Life is a breeze or it’s a mess, and there’s really no in between. Welcome to a full coverage of November updates.
First, in case anyone was wondering, I have not bought a chihuahua. I know, I know, I am sad about it, too. But it seems there was a slight misunderstanding in prices and instead of costing only 45€, a baby chihuahua actually costs 450€. Oops. There goes my dream of exploring Spain with a tiny companion. I was going to name him Nacho too, which I think is both funny and adorable. RIP
I think November had places to go, because the month flew by quickly. While yes, I had plenty of free time, I felt a lot of that time was taken up by other activities. Thus, the reason I am providing a long post about all the fun that occurred in November.
The weekend after Madrid, our friends Jhad and Alex came to Algeciras to stay for a few days. We quickly fell into a routine of adapting to five roommates, and it all felt natural and held plenty of fun. Their first night in town, we all decided to go to a Red Hot Chili Peppers cover band concert. However, that didn’t work out since we were running behind schedule and there was a 15€ cover. After some serious consideration with a coin toss final decision, we changed routes to meet up with some teachers from Jude and my school. I chatted with them a bit, but truth be told, they make me a little nervous when I have to speak entirely in Spanish, and it felt weird carrying a drink around them. My mission for the night was also to make friends in Algeciras, so Alex and I split up from the boys and introduced ourselves to a group of girls across the room. I literally said, “Hola, me llamo Amanda y este es mi amiga, Alex, y acabo mudar aquí de los Estados Unidos and necesito amigos.” Which means, “Hello, my name is Amanda and this is my friend, Alex, and I just moved here from the United States and I need friends.” The group of girls laughed and immediately welcomed us into their friend group. I was pretty impressed with how well we communicated with them and I will definitely reach out to them via Instagram for future weekends.
Our group of five spent the weekend traipsing around nearby towns, spending Saturday in our beloved Tarifa and Sunday in Gibraltar. Tarifa included lots of goofiness, plenty of time at the beach, a great view of the sunset, and our first good roomie pic. We have also begun taking a large bouncy ball with us everywhere we go, and adopted a dog for about 30 minutes on the beach by playing fetch. I have also been known to save the day a few times by catching or finding the ball before it disappears for good. Go me! We all love Tarifa for multiple reasons, but I think one of the coolest aspects is that you are able to walk directly between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.
On Sunday, we all planned to take the 9:00 bus from Algeciras to Gibraltar, this turned into the 11:00 bus, which then turned into the 12:30 bus. Evidently, we needed the sleep. I have mentioned this in a previous post, but Gibraltar is a town about 30 minutes via bus from Algeciras, and it is owned by the UK. We had to walk through customs and were questioned about our passports/visas, but we all made it through with a new stamp to show. I hope they don’t stamp my book every single time, otherwise it’s quickly going to fill up with Gibraltar stamps and not cool stamps. Anyway, we made our way to the city center and quickly found food and coffee. I had a hunch I’d be able to find a good iced coffee since I was now in UK territory, and I was right! I LOVE my caramel iced coffee, so I am seriously contemplating taking the bus to Gibraltar at least once a week. I also bought a falafel burrito, which was quite literally to die for. I love and appreciate my mom’s cooking, but wow is food from other cultures SO GOOD! I never would have tried falafel, octopus, gambones (shrimp WITH eyes), or several other foods in my younger years. After fueling up, we made the trek up the rock to see the monkeys and the great views. The hike is not very long, but oh my gosh is it steep. We all indulged on whatever food we wanted that night, seeing as the hike burned an insane amount of calories. Probably not the most logical idea, but who really cares.
The following weekend (November 12-14), I met Ben and his friend, Vera, in Cádiz. We rented a cute little Airbnb for our stay and discovered the ins and outs of the capital of my province. Cádiz is thought to be one of the oldest cities in Europe and is a hot-spot for several films, like Pirates of the Caribbean and James Bond. It resembles Havana, Cuba, so movie sets often come to Cádiz to film because it is much cheaper than going to Havana. Like several cities in Spain, there is the new town and old town, separated by a large stone wall. There’s not much to see or do in the new town, so the three of us remained in the old town throughout our stay. We spent time admiring the water, rainforest-like flora and fauna, and old monuments and buildings; plus indulging on plenty of coffee and a massive serving of paella. Paella is a typical Spanish dish consisting of Spanish rice, shrimp, clams, and other various seafood. I highly recommend. Of course, we scoped out the nightlife, and ended up making friends with several people from the UK. Apparently, Cádiz is a popular destination for Erasmus students from England. Not going to lie, it was nice to not have to worry about speaking Spanish as much.
