Day 3 - 10/9/10 - "No matter what the sun is doing today, I'm gonna shine!"



"No matter what the sun is doing today, I'm gonna shine."



On the southern coast rain is very rare. I guess today was one of those rare days. It’s Saturday, and it is pouring outside. Not only does the morning start out cloudy and rainy, but the entiiiiiiire day proceeds to be cloudy and rainy. Ana brings her father home for the day from the old people home. He has Alzheimer’s disease. She said that sometimes it’s so bad that he doesn’t even realize that she’s his daughter, but luckily today he was doing great. Nora and her mom made lunch. We had “pescaditos,” which are little fish that are so small that you can eat the entire thing, except for the head. We also had “puntillas,” which are really small calamari (squid). They taste a little different from calamari, but are still good. The dad/grandfather was funny. He told me to grab myself some bread at least 3 or 4 times. I don’t really eat that much bread so I would say no every time and every time he would say “but this girl doesn’t like bread?” Everyone in Spain eats bread, so he probably thinks I’m super weird. At one point he was really quiet so they asked him why he was so quiet. He said “el que come no habla,” “he who eats doesn’t speak.” Nora told me that he says this eeeeevery single time that he eats with them. It’s sad what diseases such as Alzheimer’s can do to a person and their family, but I have to go ahead and believe that days like these where they are their old selves, or at least close to it, are what give the rest of their family hope.

            Ana had made plans to meet up with some of her friends and Nora had also made plans to meet up with her friends that night. Ana (before I forget, she is in her 40s and her friends in their 50s) invited me to go into the city with her and her friends. I decided to tag along. Here I am getting used to the idea that I’m going out with people my parents’ age and then Ana comes in to tell me she has good news for me. One of her friends has a daughter who is 20 years old and the girl’s mom told her about me she said for me to go out with her and her friends instead because I would get bored with the older crowd. I, of course, accepted the offer very gratefully. J

            We all go out to eat- Ana, her friends, and the 20 year old, Paula. We went to this new restaurant in Malaga called diecinueve (19). It had a very modern look, was surprisingly good, and not too expensive. After that we went to another place, but Paula and I at this point decided to go meet up with her friends. We start out with a group of about 8 people. I knew I wouldn’t remember the names at first, but figured I’d have them by the end of the night. We get to the first bar called Edupa (which I’d never been to) and sit. Paula and I decided to go to the bar to get a drink. When we get back to the table there are about 5 more people. Oh jeez. More names to remember. Next thing I know, within the next 15 minutes the entire bar is full of people, all of which happen to be a part of this group of friends. Hooooly crap. There is no way I’m going to remember even a third of these peoples’ names. We ended the night in a discoteca called Anden. I’m pretty sure that I gave up at this point, but somehow still managed to remember a few peoples’ names. Of course Paula, the girl I was tagging along with; Jo Juan, who was the clown and most fun of the group; Ana, who was nice, but I didn’t trust her for some reason; Berta and Agatha, both of which were really nice, kind of quiet girls; Marina, who seemed cool, but we just didn’t cross paths enough to get to know each other; Alberto, Marina’s bf and the birthday boy of the night; Edu, who I don’t know anything about and don’t even know why I remember his name; and Lourdes, who was the last person I met, but probably one of the people I talked to the most the entire night. Overall it had been a pretty decent night, it wasn’t anything too special, but definitely a nice group of people that I wouldn’t mind going out with every once in awhile. It was nice just to be out in Malaga, since I studied there for 3 months I have a lot of good memories around the areas we went to. I just wish that the girls I studied abroad with in Malaga could have been there with me.