Christiane's Clamor's: El Fin de Semana Con Clara! ^^

I’m actually going to be on top of my game for once and write not but one, but two whole blogs in a single week! Whoa! In all honesty, my body just to decided to be an insomniac, so I’m currently starting this blog at approximately 6 AM in the morning.

I wanted to give the events in this post some special attention because of how much fun I had. As mentioned in my previous blog (which I’m sure you all read with vigorous enthusiasm), I recently had been in contact with our classmate from Biomechanics class, Clara, a bit more. She is very hard-core into triathlons, so while we were at coffee the other day, I told her that I wanted to watch one of her competitions if I could. Well, it just so happened that this past weekend (May 14ish) she was going to have one near her home, which was near Malaga. After figuring out my plans, I asked her if it was still okay if I came along for the weekend. My inquiries were met with a resounding, “Claro que sí!!!!!” Mind you, plans weren’t finalized until Wednesday (obviously), so I packed my bags that night, met Clara after class on Thursday and away we went! Since she had a car, we were able to drive ourselves and arrive in around 1 hour and 15 minutes. We chatted the entire way there, in both English and Spanish, getting to know a little more about each other with each minute that passed. She lives in a town called Mezquitilla which is about 35 minutes away from Malaga. I was beyond excited to get away for a while, experience a real Spanish home, work on my linguistic skills, and meet more people! When we arrived we were greeted by Clara’s dad and dog, Duna. We unloaded our things and I was given a tour of their beautiful home, one that they designed with the architectures themselves. While getting a tour of the house, I noticed they had a piano. I told them that I took lessons a long time ago so they asked me to play. Clara's sister had a little sheet music so I sat down and played for a bit. Man, did that feel good! Yes there definitely mistakes made, but I've realized that I'm just a happier person with music in my life so
getting to plunk out a few notes was very therapeutic for me. After checking our e-mails, we gave my mom a call at school to introduce her to Clara via phone—fun! Clara’s sister Berta, who is my age, was also home. She is studying to be a translator at the University of Malaga, so her English was quite good. The two girls and I sat around the kitchen table for a while and chatted over tea, hot chocolate drinks and galletas. Around 8 PM, Clara took me to a town nearby called Torre del Mar, which is located right on the beach and is frequented by a lot of Europeans during the summer season. It is a cute little place that has many local shops, pretty scenery, and of course, the ocean. As we walked, she bought me Orchata, a drink native to Spain. This beverage is a blend of a ground up chufa nut, water, sugar, and cinnamon ingredients that create a cold, smoothie textured drink! This was a mighty tasty treat and I got to watch the waves roll onto shore—what a memory. Keeping in tune with the real Spanish culture, we headed back around 10 PM to have dinner with her family. Her mom, Lucia, is a pediatrician in Torre del Mar so the late dinner hour, suits her job perfectly. We had some lasagna that her mom had made the day before, and I was glad to see that other families indulge in leftovers like mine does! It was so awesome to sit at the dinner table with them and just listen. They didn’t hesitate to include me in the conversation either, which made me feel welcome and at home.

We woke up the next morning and had a traditional Spanish breakfast: coffee with a tostada with real ground tomato paste and olive oil. Clara thought it was really funny that I filled almost my entire mug with actual coffee, leaving just a bit of room for a splash of milk. I told her that Jen and my dad drink their coffee without anything in it and she looked aghast. After breakfast, we got ready and headed out for a little sight-seeing. First we went to Nerja and got some pictures, then she took me to Frijiliana, which is a traditional looking Spanish pueblo (town). It was located on the mountainside, complete with all white houses and cobblestone streets which was quite breath-taking. We returned home for lunch with the family at about 2:30, which consisted of main course lasagna, always a side of baguette-like bread, and her parents had a small glass of red wine with each meal. This was followed by siesta-ing, and finally taking a short run on the beach in Torre del Mar. Despite the fact that her ‘slow jog’ was probably my race pace, I think I kept up alright. We came back and had dinner with the family again at 11:00 PM! Late!

Clara and I worked on each other's language throughout the weekend. We both carried a pocket sized notebook around wherever we went and were continuously writing down new phrases or words we were learning from each other!

Saturday morning I told Clara I wanted to return the favor for making me Spanish breakfast, so I made her a little omelet with veggies and toast! It seemed American enough to me. J Then we were off for more Spain sight-seeing, going to Madrid for the day with Clara’s sister Berta. We ate at a bocadillo (sandwich) place and walked around the city, seeing different things like the Malaga Cathedral, some Roman theatre ruins, the newly refurbished port of Malaga with its astounding architecture and interactive play park, and a Tetería, or tea/café stop. We returned home, laid on the beach for a bit, then came home and relaxed so Clara could get some rest for her competition the next morning.

Sunday was race day! We woke up and were getting ready to go to the competition, when one of Clara’s friends called her, telling her that her race, which she was told began at noon actually started at 10:30! We kicked into high gear, grabbed the equipment she needed, and hopped in the car for the 50 minute ride doing my make-up and drinking my coffee on the way. After arriving, in less than 50 minutes mind you, she had to quickly leave me to get all of her things set up for the race. So, I wandered around aimlessly until I found her Mom and we went to the beach side to get ready to be Clara’s very own paparazzi. The entire competition was soooooo cool! Seeing these women brave the waves (you like that rhyming?!), then continue to bike and run was beyond impressing. Doing a triathlon has definitely been put on my bucket list for life!

After the triathlon, we all went out to eat at one of their favorite restaurants in Torre del Mar. Clara ordered for me because I had no idea what I was doing and I got to taste some fantastic authentic
Spanish cuisine including sarichozo, and more names of differently prepared ham that I have no clue how to pronounce or spell. We got home, relaxed a little bit, then packed up our stuff to head on home. I was sad to see such a wonderful end-I truly had a blast! The ride home ended up taking twice
as long due to traffic, but we couldn't be bothered because we were jamming out to a Glee CD I made for her before we hit the road. Much to my utmost horror, she had never heard of Glee and as most of you
know, this just can't do if you are a part of my life! No worries, she's been 'Gleeked.'

If you hadn’t noticed by the crazy amount I have written in this post, I had a GREAT weekend with Clara. I am so glad to have met her and know she will be a friend of mine for life. She’s even thinking of coming to visit when I return in July…YAY!