Adiós Granada

My friends and roommates starting from the right (roommate- Medi, Louise, roommate - Moha, Sarah, some random Moroccan, and in the front my roommate Rashid.

Tomorrow is my last full day in Granada. I feel kind of weird, happy, sad, excited to travel, and excited to come home. I feel like I have spent my time well here but I still feel like every day I find something new or meet a new person, learn a new Spanish word, or some crazy Moroccan thing and that makes me sad to leave. Like for example, I recently discovered an amazing curry kebab place that I love and had probably walked by a million times with out thinking about it until someone told me about it. And in the last few weeks I have met some new people and now it´s sad that I have to go with out really getting to know them more. But no complaints, Granada has been good to me and this last year has been amazing.

I finalized my travel plans this last week and I am really excited to get along and see some new places. I start in Italy in Cinque Terre and from there I am going to visit my family again. No worries, this time they know that I am coming and I think we might be going to their house that is on an island, at least that is what I got from attempting to understand an email in Italian. From Italy I am taking a ferry to Croatia and I will be spending about two weeks there which I have been looking forward to since I got here. Then I have a few days in Slovenia, then off to Hungary (Budapest), then I have about a week in the Czech Republic, and a week in Poland. I wanted to go to Greece but it was to expensive so I decided to go back to Poland because I loved it so much last time. I will be returning to Krakow, but this time I have some other cities on the agenda. Then from Poland I am flying to Frankfurt, Germany to go visit my friend Sarah who will be in Heidelberg and finally from there back to Spain where I will be visiting Santiago de Compostela and Salamanca before I come back to Granada and por fin CHICAGO! That is a mouth full but that is about the gist of my next two months.

I´ll be trying to keep updates while I am traveling so keep reading and expect some pictures.

I am going to try to get all of my things ready tonight so that I can just relax and walk around Granada a bit. I will be coming back here at the end of July before I come home but I still feel like tomorrow is my last day forever.

¿Where are the Reuben Sandwiches?

At the Temple Bar in Dublin

I am back in Spain and Kelly returned home this past Sunday. It was so great to have her here and show her how I have been living the past year and how awesome Granada is. Our trip to Ireland was amazing and we were lucky to have fantastic weather and some Irish folk buy us some Guinness. At 4 to 5 euros a pint I am not going to pass up any offers, haha. We did a lot of moving around, 4 places in 5 nights, but it did not seem rushed and we had sufficient time to see what we wanted. After we went to Inishmor, an island off of the coast of Galway, we went to Doolin to see the Cliffs of Moher which is probably something most of people have seen in pictures of Ireland. We walked along the cliffs for about 3 hours and it was so beautiful. We are really immature and renamed the Cliffs of Moher, the Cliffs of Mohair on my crotch. We told a few Irish people about it and some of them thought it was really funny and others thought we were idiots, haha.

Cliffs of Moher

Doolin is a tiny little town but I still loved it, very quaint and laid back. We went to one of the pubs to listen to some Irish music and met a group of people from West Port Ireland who work as a rescue team in the mountains where they live and were there for a retreat and to climb the cliffs. They were so nice, in fact most Irish people I did meet where really nice and friendly in the pubs, in the stores, just about everywhere. I really loved the west coast of Ireland and it is just so GREEN!

From Doolin we went to Dublin. Dublin is a nice city, but typical of any large European city. I am glad we went but seeing the west coast made the trip and gave me a feeling of what Ireland is like. I am so glad that I did not just go to Dublin and although it´s a fun place to go I would recommend that if you go to Ireland, you go beyond Dublin. In Dublin we of course went to the Guinness factory which was actually kind of interesting because Guinness is such a unique beer. We had intended to go back to our hostel but we went to a bar the buy some t-shirts that we liked and then landed up sitting there from about 7 pm until 1 am. We met some nice guy from Northern Ireland that lives in California. He gave us some valuable life lectures about how we should love our men and leave them before they screw us over. He repeated this a million times but also kept saying he wanted us to have a good time and kept on buying us beers so his lessons were tolerable.

The cliffs in Inishmor

Pictures from Inishmor

A few days into the trip I realized that I had not seen a reuben sandwich on any menu so I was curious as to if they even existed in Ireland so Kelly and I started asking people about it only to find out that the reuben sandwich is an American creation. Every Irish person we asked had never even heard of a reuben let alone had tried one. I guess I thought the sandwich was Irish because it is a standard in almost every Irish themed restaurant in the United States but I googled it and it was invented in New York City. If anyone thought the same as I, I am happy that I cleared up this mystery for you. We also learned that people in Ireland walk against traffic rather than with it. We had to walk on the side of the road a lot and we were always confused as to what direction we should walk, and the fact that they drive on the wrong side of the road did not help either. We also asked people if they liked U2 and most were indifferent.

