Today I had a lovely lunch with three of my girlfriends: Alexandra from Belgium, Karen from Holland and Carol from Ireland. During the course of the meal I believe we may have actually drawn on six different languages! The other three know Dutch, we all know a little bit of German, there was some French and Italian in there as well as our English and Spanish. It started as a joke but then we all got incredibly confused- especially when our waiter overheard us and only spoke in French from then on!The place was fantastic; it is up in the Albaycin near the Mirador St. Nicolas that overlooks the city and the Alhambra. We had a Spanish cheese plate, and two platters that contained various seafood and something pork and very tasty, along with tinto verano (a very typical drink here, comparable to sangria).
Saturday night Carol and I did indeed get a new roommate- Jaena (ABSOLUTELY no idea how to spell his name, sounds like “Hi-Nah”) arrived around 4:00 a.m. and of course I was awake because trying to sleep before 5 a.m. on a Saturday night in Granada is just a worthless cause.
He seems very nice. He is in his mid-20s, working on his PhD in Mathematics in the UK, has acted in a Shakespeare play once (Measure for Measure) and will be here for 2 weeks on vacation. Heiner has just come home and informed me that this is the correct spelling of his name.
Last night was another Sunday Night Dinner at Paul and Gillians’. This time they cooked, and in attendance were myself, Carol, Heiner, Karen, Angel, and of course Paul and Gillian. It was great because they live right next door to the only functioning Mosque in Granada and while we were having drinks and Texas Guacamole out on the terrace we got to hear and see the call to prayer (a very loud melodic chanting that happens 4 times a day). It was surreal against the backdrop of the mountains and the Alhambra. I have decided to look into a career in chanting, yodeling, or just straight hollering. And speaking of, there is a new frequenter to our street- an older gentleman who carries around a hammer and randomly strikes walls with it while yelling gibberish at the top of his lungs. I sure do love him. Anyway another highlight of the dinner party was that I FINALLY had access to an oven (not a common thing here) and was able to make the Sprinkles cupcakes that Jennifer sent me a few months ago. I had been carrying the mix around with me in the hopes of getting that chance and it finally paid off because they were FANTASTIC! Thanks Jen!!! (from all of us!)
I have taken this week off to focus more on getting a job, so tomorrow I head off to Sevilla to look for possible work there. It would all be so much easier if I had fluent Spanish and was somehow related to a major Spanish film producer, but alas, plan B will have to do.
Last night was another Sunday Night Dinner at Paul and Gillians’. This time they cooked, and in attendance were myself, Carol, Heiner, Karen, Angel, and of course Paul and Gillian. It was great because they live right next door to the only functioning Mosque in Granada and while we were having drinks and Texas Guacamole out on the terrace we got to hear and see the call to prayer (a very loud melodic chanting that happens 4 times a day). It was surreal against the backdrop of the mountains and the Alhambra. I have decided to look into a career in chanting, yodeling, or just straight hollering. And speaking of, there is a new frequenter to our street- an older gentleman who carries around a hammer and randomly strikes walls with it while yelling gibberish at the top of his lungs. I sure do love him. Anyway another highlight of the dinner party was that I FINALLY had access to an oven (not a common thing here) and was able to make the Sprinkles cupcakes that Jennifer sent me a few months ago. I had been carrying the mix around with me in the hopes of getting that chance and it finally paid off because they were FANTASTIC! Thanks Jen!!! (from all of us!)
I have taken this week off to focus more on getting a job, so tomorrow I head off to Sevilla to look for possible work there. It would all be so much easier if I had fluent Spanish and was somehow related to a major Spanish film producer, but alas, plan B will have to do.
SABES QUE…
My very good friend Aaron is now engaged to a lovely girl- Amanda! Congrats, friends!!!
My very good friend Aaron is now engaged to a lovely girl- Amanda! Congrats, friends!!!
I'm loving the frequent journal postings!!!
ReplyDeleteP.S. Still jealous. Still miss you.
Oh so glad you finally got to make the cupcakes! Hope they were yummy!
ReplyDeleteThey were SO GOOD. Seriously. We ate them in savory silence and then sat around talking about how good they were for half an hour. Thank you so much!!!!
ReplyDelete