Birthday Week 2014 (A really long post)

Last Saturday began what I named "Birthday Week 2014," starting with the birthday of my friend Diego. First of all, Friday was supposed to be a birthday dinner with all of his friends, but conveniently we all cancelled on him. Felt kinda bad about it, because I had to lie and say I was sick *cough cough*. But in the end it was the right thing to do, because we planned to kidnap him on Saturday after his basketball game. Aw yeah!

Five of us jogged into the gym wearing creepy white masks and toting plastic guns. At first the "leader" with the megaphone ran past our target. En fin, it wasn't perfectly executed. We tried to tie his hands and put a bag over his head, not realizing he was in a bad mood thanks to an awful referee. Some of the looks we got were priceless, although notably nobody did ANYTHING to stop us. He wasn't screaming or anything, but you would think somebody would say something. Guess we were pretty intimidating. From the game we took him to the center of town where he had to complete 6 tasks, including playing the guitar for money, drinking a disgusting vegetable smoothie, telling the story of Lugo's Roman Wall to a runner & someone in English, and dress as Sherlock Holmes, asking passersby if they'd seen his friend.

After the laughs, we split up as he was supposed to have dinner with 3 buddies. The second part of the surprise was that 10 of us came to dinner. Yay! This was followed by the usual night out.

Thursday as part of Birthday Week, we hosted an Olympic-themed game night. I told people to wear togas, but nobody listened. However we just happened to have enough sheets for everyone to wear one muahaha. Some might say it was cheesy, since I played the Olympic theme as people entered and handed them the "torch," but I enjoy themes! We did some Olympic trivia, a Jell-o eating contest, and a frozen t-shirt contest. Except the t-shirts weren't as frozen as they should've been so it was too easy. And we played our favorites--charades & the character game. Man, does charades bring out a competitive side to Lauren and I haha.

Los molones

Friday was nothing special. Saturday I woke up eager for my birthday brunch, except my friend who was going to make the chocolate chip pancakes was ill. And the only pancakes I can make are scrambled. Amazingly, Funny Fani saved the day and came with the pancake batter made, and took me to the supermarket where we got quite a selection of brunch foods. We tried to go for American things like bacon and sausage--well, instead of real sausage we had hot dogs haha, but it was a tasty spread, complete with Bellinis and Bloody Marys. Afterwards we played our classic games, and a wee bit of guitar.

After plenty of siesta time, we reconvened with more friends for a night out, to all of my favorite rock bars. First of all, Fani made me a birthday crown, and little matching bottle pins for everyone to wear. I was so excited! They also got me a framed picture of our cuadrilla (group of friends) and a Galician t-shirt. Feelin' the love! In one of the places they played "Cumpleaños Feliz" which made me even happier. And in another place that was empty they played Extremoduro just for meee, the birthday girl! Needless to say, it was a very memorable birthday. Even better than my 21st which I celebrated in Spain. And yesterday I even got to blow out the candles via videocall with my parents. Unfortunately I didn't get to eat the chocolate cupcakes.

Well I Guess This Is Growing Up

While working 12 hours per week in Spain is probably not described as a "real world job," I think I'm growing up. Or maybe it's just my upcoming birthday that's making me feel old.

Food
Today I took advantage of my random day off (every school gets to choose 2, and this was ours. Viva!) to prepare a lunch of breaded chicken and fries. Never have I ever...cooked chicken. And although it didn't turn out Michelin star-worthy, I was highly satisfied with the 'labor' I put into it. Buying the meat in the carnicería, breading it and frying it myself; buying a sack of potatoes in the frutería, cutting and frying them myself. Supposedly real Spaniards do this kind of thing on a daily basis. It only took 1 month into my New Year's Resolution for me to start. I hope to advance with my culinary attempts and perhaps one day say adiós to frozen croquetas-- NAHHHHH! I'll be content when I've mastered the tortilla española and some seafood.

Finances
Auxiliares de conversación (my official job title) are given a monthly stipend to take care of living expenses. In most autonomous communities, the payment starts months later, and reasonably so thanks to the state of Spain's economy. But luckily for us, Galicia is one of the most consistent and prompt when it comes to paying auxiliares. As of today, we still haven't received last month's money. Among the other auxiliares, madness ensues. But I'm going to toot my own horn, porque no tengo abuela (in Spanish the expression "don't have a grandma" is used to describe someone who brags about herself. Grandmas usually brag about their grandchildren, but if you have no grandma, you have to do it yourself). Wouldn't my parents be delighted (and surprised) to know that I'm fiscally responsible? That I have enough money for rent and food while others are ready to revolt against the Galician government?

With the cash-paying private English lessons on the side, it's easy not to need to withdraw. I happily haven't used my American accounts since early December. It's not that I'm rolling in the dough, I just have it under control. A ver si I feel so financially sound after my birthday/Carnival/Semana Santa...

Sneak peak of Birthday Week 2014 celebrations