I woke up at 10:30 and had my first successful cooked breakfast. I made some delicious los huevos finally; I put the right amount of salt and the Moroccan seasoning and some milk into the eggs and beat them to perfection! (I thought). Then I made an egg sandwich and had some Cheerios…it gave me a sense of home for just a moment haha.
Did my laundry for the first time since I have been over here…I had a large “stash” of clothes to wash. The laundry system here is similar but different; first the machines either take special tokens (which you purchase at the front desk) or only 50 cent euro coins. This adds a new dimension to washing laundry by itself. Instead of a long cycle, delicate cycle, or quick rinse there are many more options to wash your clothes. Where shall I start…there were the following cycles: “delicates”, towels, dark colors, linen, denim, wool, a quick rinse, and about 10 different settings under “cotton”….yes all of this was in Spanish. Each setting of cotton was a different temperature starting at 20 degrees Celsius and going all the way to 90. I was extremely nervous I was going to ruin my clothes…because I did not have a clear idea on what setting to put my laundry on. First I did what I normally do and I washed my whites separate of my colors. I always wash my whites at a higher temperature than my colors as well. After I did that I figured everything I had was mostly cotton so I picked the 30 degree Celsius option for my colors and the 40 degree Celsius option for my whites…gladly everything came out fine. I had no ruined clothes and when I went to dry them I did not burn or shrink any of them! One last note on this laundry ordeal…all of the options (no matter which one you pick) takes at least an hour to complete…even the dryers take an hour, so laundry was an all day ordeal took me about 4-1/2 hours to complete them. I now have fresh clean cloths!
For my Contemporary European City class we have another assignment which requires a partner. My partner Brian and I visited our site today which was literally in the next city…and took some pictures for our records. We had to transfer three different METRO lines…it was a challenge but I enjoy riding trains…so I liked the “hustle and bustle” that is the METRO…I wish Charleston had one. Granted it would probably be impossible for it to be underground…it would flood every time it rained…not to mention the fault lines that exist.
Annnnnd last but certainly not least…I now have access to Netflix, Hulu, Pandora, and ESPN 3 video. The IP address here in Spain does not allow access to any of those sites….basically in a nutshell these services are not available here yet despite it being over the internet…I was very disappointed when I initially found this out. Luckily though there was a solution to the problem, Clemson offers what is called a private VPN connection to all students and staff…essentially what this does is it uses the existing internet connection and then “latches” a Clemson IP address to your computer so you can have access to sites that are only permitted in the U.S or other countries that have the same access. Pherris I am sure you are familiar with this method (I hope you are haha). So needless to say in between washing clothes all day and visiting my site I have been catching up on most importantly THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN…GO NADAL! And second my U.S television ie. “The Office” and “Hawaii Five-O”…everything is complete now haha.
We had our official welcome dinner tonight at very quaint and small restaurant just outside the “old city”. It was actually my first “sit down” meal since I have been here in Barcelona…very satisfied. It was a three course meal and they served bread (you could put olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, or pepper on top of it). The meal was “free” (we already paid for it in the cost of the program fee) so Kathrin our resident professor also included a few bottles of Wine (red and white). For my first course I had a chicken empanada with a small salad, the second/main course was a dish called Paisa (this had a piece of roast beef, rice, beans, fried eggs, and fried plantains)…it was very good. And for dessert I had a dish called “Churro” but it was not exactly what I think of when I hear churro (fried dough with cinnamon and sugar). This was a different kind of churro which contained a special “rice cake” “bathed” in fermented milk and cinnamon. I was perplexed when the waiter brought the dish to me, I thought I had said something wrong or they misunderstood me…but it was an INTERESTING taste; I liked it and I didn’t like it haha. In simple terms I don't regret having it but I don’t have to have it again. It was also my first “Spanish Cultural meal” in that dinner did not start until about 9pm and it lasted all the way until about midnight…it was a great experience all together, the Spanish don’t rush dinner…it is almost a ceremonial like event, very charming!
We shall see what tomorrow holds….
Sounds like things are settling down for you, dinner sounded really good. Certainly you remember the times that I served you guys the warm french bread with the flavored olive oil,herbs and sea salt. Anyway glad that things seem to be going well, later.
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