From February 2

Hm, it’s been a few days. I don’t remember any specifics about the rest of Thursday, but on Friday, we had fun! Stacy went to London this weekend, so she couldn’t hang out, but Friday night, Karia, Sophie, and I met Lauren and Andrew at Plaza San Antonio. When we got there, it started raining BIG TIME, so we were going to get a drink and maybe some dessert at the restaurant we were standing in front of. Unfortunately, they were closed already (it was like 11:30), so we had to go back outside. It was POURING, and we ran down the street til we found a doorway to stand in. Lauren offered to run down the next street and call us when she found an open bar. We ended up at a bar called “Woodstock.” Yep, you guessed it! It’s an American bar. They were playing Hendrix & the Chili Peppers, etc. We had 3 or 4 drinks there while we waited for it to stop raining so much. At around 12:30 (?), we went to Nahu, the bar we had gone to earlier that week…the Erasmus bar. We hung out there for a long time & met tons of people. At around 3am, Marvin, the guy from our class, showed up. He introduced us to a bunch more people. A little bit later, Lauren & Karia left (Andrew had gone home earlier), so it was just me & Sophie & Marvin.

Oh, by the way, every bathroom in a bar/restaurant/etc. doesn’t have toilet paper, so you have to bring your own. But, the bathrooms in Nahu are even worse b/c it is a 2-stall bathroom, except there are no doors on the “stalls,” and they practically face each other. It is straight out of my green bathroom nightmare, but luckily the walls aren’t green. (Sorry to those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about…).

Anyways! At about 4 (?), Marvin offered to show us some other bars, and possibly a Latin club where we could dance. On the way, we passed his apartment, so he invited us in cuz I had to PEE! Well, it was REALLY nice. But he’s not a very clean person, haha. After the bathroom break, we went to “La Punta,” the street with all of the late-night clubs. It is not really safe to go there alone at night, but w/three people (one of whom was a guy), we were safe. We went to one of the last ones, called Maletón, where they were playing MERENGUE!!! But there were only like 6 other people there cuz according to Marvin, it was still early. Personally, I think 4:30 is pretty darn late, but I’m not a Spaniard. After a few minutes, the bouncer made us go to the club next door cuz they were gonna close cuz nobody had shown up. THAT club was playing techno (ew!), and we finished our drinks, and left. We passed by Marvin’s apartment again and peed and got a drink and listened to some music. We intended to go to the new part of Cadiz and go to a Latin club there, but they close at 6am, and it was 5am already. We decided to go to this bar called Umec instead, which is really close to where I live. They were playing a random mix of techno, R&B, hip-hop, & other stuff. It was a pretty cool place, and we stayed til it closed at like 7am. The 3 of us stood outside and talked for a minute, and then I went home. Marvin walked Sophie home cuz her house is on the way, but kind of far from there. I got home at 7:30, holy crap! That’s just ridiculous. Well, I finally got out of bed at like 1:45pm b/c Encarna usually has lunch ready a little after 2pm. She made something that was good, but I don’t remember what. At like 3 or 3:30, I went over to Karia’s room to hang out & use the internet. I got to talk to some of my friends. That was great. After a little while, Karia, Sophie, and I went to the beach b/c the sun was SHINING! It was really cold w/the wind, but it was the prettiest day we’d had so far. We took some pictures, and then at like 5:30, decided it was time to go shopping, since that’s when the stores open back up from Siesta. We met up with Lauren at Mango, and then went to Zara, and none of us had any success. We walked down Calle San Francisco, that street with lots of shops, and all found something at a candy store, hehe. We decided to head home to hang out for awhile before dinner. For dinner, Sophie, Karia, & I went to this restaurant called “La gorda te da comer” or loosely translated: “The Fattie Who Gives You Food.” We had to wait awhile for a table, but it was SO worth it. Everything we had there was amazing. I got a salad (omg, fresh vegetables!), little toasts with ham & melted cheese, and chicken skewers w/french fries. They were all tapas-sized (small) servings, but wow! Yum! We went back to the residencia after that, and Sophie went to bed cuz she was exhausted. I ended up hanging out there for awhile, and then Karia and I decided to go to Nahu for a drink. When we got there at like 12:30, there weren’t many people there. After a few minutes, three 50+-year-old guys walked in. They were acting pretty creepy, so we decided to finish our drinks and leave. As we were about to walk out the door, a bunch of (non-creepy) people walked in, and we debated staying. But after all, we decided to head home to SLEEP!! For lunch on Sunday, Encarna fed me the firs thing I couldn’t manage to eat. It was a cold mix of roasted red peppers & raw onions doused in vinegar. I tried it several times, but couldn’t eat it. I felt really bad for not eating it, but I really DID try. But man…it was nasty! Luckily, she also gave me some yummy broth with couscous and some burnt fried things that I was able to force down. I called Karia, and luckily, she & Sophie hadn’t eaten yet, so I met them for a light lunch (cuz I was still hungry). We ate at a restaurant near la plaza de las flores, and I had pasta with creamy cheese sauce. It was pretty darn good. It started pouring while we were there, but had stopped by the time we were ready to go. We SOMEHOW ended up at another candy store buying stuff (oops!). I think after that, we went to the residencia and stopped in the TV room and watched episodes of Family Guy in Spanish! So much fun. I went w/Karia to her room & talked to my daddy online while she took a nap. Then I talked to Jose online while she did her homework. All of the sudden, the weather turned really bad, and it started hailing! The internet cut out & everything! But a few minutes later, it stopped raining and the internet went back on. I came home to eat. Encarna had made that fried rice stuff again (still lacking soy sauce, hehe) and a hamburger (it was fully cooked this time! Yay!). This afternoon after school, I came home to a full house. Encarna’s sister & her husband were here from Chiclana (a nearby town), plus her granddaughter Vicky, and her daughter Monica’s family, too. We had that chick-pea soup stuff again (pretty good). They are all really loud people, so I was getting a headache, and went into my room to my HUGE amount of homework. When I was done, they were still shouting, so I started reading then tried going to sleep. I was somewhat successful once some of them left. I woke up to the sound of them yelling ago, so I listened to my music w/headphones for awhile. I pretty much stayed in my room all day, and then I ate an omelet and FRESH sliced tomatoes for dinner. Somehow, I am actually tired again, so I’m gonna read til I fall asleep! More later <3