Spain

I opened my shutters today to find sun and a blue, blue sky...a nice change from heavy clouds and non-stop rain yesterday...although, it is very needed here because of the drought and it was refreshing for awhile...I think it´s just because our house is always colder than outside that I long for sun constantly here! And not to mention that Shiloh and I really haven´´t mastered building a fire that lasts more than 5 minutes without stoking...so much for my training in the Yukon!

Today is market day in Orgiva...yaay! Once you get passed all the people selling purses, old-lady bras and Nike shoes, the vendors selling produce are the real treasure! I walked away the other day with a kilo (6 good sized tomatoes) for 75 centimos...and we, awhile back, bought a bag full of sundried tomatoes for 5€..something that would have cost probably btw. 15-18 dollars at home...people go home absolutely loaded from the markets! It brings the whole town out and it feels very alive all day, even during siesta...

I had my first (and hopefully only) experience visiting a doctor the other day....the service was great and the doctor would so be mine in Edmonton if i could fit him in my suitcase...very efficient, thorough and patient, my poor translator had to learn about how the human skeleton is constructed and relay it back to me in detail...so, because i am not a Spanish or even an EU citizen i had to go to a private clinic....70€ later!!! I can certainly see what entices govt´s and doctors to sometimes want a two-tiered system...the efficiency is great...but I am still thankful that Canada is choosing to steer away from that...it seems very wrong to have to pay for basic healthcare quite simply...but i can now sleep a little better at night knowing that i have two floating ribs crossed over each other and inflaming one another and not....???? something worse I guess!

I am covered in flea chemicals and dirty dog from giving some TLC to my beloved stray Brown-Dog....ahhh, it´s heaven to me!

Shiloh and I are heading into Granada tonite to check out a funk-jazz band with our landlord Wes and friend of his...if all goes well we´ll be able to visit our sister Pam after the show while we´re there...there is definitely no such thing as an early night in Granada...early means before 3 am...if you plan on coming to visit I recommend this...stay up all night for maybe about 4 days, drink lots...pickle your liver in preparation....and start to love seafood...you´ll have the time of your life then!

I have to run...that 70€ gone keeps haunting me! Take care anyone reading this, and even if you´re not!

Hasta luego!
Savannah

Hi there...

Well, just a quick update on life in Órgiva...I am really starting to like this little town (about time!)...I am finding more and more the Spanish flavor of it after feeling for so long that it is overrun by expatriates...Shiloh and I found a perfect tapas bar, which I think I´ve mentioned, and it has become a regular haunt for us...the eggplant tapa is the best! And 1€ for a beer suits me fine too...Shiloh and I have also made a very Spanish friend in the form of a 50-year old man who was at one point going to be our landlord...we did find a better deal for rent...but Juan is great..he speaks no English, yet we can have the best conversations and understand each other...I´ve noticed that one on one, language barriers here haven´t been hard to deal with and actually can be a lot of fun and a great learning experience..this man, Juan, seems grandfatherly but we ran into him the other day, a bit drunk, (him not us this time ...and it´s been one of the highlights of my time in Orgiva...lots of laughing as he was trying to explain to us his morals on kissing women...and no, it wasn´t creepy, just fun...

Our Spanish lessons are finally coming along...we have found the perfect teacher, this time in the form of an English woman who has been here for 25 years...a pioneer expatriate...I finally feel with her help and tips that I can have a basic conversation with someone...she obviously remembers what it felt like to be in our shoes...

I´m very excited to have some Canadian friends coming out to visit us! We are tentatively planning to go to Granada, Nerja (on the coast), then to Morocco, then to Sevilla and Ronda and then to Malaga...after this Portugal and then my dream is to somehow make my way thru Spain and then to Berlin! Ha, we´ll see if the money gods allow this, but I am willing to do the whole eat-bread-sleep-in-doorways thing to accomplish this goal...I know that eventually work will figure into this plan too...

Nothing to do with my trip, but just to have it logged for future when I decide to read this again, my favorite song right now is James Blunt´s "You´re Beautiful"...does anyone else love it??

