New apartment, Birthday, and Christmas

Well, I know I promised a good romance for my next blog entry but I am realizing that I have to be in a certain mood to write about my romantic feelings and apparently that mood doesnt come often. lol. I have thought of multiple other topics to write about recently which all excite me far more than a love story at this point. And since the vast majority of my readers are friends and family, you all will forgive me for temporarily jumping over THAT topic. It would be nice if I could write a nice, organized and, best of all, chronilogical account of my time hear but I am realizing that my brain is not that organized. Many things do not come to me in the moment but much later after pondering and deliberating over my feelings or making sense of what is happening. I am going to try and make shorter and more frequent entries so that maybe certain things will make more sense.

Anyhow, last Friday I moved into a new apartment. I wasn't really feelin my previous apartment. I let Jesus find me a place while I was still in the U.S. because I was stressed to the max and decided to put some faith in my boyfriend and let him take care of all that. Meanwhile I said my goodbyes to family, friends and Bianca and stressed over my visa arriving late and me having to change my flight for 600 more $.

The old apartment turned out to be okay at first but soon water started leeking from every crevice of the house. Every time you would drop a duece in one bathroom, instead of the poop flushing down into the ground it just popped up directly into the other toilet of the other bathroom like the toilets were playing hot potato with the turds. So basically, the house always smelled like shit. And then there was my roomate, a Spaniard from Galicia, who was very friendly and outgoing but who turned out to be like a child trapped in a man's body. He took out the garbage once in 2 months and would start blasting his music in his room at 4 in the morning when he got home from his job at the hotel even though he knew I was sleeping. I almost think he subconsiously didnt want to have a roomate and thus began sabotaging our living situation. Anyhow, last friday I moved to a nicer place for the same price that is right across the street from one of the schools that I work at where I now have Wifi and sweet room that has a leather couch in it. It also has pretty, french doors and a nice, Feng Shui vibe about it. So far so good. I am feeling much better here already. I am currently living with a 22 year old French girl who is (here working on here degree and her Spanish but is due to go back home to France in 3 days), a Spanish boy (who attends the University) and the owner of the house (a Spanish lady in her 40s who is divorced and has 3 grown children who all live on their own). Soon another Spanish girl will replace the French girl and hopefully the dynamics of the house will remain nice and tranquil like they are now. So far I love it because its quiet and everyone seems responsible, respectful and seems to do their own thing..like me.

Now a little recap on my birthday in Spain. For me it was absolutely perfect. I didnt want anything big or crazy this year since I am away from so many of my friends and family which is what really makes those days fun and special. I was wanting something more low-key and private I suppose. So, my boyfriend planned everything perfectly, anticipating all my needs for that day. It was incredible because I wouldnt call him a particularly perceptive person or a good listener (sorry honey) for that matter but he certainly surprised me this time.

He sent me a text in the morning saying "Feliz cumpleanyos" and that he would be picking up around 1pm and when he gave me a "toque"(toque -one ring to signal you to do something that has been previously agreed upon in order not to waste minutes on your cell phone talking). In this case the "toque" was to signal me to come down from my apartment so that he didnt have to look or pay for parking and we would leave directly from the street in front of my place in his car. He had packed a cooler with sandwhiches, beer, wine and chopped fruit for a litte picnic in the countryside. This he did because I always complain that Spaniards don't spend enough time in nature and that I need occasional doses so that I dont go crazy here. I brought my guitar along and played intermittently while snacking and drinking beer. He even made the sandwhiches with mayo, mustard, pickles and tomatoes instead of the dry sandwhiches they make here with ONLY cheese and meat...NO SAUCE people. ( I know, hard for us Americans to imagine a sandwhich with only meat and cheese on dry bread) Anyways, the country side was beautiful, peaceful and romantic and I thought that was it. That was my bday present.

