1 1/2 Weeks Left

Well my people only 1 1/2 weeks till I go home! That's pretty crazy. I'm truly amazed at how fast time goes by. I'm really excited to go home though. I miss my family a lot. Like you don't even know. I also miss random things like cooking and cleaning. Guy! I haven't had to make dinner in three months! I don't even know who I am anymore. 

This week, like last week, was pretty chill. I've got a routine now that I pretty much just stick to so it's not nearly as exciting as it was in the beginning. However I do promise that next weeks post is going to be quite an interesting one. I'm going somewhere awesome. You'll see. The post will be later than usual though. Like I'll probably post on Tuesday. Some of you may already know where I'm going so don't spoil it for the other readers. ;)

This was on the way home from Spanish class one day. We took a stroll down the beach. This is Magdalena, she's from Poland, and Yan, from China. I've made a lot of friends from my Spanish class and I'm really going to miss them when I leave. It's been pretty amazing learning about their different cultures. 

I really love the ocean. I think I could just spend hours staring at it. It's so relaxing. I love how it changes. Some days it's stormy. Other days it's still as glass. It can be green, blue, or grey. It's just the best! I'll definitely miss it.

This week I've felt a little melancholy. Maybe it's because I'm leaving or I'm ready to go home. Maybe it's because I don't feel like I no longer have a purpose in being out here. I don't know it's weird. 

Anyway on another not Friday was the last day of Sunshine. Saturday and today have been miserably wet and crazy windy. The forecast doesn't provide much hope for it to change either. Dang it. Everyone has been telling me that I've been very lucky with the weather. Maybe my luck has run out. 

 Saturday I felt very fancy. I had Ox tail with Saffron. It wasn't that expensive either. Only 4 Euros. It was pretty delicious. I love here how they give you bread with everything so you can wipe up all the gravy and juices with it. It's the bomb digs.  

 I also went to a cafe that had really good cakes. It's really close to my house and I'm sad I never went there before. Dang it. Missed opportunities I guess.  

Sorry if you feel like I only ever post about food. It's probably because I do. It's the highlight of my life. That food. 

Anyway next week! Prepare yourselves for an overload of pictures, probably a lot of stories of my adventures, and other fun stuff like that. You'll like it. I promise. Till next week!

A Food Filled Weekend

My week was pretty chill. I hung out with Lauren and got ice cream with her. I don't know why I'm getting ice cream all the time when it's starting to get cold and rainy. But whatever it tastes good and that's all I care about. 

 Teo says hello. He likes to take pictures with me. 

 Friday after I dropped the kids off at school I just chilled around the ocean. It was grey and misty but it was still beautiful. I go back home in about 2 1/2 weeks and as much as I am ready to go home I'm really going to miss it here. 

 Saturday I did a lot but in a chill kind of way. Linda invited me to hang out at her house for the afternoon and so that is what I did.

 She fed me tortilla and this really yummy Australian meat pie. It was kind of like less saucy sloppy Joe meat inside of puff pastry and it was pretty dang delicious! 

 Earlier on in the week I told Linda about how I was craving some brownies with some vanilla ice cream. She was a dear and had gotten me some! She truly is the best. I told Soledad about it afterwards and teased me a bit. She's like, "I see you're already trying to go back to the American way of eating." Yes that's exactly what I'm doing. 

 After that delicious food fest we had a siesta. Woo! I do love me my naps. 

 After my refreshing nap we went to her English school and I helped build a table. Shout out to dad's awesome rain coat! I swear I look like a hobo in it but it's really comfy and it keeps me warm and dry. Plus the Spanish like to dress kind of baggy anyway so it's all good. 

Sorry for that randomness. I'm kind of a random person. Afterwards I went home and chilled. I bought Mandarin oranges. They're my favorite out here. Really I just love the fruit. It's all so fresh and delicious and super cheap as well! 

