Para reencontrar el bueno, levántate de tu culo mujer.

To find the good again, get up off your butt woman.

This morning I woke up with an unusually high level of optimism. Saturdays tend to be the most boring day of the week. We sit around and eat, and go out or walk around in the afternoon/ night if we haven’t gone somewhere for the weekend. All three of the other international girls are on trips this weekend. And my host family is going to the wedding of Alejandro’s niece. So they are busy preparing for the wedding and aren’t in the house today. So I knew today I was going to be flying solo for the most part. But thats totally okay with me because I get the tv to myself tonight!!!

When I woke up, I didn’t have very many plans, but I got dressed and headed out for a walk. I’ve never walked north of my house, just because everything is located to the south. So I took the road back just to get out of the house for a while.

There is a lovely little building with a fountain and a gorgeous tree. It’s super close to my house. There is a playground and some benches that are covered with shade from the tresses around.

Cup of Noodles

I found a ‘Chinese’ grocery store, its really like Thai, Chinese and Japanese but who is getting specific. They had everything from mochi, sake, sriracha sauce, and top ramen. And right next door is a Chinese restaurant with very reasonable prices and sweet and sour chicken and spring rolls. YUM

I followed the same street down and crossed a church that was having a wedding today. It was right in a little square, super cute.

I loveeee olives

The street turned into an alley of sorts, with candy shops, bars, art stores and everything else you can think of, until I ran into the Setas. My cuisine teacher told us about a market that happens under the Setas every day; I hadn’t seen it yet so I ventured in. Similar to the Market of Triana, there is jam, all types of meat, cheeses, spices, olives, fruits, vegetables and random stuff. 

I’m not sure if its because I grew up in the PNW, or because I went to Central Market frequently, but I LOVE looking at dead fish, clams and snails and octopus, like any sea animal on ice, I’m there.

Snails!

They also had pig and every single piece of the pig you could imagine. Such as pig tongue, brains, feet, heart, ears, blood, liver, lungs, oh yeah AND AN ENITRE PIG HEAD.

Brains, right next to the tongues and hearts. 

who wants a lucky pig foot?

This little piggy made it all the way to the market...

And rabbits and ducks…. Like fur and everything. Well those were a little more I’m not sure those are my favorites, especially since the ducks were so cute still.

Next weekend we are off to Mérida, Cáceres and Trujillo. Mérida is the capital of Extremadura, which is the province just north of Andalucia. There is a Roman theather there that is very well preserved. Cáceres is in Extremadura as well. It is a walled city located just north of Mérida, and it is a World Heritage City. Trujillo is located within the province of Cáceres in Extremadura.  It is famous for its monuments and considered a premier resort in Extremadura.

Then we have just three short days of classes and we leave for Paris that next Thursday! We’ve got our list of places to go, and we are working on an schedule for each day there. There is a World chocolate fair the same weekend we are in Paris, we're buying tickets tomorrow!  I’m also looking forward to seeing all the super famous monuments, the museums and just being in Paris. I have a lot of things to be excited about in the coming weeks, and although I'm getting over a rough patch, the only thing I can do is get up off my butt and stop feeling sorry for myself, and start getting excited about my amazing adventures to come. All my love xoxoxox