Dos Meses in Nerja y me mucho gusto tambien - Two Months in Nerja and I still like it very much.

Well I am all nestled in my new flat and absolutely love it. It was fairly clean but as you all know me, I went over every inch of the place anyways. Some things just don´t change. I know how to use the gas stove now and it doesn´t scare me anymore ha ha. I laughed when I realized one burner is electric. My flat is fully furnished with a stocked kitchen. The sofa and chair in the livingroom are blue and I mean blue ugh! I had to cover them before I got sick ha ha. The front entrance has 2 lemon trees, a few plants and pots, a pretty welcoming view when I come home. Abraham said I can do anything with the front and back patio. There is a patio off the livingroom and it is lovely with colorful tiles 1/2 way up the walls, a white wrought iron table set, a clothes line and a few potted plants. I hope to add more colourful plants. The garden centres here sell such different plants, but I am sure I´ll figure out what will look nice for my place.

PICTURE TAKEN FROM
BALCÓN DE EUROPA

Abraham is my landlord who lives above me. He is a bit of a fussy person too so anytime I need anything done, he is right on it. I have a small boiler thingy that heats my water and I got a lesson on how to light it and change the butano canister, easy peazy. Abraham speaks 4 of 5 languages and so he is fluent in Spanish. Now is that handy or what! He teases me on my pronounciation and I think he gets a kick out of my Canadian accent. We happened to meet at the cafeteria around the corner from where we live on Sat. He has a ton of knowledge about Nerja as he's lived here for years and then he and I exchanged our 'stories'. We are going to get along fine and dandy, I can feel it.

I want to buy a few things for my new place to make it feel a bit more homey. I bought my first plant the other day and as I was on my way home, loaded down with packages Earla called me on my mobile. Boy was I ever surprised. First we had a good, both missing our sister and then we yapped as I walked all the way home, struggling with my many packages, it was pretty funny. Thank you Earla you had made my day.

I decided to take some time off school as I was so busy learning and studying that it didn't leave me much time for practicing conversation. My vocab is pretty good but to remember them I need to use them regularly. I have my days free now and I have been trying to go out most nights with friends and talk as much spanish as I can. There is an excellent place I enjoy going to called the Tetera. It is a tea house with low comfy stools, a few covered benches, low lighting and mostly spanish people go there. I am trying more and more to speak the language and only clam up if they get going too fast. I can only say mas despacio por favor (more slowly please), so often ahah. Last night I went out with Yvonne and she has taken 12 weeks I think of Spanish and she can talk like nobody's business. I am hoping that will happen, she say it will because I´m so gung ho ahah. I am still writing out my 100 verbs in the 6 tenses that we have learned so far. I look at my books and memorize something each day, but everyone kepts saying "practice speaking" is how I will really learn. I will go back to school in June or so for about another 3 weeks. I want to get through Level B1 for sure and see how it goes after that.

Right this minute, as I am typing into my blog, there is a procession of a ton of people going down the street, a parade. It is Semana Santa week here and it is a huge thing for the Spanish. I got the whole low down and I think it is when Jesus is carried from the church near the Balcon de Europe down the streets to pick up Mary at another place where she is kept and then the next day he brings her back to the church for an overnighter and then today he takes her back. Of course all ages are involved. Little ninos dressed in white gowns with red capes, men in uniforms drumming, men carried the big platform with Jesus on top. I missed Mary though. It is all very interesting and kind of serious as there are 85% Catholics here in Nerja. And here I sit typing away, I should have gone outside to watch.

I had an wonderful, long conversation with Carol the other day. Thanks Carol for the talk and the laughs and hopefully you will still be coming at the beginning of April, soon after Lucy arrives. Carol will be the first person that will be visiting me from home and I have been keeping a mental note off all the places we will go to. So there won't be a minute wasted okay Carol? And a reminder, clothes shopping is not that great, but shoes, purses--mega choices. We could also go to El Engina, it is a mall in Valez-Málaga a half hour away. Whenever I say mall the Brits have a good laugh, again, must be my accent.

Juliet and Jenny had a girls night last weekend, out for dinner, drinks, cafés and then back to my place for the night. It was fun having my first sleepover guests. The next morning after yapping for hours over café con leches we went to a car boot sale that happens every Sunday. Then we ended up at Burianna Beach and had brunch in the sunshine at the Bitter and Twisted. I had the best ensalada since I arrived. Jenny has a little dog, Mia. She is the same size at Lucy and I just know they are going to get along fine since they have the same temperament.

So Earla and Chris are getting Lucy all prepared for her trip to Spain. She had her rabies and will be here roughly the first week in April. Who would have thought it would take so long for her to get here. But they are doing everything from their end to make it happen. I have a few friends, that will dog sit Lucy if Carol and I decide to take off and explore Spain and also when Earla and Sarah arrive.