My time at home was wonderful. I had some home made chicken fingers made by the lovely house lady Liz and then I headed out again to eat again. This lovely thing is called Cocodrilos. First may I say that the potatoes here are the best and I've been spoiled. I'll probably go back home and never eat french fries again. They're seriously that good out here. So a Cocodrilos is several salted slices of fried potato with a slice or two of some kind of fried meat. I think it was cow but I'm not really sure. It was so good though. Probably tied with Raxo de Pollo, which I've mentioned in a previous post, and something else that I'm about to talk about.  

To top off the night I had Carne Asada. Dear Linda has been raving about this meat from literally the first day I met her. I wasn't disappointed. The meat was really tender and yummy and the boiled potatoes that went with it must have been salted or something. And once you ate all the meat and potatoes you could dip bread in the remaining gravy and it was just a nice warm scrumptious dish overall. 

And so that was my weekend. Full of really delicious food that always makes me happy. Today I went to church and had my traditional Sunday nap. I really do love sleep. I should just become a Koala. Till next week! 

Castles and Cliffs

I've had quite the eventful week. As I stated in last weeks post the family was gone in Southern Spain till Tuesday. So I had Monday and Tuesday to do as I pleased. Woo for me! 

Monday I chilled with Lauren in the morning and watched the Imitation Game. It wasn't really morning considering the fact that I woke up at 12:30 but hey who really cares? In the afternoon I accompanied Linda to her Au Pair job out across the bay. This was part of the scenic drive. 

 She watches over two kids but one was sick. So we took the younger of the two, he's two, and drove to Castillo de Santa Cruz. 

I forgot how much I love two year olds! It makes me miss Jane. This kid was seriously the most loving child I've ever met. Five minutes after I met him he was sitting on my lap and giving me hugs. It was a little crazy. But I liked it. 

 The castle was closed so I couldn't look inside but I did get to walk around the perimeter. A lot of foliage and walls is what I saw. It was still pretty awesome though. The castle is on a little island and the waves would crash up against it and almost got us wet a couple times. It was pretty dang awesome! 

 After our little adventure to the castle we drove to Seixo Branco. It's directly across the bay from Torres de Hercules. You can kind of see it in this picture way off in the distance. We got a little lost on the way there but it was worth it! It's probably one of the most beautiful places I've been to here in La Coruna. 

 I mean just look at this view! It's surrounded by cliffs and I just think it's plain amazing. 

 Like past this field it's just a drop off. Very different from America where literally every possible ledge is fenced off for "safety". It's a lot more dangerous here and I love it!

 Down the cliff with crashing waves.

 Terrain that I thought was interesting. 

 There's also, along this coast line of cliffs, random holes in the ground that go all the way down to the ocean. These did have fences around them but I can kind of see why. Like you're just walking along and then boom you fall down to the ocean where a watery grave awaits. That would suck. 

 Me and this kid playing in smooshy moss. It was quite exciting. At least to a youngin. 

 Jumping in sunsets.

Choca los Cinco. A.K.A. High Fives! 

After our outdoor adventures we went back to the house where the grandma was making us a pie. At least in Spanish terms. It was apples, sugar, cream, and flour and that was it. No crust or anything so I wouldn't exactly call it a pie. It was really good and weirdly made me happy to see someone make something on their own. (Most people have cooks that do everything) It could have definitely used some cinnamon. I think it's interesting how we as Americans pair cinnamon with anything apple. Without it just tastes off. 

So that was Monday. Tuesday I legit just stayed home all day. I slept in, watched some Netflix, and knitted like an old lady. It was great. The rest of my week was pretty normal. Took the kids to school, went to Spanish class, etc. I'm pretty sure I've told you my basic everyday schedule. 

 To the weekend! Saturday it was my South African friend, Chantell's, birthday. There was a free concert going on so we went and had tapas at a bar nearby. 

 This was from my walk to the bar.

Apparently Chantell is his #1 Fan and took this picture to prove it. Or something. His music was pretty chill. It was mostly acoustic covers of Spanish and English songs but I liked his musical taste. Or at least the way he chose to sing the songs. It matched my current laid back music mood. His name is Edu Calvario if you want to look him up on the youtubes. Btw if you want to understand my current laid back music moods I'm currently digging Diamond Mind by Jonah Tolchin and Broken Horse by Freelance Whales.  

