I LOVE CONVERTING THINGS!

Also, I found a scale today. 62 kilos.

Which translates to roughly 136 pounds. There is a god.

Speaking of kilos v pounds... that pot luck I organized? I just finished making the pasta.

4 kilos equals just under 9 pounds. YES.

and then I realized I have to CARRY that tomorrow to the bus and then to the hostel or until people eat their food. I was going to get two large tupperwares, and then went A THIRD ONE COULDNT HURT. and thank goodness I did. Because Sergio and I had to eat quite a bit of pasta just to get the rest to fit in the 3 tupperware.

It's also 1130 and I haven't eaten dinner yet. so my plan of going out tonight after all these shenanigans is off the market. HOWEVER, that is probably for the best since I DO have to be at the bus at the buttcrack of dawn.


Lovely.

Gone This Weekend To Granada

I am roughly 5895 miles from the ADPi sorority house at UCLA. For some reason, googlemaps wouldn't let me calculate from anywhere else. Stupid. But I figure that that is closest to the airport anyway.

So ya, I'm roughly 5900 miles from home. To my doorstep here. Interesting.

Tomorrow morning bright and early at 7.50AM we leave for Granada. Guess what the weather is in Granada? You guessed it! RAIN. I thought I had ESCAPED this. False.

So this is one of the longer trips. I'm gone Friday morning to Sunday night... which is... Thursday night to Sunday morning- midday for you.

Also, I will never be able to adapt to these keyboards. I am quite certain that as soon as I adapt to the Spanish board I am going to be back in america.

OH and I have the potential for a job here for the month of July. Which is great. Except I would need to survive somehow all of June AND August with friends because I can't even THINK about changing my flight until August 24th. So thats not looking like an option.

Theres the TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE certification program at UC Irvine this summer, but I really need to take summer classes as well. We'll see. Work is also necessary. Who knows.

Off to make large quantities of pasta because I am a mother and coordinated a potluck between my friends and I. Hasta luego!

The Hunt for Peanut Butter

When you're a little kid, there's nothing better than a PBJ sandwich. Over the past years, I havent really given much thought to the role peanut butter plays in my everyday life. Because it has a very small one. In Ecuador, my dad said he would trade peanut butter for things. I laughed at him.

You have no idea how quickly I would have traded my liver for some peanut butter on Tuesday. No, Im not kidding. At all.

I decided that, as an effort to not waste money on small things, I would stop buying a snack at school and instead make myself a sandwich every day. A lot of the señoras here pack a lunch of fruit or a bocadillo (sandwich) for their kids. Mi madre sleeps late and showed me how to make myself food. but we know jamee and her great time management. since making myself toast was too difficult in the morning, she bought me cornflakes. since i cant figure out how to make myself go faster in the morning, i fill a little plastic cup with cereal and eat it on the way to the bus instead of sitting down in the morning and eating. its okay, i dont mind not drinking the milk. to be honest, im kind of scared to.

ANYWAY. PEANUT BUTTER. I wanted to make myself sandwiches. Sergio told me the word for peanut butter. I went to the market near my house. There was no peanut butter, nor could I remember the word for it, so I couldnt ask, because how do you DESCRIBE peanut butter if you cant even SAY the word PEANUT. you cant. Please believe me when I say I spent a good 20 minutes staring at packages to see if i recognized a peanut. I did not.

Honey? check
jelly? check
pate in 23 or so different flavors? check
peanut butter? epic fail.

i got so frustrated i bought myself chocolate that ended up tasting like death as well as some cookies and snack food for the trip to granada this weekend, including juice boxes. yes, i am incredibly nerdy. i returned home frustrated beyond belief to which sergio replies

WELL OF COURSE IT WONT BE AT THAT MARKET.

as if i am supposed to know WHICH market has PEANUT BUTTER. its at GAS STATIONS in the US for crying outloud! I wasnt aware it was such a WEIRD thing to want. apparently it is.

and called CREMA DE CACAHUETE, for the record.


