Paco Makes Paella

The professors from my school that I go to lunch/intercambio with os Thursdays invited me to a paella day!! I was so excited because this is everything that I hoped for. Cristi and Paco have a son, Noa, who is turning 4 years old on Thursday. Paco was born and raised in Alhauring el Grande and his brother lives in a very, very small town outside Alhaurin. On Saturday I boarded the bus to learn how to make paella. I took the same bus that I take to school everyday, except today I had to ask the bus driver for the stop I needed. I sat up front next to him and talked to him for a little bit. Now the bus driver and I are friends.

Paco and Cristi picked me up from the bus stop and we headed to Paco's brother's house. They bought a HUGE paellera for this day and brought everything needed to make paella. Paco prides himself in his paella skills, so he was ready to teach me and instruct me on how to make the perfect paella....according to him. As I talked withthe family members, I learned that there are tons of types of paella. Paco's aunt puts chicken in hers. Someone else puts seafood and chicken. Paco himself only uses seafood, and no one here had eaten his paella before. So we were all experiencing this together.

It had been raining the night before so the wood that we were using for the fire was a little damp. He explained to me that the temperature under the paella was a very important aspect of a good paella. I wondered how this was going to work with damp wood. Since we needed a hot fire first and then a smaller fire later, I couldn't see this working well.
As Paco got the fire started, I helped Cristi blow up balloons and decorate for the birthday party to follow. Noa ran around with the other toddlers playing. I met Paco's WHOLE family and most of Cristi's that live near by. There were aunts, cousins, nieces, nephews, and the husbands, wives and children of all these people. I think at one point I counted and there was 25 people there.

We snacked on salchiccon, bread, and potato chips while the paella was cooking. Paco warned me that this was not the way to eat paella. " You need to be dying of hunger when you eat paella so you can eat lots of eat and it tastes better." I could not wait 4 more hourse to eat lunch. It was already 2 and I had skipped breakfast in preparation for this.
I stood nearby the cook and watched diligently, asking questions and jotting down notes so that some day I can replicate this. After hours of waiting, being the gopher running between the house and the fire, the paella was finally ready. The wood started burning correctly just as the rice was added, which is when the heat should be reduced, so the paella was a little burnt. It was good, but I think it would have been better if it wasn't burnt. I think everyone there thought the same thing, but they didn't tell Paco. No one wanted to make him feel bad.
When I had stuffed myself full with paella (and all the other food) we sat for a while and talked. Then the ladies of the family started doing something. They were frying what looked like bread dough. They made homemade chocolate and churros. (They called this something else, but the name escapes me right now.) These were way better than any others I've had at a restaurant. Me, full again.

As more family started arriving, the cake arrived. Cake? After all this food? Noa's cake was not an American birthday cake, as we are in Spain, but it did have Bob esponja (Spongebob) on it. Noa had no idea what was going on. Cristi showed him his toys to interest him a little. He paid a little attention but mostly just wanted to play with the sticks on the ground. I concluded the evening, stuffed, with a nice ride back to Malaga from Cristi. It was a cool day. A LOT of Spanish, maybe a couple new friends (Crisit's sister lives in Malaga), and a new recipe to try someday. It's coming. I need to translate it and make it ledgible.

Felia Año Nuevo

During Christmas vacation, and after the torture that was the 'Month of the Thesis' in our house, Maria went to Germany for a week or so to spend time with her friend Mateas, before heading on to Athens. She is returning the favor by lending him her room with she is in Greece. When Corey and I arrived to Malaga, he had already been here a week with his girlfriend (who is Russian). We were planning on dining out for New Year's, but they asked us if we wanted to eat with them for New Year's. We had some traditional Russian food, made by her mom, and some other delicious appetizers.
We all went to Plaza de la Constitcion for the countdown. There was a band playing and people everywhere. It is traditional to eat one grape on each second of the countdown for buena suerte. I asked people about this before New Year's and they all said it's not really common anymore, so I forewent (is this a word) the grapes. On the countdown, I wished I had bought grapes. But also, they don't have seedless grapes here and the ones with the seeds gross me out a little. It would've been a cool thing to do.
We hung out and had champagne in the plaza and we all continued the Spanish tradition of staying out until late hours of the morning. We got home at 6 and slept for most of the rest of the day. It was a fun night. The night just kind of got away from me. I yawned and looked at the clock, and it was time to go home. ¡Feliz año nuevo!

