Too Much "Agua".

Thursday night, we had a welcome dinner in our flat.  After spending the ENTIRE day in Jarandilla, I was in dire need of a meal, drink, and good company!  Mamen cooked bacalao dorado (cod with potato chips and eggs).  Jose Miguel made an empanada.  We also had bread with a tasty spread, and small appetizers.  After dinner, I taught everyone to play beer pong, which was a total hit! Spain doesn’t have red SOLO cups!  They have cups that are either too big or too small.  I ended up buying liter sized cups and cutting them in half, which gave me a perfect sized cup!  While it took about 15 minutes for everyone to understand the rules – the game went off without a hitch!  It was an instant hit!  After dinner and beer pong, we went out to a few of the bars for dancing until 4am or so.  All in all, we had a very fun night!  From what I understand, dinners like these happen quite often on Thursdays with this group of friends!  In the States, Thursday means “Thirsty Thursday” and I do believe that that is exactly what Thursday will mean in Navalmoral as well (plus food!).

Me, Oscar, Ismael, Jose Miguel, Emma, Maria, Dioni, Mamen

Mamen y yo

First Beer Pong Game Ever!!!

Maria, Emma, Dioni, Mamen, Oscar, Me, Jose Miguel out for dancing!

Free shots at Canterville! :)

This past weekend, Maria and I decided to stay in Navalmoral after a crazy Puente weekend spent partying in Salamanca the weekend before.  However, it was anything but a quiet weekend!  Friday was relatively quiet as we slept most of our day away after Thursday’s welcome dinner.  We looked into getting internet for the house, only to realize the process is going to be much more complicated than we originally though – as we need a phone in the house to have internet.  Our friend, Ismael, is helping us figure this out now as our Spanish skills just won’t cut it when dealing with a situation of this matter!  Friday night was I worn out from doing absolutely nothing during Friday day, so we sat at home and talked to Ismael for a relaxed evening.  

I made the mistake of telling Ismael I wanted to drink Agua de Valencia (champagne, vodka, gin, and orange juice) because I didn’t get to have a glass in Salamanca – SO Saturday evening was spent drinking Agua de Valencia.  Man was it good!  We actually played “Agua de Valencia Pong” which isn’t a good idea, as Agua de Valencia is a killer!  Also, I guess we had our music up too loud for our neighbors’ liking because they called the police on us!  Not sure, if it was the music or just the fact that we had two parties in one week – which both got a little crazy!  Anyway, the police came, yelled up to the flat from outside on the street, and said the neighbors had complained about our music. Wellll that was the end of Agua de Valencia Pong – we resorted to just talking and discussing Spanish and English words… dictionaries come in very handy! We also cooked tortilla española… so cliché, but so good!

Beerpong with Ismael.

Tortilla Espanola!!! (so cliche, but so good!)

Just after the police were called to the flat!

Sunday.  I hate Sundays.  When I studied in Salamanca, I never left my house on a Sunday.  Sundays in Navalmoral will be just about the same.  Sunday is the Lord’s Day; for everyone to be able to enjoy it as they should, NOTHING is open on Sunday.  No grocery store, no shopping center, restaurants – maybe.  It’s a good thing that no one has to work, but it’s just a big pain that you can’t go out and buy anything! All I wanted yesterday was a Coke and I couldn’t get one!  Well, until 18:00/6:00pm when Maria and I met our friend Dioni for a drink at La Bodega de Jamon.  He said “let’s get a coffee” and Maria and I both got Cokes! I do believe it was the best Coke I’ve ever had in my life!

Maria and I ordered in Chinese food so we could watch Big Brother “Gran Hermano 12” that started yesterday in Spain.  It is the same concept as the Big Brother in America, but it’s just really strange at the same time. This season, there are two houses side by side and only a few participants know there is another house.  There is one set of boyfriend/girlfriend on the show – but they are in opposite houses.  One house is from the future, another from today.  The futurist house is COMPLETELY white, plastic furniture…it looks like something from “The Jetsons!” (I’m just waiting for the flying car…)  The other house is very nice, with a swimming pool, gym, and huge recreational outside area.  The boyfriend has ONLY girl roommates and the girlfriend has ONLY guy roommates.  AND they have only the opposite sex’s clothing. They switched the luggages around and so the house with all girls and one guy will have only guys’ clothing, the other house will be the complete opposite. Everyone is completely different in the house – and many different nationalities are represented.  It will be interesting to see the season play out.