Next week is my last week in Granada. I have a lot of mixed emotions about it. I love this city so much and am so happy I got to spend a lot of time here so I will be really sad to leave it for a few weeks. But on the other hand I am really excited to travel to some places I have not been to as well as return to Italy to see my family. I wish I did not have to do all of this traveling alone. Although it has advantages I do get lonely sometimes and I have not traveled this long alone so it will be interesting. One of my friends is thinking about meeting me some where for a week so hopefully he can get off work.

I am finally starting to feel like my Spanish has improved so much since I got here. I have felt it little by little but now I feel so comfortable speaking and like I can say almost anything that I want and understand almost anything, although it is still hard to understand people from Andalucia (the region where I live) They speak crazy fast and eat all of there words. But I know other native Spanish speakers that have trouble understanding them as well so it makes me feel a bit better. I have read quite a few novels this past semester, some up to 400 pages so that has really helped to improve my reading skills and I now realize that I don´t have to look up every word I don´t understand in order to understand the context. I had to read a lot of books that really sucked to I am actually looking forward to reading a Spanish novel that interests me. I am still nervous about loosing my Spanish when I travel this summer and even more so when I get home but I am hoping that I can meet people to practice with this summer and make some Mexican friends when I get home.

A lot of Red and Guinness

I'm in Ireland right now! Kelly made it safely to Spain on Tuesday. I showed her a bit of the Spanish lifestyle with some tapas and then we went out with my roommates and had a great time. We left for Ireland on Wednesday. Well first we went to London, slept in the airport (because I love to do that) and then flew to Ireland the next morning. We were dead on Thursday but got through it. The weather has been amazingly nice out. I was prepared for a lot of rain and no sun but I actually got sun burned a bit which is something I would not expect from a trip to Ireland in May. But no complaints, it has been beautiful.

We spent a day in Galway and just walked around the city and to the coast. I must admit, it is nice walking down the street without people looking like you like you are a freak or alien which are the looks I get almost everyday in Spain. We were feeling cheap and made grilled cheeses at our hostel. I have stayed in quite a few hostels and most that have a kitchen usually have things like olive oil, salt, pepper, and spices for everyone to use. I saw that there was some olive oil so I used it and this asshole called me out in front of about 15 people. Apparently it was his, and if I had known that these items were not open season I would have asked around to use it. But there were no names on the items and it seemed similar to what I had seen in the past where everyone can use the basics. I guess I was just annoyed he did this in front of so many people and made me look like an dick.

We were really tired from our airport sleep but landed up going out and meeting some locals and Brits. Kelly got hit up hard-core by this guy from the UK while I was stuck with a creepy Irish man that might have married me on the spot if I had allowed it.

Sunburned in Ireland

The Guinness has been so good. Why is it so much better here??? The foam is the best part and after they poor a glass is sits for a few minutes until it turns all of the way dark. I love it! Expensive but worth it every time. Aside from Guinness being one of my favorite things, I am also loving all of the redheads I am seeing. I knew there would be redheads in Ireland, duh, but I did not realize there would be so many. So red and white. Chapman needs to come here.

Right now I am on an island off the coast of Galway. We biked the island yesterday and it was really pretty. It shows the simple way of life. Soon we are off to the Doolin to see the Cliffs of Moher and hear some authentic Irish music!

Galway

As far as things in Granada are going everything is great with my roommates. I'm getting a long really well there and having a lot of fun. I have not seen or heard from Paqui since I have left. I am feeling better about it since I have had some time to reflect and what not. I am still sad it happened but can move on, maybe learn from it.

Galway

The end...

I am not sure where to begin, but moving out last Sunday was probably one of the worst days I have had since I have left. That being said it really was not that bad so I can´t complain, I have been lucky. After thinking about it all week and playing what I was going to say over and over in my head I decided to tell Paqui that someone in the house had been stealing from me. Now my intention was to not mention that I had found items by searching because I knew that would not go over well, but through nerves and my instinct to defend my accusations it came out. When I first told her she looked at me like she could not believe it and that I was making this up. I told her about the test I set up with my bag and her come back was that she cleans my room. Well I said my bag was in my closet so there would be no need to touch it. I also left it half-zipped and it was all of the way zipped after the weekend so it was clear someone went in it. She continued to press and I eventually had to say that I had found some things outside of my room. I explained the position I was in and how I did not want to do it but I had to know because it was driving me crazy and in the end I was right.