Well, you're wrong Jessey!!! Next we stopped at my house, I made us some chamomile tea and we starting sipping when, all of the sudden, he said we had to go. I was like "huh?", where?, why? and I started to get nervous. I was wearing my signature sweatpants, hoody and baseball cap and was so worried he was gonna pull some stupid, surprise on me with people I barely knew with me looking stupid in my American attire. I also started worrying about how I LOVE surprises but how I also HATE them because if its something you dont like, that look of disappointment always creeps its way onto your face and I wasnt in the mood for social awkwardness. Anyhow, we started down the road on foot in the direction of his sister's house who is also a friend of mine. I was hoping and praying that we weren't going there for some strange surprise party with people that dont really know me. BUT Jesus kept saying "trust me" and I kept thinking that I had it all figured out and it was gonna suck. BUT then, we passed the street to his sisters, we stopped and he said "turn around, your present is behind you." I turned around to see a sign that said "Physical Therapy"...huh? Then he started explaining that he wanted to bring me here so that they could look at my hip since I always talked about how it had been hurting me for 10 years and how I never had health insurance to really get it looked at. My body and nerves suddently decompressed and I just felt so cared for in that moment. Somebody cared about my health. Rather than a stupid teddy bear or some ugly shirt that I will never wear again, a boyfriend cared about my health. I suddenly felt relaxed and like trusting my boyfriend for the first time in a long time(Yes, I understandably have trust issues). He came in with me while his friend/therapist took a look at everything and did all kinds of manipulations and massaging and gave me some interesting feedback. Once again, very impressed with the medical treatment compared to the U.S. They actually spend time with you here and at least pretend like they care about whats going on with you rather than treating you like another hamburger at a fastfood joint. In that initial visit without an x-ray or MRI, he basically confirmed that which I had already suspected but took it one step further. He said that because of years of softball and waitressing, one side of my body in certain areas is stronger than the other side (which I figured) and has pulled everything over, creating scoliosis but also (one step further) one eye to be more closed than the other, symetrical differences in my body AND face and possibly to have one ovary higher than the other, etc etc. As he said all this, I couldn't help but feel like a Salvador Dali or Picasso painting (coincidentally Spanish painters known for melting effects and lack of symmetry.). He noticed right away a lump on the right side of my innards and asked if I had a cyst on my ovaries. I said no but that I DID find out about a golfball-sized non-cancerous tumor on the right side of my uterus last year during my stint in Spain. Anyhow, if I need to fix it I will have to do the work which will start with strengthening the left side obliques and so on. If they take my insurance I may start going to physical therapy so that I dont end up a crooked old woman, with a crooked old cat, in a crooked old house or so the story goes. And last but not least, he bought me a little speaker system for my computer and ipods because my computer's sounds sucks ass and when we try and watch movies or I want to listen to music its pretty much a joke. I had mentioned it several times that I wanted to buy speakers and I now I know HE DOES LISTEN TO ME!!! Its so nice to have that confirmed finally. Sometimes having a relationship in another language I feel as though maybe I am not even speaking Spanish but some other language because the combination of just dating a man in general and then throwing another language on top of that, I feel like maybe I am speaking Yiddish because there are many miscomunications and misunderstandings to be had. Needless to say, he did good and I had a wonderful birthday that I couldnt have planned better for myself.

So today is Christmas and I am basically not doing anything besides taking ibuprofen for cramps while drinking a 40 oz of Amstel and writing on my blog at 5pm. Last night we celebrating at Jesus' aunt's house with a family dinner. It was really chill and once again I enjoyed myself in a nice laid-back way. (Could this mean I am getting old? Or that I am just not myself in another language/culture? Its a bit of both I would wager to say). Anyhow, his aunt is from Boston but has lived in Spain for 20+ years. She did study abroad in Sevilla, decided to stay one more year and then met her husband. They got married, had 4 kids, maintained a successful boomtruck business and then he passed away. She has made her life here with her kids and has an absolutely gorgeous Spanish-style house with a pool on the outskirts of town. She is supersweet and humble, works as an English professor. She speaks English with a slight Boston accent and speaks Spanish, suposedly, with an ever- so- faint accent that most Spaniards can't put a finger on where its from. Anyhow, we spent the evening there, starting out with Spanish-style appetizers and then moving into the American food for the main course of turkey, gravy, baked yams, stuffing and salads. It was all fabulous and I ate WAY too much.

It was cool because last year in that same house on New Year's Eve, I met Jesus for the first time. "Memories...all alone in the moonlight..." Also, last year I didnt feel very comfortable at all with my Spanish and I remember being so happy to talk to his aunt Maureen in English and we had a couple of long conversations that night in English. But this year, we hardly spoke a word of English to each other. Besides "Merry Christmas", "are these yams?", "my pleasure" and "everything was really good", we stuck to speaking to each other in Spanish. I love it...2 American girls speaking to each other in Spanish when it would have been easier to speak our native languages. And we kept to the Spanish script, communicating perfectly and felt no need to use English. YESS!!! Little by little things are improving. Not as fast as I would have liked but then again I am discovering that I am a VERY impatient person, who hardly EVER lets anything happen organically and it has been huge blind spot in my life. Anyhow, glad to be learning, improving and, little by little, enjoying myself, these small improvements and like they say "the little things." I am fortunate to be the position to learn these things and finally starting to enjoy doing it. Merry Christmas!!!!!

That was last year

"I'm here at my darling's house and I want to be allllll my life with him"

-Jesus Daza putting words in his girlfriend's mouth

Well, there you have it, what better way to start my first blog entry of my second year in Spain than with a quote from my boyfriend, the one who convinced me to come back a second year and who also decided to jump on my laptop while I was cooking just now to put his two cents worth on my blog. But I think its a good start since this year, I have decided to take this blog to a more personal level. I can only write so much about travelling and food when I am doing more than that, I am living here. I can no longer get by without letting my more personal side enter into the equation. So, for good or bad, this year I'm telling my readers how I REALLY feel.