One major accomplishment for me this week has been that i think i can finally say goodbye to the worst of homesickness...i really hope so, because Spain is much more alive to me now, or maybe it´s the other way around...but i won´t kid myself, leaving a comfortable life and having no real plans in place for the new country OR home when I go back is a tad scary at 28...but starting to love it, and recommend it to anyone regardless of their place in life..it´s a good shake-up...

Today is a lazy day..in fact that could be the title of this series of writing...lazy days are a staple in my life right now (for good or for bad)...I wrote in a mass email to the girls at work one time that i had found the perfect falafel...I take it back, I lied..it´s in Orgiva, not Granada...Tessa, I wish I could wrap it up and send it to you! For the rest of the day I plan to read the Guardian, which is the best newspaper, and follow up with my Spanish homework..and um, that´s about it I think...

So, will keep this more up to date..thanks for the kick in the butt Lindsay..

Until then..

Hóla everyone!

Well, it´s 3 hours after I started my first Tuesday blog and I have to admit I am a little bit drunk, more tipsy actually...Shiloh and I had a few hours to pass (this always seems to be the case) and we went to a somewhat hidden away little restaurant and ordered what was supposed to be one glass of wine....which became 3, which became a bottle, which became as well, a glass of beer...yoiks...so, here I am, quite happy to be writing, quite happy to be anything! Today wasn´t too exciting as far as stories go...just hanging out with our dogs, and drinking Spanish wine...the last few days though have been some of the best...I don´t know if a lot of people know, but Shiloh and I came to Spain to meet a half-sister that we have not met before...it´s a long story, but it´s been a great one...too much to write here...but from all of this, we have met a lot of people through Pam (our sister) and spent a lot of fun times in Granada...we are now in Órgiva...pronounced Or-hee-ba...a small village about 45 minutes south of Granada (which is a perfect city in some ways...), we´re about 30 minutes away from the coast of the Mediterranean and the weather has been amazing..sun and swimming! Sorry Edmontonians, I´ve heard about it there!!!We have rented a casa (house) in the hills just outside of Orgiva for one month...it´s beautiful...I only want to stay for a month though because there is so much to see...I even feel a bit antsy being in a place that is so secluded...which to me is stupid...in Edmonton, I was craving quiet...time to read and write...and now that it´s here, I feel antsy...so I am doing my best to get into the rhythm of Spanish life and just accept that the whole world doesn´t behave like North America...and it still works out just fine...everyone lives life to the fullest without rushing around thinking how much they have to do, how many people they have to see, how much they personally have to accomplish that day...it will be hard to re-adjust I am sure...

Over the past few days I have visited Pampaneira which is a small village about 15 kms (.5 hour drive) up the mountain from Órgiva...it´s amazing..if you have the chance to look it up on the Internet, it´s worth it...we meant to spend an hour or two there and spent the whole day there...it´s one of those dreamt about white villages in the mountains with orange and olive tree groves...the streets actually look like something that 2 people can pass by comfortably (walking that is) and that´s about it...we were fascinated! So we drank some wine, fed the local pups and then had a "Speed" like experience taking the bus back home to Órgiva...made short, a woman, not all there, in the end tried to take the bus from the driver...it´s always a good story in the end when the "bad guy" doesn´t win...

We also spent some time in Granada this weekend with another Edmontonian...a very independent 18 year old who happened to be friends with one of my ex-workmates from Global TESOL...she came with us to Granada and I could see myself, her and Shiloh all fall in love with Granada that weekend, although Shiloh and I have spent nearly 3 weeks there...I think honestly, that I could live in Granada for a long time to come...but that´s for another time...

It´s been almost a month and I am finally coming to terms with culture shock...I thought this was something you experience for a week maybe 2 and then you´re automatically in love with wherever you are...not that easy...which makes me happy, realizing how much I love Edmonton and home...but, I am getting over the whole comparison thing and I now find myself wanting to stay here for longer than I had originally wanted to...there is so much to learn about a new culture! I see old people and I want to be able to converse with them so much...the stories they could tell! It´s alienating...but it´s a good kick too, to want to start to really learn the language...

Anyway, enough rambling today...I have to get home..for what I don´t know, but I just do...goodnight!

xoxox
Savannah