She continued to ask my why I did not tell her before and I said I did not want to be in the house when she would discuss this issue. She could not understand this and clearly could not understand the least bit how I was feeling about being violated all year and that I did not want to live in a house for a week where I have accused people of stealing knowing that know one would admit to it. She asked who I thought it was and I just kept telling her I had know idea even though my thoughts were on Pablo. She then asked if I thought it was Maribel and I said I did not know. Then she asked what had happened with us and why we did not get along (I answered this knowing full well that Maribel had spilled some reason for not liking me to her). I told her I had no idea and that she had yelled at me a few times for no reason. Then she proceeded to tell me that Maribel does not like me because I talk about/to her boyfriend too much. At this point I just started laughing because I had never heard such a ridiculous thing in my life and laughing seemed to be the only thing I could do. Paqui did not like this very much, but I could not help it. I think I said hi and bye to him a handful of times because that is what I thought the polite thing to do was when you see someone and as far as talking about I asked where he worked and maybe if they were going to move in together some day. Basically she is more of a psycho than I had thought. Paqui seemed to be quite convinced that Maribel was behind this which is something I had honestly never thought of before, let´s be serious she is my age.

I then told her that I had found a thong in my suitcase that did not belong to me and that it had happened in the past but I did not think much of it until I started missing things. She told me that when the girls fight that is what they do. Ummmmm!??!?! That is weird and creepy. I have to suffer with someone thong among my things because that is how they fight. She asked to see it and I said I was mad at the time and threw it away. I could see this was going in a bad direction and wanted to get out of there soon. She then pressed me to see the things I had found and said she was going to ask the kids in front of me which is exactly what I told her I DID NOT want. I found a few things to show her (And looking back I don´t even know why I did this, I just should have said I´m done, to bad this happened, peace out.) I went to show the memory stick I had found and it was stolen again!!!! I told her that it was in my bag and not there anymore and she did not like that at all. She claimed that she was home and the boys went to the carnival and she was home when they got back. She was clearly mad I continued to accuse someone of taking my things in her presence (I had also told her about the tweezers which she again tried to defend saying she had seen them in the bathroom, but they were not mine. She also said that Maribel was out of town the night I said my tweezers were taken so that did not seem to make sense to her.)

Well against my wishes she asked everyone about robbing me, except Maribel because she was not home. Everyone denied it but Cristi did admit to putting the underwear in my suitcase. Weird. Anyway I had to stand there well everyone looked at me like I was an asshole and Pablo curiously walked away and left the room well Paqui was displaying some of the things that were taken. This was not fun.

In the end when no one admitted to it and she wanted to see the memory stick that I had found and could not find again she was angry, but not with her family, with me. She told me that what I had done was very wrong, and kept repeating it. At this point all I could do was block her out and continue to get my stuff ready to go. She told me she wanted me to leave the house immediately and thankfully my roommate was on his way to meet me.

So although I had been robbed and messed with all year I some how left the house as if I had done something very wrong. Unfortunately I can´t change what happened and I of course spent a lot of this week replaying Sunday and thinking of what I should have done to make things go over smoother. It may not have been right that I went to look for my things but at the moment and with a lot of anger and frustration I did not care if it was right or wrong and had to know if I was getting old and crazy or if someone was taking my stuff. I should not have told her I found things but I did and I think that gave her a reason to be angry with me and ignore the real issue at hand. I guess for any mother the fact that one of your children is stealing is not fun so I understand her need to be in denial but regardless of how I handled the situation I made a choice and should not have been reprimand for it like a child, especially since this choice was based on the wrong doings of someone else.

Needless to say there was no happy/loving goodbyes. Unfortunately I don´t think I´ll ever see or talk to any of them again which makes me a bit sad. I spent a lot of time in that house and with Paqui and it does hurt a bit to know that I´ll have to look back on the experience and remember how it ended.

On a much happier note all is going well in Moroccan Nation. I love my roommates and it feels good to not have to worry about telling someone where I was, where I am going, and if I will be home to eat, if I don´t feel like eating, etc. Kelly will also be in Granada on Tuesday and we are going to Ireland Wednesday night!! I can´t wait to see her and show her around.

