my weekend

Can you believe that this was my next-to-last weekend in Spain?!?  I definitely can’t… The time has flown by, and the two-week spring break hurried things up even faster, I think.  I had a relaxing, fun, and productive weekend here in Camarma.  The past week at school was a rough one- I took on full-time teaching after coming off of the two-week spring break, and I spent several nights at school until 8 pm trying to get prepared for next week’s teaching and to check off some things for my e-folio.  I enjoyed a low-key, restful weekend.  Also, we still don’t have wifi which means I have lived without for 10 days.  Surely the neighbor can’t stay on vacation any longer, right?!? 

Friday night I left school and was home by 5:00!  I don’t think that has happened, ever.  I went for a quick run around Camarma and ended up just walking most of it.  I went up on a trail and had beautiful views of Camarma, Alcala, and the “canyons” around the cities.  Everything is really green right now, and the land is ready for planting… Aside from the hilliness and elevation it could be home! 

A few weeks ago, Pilar had asked me if I’d ever tried chocolate chip cookies.  I almost died from laughter.  She had tried them recently with an American family from ECA and loved them, so I told her all about my favorite recipes, and we decided to make them.  We had thought about making them several times, but we never had the time or the oven wasn’t already turned on ;) This weekend, though, we decided Friday night would be the perfect time to make them.  The only thing we didn’t have that the recipe called for was cream of tartar.  I looked up a definition for it, but Pilar had no clue what it is.  Turns out they don’t really have cream of tartar in Spain, and you can’t even find it at Costco, which is where most ECA people get a lot of “American” things.  We just left it out and proceeded with the recipe.  I did my best to estimate portions of ingredients since the recipe was in US customary units and everything we had was in metric units.  The hardest part was figuring out the right oven temperature, but the cookies turned out to be awesome!  I actually think they’re better this time than anytime I’ve made them before, but that could just be because I’m being nostalgic. We enjoyed our cookies and calamari sandwiches that evening while watching TV. 

On Saturday, I took forever getting up because I was dreading going for a run.  I almost didn’t go, and I am so glad that I did.  I was on track for a 7 mile run for my mini-marathon training.  7 miles!  It was a great run with beautiful weather and plenty of other people walking/running/biking to keep me “company” on the trails.  I also found a health food store in Camarma, so I went in to get some protein bars since I’ve basically eaten nothing but carbohydrates since leaving the US (“Mediterranean Diet”).  We spent most of the afternoon at home just relaxing and watching TV, but I also got a lot of work done for the upcoming week.  At 9 (yes pm) we left to go to dinner at Pilar’s cousin’s house in Valdeavalero, another town near Camarma.  We went with Pilar’s brother Fran and her sister Amelia, and there were 2 cousins there, plus a family friend.  We had tenderloins for supper- delicious!  I was actually able to keep up with the conversation at this get together, which was pretty satisfying.  It was much easier to handle a room of conversations with just 6 people in comparison to 20 or 30 like at Augustine’s birthday party, but it was still no easy feat.  We left after midnight, and I was exhausted because it was late and because of all of the Spanish.  Val, if you read my blog, I empathize with you so so much because I can imagine how you felt at all of our family birthday parties :)

This morning I slept in until 11 o’clock!  I told Pilar I don’t think I’ve done that since I was 13, but it felt so good.  We had a slow, leisurely breakfast.  I’d already planned to skip church because Pilar wanted to take me on an “excursion.”  We had planned to pack a lunch and go for a 10 or so kilometer hike so she could show me one of her favorite spots!  It’s been a rainy and cloudy morning, so we decided to wait so that we wouldn’t get caught in the rain, but we may go out later and just shorten the distance.  In the meantime, I have almost finished my e-folio for student teaching!  I have a few pictures to add this week and will be done.  I’m glad that I’ll have the last two weeks to just enjoy instead of stressing about planning and finishing the project.   

Before I leave, I still have many things here to look forward to.  Next week, I’m getting a massage in Alcala!  I would like to go into Madrid one more time, if it works out.  Pilar has something planned for us next Saturday in Alcala, and on Saturday afternoon I’m running a 14K trail race in Camamra!  I hope to spend the next 13 days speaking tons of Spanish and making the most of my time here because I know how badly I will miss it when I am home.   

Pilar and me with Yolanda's dog, Inca.