This “Trabalengua” (tongue twister) is how my week began. We are sitting at lunch one day when all of the sudden Johnny just says it. I was intrigued and so he slowed it down and taught it to us. I spent the rest of the hour we were in the kitchen attempting to say it. Which of course, only made it more impossible to say. So it inspired me to teach them a few american tongue twisters. We started with “Sally sells sea shells by the sea shore.” Johnny had absolutely no chance, couldn’t even come close to saying it, Omayra, however, has mastered it, and has tried to teach it to all of her friends, her boyfriend and pretty much anyone that will listen to her say it, as long as I am around to verify she said it correctly. The peter piper picked… tongue twister went very smoothly for both of them, I guess P pronunciation isn’t that uncommon in spanish words… And then we had the wood chuck tongue twister. I have never, in my life laughed so hard that 1. I couldn’t breathe and 2. I fell out of my chair. First of all, she accidentally cussed several times, which was just the cherry on top, but secondly, she absolutely, cannot, no way in hell, pronounce a “W” so none of the tongue twister came out even remotely correct.
Wednesday night we went to Sushi in Plaza Nueva, and yes, I did try a piece for all ye with little faith. But the best part of that night, was when the bill came, and no one had lower than a 20. Well when everyone owes €11 and no one has less than a 20 (or a 50) it’s a problem, so by the time we had broken bills, figured it all out and paid, it took us 30 minutes to pay the bill. At that moment in time, I really missed the luxury of split checks!!! Afterwards we went to have crepes and tea at a teateria. On Calle Elvira and some other sketchy looking alley there are all of these little teaterías that have tea, desserts, milkshakes, and hookah and they are probably the size of a closet and never in accordance with violation code, but nonetheless a good time. Their milkshakes…. Not milkshakes. They take the definition literally and it is just milk, shaken, with a flavored syrup. Bleh.
Thursday night I went out with my friend Christina to have a couple glasses of wine. Which actually turned into 2 mojitos and a giant glass of Sangria. We were at Casa Lopez, which is the bar that I frequent often with her and we sat there for probably 2 or 3 hours talking to the owner about why she moved from London and what she likes most about Granada and all of that, so it ended up being a really great, relaxing night. However, if any of you are ever in Granada and happen to go to Casa Lopez, I do not condone any more than 1 mojito.
So the next morning I am talking to my host mom about these mojitos that knocked me on my butt when she says she is going to be right back. Probably 30 minutes later, she comes back with 5 mojitoes (Johhny was over for lunch again).... Next thing I know, 5’0 Marie, is dancing flamenco in the dining room with Omayra and giggling her face off. At the end of her rather impressive flamenco performance, she took a nice bow, after which she said, “Time for siesta, goodnight.” And walked straight out of the room to her bed. The things this woman does to make us laugh never cease to amaze me!
Friday night we decided to try out a new club called Forum…. But we didn’t actually make it there. So rewind… Prior to leaving to go to the club, I had decided to go running, which was actually the worst decision I have made on this trip. It was humid, and 100 something, and I had just walked home from class, decided to change right away so I wouldn’t get comfy, which meant I had just walked 30-35 minutes in that heat uphill from school, and I thought running was a good idea. So there is this street before you get to the Albaicin that is long and flat, and I can occasionally be found just doing laps up and down this street. Today was one of those days, and on lap, 10 or so, I see the guy in front of me get whacked in the face with a tree branch and I start laughing. Well next lap, guess who gets wacked in the face with the tree branch?Me. And it was worse because now there are all these leaves in my hair, but I decided not to fix it until after. So imagine Marie’s concern when I come home with a scratch on my face bleeding, with leaves and little twigs in my hair. She gave me a 20 minute lecture about how I need to be more careful ducking under trees.. no kidding! So then, after dinner I walk about an hour to meet Christina by this club and while I am standing waiting I decide that I want to go to the ATM. Whatever cleaning product this bank uses needs to be outlawed. The ATM looked like it was just another one of those little indents into a building with a ATM inside of it, but after walking, full force, into a glass door, I realized this was not the case. Yes I do have a gigantic goose egg on my face, yes my nose is bruised on the bridge and my knee is a lovely sight too. So I quickly look around, turns out roughly 10 people saw it happen and are laughing hysterically at me. Well I start telling Christina this story, and we had to walk past the bank again, and there was my beautiful face print on the window. So we decided giving my clutziness that Forum should probably wait for another night and went to get wine and gelato instead. When I got home, at like 3 am, first of all, why my 60+ host mother was up at that point is beyond me, but I tell her, and she proceeds to smack my head on the bump and ask if it hurt. YES that hurt. So she laughed, said something about tough love, and went to bed.
Yesterday was a very relaxing day, I went to the pool, went running and went to meet my intercambio for a short period of time. I am supposed to start planning stuff with my roommate for Paris on Thursday but who knows if that will actually happen, it’s much too hot to do anything serious today.
Oh also, they have the most amazing peaches here. It's weird because they aren't soft like they're ripe, they feel like our peaches when they would have no flavor if you tried to eat them, but then you bite into this mildly crunchy peach and its the best tasting peach you've ever had. Random I know, but I just ate one. MMMM
71 days to open my eyes. 1,704 hours to live life the fullest I ever have. 102,240 minutes to take advantage of an experience I may never have again. But who's counting?
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