were looking to pick up a souvenir at every pub, so at the end of the night we ended up with several business cards, wine lists, beer lists, and a few more friends haha. A funny story at one of the bars… we weren’t sure if it was rude to say “irish car bomb” so Jill decides to try to order one anyway…
Jill: “I’d like to order 3 bombs.”
Bartender: blank face
J: “3 car bombs”
Bartender: blank face
J: “yeah 3 car bombs”
Still blank face
J: “you know IRISH car bombs”
Bartender: “oh you should have said so in the first place”
Not that I didn’t have any embarrassing moments… right. We decided that we wanted to try the different drafts at different bars. Trying to order a new round I shouted out “3 CADBURIES!” the bartender just starred, I had just ordered 3 chocolate bars and not the beer I wanted which was Carlsberg :)
Day 3 Dublin: A list full of things still left to see in Dublin, we woke up early to attend a Sunday morning service at St. Pat’s Cathedral (the biggest in Ireland). We had no idea of the service hours but figured if we arrived around 9 we would definitely be able to catch one. We arrived to find out we had an hour to burn before the next service, so we went to look for a coffee shop. Again, finding out what a small world it really is, I ran into another AOII studying abroad for the semester (she’s studying in London)! Having no idea Catherine was in Dublin that weekend we ran into each other at the café! So we talked over a coffee and then continued our separate ways. A great way to start the day! The service in St Pat’s was impressive; we got to hear the choir in action and all. The day continued with a visit to Trinity University, Book of Kells, Guinness Brewery tour, and the Jameson Distillery tour. On the Jameson Distillery I was one of eight who got to be an honored whiskey taste tester! I even received a diploma stating my expertise. Not that I needed one, but now I have official documentation haha I now know the difference between scotch whiskey, irish whiskey, and American whiskey. Knowledge to last a lifetime. The Guinness brewery was amusing, but not what I expected. It was cool to be able to pull my own draft at the end, but the tour wasn’t guided and was kind of like a big walk around nothing too special. The Jameson Distillery was far more interactive and interesting.
Monday morning and I was on my way to London!
We flew into Gatwick (not Heathrow because Ryanair never flies into mainstream airports, this detail becomes important later as well). Upon arriving we knew we would have to take a train into the city, so we bought our tickets and headed to the train we thought was ours. Almost the moment we stepped aboard the train took off… little did we know were now riding first class and on the express train (neither of which we paid for). An off duty engineer explained this too us, but said not to worry about and we made ourselves comfortable. When the on duty ticket checker (is there an official name for these people?) came to our cart, she firmly explained how we were on the wrong train, at this point the off duty engineer claimed he had no idea we were in the wrong place and would have said something had he known. (wink, wink) First impression of London turned out well. We checked into our hostel and then we were on our way out again.
Here’s a condensed list of everything to save some time:
Tate Modern: Free! I love modern art more and more each time I encounter it. Dalí and Miró are definitely worth going to see in any city.
London Eye: Great views of the city, especially since we went at night! Right on the Thames river and seeing Big Ben and Parliament at night is amazing.
Indian food: a suggestion from my travel guide, turns out there’s more Indian restaurants in London then there are Pubs in Ireland. I actually have nothing to back that up, but it certainly seemed like it. Either way first encounter with Indian food was a surprisingly delicious one.
Indian beer: makes Indian food taste even better
Westminster Abby: like one big famous crypt packed not only with famous dead people, but also great history. Amazing architecture. I even learned some things from the audio tour.
Buckingham Palace: This should make you laugh… so we come up from the underground, figure out where we are and start heading in the direction of the Palace. We are approaching big decorative fences and all of us are looking around, not in amazement, but rather confusion. We are not impressed and decide we must be at the back door, so we walk around the entire perimeter of the place only to discover we had initially approached the front of the palace. I now have appreciation for how large the palace grounds are, not the splendor of the palace.
Globe Theater: Now I might consider re reading a Shakespearen Play, maybe now I’ll appreciate them the way they are supposed to be. Exit, pursued by bear.
Harrod’s: Probably my favorite London museum. Saw beautiful things I could never afford behind locked glass cases.
St. Paul’s Cathedral: Attended an Ash Wednesday service. Worship is of course always free, so it’s the best way to see any cathedral. We even got to hear the organ play! The acoustics in St Paul’s were incredible. I know that if we had paid the tourist fee of 10GBP we wouldn’t have experienced how the cathedral functions or how impressive it is to be apart of a service.
Abbey Road: Turns out Abbey road is a busy road. Snapping pictures on this busy avenue was quite an amusing adventure.
We Will Rock You: we purchased half price tickets to this musical based on Queen songs. I think I have a new appreciation for british humor. It’s basically ridiculous. Either way this show was entirely entertaining.
Tower of London: Biggest jewels I have ever seeen. New goal is to find Prince of a husband to buy me equally impressive diamonds haha I also have met a Beefeater and know what that means.
Camden Market: best part about London. Thoroughly investigated London fashion and even made a few purchases to take back with me. Tried falafel, completely delicious.
Trafalgar’s Square: We hung around for over an hour and let the city sink in. amazing.
