| Date: | 2009-11-22 17:49 |
| Subject: | |
| Security: | Public |
| Mood: |  normal sunday, just chillin | | Music: | Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of ~ U2 |
So...wow, been a while.
--- Umm, school is school. It's the norm. I did go on a field trip with them the other day to Estepa. It's a lil town in the region of Sevilla, but it's only like 15min from Puente Genil. It's know for making sweets. We went to a sweets factory and also to a lil castle. In the factory, everyone got a free mantecado. It's tasty and not like anything I've ever had in the states, so don't believe the description you can get from google. We also tried polvorones, which are more or less the same as mantecado. All the teachers got a free variety box of these things. So I got to try a bunch of diff flavors, and also got to try "roscos de vino". We also all bought some goodies. I had some chocolates and some other thing I can't remember the name of, but it's like a lil pastry with glaze. So yummy. Needless to say, I ate a lot of sweets the past few days. I discovered I can buy almost all of these things from Carrefour. HAHA, I don't think that's a good thing.
--- Normally, once a week, there's a day I can't return with carpool at 2 and have to wait til 3pm. So I go to a teacher's house and eat whenever this happens. It's good for me. She's my age and she goes home every weekend, so really we're eating her mom's food. Ahh, Spanish home cooking. How nice.
--- I haven't joined a gym yet, but I need to. I'm not gonna til the new year though because Nov is pretty much over and Dec I won't be in town much. So I decided to have a paseo everyday with a diff person. Almost got the week filled up.
--- I decided I'm gonna keep up w/the series Flashforward. My friends told me to watch it, and well I like it. It comes on here in Spanish too. But it's 2 wks behind, so usually I've already seen it. But it's good for seeing how much language I know.
--- Everything is coming together for our Christmas travels. Just a few loose ends to tie, but it's all good.
--- So I'm considering seeing if I can get out of my housing contract. I like the apt in general (although I'd like a diff layout and a rooftop terrace, and maybe that I'm not the bottom floor), and I like the fact the rent is all inclusive (so I don't have to worry about electricity and water and internet), and I love the location, but it's the people I live with. It's not that there's any more drama than before, it's just that there's no "family". Everyone does their own thing and it's quite boring. Maria, the young one, is actually my fav and we used to talk alot bc she'd be watching tv in the front, but now that she has a comp, she's in her room a lot too. Anabel was cool at first, but now, everytime we talk, or she talks to anyone at all, it's only about how dirty the place is and how she can't live this way. Ok, yes, Loli needs to do her part and contribute, blah blah. But she's overreacting a lil. Besides the kitchen, it's not ALL that bad. Yes the dishes pile up a bit...but it's lived in, it's not perfect, it's not a pig sty, it's just normal. The only part that really aggravates me is when Loli leaves food on the plates in the sink because then it attracts animals. But I think we've all complained to her enough that she's getting a lil better w/that aspect. She'll still pile up the dishes, but at least the food goes in the trash now. Then Monica I believe has a touch of Asberger's disease. Anyhow, she's a lil hermit. Always in her room. Doesn't even come eat w/us all in the living room. Although, sometimes I eat earlier so I don't either, but at least I go sit and chat sometimes. I dunno, I feel I could do better, but there is a contract. I figure he'll let me out of it if I can find someone to talk over my contract, so if I wanna move or consider it, I will have to look around in Jan when the university semester is changing. I dunno, it's an idea I'm throwing around. Supposedly Monica and Loli are leaving at the end of Dec so maybe we'll get something better and it'll be fine. But like I said, if I'm gonna make a switch I'll have to start looking soon, and also talk w/Fernando. It's funny because Maria and Anabel actually stayed here this weekend, and I invited them out a few times, but no one came. And Sunday, day of rest, they're hanging out in the living room and I have no desire to be out there and be social. That's not normal for me, but really, there's nothing to say. I'm used to having Sundays for me. Besides, I heard them complaning about cleaning yet again...
--- I worked 5 days last week so I could be off this Thurs for Thanksgiving. We're having a legit Thanksgiving dinner at a friend's apt. I can't wait. Short workweek, then the next one is short too because of Mary's holidays. Oh yay catholocism.
--- Last night Katie and I walked through the semi-sketch neighborhood to Carrefour. HAHA, it was fine. I had more of a prob on my 2block walk home when some punk 13yr old boys were outside when I walked by and then I heard them talk about me, and the smaller one ran after me, but stopped and turned around and casually walked away when I turned and saw him. Like I said, lil punks. HAHAHA.
--- Ummm...I guess that's it. Nothing so incredibly exciting happening. It got cold, I got a heater, best 15euro investment ever! And that's it.
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| Date: | 2009-11-02 19:32 |
| Subject: | |
| Security: | Public |
| Mood: |  what to do... | | Music: | Don't Trust Me ~ 3OH!3 |
- So school is fine...normal week except for I found a color by letter jack-o-lantern online for Levels 1 and 2 (since they all just learned colors). Then in Levels 3 and 4 we played "pin the mouth on the jack-o-lantern"...or at least they did on Friday. I told the teacher about it on Thurs. They had all the Halloween festivities on Friday, and I don't work on Fri, so that kinda sucked, but it's life.
- My weekend was quite eventful...and lonnnnnnng
( Read more... )
So besides that, ummm, well Loli is staying til Dec, not moving out at the end of the month (like 2 days ago), so we're gonna have to have a serious chat. She's so dirty and lazy. She needs to learn to do her part. I did talk to her for like an hr one day. She's a fine person (sorta), but man, I can't handle her filth for another 2 months. Anabel won't be able to either, so that's good. I think we're about to gang up on her. Weather here is supposed to finally change and get a lil cooler. Everyone was sick for the longest time...Spanish say it's because it was so cold at night, but so hot during the day. Good reasoning, I suppose, but I think it was just that time of the year. I suppose that's it. At least it's all I'm remembering right now. I posted some pics up on the album: http://picasaweb.google.com/jentheextranjera. Oh, Emmi and I bought our return flights from Roma....OMG, we got so lucky. Half the price we were seeing. We have a layover in Barca, but who cares!! So lucky lucky lucky! And Charly de Pamplona is gonna help us w/our Madrid plans (hostels and tix to Puerta Sol). Woo!
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| Date: | 2009-10-21 18:56 |
| Subject: | so it's been a week... |
| Security: | Public |
| Mood: | woo! | | Music: | When You Say Nothing at All ~ Ronan Keating/Paulina Rubio |
Ok, so it's been a week since I last updated says livejournal:
( Read more... )
Wow, didn't realize so much had happened in a week. I wrote more than I expected.
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So, I'll start w/the goings on at la escuela (the school) the past days:
- Umm, I translate the 5th and 6th level books...so anything learned in 5/6th grades in Science, History, or Social Sciences I will soon know in Spanish. I also get to learn all about Spanish/Andalucian History. Really I'm not a history person, so it'll be a struggle. In any case, so far I've translated stuff about cells, plant kingdoms, and the environment. Next is about the land: earth's crust/mantle/etc and also natural occurences (weather, earthquakes, etc). '
- Level 4 (the levels aren't exactly our grades, but it's a good enough way of thinking about it)...4th grade, they were doing parts of the body and respir/circul/digest systems and I just translated the vocab, the rest is too complicated in a foreign language for them. Now they are learning about health, so my job is to find something on how to present the food pyramid. They learn about a food wheel (la rueda de alimentación) so already there's a culture thing. I have tomorrow to research to present something on Mon. I'm gonna see if I can find a game or activity or something, but really there's nothing with that. If anyone has any ideas, shoot 'em out. At least our pyramid and some translated food items will be something.
- Level 3...they were also doing parts of the body, but no systems yet. Now with them I have to find some way to present the 5 senses in English....they also said try to find an activity or game or something. But it's hard. I have tomorrow to research that too. I don't present that til Wed. Again, any ideas, let me know.
- Level 2...this is the bad class. The teacher knows it too. So we present english in songs and games, ALWAYS! Today we did 5 lil monkey's (...jumping on the bed) and we made lil puppets and flashcards and gave them to the kids so when it was their number they got to stand up and dance. Before that we did emotions and so learned "if you're happy and you know it". It's a fun class, but def they are bad.
- Level 1...they don't know any english, but they have no fear to speak yet. Actually no one does, maybe leve 3 a lil, but 1,2, and 4 nope. I don't get to go too much into the 5 and 6 classes (and if I did, it'd be the only english language class I'd be in...all the rest are the "conocimiento de medio" classes...which are basically history, science, and social sciences (as I said before). It's good though, they get a variety of vocab. Anyhow, level 1 did some 5 senses stuff today, so they learned fun words like hot and cold. It's so simple with them, but it's fun. I actually like these lil ones alot. Next time I go is a review of all the senses (as today was only touch), so the teacher and I are gonna try to think of something simple. A game is a good idea, but it couldn't be in english since it'd be too complicated, so she has to plan it and then we just throw in a few new english words. As she said, they learn so fast at that age, but they also forget just as fast. It's true, haha.
- One of the teachers is from Granada and she went there for the long weekend, and she brought me back a purse! It's a typical Granada purse (one of the sling purses I refused to pay $15+ for in the states bc I knew I could buy it for 3euro in Granada. Anyhow, this one prolly costs more than 3, it's really nice. It's orange and has lil beed embroidery. I LOVEEE Carmen!!