Tidings of Joy

I finally made it home! I was so happy to be home for Christmas. It was wonderful to see some friends and family. My mom made delicious food for Christmas dinner, as always. I was able to see and hang out with some friends, and Mom and I got a few things done for the wedding.

Grandma and Grandpa bought us a bottle of Spanish wine as an engagement present that we drank with Christmas dinner. There was a little confusion. Aunt Paula thought we were having dinner on the 26th. It was past the time they said they'd be there. Mom called her and she thought we were doing it the next day. Oh well, we had 2 Christmas dinners. Hanging around with my family felt like home. I realized that I miss being in Kansas more than I thought I would. It's going to be hard going back. There's 6 months left until the end of school. Can I make it? Right now I don't think so. It's leaving all over again and this time, I know what I'm walking in to. I'm going back to friends and being in Spain, but nothing it feels like, will compare to being home at the holidays.

The Graduate

Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to introduce you to the newest graduate from Pittsburg State University, Corey J Base! After 6 years, he finally made it and everyone is very proud. Congratulations!

Portugal Part 3: Isla Cristina and Sevilla, then back to Spain

After Faro we were on our way back to Spain. Nolwenn (Jeannine's roommate and only non Americana) read about a small village in Spain that was supposed to be beautiful, so she wanted to stop there. It was a work week, but all of Spain was on holiday so there wasn't much going on. We looked around the port area and took cool pictures of boats. We wondered around until we found a restaurant. The people at the restaurant were friendly and funny. We got a large plate of homemade food for a small price, and we were happy. As we were eating lunch, one of the regulars (i suppose) gave us oranges for desserts. I like the friendliness of small-town Spain.

As we were driving back into Spain we felt relief. It still seems like Spain is not EXACTLY home, but after being in Portugal for a few days, we were appreciative to see signs in Spanish and understand what was going on around us a little more. We were back in the land of siestas!

After our short visit in Isla Cristina we started towards Sevilla. We were all very excited to see Sevilla. Sevilla is known throughout Spain. If you tell people you're going to the South of Spain they will always recommend seeing Sevilla. As we were leaving the restaurant though, it was starting to rain and get chillier.

We drove the few hours to Sevilla, but our GPS couldn't seem to get us to our hostel. Spain is notorious for it's narrow and confusing streets. The GPS was telling us we arrived at our destination, but all we saw was churches and nothing that looked like our hostel. We got out of the guitar with the GPS and our umbrellas and went in search of the hostel. We asked people on the streets. They didn't know. We asked a bartender. He didn't know, but he gave us a map. We walked in circles around the same 5 or 6 blocks until we finally decided that the un-named street we kept walking by was the street we needed to be on. Once we had checked in and went out to get our luggage, the car was half a block away. So close!


We settled in in Sevilla and dried off. After wondering around in the rain for an hour, lost, we stayed in and made dinner. Our hostel was cool. Since there was 5 of us, we basically had a room to ourselves. The hostel was 3 or 4 stories with bedrooms on every floor. The terrace area on the first floor was able to be looked down upon on every level.

The next day in Sevilla we went exploring. We were all feeling the crunch of the dollar. We went site seeing and taking pictures of the city. Nolwenn's friends were also staying in the same hostel at the same time, so we walked around with them.

Soon it started raining....and then raining harder, so we found a Starbucks and camped out and watched the rain. None of us (except Nolwenn) were prepared for this much rain. When we left for lunch, there was a river in front of the restaurant. I bought an umbrella from a guy on the street to help aid me, but I was already completely soaked up to my knees.

That night we went on a tour of Sevilla with a group from the hostel. We visited a few bars and met a lot of Americans. We broke off quickly and went back home. We were too tired from being wet and cold all day.

The next day we got up fairly early so we could head back to Spain. As girls seem to do, we had acquired quite a few extra things since the beginning of our journey. Our trunk was overflowing. On the street we were parked on, there were service vehicles behind us and blocking the one was street. Someone had parked really close to our car, so we had to wait to get in. Nolwenn had to climb in from the passengers side to get the car out. It was a tricky situation, and that was not helping her. There was an Italian man and his wife walking by and he was trying to give Nolwenn directions for backing out....in Italian. Eventually, she just got out and let him do it. It was a hilarious situation. I know that man walked away thinking "Silly girls and their cars."