So, as my family will attest, I had a very hard time making the decision to return to Spain for another 9-month school year. The first year seemed to be full of disappointments and awkward moments. I had dreamed so much of travelling abroad, solidifying my language skills and learning about another culture that I think I really must have built things up in my head while also forgetting that every great lesson comes with an equally potent dose of emotional suffering. And boy did I suffer. Last year, due to lack of vocabulary and linguistic expression, I had to slowly put my ego aside and temporarily abandon the personality that was 32 years in the making. I had to live through 9 months of regressing to an infant-like stage where I was learning new words every day and having trouble pronouncing them and worst of all not being able to express myself properly. I had to depend and trust people that I only knew on a very superficial level because I didnt understand the half of what the plan for the day or weekend was and had to follow along without having any idea of how we were getting where we were going, when we were coming back or any of the details for that matter. I had to truly learn to go with the flow, like a child does before they can speak and really ask questions. They just trust their parents and go with the flow and can't exactly express how they feel about things or voice their opinion or have much of an influence on their day to day happenings. Like a child, I was at the mercy of others.

What made things even harder was that I was always listening to people say rediculous things about the United States on an almost daily basis like "in the U.S. people only eat fast food" or "the food in Spain is much better than in the U.S. huh?". That was hard to listen to constantly because in the U.S. as a "melting pot" of cultures we actually have a bigger variety of food and ingredients to choose from than any other country in the world I am willing to wager. Also, coming from Washington State at least, I grew up making many many things from scratch and eating tons of food from the garden. I was raised almost NEVER eating fast food or in restaurants period. And here almost everything seems to be deep fried, full of salt and seriously lacking in the vegetable, spice and flavor department. Sure, there is good food to be found here but I can't say that anything is the best I've ever had or anything that worthy of constant bragging.

Then, I would have to hear the stories of how ignorant Americans are and how everybody here saw a Spanish program about how they went around asking Americans geography questions and that our answers where so stupid that we didnt even know where Spain was and we thought it was in South America, etc etc. And when I told them that media is always biased and that someone could easily travel around Spain TRYING to find the most ignorant people in the country and make a video of all their stupid responses compile it together and packaged that as "Look how stupid Spaniards are everybody", they looked at me like "huh?" Many didn't seem to understand the magic of editing and media manipulation and couldn't believe that what they saw maybe wasn't a good representation of American people. There were so many things that normally are so easy for me to explain but not having the words to sound intelligent, so many times I just chose not to say anything at all. This slowly ate away at me until by the end of my stint in Spain, I had all this tightness in my jaws and found myself with shortness of breath and almost to the point of what many would call an anxiety attack. When I got on that bus with all my things packed, heading out of Cordoba to catch my flight from Madrid back to the U.S., I thought for sure I would never come back.

To make a long story a bit shorter, it was a year of listening to rediculous things about the U.S. that I didn't have the words OR the energy to argue about especially when dealing with a very prideful and stubborn culture. I felt like all year I heard over and over "Spain has the best food in the world, our ham is the best, our lifestyle is the best, I bet you don't have seafood as good as ours in your country, our way of speaking Spanish is the only correct way, Mexicans dont speak correct Spanish and neither do South Americans, Spain is the most diverse and beautiful country, our beaches are some of the best in the world, we have more parties and funner people, and on and on and on. I just didn't see any of those things as being true based on my experiences in the world.

On top of that, I heard racist comments on just about a daily basis, even in my elementry school. And these comments came from people who are supposedly educated people with degrees and such. And the hard part was that I know better. I HAVE been to other countries and experienced other cultures, not on a grand scale but enough to know not to ever say rediculous, ignorant things like that about my country or any other for that matter. Every culture has its wonders and beauties and also their downfalls, mistakes and atrocities. Countries are like a macrocosm of human nature. We all have our good and our bad and just likeits people, not one country is all good or all bad. We can all learn from each other if we are open to it. I guess what I didn't like was the lack of openness. I would cook a meal and invite people to eat and many of them were afraid to try my food and didn't trust that I could possibly know what I was doing or had anything that could possibly taste good. All because I had a different way of doing things. People treated me like I was a baby or a person with down's syndrome or some other mental deficiency it felt like, instead of just a person from another country with different customs and different yet equally, if not more effective ways of doing things. Anyhow, that was then...

And THIS Is Now...

I must say that this year my feelings have changed dramatically. Through much effort to change my attitude/perspective, I have begun to see things through a different lense. And I can't deny that it has everything to do with love. I suppose all the great spiritual leaders are right when they talk of love breading tolerance and acceptance. Although my goal in coming to Spain was to learn the language and culture, instead what I have been learning, which is far more important, are patience and tolerance. I see that love is transforming me from impatient and critical to being more tolerant of others.