- Also, they gave me a 4GB pin drive to "save my work" that umm gets saved straight into Rafa's folder. I'm not sure if it's mine mine or if I have to give it back. In any case I have 4GB pin drive til May 31, hahaha. (Oh and mom, Diego, the hot one...he gave it to me, and in case you're wondering, he's not only the "Jefe de Estudios" (boss of the studies, bad translation, but alas I don't know exactly what he does anyhow)...but he's also the P.E. teacher, haha.)
- Carmen, Silvia, and Cristina are the ones I tutor. They are amazing...I might be tutoring more as some of the classes don't need me everyday so told them they can pull me if they want more practice. It's all the same to me. One of the teachers just today realized that I speak spanish, hahahahaha. She said she had no idea because everytime she heard me speak it was in english, but she knew something was wierd because I was always standing around spanish convo and clearly knew what was going on. HAHAHAHA, bless this woman. She's funny, and doesn't know a single word in English. So great, haha. Her name's Josefa btw.
Other than that, nothing really happening. Loli ended up doign the dishes, but not hte kitchen and now it's halfway through this week so it appears María is gonna be stuck with it. Nothing new, oh there was a lil bit w/the carpool. 2 of the schools had to stay late on Tues due to meetings, so the return carpool was so messed up. I actually would have been going home w/the same person as always, but I had no one to drive me to the meeting point this week due to the meeting, so it's a 30min walk. Then in the morning they kept changing who I was going with, so I just said I was gonna use public transport this Tues bc I'm not really sure what's going on. HAHA. So I did. It's a definite solid 30min walk no matter how fast you book it. In which case, if I wasn't allowed to leave about 15min early, without a ride somewhere nearer, I won't be catching the 2:30pm bus. I'll have to settle for 4pm. But it won't be too bad to mosey and take a peak at Puente. Sometimes I'm not able to leave til 3 (actually every Wed and Thurs basically) so I've been expoloring Puente during that hour. Really not much to see. HAHA. Paco, the maintenance guy (which to me double as a security guard) is normally there til 3, so sometimes I can waste time on the internet at school. If he leaves though, I can walk around. Or I just go and have a beverage in the lil cafe and talk to the old man bartender. I'm starting to be a familiar face for him. I should find out his name, haha. In any case, if I can avoid it, I don't want to take public transport. It adds like 1.5hrs to my day in the morning. In the afternoon it's more or less the same though. Well, if I catch the 2:30 bus it's the same, if I catch the 4pm it adds 1.5hrs again. BLAH! Normally there's no prob w/carpool though. I got some new songs today. My playlist needed some updating. I need a radio. I got some english and spanish stuffs. Song peeps should get: Say Hey (I Love You) by Michael Franti & Spearhead. Random side note: the P.E. teacher at the school by my house and Mercadona is cute. He was playing w/the kids today when I went shopping. I went during siesta hour (4:30ish) and no one was in there. Just the way I like it...never again at 8pm on a Friday! Another random thing, I like the way spanish, at least in the schools, make a diminutive of EVERYTHING! I didn't know it was used so much, I used to use them to make fun of things. But no, adjectives, verbs, nouns, everything has a diminutive. Crazy, but I like it...particulary the words chiquitito and calladito (little boy and a little quiet, thats a rough translation). The teachers use the latter as a polite way of saying "shut up now" to the lil ones...its more like "ya ta calladito" (be a lil quiet already...and for your personal reference, the ta is really "está" but los Cordobesas don't say S in any word, almost they skip the "t" in calladito too, but normally the teachers are saying it w/force so slow it down and annuciate it, normally no, it'd be "ya ta calladio" yay Andalucía!). aye aye aye!
MORE SPANISH WIERDNESS:
- The pillows on the bed are like body pillows. I remember that from the NL when the spaniards brought their own pillows, and also when I was in Spain. I'm not sure how I feel about it...really it doesn't matter too much, but I think I'm gonna purchase a pillow bc I don't really like this flat nothing I have now. Whether it's a body pillow or not makes no diff to me, although my sheets are for the long ones. Who cares though.
- Flamenco dresses...so traditional, yet the style apparently changes every year. My roomies (and by roomies I mean María and Anabel) were telling me about how it has changed since they were small and from pics they've seen of their parents. It costs about 100euro for a Flamenco ensemble. It's not gonna get much cheaper, but I go way expensive if I want, haha.
- The kids all have baby wipes that they can use at will in class.
- It's a public school, but they teach religion. Actually, I had a discussion about this w/Anabel. She said they teach Catholism, but you're not allowed to wear anything that promotes a god or your religion to school...so no religious clothing, not even catholic stuff. Spanish are weird...
- There's too much dog shit on the ground...watch where you walk. There's so many stray dogs here. Also watch where you walk too, if there's a random puddle, don't walk there, you'll get dripped on.
Weird Portuguese Thing:
- I don't know if this is a personality thing or a normal portuguese norm, but Mónica always says "bye" or "see you later" when she's leaving the room. Even when it's a natural part, like we both went to the store and now we're back and going to our own rooms, or when we're both in the kitchen doing something random and then one person finishes (normally her) and there's no special convo happening. It's weird and awkward, but hey it's life...it's oddly polite too.
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| Date: | 2009-10-12 14:57 |
| Subject: | Fiesta Nacional |
| Security: | Public |
| Mood: | what to do now... | | Music: | Message in a Bottle ~ The Police |
Today is Spain National Day...in the states, we call it Columbus Day. I still don't know why the Spanish are so ga-ga over Columbus. He's an Italian who at one point recieved funding from Portugal, and later finally recieved some from Spain, it just happened to be on Spain's dollar that he discovered America. Whatever...in any case, it's a day off here. And by off, I mean worse than Sunday off. Everything is closed, well it's a diff kind of closed. Supposedly some Chinos and Gitanos are open, but the rest, nope. Even the streets are quieter. (Well I've just been told a few cafe's and restaraunts are open, so I'm going for a cafe con leche in a few.) So I'm bored...I cleaned my room, yay, and I also finally took pics of the piso and put them on Picasa (http://picasaweb.google.com/jentheextranjera). Too bad the kitchen is a mess (although Loli cleaned the dishes this morning, nothing else though) and Loli's clothes are still drying in the salón. Eh life. Also my room isn't complete either...still towels and clothes randomly everywhere because I haven't bought more hangers yet, nor the hooks to go on the back of my door. HAHA. Also for the winter, my comforter (that I got super cheap the other day from Carrefour) is almost exactly the same color blue as the one I had at LSU. Isn't that fun. My friend discovered a poster store kinda near my house which has a ton of stuff, so I'm gonna go get some stuff prolly on Friday. I'd like a poster of the Spanish Nat'l team, hahaha. Woo!
Oh, P.S. If you have sent or send me something in the future, let me know you sent it because the mailboxes outside aren't really labeled so well. So who knows if it'll end up somewhere else. At least if I know it's coming I'll check the mailbox (and around it where peeps put wrong mail). I'm gonna see if I can at least label ours somehow. If anyone has a desire to ship me a package from the states, things to include would be =0)
-- candy (skittles, starburst, jellybelly, hot tamales, etc, anything)
-- chocolate (bless hershey's chocolate w/toffee and almonds)
-- aveeno daily moisturizer (this brand doesn't exist here)
-- neutrogena face wash (my kind doesn't exist here)
-- zatarain's jambalaya mix, hehe
-- postcard of NOLA, or anywhere really
-- my pink and grey flats, don't know why I didn't pack them
-- crest toothpaste (hey europe has listerine now though...progress)
-- sticky tack to hang stuff on walls
hmmm, that's all I can think of off the top of my head, so I guess those are the most important. I'm sure I can find equivs of some of that stuff. Like chocolate for instance, the cheap milk chocolate here isn't so bad. I like surprises too...hahahahaha. Yeah.
Umm, it's super hot here. Just like home except without humidity...that's sweet! But now at night it's staying a lil warmer than before. I'm not liking that so much. Today, right now anyhow, there's a nice lil breeze. It's not so cool, but at least its air circulation.
STRANGE SPAIN THINGS (I'm sure some of these I've said before in the past, but the fact I'm thinking of it again makes it worth mentioning):
- light switches are diff, they're big flat switches instead of a lil piece that sticks out. It's in a square piece of plastic instead of a rectangle. I personally don't mind it, it's just different
- electrical outlets...yeah the voltage and the outlet is diff, but they also are square (same size as the switch), but also they only put one in a location at a time, in the states it's a double thing so you can plug in 2 things at once. here no, pain in the ass.
- napkins in restaraunts, useless...it's a strange material and absorbs next to nothing.
- I miss free water being placed on the table, although I have learned how to get free water here at restaraunts, jeje.
- Ice is a freakin luxury here. They give you like one lil piece for a whole drink.
- Water and Spain is such a messed up situation. They claim they have water probs, which is true since they don't get much precipitation, but then they find a way to clean the streets and continuously build new fountains which also need a ton of water. Yes, I get they recycle the water and it's prolly not the kind you can drink, blah blah...but for real, a water prob. Hmmmm, sometimes debateable.
- In the clubs, they don't start with Spanish music til after like 3am and then by 4 it's all weird techno shit that sounds like you're listening to the same sound over and over and over again...and it's really kind impossible to dance to. At least at Sojo they mix a salsa song in now and again.
