Happiness in a pita

Wednesdays are the "turning point" in the week. You´ve already lived through half of the week and there is only one more day of classes until the 3 day weekend.



Wednesdays are a good day.



They are made even better by the fact that Wednesday is my (s)chawarma day. See, every Wednesday our AHA group has a meeting so that we can go over any upcoming events, excursions, etc. The only time that is convenient for everyone´s schedule is 2:30pm on Weds. This presents a slight problem. The meeting falls right at the time when we would be heading home for lunch so instead, our madres pack us bocadillos (sandwiches) to take with us since we won´t make it back in time to eat. I have adopted this "free" lunch day, (the bocadillo usually disappears mid morning) as a time to go to my friendly neighborhood Kebab King (which happens to be right near the CLM) and indulge myself in one of the most delicious foods I have had while in Spain.

A (s)chawarma (there are a variety of spellings, some with "s" and some without) is basically a very thin pita filled with shredded cabbage, onions, grated carrots, corn, chopped bell pepper, tomato, lettuce, green olives, and a sour cream like sauce. That´s the basic idea but then there are (s)chawarmas with different added things-mushrooms, chicken, hummus, etc. My faves are falafel (yum!), amazing roasted chicken (double yum!) or, for the indesicive, falafel and chicken (the epitomy of delicious!). As I said, happiness in a pita. I can´t think of anything I would rather eat. I´m going to miss them when I get back to the States. By the way, I believe that this delicacy is of Turkish/Greek origin (yes, yes, I realize it´s not Spanish but I go easy on myself because I am eating it in Spain. It´s fabulous!

So yes, I look forward to Wednesdays as "(S)chawarma Day". A highlight of my week, if you will.



In other news, classes are now wrapping up their second week. I´m quite a fan of my schedule. Mondays and Wednesdays I don´t have class until 11:30 am and I end at 6:30 (I don´t go all the way through of course!) I just have 3 classes those days-Spanish civilization and culture, my grammar class, and History of America.

Tuesdays and Thursdays I don´t start until 1:15 pm (so late!) get back in time for lunch at 2:45 and then don´t have my other class until 5-6:30. My first class is Hispanic Literature and the second is Political System of the European Union, which has become my favorite class!

We only have class Monday-Thursday since our classes are 1.5 hours long. Fridays are free for us but if for some reason during the week, the professor has to cancel class, s/he reserves the right to convene a make-up class on Friday. They say that it doesn´t happen often, so for the most part we have 3 day weekends every weekend. How cool is that? I´m going to be spoiled when I come back to the American University system!

So yes, I now have a routine down and it´s quite nice. I´m finally feeling like I own my surroundings and am just constantly amazed at how quickly the time goes by. I am really loving it here.

This weekend the AHA group is going to the Alpujarras (a region in the mountains) on Sunday. That should be a neat day trip.

Today I went and bought a ticket to see a show in March during the 18th Annual International Tango Festival. I need to see how I´m going to be able to dance after my tango classes!

Oh yes! I am taking tango classes. How cool is that? Yes, the tango is really Argentinian and yes, I am in Spain, but that´s a minor detail... :0) I went for the first time on Saturday and it was amazing! I now know how to do the basic step and how to turn!

So yes, life is good. Each day just flies by and is filled with such interesting things to do and people to talk to. I am constantly amazed at how diverse this city is. So many students from different countries and all these different languages. I love it!

I went to a teteria (like a coffee shop, but for tea) in the Albycin today with a friend and tried mango tea. It was quite delicious. The decor was typical middle eastern and when we left, the waiter even gave us a card that had our names written in Arabic! Mine is pretty neat-much more artistic than "M-a-r-i-s-a".



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