Food. Food. Food.

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One thing I love here is the food.

Platos, raciones, tapas, menu del día. Whatever form it comes in, it is always great (and sometimes completely different to what you ordered. But I guess that makes it more fun.)

My favourite thing actually being una media (toast) y cola cao (hot chocolate) at a cafe near my school.

Not as boring as it seems.

This little cafetería is on the corner, it is part of a pensioners meeting place (clearly, always full with elderly men who, drink sherry first thing in the morning), it is tiny, has 3 tables, no door (just one of those stringy blind things to keep flys out) and two lovely bar staff.

I wake up, have breakfast at my flat, go to school, teach for 3 hours, then get asked “vas a tomar un café?” - basically, do you want to go for breakfast?

Um, yes. Yes I would love a second breakfast.

Every teacher from the school, at 11.30, piles into this tiny cafe, shouting at Manolo (great name) "un cafe”, “una media”, “un te con limón.” Amazingly, he takes it all in and is usually making my cola cao, or peach juice before i've even asked for it.

The general rule I’ve noticed is that you order, sit down, and whoever happens to be still at the bar or orders after you, plays waiter/waitress and brings it over.

This is no ordinary coffee and toast. I don’t even like coffee but it always looks great. The toast. Oh my god, the toast (una media) is the fluffiest, best, lightly toasted chunk of bread I've ever eaten in my life. They have jars of alsorts to put on it too. Mantequilla seems to be a favourite, olive oil, jam and what basically is “pork fat in a tub”. I'm not a fussy eater and theres only so far I will go with pork fat first thing on a morning. But one day I gave it try. It looks like awful, I won’t lie here, it has a layer of fat on top, which you dig through to get to soft strands of pork. One tub is white, another is neon orange. I went for the white. It actually wasn’t that bad. Doesn't mean I will have it again, but it definitely wasn't as bad as it looks.

Conversation is another interesting thing at these break-times. It’s like being involved in a game of tennis. My head goes from one side to a other while around 10 teachers sit, have multiple conversations, be fully involved, yet still know what’s going on with two other peoples conversation at the other end of the table. I generally just sit in some kind of Spanish daze and have no idea what to say but nod my head every now and again to clarify I'm still paying attention, but my brain is still processing whatever you said 5 minutes ago.

One things for sure, 'breakfast' is never dull.

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