March Slowness

March has been a pretty uneventful month. I didnt plan any trips, so I've been staying in my town every weekend, hanging out with my friends here and just living the boring life. Last weekend Magda and I went to our friends apartment for a barbeque and to use his oven to make some Polish cookies, which were AMAZING, even though they were a little deformed in the end. The boys we were hanging out with loved them, and enjoyed them while I beat them at poker, for once in my life! We were playing with euro pennies and 2 cent pieces (I dont understand the point of 2 cent pieces...), so I didn't actually WIN anything except pride. Earlier that week we also celebrated St. Patricks Day with the same friend who's Irish... he decorated his apartment in green and orange and many corny things that his friends and family had sent him from Ireland, including hats that light up and weird green and orange wigs. We drank beer and ate dinner, and then I watched as Magda made crepes while tipsy (hilaaaarious!), which we all enjoyed later with whipped cream and fruit. Then we went out to the sparsely populated bars and danced the night away, as if we were the only people there (which was almost true).

A few weeks before that I was on the radio for the first time in my life! My bilingual coordinator and another teacher at my school just started a new radio program where for an hour every Monday they pick a country and try to interview someone and play music from that country. They asked me to come for their United States day, and at first I was really nervous about my Spanish skills and almost didn't want to go. But they reassured me that it would be okay, so I sucked it up and went, and it actually turned out to be really fun! I brought some music including Sweet Home Alabama and they had some Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Cash, and Bob Dylan CD's with them. And they interviewed me about if American high schools really are like what they see in the movies, with the jocks and the cheerleaders and all that (Yes. But sometimes less extreme cliques and stereotypes), and what was the ideal most important to Americans (our independence), whether I missed my car (HELL YES), among other things. And I was actually really pleased with myself and my Spanish skills! I realized that I do speak pretty good Spanish, and even if it's not perfect and I still dont know some vocabulary, I can get my point across. I was surprised to find myself really enjoying the hour and was happy that I came. It was also fun being in a radio station environment. One time Jon, the other teacher, forgot to put the CD in with the next song, and Fran and I were making hand signals to him frantically while keeping our voices casual, and when he finally figured it out we had to stall while he put it in and got it ready. It was hard not to laugh out loud at some of the things that happened while we were talking into the microphones. No one can SEE us, they can only hear us, and that was a very different and comical experience. Like there are two different stories going on... the one our voices portray to the listeners and the one that is actually happening for us.

This last Friday I finally got out of Priego since being in the Canary Islands. We didn't go quite that far, but Magda and I did tag along on a shopping trip to Cordoba with one of our friends and her sister, in a CAR. I was SO happy to be in a car once again, with the windows rolled down... it's actually starting to get pretty warm here, in the mid 60's, which is a great change from the cold before! I can sleep in just a t-shirt and sweat pants now, rather than bundling up in a sweatshirt and socks and a hot water bottle. Anyways, so we went to Cordoba and had lunch with our friends cousin, then we all went downtown and had coffee before we went shopping. I didn't find very much but it was so nice to be out of Priego and in a city with so much going on. We went back to Priego that night and the next day Magda and I continued our shopping spree in the town, to the limited stores that are here. Afterwards we met my other roommate Maria and some of our friends from my school, and we had tapas and drinks sitting outside in the sun. It was wonderful!

But I do blame Spain and tapas for the fact that my pants are starting to feel a little tight. I know I've gained a little weight while I've been here, so lately I've started running. At first I was hesitant about it because people here don't seem to understand "running for excercise," but now I don't care. It's time for me to do something about the fact that I sit around and do nothing a lot because lately a lot of my classes have been canceled and I end up having nothing to do. For instance, I didn't have any classes at my school on Thursday, and I dont have any tomorrow (Monday), either. I know that this may seem nice to some people, but it's horrible not having anything to do for this long. For a day or two, its great. But when it continues and you begin to feel unproductive and without a purpose, it starts to really suck. So anyways, I run the back way to the track (so that there will be less people staring and honking at me) which is about a mile, and then I run a mile on the track and then walk back to my place. It's a pretty good workout so hopefully if I keep that up I'll feel better and more healthy soon. Also I should probably stop eating chocolate and tapas. I can always get into better shape when I go home, but for now I just want to NOT have to buy new pants!

One last thing. I was looking through my sisters photo album on facebook and it really hit me how much I miss home. Spain is fine but I hate looking at pictures of my family and not seeing myself in them. I've realized here that I don't want to miss birthdays and Christmases and holidays and trips and Brayden learning to read and Cassy heading off to college and other big and little events. I like traveling, yes, but I've realized that I don't want to be away from my family and friends at home this long ever again. I want to be there in those photos with them. Although I've made some great friends here, it's lonely without the people I love in my life. I'm looking forward to meeting my mom and Grandma in Italy in two weeks (CAN TIME GO A LITTLE FASTER RIGHT NOW PLEASE?!), and then having Laurie and Lisa visit me, and then having one of my best friends visit and travel with me also. These last two months are going to go by SO fast as soon as I head off to Italy, so in a way I'm glad that I spend all of March in my town. It's the last time I'll spend this much time here, and even though it's been pretty boring I'm glad I've been able to attempt to enjoy it as much as possible and to relax before my final adventures here begin.