This weekend I had my first long weekend and it was great. Friday morning* Ariela and I went to the school for about 3 hours, then we were free! Friday late afteroon we got a text from a friend we had met briefly at the orientation in Madrid, Laura-May. She is from York, England, is 20 years old, and she is working in the Official Language School here in Miranda. The students at the language schools are all 16+, and Laura’s hours are between 5-9 (the afternoon) since most people that sign up for the classes are adults who are working, etc. during the day. Laura is working for the national government (aka getting paid by them), whereas Ariela and I are working for the provincial government. Laura text us to let us know she had got a weird message on her desk at the school with a phone number for a guy named Kevin, who she didn’t know. Someone had accidentally mistaken Laura for Ariela! Kevin is a guy Ariela and I met while we were speaking in English at the bank one day. Kevin is in his late 30’s and is originally from Zimbabwe. He worked in the States where he met his Spanish wife (who is from Miranda) and he now lives here. Because there are so few people who speak any English here in Miranda, Kevin came over to talk to us. He was a great guy to meet because, for one, he speaks English, and he has also recommended some great places to go in our free time. Another great thing about Kevin, is he is a really good golfer! He actually went from Zimbabwe to the US on a golf scholarship! So, I definitely know someone who is going to be really happy about that (Scott Hancock!)
Anyhow, Laura ended up texting us wondering who this guy was, and we all ended up getting together Friday night. We met one of Kevins friends, Mercedes (Mertxe, pronounced mer-che). She’s about the same age as Kevin, and had lived for many years in Brussels, and was really excited to meet us. Friday night they took us around to some great bars and to do the typical Spanish thing on a Friday night which is “Ir de pinxos” Pinxos (pin-chos) are similar to Tapas, if not the exact same thing. So on the weekends its really typical for Spaniards to go out with their friends and go from bar to bar ordering a small amount of wine or beer, and eating a little pinxo at each place. I successfully ate some Serrano Ham, a stuffed red pepper, and A SQUID! I’m talking about a mini-octopus!! Haha, it was barbequed, and then had ali-oli on top, resulting in too many different flavors and I really ended up just trying my best to swallow the thing, while trying not to think about how it tasted or felt in my mouth. Needless to say, I wont be eating anymore of those. :P
We went to a couple really great bars, but the best one was called “Roma” and it’s a bar that specializes in coffees. While hanging out there, we watched the bartender/owner, light drinks on fire, and do all sorts of fun things. By the time we got home we were pooped and ready for bed!
The next day (Saturday) we just hung out around the house, and then Ariela and I went out later in the afternoon to check out some shops, unfortunately we didn’t find anything special, and just went home. Later we decided to send a text to Jorge, a friend Kevin had suggested we get in touch with. Jorge is 23, which is rare to find here in Miranda because there is no university here so there aren’t many young people that seem trustworthy and friendly (we’ve been searching). Jorge’s parents had gone skiing a couple years ago with Kevin, and later on when Jorge was looking to spend some time abroad studying English he got in touch with Kevin. Turns out Jorge ended up spending a bunch of time living in Sydney Australia, and is back here in Spain now looking for a job. We met up with him on Sunday afternoon, and the weirdest thing is he is our neighbor!! He lives in the apartment building beside ours, but our balconies are right beside each other! Anyway, we repeated the pinxo ritual from Friday night again with Jorge. Later we met some of his friends before we went home for the night. Monday we hung out again Jorge and Laura, Ariela and I and we went to go see some of the little towns surrounding Miranda. We went to a sweet lookout point (which Jorge politely informed us is a bad place to go after dark) and saw Miranda from higher up. Later we went to see an old roman salt factory (really different from the one I helped to restore last summer). It was a great afternoon and a great ending to an awesome weekend.
This morning since I didn’t have any classes, I made my way over to the tourism/youth center and asked for some information about events going on in and around Miranda. The guy was great to me and actually shared lots of info with me. Turns out that at the cultural center they show movies every week and have a professional theatre performance once a month. It really feels like things are starting to come together, and we can sort of enjoy ourselves outside of school (since that’s A LOT of time) too. Anyhow, I think I’ve got to come to terms with the fact that no matter how hard I try, and how much I feel like I fit in, I still look really strange here. Unless I dye my hair brown, shrink a foot and find some way to turn my eyes brown, I am a total freak in Miranda.
Note: a “Spanish Day” is a little different than our days (Sometimes when I say afternoon I could be talking about 8pm!) :
Morning: begins normally – 2:30ish (End of school/Lunch time)
Afternoon: Anytime after school all the way until its dark or about 9 or 10 pm.
Night: This is when kids go to bed and “nightlife” begins.
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