- The Córdoba siesta is by far the longest in Spain...I'm convinced. I only remember things being closed in Sevilla and Granada from 2-4. Maybe it was just in the area I was or whatever, but anyhow, my memory tells me 2-4 things were closed, here in Córdoba it's 1:30-5pm. WTF?! Blah, so inconvenient sometimes. Although M-Th it's all the same to me. I don't get back til 3/4 and I'm not ready to do anything til 5 at least.
- My roomies Loli and MariCruz both eat 2 yogurts at once. I guess one is just not enough. Never seen the others eat yogurt, so I don't know their patterns. But whatev...
- My friend, a Scottish auxiliar, lives with a Spanish girl. She said her spanish roomie made fun of her for having a sandwhich for lunch once. It's more of a dinner food here. Lunch is big and dinner is smaller. It's because it's so late and they usually aren't that hungry after having a merienda, which a merienda is also usually a sandwhich. HAHA. My roomies don't really eat big meriendas, maybe a yogurt or something. They eat various stuff for dinner though.
- Store here, for the produce, you put it in a bag, weigh it, and it prints a sticker so that at the register the cashier just scans it and you move on. Maybe it's like that some places in the states, but no where I shop. I kinda like just shoving it in a bag and having the cashier deal with it. Mostly because people by the scale in the store are vicious.
- So slow Spanish style and laid back attitude goes down the drain at 8pm on Friday in a supermarket. You won't EVER catch me back in the store at that time again. I'm only shopping during the siesta hour. That's one place that stays open. Bless you Mercadona!
- There's no carpet in spanish houses. I've been in a bunch of them, north to south, and none. Maybe one or two had a rug or something, but in general the whole house is marble. I understand in the south where it gets so hot you'd rather tile/marble so it's cooler, but in the north. I dunno, it's interesting. I miss carpet.
- I like when I see old couples and young children out on the streets at 1am on school night. It makes me happy. This is why they have a siesta. They just don't sleep for long periods of time...particularly at night.
- It's amusing to see the same car here that exists in the states(same comp same model name)...because it's so not the same. I'd never be able to pick it out as the same car side by side. It's just when I see the name on the back, haha.
- I don't know why it's the norm not to have an oven in Spain...actually it's not the norm to have A/C and heat either, although it's becoming more and more common these days. The oven though isn't, nor is the dishwasher. I guess thinking on Spanish cooking, they don't really bake all that much.
- Spanish kiss for everything...hello, goodbye, congratulations, OMG that's great...you name it, they kiss for it. Sometimes multiple times in the same meeting. It doesn't really bother me so much, I just don't like being caught in awkward situations sometimes when all of the sudden you're supposed to give 2 kisses again.
- I feel like I've seen less PDA and less mullets here in Córdoba than in Granada and Sevilla.
- In general, Spanish, particularly from Andalucía, have no desire to leave Spain, not to travel, not to live, not to see, not for any reason. They barely leave Andalucía. It's kinda like America, only I think a lil worse. I'm more well traveled around Andalucía and Spain than they are. Yeah I've seized opportunities while I was here, but still, they should have been to more places in Andalucía than I. Most Spanish, even the teachers I've talked to, are like this. Young and old. They admire people like me who do and enjoy hearing what I have to say as far as comparisons and diff peeps, but they say they still have no desire to even travel elsewhere. In the orientation they told us that a prob is that especially here they don't see any reason to learn english and be able to do better business and improve the Andaluz economy. I kinda knew it before just from my friends and seeing things firsthand, but hearing stories from the teachers now, it's so true. Teachers, specially in my school, have another prob to deal with. They were telling me about it, it's a small school in the boondock country where the parent's don't even know the information they are teaching the kids. Therefore, the parents aren't able to help them w/their schoolwork nor do they promote education, particularly advanced education and english learning...because the kids are just gonna live in the town and work on the family farm in the end. Basically the kids are just in school because it's mandatory until they are 16. My friend works in a high school in Puente Genil and she said they're a bunch of punks who don't care about anything. My roomie is from a pueblo and she's in a 1yr college thing, which is, as I said before, a fake degree. She said she's the first in her fam to go to college...all her bros and sisters are already working. The education system here is quite odd. It's fruitless for them to promote certain things...I dunno why they even try so much with English. I don't see how you can have someone who can barely speak a full english sentence and has no idea on how to pronounce words correctly teach English. At least learn how to properly pronounce the words you are gonna teach. I know that's our job as auxiliars to help fix this prob, and people at my school seem motivated to learn and teach it correctly, but at other schools, not so much. It's a shame.
- Education here is whack in general. From what I've heard you don't need any special credentials to be a teacher. It's a shorter degree than others too. For instance in the states, its a 4yr degree with many hours spent in classrooms learning and then a test at the end. If you wanna teach high school you usually major in what you want to teach, then get a teacher credential, and maybe there's some classes on how to teach it in college as well. And to be at the college level, you better have a phd in your shit at least, maybe you need have written a book or published some fun articles too. And who cares if you know how to teach, because by university level, students can teach a lil to themselves. Here, I'm not sure how's its done, but some peeps are kinda unqualified to be teachers, hence the never-ending circle of no one cares and Spain's economy doesn't move anywhere. And all this I've learned in 1 week of actual work. Wonder what I'll know by the end of Oct. It's a pity though...a vicious cycle. I feel bad for the teacher's who actually care to better it...which is prolly more than less, but still.
- TV...starts at random times. But even more weird is the commercial system. Sometimes its just like America, few commercials here and there at the most annoying times. Other times they tell you how many minutes the commercials are gonna take, and other times the whole program runs w/no commercials and then after its over there's a full 10min of commercials before the next program starts. Odd, I wish I cared enough to see if it's particular channels are a particular type of program or whatever that has the different set-ups. But I just don't want enough TV to pay enough attention.
- I already talked about the toilet flushing system...it's still weird.
- There's not a lot of tubs here. And you saw ours, it's like a lil cube, you're gonna be crunched in a ball. Who wants that kind of bath. I guess technically, I still have the option. Many apts also don't have anywhere to hang the showerhead. I HATE that. I hate it in our apt right now too. I'm gonna ask Fernando to fix it or at least get a new one. You know much water he'd save on my showers if the showerhead was able to actually point at the person. The lil hanging part is broken, so you can put the showerhead up there, but it isn't able to hold it up enough to point at the person, just the floor. So you still have to regrab it to wash. I HATE HATE that. But in many pisos, it's common not to have it.
I guess that's all I got right now.
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ROOMIE DRAMA
- So, I talked to Anabel later to tell her sorry I didn't take out the trash so promptly, etc etc. She said no prob she understands, but was trying to cut down on the smell in the kitchen, although it didn't work. So I talked to her more and we discussed how neither of us live like this. She actually has been pretty lucky with roomies. She said no one she lived with was ever a "cochina" (hahaha, new word for Jenny, it means "filthy pig"). I told her that it's very common for someone to be like this and I dealt with it at LSU and Disney, and I got lucky in Holland, but that I knew peeps who had probs in the NL also. She said if her mom saw this kitchen her mom would tell her to leave now and wouldn't allow her to live in a place "tan asco" (so disgusting/revolting). So anyhow, we talked about how it was Loli. Monica cleaned her 2 dishes and Anabel showed her again the deal with the toilet, so now for sure anything that happens will be from Loli. I think Monica was a lil overwhelmed. Poor thing, she's a nice girl. Anyhow, I found out that Loli extended her contract at work for 3 months, but she told Anabel that she was moving out of here at the end of the month because she can't stand Fernando. I personally don't mind him so much. He's a lil odd, but when we called about broken stuff it's been fixed pretty quickly. Anyhow, we're counting down the days. Anabel said it was fine til MariCruz left and now it's crazy. I told her prolly MariCruz was used to picking up after peeps w/her son and washed her dishes, and I told Anabel that I even washed some of the dishes at first here and there til I realized it was from one person. She said she did the same. So that must be it. Anyhow, we both want her to leave. I hope we get a friendlier person who doesn't work as much to move in, as the rest of us are bonding pretty well and all agree this place can't stay this way. Loli is out of town for the weekend are Anabel and Maria, so I guess the kitchen isn't getting cleaned. And we even all told Loli at the same time about the chores and the money for the common household items. She still owes Anabel money for it. I also found out that Loli was married...so I guess it's not an ilegitimate child. Now she's going through a divorce. In any case, she's not considerate at all so we all want a different person, but we wish her the best.
