Málaga, Spain

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  Málaga, Andalusia, Spain and Canary Islands
Saturday, January 24, 2009

First of all I have to say I am in a rather bad mood, so that might reflect in my writing. Being more objective about the past days I have to say I enjoyed them (way) more than I am now bored and annoyed and impatient.

Wednesday, the 21th, I took the plane to Málaga, where I would stay in the house of Pablo, who used to be my Spanish teacher in the Netherlands and returned to Málaga some months ago.

An overview per day of what I´ve been doing:

21/1

Early in the morning, basically at night since I had to get up at 3.30 my Transavia plane flew me to Málaga, arriving at about 10. It is funny how immediately once I put myself on travelmode I become more tolerant and confident in my attitude towards all surrounding me (allthough I think I´ve already lost it by now but well). I thank God asked for a blanket in the plane and wrapped myself in it as well as putting my -10 gloves on, jacket and shawl. Most of what I did was thinking I could just as well be in Siberia, as cold as it was, trying to sleep but not actually sleeping since Transavia loves to make you buy stuff every 2 minutes bombarding the traveller with commercials and bad movies, and I cried. I cried during take off as well as touchdown, don´t know why but it were good cries.

Pablo then came pick me up at the airport and drove me directly to the university campus where he had to work that day. We first went to the secretary of the psychology faculty to gain some information about studying psychology in Málaga as a foreigner. I was happy to hear I didn´t need to pass any idioms test so all I´d basically had to prove were things I could for sure proof, such as certificate to enter university, ID etc, and this all transformed in a credencial from UNED, that would guarantee my acces. I then walked around a bit on the campus while Pablo did his interviews, got lost, got a map, and obviously again got lost. Overall I was very happy having arrived sano y salvo, making my pictures and videos and enjoying the reasonably good weather. (that is that is to say, it is not warm, neither cold and the sun is shining.)
I must say I didn´t really like the campus, but what else could I expect then a Spanish Uithof, a huge place packed with buildings of different studies, a lot of students, and no green except a lost palm tree here and there. I never wanted to study in a (big) city in the first place, but what choice do I have then to endure it the 5 years laying ahead of me; studies just do not happen away from people in a forlorn mountain hut in the middle of the wilderness. I supposed I could endure it though, as long as there would be a way of getting out of it daily, like a beach and a good park to sit in. I anyway was thankful for Pablo having brought me here, since it was an absolute necessity in my search for the right study in the right place.

After that we went to UNED for more information, to Pablo´s brother Alfonso where we got some mantas for me to sleep and at ´home´ Pablo cooked our lunch and showed me around nearby, brought me to a quiosco where I bought a Bono, giving me 10 busrides through the city, and afterwards I went to the supermarket to get some stuff since I wasn´t planning on looting Pablo´s fridge. I soon found out about all the things I would surely and heavily miss about the Netherlands:
- decent bread, as in slices of bread, as in the brown normal good bread we have in the Netherlands and use for breakfast. Nothing whatsoever, white bread, bread rolls, bread with all kind of addings to it that taste more like cake than like bread and sweet bread, all good and fine, but what am I supposed to eat for breakfast and how am I supposed to poo and not get horribly constipated if there is no bread? I can live without the chocolate flakes I usually have on my bread, but no bread at all is very scarce.
- So I got this genious idea of looking for cereals and yoghurt. Cereals no problem. Unfortunately, yoghurt was something not to be found. Yes, a whole bunch of tiny yoghurts with added sugar and fruit, but no decent 1l package of natural nothing added yoghurt. So no cereals. Even in the great shopping mall supermarket Pablo brought me to later I only found natural yoghurt in these tiny packages, that would mean you´d have to buy ten of them and empty two or three of them for a daily bowl of cereals and yoghurt. And I found a reasonably sized glass bottle of yoghurt for 3.60. I am sorry, but that ain´t gonna work. Funny how they do have huge 2l size shampoo and insecticides though.
The reason that I so extensively tell about this is because food next to sun and the people I love is my source of happiness. I love food, and I like to have the freedom of choice I have always had. Just one thing similar to bread would be enough to make me happy, even though in Holland there are tons of bread in all kinds and shapes, but well, I guess I ask too much.
I ended up buying a white bready something and a good fuet sausage to put on it, and of course some tiny yoghurts with addes sugar and fruits.

Afterwards, Pablo and his two roommates, or actually one roommates since the other one only seems to have interest for the television, talked until 2am when I finally laid down on my matrass in the living room and slept well until 4, when guess what, I was cold.