Portugal Part 2: Évora and Faro

The next stop was Évora. Évora is another very small town, but was very charming. It took us a while to find our hostel. Our GPS told us we were close, but couldn't quite get us there. We parked and got out and walked around. We asked people if they knew where the street was. They kind of pointed us in the direction that we had already looked and didn't know where to go. We were in a small town, so English was scarce. Finally we heard someone yelling out the window. We looked up and saw a man. He was the owner of the hostel and heard us talking. He let us in and we checked in. This was by far our most favorite hostel. 1. It was warm. 2. We were practically the only ones there. 3. This man was the nicest man. He spoke several languages and loved meeting travellers. He just wanted us to sit and talk with him.

That night we looked around for a place to have coffee. We found a really cute place right near our hostel. Some had coffee. I had a glass of wine. There were chocolates and sweet pastries in the case. The signs in the restaurant told us, that this place served food so we decided to come back tomorrow.

The next day we walked around the town taking pictures. Évora, in my eyes, is a very typical Portugese town. It was small. There were people selling castañas on the street. It was a very typical Sunday, similar to that in Spain. The only thing there is to do on Sundays is eat.

We walked around until we were frozen to the bones and our cameras were full of pictures. We went back to the cafe from the night before and got lunch. This was seriously the best lunch I've ever had. I got a ton of food for 6 euros. It was a marinated fish (not sure what kind) with rice and potatoes. The marinade that was on the fish soaked into the rice and potatoes and I ate the whole thing. We then had dessert and coffee and sat there for the rest of the evening. It was still really cold, windy and rainy. As we were leaving I was standing outside and an old man walked by. He asked if I knew Spanish and I said yes. He told me the wind was like a Spainard. It never stops blowing. We chuckled and he chuckled to himself all the way down the street. How cute.

The next day we were sad to leave our cozy hostel. We went to Faro. Faro is another beach town. We went to the beach and took some pictures and had a coffee by the ocean then we headed to Isla de Cristina. Our Portugal journey was about to take us back to Spain.

Portugal Part 1: Lisboa and Belen

December is kind of a silly month in Spain. The Spanish take their holidays seriously. On December 6th there is Día Constitución Española (Day of the Constitution) and on December 8th there is Día de la Inmaculada (Day of Immaculate Conception). Since these days are so close together, they just throw in an extra day and give everyone the 7th off too. We don't want to mess up anyone's vacations. And, if you weren't counting, that's 6 days of no work in a row. That only leaves room for one thing....ROAD TRIP!

My roommate's have told me that renting a car is inexpensive. We all wanted to go somewhere so I suggested renting a car. The closest place to go (since we're in the south) is Portugal. One of my roommates went to school in Portugal for awhile so she told of us a few places to go. We rented a car that would fit 5 girls and luggage and headed to Portugal. Our goal was to start the furthest away and work our way back to Malaga. People in Portugal drive fast. Jen was driving 154 km/hr (96 mi/h) and people were passing her, honking because she was going slow.

We started our journey on the way to Lisboa. Lisboa is about 6 1/2 hour drive if you don't get lost. We knew we would get lost and confused with European road signs so we budgeted for this. We arrived in Portugal late, found our hostel and went walking around. We arrived in Lisboa late on Friday night, but there was no one out. In Spain on Fridays, you can't walk 2 people wide because there's so many people. Here, no one. I think we saw 2 people. We wondered and looked at the Christmas lights and then sat and looked at the port. The next day we found the ocean. It was very cold and rainy, and the sky was grey, but it was pretty. We took some pictures, ate a pastry and moved on.

Near Lisboa was el Torre de Bélen. The Tower of Belen was an old lookout for the town. It was made of stone and looked like an old castle. It was even colder and rainier this day. The wind whipped through the tower. It kept going up and up, but there was only one narrow staircase for everyone going up and down to use. It was interesting.


We were hungry after this and found a restaurant nearby that would offer some sort of relief from the weather. We ordered a bottle of vino verde, Portugal's version of wine. It wasn't really green. It looked like white wine with a little tint. For lunch I had a fish dish (as was only appropriate overlooking the ocean) that was baked with cream and had golden cheese on top. It was delicious. The waiter told us about a certain type of pastry called a belen (ironically) that was sold in the nearby town so we went looking for it. We found it. It was the one with all the people outside eating belenes.
After our heavenly pastry experience we loaded up and headed to Evora, a town recommended by my roommate, Mela.