New Year's Eve 2010

As many of you know, last year on New Year's Eve, I met someone. Someone but not just anyone. I went to a New Year's FAMILY party with a co-worker who I hardly knew but who I felt was a good, generous person (slightly hippie, hence a good vibe). I really didnt want to go to be honest. I was exhausted from trying to understand all this Spanish and trying to communicate with everyone during Christmas in Ceuta with my roommate's family. I reluctantly got dressed in a long cardigan sweater and some leggings, which those of you who know me know that is not a typical Jessey outfit. I basically had to look myself in the mirror and give myself the ol' pep talk which consisted of "you NEVER know when you're going to meet someone important, so get your ass ready and "guapa" whether you feel like it or not. You are stronger than this Jessey." I quickly changed into my white pants and a aquamarine off-the-shoulder, sequin-lined number of a shirt. When my friend Angela called to see if I was ready, I valiently answered to let her know that yes, indeed I was coming although everything inside me wanted to bail on her that night. But thank God I didn't.

That night I met her brother. Right away, I felt something...giving him the typical dos besos felt all but typical. He was definitely my type of handsome. He also seemed a lot more open to me than the other Spaniards had been so far. He asked me questions during dinner and even tried to speak a little English with me. He also told me about the tradition of eating the 12 grapes for each month for the New Year's countdown. His name was Jesus (as in hay-suse :). When we finished eating, we all got in the car, including Jesus and we made our way downtown. He continued asking me questions that I didn't know how to answer in Spanish. He asked what I studied and I didn't even know how to say that I needed 2 more years of study if I wanted to be a psychologist because I didn't know how to say psychologist. I remember he asked me how old I was and I said "old". Then his sister stopped the car to let him out, he grapped an umbrella from the back and was on his way to the bars with his friend. My heart sunk slightly in that moment cuz I was naivly thinking that somehow he would spend the night with us. But no, he had other plans. I went with his sister and her boyfriend to some bars while some ugly and annoying guy followed me around, giving me a t-shirt and a lighter from the bar he worked at. Instead of listening to him, I couldn't help but think of Angela's brother. And I felt a little bad because instead of hanging out with my new girlfriend who was supercool and supernice, I would have rather been with her cute and interesting brother.

Stay tuned if you like a good love story :) Until next time.

La Mezquita, Cordoba

Granada and the Alhambra

Unfortunately we were still on a time schedule, all thanks to the Alhambra tickets selling out for the following day which was the day that I actually wanted, giving us more time in Almeria and less of a rush to get to Granada. BUT, being Semana Santa and all, those tickets sold out at least 2 months in advance. So Thursday it was, and we had to drive 2 1/2 hrs, get the rental car back, get checked into our hostel, and catch the bus up to the Alhambra by 6pm. When you buy tickets for the Alhambra, you buy for a time slot. The disadvantage of having the 6pm slot is that the Alhambra closes at 8pm and they say it takes at least 2 1/2 hrs to see the whole thing with the gardens and palace included. So, once again, I was feeling that damn, looming dark cloud of having to hurry in a country that's not exactly set up for the face paced life. And it wasn't helping that Granada was bigger than I thought, I was driving in Spain without a valid driver's license and a rental car, and Juliana kept calling and calling my phone while I was trying to navigate. We were meeting her in Granada and she was impatiently waiting for us at the hostel and we had to return the car to the airport on the outskirts of the city and then take an expensive taxi ride to get to our hostel. But I would be damned if we were gonna miss the Alhambra having bought 5 tickets just in case and having to book them months in advance. When we finally got to the point where we were on the bus up to the Alhambra, the streets were so narrow and jam-packed with people from Semana Santa that the bus had a hard time getting through the crowds of people in the streets.

When we finally arrived, we were perfectly on time, thank goodness, but it was only Juliana, my mom and I, and I had bought 5 tickets just in case other people wanted to go. I tried to sell my tickets at the door to people who hadn't booked in advance but there were only people who were humming and hawing over the idea and I just finally said "screw it! I lost some money". I didn't want to miss a minute more of the Alhambra.

Let me tell you, the Alhambra does not disappoint. It is an enormously gorgeous, immaculate oasis of a place. Its located up in the green hillside scattered with palm trees, overlooking the whole valley of Granada. Between the gardens, the fountains, the Arabic decor and architecture it is surely fit for a king. There is absolutely no question as to why a king and queen would choose this as their kingdom. The location is lush and dramatic yet tranquil and dreamy. You can't help but fantasize about living there on the grounds of the Alhambra. Something that should not be missed if you're ever in the south of Spain.

After the Alhambra the rain started to poor. We stood in the rain getting soaked until the bus came. We met a couple from Seattle that we chatted with in the rain(go figure). And on the bus we chatted about life, work and travels while the bus driver was aggressively yelling at someone on the phone while driving crazily through the downpour and heavy pedestrian and vehicle traffic.

