I speaks the English SO good

I have now gone from thinking like “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” to “I must have a really bad Karma.” I have now been to Córdoba 5 times for my IDs and I will still need to return at least twice more (for a second ID that I didn’t originally knew that we needed). I keep reminding all the other Americans here (that I met at the orientation) to calm down because we’re in Spain but I seem to be having a hard time following my own advice now. I’ve been actually quiet calm this whole time but that is starting to change. This is mostly just starting to change because I keep hearing these other people (in my program) complaining about how they had to travel ALL the way from their town (usually an hour trip for most in farther out towns like me), that they can’t get their ID on the same day, how they’re going to have to return AGAIN, that this process should be easier and we shouldn’t have to travel SO far to get ID’s, and blah blah blah. Maybe it’s just making me mad because I wasn’t complaining when I had to return the second and third and fourth and fifth time…I just tried to laugh it off, because I mean come on, what were they expecting in SPAIN??? I can see why we have such a bad rep lol. So with all that said, I’m hoping to have all my ID stuff finished within 3 more trips to Córdoba over the next few weeks. Luckily Córdoba is a GREAT city so I’m hoping to make my way over to the Mezquita the next trip that I take up there and maybe meet up with some new friends I made there. The only reason that didn’t happen today is because I dead tired from waking up at 6am…after falling asleep at 1am.

I was going to vent about my apartment situation but figure there’s no point and I would like to NOT be the typical complaining American. So let’s spin this to be positive note- I’m still searching and I have a few options. I’m really just waiting for the RIGHT option because I would really prefer to live WITH someone and preferably a Spanish speaker. I will probably end up moving in a 2 bedroom place and wait to see if I can find a roommate (due to the poor economy some landlords are reducing rent if only one person lives in a 2 bedroom place, for instance, so it wouldn’t really be out of my price range) OR move into someone’s house (I have a few options there). Now it’s just a matter or figuring out what is right for me since I have some flexibility right now since I have awesome landlord here…which is also a dilemma, because they’re so nice I don’t want to move out and disappoint them! I will just be actively searching for the next week to try a figure out a solution to my problem…hopefully it works in my best interests!

Let’s move onto school/work…so far, so good. The teachers have been great and are super excited to practice their English…and also pretty nervous. Since they rarely get to practice and use their English they get pretty embarrassed about it but I completely understand where they’re coming from because I used to do the same thing. I mean we have similar issues with language in schools too…so unless we use the language frequently…like if we are submersed into another country where they only speak that particular language… it’s difficult to become really fluent (at least for most people). Anyhow starting next week I will be entering in the classrooms and get to “show off” my English. That should boost my self esteem lol. Apparently the kids are also excited so we’ll see how that goes. 

Chicken and liver!

I have also been trying to learn how to cook Spanish food. This is going to take a little while to learn, especially with my lack on kitchen apparatuses, since they just eat such different food than I’m used to. Since I don’t know the first thing about Spanish cooking…except that they eat a lot of pork...I asked my friend’s mom if she could teach me. I’m planning on going over at least every other week to try to learn new things. This week we made seafood soup with octopus, small clams, baby shrimp and some white fish; pork with garlic…lots of it; chicken drumsticks and wings with…liver possibly? Lol; and a bread pudding type dish (plus she sent me home with another dessert she had made previously- Membrillo in sugar water with cinnamon).

The start of my collection...

I’ve only tried the soup and pork so far (I already ate them so that's why there's no pics) so I will have to let you know how the liver tastes…I hope I don’t gag lol but I really want to try everything new here…except maybe the blood sausage, ugh. The food I did try was AMAZING and actually pretty simple to make. She told me that she likes to make pretty simple dishes which sounds great to me since I’m very new the Spanish cuisine. What I really liked about the food also were the common ingredients: olive oil, garlic and white wine. I will have to stock up on those things because I’m telling you…plenty of each was used in all the dishes (minus dessert of course). When I try to replicate the food we made- because that’s my next step in learning- I will make sure to take pics. You WILL be jealous ;)

MEMBRILLO!

You should also be jealous as I have taken up belly dancing classes! The class just started tonight but it was too much fun so I will be there every week. One of the teachers I'm working with invited me and I'm so glad I went...plus this way I can hopefully make some Spanish friends. I also may take some Latin dance classes as well...we'll see how much energy I have lol. The classes are only like 15-25 euro a month (1 hour class/week)...not bad huh?

As for this weekend…I’m going to Madrid YAY! Well that is as long as tickets aren’t sold out or something…this weekend is a puente (which is just an extended weekend) so a ton on people are traveling. This should be an adventure and I’m sure I will take lots of pics and try to be extra touristy once again. I won’t be updating my blog until I come back of course so hopefully with all of my rambling there’s plenty of reading material to tide you over :)

This is just a side note but it is too good to not tell you about. I went to one of the big stores here (kind of a cross between Fred Meyer and Costco I suppose) where they pretty much have EVERYTHING. We asked if they had any wall calendars and they only had ONE...Eclipse theme LOL