New phone

*I have added new photos...and a few other changes (added some stories) to the MADRID posting*

Yesterday was a really off day...I think I may be coming down with something- AGAIN. So this weekend will be pretty low key.

Well so my birthday is coming up on Monday-TOMORROW- so I've been making plans to buy a few things for my bday. If you've ever met you know I like to cook....so I'm buying myself kitchen supplies lol. Yes that's seriously what I want because I feel helpless when I can't cook everything that I want. A week or two again I also was thinking about this and was determined that I wanted a slow cooker. I use it for meals at home (not a ton but a few) and I just love having one. Now finding one in Spain- pretty much impossible. In addition, when I explain what it is people seem to get really confused. I soon figured out that no one uses those here but what I did find out was that EVERY uses pressure pots. If you don't know what that it (I sure didn't) its just like a pot with a lid and it creates pressure inside when you heat something in it (over a burner) which cooks it faster. This is used a lot for cooking beans, in soups for example, really fast. Anyways, I finally figured out where to buy a slow cooker- at their big store (Carrefour- I wrote about it in an earlier post). I've been planning on buying this thing for a few weeks now and actually ended up buying it. Yesterday I ended up returning it...The indecisive me has follow the rest of me to Spain! I do have reasoning for this though- I feel that since I'm living in Spain I should be cooking like the Spanish do, therefore using the same kitchen equipment

Oh yea, but instead of buying a pressure pot, I purchased a hand blender...I will get the pressure cooker later lol. Elena (Carlos' mom) said I can borrow one of her's (pressure cooker) in the meantime- that way I can see how much I use it and everything.

Moving onto to my phone:
I decided to get a different phone, as a side present for me. I mostly decided this because Movistar (the big company here) is RIDICULOUSLY expensive. Yesterday morning I headed over to Yoigo (a new company) and switched! yay Now, I got a new phone number, it would have taken 7 days to keep my old one and im impatient, and a new phone! It's definitely newer than the one I was using- borrowed from a friend (thanks cesca for loaning yours to me!). My recommendation if you ever come to spain...check out Yoigo (or Orange) because they have really good prices and they were super friendly to me (not so much at the Movistar store I went to...).

After I bought my phone I pretty much wandered around town...bought some fruits and veggies from the market...then headed back to my apartment...took a nap (love siestas!)...then got up and made some soup. I was feeling really run down so the homemade soup definitely helped a little.

Anyhow, later that evening (around 6pm) I was sitting in my room, being lazy, and started to hear noises from what sounded like a marching band getting ready to, well, march. And sure enough- I looked out my window and what did I see...a marching band.

They eventually began and started marching down the street...I had no idea what was going on so I just took pictures and watched them from my window. About 30min later they came back...this time with more people. Behind the band was a group of people holding up what looks like a shrine with the patron saint on it. What happens is a large group of men, and boys, carry these REALLY heavy shrines around town. For the men its pretty much like a proud tradition, so all the mothers are really proud of their sons when they start carrying on this tradition. This type of "parade" is pretty typical though in Spain and if you've ever seen pics or movies of their holidays, you've probably seen this. I figured out that this was for the patron saint Teresa whos "day" was on Friday, I believe. They celebrate their patron saints more than they celebrate people's birthdays here! It was great and I took a bunch of pictures.

Later that night I found out from Elena that each neighborhood is associated with a saint so on that saint's particular holiday, they will do a procession though that neighborhood- this week it was my neighborhood.

Oh and one thing I forgot to mention- on Friday (because it was the patron saint Teresa day) they had a mini party at the school. I don't work on Friday's but Teresa invited me, because it was "her" day and she was bringing cakes. Also when it is someones patron saint's day (if they have the same name) you have to give them besitos- the kiss on each cheek. I loved it because I got to eat cake for breakfast (I woke up late lol) but this is very big here...so I'm excited for the rest of these days throughout the year lol