When we got back to the hostel, Makuto Backpackers Hostel if I remember correctly, we finally had a chance to look around. It was a super-cute, bohemian-style hostel with hammocks, a tree house, 2 kitchens, a bar and a chill out room. In the chill out room there was a tv, bean bags, a coffee table and 2 crappy guitars for whoever wanted to play. They sold meals there for a decent price, drinks and even had a hookah that you could buy smoke for and use for a cheaper price than the teterias (tea houses). We ate dinner there that night and were pleasantly surprised to have some spicier food cooked by a Mexican guy who worked there. Me and my mom decided that we needed to try the hookah. We puffed on and off for a few hours while mom sat in the gravel by the hammocks playing one of the crappy guitars and singing.

The people who worked at the hostel were really nice, open people who had done their fair share of travelling and some were also learning the language like me. There was a guy from Germany who was Filipino, a guy from Mexico, another girl from Holland I think, and a woman from Galicia working there. They all spoke English and their native language and two of them were there trying to learn Spanish. They were all very hospitable and friendly.

Lets see, what else did we do in Granada? We spent quite awhile walking up and around the gypsy caves that are now plastered and made into homes, restaurants and clubs. We went to a Moroccan tea house. We did lots of shopping as there is a lot of cool Arabian, Moroccan, hippyish stuff to buy there for a decent price...things like beautiful jewelry, leather goods, cloths and textiles for drapes and scarfs, paintings, lanterns, boxes, mirrors, etc. I wanted it all. In Granada I kept thinking "man, I just wish I could buy more stuff. It would look so great in my house someday. But how on earth would I get all this stuff back with me?" I had to really keep a tight rein on my spending there in Granada because I really could've boughten a million things. Our hostel was close to the famous St. Nicolas Mirador, so went up there to catch the sunset with the Alhambra as a backdrop that we had heard so much about. Unfortunately, it was cloudy and rainy and we didn't see much of a sunset at all. But the Alhambra looked gorgeous once again from this view point and there were lots of peddlers selling there wares which made for a fun, lively vibe there at the lookout. The mirador was full of interesting hippyish people, gypsies and artists. We even got to hear some gypsy tunes on the guitar while a small group of people clapped to the rythm.

What Juliana and I noticed about Granada was that the people seemed much more open, friendly and cultured as opposed to Cordoba. There was a much more international vibe there in Granada than in Cordoba. We both kinda had the feeling that we think we may have enjoyed living in Spain a bit more if we had been placed somewhere like Granada with its bohemian vibe and higher level of acceptance and appreciation of other cultures. But you never know till you're actually living there day in and day out I suppose.

Also, Granada is known for the fact that at almost every bar or restaurant, when you order a drink whether it be a beer or a coke, they give you free little tapa. This is pretty cool indeed, although, depending on where you go, they can be a delicious little morsel or a something hardly edible. You do not get to choose what the tapa will be, its whatever the cook is doing at that moment and everyone gets the same thing who is dining there at that time. Either way, its a nice gesture I suppose. We really enjoyed one of the places that was suggested by a friend, called Recas(I think). While my mom and I wanted to check out more tapas(of course), Juliana wanted to do more shopping(of course). So as me and Juliana have spent much time travelling together over the last 9 months, she lets me eat (smart girl) and I let her shop (she really doesn't spend any money, so I haven't had to intervene) and we both stay happy that way and have become good travel partners because of it.

In all the rush to get to the Alhambra in time, I forgot my camera at the hostel. So, for now, there are no pictures :( Once I get back home in the U.S. I will get the Granada pics from my mom's camera and include them in this post. So, for now you will just have to read about it and envision it for yourself :)

Renting a car and headin down to Almeria

After 2 days in Toledo, we headed back to the Madrid Airport to pick up the rental car. My mom really wanted to be able to swim at least once in the Mediterranean on her trip to Spain so I asked around and was told that Almeria would be a good choice. People said it was a good choice because It wasn't AS FAR north (hence warmer and closer) as some of the other Mediterranean beaches and that the beaches were "virgin."

But before we could get on the road to Almeria, my mom wanted to look into to changing her flight and staying a few more days in Spain. We talked with a girl at the ticket desk in the airport and she was able to arrange a really nice deal for my mom with basically the same flight pattern, schedule and price. I think she only had to pay around 200$ to change her flight(which is cheaper than most).

We then picked up the car and headed out of Madrid. Once again I was a ball of stress. In my 8 months here, I hadn't been driving at all. I was not only out of practice, but worried about different road signs, getting lost and other drivers on the road. Not to mention we were on a bit of a tight schedule for the first few days so I also felt this nagging sense of urgency which shouldn't be allowed but sometimes can't be avoided on vacations. Originally my mom was going to drive and had gotten the necessary International Driver's License through AAA in the U.S. before coming. She had to present that when renting the car and they assumed that she would be the driver. But then at the last minute we decided that it might be a little too stressful having her drive in a COMPLETELY new country straight out the gate. So I drove which worked out good. That way she could be the navigator and also look out the window to enjoy the changing scenery on her vacation.

