Running at 11 am in Spain...

So in attempting to stay in shape and I try to go running 3 or 4 times a week. With the amount of random classes I teach and random social outings this translates into somehow finding 1.5 hours to get a work out in:

• 15 mins to "get ready" bc I am really skilled at finding things to do in between putting on running clothes and sneakers , aka, checking facebook, downloading music... you get the idea.
• 30 to 45 mins of running (depending on my mood) and maybe some ab work outs if I am feeling really ambitious!
• 15 mins to shower and get ready in record time (normally 20 mins from shower to when I rush out the door to the next event on my schedule, which I almost always arrive late to, but in Spain, thats expected and encouraged!)

So finding 1.5 free hours can be an issue, so when I have a free day I like to go in the morning, which also takes time because for the first time in my life, I have been sleeping in until like 10 every thursday and friday.

So today I got into my running at 11:00...I think everyone and their mother...(literally the street is littered with little old ladies) was out and about. So during a typical run I have to avoid Spanish men who can't walk in a straight line,swing their umbrellas thus I have to time my "passing" of them. Theres also the random strollers, running children, cars pulled up on the sidewalk and the smoking woman who are talking with their hands and almost burn me in the arm (ok not really but I could see it happening). Then there are the dogs, their doggie poo littered on the sidewalk and of course, my favorite running obstacles:

the groups of teenagers walking three-across staring at you as you run because:

• a) you're running at 11 and no one runs at this time
• b) your're in shorts and no one wears shorts at this time of year
• c) you're a girl and girls don't run
• d) you're blonde/ blue eyed and no one like you lives here

Overall, running is much more fun here because of all the wonderful people watching and obstacles . I don't mind it because normally I run down on the Island in the river, but it is currently flooded because we our experiencing monsoon type rain for this time of year. OH and my favorite part of today's run: The Churro Man down on the corner waved to me... damn it feels good to feel like you're part of the in-crowd!!!

Until next time BESOS!!!

Saturday Night in Spain

Another quick little post in my attempts to blog more...Last night we went over to dinner at some recently met friends house...home made tortilla and a pork loin type dish with this really lush orange sauce. We started to play some poker and out came the guitar and the rest, well, just watch the video.

BUNNY = MY new Favorite MEAT!

So, a quick little post on this wonderful Saturday afternoon. It's finally sunny, not raining and not as cold! And, last night we made RABBIT! Ok ok ok so I know some might be gagging right now, but, rabbit is DELISH. Our goal was to make Bunny Burgers (lol) but at the supermarket, they told us they couldn't grind the meat, so bunny burgers had to take the 'back burner,' instead we went spanish style with some Bunny to the garlic (conejo al ajillo!!!)

Here is the recipe that I used, http://www.recetasdiarias.com/recetas-de-cocina/recetas.php?idReceta=273. It's in Spanish (YA I CAN COOK A SPANISH RECIPE!!) but basically you take your bunny chunks (HAHAHA) and put them in a frying pan with a ton of Olive Oil, cook it till is a little bit dorado (golden ;) ), take it out, saute some garlic, thyme and a little chili pepper then put the bunny back in, throw a glass of white wine on it and let it simmer for 20 minutes or so ... then scoop out your bunny and YUM. We also made potatoes and enjoyed some

wonderful white wine. And, my room mate's Spanish friend came and he loved the BUNNY and said it was good, so we successfully cooked a bunny that was tasty even in Spanish Standards!!

I'll post again tomorrow or later with some more photos but I am having a great week and actually sad that there are only 3 months left! I cannot believe how fast time is moving but I guess that's a good thing, time flies when you're having fun! ALSO my application for next year has been accepted and received in Madrid SO we'll see where I land next year, either Valencia, Cantabria or Asturias! CRAZY! Well, considering that it's nice out, I need to get the day started and leave the apartment. BESOS!!!

Carnival: The ultimate cure...

I haven't had many homesick moments here in spain due to the fact that I absolutely love it and technology makes everyone seem much closer. Alas, this week was a very hard week for me, until Carnival which made all my worries disappear. However, you do have to bare with me as I explain my frustrating start to the week.

