I am pretty happy this weekend is over because I have ate QUITE a lot of food over the last three days ha! Thursday started off the weekend well and I went to an 'American Party'. There is a bar here and each week they throw a theme party. You don't dress up or anything but they serve food and 
drinks and play music relative to thier theme. I was pretty curious to see what an Amerian party would consist of so I couldn't pass it up! Turns out it was old American music, cheeseburgers that were pretty yucky and Budweiser hahaha. Oh 
America! I did have a good time though! I invited my new American friend, Christine from Florida, out and we got a kick out of the whole thing. We ended up getting some free prizes for drinking the drink of the night, woo hoo American night. Best part of the night was the guy (non-American) who drew an American flag on his forehead...backwards ha! You can kind of see it in this picture - I tried to take a pic of him without being SO obvious! The other flag in green, red and white is the Basque Country flag (bandera). Eventhough Friday was Halloween and I would normally be out and dressed up, I didn't do anything here...tear. I didn't do much on Friday night but had a drink with Erika and we ordered Tortillas con Patatas, which is like a Spanish omlette with potatoes in it. It is a local speciality and every bar has it but I hadn't tried it yet. Erika insisted I try 
it! It was tasty and I am kind of craving another!
Saturday is another story...I was barely even home! It was gorgeous out and I decided to find a coffee bar and sit there all day doing Spanish homework. While walking to the coffee shop I ran into Adam, my co-worker and he said he was headed to my part of town for pintxos (Basque version of tapas, which are like individual appetizers). Pintxos, pronounced pinch-o's...like spaghetti-os but with the word pinch)
are VERY popular here. All the bars have plates and plates out of all different kinds of pintxos and they give you a plate and you put as many little pintxos on the plate and they keep track for you. Here is a pic of a pintxo bar in the Parte Vieja. At the end you say you're done and they tally it up and you pay...and it's normally so inexpensive (barato) you only have to pay a few euros! There are so many tasty ones and so when he asked if I would like to join him for some pintxos, I couldn't say no! Well...I didn't get any homework done because we just kept going from pintxo bar to pintxo bar, drinking wine and eating delicious pintxos! You order wine here by asking for a vino tinto (red wine), vino rosado (a blush) or vino blanco (white wine). I stuck with vino rosado most of the night and had such a wide variety of pintxos...croquetes (kind of like little deep-fried cheese balls with meats in them), lamb kabobs and even a thing that had a bunch of eggplant in it. When I ordered that one I didn't know what the Spanish word for eggplant was so I had no idea what I was getting myself into...but it was suprisingly tasty. Let's be honest, if I knew what it
was before I ate it I would probably not have tried it! We successfully ate pintxos and drank wine for about 10 hours...which seems to be the norm here in San Sebastian. It is really what people do on the weekend...walk around and eat and drink and visit with friends. It was great when more friends met up and we became a group going from place to place! I found one bar where you could write with chalk on the walls - so I sent some love to Washington! By the end of the night I was stuffed and pretty surprised with 
how much I had eaten...but I guess it was over like 10 hours hahaha.
Since I didn't do any homework (deberes) on Saturday I have been spending all day doing it today. I have also been writing report cards for the students I teach. We send then home each month, so I have been writing little comments like 'estudiante bueno' (good student), 'pone mucho interes por inglés' (has a lot of interest in english) and those sort of things. I guess the parents love to see what we have to say, but it feels so funny to write a report card!
On Friday morning, Christine showed me where the Red Cross was and I signed up for the free Spanish classes! I will now attend free classes weekdays from 9:15-11:15am which will be SO helpful! I will still keep my private lessons with Carmele just for the one-on-one attention and conversations but I am SO excited that I will be surrounded by Spanish now. It's going to be so helpful in learning quicker. I am pretty pumped about class tomorrow but also a little nervous! I am sure it will be fine. I spoke a little bit with the teachers when I went to sign up and was able to carry on an ok conversation. They of COURSE ask about John McCain and Barack Obama...as soon as you say you're American here, they also ask about them! Well, I should get back to preparing for the Spanish classes tomorrow...its going to be a lot! 2 hours in the morning and an hour and a half with Carmele in the afternoon - whew! I hope you had a great weekend and are getting ready for a good November!