Almeria was very dry, kind of like Eastern Washington and apparently Hollywood has filmed lots of westerns there in the past and packaged them as if they were the old west. One of Clint Eastwood's old westerns was filmed there but I'm not sure which one it was. Also, there was a ton of agriculture there in Almeria, but most of it was covered with white tarps for miles and miles. We were weren't exactly sure why. We drove for about 5 1/2 to 6 hours before the big, tan desert hills broke and we got a dramatic glimpse of the turquoise Mediterranean. It was gorgeous!!!

We pulled into Carboneras which is a small white beach town in Almeria and started looking for a grocery store. That town was really difficult to navigate through because the roads were so narrow that one car could hardly fit and certainly not 2. Most of them were one way streets, so we could see our destination but never quite make it there because all the sudden we would have to turn in the opposite direction according to the one way signs. It was frustrating because we were racing against the sun so we could see a Mediterranean sunset with a little picnic down at Playa de los Muertos. We found a Mercadona, did a quick shopping trip, found our hostel(not without trouble), checked in and headed up to the entrance to Playa de los Muertos.

It was a little hike down to the beach but nothin too crazy. It was superwindy and a bit cold still in April. We had hoped to go swimming but that evening it was just too cold and windy. From the wind and rough, choppy waters, the color of the Mediterranean changed from the turquoise we had scene earlier to a cloudy blue. We did, however, invent a fabulous sandwich in all our hurried state of grab this, grab that at the grocery store. We had these fresh whole wheat mini loaves of bread that we bought, spreadable goat cheese, dry sausage/salami type link, and jalapeno stuffed green olives. With my new knife, we spread on the goat cheese, chopped up the salami and olives and piled our sandwiches high. They were SO incredibly good. We sat in the sand, facing the water and eating our fabulous new inventions while I sipped straight from a bottle of red wine.......ahhhhh!!! Only one problem....we couldn't see the sunset. Playa de los Muertos is on Cabo de Gata which means that our sunset was being blocked because we were on the eastern side of the Cape. Good one Jessey!! Way to think that one through. lol.

The next morning we started out by taking advantage of our free breakfast of lattes and the traditional Spanish breakfast of toast with olive oil and grated tomato on it. Then, luckily the owner of the hostal was kind enough to let my mom make an international call on her phone to figure out why her credit card wasn't working. It was a 1-800 number but from another country it doesn't quite work like that(another little added stress). But anyhow, the lady was sweet and let my mom use her office and phone for a minute. Meanwhile I brought the car around, we loaded up and headed down to the beach again but this time just the city beach. We got in the water a little although it was pretty cold. We didn't actually swim, just got wet so that we could say we did it. We bathed in the Mediterranean. Then, it was off to Granada......

Toledo

Our first night in Toledo my mommy dearest had to catch up on her sleep and try to shake the jet-leg a little. She had slept a solid 12 hours that night when I decided I should wake her up so we could explore the city. Since my step dad has her spoiled with fresh coffee delivered bedside every day back home, she requested that I bring some coffee directly to her bed. Since unlike Seattle, coffees to-go aren't the norm here in Spain, I was a little worried at how I would get her coffee to her bedside that morning. But since I love her, I pulled a few strings in the restaurant down below and they let me take the glass cup up to our hostal and she got her precious coffee in bed. And joking aside, I was glad to do it:) I was excited to have her with me.

Toledo was cool because it has the Gothic architecture which gives it a little bit of a cold, spooky and mysterious feel. It feels a bit like a fairy tale and you can easily envision knights in shining armor riding around on their white horses. Also, it is built in a river valley which gives it lots of hills to hike up. I actually was looking to lose a few pounds so I welcomed all these butt busting hills. Luckily my mom is a great travel partner and had no problem keepin up. In fact I'd say she kept up better than most 20 something year olds that I know. We spent the entire day trekking up and down the steep hills of the city. We walked down to the river by the gorgeous bridge, into the agave, back up to the hostel, around to shops, and basically just took pictures all day.

In Toledo, I wanted to buy a knife since I often wish I had one here for various reasons AND I had heard that Toledo is famous for its knives and swords. A sword, not so easy to take back to the U.S., so I bought a really cool, Gothic looking pocket knife with a dragon's head on the end and a sketch of a dragon on the side. Its pretty sick!!! I have used it a lot already...at picnics that is. But I also just like knowing that I have it JUST IN CASE. Although I've been informed that it is illegal here to carry one. Oops.

I know everyone hates to hear this but I haven't been altogether very stoked on the food in Spain. For my taste buds, everything seems bland and repetitive to me. I will later blog on exactly why I think this is in a later blog. BUT, I had some of the best food that I've had in Spain at a restaurant in Toledo. We read about it in my tourist guide book and thought we should try and find it. It was worth the trouble we had finding it for sure. It's called Bar Ludeña in la plaza Magdalena. It was completely full on their patio and there was a wait list for the restaurant, so we just saddled up to the bar and ordered what the bartender suggested. We had a sampler of sausages that tasted like they could have been deer meat. We had a delicious stew called caramusas with deer meat, peas and a slightly spicy tomato sauce. We also had sardines in a garlic, vinegar and oil which was THE BOMB. I have tried these boquerones en vinagre many times in Spain but this recipe was by far the most tasty. Every little bite was scrumptious and we left that restaurant feeling fat and happy.

