5 Months in Nerja

It was very sad to let Sarah and Earla go home after such a great time together for two whole weeks. I was out of sorts for a few days and then got back into the swing with my Nerja life once again. It took me two weeks to organize, resize and send the ba-zillion pictures that we had all taken while my family was here. If you have Facebook, there are many more photos that you can see from our holiday together and the sites in Nerja and surrounding areas.

It feels definitely like summer here in Nerja, Spain. The days are so much longer. The sun rises over the Frigiliana mountains around 7 in the morning and sets behind Punta Lara at 10:30 in the evening. We have had a couple of cloudy days and it was a nice break from the sun. But if it is cloudy one day, we are guaranteed we will have sunshine for many days to follow. Kind of like our August back home in BC. Okay what have I been up to lately.....

My friend, Mark, who now owns All That Jass bar / restaurant had his grand opening at the end of May. Juliet and I reserved our seats and it was a fabulous night since we hadn't seen each other in a couple of weeks, lots of catching up to do. Her car, Slinky Jane, died and she doesn't get into Nerja as often. Anyways, the meal we so enjoyed was chicken curry and the tinto de veranos (red wine with Lemon Fanta) and cervezas were cold and tasty. The music was great even though it was English, but we perservered ahah. The newly painted walls, fancy table settings and chairs all looked lovely. It was a nice evening.

A few days later, the bar / restaurant next to Juliet's Gym, up in Punta Lara, put on a BBQ and Fashion Show as a fundraiser for CAS (dog & cat rescue organization). This was also a fun afternoon / evening. A bunch of us girls met at Juliet's and sat together to watch the fashion show. After the BBQ, there was a few hours of Karaoke. No people, I did not get up to sing ahah. It was hilarious as some people put on quite a performance. I met a Swedish couple, Metta and Olf who have retired here to Nerja, and what an interesting couple. They are also learning Spanish which I think is so cool at their age. I had ridden Juliet's bike to her place which was not fun as the wind from the sea was directly on me, ugh. I was lucky enough to snag a ride home from a friend that was passing by Punta Lara. I was going to buy a bike to be able to get to Juliet's quicker, but after bucking a wind the whole way, I think not. I much perfer to walk and enjoy the scenery on the way. Juliet says there is a wind every day off the sea so that confirms my decision to not buy a bike ahha.

This week a few of us met at the Hotel Nerja Club as my friend, June was hired to sing for 3 hours on a stage next to the pool. It was terrific as she had quite a mixture of different songs. I ended up meeting 4 Canadians and it was wonderful to hear their accent. We all gushed about Canada. One day while June was cutting my hair in her shop, she put on a background CD and gave me a preview of her songs. I thought later, how many hairdressers will stop and belt out a song in the middle of cutting someones's hair. June has lived here 3 years and speaks excellent Spanish with no schooling, only a Spanish boyfriend ahah. I was having a homesick day shortly after Sarah and Earla left and what did June do.....she closed up her shop and she took me out for a 2 hour lunch at the beach near the Balcón. It was just what the doctor ordered!

My Spanish...I still make a point of getting out every day to speak with the locals. It is really easy to do with Lucy. Everyone asks if they can pet her and then I ask them ¿Hablas español? Do you speak Spanish? So then the practice begins for me and for some of the locals as well since it seems a lot of them know only a wee bit of English. I met an elderly women last week from Barcelona in the Orange Plaza. It is nice to speak with the elderly as they talk a bit slower. I noticed at that this particular Plaza there are many elderly men that meet every day to sit in the shade and visit. They are my next targets ahah. I still go to Playa el Salón to visit with Nielda and Rado. It is such good practice as Nielda knows very little English and Rado, the guy from Bolgaria, speaks both English and Spanish and helps us if we get stuck. Rado also works at Restaurante Holiday, on the way to the Balcón so we have a chit chat everytime I see him.

I am back going to Quorum Spanish School again for two one-hour private conversation lessons a week with my favourite profesor, Antonio. My first bit of homework was to write about my family from Canada and then in class we talk in a particular tense the whole lesson and it is wonderful. I have memorized the 8 different tense and their verb endings and it is now really sinking in when I can speak with Antonio as he corrects me when needed. Most people who I meet on my daily walks don't correct me if I make a mistake. It is like they don't mind at all if they get the gist of what I am trying to say. So I am glad I am back in school as I want to learn the correct way first and then use the local slang or different expressions later on. Juliet and I bought children's school workbooks and I am excited about starting it. And I am still meeting the group of women at the Pizzeria on the beach once a week, which is always interesting depending on what topics we talk about. Antonio suggested I write a notice to intercambio (exchange language) with a Spaniard. We would help each other with our own languages. Wed. nights a few of us meet at Juliet's to work on our Spanish together. We are at all different levels but we will help each other with what we know.

The tourists (holiday-makers is what they are called here) are flogging to Nerja now and if I feel the need to meet people or speak Spanish in the evenings, I head down to the main Plaza at the Balcón with Lucy. Meeting people from all over the world has sure opened my eyes to different cultures, hearing different accents, and places I might want to visit while I am over here in Europe. The other day, the cutest little elderly women in red shorts and a bright pink top, came up to us, sat down beside Lucy and petted her for about a half hour. All she kept saying to Lucy was "Luthy es muy guapa perra (Lucy is a very beautiful dog). I think the woman had a bit of dimensia, but it was so adorable how soft and gentle she was with Lucy. Just as I was wondering if I needed to find the women's family, her daughter came and thanked me profusely and off they went. That is when I should of had my camera with me.