Besos!
Amanda
drinks and play music relative to thier theme. I was pretty curious to see what an Amerian party would consist of so I couldn't pass it up! Turns out it was old American music, cheeseburgers that were pretty yucky and Budweiser hahaha. Oh 
America! I did have a good time though! I invited my new American friend, Christine from Florida, out and we got a kick out of the whole thing. We ended up getting some free prizes for drinking the drink of the night, woo hoo American night. Best part of the night was the guy (non-American) who drew an American flag on his forehead...backwards ha! You can kind of see it in this picture - I tried to take a pic of him without being SO obvious! The other flag in green, red and white is the Basque Country flag (bandera). Eventhough Friday was Halloween and I would normally be out and dressed up, I didn't do anything here...tear. I didn't do much on Friday night but had a drink with Erika and we ordered Tortillas con Patatas, which is like a Spanish omlette with potatoes in it. It is a local speciality and every bar has it but I hadn't tried it yet. Erika insisted I try 
it! It was tasty and I am kind of craving another! Saturday is another story...I was barely even home! It was gorgeous out and I decided to find a coffee bar and sit there all day doing Spanish homework. While walking to the coffee shop I ran into Adam, my co-worker and he said he was headed to my part of town for pintxos (Basque version of tapas, which are like individual appetizers). Pintxos, pronounced pinch-o's...like spaghetti-os but with the word pinch)
are VERY popular here. All the bars have plates and plates out of all different kinds of pintxos and they give you a plate and you put as many little pintxos on the plate and they keep track for you. Here is a pic of a pintxo bar in the Parte Vieja. At the end you say you're done and they tally it up and you pay...and it's normally so inexpensive (barato) you only have to pay a few euros! There are so many tasty ones and so when he asked if I would like to join him for some pintxos, I couldn't say no! Well...I didn't get any homework done because we just kept going from pintxo bar to pintxo bar, drinking wine and eating delicious pintxos! You order wine here by asking for a vino tinto (red wine), vino rosado (a blush) or vino blanco (white wine). I stuck with vino rosado most of the night and had such a wide variety of pintxos...croquetes (kind of like little deep-fried cheese balls with meats in them), lamb kabobs and even a thing that had a bunch of eggplant in it. When I ordered that one I didn't know what the Spanish word for eggplant was so I had no idea what I was getting myself into...but it was suprisingly tasty. Let's be honest, if I knew what it
was before I ate it I would probably not have tried it! We successfully ate pintxos and drank wine for about 10 hours...which seems to be the norm here in San Sebastian. It is really what people do on the weekend...walk around and eat and drink and visit with friends. It was great when more friends met up and we became a group going from place to place! I found one bar where you could write with chalk on the walls - so I sent some love to Washington! By the end of the night I was stuffed and pretty surprised with 
how much I had eaten...but I guess it was over like 10 hours hahaha. Since I didn't do any homework (deberes) on Saturday I have been spending all day doing it today. I have also been writing report cards for the students I teach. We send then home each month, so I have been writing little comments like 'estudiante bueno' (good student), 'pone mucho interes por inglés' (has a lot of interest in english) and those sort of things. I guess the parents love to see what we have to say, but it feels so funny to write a report card!
On Friday morning, Christine showed me where the Red Cross was and I signed up for the free Spanish classes! I will now attend free classes weekdays from 9:15-11:15am which will be SO helpful! I will still keep my private lessons with Carmele just for the one-on-one attention and conversations but I am SO excited that I will be surrounded by Spanish now. It's going to be so helpful in learning quicker. I am pretty pumped about class tomorrow but also a little nervous! I am sure it will be fine. I spoke a little bit with the teachers when I went to sign up and was able to carry on an ok conversation. They of COURSE ask about John McCain and Barack Obama...as soon as you say you're American here, they also ask about them! Well, I should get back to preparing for the Spanish classes tomorrow...its going to be a lot! 2 hours in the morning and an hour and a half with Carmele in the afternoon - whew! I hope you had a great weekend and are getting ready for a good November!
Besos!
Amanda
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