4-22-09

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Happy birthday Julia! Went to class at 8:00 – yuck. Our teacher missed one of our classes (April Fool’s day, actually) to take her mom to the hospital so we have to make up for it by coming a half hour early three times.. miserable. I wandered back home nice and slow since I was in a particularly bad mood for some reason. I guess I was just thinking too much about how I missed home and how little time remains. I have so much that I want to still see in Europe and I feel like I might never have a chance like this again L I miss the fam and Rob so much and one month seems like a long time! But, on the other hand I can’t imagine leaving Granada yet. It has really become my second home and I feel rushed to see everything one last time/squish in the things I still want to do.
On my way back I browsed through all the bookstands that line the Paseo de la Virgen from fountain to fountain. (plaza by the library to Puerta Real).They’re set up to celebrate the Fiesta del Libro. I bought the cutest little Spanish dictionary that is really good quality. It has lots and lots of words with a definition, picture, and sentence. I can’t wait to use it in my classroom! I also saw a set of fairy tales but they didn’t have all of them I wanted so I’ll have to go to that bookstore next week to see if they have more in.
I bummed around the piso putting things away and trying to catch up on my writing until lunch. Juli made a special meal that took her all morning to prepare but unfortunately, it wasn’t very good. She whipped out her fancy table setting with cloth napkins, a candle, and all! She also got all fixed up in a snazzy new shirt and loads of dark lipliner. The first course was the worst: potato salad with eggs and tuna. After the last tuna/mayonnaise/egg combo I just couldn’t do it. I picked at it and ate a few bites until she got the hint that we didn’t really like it. I felt really bad because besides it being her birthday, she takes so much pride in her cooking. I never got the black eye she promised she’d give me if I said I didn’t like it! The next dish was some kind of meat with apples on top. Definitely not my fave, but edible. The next dish was a wonderful surprise – strawberries!! She only buys fruit that’s “in season” so until now we’ve only had oranges and the occasional apple. She claims that the strawberries this year are really bitter/acidic so she had to put some brown sugar in with them. Fine by me! I’ll have to do that this summer for sure. I was also surprised when she brought out the next dish – more dessert. Francesca had bought her these pastries for her birthday when they were here visiting and Julia let us have some. The best way I can describe them is wet cake.
After the meal we gave her our presents. She loved the card that I whipped up for her; it really brought tears to her eyes. I didn’t think she would be that sad to see us go but I know now that she will definitely miss us! We gave her a tablecloth and dishtowel from Portugal, both with the signature rooster. She loved them and fortunately was familiar with the rooster and kept saying, “mira el pollito! Que monito”
For the rest of the night I tried to figure out some travel plans, had dinner, and then chatted with Taylor about her Musa/Marco drama. Ohh, boy.