Juliet's gym equipment arrived last week and I have been helping her a bit to get it ready for opening. She has the perfect location, the right size of space, brand new equipment, there is a pool only steps away and also a bar next door. We made flyers the other day and even spanish ones, had a big laugh figuring it out. Turns out we did all right except we got cuanda (when) and donde (where) mixed up and neither of us caught it before we printed them off. So another laugh. Soon Juliet will be a working girl, so we have been get out and about a lot before she is tied down. Yesterday we went an hour out of Nerja and shopped a bit for house stuff and clothes. It is warm here but the spanish are still in winter-mode. We only found a few spring tops and no capris. Yes, Sandy as you know a girl can never have enough capris ahah.

A few days ago we drove to Rincón de Victoria, I think about 40 minutes away. We walked the sea wall from one end to the other, then stopped for a few tinto veranos, yapped for a few hours and listened to the waves crash. What a lovely background sound! It is a resort town where spanish go for holidays. We hope to get back there in the summer and talk our faces off in spanish ahah.

Jóse, from the school has left for Mexico this week and he sold me (dirt cheap) a whole bunch of household things, his computer ect, which I so appreciated. I had my rolly cart and made a few trips back and forth. Jóse was a funny, interesting, healing kind of guy and we will all miss him. But he wants spanish emails from me and said anytime I want to visit in Playa del Carmen I am welcome. I said I want to be fluent (or at the very least be able to converse easier) before I venture anywhere.

I am going to to Telefonica to order my land line on Monday and who knows how long it will take for them to come out to install. Everyone here has a Telefonica story and not good ahah. I think Juliet's wins the prize though. She waited one month with no land line and about a 10 phone calls they still kept getting things mixed up or would even hang up on her. So wish me luck on being able to have my very own telephone and then I will be able to call home as often as I want.

ON MY WALK DOWN TO THE BEACH

The language barrier is a problem at times so us foreigners have to practice our patience. Kind of like me the other day. I bought a vacuum and then I realized it didn´t have the one part I really wanted. Trying to return it was a nightmare (funny one) especially when I could not find the correct words to explain in spanish what I needed to do. I finally remembered the right words (accent was probably all wrong as I was about to get flustered). So the spanish even have "light bulb" moments after about 15 minutes, trying to speak with 3 different sales people, 3 trips around the store I finally I got my 40 euros back. It was so funny. I could not imagine if it was a serious problem like.

Things I have learned, experienced and love about Nerja:
- a beautiful bowl of fresh lemons looks and smells pretty.
- I love the avocados - super tasty and I finally know how to pick the good ones out.
- door handles are in the centre of outside doors
- drivers are very respectfully of pedestrians
- there is only one set of street lights in town
- to go shopping with a list can take days and days to find everything (again patience is needed ha)
- texting friends in spanish takes forever, but it is fun and very good practice
- -always have a spare butano canister or you end up with a few days of cold showers, ugh!!!
- an employee does not pay taxes, the employer pays for their national health and taxes
- no tax on anything purchased in Spain
- talking with a spanish person forces one to also speak spanish, with a little bit of the game Sherades involved at times)
- haircuts / highlights are pricey but worth every penny
- vacuums are not used much, but brooms are sold everywhere
- clothes dry on the line lickety-split in the shade
- a person needs to wear a hat in a rag top sports car. I don't know what is worse...the messy look or the flat hair look ahah. I looked like a scarecrow the other day and you girls would have had a good laugh, I know I did ahah.
- I can pick a tourist out at a hundred paces
- their calendars start their weeks on Mondays not like Sundays in Canada. No wonder I was confused a couple of days ahah
- cleaning the grout between a ba-zillion tiles is a very tedious job!!!
- listening to spanish music, listening to spanish grammar tapes, watching spanish tv, plus reading spanish newspapers all are helping me learn spanish. I finally understand that immersing oneself is really the way to go and love it.

I walked (4 kms) to one of the attractions here called Cuevas de Nerja. I met 5 other friends there and we had a great time going through the caves together. The staglites (or whatever those long column thingies are called) anyways, they are huge, all different, rough, and going different directions. It was a wonderful sight to see. I can't wait to take any of my company from Canada there. It turns out 2 young boys discovered the caves 40 years ago looking for bats.

I have many favourite parts of my day, but at the top of that list lately would be sitting on my patio, drinking my café con leche, contemplating my life. Where I came from, where I am right now and I am now getting glimpses of where I might be later on. I am so lucky to be able to experience all of this and I know I will cherish this particular time where ever I end up.

Adios,,, until next time