Sick Week -> Birthday Weekend
Last week was one of the longest that I've had since moving to Spain...being sick and away from home is always tough. On Monday, the stomach bug that had spread like wildfire through the preschoolers finally caught me. I had just been thinking that I might be one of the few to escape when I started feeling pretty horrible. The first three days of the week were essentially a wash for me and I spent the rest trying to catch up!
That being said, it definitely could have been worse and I'm just so happy to be feeling 100% once again. I was so exhausted that my routine was thrown way off while I was recovering and it is nice to be back on track!
One of my few (and very mini) excursions from the past week was to take some sunset pictures of the Santander bay. They didn't all turn out how I was hoping (I still need figure out my moms camera), but I still think they capture the beauty of this part of the city better than my phone can. So, expect some more landscape pictures in future blogs!
In my downtime I did some planning with my parents to solidify the details for their upcoming trip to Spain! In contrast to our fall trip, we are swapping the walking shoes and hiking poles for bicycles, and the Picos de Europa for part of El Camino. I am so excited to see a new part of the country and to complete part of Vía de la Plata (from Salamanca to Santiago de Compostela) on bike. Fingers crossed for good weather!
To wrap up my work week my coworker and I had the five year old students draw themselves as pirates and it was one of the most adorable projects I have seen! They were so invested in their artwork and each one came out as unique as the artists themselves.
We now have pirate themed rosters for each class of preschoolers and I think they are the perfect addition to the hallway. I typically prefer to be in the classrooms with the older students, but its times like this that make me appreciate the littlest students so much :)
This past Sunday happened to be the birthday for both of my roommates: Lucí and Hada! They spent a majority of the weekend celebrating with friends, coworkers, and family but yesterday we did a little apartment celebration with some homemade brownies. Our friend Sarah and I sang "Happy Birthday" and they blew out the candles that were unfortunately dripping wax all over the brownies (spoiler alert: they were still delicious). I am very glad that we got to celebrate together and that they both had such fun-filled weekends.
In preparation for their birthday, my friend Anna and I got together Saturday to bake said brownies and have a fun night out on the town. We got some tortilla española and were feeling very Spanish with our wine and dinner combo. The two of us bar-hopped around Santander and had a great time even with forgetting our umbrellas and getting poured on the whole way home.
We ran into Hada and her friends at our last stop of the night, a bar called Lo que diga la rubia, and after some hellos and a tequila shot, Anna and I called it a night. I am truly unsure how Spanish people are able to stay out till all hours of the morning. I got home at 4:00 am and was the first of my roommates to make it to bed...just a different lifestyle here!
I kicked Sunday morning off with a run and call to Elena who had taken a solo weekend trip to the neighboring autonomous community of Asturias. We chatted about her travels and about the upcoming date for renewal in our program. As of now, she isn't fully decided on where she wants to be in Spain for the next year, but I am sure that she will have a wonderful experience wherever she ends up!
My friends Emma and Laura were hosting a Valentine's Day brunch Sunday afternoon so I headed over there after changing into my one pink shirt (turns out I own very little red/pink clothes). Thankfully, Emma had face paint and touched my face up with little red and pink hearts which definitely made my outfit feel more on theme.
There was a group of about 10 of us and everyone brought a dish so we had quite the spread! From homemade bagels to scrambled eggs to blueberry pancakes with hand-whipped whipped cream, we covered every brunch staple. We even had pre-bottled mimosas to round out our collection of brunch classics.
All in all it was a wonderful weekend especially after a week of not feeling great and not being able to spend time with my people. I'm really looking forward to this next weekend and the chance to celebrate Valentine's Day out at the bars with our group! Should be one for the books <3
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