The magician......

Yesterday I played in a concert in Bertamirans. Then Xavi, Arron, Silvia and I had dinner and went to the green pub for a session. At about 1 I was tired and thought about going home but I thought I´d call my friend Sinead first to see what she was doing. She told me to come to her friend Agatha´s party which was right near my house. I went, and it was so fun! Everyone was super friendly and fun. At one point someone pulled out a guitar and (geeky as this sounds) everyone, EVERYONE started singing cheesy Bob Marley songs together in the living room. I had my mandolin so I played a little bit too. It reminded me of the movie L´auberge Español.

There was a guy there--tall and funny, named ´Cayetano´. He was outgoing to say the least. We started talking and joking around and he asked if we could do an intercambio (a language trade). He told me he was a Magician and I didn't believe him until he pulled a deck of cards out of his mouth in mid-sentence... it was crazy! When he started balancing knives and chairs on his nose I knew I was in for a interesting night....

At about 330am when the party began to wind down, we all went out dancing and closed down this nightclub. Cayetano was HILARIOUS -- dancing with everyone he could see. He´s at least 7 feet tall and was wearing a green clown nose and a headband with two feathers in it. Needless to say he stood out. He dared me to steal the umbrella that was on the floor by my feet since I didnt have one and then he said ¨come on, lets go on an adventure¨. We went outside and under my broken, stolen umbrella walked to the next Club. This Cayetano guy was such a nut and everyone loved him! He was dancing and talking to everyone in bar- at one point he had a huge pink feather boa (don't know where he got it) and he was dancing like a drag queen and lassoing everyone in sight. After a while I started getting tired but he said¨We´re not done yet¨ and I kept thinking to myself ¨Who is this guy?!?¨

As we were leaving the bar this drunk girl came up to him and started begging him for his headband (the one with the two feathers) he told her it was special and she couldn't have it (it was plastic and couldn't have cost more that two dollars in a gift shop) but shewas insistant that he give it to her.... Finally he said, ¨Ill give you this headband if you give me your scarf¨.It was a really nice heavy wool scarf. She said she couldn't because it wasn't hers and because it was really expensive and bla bla bla, but she was drunk and ended up making the trade. He wrapped the scarf around his neck and gave her this silly little headband and we walked out....As soon as we got out the door, completely nonchalantly and without saying anything, he reached in his bag and pulled out this HUGE Indian headdress COVERED with feathers at least 20 times the size of the one he had been wearing earlier and kept walking. I have no idea how it fit in that tiny little bag of his or why he was carrying it around.

The rest of the night we were wandering the streets-- he, with his huge feathered headdress and new scarf and occasionally with me on piggy back... he was singing and I was laughing histerically. At one point he was twirling me around on a street corner and he roped some strangers into dancing with us... it was such a scene.....

Finally, at 7am, I said goodnight/goodmorning to the magician and walked home.

what a night.

SOME PICTURES FROM OVIEDO

(and Arron and Cat)

These are some pictures from other day. Cano and Joe (a funny little Irish man) and I, went out to ´Castro do Beronas´.

Life can be so sweet. Really, my life here is everything I could have asked for.

I love my new house -- my roomates are really fun (I´ll post some picture of them and the house soon) . It just feels safe here. I already feel like I´m part of this community and that´s something I´ve been longing for for so long.

I did go to the police station today and found out that come January 15th I´ll be illegal here and if I stay longer I could risk being detained in Spanish jail or something... hmm, so we´ll have to see how that goes. I already bought my ticket Scotland for new years so hopefully I won´t have any problems getting back into Spain after that..... jeez, that sure would be a downer wouldn´t it?

MY NEW HOME

SO -- here´s the story.