Moving out

I'm in the middle of packing my things to move into Moroccan Nation tomorrow (I am living with three Moroccan guys). Packing is a pain in the ass but I think that I have enough room between my two suitcases. Thankfully Matt brought an extra suitcase when he came and I sent a whole bunch of stuff home with him. I'm a bit sad to be leaving Paqui's house for good. She has been really great to me and I have spent so much time here that it's weird to be leaving. Despite the fact that Pablo is taking my stuff and Maribel is the biggest bitch alive I will miss living here.

I have not seen Maribel in days. She has not been in the house at all and I am not sure why, but no complaints. I saw here for a few minutes yesterday and it seemed that she was crying when she left. I am sure she was crying because I am leaving and she is sad to see me go. In fact that is probably why she has not been home, she can't stand to see me knowing that I'll be moving out because she'll miss me so much. Poor thing.

As far as my things going missing, I have yet to tell Paqui. After thinking about it a while and I decided that I am going to tell her before I leave tomorrow. I think she needs to know and has to fix this issue before someone else moves into this house. I also realized yesterday that my tweezers were missing and that really made me angry considering I used them yesterday morning and when I returned last night I could not find them. I guess I did not think tweezers were something I had to hide but I guess I was wrong. Anyway it's ridiculous and needs to stop. I am not looking forward to telling her because I know she will believe me but she'll be so upset about it and I don't want to see that because it will make me sad.

It's weird but tomorrow around this time I'll be in my new home. Sad and happy.

Pablo is a Thief

I had been speculating for quite some time that Pablo has been taking some of my things. I knew for sure that he was going in my room and going through my stuff since I got here because I would find random pair's of Cristi's or Maribel's underwear in hiding places. Then little things started to disappear and I just thought I had missplaced them or lost them. The first time I really thought about it was back in January when I went away for the weekend and when I got back I could not find one of my camera memory cards. I was positive where I had left it and it was no where to be found so again I thought that I must of have lost it. Regardless I had some suspicions and snooped around Pablo's room a bit only to find nothing. I felt bad about snooping but I had to be sure. I decided to start locking important things in my suitcase when I would leave for a trip, anything electrical, jewerly, and anything I did not want to worry about being in the open and that was small.

Sometimes when I would come back for a trip I would see things out of place so I knew he had been in my room, he also folded in half a picture of Matt and I and then basically told me he did it, weird. A few weeks ago I had to turn in a paper and went to my school bag to get my memory stick and it was not there. I looked around like crazy and could not find it. I realized I had another one and found it. Again I was suspicious but did not look around Pablo's room because last time I did not find anything. My teacher returned the paper last week and we had to make corrections so I went to get the memory stick and again it was gone and I knew I had seen it in my bag earlier that week but had not taken it out or used it. So at this point with two memory sticks gone I was sure that he has been taking them.

I went to the beach this past weekend and before I left I stratigically placed my school bag and closed the zipper half-way. When I came back it was moved and the zipper was closed all the way so it confirmed that someone, Pablo, was going through that bag. Last night I was going through some things and in the front pocket of my suitcase I found a thong that did not belong to me. Usually I would laugh but since I knew that little shit had been taking my things I was annoyed. Gracias to the thong an idea popped in my head, he is hiding my things in the girls' room. Luckily no one was home this morning so I first took a quick look in Pablo's room and then went to Crisit and Maribel's room and I found: one memory stick, dental floss that I remember losing, Crystal light packets that my sister had sent me, a lighter that I got from the Carnival I went to in Carmona, and an adapter for Austrailia. He basically had put my stuff in their drawers which are a mess so they would probably not notice. Now I guess it could be anyone in the house who is doing this but I think that the clear answer is Pablo because he has been obsessed with going in my room since I got here.

Now the question is what do I do. I only have a week left here so soon I won't have to worry about it. My concern is for the next person that is going to live here rather than myself at this point. I want to tell Paqui for that reason but I feel like this is delicate, I am accusing someone of stealing and it might be hard to proves espicially since I took the things I found back. I know that the other memory stick and my camera card are floating around somewhere but I have not found them yet. I am thinking about asking Palbo, without really asking him. I think I might try it and see how it goes.

I thought I was going crazy for a bit losing all of this stuff but I guess my old age is not affecting my memory as much as I though.

Baila el chiki chiki

I have been meaning to add this link for a while. This has been the latest Spanish craze that started in the middle of March. It has died down a bit. It's ridiculous.

http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku34NOwoij0