Sergio felt bad so he walked with me to the better market farther from the house and literally took my hand and walked me to where the peanut butter was. There is ONE type of peanut butter. In a little jar the size of my fist. IN THE CHOCOLATE SECTION. It is NOT a dessert. It is a spread. Just like that weird looking pate you spanish people always eat. UGH.

also, tortillas as we know them in the us, the essential part to most mexican food? kiss it goodbye. it does not exist. tortilla here is an egg and potato dish. its delicious. i asked to find normal tortillas, thinking quesadillas were easy as well. instead the man showed me crepe and pancake batter. fail.

I spent 10euro on the following things - a giant loaf of sandwich bread, peanut butter, popcorn, bananas, parmesean cheese, jam, lotion. the peanut butter was 3euro. yes, in all seriousness, a third of my bill was the smallest jar of peanut butter known to man. word on the street is that another market has JIFFY or SKIPPY but i am skeptical because i can't remember which one of those I don't like, and it would be very like me to purchase the one I don't like. So I will be happy with CAPTAIN MANI peanut butter.

i have made myself a pbj sandwich the last two mornings and stuck it in my tupperware i brought from home. i feel really accomplished and happy with myself. its the small things, like finding peanut butter and making yourself a sandwich in the morning, that makes you feel like you are growing and can function like a human being.

or really make you miss the usa and your mother. and wondering how your sandwich was cut, as if it was a surprise each day.

theres no surprise if YOU cut it yourself.


no, do not send me peanut butter. i was just sharing a story.

¡Carnaval!

¡CARNAVAL!

this was my night in a nutshell. i got on a bus for 3 or 4 hours, dressed up with friends, met people dressed up even crazier than us, and had an amazing time. and then at 5am i was freezing and wanted to get back on the bus faster than humanly possible. i left at 630pm and got back at 11am the next day.


and yes, that picture above is of me and my friends with ABBA. Just in case you were wondering.


Carnaval was SO much fun I can't even begin to tell you. Well, I can and I WILL!

When you live in a sorority house and you need to get dressed up in stupid costumes, you and your friends get together and do so. However, having people over isn't really allowed here since we are guests in homes, so please imagine Jenny and I getting ready in our respective homes and meeting up to walk together to Ilana's.

Image - me, dressed as a witch, complete with hat. Jenny is also my height, dressed in a small indian frock with leggings because she is so tall. We look ridiculous as we walked through town center, but at least the people knew it was for CARNAVAL. I hope.

yes, thats a costume. breathe.

We arrive at the Bullfighting ring at 630 and are on the buses asap. We sit with a bunch of spanish girls who are dressed as SUPER FLAMENCO GIRL, complete with polka dot capes and matching SUPERMAN symbols on their chests. I immediately love them, if only for the reference to DC. However, they get better as my group of friends and our spanish girls sing common songs -- feliz navidad, random christmas songs, spice girls, disney, nsync... and their favorite, GREASE.





I do not know what it is about myself that I always end up singing GREASE with complete strangers in Spain. This happened when I was here with my parents in 2000 as well. Perhaps I was SANDY in another life. Probably not.


3 hours on a bus. At one point, the spanish boys dressed as braveheart smushed me between their faces, and I ended up with blue facepaint on myself. Typical of myself yet again... I can't even keep my makeup intact through an event. I didnt even GET THERE YET. gah. apparently the thing to do is go with your friends as a group costume, such as colored pencils or an animal.. such as chickens. Really, there were so many interesting costumes. Such as this one which, as you can see, is a bunch of girls dressed as god knows what, but they are attached to ostriches. AVESTRUZ! SEE! I TOLD YOU I WOULD NEED THAT WORD AGAIN! perhaps i was so excited solely for that purpose.