BIRTHDAY
- So the day started like any other except for a million emails from Facebook and others and texts. Then I met midday with Mikaela and her friend who is an auxiliar in Madrid for a drink. Monica also came. We didn't stay long as Mikaela is kinda sick and we all needed to get to Mercadona before it closed since it was gonna be closed til Tues. Then at 9:15 we met with the other bday girl (another auxiliar also turned 24 on Oct 10) and we stayed at the open air concert for a lil...it was free. Then we went to find food. The restaraunt was super crowded so then we went to get free tapas from this place first. We got 2 drinks/tapas, then headed back to eat. It was still crowded, so we went to another place...the place I had gone w/my roomies before. It's actually Moriles 2 and the one we were trying to go to first was Moriles 1. I don't know if they're the same, but the old auxiliars told me it's a good place...cheap and lots of food, and since its crowed all the time, I believe them. After we went to a botellón at the concert for a lil, then went to Sojo. Got home around 5:15am. So it was a good time. Small world though...while we were eating, one of the young teachers from my school saw me and stopped to say hello. We had exchanged numbers because she has an american bf and he wanted to meet me. HAHA, well he was there (and her sis and her bf) because they had a wedding to go to today. Her bf, Charlie, knew another auxiliar who was a friend of Sami (one of the girls out w/us) and who had briefly stopped to say hi. Fuck I'm in Spain and still everyone knows everyone. Actually Azahara (young teacher...same age as me, bday was in early Oct, haha) and Charlie were on their way to meet w/her in the Irish pub that we briefly stopped at after. HAHA. Damn. In any case, Azahara is also the teacher I mentioned who had spent 3 months in England last summer and had decent english (and now I know why). She's also the teacher I teach w/the most since she deals with levels 3 and 4 at the school. I'm basically in almost all her classes, haha. She's in Córdoba a lot so I suppose I'll be hanging out w/them more.
There's another teacher my age at the school (Inmaculada...Inma) who I exchanged numbers with. She's from here and comes in a lot on weekends, so she's gonna introduce me to all her friends and take me to the good locals places that a foreigner will never find, haha. Also, not sure if I mentioned this before, but her sister is studying econ at the university here, so I'm gonna get details on how to take just one class next semester...how much and if it's possible at all.
New pics on Facebook and Picasa from this night...just some highlights. That's pretty much it. Sundays are boring as everything is closed. I sometimes feel it's worst than the NL here on Sundays. In the NL all cafes and such were open til 5pm so you could grab a coffee and maybe a lil meal too. There was also a supermarket that was open on Sundays too, and kebabs. Here, not every cafe is open...the hours are shorter...who knows where a supermarket is open (maybe Cortes Ingles?? or maybe opencor which is open 24/7 apparently...it's run by Cortes Ingles so the prices will be higher, but hey, desperate times call for desperate measures). I've really had no time/desire to explore on Sundays yet since Sats have been good and so a day of rest isn't always bad. I'm sure there's something happening, I'll have to go out on a Sunday sometime and see what Córdoba has to offer.
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| Date: | 2009-10-09 12:55 |
| Subject: | Finally More News.... |
| Security: | Public |
| Mood: |  interesante | | Music: | Clavado en un Bar ~ Maná |
Ok, so I suppose I have just about a week of updates to do...I'll try to go day-by-day:
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Ok, so by now things are more or less fixed w/the carpool...or at least they were for yesterday, my first day of "work".
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So I guess that's all for now. Maybe I missed something. I should try to type things all at once instead of breaking. Eh, I don't really like sitting in front the comp all that long all at once...
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| Date: | 2009-09-29 23:49 |
| Subject: | Drama del Día |
| Security: | Public |
| Mood: | very tired actually | | Music: | Escalvo de tus Besos ~ David Bisbal |
So drama of the day...
Alrighty, so a recap. Last week when I visited my school the English coodinator wasn't there (I just picked a great day) and so basically since he was the one who I will be helping, I have to create my schedule and stuff with him. So I left my number with them so he could call me the next day (aka last Friday). Well I never recieved a call, or an email for that matter, so I sent him an email on Monday afternoon just to say that I'm sorry I missed him, since I had communicated most w/him and he's the one to make my schedule, etc etc. I also said, I guess we can just discuss the schedule on the 1st when I go, and I also asked what time I had to be there on Thurs. I never got a response from that either. Well tonight I was like, I guess I better get my transport together for Thurs. As an American, our logical thought is to arrive when everything starts just to be safe (if you don't know a time)...I'm pretty sure Spanish logic is just show up whenever since you weren't give a specific time, why bother being early. In any case, so I emailed the carpool man, Joaquín to find out the details about going w/carpool Thurs. He responds quickly and says that I can go w/a woman named Esperanza who works at a high school in Puente and lives in my area in Córdoba. He said something about entering at 8:30am, but I dunno if that means meeting in Córdoba at that time or getting to Puente for that time. In any case, from what I've heard, in general high schools go 8:30-2:30, so I'm assuming we get there at that time. He also said I should tell him my schedule as there might not be spots at all times. Oh, so now that's just super-duper. So then the dilemma became: do I email Rafa and demand a schedule to give to Joaquín for carpool and just take what I get instead of having some negotiating power...or make some demands/preferences/suggestions in the email? or do I email Joaquín and tell him I don't know my schedule and ask what times he's knows are not available so that I can keep this in mind when creating my schedule? or do I do both? In any case, any email to Rafa saying what I prefer sounded too demanding, so I just decided to email Joaquín. I told him what happened and asked what he knows are problem hours. I also asked where/when to meet in Ciudad Jardín...haha. I guess that'll clarify what I didn't understand before. At any rate, Joaquín usually responds to emails at night, but I'm hoping I don't have to wait til tomorrow night to get a response. I also considered emailing the principal who I had met to see if he gave me a specific time, but really no point, specially if I'm going w/the carpool. So yep, that's that. I'm still gonna push to get my T/W/Th 10-2 schedule and say that on days I can take carpool in the morning I will and can possibly work earlier...on the other days I'll take the bus and if I arrive a lil late, I can just make it up those days I get there early w/carpool. I suppose Thurs morns I'll be able to go via carpool. We'll see shortly. I am kinda shocked my lil school person didn't respond earlier as he's been so good w/communication before. So I dunno.
Another mild drama...landlord came today to give me the internet code for the comp. Well we put it in, none of my email would work...only facebook. So that was a fun lil ordeal to figure out. Luckily I'm pretty intelligent and it didn't take more than 5min for me to just resort to doing all the windows/virus scan updates before messing w/anything else. After that, it worked fine. Basically the virus stuff told me I wasn't an authorized user and that internet security wasn't on...so I updated the virus defs and viola. Ahora todo es bien! Look at my wonderful typing and the accents...I have my keyboard back. Less errors as all my keys work like champs and none stick like in the other comp. Fernando (landlord) is a kick. He made me erase the code from the other comp, which I really had no idea how to do since it's a MAC. He said he didn't know either since it was english. So I just turned off the "airport" which is basically how it recognizes the wireless signal. Turned it on later when Mikaela was here using her comp and it's still in there. Crazy man. He made sure the internet didn't work in it. I understand he doesn't want moochers, but I dunno why he's so protective of the code. In any case, on my comp, I have to type it twice for it to work. After he walked out the room, I wrote the code on a paper. HAHAHAHAHA. He even made it easier for me to know since he said it like "twenty-six, fifty-five..." or whatever, instead of "two-six-five-five..." where there's more #s.
Oh more w/the housing. So I got a peek at my room today. I knew it was "igual de la otra" (same as the other) where Maria is...but I got a good view. UMMM, soooo much better!! It's got a better curtain, a sheer. It's got a double closet thing (mine now is a lil skinny thing) and I can move the furniture around easily and omg so much better. Also better bc the street is quiet (cept during Erasmus parties), but this lil courtyard, not so much. Can hear everything that goes on in the other apts...and there's some Erasmus upstairs causing a rukus til like 230 every morning. Sorta met them the other day. Just an hola exchange as they went upstairs. I ventured upstairs to see if we have a rooftop terrace (terraza I think is the word in spanish...yeah, that's it, ha). Well there's a door up there, so tomorrow I'm gonna try the key that goes to the courtyard door and see if it works. Just exploring the apt. Well back to the big switch on the first. MariCruz is leaving at like 9:30 and I'm not clear on what time the other girl is arriving, but I'll be in Puente Genil, so umm, yeah. I told Fernando I can just pack my stuff and put it in the big hall closet in the front. He said just leave my luggage packed in my room and he'll move it when the other girl arrives/MariCruz leaves. So no prob for me really, except the comp thing as I wanted to make sure the cord stays as in tact as possible. So I'm gonna pack everything and move it to the front closet, except for some clothes that go in the big black suitcase. So my comp will be chillin' in the front closet Thurs morning. Hope it's all good. We'll soon know...but I got it to work relatively quickly this time...so it is possible!
Today I dunno what my deal was, but I was worthless w/spanish. I can't wait to start working at the school a lil to get more spanish practice. Right now it's 50/50 with americans. Too much english!! But me and roomies are bonding more...that's good. And I feel carpool will be in Spanish always. Kinda hoping to use that more than the bus where I sit alone w/my music (which has it's advantages sometimes too). If there was a way to do only 2 days in Puente I'd be all for that as well. But working 12hrs and school only being 9-2, doubt it.
So momma asked me the other day if I forgot anything in the USA...answer is yes. I forgot my address book. If you want something, send me your address. Also, I forgot a particular pair of shoes that I want now. I dunno why I ultimately decided not to bring them. Momentary lapse of sound judgement.
Nacho Reca got an intern in Madrid so he goes there in 5 days. There goes my main source in Granada...but now doors open in Madrid. He's there 6months, but feels confident he should get a job out of this, so possibly longer. We'll see. So now I'm helping him find an apt. I'm contacting some auxiliars in Madrid. HAHAHAHA. An american helping a Spaniard find housing in Spain...odd.
Observations in España:
- Body washes don't smell so swift here. Dove is more expensive, but I'm used to smelling something really fruity and flowery and generic soap/cleansing smell just isn't doing it. I'm gonna check one other store that may have some better options. Shampoo/Conditioner were fine.