Other things we enjoyed in Toledo were the manchengo cheese with membrillo, which is like a fruit butter, spread on top and then the little mazapan treats that Toledo is famous for. The mazapan is something that I have seen in the U.S. as well and apparently started originally somewhere in Greece and has spread all over the world. It is made in large quantities in Toledo by the nuns there. Toledo was at one time considered the spiritual capital of the world and still has a lot of convents where they make mazapan for a living.

Procession Semana Santa in Toledo

The Mother Daughter Adventure Begins....

A couple weeks ago, I was blessed with a visit from my mom aka Pacific Northwest folk musician Susan Welch. lol. I was soooooo happy to have her come all this way, across the Atlantic ocean on a 16 hour flight to come spend time with me and see a little bit of the world I have been living in over the past 8 months. It really meant so much to me. Like many of the other Americans in my programs, I didn't go home for the holidays so I was really missing the feeling of having someone around who loved me unconditionally and understood me as much as any person can understand another. You must consider the fact that you are perceived very differently when you speak another language and with a strange accent and lots of little mistakes mind you. It felt really good to have someone around who saw me in the light that I am used to being seen in, rather than as a silly little foreigner. Plus, I wanted to hear my mom's impressions of the country even if only from the perspective of vacationer, rather than someone living and working in the country which is a whole nother ball game as you could imagine.

So, our trip started with me picking her up at the Madrid airport on a Monday morning. We both shed a couple tears at the airport, me more than her understandably. I have just been alone over here for what seems like forever and missing SO many people. To see her face just made me so happy and I am more of "a tears of joy" than a tears of sadness person.

So, after the waterworks, we took the Metro to the bus station and then caught a 45 minute bus to Toledo. I feel a little bad cuz I was stressing myself out by worrying about all our plans and making sure I we caught the right connections and found our way around these cities on public transportation and such. My poor mama was probably not understanding my stress and was feeling her own weird exhaustion from being jet-legged and overwhelmed in a new country and language. But we found our hostal, which as it turns out, is not a hostel but a step up from that where you get your own room but is less expensive than a hotel. Its a great way to go when travelling through Spain and only costed 45 € a night for 2 people. And what we call a hostel, where you share a room with others and there is a community kitchen, is called an albergue apparently. Anyways, so our hostal was really nice and the people that worked there were super-nice as well. We had a little balcony and from it where able to watch one of the processions of Semana Santa come through at night. I thought the night processions where much more effective and dramatic. Up next is a video that I shot from our balcony. Stay tuned for more mother daughter adventures :) This is only the beginning!!

Mojo Picon..from the Canary Islands

One of the ladies that I teach on Tuesday nights made this for us one night. I absolutely LOVED it. I know that it is traditionally used as a sauce for small boiled potatoes but I could see myself using it also as a sauce over white fish like snapper, cod or halibut or even shrimp or scallops. It is very simple but a tiny bit spicy and most definitely worth trying. Enjoy!!!

Mojo Picon

(pronounced moho peek-own)

250 centilitres of olive oil (metric people, sorry)

Some drops of white vinegar

1 clove of garlic

Some leaves of parsley

leaves of cilantro (not many, it´s much stronger than parsley)

A pinch of salt

Blend all ingredients together and serve over boiled potatoes such as baby reds or yukon golds or whatever soft-textured small potatoes you can find. Or if you're like me, try it over white fish or even chicken. And if you want if more spicy, just add more garlic. Feel free to play with the recipe a little.

Salmorejo, about as Spanish as you can get

I teach a group of 3 really awesome ladies on Tuesday nights for private English lessons. We have our class around dinner time so we always end up bringing snacks to our lesson. I asked if anyone could teach me how to make Salmorejo because its one of the things I have grown to really like and Fernanda said "no problem, just come a little early for our lesson next time." She whipped it up in front of me in less than 15 minutes. And it was super delicious!!! Its a good recipe if you have left over crusty bread. And with the raw tomatoes and olive oil, it seems to be a pretty healthy little tapa as well.

