Part Three: Cornstarch Crepes

One thing I often forget to write about is my time doing day-to-day things. These grand trips are definitely noteworthy, but they don’t comprise all of my time here. I go to class, I spend time with friends, and I try to learn new things about Granada. On a typical day I go to class, then go to my friends Samantha and Nicola’s apartment where we go up to the roof and lay out in the sun. I am already getting a good base tan and it’s not even April! I then go back home for lunch where I chat with Caroline and Nati and her daughter Elena if she’s around. Sometimes I have class right after lunch, which I hate, because that’s siesta time! Time to nap and lie around and let your food digest. I do always have a class in the morning and in the afternoon though, and then after my last class of the day I work out. Depending on the day I either go on a run along the river, which has a nice path that follows it out of the city where many people are running or riding their bikes, or I go to the gym. I actually joined a gym, called Gymnasio TNT, and I like to go to the Spinning class and the Body Pum (Body Pump in the US) class. All of them are taught in Spanish of course, and for some reason the Body Pum instructor always picks on me. She’s short, powerful, and definitely not Spanish. I don’t know where she is from, but she has blonde hair and blue eyes and although small I would not want to run into her in a dark alley. Classes are just like in the US, only instead of having a microphone to hear her over the music, she just yells or whistles. It’s only natural for me to be intimidated when she yells and points at me. I think I just stick out because I’m not only the tallest person in the class, but the whitest. Either way, my legs haven’t been this strong since I don’t know when.
I of course then have dinner later in the night, and depending on the night I either stay in do homework or I go out with friends to play volleyball, get ice cream, or any other fun local cultural things that are going on. Lately it’s been getting busier and busier and the weather is nice, so I always have something to do.  I'm also currently reading a Paolo Coehlo book, Once Minutos, which I really like. He is the author of The Alchemist,  and I have read him before but of course it was an English translation. He is from South America, so I am reading in his native tongue! I like that I can actually read a book and enjoy it, and also I can still pick up on his specific writing voice that I came to know in his translated book.

I’ve also discovered that while in the States I am allergy free, I have severe allergies here. All of the flowers and trees are budding and I have been in allergy hell with sore throat, sneezy runny nose, and itchy red eyes. I never understood how Sean could have such awful allergies in our family and the most anyone else has is hay fever. Well, while I don’t compare to Sean’s 80 something allergies, I have never been so miserable with allergies until now. Apparently I’m allergic to the flowers on the olive trees. Such a bizarre thing, but I will be happy when spring moves into summer.

To mark the first day of spring, Granada had a massive festival that consisted of a botellon. Botellon is the word for drinking in the streets. Drinking in the streets is illegal, but the town designated an area in which it is legal. This area is the parking lot of Hipercor, the Spanish Wal-Mart. People from all over Andalucia came to Granada for this massive botellon that started at 3 pm. Spaniards will make any excuse to party, but you know they mean business when they start a fiesta during siesta! I went with a few other girls, and it was probably one of the craziest things I have ever seen. I have never seen so many people in one place for the sole purpose of drinking. No bands, no DJ, no real source of entertainment at all except for the alcohol in their hands and the thousands of other people standing around them. I wish I had a picture to show the never-ending sea of heads. We ended up leaving by 8:30 pm and that was more than efficient. Spaniards party like there is no tomorrow. Well, actually, by the time they start the party it IS tomorrow. Nightlife in Spain doesn’t start until after midnight. Many bars and clubs don’t even open until midnight. While I am not strong enough to stay out until 7am, I have left the discotecas at 4am only to pass the people who have just arrived. This actually deters me from going out many nights because I get too tired before people even start going out.

There have been a few changes around the house this month. Frenchy went back to France and I now have my own room. I moved into the room she was using, and Caroline is in the room we used to share. It’s really cute and has wall shelves and a tiny table and chair and a hat rack. It’s so cozy!

Before Mari left she showed me how to make crepes, French style! Of course I make gluten-free crepes and can’t do them exactly as she does because she normally uses beer in hers, but they work out just fine. For some reason corn flour is the only gluten-free alternative you can find here, but with the way she showed me how to make them it didn’t matter and they taste just like normal crepes! I was so happy she showed me how and I love having nutella, banana and strawberry crepes. One time I went to the store to find flour and I couldn’t find any different kinds other than wheat. And then I finally saw a box that said, “Harina Fina de Maiz.” Great, not only was it corn but it was fine flour, since the direct translation of the box was fine corn flour. I went home happy to start the crepe making and decided I was going to make a really big batch with six eggs. The first step of making the crepes is mixing the eggs and the flour until you get a really thick consistency. So here I am, pouring in this white powder, and sure enough it starts to get harder and harder to stir. But then when I stopped stirring the mixture looked thin again. That was when I got suspicious, so I started to try and stir really fast, but the mixture was too thick to do it, and then immediately looked liquid again once I stopped. I realized what was going on, and I punched the mixture and it didn’t even get any on my hand; it was like I hit plastic. My stomach sank as I realized I had used an entire box of cornstarch to make crepes and just wasted six eggs. I did a quick check online to make sure, but it was sadly true. With mixed feelings about wasting food but not wanting to eat straight starch, I threw out the mixture and had to buy new ingredients to start over again. Although Caroline says she would’ve made the same mistake, I felt like such a complete idiot.

The language mistakes never end though when you’re an amateur. Just last night I went out for drinks and tapas with Nicola, Sam and some Spanish friends, and I made a language mistake that made me the butt of all the jokes from the waiting staff. I asked for a glass of red wine and a cup of tap water, or “agua de grifo.” You have to specify tap water, because otherwise they give you a bottle and you have to pay. So I asked the waiter, “Puedo tener vino tinto y un vaso de agua grifa.”
“Cuidado!” he said, “Agua de grifo, no grifa. Grifa es chocolate.”
“Oh!” I said, because in Spain chocolate is street slang for marijuana. “No estamos en Amsterdam, si,” I said.
The rest of the night the waiting staff referred to me as marijuana girl and they occasionally stopped by just for the sake of teasing me.

But in good news, my Spanish is much better! As long as people are patient with me and help me with a few words here and there, I can have some nice conversations with people. I made friends with a Spanish professor at a different school in Granada, and he is great to practice talking with. We can talk about many different things and he can help me with words if I’m really stuck. When I find people I can actually have things to talk about with it is so nice to practice and realize how far I’ve come. I know that I’m not nearly as good as I would like, but there is a marked difference from when I first got here. Now I just have to prove that on my midterms this week…

My parents are flying into Madrid this Thursday and then taking a bus to Granada this Friday, and I am really excited to have them here! It will be fun to show them around and also for them to spend time in Europe. We are going to go to Palm Sunday at the Cathedral, go hiking, go to Arab Baths (which are amazing!), go to the beach, possibly go to Toledo, and just celebrate Semana Santa with the rest of Granada. It’s going to be a lot of fun and I hope jet lag doesn’t affect them too much. Kind of crazy to think they’re going to have to rely on me to get around! We’ll make sure to take lots of pictures and let everyone know how it goes. And I will try and write more blogs so I don’t have to do a trifecta of writing in one day! Uf!

Adios!



Me (and Jake in the background) during a bike tour in Sevilla. I wish I could ride a bike in Granada!