I am not sure if it has to do with the "bad" weather we seem to be having, rain everyday, or the fact that little things that I used to laugh at and say "oh thats so spanish" have turned into daily eerks and annoyances. For example, I understand and fully support the siesta and have adjusted to most things being close from 2 pm to 5. However, when I went to the bus station to get tickets for Sevilla/Cadiz I wanted to buy tickets to Madrid as well. WELL the window that sold the Madrid ticket was only open from 4 to 5:15 and i went over at 5:20, minor annoyance that really peeved me.

Another factor that is über annoying is the flute playing man in the center. Beggars here in Mérida don't just sit there and beg, they try to earn their coins. Por ejemplo: the flute man will follow you for 10 mins till you give him money or flake off into another store. He completely ruined an attempt at a relaxing coffee in the Plaza on Monday as he decided our group was going to be his next source of income.

My last rant for the moment, is about our apartment. Landlords are a pain in any culture and even more so in Spain. Ours is named Cencha and resembles a certain Star Wars character whose name starts with J and ends with ut. Mean, but the facts are facts people! Anyways, a little piece on my shower tap is broken so the water does not go up to the shower head. I can take an amazing bath but alas, no shower. So I thought the landlord would take care of that. Nope. My responsibility, SO she calls a plumber, he comes, refuses to give me a price for what seems like a not needed replacement of the whole tap. I am still shower-less (we have 2 showers so no worries, but still annoying) but I am proud that I was not taken advantage of by the plumber and my landlord. In the end, I talked to one of my teachers and they are going to help replace the tap. I guess one positive of the situation is that it provided me a great opportunity to practice some new spanish.. fontanero y grifo (plumber and tap). And you try explaining that "the thing that makes the water go up into the shower head is broken and can come all the way off, but water still leaves the tap," in a foreign language...kind of funny ;).

OK so needless to say that the start to my week (that was all on monday) was not the best ever. However, the week proceeded to improve after some delicious chocolates. I have successfully made chocolate chip cookies using my oven and the ingredients I can find here in Spain. I brought some into my school and they were a hit so I had to share the recipe. Also I traded some cookies for some home made croquets (kind of like a breaded fried gnocci with ham in it) YUM!

The week was fun as my Mom had sent me Valentines so I gave them out to some of my classes in conjunction with an english lesson on planning the perfect Valentines date ... quite an interesting class. Apart from school I met with my regular private classes, including the triplets whose lessons I have finally mastered by concentrating on 2 letters of the alphabet a day and making some kind of puppet or toy that deal with the letter. Also, my "intercambios" are continue to be the highlights of my work week, speaking Spanglish is the most amazing thing ever and should be the language of the world!

So the most amazing thing about this week was our trip to Sevilla and Cadiz for Carnival. Carnival is what Spaniards consider to be like our Halloween, its not...it's 8 million times cooler. There are so many things that go into it, I highly recommend googling it to learn more because I can not do it justice. I'll briefly describe our weekend:

Friday: Sara and I went out into the center and there ended up being Chirigotas in a big tent in the center: groups of people dressed up and singing about different things. One group apparently dressed up like study abroad students and made fun of how they all come to Spain for the fiestas clearly not true ;). After a fun little night we headed home and set our alarms for 6:00am.

Satuday: Caught the 7 am bus to Sevilla to do a full days worth of shopping (Bimba y Lola and HM thank you for fabulous new clothes!)

Also, we made a Starbucks trip because like any typical American, I love their coffee. Sevilla once again was a beautiful city that feels very alive and invigorating. After shopping we headed back to the bus station to put on our costumes for Carnival: Cloudy with a chance of rain.

We overtook the bathroom as we put glitter all over and silver and white hairspray to really go for the cloudy affect. We looked good. really good. REALLY REALLY REALLY GOOD. There were 5 little rain clouds running around Sevilla for a bit as we picked up food and of course some beverages for our bus ride to Cadiz: home of the third biggest carnival in the WORLD.

We were honked at, laughed at and stared at...it was amazing. Also, we sported spray bottles to get that rain in there. The bus ride was done by a group called "We Love Spain" which caters to mostly American Kids studying abroad in Sevilla. Yet we were lucky enough to have a rowdy group of Spanish boys on our bus, singing all the way there (and all the way back!)