Now here is where all the details fall into place. Our return flight was from Liverpool. Liverpool is not in London like Ryanair claims. Liverpool is a 6 hour busride from London. Also, remember how I could only bring one backpack? This now comes into play. Well, after making a few purchases, there is absolutely no room in my bag for anything else and I refused to pay the checked bag fee. So I layered. Several layers later, I fit it all (on me or in the bag). Now going through Liverpool security was other thing. So I place my bag on the xray machine only to have security pull it out of the line and ask me to open the bag to inspect... He askes if there is any other liquids in my bag, I reply that they are all in the clear bag in my hand. He starts searching through and pulls out the small bottle of whisky I had bought from Jameson. WHooops! totally forgot about that... but there's more. He puts the bag back on the machine and again asks me if there is anything I should tell him that's in my bag. I say no, but feel free to look. He then more specifically asks, "There appears to be a fork in your backpack, do you know anything about that?"
Ooooooooh yeah, that fork Ana gave me. Apparently not flight safe. It did however pass through 2 other airports. Funny. I think I connected all the details, yes? The best part was when all my clothes are spread over the table and he asks if he could help me put everything back. He could tell it had taken precision packing to stuff everything in this small jansport backpack :)
that should do it. this has been long enough!
huuuuugs from Granada!
Thursday, February 19, 2009
before jetting off to Dublin and London
Just wanted to update with a quick post before i head off to Dublin (Fri-Mon) and then London (Mon-Sat).
Last night after classes I went with a friend (Jill) for cafe con leche and to research a little before heading to Dublin. After coffee she got a call from her girl friend who was in town from France (UofI student) and wanted to meet up for a drink. So we went to meet up with Jill's friend and turns out she was with a good friend of mine! I knew Chris was abroad in France for the year, but had no idea that he was going to be in Granada this week! Insane. It's not a small world... it's really just a big bar :) So I had a great time catching up with Chris and enjoyed the night with his friends as well. We'll be meeting up for tapas again tonight before I leave with two other girls to go off to Dublin.
thanks again for all the emails and valentine's day cards!
sending my love from Granada!
Last night after classes I went with a friend (Jill) for cafe con leche and to research a little before heading to Dublin. After coffee she got a call from her girl friend who was in town from France (UofI student) and wanted to meet up for a drink. So we went to meet up with Jill's friend and turns out she was with a good friend of mine! I knew Chris was abroad in France for the year, but had no idea that he was going to be in Granada this week! Insane. It's not a small world... it's really just a big bar :) So I had a great time catching up with Chris and enjoyed the night with his friends as well. We'll be meeting up for tapas again tonight before I leave with two other girls to go off to Dublin.
thanks again for all the emails and valentine's day cards!
sending my love from Granada!
Monday, February 16, 2009
Granada: un ciudad de gitanos, perros, discotecas, y la Alhambra Granada: a city of gypsies, dogs, discotecs, and the Alhambra
First weekend I have stayed in Granada, well first weekend where I know where I’m going since I’ve been here. It’s been over a month now; it’s starting to feel less like a vacation now and more like I do live here. Strange feeling, I love it. This past week I spent some quality time with my host mom, Ana and her best friend who comes over every night, Paritu (spelling? No idea). Paritu has 3 daughters, all of whom still live with her. On Thursday night we all went out to dinner together. We all piled in Ana’s little car to enjoy a meal together. It was great hearing them tell me how well I speak. They asked me a lot of questions about Chicago and the states. It was so much fun to talk about all the differences between Spain and the US. Two of the daughters are close to my age (21 and 23) so it was great getting to ask them questions about the nightlife here and what they do for fun. We then drove to another bar for a few cervezas (Ana only drinks non alcoholic beer). This bar smelled like the incense from church, in fact, it was like walking into a church. From the floor and covering the ceiling there were Jesus and Mary posters, Jesus sculptures, Mary relics, santa semana posters and more. They were playing songs from santa semana processions and midway through our drinks the owners turn off all the lights except for the candles and sing a prayer to the throne they have for Mary behind the bar. Obviously I did not know this song, but Ana and Paritu did, and they sang it loud and proud. Amusing little old ladies. After our night of fun Ana was nice enough to even drop me off where my friends were so I didn’t have to walk by myself Saturday afternoon we went to a market together also with one of Paritu’s daughters. I bought a pair of purple walking boots for only 12 euros! So much fun to check out all the crazy things, although I did feel like a good deal of the items for sale is stolen merchandise. Either way, I got a good deal. We went out for lunch together after and café con leche at a trendy little club where apparently all the juventud likes to hang out. So it was me, two little old ladies, and Fani (21) surrounded by 20year olds. No pasa nada. After talking about our families, I found out that Ana has a brother that lives in Germany and works as a cross dresser in touring shows. This finally makes sense why there are so many framed pictures of a transvestite in our hallways! Although slightly unnerved, I think my response was polite enough, “Que divertido” (How fun) when she told me all the photos of the women is her brother. But in all seriousness, I do like my host mom and I always get a good laugh at the end of the day. The other night she was asking me how tall I am. After explaining that I don’t know the meter conversion, she comes back with a measuring tape and asks me to stand against the wall so she can find out. In the meantime, Paritu is guessing numbers as if she were making bets. I think I function as their daily entertainment, aside from the countless telenovelas they watch. Either way, it’s amusing to hang out with these ladies. I have plenty more hysterical encounters with Ana and Paritu, so if you want some more good laughs email me and I’ll send you the story of the day haha
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