While I was still living with Cano I figured out that it would probably be a lot cheaper/more convenient/more fun if instead of living in the pre-arranged accommodation for my Spanish course, I found my own accommodation, i.e. a shared apartment with some interesting young people. One day before the course I went on a hunt - an unsuccessful hunt. No one called me back and I didn´t end up seeing any apartments. While I was walking home I walked through a sweet little neighborhood and thought to myself, ¨if only I could live here¨. Everyone told me I was going to have a hard time finding something in November seeing as how the majority of young people here are students and the semester ends in December. So, I gave up looking and decided to go with the sure thing and move in with Fatima. It was fine living there -- she's a kook and its really far away from EVERYTHING, but I was really enjoying all the walking. Two days ago I realized that it´s getting closer to the end of the month and I really had NO idea what I was going to do at the end of it. Sylvia sat with me and we starting plotting out some options. Just the thought of going through the whole process of running around town being interviewed by a million different strangers seemed daunting... to say the least, and I went home that night feeling depressed. --- In the middle of the night (5am) I got a text message from my friend Sinead asking if I was still looking for a place because she was with a friend of a friend who is looking for someone to move in right away. She gave me his phone number and told me the location, but it wasn't until I looked at the map the next day that I realized that is was EXACTLY where I was walking that day back when I was still staying with Cano. My dream neighborhood. Not only that, but it´s RIGHT next to my favorite park in Santiago and a 2 minute walk from all the pubs that we play in. I was beside myself with excitement but I didn´t want to get too worked up cause for all I knew, the people might have been total wacko´s and they may have already found someone. SO - I called the guy ¨Moises¨ (Moses in English) during my break from class. He was SO friendly I couldn´t believe it. I told him I´d come by at 6:30 to come check it out. I did and the whole walk up there I couldn't stop grinning at the prospect that this might be my new home. I´m talking cobblestone streets, beautiful views, the works. So I got there and when he came to meet me I was so pleasantly surprised to be greeted by an attractive and really friendly face. He showed me around the house, which is small, and compared to a place in the states might be considered ¨a little crusty¨ but I think there´s plenty that can be done. Moises and I were joking around immediately, he´s great. He´s studying to get his pilot license (a little ironic since I´m so afraid of flying). Also, interestingly, learned to speak English in Dubai... The other girl, whom I haven´t met yet -- is from Chile, she´s a psychologist for athletes and she´s here studying with one of the most famous psychologists of Santiago. Anyways, (long story even longer) I told them I was interested and Moises called me back last night and said, ¨congratulations! You´ve been selected out of hundreds of thousands to be our new flatmate!!¨I was grinning from ear to ear all night last night. Now I gotta go home and pack and figure out how I´m gonna get everything over there....



oh, and below are a couple videos of us playing in La Moha :)

This weekend (before I ate the bad egg) and yesterday :)

On Friday and Saturday I went out and played in some ¨foliadas¨ (sessions). Super fun. Sunday I woke up, fried an egg, ate it, and vomitted for the rest of the day. Not so fun.

Yesterday I played again with Cano, Javier and Manolo-- it´s become a regualar thing every tues/thurs, I LOVE it!

Here´s some more fotos :)

My classmates (the one next to me is the teacher)

The fam

Oh ya, p.s.

There was this really cute guy in the bar last night. I was eye-flirting with him a whole bunch. At one point I got up to goto the bathroom in a different bar (the toilet in la moha is literally just a hole in the ground). When I was walking back, I found that I had pulled my tights up just a little two high and was feeling a bit overly supported (I had a wedgie)-- so I reached in to adjust my panties (put them back where they belong) and I heard something behind me. Yes of course, my cutie from the bar had been walking behind me and had seen the whole thing go down/be pulled out.

On the upside, today in class I learned that they don´t have a word for ¨wedgie¨ here in Spain. Maybe its not a concept that they understand. Since language is a tool to that helps up define our experiences, and they don´t have this word in their vocabulary, maybe he didn´t even know how to process what he had seen... kinda like the ol´tree falling in the woods conundrum no?

HE WON!!!!!!!

Last night when I got home from playing music with Cano, I read a chapter of Obama´s book, kissed the cover and fell asleep --

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!


I woke up this morning (the first sunny morning in a week) turned on the news, and cried for 20 minutes. I´ve had chills all day - the kind of chills you get when you experience something really moving and beautiful.

I was let out of class to be interviewed on Spanish radio for 5 minutes! (in spanish!... dun dun dun.....) but I think/hope it went okay.

I´m living in a new apartment now. It´s not so close to the city center so it´s always kind of a trek to get around. The upside is that I´ve really been enjoying walking in the rain. My roomate it a kook. She´s funny though. She´s a professional runner in her mid-forties. The apartment is really cosy -- I feel super at home there already.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! (did I mention that already) HE WON!!!!

wow.

For Halloween we went out dancing...