- They have Garnier Fructis products here, but I can't find the specific hair stuff that I use. No prob, really don't need it here. Bless no humidity.
- Only tampax compax have plastic applicators...everything else cardboard or none. Kinda a pain...lots of options w/wings. HAHAHA, girls, you follow I know. Much better situation than the Netherlands.
- Neutrogena...so I thought it wasn't here in Europe. That's false. But what I want to be available here, isn't. BLAH! Aveeno isn't here though.
- The 24hr Farmacía (Pharmacy) is like 3blocks from my house. So if I ever become deathly ill in the middle of the night, I can crawl to the Farmacía and get help. The one that's only open 12hrs is also about 3 blocks away, but in the other direction.
- Mercadona (Grocery Store) is a block, but a slightly bigger one (aka the one I found that other time and was completely lost and got hailed on while trying to find my way back) is actually less than a 5 min walk away. I don't think it has all that much more than mine, but it's way more crowded.
- Coffee here = 1.10euro if you pay more, you got ripped off (which you will get in the city center). In the NL it was 3euro. That's the diff in the cost of living.
- Plane tickets around Europe during Christmas are coming down...need to get my schedule from the school so I can start planning my trip when Emmi is here.
- I need to start a list: another towel, hand towel, shower gel that doesn't smell like crap, mirror for the room, some kind of drawer thing, blanket at some point (although damn it's been pretty hot here, don't let the fact it says 58 at night fool you, it feels at least 75. No chills now...almost don't even need the sheet man), deoderant (need to find some nice smelling deoderant too, blah), flats...I guess that's all I can think of now.
- I need to create and print a flyer about tutoring english lessons. We saw a flier today for 15euro an hr. Peeps told us 10...we figured if someone did 15 and all the numbers were missing, then its highly solicited. We figured we might start at 12euro, hahahaha. Inflation, hard economic times man. Demand is demand...you want job, you speak english. Or such is the reality of what's happening in Spain right now. I'm also going to the university tomorrow to see about being an intercambio. It where you get placed w/another person who is trying to learn your native language and is also a native speaker of the language you want to learn. For instance, I an a native english speaker and I want to learn Spanish, so basically I'd be placed w/a spaniard who is trying to learn english. Then you meet whenever you want and you speak in one language one time and the next time in the other language. They had this in Granada too, but I wasn't there long enough to worry about it. I hope they allow us to participate since we're not students...but we'll see.
3 songs for everyone to add to their playlists:
(1) "We are Golden" - Mika
(2) "Esclavo de tus Besos" - David Bisbal
(3) "Moving" - Macaco
That's what I need...some radio/alarm clock thing. Add that to the ever-growing list...
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Just one lil thing...tomorrow I'm gonna be able to use my computer!! I can't wait to be using my own comp again!! I was gonna wait til I got into my new room to see if my comp will work, but in the end I couldn't wait and wanted to see if I could get it to work now. Well I got it to register the cord quite quickly actually, but I don't have the code to connect to the wireless system here (our landlord is weird like that) and anyhow, so I called him and tomorrow morning he is gonna come by and put it in my comp. Also I and a few other roomies are gonna give him October's rent. So it's a pretty useful meeting. Now I just gotta hope when I transfer rooms on Thurs that my comp works. It's been my experience that once it registers it's fine until you unplug it...I remember this past summer the electricity went out, but it still worked when the electricity came back on bc I didn't unplug the battery from the comp. I'm gonna be careful to move it to the other room w/out unplugging the battery and hopefully it'll work. If not, at least it came to life in Europe once so I have confidence that I can get it to work again...eventually. Yeah, so that's all for now. This should be my last entry from my friend's MAC as she returns tonight and I'm sure she'll want her comp back eventually....perhaps not tonight since she's in a hostel til the 1st, but who knows since her hostel has free wifi.
....P.S. I love the expressions "hasta ahora" and "nos vemos (ahora)" in spanish. They are things that translate funny into english. "Hasta ahora" is literally "until now" and "nos vemos (ahora)" is like "we'll see ourselves/each other (now)". It's funny as a literal translation, but basically they mean "see you soon". The first time I heard these was in the NL, and I remember looking at the spaniards kinda oddly since I understood it, so then they said the literal translation in english, and I looked at them even more oddly and then gave a lil chuckle. Ahh, memories, hahahahaha. We all learned something new...
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| Date: | 2009-09-27 22:27 |
| Subject: | |
| Security: | Public |
| Mood: |  tired yet have done nothing... | | Music: | My Big Fat Greek Wedding (in Spanish) |
So I forgot to write about Nacho's strange parking system...or at least it's completely foreign for me. So, well, first it's under the building, so kinda like a basement-esque thing, which is foreign to someone from a city that's below sea level and can reach water after 2 feet of digging. Well, there's no ramp you drive down, no no, there's a lil car elevator. So to get the car in you have to get out the car, use your key to open the gate, use your key again to push the button, then wait for the lift to come to you, then you get in your car, put the car on the lift, get out again to close the gates and use your key to bring it down. Once you're down, you have to use your key to open the gates down there, then get in your car to drive it to the spot and then use the key to close the gates. Same to bring it up...only the button to lift the ramp is off of the thing, so you have to push the button then hop on. Then once you get it to the top, well where Nacho's house is, there's a lil lot right there and people often park illegally and block their garage, so he said normally he has to honk a ton and wait for peeps to move their cars (normally they're in the fruit stand across the street or somewhere near. We got lucky as he knew whose cars were there so we just went and got the peeps. He said they're not supposed to park like that, but they always do. Damn that would not fly in the states. It was a very interesting ordeal indeed.
Besides that...nothing to report for Sunday. I just stayed in and did nothing all day. Congrats to Detroit finally getting a win...and I'm watching the Saints now. Now on 2nd possession and moving the ball....I hope they keep this up!! Go SAINTS! Oh and how the hell LSU is #4 is beyond me. I mean, I love them and want them ranked well, but #4, they aren't playing like a #4 team. But I guess a win is a win, so "stats wise" they are the 4th best. Crazy. I hope they get their act together.
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| Date: | 2009-09-26 20:41 |
| Subject: | Few Days of Updates |
| Security: | Public |
| Mood: |  good, but getting tired... | | Music: | Titanic - on TV en español |
So, I went to Puente on Thurs...and boy am I glad I decided to live in Cordoba. Anyhow, its cute...not so white trash like one past auxiliar had told me. They definitely aren't as trendy and fashionable as here in Cordoba (there were a ton of peeps wearing flip flops). Alrighty, so I'll just go through the day:
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| Date: | 2009-09-23 19:11 |
| Subject: | Change of Plans... |
| Security: | Public |
| Mood: |  chillin' | | Music: | Las Noticias |
Well alrighty then, it's been a pretty productive and busy day...
So I met w/the 2 other auxiliars (Lindsay who is working in Madrid, and Jess who will be in Andalucia also in the region of Jaen) at like 3:30pm. We were all starving (as I held off lunch for them) and so we stopped, unfortunately in a tourist stricken location where prices are higher, and had a beverage and some tapas. It wasn't my ideal, but hey, they were visiting here...that was after I met them at the hostel and we walked all the way to my apt (15min) to put some luggage in there and then came back to almost by their hostel. Then, much to my disappointment, they weren't so up to walking around Cordoba and exploring and such, but needed a nap. So I came all the way back here again, but we agreed to meet for dinner. I must admit, I was a lil disappointed in their company. Dinner was much better though, I suppose they were just exhausted (as Jess has been traveling for a lil over a week now w/all her luggage), but in any case, we went to dinner and found a new lil plaza and it wasn't so expensive actually. It was a much better experience. I was in touch w/some other Puente peeps and they were all excited they got an apt and we were gonna go out, but we got in touch really late and since we didn't know the city so well and neither of us were at our apt (in the area we know best), we decided to not meet and get together another time. It best anyhow since I was meeting the girls again this morning to do some more city stuff. Dinner though, we did well. We started eating at 10pm (the norm as they don't start serving til 9/930 anyhow) and we made it last like 2hrs, hahahaha. So great. At 5 til midnight they turn the main lights off in the plaza and it's just the small lights from the restaraunts. I didn't know they did that, but alas, none of the Spaniards moved or started to wrap up dinner or anything, so we didn't either. HAHA...when in Rome... No, but it was really good. We tried some local fare: "salmorejo" (which is a thick gazpacho basically), it's much for a main course. Much better to get it and split it using bread to slop it up as a sauce. It's too thick to eat too much. Also "berenjenas con miel" (which is eggplant w/honey...moorish style eggplant they say. Basically it was fried pieces and had a honey syrup drizzle. It tasted a lot like sweet potato fries with a sweet sauce. I'm not a particular fan of eggplant usually, but I get surprised sometimes so I continue to try it diff way, and I really like this). We also had a glass of their local wine: "Montilla-Moriles". Tasty. Well the next morning (this morning) they were gonna go to the Mezquita which I have already been to, so I told them to text me when they are done there and we could meet. So I met them just after noon. We walked around a lil bit, had a cafe, and then it was time for them to go, first they had to get their stuff from my apt and also use m internet to book their trip. They decided to go to Nerja since I was no longer gonna be able to go with them as things were getting exciting here. Also I really wanna go to my school now and meet the other auxiliars and peeps here and get my luggage from Granada. Yeah, so I've been to Nerja twice and it's also a beach town and I don't have my swimsuit, so were were gonna stay in the city before. Anyhow, yeah, but prolly I'm gonna meet back up with them on Friday in Granada.