Once in Cadiz, it was madness. Imagine all the biggest university Halloween parties and triple it. That is not even 1/100th of what this was like. EVERYONE was dressed up:mailmen, barbies, lawn workers, cross dressers, barbies, ghost busters, lady bugs, endless possibilities including spanish Wheres Waldo. I can't express how crazy the whole night was. Some how we managed to keep a group of about 12 of us together through multiple locations and plazas pictures singing and dancing. Our costumes were perfect as we sprayed unsuspecting nurses, docters and bull fighters with our "rain" bottles.

To be fair, we did get a few drinks thrown at us and we were attacked back by Ghost busters, it was amazing. At 5:30am we headed back to the bus, and were back in Sevilla by 7 am. We ate churros and caught a bus and were back home in Mérida by 1:00. I am not sure I would do the night again because it was quite the marathon but I would love to go back to Cadiz and see carnival during the day as well as see cadiz the city itself on it's own.

Well, the best part about Carnival besides are amazing costumes is the fact that it means I have a 2 day work week and can relax for a couple days! BESOS

Still Viva..and still Loving Spain!

It has been far too long since I’ve written in my blog, apologies to those who are reading! I’ll start from the end of last year…

Before going home to spend Christmas with the family, I went to two of Christmas dinners, one with my school and another with friends. They were enjoyable but the one with my school was at a hotel and was Spain’s version of buffet type food. It wasn’t bad but not the best meal of my life. The second, a dinner, was at Lizzaran where we have been going on almost a weekly basis. It was really fun and the food was delicious! We stayed very late into the night and even played musical chairs and some other Spanish party games.

The next day I went to Madrid with friends and did some sight seeing. For the night we attempted to go out to a “posh” sort of club but the crowd was a bit ridiculous and the lines- way too long. However it afforded me some of the best people watching ever though as we tried to talk are way in… the upper crust of Madrid was actually allowed in and I felt like I was seeing the Spanish cast of Gossip Girl. super SUPER nicely dressed guys and girls, def was jealous of some of the clothes! In the end we ended up going home and forgetting our dreams of hanging with Madrid’s VIP’s, maybe next time!

I flew out early the next morning and arrived in Toronto to some very happy parents. Christmas break was wonderful, and I was happy to have a good 3 weeks to relax and do nothing. It went by very quickly and I by the end was sad to leave. I went to a Syracuse Basketball game, celebrated New Years in Rochester and had more cups of coffee and meals out than I can count on my hands and toes.

I flew out of Toronto and my parents and I went up early to appease my desire to go shopping.

Toronto is a very cool city (photo on the right!) that I would love to spend more time in, after a couple more years in Spain of course!

Once back in Madrid, met up with my friend Lorna and we headed to the bus station to come back to Extremadura. Upon coming home I met up with some of the girls and without missing a beat we headed out for a bit. Over the break a new “disco” had opened up in Mérida, called Izaro. We checked it out, pretty fancy but will certainly cater to a certain crowd here in Mérida.

Also it snowed in Mérida on Sunday the 10th for the first time in over 25 years... I think its because I brought the snow with me ;). It was fun to see everyone so excited for snow and taking pictures, and using umbrellas as if the snow was rain! It was a great way to be welcomed back to the city. Back at school on Monday, it was not easy to get back into the swing of things but I managed after a few stressful days.

Most of January I spent in Mérida with my normal weekly schedule: Work during the morning, private lessons on Tuesday and Wednesday and out for a coffee or pincho during the evening. Also trying to stay in shape and run the days that I can muster the energy. Some highlights of the month included a trip to near by Almendralejo; we went in and actually looked around the city during the day, which was nice.

Also, we rented a car the a couple weeks ago and drove to Trujillo, a near by town where Cortez was born. Renting a car was a great idea, except it has been a while since I’d driven stick and it took a few stalls and tricky situations to get the hang of it. Round-abouts are one thing that I am NOT good at. Had a close call with one car but we made it there and back alive. It was interesting to see the Cortez museum and the way Spain portrays the conquest.

We visited a cheese and wine museum and I had the best white wine, La Luz, I’ve enjoyed here, similar to a Riesling and only 4 euros for a quality bottle, man do I love Spain!