Also I will say that I had THE best tortilla that I've had since being out here. It had a lot more flavor than the ones I've had previously and was pretty small. Pretty much only enough for one person. So good! I wonder if I'll go back to America and think all the food is too salty or something. I guess we'll see.

After the birthday extravaganza Linda, my British friend Sarah, and I went and got ice cream. It was all locally made if that means anything but it was pretty dang good. Especially the strawberry ice cream.  This is Sarah.

And that was pretty much my weekend. Today I went to church and rode the bus home with all the missionaries. They're all really nice and friendly and said I should pretend to be a missionary so I can have thanksgiving with them. Apparently I could do it if I really wanted to seeing as I had three people today ask if I was a missionary. Anyway when I got home it started pouring down rain and I just took my traditional Sunday nap. The family had codfish for lunch and invited me to join them. It turns out I don't really like codfish. It's too solid and tastes more fishy than most fish. If that makes any sense. It was weird tasting to say the least. Well I think that's all I've got for you peeps. Till next week!

A Weekend to Myself

I feel like when I post on Sundays you guys get my spiritual side. Probably because I've just been to church and it's all still lingering in my mind. You lucky ducks. The spiritual epiphany of the day is that we as Latter Day Saints that live in the Americas take the temple for granted. Many of us have it located less than two or hours away. Practically every week here the temple is brought up in a talk or a lesson and you can tell that the members have the strongest testimony of the blessings of the temple. It makes me feel a little guilty for not doing family history work and going to the temple more often. Maybe that's something I'll work on when I get back to the states. That'll be the goal anyway. 

Anyway on the other hand here is moi in my full Au Pair glory. Carrying 3 back packs plus my bags walking the half mile home from the park. It's a party to say the least. It definitely makes me miss my siblings because then I can just force all the heavy lifting onto them. Mwhahahahaha!

 One morning I kind of forgot to have breakfast so to make up for it I had a very traditional "coffee" minus the coffee. I had tortilla, bread, orange juice, and Huesos de Santos. Huesos de Santos I don't think taste very good but I felt obligated to try them since they are a traditional treat made only around All Saints Day. They're apparently symbolic of saints bones and my resident La Coruna friend says that the filling inside is supposed to be the marrow of the bones. Pretty much it's all just very symbolic. Kind of gross symbolism in my opinion but I'm sure if I researched it more it would make more sense.

 At the park. Teo always asks if we're going to the park after school.. Like everyday but then we get there and he just looks so bored. I don't get it. Kids.

 This week I was told that the family was going to Southern Spain to visit Soledad's family and that there wasn't enough room in the car for me. So that kind of sucks but at the same time I've been feeling like I need a break. So Woo! They left Friday night and I've pretty much been chilling since then.

 I visited the Soccer Stadium.

 Ate lunch in a tree filled park.

 Went to church.

 Saw the empty streets of Sunday

And I saw this really cool historic photo. Apparently this statue is really old so there's a little stand talking about it in Spanish in one of the main squares. Yet I have no idea where the actual statue is located. This is one of the pictures featured and I just think it's fabulous. You can think I'm crazy.

Anyway that's what I have photo documented but this week I also got Thai food with Lauren, I got Tapas with her as well, and then got milkshakes with her, her Italian lover, and Linda. This all happened on different days but I thought you'd like to know that I've been being social.

I feel like I have a lot of surreal experiences out here. Today for instance I thought about how I never would I have guessed in all my life that I would sit having milkshakes with people from three different countries and asking which versions of English are harder to understand. And I think I've already said this but now I have friends from Spain, Italy, Australia, South Africa, Morocco, Germany, Slovenia, Dominican Republic, and so many more countries! Like I never would have guessed it! It's just so insane!