22/1

Since I am used to go to bed at 23-24h and then I´d be at home at ease, without having to trying really hard to understand all the Spanish and adapting to other people all the time, you can imagine I slept until 12. I then went to the center with the bonocard I had bought and basically just walked around here and there. First got to the information center to get info about the Alcazaba and more in specific, the nature park that I really thought to be in existence on my map, close to Málaga. The woman of the information center however referred me to the botanical garden after a lot of thinking when I asked for nature, and when I gave the suggestion of the park, she could only tell me that there was a bus 61 going there, only in the weekends, maybe. And I could try at this other information center, which I did obviously. The only thing they could tell me was they were supposed to have the map but they didn´t have it anymore and that I could go to a librería in this or that street to see if they could provide me with a map. Of course this bookshop didn´t have a map. Nobody here seems to know anything about this park, no routes, no maps, no info on the difficulty of the routes and if these routes are easy to follow, guided tours or transportation. Pablo loves to take me to a lot of fiestas and tapas but the park, it just seems like a grand mystery here while actually after the university, that and the beach are my most important objectives.
Anyway, I enjoyed my walk. The paseo del parque with its palm trees, fountains and overload of benches is really beautiful, however spoiled because of all the cars criss crossing surrounding it. I generally liked the city center, good shops, beautiful things to see, nice architecture, naranjos, palmeras and not easy to get lost in.

At home soon after Pablo brought me to a roundabout where some people had temporarily parked their car to meet and discuss about the oncoming birthdayparty of a friend of Pablo the next day, and to pay the money necessary. I finally said I´d come, so payed the money and stood there as always in Spain, smiling and trying to understand but not really understanding much of what is going on. Didn´t mind at all though, I am rather patient learning the language and can´t force miracles to happen.
Then after a large discussion at home about roommate´s -tv man-  Manuels habit of not participating in any household chore, Pablo went to eat tapas with me, at two places and finally we ate a crepe and drank tea in a tetería. I generally like the nightly atmosphere, and sitting at a terrace, eating stuff, it is always good and I adored the té Shai they served me in the last place.
At home I of course again was tired and needed to sleep so after some patient waiting of mine I at 1am mentioned my need for sleep and a matrass was laid down. Strangely enough, this, and the fact that I was in pijamas, switchin the light off and obviously trying to sleep, didn´t lead to Manuel switching off the television and go do something usefull in his own room. Since I didn´t want to be a bother I didn´t do much more than grumbling and putting ear thingies in my ear. I suppose I should have been but this is lack of assertivity is exactly the reason I am putting myself in this. It was the first time I was actually annoyed.

23/1

Woke up at 11. (after of course my regularly waking up at 4 to put on some socks and pack myself in blankets anew) Then had a beautiful beautiful wonderful time at the Alcazaba and the Gibralfaro. No idea about the history of these buildings, I didn´t put my eye on the exposition, I just loved walking there, going for all the corners, enjoying the beautiful sights and the reasonable silence compared to Málaga city center. It was like 22 degrees so every 10 meters or so I had to pull off another layer of clothes, but it made me happy to have such a day. I´d pretty much like to go up there every day wasn´t it that I had to pay 3.45 for a joint visit every single time. Pablo was surprised I had walked all the way up there since it really was quite far and quite a climb, and I knew there was a buss and a lift but I love a bit of walking, especially with views like that. It was the best experience so far.

After this, I still lacked a good lunch and a new fuet as well as mineral water I wanted to buy in the supermarket, because the Malagan water isn´t exactly tasteful. I had to wait for 15 minutes or so for it to open, meanwhile trying to both smile, as understand as be unapproachable for all the old Malagueñan ladies that just chat with every single person around. I actually love this open establishing of contact, but I dislike everytime having to say I don´t speak Spanish that well and not understanding what the fuck they´re saying to me. I can say ´No gracias´ when a strange woman also waiting for a bus offers me a caramelo and I can confirm it is bus 15 standing there when someone asks, but stories out of the blue, no. And I´d rather give the impression I am Spanish and I understand it all even if it isn´t true, I just want to blend in.
But well, finally got my fuet and mineral water as well as new yoghurts and a not so good something they call pizza that was probably filled with added bullshit and empty of anything my body could process into something useful. A sad thing though since I was in need of some vegetables, as well as I am today, when there was no lunch whatsoever and tapas bars only seem to know fish and meat, and fish and more fish, scary fish.

Then there was the party. I think it was about 22h when we finally went to a casa de campo right after a village, I believe called Cámpana. I sat in the car with roommate Fede, and asked him a lot of questions about his coming to Spain, since he was from Colombia. At the party there were about 20 people, that all individually kissed me two times on the cheeks, and really seemed more spontaneous and approachable than the Dutch. Only one seemed to get drunk, but I might have not stayed long enough to notice everyone else to get impolite and puking since I got so tired I ended up in a bed some hours later. I pretty much only talked to one girl, the girlfriend/wife of Alfonso, for the rest I tried to listen and was too tired as well as demotivated to try hard to be social. I never really understand anyway why parties cannot start at 5 and end at 2 maximum. It seems Spanish do not get tired, talking for hours in the middle of the night but they do during the day at siesta or any other hour. At 4 I was wakened to go to Alfonso´s place where I was put in another bed, and wakened up at 6.20 when I could finally put myself to rest in my ´own´ bed. I don´t know how people do it, even this way I am like a wreck the next day, but well I was definetely happy for the experience, being in a Spanish cumpleaños, having the best Spanish class there can be and just enjoying the fact I was in Spain amongst Spanish people.

