Since madre and fam spend July and August in their country home in La Rad, I stayed in my friend Cesar's apartment.
view from Cesar's balcony
Lucky for me, Cesar is the most OCD guy I’ve ever met so I knew I’d have clean sheets and towel. An added bonus was that I would be staying in the same place where Alex, Colleen, and I had enjoyed our first authentic Spanish pre-game...AND I was sleeping in Edu’s old room (SUPERGUAY!!!!) Ces cooked every meal for me and refused to let me do anything...even trying to pour my own water was a struggle at times. Only having brought him a small offering of homemade brownies was pretty embarrassing.
If ever I'm sad, I'm pulling out this picture...so rich!
After lunch and siestas had by all, Edu (who had just returned from a year in Germany) and his girlfriend Silvia came over and we spent over three hours catching up. Later on, Edu and Silvia came back over to pre-game...not leaving the apartment until 3:30am (this is what I mean by authentic Spanish pre-game). We spent the wee morning hours at Imprenta and Atahualpa and walked home to the sun coming up at 7:15 just like old times.
me and my chicos :)
Not waking up until the American lunch hour, I made my way to the bus station to change my ticket on account of Sunday's “huelga” (strike). After the Avanza employee assured me that my ticket for Madrid was still valid, I called madre to see if there was a bus from Salamanca to La Rad...maybe I could come eat Sunday lunch with them? When I told her I about my time constraint with my ticket back to Madrid on Sunday evening, she flipped----hija, that's not enough time! Just as before, madre made me change my bus ticket back to Madrid. As I headed BACK to the bus station, I tried hard not to look like a crazy woman laughing to myself in public.
Back at Cesar's for lunch and a much-needed siesta, I went for a long walk around La Plaza and the university, taking advantage of my last opportunity to shop with rebajas prices. Honestly though, it's probably a good thing I’m leaving so soon...not only do I have a problem, but all these purchases will have to make it back in my suitcase somehow.
On my way back to Cesar's, I picked up fruit at Carrefour in attempts to be a semi-helpful guest. Edu and Silvia came over again after dinner and we began the evening the same as the previous: pregame until 3:30, then Imprenta.
Edu, me, Silvia, Cesar
Afterwards, we hit a new bar for me called Pipers and walked home in the broad daylight around 8am:
Turning to say goodbye, I gave Edu a huge hug and started to tear up, which was really embarrassing considering no one else seemed as emotional as the stupid American girl.
Skipping out on another good nights sleep, I relished my two-hour nap before leaving to pick up pastries to bring to madre. I was minding my own business and scarfing down a breakfast danish on the street corner waiting for Isa to pick me up when a 40-something-year-old gentleman approaches me and asks if I am Marisol from blah-di-blah city? I really thought “no” would kind of wrap things up and he'd be on his way, but this soon evolved into a 15 minute convo about his life dream to travel to NY and get involved in the booming film business, etc. When he then asked me if I wanted to grab a coffee, I was thankful to have the "I have to meet a friend" excuse -- (again, we’re wrapping up here, right?) No. This led to him asking me if I had a Spanish phone-- and since I’m the worst liar on the face of the planet--- I found myself looking up my number and giving him the digits so that the next time I’m in Spain we can meet up….que vaaaa (yeah right).
In hopes to grab a coffee (by myself) at café del arte, I saw it was closed...oh Sundays in Spain! I turned to leave but when I saw the metal gate lifting halfway I waited to see if it would be opening after all. Next, my bartender emerged in the doorway. We made eye contact and he beckoned me inside for a coffee. When no lights or anything were being turned on and he made no effort to put on an apron or uniform of any kind, I realized they wouldn't be opening after all…I was just an exception J We talked for a while, exchanged emails, Spanish kissed and said bye until the next time.
By that time, Isa and Escoli were already waiting for me in front of my old apartment and we made the 20-minute drive to La Rad. Once there, I met many extended family members on the back porch. Didn't realize I was going to a family reunion! Their house is spacious and lovely...I now understand why they cherish their vacation time here so much.