More guests came the weekend of November 19-21 from Madrid. They are also language assistants, hailing from Texas and Minnesota. Having a fellow Mid-Westerner with a similar sense of humor to relate to was so nice! I suppose showing off Gibraltar and Tarifa must be our go-to visitor attractions, as again, we took our friends to each location. I skipped out on Gibraltar this time, but joined for Tarifa. We got in some good photos, good food, and lots of laughs.
I explored the night life of Algeciras the last weekend of November with my friends Natalia and Tori. We had spent the afternoon in Gibraltar, mainly for iced coffee, and decided to check out Kube in the city center for the night. Good vibes all around, and they host drag queens to entertain throughout the night! I think we will definitely head back sometime soon.
House/roommate related things: I already mentioned the chihuahua, though we also fell in love with an adorable Yorkie puppy. All three of us seriously contemplated getting a dog for the house, until we found out how expensive they are. We decided maybe we can try to wrangle up a stray cat or two and keep it on our terrace. For now, though, we’ve settled on buying house plants. However, we did have a “pet” lizard in our house for a week. Her name was Lizzie and she was approximately the size of your thumbnail. I say ‘was’ because unfortunately, Lizzie is no longer with us. I accidentally stepped on her last week…
In brighter news, the boys and I have begun our acting careers! It is a long and complicated story, but in short, they always want to do the “Bloody Mary” game in the bathroom mirror and we (falsely, I hope) think we have people living on the third floor of our house. The floor is blocked off to us, though, so we have no way of knowing if we are right or how the people would get there. Anyway, one day I woke up from a nap, and within minutes, the three of us are creating a short film with dialogue, costumes, and character changes and everything. Jude was the father, I was the son, the Blood Mary enthusiast, and the son possessed by Bloody Mary, and Arthur played Bloody Mary and the frogger (the stranger who lives in our house). We ended up filming for three hours, editing for one hour, and we now proudly have a 30-minute long production. If you are interested in viewing our work of art, please let me know.
Our house hosted Thanksgiving last week, even though I am the only American. We have a few other friends in town from the US, so they came over to celebrate and we all shared a big meal and some wine. I made pork loin and a heaping pile of mashed potatoes and we laid out a charcuterie board, as well. Friends brought veggies, rolls, and the wine to share. It was a fun evening, and I am thankful to have such great friends here.
School related things: Jude, a math major, has kindly taken the time to teach me various topics, such as dividing polynomials. A-Howard, if you’re reading this, I’m sorry for all the crap we gave you in high school about never using math again. Because I do use it. Every Wednesday from 11:15 to 12:15, to be exact. My students have learned new games in music class, the two most popular being “Sevens Clapping” and “Pass the beat around the room.” You can often find them playing the games between lessons, which always makes me smile. I’ve also had more opportunities to fully lead several class periods, teaching different tenses in English or presenting PowerPoints on Thanksgiving and how to write a short story. I taught my 2B/C English class how to write turkey notes, and they killed it! My favorite note was, “Turkey kill. Turkey fight. Turkey says, ‘You need to take a shower at night.’” All fantastic things, though IES Garcia Lorca is not always a breeze. Just last week, my classes broke a metal door (tore the handle off, created huge dents, and brought it slightly off its hinges) and created not one, but TWO small fires. Simply put, none of us get paid enough for this. If you’re in school still, thank your teachers. If you have kids in school, tell them to thank their teachers. And for the love of God, be respectful.
Mid-way through November, I started tutoring English lessons for a family from Tori’s school. I tutor a 7-year old for 30 minutes and a 14 and 16-year old for 60 minutes each week. It has been fun so far, and I am excited to see their English skills grow throughout the next several months. Especially my little friend; we have mostly worked on our ABCs, colors, and the names of clothing. In Spain, they take exams to certify their level of English, which ranges from A1 to C1 or C2. Level A1 is the lowest level, whereas C1 or C2 are considered to be fully fluent. The 16-year old is currently preparing for advancing to level B2, so our goal is to primarily focus on speaking and listening so she can gain confidence in her skills. Wish us all luck!
Throughout December, I hope to post more frequent updates. I am back in Thessaloniki, Greece this week to visit old friends and eat all my favorite foods! Thessaloniki is also the city that made me absolutely fall in love with traveling, so I’m looking forward to checking out my favorite spots and hopefully discovering some new treasures while here.
For those who read this whole post, thank you for sticking with me and being interested in my adventures. I love sharing my highlights with everyone and detailing memories for years to come.
Until next time, hasta luego!