24/1

The worst day so far and I hope the worst of the whole trip. The first or second day I said to Pablo I had enough to do just thinking and my mind would have me preoccupied sufficiently when he asked if I was bored, but today that didn´t really seem to apply. My thinking mainly led to a whole bunch of points of annoyance: my eagerness to go to the park and not having the possibility, the fact that television was on 7h straight, my demotivation to go to the center to do something else in stead, not having eaten any vegetables for the past 2 days, not having the interaction I needed at that point and not having any rest, place to be alone. Pablo and I went to another supermarket, further away as well as eating and drinking some in a bar where he ate caracoles, snails, and got somewhat pissed because I didn´t hide my disgust, well and that was it. Then he and a friend were supposed to go out and I was happy to have the place for myself, hoping Gregory would show up at skype (he´ll host me in Barcelona) as he didn´t so no interaction I needed so bad, and being set on explosive when after having written a few words Pablo and friend got back to watch football and talk admidst my typing. I got to the point of thinking this must be a day that can´t be saved anymore and I guess all this typing I now did, when they DID finally went to go out, didn´t save it. I don´t really think anything could have that I could have had control of. I just didn´t seem to have the things in my assets I needed today. I am just hoping I am in a better mood tomorrow, I´ll have my own room in the family where I am going to tomorrow, they are not going to serve mariscos all the time and I´ll have a nice time there. It´s time for a change. The fact that the house is supposed to be close to the beach does give me hope though. I enjoyed my stay at Pablo´s for the time being, but I don´t know how to get my space when there really is none.

25/1

Talking about space, I got space now. It is quite a change from a barrio with huge flats divided into little apartments to a rich neighbourhood with villas. When my bus stopped it was obvious this was the rich part of Málaga. It is also the best part to get in shape: I had to roll my trolley up a hill and up muchas escaleras before I arrived at my family´s home, sweaty and the original Dutch me: no patience, cursing and swearing at everything and still somewhat on explosion mode, since again I hadn´t slept my appropiate necessary hours, but arriving at the family made my explosion implode. These people must be immensely rich, I don´t know how many rooms and balconies they have, but quite a bit. I have my own room upstairs with even better, my own rather big balcony with view on Málaga and my own bathroom downstairs. (where the water pours down cold at times but I keep saying to myself that is good for my blood circulation)
The family was very welcoming, they first served me a salad with bread and I was thinking ´this is the lunch´ but no there came a huge plate of paella, like american portions. I thereby decided I wasn´t going to eat myself sick and would just eat until I was filled and so I did. I also made up a whole story about me being allergic to mariscos, sea food, I know, I´m a bad person haha, even when they asked if it wasn´t because I didn´t like mariscos I just told about getting red and everything after haven eaten a mixture of seafood some time before. Now I just hope they don´t accidentally serve me seafood, I eat it, they find out and I am not red and have to scratch my skin open, but well lets hope for the best.
At least I presented myself rather social, I asked quite some questions and engaged in conversations including with the two boys, one from Switserland, one from Holland, that are also staying at the family. The mother is very easy to talk to, she knows how to make up a story of 20 minutes based on the closed question ´Since how long have you been living here?´ I suppose that it is good for my Spanish anyhow. They also got a cute little dog by the way.

So after lunch I called my mom and walked around the neigbourhood, bought a bocata (bread something) and a psychology magazine. In the evening I even went to the introduction, where the direction basically tells you what you already know but well, I suppose it was right to go. After that I went straight to bed. The two other guys of course went on taking cerveza´s, and of course I again had to explain several times my no drinking alcohol and preferation for sleeping over drinking and getting more tired. It´s funny how often people don´t often hear what you´re saying. If I say ´I don´t drink alcohol´ and then ´I don´t like the taste of it´ people only seem to hear the first phrase and are so completely preoccupied with that first one frase that they start to ask questions like ´But have you never tried it?´ which I must obviously have done since I dislike the taste, but well.

26/1

Of course again I was cold tonight and I didn´t sleep too well because apparently there was some nervousness about the oncoming test, tour, flamenco, etc etc. At 8.30 all the students (I think there are about 60) went to take the entrance test, which decided on what group you´re on. I was scheduled in group intermedio B3, which is the highest level of intermediate, whereafter follows advances, I presume. I assume they must be right about this considering my horrible use of the indefinido and imperfecto as well as subjuntivo, but still I prefer to go a class higher. (actually there only was one class above mine) I still have some hope though since the test was only a global measurement and you are still free to change a class, if the professor agrees of course. We´ll see.

