I did get a cold because of the 30 degree temperature change from night and day but I've been told that's a very Spaniard thing to do so I feel better about it. Although it was terrible to run out of Kleenex brand tissues I found a pack of ten here for a euro and they're actually pretty soft and smell like Vicks! I'm finally able to breathe for real and I'm ready to do some exploring!
For the first time since I've been here I woke up at a decent time (8:15) and I feel like I'm going to do a lot today which is always the best feeling!
Oh let me tell you about Virginia--pronounced Beer-He-knee-ah (hopefully that makes sense....). But anyways she's the close to 60 year old women who started learning English in her late 50s!!! I mean amazing. I happened to be in ISA office with my roommate one afternoon and one of the staff asked us if we were interested in having a language exchange partner. This was one of the things I had planned to do during my time here in Spain so I jumped on this opportunity. The staff member proceeded to tell us that the woman was in here 50s in way that made me think this is a deterrent for most people but I just thought it was awesome that she wanted to practice her English. My roommate and I went together to meet with her two days later and let me just tell you this lady is amazing. She speaks English almost perfectly and only messes up with some sayings that are very much American English. And she is just beautiful. Think sophisticated European woman and that's her to a T. She dresses simply but with a lot of style and dies her hair a brilliant purplish red--She told me it's a powder that she gets from one the Arab shops you find as you walk up to the old moorish neighborhood. In all honesty I'm really jealous of the color and contemplating getting some of the powder she uses (Sorry Mom and Dad....) Anyways so that first evening we just sat and had a beer together--she wouldn't let us pay dang it! And she kept telling us how beautiful we were and how happy she was that we were there speaking with her.
She told us all about herself and walked us by where she lives and told us both that it's our home too now. She and her husband are both retired and her son and daughter both got married this past summer--in June and July. Her son lives in Madrid and her daughter lives in Granada. She's originally from Granada and was a teacher for most of her life. She is just amazing and has a view on life that I want to adopt. She told us she started to learn English and have a language exchange partner because, "Why not? I have time to do it and it's something I've always wanted so I'm just going to go for it. Life is short so enjoy it while you can." I love this! The entire time we were together she just kept telling us to enjoy everything. I made a comment about not wanting to eat a lot of sweets while I'm here and she goes 'Oh go ahead and do it! You're young and you can lose weight when you get back if you want to. Don't hold yourself back!" I've been letting myself do more of what I want and just enjoy this once in a lifetime trip. Below you can see the pastry I bought myself after class because I'd been eyeing them since I'd gotten to Granada.
But yeah so Virginia has been great and I ended up meeting up with her the next day on my own and she took me to see some absolutely beautiful churches here. We talked as we walked--her in English and me in Spanish. She's amazing about correcting my errors and I already feel like I'm improving ten fold just talking to her. She also told me that she's always here if I were to need help or anything which makes me feel great. I already love her and would want to just come back to visit her. She also told us that since emily and I both like shopping one day she'll take us shopping. She's really excited to show us her city and I can't wait to see all of it!
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