Last Day of Classes

Well today I got to sleep in.  Thank goodness 9am sounds more reasonable after being up past midnight from fireworks and the Spain football game which went into like triple overtime (Spain won!!!!)  it was intense and as people started filing out toward the fireworks which they postponed because of the game that is how much of a national game it is.  People crowded the street and all across Spain you could tell if we were winning or losing as it went to penalty kicks because of the crowd.  After waking up, I ate breakfast (cheerios and milk), took a while getting dressed, and watched some lame shows that kept me entertained on Disney channel since nothing else was on in English.  I also put some stuff in the wash so that it could get hung before lunch.

 

At 2pm, we left for lunch.  We headed down the esplanada and grabbed lunch at this Indian restaurant.  I know what are we thinking getting Indian in Spain?! But, hey, it was delicious so don’t judge :P Anyways, Kat and I split the meal for two and Sam since she is a veggie got the menu del dia.  We got a started of a giant, potato chip-like crisp and the choice of four dipping sauces.  The white dipping sauce tasted like watered-down ranch.  The green one tasted like watered-down ranch with mint.  The red one was spicy, ergo I stayed away from touching it.  The favorite of the table was the orange one that tasted super sweet, so the crisp added the salt to the sweet (sweet and salty…eh, eh, eh J).  Our first course consisted of an onion hash brown that had garlic and a puff pastry that was stuffed with meat and rice.  It was yummy!  Then we got our main course which was Chicken Tikka Masala (chicken in a tomato based butter sauce) and a lamb with a butter/oil sauce with peppers and onions.  We also got served naan (bread) and rice.  Sam was given a vegetarian curry.  Once we had stuffed our faces, we were rewarded with an on-the-house mango ice cream.  It was literally mango ice and cream (like a dreamcicle)  We devoured it and didn’t know if the ice cream was to reward us for being nice, coming, or just being pigs cuz we had eaten so much J BUT IT WAS FREEE….and we like free so no complaints.

 

After our lunch, we walked back to the apartments (to make ourselves feel like not such fatties) and headed to Plaza Mar, the grocery store/mall on the hill.  We walked around looking at stores and made our rounds to scope out the goodies for purchase.  After trying some clothes on, I opted on splurging on a mustard colored, long shirt and a complimenting tinted, white, floral scarf.  I also got a blue dress that cinches at the waist and has a collared V-neck.  My last purchase was a floral, coral wallet for when I come home J  Two and a half hours later we ended by grabbing some breakfast groceries for the next few days we are here and headed home.

Once home, I grabbed my computer and bolted to the café to catch Madre and Jp while they were available.  We chatted for a bit and I showed them my purchases (which they approved)  I ordered a hot chocolate and did some facebook updates and e-mail sending since I had severally been slacking in that department.  Spain is not very set on being so dependent on technology although they are more technologically advanced than us, which is prevalent in checking out at stores or the number of awesome TVs they have hanging in bars and cafés.  Anyways, my computer died while I was there cutting my visit shorter than I had expected and so I headed home to take a shower and grab some dinner (an apple and activia with fiber…I was still stuffed from lunch and it was 9pm)  I hopped in the shower before chatting with Sam about frivolous things (Wendi—she reminds me of you—in a good way J…both are great people and I am so grateful to have them J)  We ended our chat session with our usual Rummy game and listened to some music.  I was excited to hear that she liked Owl City and Mumford & Sons.  Thus, we could listen to soft music play in the background to drive away our crazy minds. 

Then, BANG!!!!! We both scream and I grab my chest thinking I was going to suffer a cardiac arrest.  I look at Sam and she looks at me before looking at the time and realizing that the BANG was the first warning for the fireworks to begin (usually we are given 3 to show they are beginning and 3 to show they have ended).  I was so relieved because I was picturing the scenes from Taken once I heard that noise.  Let’s agree that the other night when I thought the fireworks couldn’t be louder, I was wrong.  Not only were they loud enough to make me go deaf, but the deaf could most definitely hear these and I could feel the reverberations through every bone in my body.  Although the display was amazing and so fluid that it could have given my favorite display on Tuesday a run for its money, the smoky haze from the fireworks prevented me from thoroughly enjoying or taking relatively good photos.  However, just imagine the best fireworks display times 20 with more smoke.  It makes the nights here that much more enjoyable.  I did get lucky with a few shots and like the others you can tell my favorite are the willow treeish fireworks the leave a trail of pixie dust or shooting starts on the sky.  At one point, I did snap a picture of the fireworks that looked like stars in the sky.  The fireworks were louder and bigger (trying to drown their competition since every night is a different company that puts off the production)  The finale was insane.  There were not only a massive amount of fireworks going off, but the fireworks were bright: they lit up the whole city! 

Now that it’s getting late, or early, I’ll have to say goodnight or good morning J  The breeze will hopefully make the bus move faster tomorrow as we take to a 2 hour ride for an all day cooking class and wine tour!!!! The days are numbered and I cannot believe that this paradise is slowly, but surely coming to an end.  If only the breeze could work in reverse, and push back time….Hasta Luego!