a bridge and a bird

in order to keep some sort of regularity with this whole blog deal, here comes a fast re-cap of the past spanish week and the constant pattern of exploration and reward that is daily life. starting with last weekend: now, think like a spaniard and rationalize-- hmm, there is a holiday on tuesday for one saint or another, do we really need to go to school or work the monday before? it just doesn't make sense to have a weekend, enter reality for a day, then back to vacation. let's just call it a "puente" (bridge) and make monday the prep-fiesta day. hence, i had a phenomenal four day weekend filled with piso dinners, medieval festivals, rain appropriate activities, and drinking gallons of tea.

on sunday evening, my whole piso decided to invite some new friends, three guys from Morocco and one German over to the piso for dinner. despite the minute size of our kitchen all five us began chopping, sauteing, tasting, and singing to hilarious american classics to prepare for our guests. i seriously lucked out on the flat-mate front. all four of them are complete sweethearts (and great cooks). after make-shifting a table and collecting every chair in our house, our mini united nations sat in my living room: Moroccan, German, French, Belgium, and the token Californian friends (all speaking Spanish). it was simply fascinating. as conversation floated from politics, to religion, to pop culture, to spain, to history, it hit me how unique this life is and how much we have to learn from each other. also, that i need to brush up on my current world events and european history... it must be noted that the evening proceeded with a game of sheraids of famous people we all wrote on pieces of paper and stuck in a hat. who was most noted, but michael jackson and shakira. go figure.

here's a pic of a medieval festival Kristen and i stumbled upon. as dorky as it is, i love stuff like this. tons of vendors lined the plaza, funky music, huge tents of roasting meat and various food preparations, and prime people watching. naturally, i sat with my delicious pizza bread, chatted up the artsy vendors, and throughly enjoyed the little extra zest added to my day.

despite the greatly shortened week due to the blessed puente, it was tough heading back up the mountain Cartuja and more classes filled with confusion. luckily, i had the genius Andrew Bird to keep me going strong.
i can't even express how much i love this skinny man with his awkward speech, jerky 'dance' movements, and uncombed hair. after he kicked off his shoes and cleared his throat, he was ready to blow minds. the combination of violin, whistling, base, xylophone, improv drum beats, and singing (all made more epic with a loop machine)definitely left my mind blown. i had been lucky enough to see him perform twice in the states (henry, it just wasn't the same without you), but this was by far my favorite performance. plus, it made me realize how mesmerized i am by live music, whether it be a guitarist in a plaza or on stage--it is some sort of therapy.
that is probably far too much info once again. ah well, this is a learn as you go kind of art. ***must be noted that my other half, the vanilla to my chocolate, arrives tomorrow in Granada! julie streton, i'm anxiously awaiting your arrival!!!!