Cordoblackjack

Nothing very exciting happened last week, besides a few evenings of tapas with either Melinda, Angel or the Melrose guys. We did have a fun evening on Thursday night, Jamie, Angel, Nando, Pablo and I had a little bit of a game night. We played chess, backgammon, and ended up with a little Texas Hold ‘Em (where I CLEANED UP bigtime! Too bad we weren’t playing with real money.) Pablo brought over some little skewers of cutlets, which we grilled, and Angel brought a bag of fresh cherries that he had picked in the campo- Delightful! Fun night.The rest of the week was filled with the odd working out (I actually used two wine bottles for weights one day- with excellent results I might add), the occasional lunch with the guys (sometimes tacos, sometimes pasta, sometimes a veggie concoction) followed by a viewing of Animal Planet during which we always inevitably fall asleep.

Friday I woke up early and headed off to Cordoba by bus. As usual, I slept the entire time. I did feel really special though because I had bought my ticket in advance and was assigned seat #1. That’s living large, if you ask me.
Once in Cordoba, I checked into my hotel, Hotel Alfaros and headed straight for the pool. About 7 hours later I got up, slightly more tan and very relaxed, and spent the rest of the evening doing some final research on all of the schools in attendance for the fair. Saturday was the jobfair itself. Unbeknownst to me the Association Against Hiring Poor Good-Hearted Americans As English Teachers (that might not be their official name) has been really cracking down the past few months and so a lot of the schools are dead-set against giving jobs to us. I did however interview with some of the schools, so we’ll see.

That night was the big night of Cordoba’s Feria (every city has a Feria, like a big carnival festival fair, the same week every year, but different dates for different cities. Anyway, Cordoba's started this past weekend.) I headed out there with a couple of people I had met at the job fair and we had a blast! It had all of the carnival delights I adore (the rides, the booths, crazy people) but also lots of little bars that had been set up with great dancing- probably 30 or so different ones! We tried a lot of them and danced quite a bit, mostly to latin music. We also got kicked off a cute little train that was supposed to only be for senior citizens. Although in our defense, it was not clearly labeled. The best thing, however, was that the main snack to be found was the beloved GOFRE!!! There were stands and stands of them, all with different toppings. I savored the classic chocolate with a hint of caramel. Incredible.

SABES QUE...

Cordoba has been declared a World Heritage Site, and is one of the few places in the world that can boast of having been the capital of a Roman province, the capital of an Arab State (Al-Andalus) and a Caliphate. It is also the hometown of Seneca, Averroes, and Maimonides.

(wikitravel.org)