Ay que pesas mucho!

Saturday afternoon, I made my way across the street to Cafe del Arte like always. As soon as I walked in, that same old bartender lit up and began spitting out, "Hola hola que tal? Todo bien?" (Hey, how's it going? Everything good?) I replied that everything was great, how about himself? "Si si todo bien. Cafe con leche?" To which I replied, "Si si claro, cafe con leche como siempre." (Yes yes of course cafe con leche as always). Ha, look at that, he even knows my drink! About an hour later, I went up to the bar to pay, and he says, "Hace un rato que no verte aqui." (It's been a while since I've seen you here." This spurred a conversation about our trip to Andalucia and where I'd been. No, I hadn't gone swimming, but it was definitely warm enough to do so if I had wanted. Looks like I HAVE become one of those regulars after all. Either that or he feels really guilty for yelling at me my first week in Spain. It's kind of guay to have a PLACE in Spain, one where they recognize you and know your drink:)

I returned home to watch Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman (dubbed in Spanish) with madre. This was an equally bizarre and hilarious experience. As hard as it was, I pulled myself away from this captivating and meaningful TV show and met up with Alex and Colleen for an Italian dinner near Casa de Las Conchas. Here, you construct your own pasta dish...picking your noodles, sauce and toppings. We all got the four cheese rigatoni and split a delicious bottle of red wine.

After dinner, we headed over to a nearby bar (Erasmus--one of our favs) and met up with several others from our group. There was a big soccer game against Turkey on TV and so the atmosphere was that much more exciting. At our big table in the back, we split several "tablas" (small samplers of each type of beer they offer), but I was mainly just in it for the included portion of nuts. Sitting in Erasmus, immersed in the Spanish culture, laughing and talking with some of my favorite people, I had this wave of anxiety that before long we'll be returning home. I wish I could go back to the states for a week to visit loved ones and such, but then be on the next plane back to fabulous Spain.

Sunday morning, Leah, Angela, Kristina, Allison, and I braved the freak cold front and made the trek to El Rastro (huge outdoor flea market). I was immediately overwhelmed by 1 euro sunglasses, 2 euro necklaces, and 10 euro jackets. Only stopping to buy a white and grey plaid button-down dress, we left 45 minutes later. My hands were so numb I couldn't focus on anything but getting home. Thankfully, we'll have one last Sunday to hit up the Rastro, so hopefully we'll have better luck with the weather.

Last night, Allison and I met Allison Sachs, Annie, and Ashley at the Tea House to use the internet. After a delicious dinner of Spanish tortilla, salad (balsamic vinagrette!) and strawberries, I headed 5 minutes up Frederico de Anaya to visit Alex and Colleen at their apartment. As soon as I walked in, the grand tour began. Escoli, their madre, was frantic and raced to "clean" her already immaculate room. The tour ended in the bathroom, where Colleen spotted the scale and made some joke about how it's a sore subject with us nowadays. At this, Escoli immediately pulled it out and suggested that we weigh ourselves. Haha, what a funny old lady. As she hopped her small hunch-backed self on the scale, we realized she wasn't joking. Next, she turned to Alex…it was her time at the scale. Between our laughing spasms of disbelief, we tried to explain to Escoli that we had only just eaten dinner and really would prefer to not step on a scale directly afterwards. It was like she didn’t hear us though, because she only dragged Alex over to repeat what she herself had just done. She reported back to us Alex’s results and immediately shot a glance at Colleen that said she was next. Colleen reluctantly stepped on the scale. When her results were in, Escoli exclaimed, “Ay! Que pesas mucho!” (Wow, you weigh a lot!) Have I mentioned that Spanish women are brutally honest and tell it like it is? There is absolutely no filter with these chicks. Well of course Colleen is going to weigh more, she’s pushing 7 feet tall! That’s when Escoli ordered me to the scale. Was she serious? I just got in her house 5 minutes ago and she’s already weighing me in front of my friends. Does she do this to all her guests? But there was no avoiding it…I was weighed as well. Being that the scale was in kilos, we had no idea what the conversion rate was, and for once, were thankful for our ignorance. Only Escoli holds a mental record of our individual weight gain in Spain.

I have an eight-page Spanish paper for Independent Study and a five-page paper for Intro. to Lit. due immediately upon our return from spring break (aka I have to do both of those this week). Yikes, I keep forgetting I actually am here to study and do work as well. It’s so hard doing work though as I anticipate meeting mom and Bekah in Madrid this upcoming Saturday morning! Alex and Megan are meeting their families that morning in Madrid as well, so we’ll be taking the bus up Friday morning and spending that night in a hostel together. Alex has a stepsister a year older than Bekah so it will be fun taking them out together at night along Gran Via. It’ll be de puta madre.