I was a witch, Ilana and Steph were in colorful shirts with a mask, Jenny was an indian, Mason was WALDO from wheres waldo, which proved to be an excellent costume, except when we lost hiim at one point. Chris was speedy gonzalez, a group of girls were the 4 musketeers, and mark was a pirate. all in all, quite an interesting group we had. jasmine was a cat, kathlena was an old lady without a bra (see first photo, it was actually really funny and since she got to stay wrapped up in her clothes, she was the warmest of us all at 5am), and saya was the police. lots of fun.



so its this giant party, with people EVERYWHERE (see above photo for even the tiniest idea of how many people there were. no, the people never stop). by the end of the night, there was not an inch of ground not completely covered with broken bottles, alcohol, vomit, or other bodily fluids. some man attempted to snatch my camera right at the beginning, but you best believe i got that back. too much work to get it in the first place. we walked around for a while and went to find the performances... at which point a guy dressed up like a stupid tiger cat called me, and grabbed my butt.

not okay.

I turned around, marched over to him and kicked him directly in the shin, saying the only coherent spanish sentence that popped into my head -- NO PARA TI! which roughly translated is, NOT FOR YOU. There are times in my life I am the proud owner of a size 11 boot. That was one of them.

On that note, thank GOODNESS for leggings and tights and my sweater. It was great weather until like 3am, but keep in mind, i'm basically in a witch dress, leggings, and boots on a piece of land that is almost an island, surrounded by the ocean. and yes, the ocean. not the sea. at 5am, i hated my life and wanted a blanket or a heater immediately.

Back to the story... we were watching the group performances and THIS MAN
who i can only assume was batty drunk, kept hitting jenny and i on the head with this rubber hammer. had he kept doing it, i would have taken it and given him a taste of his own obnoxious medicine, however, he escaped before i had the chance. this was almost directly after the tiger pounce incident. i was in no mood. and no, i wasn't irritated because i was intoxicated, in fact, quite the opposite.

steph and i remained the two normal sane people throughout the night with one glass of wine while the rest of our group demonstrated the different levels of being DRUNK, or in spanish, BORRACHO. Steph and I were fabulously sober while the others were fabulously acting like TROMPAS. rather funny really.



At one point, we found these guys dressed up as sorority girls, with the letters KEG on their shirts and fake navel rings and Mason took a picture with them. I found it hilarious.



People here are not aware of what it means to be poliitically correct... hence the HUNDREDS of people dressed up with blackface. Not kidding. Hundreds. SEE?



So here are a few pics of some costumes... edward scissor hands!



at 4am, steph and i had had enough of wandering around, so we wanted to find the bus station. problem, we had lost mason. yes, i can appreciate the irony in losing the guy dressed up as WHERES WALDO. so around 5am we found our way to the bus station, and we decided to steal a jacket from the lawn and sit on it on the ground and huddle together for body warmth. for 2 hours. everyone else went to the beach. i dotn know about YOU but going CLOSER to the water when its windy sounded like a horrible idea. i was happy to curl up with my sorority sister.

let me tell you, that whole sisterly bonding thing is awesome, even tho shes from berkeley, we instantly had a connection im really grateful for.

The bus came at 730 and we ran to our seats and then PASSED OUT for 3 hours. This is mark and I on the way home. I have NEVER had a walk of shame... which, in greek world, is walking back from a frat house the morning after a party. I have NEVER and will never do that. However, there was no option BUT to walk back from the bus station in Cordoba dressed like a witch and accompanied by a pirate. on a sunday. lovely.




needless to say, i came home, my family gave me lunch at like 12 instead of 3, and then i proceeded to pass out the rest of the day until 6 or so. maybe 7. it was great.

I am glad i had the experience, but I am not nearly a big enough party girl or crazy enough to want to repeat that any time soon.

My life here

AAAAAND since I'm already updating like crazy... here are some photos of my daily life. I live in the center of town, so scary stuff like what happens to Ilana is less likely for me. Because SOMEONE always has to walk my way to get away from the bars-clubs, so one of the boys is always walking with me. But no worries, I am still being uber careful.