So the Granada situation...Nacho informed me today that perhaps our lil reunion on the weekend of Oct 2/3 can't happen bc his dad is talking about coming home a weekend early. For me, it doesn't matter. In a weird way I'd rather the reunion be a lil later, but whatever happens, happens. I told him, makes no dif to me, but I'm in desperate need of my luggage so I'm coming Friday. I told him I'd let him know what time I'm arriving there, and that I'll decide once I get there how long I'm staying (going back Fri night or Sat or even Sun...depends on if we're meeting the next weekend or not). Whatever, I'm not so concerned.
Tomorrow I'm going to Puente Genil. Along with the other auxiliars from there. We're taking an 8:15am bus. Should be fun in the lil pueblo. I hope I can have some influence in my schedule...like 3 days instead of 4, or not starting before 10 so I can save the 1euro a day on commuting since I won't need the turno de coches. Ahh well, we'll see.
I met w/another auxiliar today for a cafe. We talked for a good 2 hrs. I see a potential travel person here as we are both more interested in obscure places since we've done the main things already (Paris, London, Amsterdam, etc). Some of things discussed were Berlin (bc surprisingly neither of us has been), Bulgaria/Romania, and also climbing some volcano in Sicily. I had also seen fliers on an Irish Pub here like 3blcks from my house about the Erasmus Welcome party. The guy's roomies are Erasmus peeps and they said that there's a lot of fliers around the Uni, so I'm going to that tomorrow night. He's gonna be there w/his roomies so I guess we'll just meet there although I'm trying to get some other Erasmus friends to go so I don't have to arrive alone...although I mentioned it to my roomie Anabel and she seemed interested. She only works on Mon and Wed, and only has 1 class this semester. So maybe we'll go. She said next semester will be a bitch though as she'll be there 5 days a week and have 4 classes, but after March some of the classes are her "practica" and so basically she just has to observe professors or something and write a paper later. It's like an intern...I didn't think she was getting her masters in teaching, but in French something. So maybe it's just on what they're teaching. I dunno, but I know for Feb-end Mar it's gonna suck for her.
So I guess that's all for now...I had to post another update because a dear family member was concerned when they received no email nor update on here in a whole 24hrs. But hey, now I'm settled I know peeps and soon will work....expect less. Especially if I can't get my comp to work, hahahaha, we'll know when I return from Granada...or well, not sure if I should just wait til I switch rooms to muster w/that. Also, I'll have to call the landlord to give me the code or come by and enter it since he didn't tell us, just entered it himself. From what I'm thinking though...if I get it to work in my room, as long as I don't unplug the part from the comp, I should be able to unplug it from the wall and move it carefully keeping that stable. I'm not sure, but I'm kinda anxious to use my own comp. It's not that I mind this MAC, and I love the fact the battery last forever off the power cord and I can transport it in the living room whenever I want (like now) and watch tv at the same time, but I mean, my comp has all my settings and automatic login info, etc etc. Also, like I said, I'm getting settled here so there's more to do, I won't need nor use the comp as often anyhow.
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Update as it took a while for me to write this since my roomie came in and we chatted:
- I got a text from the other Puente peeps and some of their friends are visiting tomorrow so they're not going to Puente tomorrow. Well I am. It needs to get done and like I said, I wanna see if I can have any influence in my schedule at all. I had also texted them to see if they wanted to meet tonight and try the free tapas place I found (free tapas 12-4pm and 8-midnight). But they had just bought sandwhiches and stuff to drink tonight. They invited me, but I'm chillin w/my roomie and also I didn't wanna be out late again and put off Puente more. They're gonna come to the Erasmus party tomorrow....or so they say. I told them to bring their friends. We'll see...
- Oh and Spanish news and naturally Spanish programming is easier to understand in the tele than things that are dubbed. I think it's because they try to match the lips as much as possible and since Spanish in general has more useless words to get the same thing across, they talk faster to keep the timing.
- Spain has a strange love for Obama...I know the world is obessed w/him, but it's even hard w/my friends to express how I really have no opinion of Obama bc he hasn't necessarily done anything yet but talk. They accept it because they're cool and we have that kind of relationship, but they don't really understand it, as even from watching the news and talking to my roomies and such, it's clear they love him here. I mean, I guess if Zapatero was our prez, we'd love Obama too.
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| Date: | 2009-09-22 11:49 |
| Subject: | |
| Security: | Public |
| Mood: | finally understanding a bit | | Music: | who knows on "axn" television, but it was NCIS |
Alrighty...so, let's see. I have no clue where I left off. So, a lil more on the roomies since last night we sat here for like 3hrs and chatted it up....or at least Maria, Anabel, and I did. MariCruz joined the last few minutes.
(1) Maria...18, gonna be 19 in Dec. Shes's from a lil pueblo in Cordoba and I can't really understand well when she talks, haha. She's gonna in the School of Work, or well that's a translation. I have no idea what she's actually studying, but her classes start tomorrow (Wed). She doesn't know anyone here except for one other friend from her pueblo and her cousin. Both who live near here.
(2) Anabel..24, teacher of French Culture and Civilization at the University, also a grad student getting her Masters in French Interpretation and Translation. She's from a lil pueblo in Huelva and I understand everyword that comes out her mouth, haha. She also only has like 1 good friend here and then is friends w/some older professors, but she says she doesn't really go out much at night. She's pretty well traveled around Europe, but never outside. Maria has never been outside of Spain, barely even to the North. Apparently, unless they do an Erasmus they don't really travel anywhere at all. And Maria's trips to the North were school sponsored excursions that she just happen to take part in.
Anabel has had 7-8yrs of English an Maria 11-12, but neither speak anything because their classes are similar to ours in the USA...always a book, reading/writing, no speaking ever. But it's fun. Last night I had to give them a phrase in Spanish and they were trying to translate it. Then Anabel would teach us the French way to say it. HAHA. It was fun.
Loli didn't come back last night, I guess she's with her kid. Yeah, dunno if I told you that, but she has a kid who's bday is today. She's 1. Cute eh. Also MariCruz and Loli apparently pay an extra 10euro a month...I guess it's bc they didn't sign the contract last til mid-July. I asked if there was something else I could do to leave in June, but he said no...bastard. Oh well. Once MariCruz returned last night around 11:45, we were all getting tired so it didn't last long. But they bashed the landlord a lil. They said he's not an ass, but can sometimes be a pest (I couldn't tell you what those words are in Spanish, but I understood, haha). And then we talked about the having people stay the night over here thing, and everyone said, he's never gonna know if all of us are ok with it. So we'll just check in with each other first and then the person can just keep the stuff in whoever's room in case Fernando pops in the next day. He never comes before 10:30, so just make sure to be up and dressed bc we can have whatever visitors we want. In a weird way this is worse than the dorms. But I guess it's all good.
I know how to work the stove now. I asked bc the big gas tank kinda made me nervous, haha. Well, there is a lil switch. If I was gonna have to figure it out on my own, it would have been what I touched, but personally it looks more like something that would screw versus lift up. But in any case, now I got it.
Ok, so strange things about Spain/Spanish I never noticed before:
- Television: weird. They start shows at random times like 10:25 or 2:33. I don't really get it. Then the cable we have, they have things in other languages sometimes. There's one channel that normally leaves everything in it's normal language and then subtitles it. Good when it's english, bad when its German. And then there's another station that has just other languages. Like last night, Sister Act was on in German. Yeah, fun. No subtitles or anything. And before they had on the basketball game (where Spain won the Euro Champ basically....Eurobasket....it was in like Polish or Serbian or something unrecognizable. There's also CNN and BBC here in English. I try to avoid them...mostly bc it's boring to watch all the time, but also because I'm try to not listen to english. It's bad enough I'm typing it and reading it a lot. Television in Granada, at least with my fam wasn't so odd....the times, yes, but not all these weird stations. It's nice though, they have one that shows nothing but music all day (mix of Spanish and English....they do love their American music here). Besides that, you can pretty much watch American tv dubbed in Spanish all day long. I'm watching NCIS right now. The other day CSI. Movies all the time.
- Toilets: so the toilet wouldn't flush last night, but I know it had worked before so I asked MariCruz about it. She said it doesn't really work all the time, but goes in and out. She showed me how to fill up the bucket with water from the shower and then dump it in the toilet. Miracle, it flushes, but not because of a motor or a forced whatever, but I guess there's just a pipe and it just all flows. It's weird, do that in an American toilet and it's gonna overflow on you in a nasty mess. Not to mention you push lil buttons in the middle of the top or pull lil chains to flush things. No lil handles on the side. But that's old news for me....although in the NL, they had lil handles on the side.
- Spanish don't wash their hair everyday. Hence the reason they are able to take 2min showers. The other day Loli took a normal one and it was like 10ish minutes. I always wondered how a girl with long hair is able to take such short showers. I guess in this weather you don't really need to wash your hair everyday...and there's no humidity, so not like you're sweating.
