BEST DAY EVER

Today we went to the beach at a town called Garrucha. It was the best. day. ever.

We woke up to catch the bus in town at 7:00. I am pretty sure we were the only people awake at that time except for the drunks we passed in the street. Workday here does not start til about 10. We had a ticket to Vera, a small town that ended up being about 5 miles from the beach. Since I am not a big fan of hitchhiking we bought another ticket to Garrucha. The trip all together en

ded up being about 3 euros each way, but I am willing to make that sacrifce for a good tan (or burn) ;) We got to the beach at about 7:30 and had time to watch part of the sunrise. While we were sitting on the wall watching, this car of Spanish men came up and started asking us to go to the club with them. (There are clubs that are open from 7-10am) We politely declined and after about 15 minutes, the men drove off singing Soccer chants. If the people here worked half as hard at their jobs as they do trying to pick up girls, Spain could probably be the most successful country in the world. Next, we went to a cafe and got Coffee and Media Tostada con Tomate. Media tostada is a half of one side of a baguette...if that makes sense. They take crushed tomatoes and spread it on top with salt and olive oil. I have eaten more tomatoes here than I have ever eaten in my life. They are the best tomatoes in the world (except for the ones from our garden :-P ) However, I am starving. I need McDonalds, badly. I asked if they had one in this town and after giving me a dirty look the waitress said no. :( I guess my diet will live another day. After a lengthy breakfast we go out to the beach. The temp is about 85 degrees and the water is crystal clear. We stayed there til about 2 and then we went up for lunch and I got patatas bravas. They are french fries with some sort of red sauce and garlic mayo. They are AMAZING. Then we went back to the beach til about 7pm. Our bus didn't leave til 9 so we went back to the cafe for drinks. The mean, skinny waitress was gone and was replaced by a robust 40 year old Spanish man. We all ordered tinto de verano...its a summer red wine I guess. I think it is sangria with carbonation. Since we were the only ones in there we got free drinks and had mixed nuts for dinner.

We got back to our house and then got ready to go out. There was a party in one of the neighborhoods of the city so we decided to go. The picture is of me making mojitos at one of the bodegas. We worked (and played) til about 1am and then came home to go to sleep after our big day! Overall it is the best day I have had here in Spain so far. It sucks living so far from the beach :) hehehe but I guess I will have to deal with it.

Now ask me questions or tell me what you want to hear about for the next blog. I will try to make them more frequent now that I am settled. I love you guys and miss everyone!!!

Tiffy

Mission: Find Internet

So I have made it to Huercal-Overa. It's a lot bigger than I thought. It is about a 30 minute walk from one side to the other. We arrived by bus and got a taxi to our hotel that CIEE (our program) had set up for us. The hotel was 15 miles outside of the city!!!! Riding in our seperate taxi's (our luggage was too big for anything less), we all thought the drivers were going to murder us. I was like "ummm where is the hotel? And he was like, oh its really far!! Why are you staying out here?" So we got to the hotel and its the kind where the doors open right to the outside. You know, the type of hotels people are ALWAYS murdered at in movies? Yeah. So we stayed there that night and promptly switched to a hostel in the middle of the city. Its suuuuper nice. So that all worked out. Aside from that, the rest of the trip was fine. The 13 hour bus trip was not as terrible as it sounds and crossing the Sierra Nevadas was a real treat.

Spanish lesson:

nada: nothing or not

mucho: much

que pasa?: whats up

nada mucho: he swims a lot.

So when someone asks you whats up and you try to say not much....you end up saying he swims a lot.

"What's up?"

"He swims a lot."

.....

Ill write more when I am less lazy.

Love you guys!!!

On the Menu: Bull Testicles

Herro,

As you can see, today's post revolves around the food in Sevilla. Sevilla is a huge town for Tapas, but they also love family style dining. So normally our group orders three or four huge dishes and shares everything. Today we went to a place and our Spanish guide ordered our food for us. He says f***ed instead of FACT, but none of us have the heart to tell him this....anyways, the plates came out and everything looked AMAZING. I skipped over the obvious seafood dishes and went for the meat (insert joke here(sorry Momma)). After finishing our meal, we were talking about how great everything was and the teacher said "See, trying new stuff is fun!" We all looked confused and told him we had had tapas here before. After a moment he said, "you have all tried bull testicle?" After choking back my wine, I shot him a dirty look and pushed my plate away. Anyways......bull testicle is delicious, but I will never eat it again. Let me give you a moment to digest that story....*clever*

*Bull testicle (Lower right side...the bull testicle looking thing next to the potatoes)*

As for the rest of the day, it passed without excitement. We took a tour around the city and I bought postcards. The first three people who leave their addresses will receive them. (yes I am that desperate for attention Leslie Handy)

Sorry for the short, crappy post....TIFFY SLEEPY.

Arrival

Hello Everyone!!

As you may have already gathered, I am going to write a blog while teaching in Spain. As I do not have Jennifer Routh to proofread, please ignore any grammatical errors. (and yes, I know that sounds terrible coming from someone responsible for teaching English) So, enjoy and please comment!! I do love the comments.

Today, I have decided to write about stuff I had forgotten in my idealized memories of Spain.

1) Bottles of water are the size of shot glasses and alcohol is the size of water bottles. This may not sound like a problem, but beer does not go down nicely before 12pm. So I am here, conserving my 3 Euro, 8oz bottle of water. :)

2) The orange juice is just as amazing as I remember. They have machines that squeeze the oranges right in front of you. I am enthralled every time I get some.

3) Spain is hot.

4) Spanish people do not realize how hot it is. So there is no air conditioning.

These are just a few of my first day observations. Today I had to use Spanish for the first time in a while to try to buy a converter for my latptop. Although I was meticulous in my packing ;) I am still missing my stuff. So I run to Corte Ingles (Spanish Wal-Mart without the hillbillies) and go up to a dapper man with a mullet and white shoes. I hold up my computer cord and ask how to make it work here. He smiles and says "aaaah necesitas un transformador." I smile and follow him to the converters. I try to make a joke about transformers the movie.....he does not get it. (Mental note: look up how to say "transforming robots" in Spanish.)

Well, that is all for now. I will try to do this often.....but no promises!! I love you all and miss you!! (unless you are a random stalker, then comment and I will start to love you and miss you too)

Adios!!!

P.S Pic is of the torre del oro (tower of gold) here in Sevilla.