Informing madre of my revised ticket back to Madrid, I found out that she had been thinking that I'd be staying with them until the next weekend. I guess I had told her that I had to go back on Saturday, but maybe had failed to mention "back to the STATES". She was so disappointed to find out I would only be there one night, saying she had been so excited about me spending the week with them. Oh my sweet sweet Ascence!
Escoli and I left soon after to walk one of her aunts home one street over. All the way, I awkwardly listened to the aunt talk about how depressing life is when you're old. Very uncharacteristic of me, I literally couldn't think of even one word to say. We took a slight detour on our way back and stopped by a local bar where Escoli treated me to a pinxot (small snack, like personal-sized tapas) of croquetas and canas (small beer). Back at the house, we changed into our bathing suits and hit the pool. Instead of concrete, the pool was surrounded by lush green grass and trees.
Lunch was madre's famous paella. Please for a moment try to imagine me sitting around a table feasting with eight raucous Spanish senior citizens. Seeing as I was an obvious foreigner and (besides Isa) the youngest by at least 50 years, I was given way too much attention and worse, often struggled to understand what they said. One of madre's sisters-in-laws even offered me her 35-year-old son's (who conveniently lived down the road) hand in marriage...still not sure how I got out of that one...
the largest paella known to mankind
As we were cleaning our plates of paella, madre urged us to eat up since she hadn't prepared a second course. This of course turned out to be one sick joke. Before I knew what was happening, Isa and Escoli were bringing out generous wedges of watermelon and honeydew, followed by ice-cream cake and a complimentary super strong liquor (they all thought it was HILARIOUS I couldn’t keep it down). But I'm still not finished. Next was cake Isa had brought back from her time in Galicia….and then of course my stupid pastries, which I had to refuse no fewer than seventeen times. This is so gross just writing about it gives me the gag reflex. I don't want to talk about this anymore.
In pain from lunch and only 12 hours of sleep total in the last 3 days, I retreated upstairs for a powerful nap, even sleeping through “las burras” (what Ascencion's sister secretly said to me of her obnoxious sisters-in-law) yelling curses during their massive card game on the front porch.
Escoli was anxious for a little escape and offered to take me to visit Jesus (my study abroad coordinator) and his family in their chalet nearby. On our way there, we met more of Escoli's extended family (their whole clan seems to be in La Rad!), who within five minutes of meeting had already invited me to come stay in their houses whenever I wanted.
Laura, me, Jesus, Elena
It was great seeing Jesus and we had a great time catching up and sharing updates about the program. As we turned to leave though, little Laura (Jesus' five-year-old daughter) started crying because we wouldn’t be going to the pool with her. So sad.
Almost as soon as Escoli and I had returned from our walk, people began filing out all at once. I gave Escoli a huge hug and Spanish kissed the others goodbye...until the next time.
Escoli and I
I sat on the porch with Ascencion’s older sister (one of her 10 siblings!) enjoying the cool evening air while she recited to me old monologues and prayers and told me funny stories from her childhood. What a fun sweet lady, I loved her! Soon, madre brought out fruit, cheese, bread, more pastries (!!!), and made me my favorite tortilla francesa just like she does (although I really could have survived on the day’s caloric intake for at least the next week).
Way too excited for bedtime, I hit the hay early and slept like a baby until late morning…it’s gonna take me a while to recooperate from two nights of zero sleep. I downed a quick breakfast with madre and her sister and as I left for Sal with Luis and Isa, madre handed me a bag lunch she had prepared for me. I told her I loved her and I’d see her again soon! I'm just praying that her health holds up since the poor woman now walks with a limp :(
All in all, this was a much better visit to Salamanca than the last time because I wasn’t so freaking nostalgic about every little thing. Instead, I was able to relax a bit and didn’t feel like I had to jam pack the sentimental activities as before...
Now I'm back in Madrid for my final three days of work. Home on Saturday!!!!!!
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