Patty's, Yoga, Mexican Food, and Cristina

Even though I've only been in Spain for a little over two weeks, it didn't take long to figure out that there is literally nothing to do on Sundays. Most of the restaurants are open, but everything else is closed so basically all you can do is go out to eat or go to church. Because I don't like to do either of those things, Sundays are usually pretty dull. This past Sunday, however, some of the people on my program discovered a bar called Patty's that's located near the CLM (Centro de Lenguas Modernas). Patty's is an Irish pub owned and bar-tended by Patty himself, who is actually from Ireland and has the accent to prove it. Patty has learned that if he plays American football games (an important distinction from European football aka soccer) on Sunday nights he can attract a lot of business from the American exchange students. I saw this first hand when I strolled into Patty's last Sunday to hang out and pretend like I watch and/or know anything about American football. It was actually really fun (the hanging out part, not the watching football part) and I have a feeling it wasn't the last time I'll go there.

On Monday, I had class in the morning as usual and cut my siesta short to try out a yoga class at one of the gyms the CEA staff showed us on the nightmare they called a sports tour. For some reason it didn't occur to me that the class would be in Spanish. I certainly haven't forgotten that I'm in Spain, but I guess I go to yoga so often at home that I forgot there was talking involved so you can imagine how shocking it was when the teacher walked in and started speaking. All I could think about was how glad I was that we had just reviewed body parts in my class at the CLM. I was able to keep up pretty well which was exciting, but the class was terrible and I didn't even break a sweat. The gym is also expensive and a 20 or 30 minute walk from my house so there is no way I would get a membership there. I'm glad I tried out the class though because it was certainly a good mental workout!

Tuesday night I met up with some friends for tapas at...wait for it...a Mexican restaurant. It is literally in the most random location. You walk down this alleyway off one of the main streets in the center of the city and all of sudden there it is. It's set up pretty much the same as the rest of the tapas bars except that every single decoration is Mexican themed. I don't think I have ever seen so many stereotypes crammed into such a small area. There were piñatas hanging from the ceiling, ponchos and sombreros tacked to the walls, and a bulletin board filled with head shots of famous Mexicans. They served us free tapas just like every other restaurant in Granada, but rather than traditional Spanish tapas, we were given mini tacos. The food wasn't half bad and probably would have been better if I had been able to get past the irony of being in a Mexican restaurant in Spain.

On Wednesday, Francisco's daughter, Cristina, and her fiance, whose name may or may not be Fran, came over for dinner. Cristina is from Francisco's first marriage (Aloana is his third wife). She's really, really nice, and her mother is Scottish so she's fluent in English and has a Scottish accent, making me like her even more. She recently got a job teaching English at an elementary school in Granada, which Francisco is ecstatic about because it's VERY difficult to find jobs in Spain right now. About 6 months ago Cristina found out that she has Chron's Disease and is allergic to about 16 different foods. Of course I was interrogating her about it because I think it's interesting and she didn't mind at all. We all love it when she comes over because she and her fiance are great with Ana Clara, nice to us, and it makes Francisco happy. I think Alicia, Francisco's other daughter, is coming over in the next few weeks so hopefully she'll be just as pleasant!