I've been trying to write a post about "home" for almost a week now ... and I've been trying to write about the Puerto Rico trip, without any luck. So for today, I'll tell you a little bit about my weekend.
I'm starting to settle into Spanish weekends. Weekends in Spain (especially in the summer) start in the early afternoon on Friday. By about 2 pm, almost everyone is out of the office. The official hours of the administrative staff here are 9-2.3 on Fridays (all year). During the summer those are the official hours for the entire week (and summer runs from early June 'til mid-September). Anyhow, everyone takes off early on Fridays. I had a terrible sinus headache, so I headed home around 3 (this should have been a warning sign for later on!!). My friend who hosts the Tuesday music nights was playing a concert in Irun (a town very close to the French border), so a bunch of us were heading there for dinner and the concert. I met up with my friends and rode in a car (other than a taxi) for the second time since arriving here. The drive was nice because it was dusk and the landscape is quite pretty. We got to Irun, and it was raining. Fortunately, I have learned the lesson that in the Basque Country you always need a sweater (because the temperature will drop 20 degrees) and an umbrella (because chances are it's going to rain). We tried to find a pintxos place and wandered into a bar that two of the Spanish people with us really liked. We had a drink and shared a very tiny sandwich, but they weren't serving any warm food. So we tried three other bars, none of which were serving food. It was getting colder and colder, so finally we asked if there was anywhere that was open. We ended up at a food court in a very strange mall. It was strange because there were two pintxos bars and a Burger King in the food court. The pintxos bars both had table service (weird for a pintxos bar and weird for a food court). Anyhow, we got our food and, though it was not very tasty, were happy to have any food. We headed to the concert, which was very good, and then headed home.
Saturday was full of errands - I did laundry for the first time since before Puerto Rico, which meant that nearly everything I have here was in the wash. I did some grocery shopping and tried to go to the yarn store, which changes its hours on a whim, so of course it wasn't open. I finally got functioning headphones, so now the sound doesn't go in and out in the right ear depending on how I move the cord. I managed to get a little work done and then headed out to my friend's house for some mojitos. It was really fun, and even though we were supposed to go to a concert that night too, I ended up heading home. My sinuses and allergies are slaying me this week. I'm hoping they calm down soon! I was supposed to go for a hike with some friends yesterday, but wasn't feeling very well.
Overall, it was a relaxing weekend. I'm settling in more and more to the ebb and flow of Spanish and English during conversations here. I can also tell I'm settling in because I'm starting to get more used to people. I know who I like to spend time with and who annoys me. I know where to go if I want to meet up with friends and which places to avoid. This weekend is another conference here. It's located at the same place as the first conference I went to the second day I was here. I'm excited to go back now that things have changed. I'm sure I'll be reflecting on how different things are (I am) since I arrived two months ago.
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