- Supermercado: so, the water. They come in packs of like 6 or 8, each bottle is 2liters. However, the price reflects the bottle price, hence the reason the Spanish just bust them up all the time. First time at my lil mercadito, there were none busted open so I was like, ummm. I didn't need water so I just left it, yesterday, needed water so read the label. HAHA, so I got to bust open a package. 30cents if you buy it in a store, 1euro on the street. From what I'm seeing, it seems Cordoba tap water isn't the best drink as in Granada/Sevilla/Madrid. Oh well. I didn't really drink it in BR either.
- Sleepwear: They all wear lil cutsy dress things....sometimes with leggins. Never matching, but always lil sleep dresses. Blah! I like my shorts and t-shirt, thanks.
- Shoes: well I need slippers. I never have really seen anyone (except Nacho) walk around a house barefoot in Europe in general. I know why though...after 1 time, you're finished. Their whole house is flooring, and well, unless you're gonna clean it 24/7 obsessive-compulsively, your feet are gonna get dirty and/or you will feel a lil grit. It's life, it happens. I need slippers. And apparently it's too late in the season to wear flipflops. Some old guy tried to tell me something about not having proper shoes that cover my toes when I was walking home in the rain that other night. So, well then it got me paying attention...they have open-toe stuff, but all cute lil shoes, not trashy flipflops. Well all my cute lil shoes are in Granada, so its either Tennis Shoes or flip flops for me =0) I tried wearing my black flats the other day...for one, no one has black shoes yet, but more importantly, they are not properly broken in and gave my feet some blisters (although I didn't walk more than 10min)...so now I gotta let that heal.
- Music: I don't know how common it is in the USA, but in NOLA, hardly ever, but my Spanish roomies, Maria and MariCruz have both come and sat in the living room as I was watching tv and sat down w/their ipods on listening to music. Completely fathoms me.
- Span Girls: talk a lot, much like us in the states, but it's good bc then I don't have to say things for a long time, whereas w/my hermanos, always asking me stuff and waiting for a response. It's weird but I can't necessarily understand a bunch of single sentences/questions being shot at me, but if it's a long speech, when they finally take a breath and need someone else to say something, I'm there. I got what's happening and I can say something. But it's true, Spanish girls gossip a lot...it's what I've heard, it's true. More than Americans girls...or more than my friends anyhow.
Alrighty, so 2 other auxiliars are coming here to visit and then we're talking of travel. I talked w/Mikaela and she doesn't need her laptop back so soon, so no worries about that exchange. Then my hermanos are going to Granada Oct 2/3 and so I have to be there then. I can't make it that long without my stuff, so I told Nacho perhaps this weekend I'd just make a quick trip to go get it. He said that's fine. I might going during the week though, depends how this lil shindig goes down. One of these girls is down for Malaga and the other has no desire, but would like to go to Granada or something. Well, for obvious reasons I don't feel like going to Granada with them. I dunno where we're going or what, but we'll discuss it tonight. They are taking the bus together from Madrid, should be here at 2:45pm (2 like 2hrs). If they decide on Granada, I might ride the bus with them, maybe spend a lil time there, then go to Nacho's get my stuff and come back. Then I can to Puente later in the week, as I didn't make it today since we were up til 1am talking and I just couldn't get out the bed this morning in time to catch the 8:15am bus. Then I was thinking, if I went today I'd have to be sure to catch the 2:30 bus back, and perhaps the teachers will want to get a coffee or something after...perhaps not, but still...if they did, at least another day I'd have that option. I hope whatever schedule is made for working there that it's a good one...it'd actually be cheaper for me if they just had me come in at like 10:30 because then I could just take the bus instead of carpool. We'll see. I feel I'll have to go 4 days, not 3....so how about 11-2 M-TH? HAHAHA....if they made it 10, I suppose I could make it. Bus at 8:15am, get to Puente at 9:30 (says hr 15min ride) then 30min walk to school....once I know the way I could walk really fast...could make it just on time. Save 1euro a day w/public transport. Eh well, we'll see.
I guess that's it now. Oh and I was thinking perhaps I'll stay in my lil shoebox room. Not sure...gotta view the other one (I've never seen it, just what Fernando said was that it's the same as the room next to it). The door is really loud and in the living room I can hear everyone walking up/down stairs, although can't hear peeps next to me. But it's a bigger room and faces the street for some people watching. Also, it's further from the bathroom and kitchen which are all the way in the back through the living room and down the hall. My room now, although small and faces the lil courtyard thing w/everyone's laundry, it's smack center. Which is good/bad in its own right w/noise. I can hear the tv well and the kitchen and the toilet flush. I guess just like any house/apt, every room has good and bad. But with all the freakin marble, there's nothing to absorb sound and it just echos more than an American house. I dunno, I'll decide that later. Not a big deal. I need to get to Granada soon, I want my luggage.
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| Date: | 2009-09-20 14:31 |
| Subject: | Bueno...q bueno! |
| Security: | Public |
| Mood: | tranquila | | Music: | Meet the Parents (Los Padres de Ella), hahaha |
So I'll start with the rest of last night
( Read more... )
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| Date: | 2009-09-19 11:48 |
| Subject: | Quick Update |
| Security: | Public |
| Mood: |  a lil chilly, not gonna lie | | Music: | silenicio... |
See what happens where there's no roomies here, don't know anyone in Cordoba yet, and its too rainy to go out and meet people...lots of updates:
- So, the landlord is here right now, not sure exactly what he's up to. Told me yesterday he and his wife were coming today to hang up curtains in the living room. Well she is doing that, but he's walking around making a rukus, not sure if he opened the room next to me and peered in her room or whatever or what...but I will tell you that there is still that bowl sitting in the living room w/all the ciggies in it (right next to the window...) and I know he had a talk with Anibel when he walked in saying he could smell smoke. I'm ot sure what she told him, but it ended with laughing. I don't consider him an asshole in any way actually...and I feel he's used to dealing with foreigners...even though I happen to the be only one here this time. He was in the kitchen making some noise, maybe counting dishes (our contract is actually very similar to one at our apt at LSU...inventory and everything, only at LSU it didn't have a furnished kitchen). Although, there is way more in there than on his lil inventory. So maybe he was looking for his stuff. I dunno. It's all really sketch so I'm waiting for them to leave so I can explore and see if he moved anything or what.
- Yeah, also, it's pretty cool here for me, I think I'm gonna have to buy my comforter already, even though everyone else is still sleeping w/just a sheet. BLAH!
- Trying to decide what to do today. It' Saturday so everything will be crowded (buuu) and also my feet and stuff are still a lil tight, don't hurt anymore, so thats good. I think I might just stay in another day. Maybe tomorrow venture out again and see where I end up.
- I'm trying to find out if its ok to drink tap water here...can't reall get a straight answer and it doesn't really look like my roomies do (judging from all the water bottles everywhere...)
----------- added update after landlord left ------------
So, the bowl of ciggies is missing. It's not in the kitchen, not in the sink nor cabinet, no anywhere else. It's either been confiscated, or quite possibly he put it in Loli's room which is next door to mine. I know he opened it bc her door makes a nice sqeaking sound whenever it's opened. I hope he put it in there...I guess he's been having probs w/her. Glad it's gone...and the curtains are sheers with flowers on it. It's cute, but definately girly. And they also fixed the mirror in the bathroom which Anabel had told me was broken and that she told Fernando about it. Fernando also informed me he was coming back at 6 tonight possibly to show a girl the place. Yeah, ok I'm done.