I live in this apartment. It has three bedrooms, a kitchen-dining area, and a family room. I have my own bathroom and I still can't get the shower to stay one temperature thats warm. But its okay. I live in an apartment building. It is off one of the main streets, and my door to the main street is about 15 seconds.

I take the bus to school in the morning because it takes at least 30-45 minutes to walk. My school is called THE SCHOOL OF THE EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES, roughly translated. I have 3 classes -- grammar for 2 hours, a half hour break, literature and film for an hour, and then history for an hour. Then I find my friends who live near me (aka far away) and we start the trek home. When the weather is nicer, I am going to try to walk to school more often so I don't have to pay for the bus. Speaking of the bus, I nearly got kicked off it the other day because the bus driver said my bus pass was wrong because it was a student pass and I didnt have the school ID with me. I DIDNT HAVE THE SCHOOL ID BECAUSE IT CAME THE NEXT DAY IN THE MAIL. stupid administration here. Anywhoooo, I take the bus, and get off and walk maybe 3 minutes to school. I am in 2 classrooms and the cafeteria all day. Stephanie thinks we should accost the cafeteria guy and have him show us around town or make him her spanish boyfriend. one of the two.

PHOTOS OF MY LIFE!


bus stop!


my schooooool


the sidewalk for the main street

Week 3 and Medina Azahara

Week 3 went by without anything TOO crazy happening, I got my CAMERA in the mail and I was STOKED! )the picture above is amy and i jumping for joy when our pacakges arrived... thats my one from last week from my family). I attempted a Flamenco class, but I'm not going to spend the money on that because I really want to travel more. I ended up cutting Mason's hair in my apartment lobby and gave him a fabulous EUROPEAN spanish haircut... which, if I saw someone with this haircut in the US, I'd laugh at them... however, it is completely normal here. PHOTO!



Tuesday we went to a place where we can volunteer with autistic children. I am going to help with the equine therapy I believe, and go to the zoo to help the kids feed-ride-pet the burritos... and NO, it doesnt mean mexican food. It means little donkeys. I got SO excited when I heard the word burrito... and then they clarified it did not mean food. Sad.

Wednesday Jenny Ilana and I met up with a Spanish guy named Almeyda... he's a friend of the brother in Ilana's host family. He showed us around different parts of town and we got chocolate con churros. DELICIOUS. PHOTO!

Thursday was a lot of fun. We tried to make Thursday the big night since Friday we would want to rest up because Saturday (aka Today) is the big trip to Cadiz for Carnaval! Thursday I tutored english for a while and then a whole slew of us, american and spanish, went to CONFUCIOUS, which is a japanese buffet. Yes, a japanese buffet here in spain. My little group got driven there by Graham's intercambio, Josefo or something like that. We hadnt been in a car in like 3 weeks and it was SO weird, especially with their crazy driving. Not sure I'll do that again. It was nice to bond with people who I normally only see at school. We got sangria for the first time and I actually enjoyed it. I like fruit. I eat oranges with my meals, its like a dessert apparently. No idea. We ended up at this bar called HOLLYWOOD PLAZA and just hung out, but Steph and I were actually really tired so we convinced the guys to walk us home, and on the way we found this park where you can see this really cool hotel that changes colors. Well, the lights on it change colors.


Every day I find something new in this city. It's rather small, but there is SO much. The jewish quarter, the roman bridge (YES, ROMAN... as in its lasted this long), and then all the modern stuff and the parks and gah, its wonderful here.


ANYWAY, on friday we took a trip to the Medina Azahara... again, I am probably spelling it wrong but its ok because i have PAMPHLETS! Its the city and palace of the Muslim califa, which is like the big boss cheese man, bigger than a king. It's basically where he kept his women. Very pretty. PHOTOS!
the muslims really like arches...

the house of ya'far


the ruins

gardens!

more ruins


oh AND i just found out that when I decided to not go out last night, my friends still did, and Ilana, on her way home, was nearly mugged. A guy hit her in the face with a beer bottle and tried to steal her purse... but she kept her purse and ran home. She lost her phone thursday night... things are not going well for her.