The other night a few of us went on a tapas tour around town, something we have't done in ages. I ended up bartereing with a Moroccan fellow, Sam for a new watch (I cracked the face of mine), for over an hour, all in Spanish. It was great fun as we all joined in and learned some new vocab. I was so enthralled in speaking Spanish with Sam and my friends, that when I finally bought my watch and things quieted down, I noticed the watched didn't work. Well that started another whole conversation on how I needed a new battery from Sam. Okay, so now the watch looks good and is working lovley, I get up off my chair and I dropped the watch. Wouldn't you know it, I CRACKED the face of my new watch!! We all laughed our faces off on that one. Now Sam feels sorry for me and he wants me to pick out any other watch I want. I couldn't do that but promised next week we will meet again and I will buy another watch from him and hopefully we will have another good conversation together. Off Sam went laughing and we were pleased that we we could speak that long with a Spanish speaking person.

One morning Lucy and I went on our early morning jont down to the beach and on our way home we popped into a cafetéria where I ended up speaking with a woman, Vivian from Norway. We clicked right away and talked for hours. She has invited me to come and stay with her and see a bit of her country. How lovely is that! So I will keep in touch through email and hopefully one day I can go and visit Vivian. These types of experiences and people I absolutely love and don't want to forget. I wake up every morning, wondering two things: 1) which Nerja local will I practice my Spanish with today. 2) and what interesting people I will meet from different countries .

Friday night a few of us went to listen to Molino and his authentic Spanish music. It was a late night, so the next day I actually sat in a busy outdoor café (no one sits inside anymore), listening to music and people watched with Lucy for an hour. I never do that as I always have my nose in a Spanish book of some sort, learning. But it was so interesting as I made a note of how many people stopped to pet Lucy. I ended up chatting with roughly 15 different people. So much for my vegging-out alone time.

Things I have learned, experienced and love about Nerja:

• It is not a good idea to play beach volleyball in the middle of the day. We played against 4 young kids from England and ended up winning but sweated buckets. Next time, wait for the evening to partake in volleyball.
• Swimming in the Mediterrean Sea is a heavenly. It is warm, clean and so much fun to play in the waves.
• Learning about how waves (on the Internet) are formed is quite complicated. What you don't see happening under water is very interesting.
  
• I have seen the holiday-makers here in Nerja wear the funniest get-ups. And it isn't cool for men to walk around town without a shirt on.
  
• I decided that there are 3 different types of sun loving foreigners - red, pink or leathery looking.
• Spending a few euros for my new (broken) watch was money well spent and the best Spanish practice ever.
• Dogs in Europe need to have a micro-chip and their very own passport to travel anywhere. Lucy has both now.
• Having pedicures with Lorena is also the best Spanish practice as she only knows about 5 English words.
• The Spanish are very loud and at first, I thought they were arguing with each other, not the case, just very expressive and boisturous.
  
• The simpliest words in English are sometimes hard for me to remember, and we won't even talk about how bad my English spelling is becoming.
  
• Siestas are very important to the Spanish (and to me as well). It gets you out of the hot mid-day sun and eat your big meal of the day. Lunch is around 9 pm for me.
  
• Having company from Canada is wonderful. It brings me back to my first few days in Nerja - touring around to my special local places to visit.
• Lucy opens the door for me to meet people from all over the world, but not helpful when I want to be alone in a crowd.
• Reading about the Franco era is very interesting and it gives a sense of what Spain was like before they became part of the European Union.
• I love Spanish school. I love learning.
  
• I enjoy the variety of my Spanish speaking friends. A lot of learning with many laughs.
  
• Using 30 sunblock is a necessity before I ever leave my flat. I don't want to become red, pink or leathery ahah.
• At the beaches, children play naked, women are topless, & older men wear Speedos (now that still scares me ahah)
• Hitting Burianna Beach early in the morning means Lucy gets thrown one fish from the men who have just brought in their daily catch.
• It is fun to give directions to the holiday-makers as they study their Nerja map in total confusion. I also enjoy suggesting the local (non-touristy) places to visit when they aren't frying on the beaches.
• Dog loving restaurants / cafetérias automatically bring Lucy a dish of water before they take my order.
• Never having my camera with me when something special happens is not good.
• Buying a full fold-out Europe map to hang on my wall beside my Spain map is not possible in Nerja. I have many places highlighted for future traveling.
• Oranges are cheap to buy as they are grown up the coast in Valencia. I make o.j. every morning, mmm so tasty.
• Saying goodbye to my daughter and sister was extremely hard, but knowing that we can talk on the telephone weekly for hours helps.

Well folks that is all I have to say today. I always have quite a time trying not to make my blog entries so long, as you all must have noticed by now ahaha. I can't help it, as I use my blog as kind of a journal for myself.

My next entry will be about Nerja's San Juan Fiesta. It is a four-day event that started this weekend.
Adios for now. xox