For all you who want to travel I definitely recommend it. I feel like too often people are like "I want to travel but I don't have money." But really do I have money? No I'm poor but I think we all find a way to make things work. If you want to travel? Just do it. If you want to become a butcher? Just do it. If you want to become a rapper? Just do it. Make things work. That may sound naive of me, you can think what you want, but in my experience so far I think that's the way to do anything in life. ( How do you like all of my random examples?)

Tomorrow I plan on going to Torres de Hercules again but this time with Lauren and then in the afternoon Linda is going to apparently take me to some cool old castle or something. I'm not really sure. Just something cool and old. There's a lot of things like that out here. It's also Halloween as you know and apparently the drinking partying is intense even more so than usual so I'll probably go hang out with some people and laugh at them while they all get drunk and I sip my Coca Cola. It'll be awesome. Anyway that's pretty much what's been going on. Sorry if it's getting kind of repetitive. I think that now I'm fairly used to the culture and have a pretty set schedule every week is fairly similar. Sorry about that. Well till next week!

Torres de Hercules

You know when you're all fine and dandy and you have fun plans for the next day? But then disaster strikes and then out of nowhere you have a killer fever and feel like you're going to die? Yeah that happened to me last night. It's really weird being sick and not having my mom around to baby me. Or tell me to suck it up. Love you mom! Sole has been very nice though. She keeps asking me if there's anything she can do for me and she bought me some creamy vegetable soup. I just hope it's some 24hr thing and I feel better by tomorrow. 

 On another note though I had a very busy and fun week. Monday I had my hour chat with Eduardo and then decided to walk to Torres de Hercules. It turns out it's a lot farther than I was expecting. I ended up walking 10 miles total Monday. At the end I felt like my legs were going to give out.

 The walk was beautiful though. I walked along the ocean and got to see that gorgeous view.

 There was a lot of cool sculptures on the trail up to the tower. I feel like they were kind of random but I dug it. Like here you have two duck faced Easter Island heads? Why? Who knows!

 The tower was huge! It was cool though because inside you got to see the Roman foundation and all the things they changed. The outside though isn't even the original tower. They renovated in the 1800's and put like a cast on the outside. So the old tower is technically still there you just can't see it unless you go inside. I found it quite interesting.

 There was a crap load of steps. I tried counting but I forgot to count in the beginning. I do know that there is over 200 steps though.

 When I reached the top I had one of those surreal moments where it's like, "Hey I'm in Spain, in a tower that's 2,000 years old, while someone down below is playing the bagpipes."

 It's just so beautiful. I love it. This is the view from the top of the tower btw.

 And if you look closely you can see a stair case carved into the side of that hill. Monday I think was my favorite day of the week.

 Wednesday I had to take Diego to the dentist. May I just say that it's really weird to look out the window of a dentist office and see clothes hanging to dry? I also felt like a mom taking a kid to the dentist. That's me! Momma Marley.

Thursday I had Churros con Chocolate with my German Au Pair friends. It's so interesting to hear about what they miss from Germany. German pancakes came up along as other pastas and food with a lot of flavor. I think one of my favorite things about being here is that I get to experience so many different cultures by making friends from so many different countries.

Friday I had Spanish class. Then I went home instead of having "coffee" with my classmates. I was tired and took a nap. Anyone who knows me knows that I love my sleep.

Saturday I wandered around the city and I got some gifts for the fam. Looking at you Townsend! I went out with Lauren for dinner. We went to La Burgueria and had dessert at some place by where I live. They have some of the best meat here. It's simply delicious. I feel like they do need to season it a bit more but that could just be my American taste buds kicking in. We had Brownies con Helado for dessert. It was pretty good. And as you can see Lauren was SUPER excited for it. The ice cream was orange sherbet and that kind of threw me off but still it was good.  When I came home I started feeling like crap and that's where I am now. I was going to walk in the opposite direction of Torres de Hercules and see what I could find today but getting sick kind of threw a wrench into those plans. Anyway that's what's been up with me! If you guys have any questions about Spain or want to know something about how I'm doing specifically feel free to ask! I want to keep you guys entertained! Till next week!