I promise I am being safe.

Week 2 and Malaga!

It's been a while, once again, but I am updating you on my full adventures the past week or so. I log the hilights in my little journal so I don't forget, and now I'm catching up.

Friday we visited the Mezquita, which is this giant (originally) Muslim worship place which was later turned into a catholic cathedral, although it still maintains a ton of the original architectural build. When I say original, nothing is original, it has all been reconstructed, but the idea is that everything now looks the same as when it was built, PLUS the changes from the catholics. Its really cool. There's a giant courtyard with orange trees and ONE olive tree around a fountain. There was weird light coming through the window so we all took funny pictures in the light... it looked like you were holding an orb or something. Unfortunately my pose apparently looked like I was praying to the mecca or something, and the guards started running over and yelling at me DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS IS? in spanish, but, alas, when you yell at me AND speak really quickly, my brain shuts down and I look like a deer in headlights. FACT. Once I figured out they were telling me it was NOT a muslim worship house and was catholic and I was not allowed, I then proceeded to show them my catholic pendant of the Virgin Mary and holler in my best spanish YO SOY CATOLICA! which roughly translates to i am catholic... at which point they stopped yelling at me, mumbled, and walked away. PHOTOS!




Friday night we went to a club called VERSAILLES which was really cool.... and Saturday began our adventures to Malaga!

The internet lies. It said the bus was at 11... it was at 3. The internet as far as the bus stations here is complete malarky. We ended up just trolling around town for a while, and the 3 hr bus ride to malaga went so quickly. We got there, found a hostel near the center, and it smelled like cat litter, but was cheap and safe and close to the center. The boys got the room on the street side, and us girls (me, ilana, jenny) ended up in the backroom with bars on our window and facing a building... lovely. So, it was Valentines Day and Chris got me chocolate, which was absolutely adorable, but then THEY MADE ME CLIMB THE BAZILLION MILE MOUNTAIN TO THE CASTLE..... ON VALENTINES DAY. It was actually night and the view was breathtaking. SEE? LOOK!


yes, yes, beauty abounds. So the castle was the castillo de gibrafaltar or something (I have it written down WITH pamphlets and all, i promise), but we didn't go inside. Then we went back down to the middle of town and bought these GIANT baked potatos and you can put ANYTHING inside them and they were DELICIOUS. They are preparing for Carnaval there, even though it isn't a main city, and there was a parade and singing and SO much fun. PHOTOS!



We were accosted by a group singing dressed like devils and angels, and of course I made friends. We ended up grabbing tapas and I ate OCTOPUS! rather proud of myself. and a delicious sweetonionwithbriecheeseonbread dish... also one of the best things i have eaten here. So my valentines included a bus ride, chocolate, a HIKE to a castle, an amazing view, a parade of crazy people in crazy costumes, being accosted by a devil, and octopus. Lovely.

Sunday we strolled around town, which, oddly enough, looks like santa barbara We went to the picasso museum... I keep my little knife with me and they made me check it while I was there for fear I'd destroy priceless picasso. Also saw a Max Ernst exhibit, which was really cool too. What was REALLY cool was underneath it is an example of the ROMAN architecture... like they found a house under it... what was even COOLER was that some of the descriptions of the stuff directly corrolated to the stuff we were learning in history (granted, history is in spanish, so i can only ASSUME to know what im saying). Then we went to picassos house PHOTO! and then took the bus to what we thought would be a lovely beach. we were wrong. it looked like LA had taken it over. and not like tiny tan people, as in broken glass and grafitti. BUT as souveniers of the journey, I took a piece of decorated tile I found on the beach and confetti from the parade. We found a rundown playground, and of course, PLAYED!



Here is the last photo I'll post about Malaga... we really had a great time and it was nice to stick my toes in the Mediterranean Sea.


Me, Mason, Ilana, Chris, Jenny