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| Date: | 2009-09-18 15:09 |
| Subject: | The Next Day... |
| Security: | Public |
| Mood: | hehe | | Music: | Air Bud 2 -- in spanish |
Ok so later that night I had to go buy sheets and food as you know. I had to wait til after the siesta hour though. First I got to meet the roomie who is the chef...she looks like a chef, short stocky, hair pulled back. We didn't really talk all that much then. Later she asked if it bothered me if she smoked, I told her one ciggy, no prob, but many and I will be bothered. I think this is when she realized I'm not fluent in Spanish and at least slowed down a lil. In any case I ended up leaving shortly after. She took a shower in like 2 secs though...something for me to work towards. Anyhow, I went out and just strolled the city. I remembered seeing Corte Ingles near my hostel so I headed back in that direction. Got mildly lost and took a diff direction, but still made it easily. Only the Cortes there is trashy. It had nothing good. So I left with nothing (also I wasn't sure if I had a 90cm bed or a 105cm....the guy in the chino store kinda showed us measurements and it seemed like it would be a 105, but in the end I have a 90cm...I measured this morning using a sheet of paper bc it was the only thing that I had which I knew the exact measurement to). Anyhow, that was no good..so I just started strolling checking chinos and baazars as I passed aka, cheap stores). Nothing nothing...well it started raining, like pouring. It was a legit storm with thunder lightening and pouring rain (although it only lasted a few seconds). Well, still I strolled...didn't feel like taking out a map. Finally, I found it! The BIG Corte Ingles, 5 floors...now it's normal. Anyhow, I found the sheets but like I said, I didn't know the size of my bed, so I didn't buy anything. So, well the rain was getting worse and it was getting a lil chilly, not to mention my legs and feet hurt like no other. But I had to eat, as I hadn't eaten since 11pm the night before...except for the single slice of bread I took from the cabinet. So I remembered a general area where Mercadona (supermkt chain) was and so I went there. Found it relatively easily actually. Thankful to find it wasn't as crowded as the one in Granada. It was nice though. I got just some stable stuff for a few days. Then I was ready to go home...yeah, got totally and completely lost in the dark in Ciudad Jardin (which is my neighborhood). I ended up havign to pull out the map twice. I wasn't liking walking lost in the rain with all these groceries...the fact it was night didn't bother me so much. You can go out 24/7 here and there's always peeps on the street...old and young alike. Anyhow, while I'm trekking home it starts hailing...yeah, frozen ice. If I wasn't outside watching it, I wouldn't have believed i either. I lasted all of 2 seconds also, but still there was that nasty Dutch dreary weather. Finally I made it home and no one was here. I know 2 are out of town for the weekend, but there's still the one that works at the hospital and the chef. Oh well...I went to sleep kinda early (after eating) since I was exhausted...still no sheets so had to use my towel. That was a kick...I'd wake up hot, then cold, then hot, then yea, you get it. It was ok though...I'm sure the noise made by my chef roomie didn't help this either. I heard her come home around 1 (I dunno if she woke me up or if I woke up from being hott). It was fine, whatever. Well then at the lovely hr of 5am she is up and at em, making breakfast watching tv, on the phone, the works. Then as she leaves she slams the door...I also heard her roll a suitcase out, so I wonder if she's not leaving for the weekend also. In any case, she may not have known I was here since technically our paths never crossed again and my room was dark and quiet when she returned...but we'll see. Also there's a nice lil bowl of water w/old ciggies in it. We'll see. My landlord ended up coming by later to tell me he's showing another girl the apt and then another at 130, and he asked if he could show my room. No prob for me. I met the girl (Maria Jose) and she's super cute. I asked Fernando (landlord) if that portuguese girl was still gonna live here and he said yes, but they said something I didn't understand and then about the 130 girl said he just wants to have a reserve. Whatever, I dunno if someone is moving out or not, but Maria Jose was nice and friendly. Also, through the landlord I found out the name of the chef is Loli. Also, he and his wife are coming by tomorrow at 11am to think about some curtains for the living room. Well somewhere around 1pm I left. I didn't feel like meeting another person, plus I wanted sheets on my bed and I didn't really feel like walking alot as my feet are killing me and my calves are still in knots. I went for a lil paseo before lunch and got midly lost to learn the city (Nacho Reca said it's awesome that I was willing to go out and get lost, he said spanish girls are "stupid" and would never do that). HAHA, well I am pretty directional, and truly, there's nothing else to do. I found my way back to Corte Ingles after the learning time and then home from there pretty quick. Perhaps there's a slightly quicker route, but the one I took is pretty direct. 15min walk. I had to consult some peeps on what sheets to buy. Cheaper ones were lime green and pink...basically bottom sheet = pink and top = lime green. The other (7 euro more) had a black bottom sheet with a black and white design on the top one, with just a touch of red. I couldn't decide, but in the end it was the green ones. Let me tell you though, the Corte Ingles woman was awesome (well the 2nd one, the first one followed me around creepily for a while)...but she saw I was having a prob making a decision and I said yeah and told her basically I think I'd get tired of the green, but that the black could be dark. She said winter is coming and I'll need a heavier blanket for the top anyhow (which I knew) and this is the best...she told me that I should go w/the cheaper one bc its the same exact quality and cheap is better and also told me that when washing the black bottom piece, it would have to be washed alone w/nothing else, whereas the pink and green could be washed with other colors. HAHAHAHAHA, love the spanish, trying to talk you into the cheaper one instead of the more expensive. By the way, I caught the summer sale so the sheets I got were 50% off. So just a tad more expensive than the chinos for much better quality...and design too. Yeah, so at home, had lunch at 245 (normal, hehe) and now watching Air Bud 2 in spanish on tv. Q guay! HAAHA, I doubt I'll have more stories from today since I'm not going out anymore but gonna rest my poor lower body...unless the chef returns home. I dunno though since I heard a suitcase. Oh and Fernando told me the hospital girl is out for the weekend and left yesterday. So perhaps I do have the house to myself. Also, when I got home from Cortes Ingles, I was on the street and walking opposite was a cute guy. So well he passes me just before I go into my gate, then as I'm shutting it, he walks in and was so embarrassed from passing his own place. He just made one of those faces and kept walking, hahahahahah. Super. So anyhow, wapo arriba! Next time I see him, I may as well meet the neighbors. Oh it was so funny, he was so embarrassed.
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| Date: | 2009-09-17 12:38 |
| Subject: | Poco de España |
| Security: | Public |
| Mood: |  I have a home! | | Music: | Don Don Don - by some peeps (spanish rap, haha!) |
So have I got some stories.....
( Read more... )
Now I just gotta remember some spanish...also I gotta go buy some sheets and food, but it's the siesta hour, can't do anything til 4pm at least. Well there you have an update. I have my frind Mikaela's comp right now (a mac, so it's very interesting for me) while she is in Cadiz. Her piso isn't available til Oct 1, but they let her keep her luggage thre, but she said I could use her comp til she comes back since mine is in Granada. So at least I have internet til then. After Granada, who knows if my comp will work...but I do have faith I'll get it together eventually.
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| Date: | 2009-08-31 19:19 |
| Subject: | few days... |
| Security: | Public |
| Mood: | successful day! |
- So I got my int'l driver's license. It's actually incredibly painless and quick, so that's good.
- I also went to the Consulate and I got my originals for the Police Records and Med Certif.
- Went to LSU today and got euros. My old employer called me and said someone brought back Euro from a Summer Program and since LSU can't use the euro, they are trying to get rid of them ASAP and since they know I'm going to Europe, they were offering them to me (and a few other old workers) first. They were just gonna use whatever the currect exchange rate was, so no extra banking fees, etc. So it was a deal. I was just gonna take 200, but they had near 500 and no one else was expressing interest yet, and they wanted to get rid of them quick, so I took 300 instead. I'll use it at some point, so yeah. I also got to see the office peeps. It was nice.
- I went shopping at the Mall of Louisiana and the Outlet Malls since it's between NOLA and LSU and I was in desperate need of jeans...and then also, if I found it, some in between jackets (like not really heavy, but more stylish ones which are for chilly, but not cold weather). I had an incredibly lucky day shopping!! And it was cheap cheap. I love outlets.
- MS on Sunday was fun. Got to see the fam. They are coming in next Thurs anyhow to send me off.
- My work called today begging me to come in and work some hrs. I guess I'll call them back soon. First I gotta decide if I can/want to work them.
- It's what, 10, 11 days til I leave depending on how you look at it. I gotta start seriously packing now. Got some laundry to do first.
- Laptop is back and working like an absolute champ. Now I just gotta quickly backup all these photos so I can delete all this extra crap off my harddrive.
- OOOH, I gotta get a big flash drive. I guess I'll do that this week.
- Sat I'm going to dinner w/my friends. I get to pick the place...and they were sure to let me know that we can go one place for dinner and another for dessert. HAHA, so now I gotta decide about that.
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- So finally I got my visa...I mean, I wasn't really all that concerned about not getting it in time, but there's still always that "what if..." present. In any case, got a call yesterday that it was ready and I went this morning to pick it up. Only prob is that I'm supposed to get back some original documents in order to get my NIE in Spain (essentially the Green Card of Spain...legal resident). I only got one original back, that being the one from Spain saying that I got the position and about the $$ and the insurance. My police records and med certifs weren't the origs. I don't know if this is a prob for the NIE as I hear diff things...some that you need the Apostille on everything and some that you don't even need those docs. Blah, so I emailed the woman. Truthfully, I don't think we need them so I'm not all that stressed out. In any case, now I can legitimately leave for Spain on the 11th...not waiting on anything else (except my laptop, but I could still leave w/out that).
- Laptop drama update: well it's partially fixed, but even the techy is a bit confused as to what is happening, and since I realized some stuff wasn't backed up, I let him know and so he sent my laptop home yesterday told me to back up what needed to be backed up, just in case he has to wipe it out. So, I did. But let me tell you something really weird that happened. Not my laptop, my dad's newish desktop or the old fam comp would recognize any blank CD or DVD...not the one the tech sent home, not ones I had, not R vs RW...NOTHING! And that's so weird bc I've burnt CDs on these comps w/the past month. So it's just fucking w/me. In any case, I put all the info in my dad's nice desktop and I just saved what truly had not been backed up in my flash drive. But still, geez. That's so odd. However, when I was using my laptop, the power cord worked. So I will have an operating, fuctional laptop in Spain.
- Work drama: I talked w/3 peeps, they're working on my check and who quoted me that rate and just whatever, but they all know I leave soon and so it'll be done soon. Other than that, this is my last week of coaching and I don't think I have any supervisor hours after this Sat (and even this Sat isn't confirmed), so perhaps after Sat I'll no longer have to work. HAHA, such a chore. If it's not a normal daily routine, I can't handle it. All these random hrs here and there, make me nuts.
- Going to MS on Sunday to visit the aunt and 'dem, then they are coming here just before I leave. Apparently now we're going to dinner on Thurs night and then Cafe du Monde on Fri morning. All I wanted was the Fri morn thing...oh well, a nice meal of it never hurt anyone.
- I need to get my Int'l License and well, I tried calling the peeps and got an answering machine...that's no fun. I might just wing it and go to the place. But I really wanna know about processing times. Yeah, I need to pack or something too....
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