MY Bad

Hot damn, it's been a minute. Myyyy bad. It's not that I didn't want to write, I just couldn't think of a good way to sum everything up before going to tutoring, eating, coffee, drinks, my bed, or anywhere else that involved getting out of the frio of Casa 5. This may not be the most detailed way of doing it, but I'll try to sum up the last month and change in a nutshell...

In the past month, I have:

traveled to Huelva and Cordoba again, and Granada for the first time.
seen an old friend, and realized that I have one too many elderly friends,
visited the Alhambra twice,

walked into a gyspy cave in Sacramonte,
gone to El Rocio, the town of the dirt roads, to several house parties,
ripped off flowery branches from a park in Sevilla,
watched a plate of ham, cheese, and chorizo disappear,
played hooky from my job,
learned that cagalera means "the runs",
purchased a ripped a new pair of jeans,
purchased four, and returned two pairs of boots,
picked up a gift for my mom just because,
convinced a friend to download Skype,
cried for no apparent reason, or a combination of many,
saw a friend from Madrid by way of Boston in Granada,
damn near passed out riding a bike or walking uphill,
gone between understanding everything and nothing,
debated how much longer I can stand to be away from home,
had to actually pay for a couple of my drinks,
had three novios and talked to one too many scandalous old men,
shooed a really roughed up looking stray cat out of the house,
played with a cat in the Generalife gardens,
lost 20 euro,
stayed in a really nice hotel and a practically barren hostel,
run out of my favorite lip balm,
straightened my hair,
gotten a hair cut,
debated some of my character flaws,
waited close to a week for my clothes to dry on the roof,
gone on a couple of shopping sprees,
renewed my Skype subscription (thanks Steph!),
fought off a cold with home remedies until i finally gave up and went to the pharmacy,
diagnosed myself with conjunctivitis. twice. and subsequently visited the eye doctor... for free.
bought yet another bufanda,
started wearing less than two turtlenecks on a daily basis,
made a face or shared a laugh with a 3rd, 5th, or 6th grader,
heard a 3rd and 6th grader say "joder", and wondered how serious the word really is,
got officially broken up with for the first time but wasn't really sad about it,

went to Donana National Park on a school field trip,
stood in the shower in disbelief for a couple minutes,
gotten told off by an old woman in Triana,
gotten stared down by would be grandpas and grandmas and realized that I still resalta mucho,
realized that my time here may have already changed me,
fought and won against denial,
stayed up til the wee hours of the morning talking,
hoped my efforts at tutoring are at least somewhat fruitful,
gone to a traje de flamenca fashion show in La Palma,
called in a few favors to get back and forth from La Palma,
re-realized the wonderful world of flowers,
gotten really hopeful about spring,
made a real effort in the job search,
and had my first visitor give me motivation to travel.

Anyhow, I have pictures documenting most of my life from the past month, and I fully intend to post them... just as soon as I get an external hard drive, because I don't know if my computer can handle all the memory necessary to download and save hundreds of pictures. Once I get on the ball, I guarantee they'll be worth seeing. The beauty of digital is being able to erase all the mishap photos you took and only keeping the good ones. I might have even convinced myself I have some skills. Alas. I'll see what I can do about actually sharing those skills in a more public venue than just the camera. Hasta entonces...