Thursday, January 8, 2009

Choky Bok

1/9/09

            I feel like I got a lot accomplished today… even though I did wake up at like 12:30pm. When I got up I went into the kitchen to get some cereal and toast with nutella. I was getting out the cereal and Sandra asked me if I wanted milk, so I said yes, assuming she meant with my Choky Bok cereal that was in hand. So she gets out this carton of milk and starts pouring it into this coffee mug… but not really a coffee mug, more like one of those huge bowls with a handle on it. And she didn’t stop pouring, I kept telling her ‘esta bien, esta bien,” but she paid me no attention and filled this thing up to.the.brim. The milk carton is pretty small too so I’m pretty sure it was like half the carton. So then she puts the huge bowl in the microwave and starts heating it up (I gave up on trying to eat my Choky Bok at this point)… so she hands me this huge warm bowl of milk and puts sugar next to it and I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing with it because no human consumes this much milk in one sitting. Thea and I just looked at each other like ummm… so we waited until Sandra left the room, and I put my Choky Bok in the cup and ate it. The rest of the milk went to waste… which I felt bad about but I didn’t really know what to do with it. So that was the story of my breakfast… (Choky Bok by the way – looks like Cocoa Krispies – is not Cocoa Krispies – is pretty bad.)

Sandra took us on the metro to Plaza Catalunya so we could buy Spanish cell phones – we all got the same one (the cheapest one) for 19 Euros. Then she went back home and we walked to find the IES center where we will have all of our classes. We got a little turned around and called the center to help us find our way… turned out we had walked right past it. Dumb. But it is not very obvious, it is in a really busy area – the streets all split off into different streets and the road signs are all like browned and faded and placed on random buildings at the corners. I think everyone must pretty much just knows what the streets are. We got our class schedules out of our mailboxes… which we probably weren’t supposed to pick up until tomorrow at orientation but oh well, we’ll just be one step ahead of everyone else, I’m used to it. We asked about Thea’s bags, which got lost on the way to Spain but they still hadn’t arrived. Then we were getting hungry so we walked down to a tapas restaurant that was a few doors over and ate lunch there. Mmm mm it was good. We split chicken croquettes, a small spinach omelet and a sirloin skewer.

After lunch we decided to walk over to the other IES center to use the computer lab because we still don’t have wireless here. After that we wanted to walk around because we didn’t have to be back for dinner until 8:30pm. I AM glad I brought my winter jacket by the way, mother, because it’s only in the 30’s here, which Sandra says is unusual and it should get warmer soon. We walked down a pedestrian only walkway with tons of shops and tons of people. Eventually we happened upon Las Ramblas, which is a famous street here and decided to walk down it. We saw a lot of lights and colors coming from one section off Las Ramblas so we went to go check out and found the most amazing market I have ever seen. It really looked like something out of a fairytale – there were tons of colors because of the fresh fruits and vegetables that were piled everywhere. On one side of the walkway near the gate there were mounds of produce and on the other side there were mounds of chocolate covered everything and at the end of that section, piles and piles of gummy, fruity candy. It was like some sort of food utopia – really – the candy part is like what little kids (and regular type people who love candy) dream about. I will have to go back and take pictures because it was pretty amazing.

So then we made our way back home and Marta, who I have now discovered is our cook (awesome.) had dinner waiting for us. She made us some seasoned chicken and some baguette and a ton of cooked vegetables, it was pretty tasty (though Chessie is a vegetarian and only got to eat the veggies and bread. Poor.).

We talked for a little while and it turns out my roommates and I all share a love for the TV show Arrested Development. Bonding.

After dinner I decided to finish unpacking my room and getting organized. This is when I got a littttle homesick. I hung up a bunch of my pictures of my friends and family, it brightened up my room and my room looks pretty much great now. I also found two notes that my parents had stuck into my luggage before I left, they usually do that if I’m going away for a long time (or for a week to horse camp so…) I guess when they know I’m nervous. I was hoping I would get some. They sent me little notes of encouragement saying they were proud of me and would miss me, which were really sweet. I hung them up above my desk along with Scotty and her little sister’s letters. So I have a little wall of love going on. It’s almost 1am here so I really shouldn’t even be awake right now even though I am really not that tired, I have to be at the center at 9am tomorrow for my language orientation… eeshk.

Welp… see ya later.

1 comment:

  1. You are too cool now, Kel! Thanks for the link. We are so looking forward to following your adventures.

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