Also during this trip we went to a National Park called Monfragüe.

By far the few hours we spent climbing up to a castle in the park and eating sandwiches on top, are some of my favorite hours in Spain ever. It was green and beautiful with eagles and hawks flying near by. I will be making a trip back when my Mom comes to visit without a doubt!!

Some more highlights of daily life: Sara (my roommate) and I LOVE Mercadona, a grocery store. The issue is that it is a long trek to get to and taking the bus can be a bit of a complex adventure. Finally we got a ride from one of the guys I do a class/intercambio with. Not only did he give us a ride, but he pushed our cart around too… It was pretty much amazing!

Another highlight was the discovery that Mercadona has HUMMUS! IT is clearly not like hummus from home but still tastes pretty good. Mercadona also has cold milk…most of the milk here in Spain is UHT milk and therefore just can be left at room temperature until you actually open the box/ carton, where as our milk is pasteurized in such a way that it has to be refrigerated from the start. Overall, with grocery shopping and cooking I am doing a little bit better than college (aka not just living off cereal and sandwiches).

I have been cooking some more and also baking a bit. The baking is still a challenge as the oven and the ingredients aren’t the exactly the same and measuring things is more like eyeballing. I made gingerbread cookies before Christmas… they were all right but less than spectacular. I also made chocolate chip cookies…the dough was delish but the end result…not bad but def not amazing. I am going to attempt again to make cookies and bring them into my favorite class this week and do a lesson on cooking, vocabulary and typical American baked goods.

In other areas of life, I am going to be going to Denmark in about a month to visit my friend Ryan from college. He is playing basketball over there, so I’ll get to see a game and see another country that I would otherwise probably never thought to visit.

Also, here in Mérida we have something that feels like a group of Spanish friends around are age. We’ve hung out with them the past few weekends and have had a couple“botellóns” (hanging out in an apartment and having some drinks!). Most of them are 22 and 23 and are nice and pretty easy to get alone with well. It has been super nice to have people to hang out with a well as they have cars so our walking has been cut down quite a bit! Also, we have started to make friends with the Churro stand man. Churros are like fried dough but so much better. They come in long sticks are somewhere between fried dough and funnel cake in flavor and texture. The stand opens at 8 am so if you stay out late enough (no joke) you can have them for breakfast before you go to bed. We’ve started eating them after we eat dinner Sunday night, and even got hooked up with some free churros. The owner of the stand loves to talk about bringing Churros to the states and we assure him, they would sell like hot cakes!!

This coming weekend is Carnival and here is Spain it is HUGE. There are groups that dress up and sing and they have competitions for the best groups as well as costumes. A group of us Language Assistants are going to Cadiz for Saturday Night, the 3^rd biggest Carnival festival in the world. As Carnival is when Spaniards get dressed up like we do for Halloween, we needed a pretty amazing costume... “Cloudy with a Chance of Rain!!!”

Scratching your head? We’re going to wear all blue and then attach clouds and carry around water guns and when people ask what we are, squirt them and say "Cloudy with a chance of Rain.” Obviously the language change makes this costume even more ridiculous, “nublado con la posibilidad de lluvia.” We get mixed reviews from the Spaniards… some love it some just look at us like we’re speaking a foreign language ;) go figure. Either way I am excited because I have always wanted to do this costume for Halloween thus doing it for Carnival and with 6 other girls is like a dream come true!

Also we are going to Sevilla to catch the bus to Cadiz so I am preparing for some quality shopping. Spain has what is called “rebajas” two times a year, now then again in August I believe, where past season merchandise is drastically reduced in price. Here in Mérida the shopping is far from amazing so I’ll have to spend a lot in Sevilla to make up for it. I am super exited for a store called Bimba y Lola , reminds me a bit of a mix between JCrew and Urban Outfitters… really cool clothes and hats and jewelry...aka FABULOUS!!

Hopefully this month I will be better with blogging, once a week por lo menos! Plans for this week include joining a little gym near by all that bread and wine I am consuming is not going to bode well for beach season that is right around the corner ;). Also, I have to send out some postcards, aka buy stamps…well hope all is well! BESOS from Spain!