Salmorejo

5 or 6 tomatoes peeled

1/2 cup more or less of olive oil

a small (or 1-2 slices) piece of french bread or baguette style bread

cured ham (optional)

boiled egg (optional)

no more than 1/4 cup of white vinegar (according to desired taste)

salt (also according to desired taste)

Blend peeled tomatoes, vinegar, bread, salt and olive oil (oil towards the end) together in blender or with a hand mixer. Pour into a bowl and top with shaved, cured ham, boiled egg crumbles, and a drizzle of olive oil. Serve with fresh bread for scooping, spreading or dipping :)

Finally, Some Spanish Recipes

For those of you who know me, you know that I LOVE LOVE LOVE to cook. The majority of MY cooking has been the result of experimenting in the kitchen. But now I realize that if you're going to cook traditional food from another country you'd better follow a recipe or at least have someone native to that country teach you how. So, I asked around for some ladies to teach me step by step some of the traditional recipes that I have enjoyed while here in Cordoba. This first one is a typical dessert that you see a lot of during Semana Santa. It's super-easy to make..almost like making french toast but it turns out quite different as you will see:) Also, for those of you who know me, I am a mad scientist in the kitchen but I don't generally measure anything. So, I am sorry if my recipes are a little vague but if your any friend of mine than you're smart and can figure this out without too much trouble. Just use common sense and experiment with these recipes a little. Buena suerte and keep your eyes peeled for more recipes to come!!

Torrijas

• a couple cups of milk
• a couple cinnamon sticks
• bread(preferably the kind for good french toast)
• a half a lemon peel
• ground cinnamon
• sugar
• oil(preferably olive oil)
• 2 eggs

Put milk, cinnamon and lemon peel in a bowl and let sit for at least 30 min.

Meanwhile scramble 2 eggs in a shallow dish. Mix your cinnamon and sugar and keep on a nearby plate. Shortly thereafter, you will want to start your oil heating in a frying pan. The oil should be deep enough so that you feel like you are almost deep frying the torrijas. Then, dip the slices of bread into the milk mixture one at a time, making sure that they are soaked through completely with milk. Then dip them on both sides in the egg and then on to the frying pan.
When bread is golden on both sides remove the torrija and place it onto the plate where you have the cinnamon and sugar mixture. Using a spoon cover both sides of the bread with the mixture.

Let chill for at least 30 minutes before eating so that the inside firms up a little. Buen provecho!!

FEAR FACTOR Spain

Los caracoles aka snails are in season here in Cordoba and there are about 30 stands around town selling cups of snails. Its very common right now to see people sitting outside in the sun sipping beers and eating cups of snails. One type is very small and in a broth with spearmint and the other type is bigger and is in a salsa with cumin. I tried the big ones only because I didn't want to order my own and that is what the people at my table were eating. Everyone says the small ones taste better tho. As, you can see from the expression on my face in the video I was absolutely disgusted. Mainly because I have had a phobia my whole life involving slugs and snails. In my opinion they are slimy, disgusting blobs of flesh and I still can't believe I ate one. Yuck!! BUT I must say the flavor wasn't bad. There was a little issue for me however with the texture and my mind taking over. I felt as tho I could feel the antennaes and head kind of crunching in my mouth. Just a tiny crunch but nevertheless a crunch. Ya feel me? And with my imagination playing tricks on me, I gagged pretty good. I apologize for the video being sideways but the lady filming didn't know what she was doing and I was too overwhelmed by the whole experience to help her get it right.

More of Malaga, Weekend at Jorge's

We played singstar and sang the night away

They made sushi our first night there. Was delish!!!

I made Mexican food for us the next day and we drank Corona's with salt and lime :)

Me and Jorge singing our hearts out :)

roundabout in Malaga

Pretty cathedral

overlooking the city

La Manguita

Malaga centro

More Malaga centro

super tall and thin alley way

Man frozen in mid-air

Bullfighting ring

Me and Irene ready to rock

Nerja, Malaga

Malaga

A couple weeks ago I went to Malaga for the first time with Lola and her family. They have a super-nice, pristine new piso there in Torrox. The weather was great and for the first time in awhile I was able to enjoy some sunshine. I even borrowed a bikini from Lola and went in the water a little since I had never step foot in the Mediterranean before. I only went in to the waist because it was a bit cold and I still have plenty of time to swim in the Mediterranean as the weather is starting to warm up a little. If I had to describe the temperature of the water, I would say it was the equivalent of Lake Chelan at the beginning of the summer or Lake Crescent at the end of the summer. It numbed my legs a little but coming from Washington, THAT I am accustomed to.

We had a really nice, relaxing weekend with lots of good food, some good wine and nice company. I enjoyed all the food they cooked for me in their piso and the 2 times we ate in restaurants I enjoyed it as well. Lola and Antonio took me to Salobrena(pronounced salobrenya, but I don't have the ~ over the n ability) where we saw another castle in an all white, quaint and bright little pueblo on a hillside. We also went to Nerja which I really found to be beautiful. I made a video of Nerja because it has a charming vibe to it and the water there is really transparent and I wanted to capture it better with video.

We also enjoyed some beautiful Mediterranean sunsets like I always dreamed about seeing. But the best part was how patient they were with my Spanish. Lola and Antonio were constantly asking me if I understood things okay. They also taught me lots of words and ways of saying things to write down in my little notebook that I always carry. All in all it was a fabulous, relaxing weekend.