After the test we went on a tour through Málaga where I had to hold back to not spread my immense knowledge on the city gained the last days. At times I was translating the guide or giving him suggestions, soon I´d pretty much take over. We first went to the Gibralfaro, of which I already told and which I already saw, as well as pretty much everything else, but no importa, it was OK: Then I got my first class, which was fine, though I still prefer a level higher, because I assume a level higher the teacher speaks more quickly and I like it hard and realistic, since no Malagueño every goes on talking that slow and articulate, even if you ask. In the end I don´t want to learn official Spanish only, I want to learn the spoken Spanish with all the venga´s and me entiendes o no things included. I´m not sure if I´ll learn more in school or talking to the family and people on the streets, but we´ll see, I will learn anyway, whether it is by means of the school or my own. 

After class I had lunch again, I get really good food here, though pretty much only lunch because breakfast consists of bread overdate with a lot of chemicals in it and marmelade, that is it, and evening I have to fill my belly my own way. Lunch however is awesome.

Very soon after finally my sevillanas lessons. Another girl had now also started so we have classes together, with the two of us. I LOVE SEVILLANAS, I am going to practice it until I drop.Our teacher, a woman, is very nice and very good and I learned a lot. And I am going for flamenco class as a certain José Galvan this Wednesday. I think I´ll go every day except when there is a certain excursion I want to do.
And guess what, there is an excursion to THE MONTES de Málaga, where Ive been trying to go to all this time!! I had to change the flamenco class for it but that was no problem and I just really want to go there. I however do think it has not much use if I´d study in Málaga because if you can´t get there by other means than a car, what is the point. I don´t have one and I am not planning on buying one just for that and get myself an accident.
There is also another excursion I´d like to do but that is also when I have flamenco and I think then I´ll probably go to the flamenco, also because it is expensive and maybe I can do it on my own. And there are other things like cinema at times, a library I am going to check out soon, and evenings with flamenco etc. I think I´ll be fine here but I want to keep in contact with the Spanish people on an equal level like Pablo and not only have lessons from them, if you know what I mean.

I think that was it. I think I am also going to do salsa tomorrow and bellydancing monday (that will be 3 hours of dances a day :P). I know I am crazy but now I got the taste of it I get very motivated.

27/1

Well no salsa yesterday, I was too tired after the sevillanas. It went rather well, only at the end I forgot all the steps, but well, I guess that is because it is quite intensive having 4 hours of Spanish classes a day, in the morning, 2 hours of sevillanas classes and a lot of Spanish in between as well. After the classes I went to the library to do exercises on imperfecto/indefinido and the difference between para/por for some hours.
During lunch there was a discussion about the yoghurt that stood on the table opened but uneaten. I had bought little yoghurts for myself but it had an expiry date of the same day so I put two yoghurts on the plates of the other boys. The one guy however did not eat it but had opened it so now the woman blamed me for not having eaten my yoghurt. She kept saying I was the one who bought the yoghurt so I was the one who did not eat it. It took me quite some time to explain, more heated up every minute because I can´t stand people blaming me for things I didn´t do, that I had GIVEN the yoghurts to the other guys out of GENEROSITY and especially to not have to THROW AWAY the yoghurts since I couldn´t eat them all alone and that one guy hadn´t eaten it. I think she blamed me for it because I don´t always eat up all of the lunch but what do you expect? I can´t eat almost nothing in the morning, ALL in the afternoon and almost nothing in the evening, because that is how they eat there. Doesn´t work for me.
Still don´t know if she finally got it but she anyway put the yoghurt back into the fridge which is rather useless since I am not going to eat yoghurt that was only good until yesterday and that stood on the table opened and all for the whole morning and that somebody else took.
Generally though we get along fine.

In the evening I watched a film I had hired in the malaca instituto, El círculo polar, a movie I believe I had already seen but well it was OK.

28/1

Today I first had classes obviously about the subjuntivo. It was very very simple, yesterday was a class that was more useful to me. I was reading my psychologie magazine in between. The thing however is, I have knowledge in things the other students don´t have knowledge of and there are things that people usually learn in a lower level that I don´t apply correctly yet. Thus, it is hard to estimate my ´level´. Yesterday for instance there was a teacher that asked if we had had the ´futuro perfecto´ and the ´condicional perfecto´ and everyone said no expect for me. She said, why then are you in this class? I said, I know all the times in Spanish, including things liks hubiera sido, haya sido etc, but there are other things I do no know. And today another teacher asked the same but assuming the opposite: that I should be in a lower level because I didn´t know the word ´avería´, a word that apparently I should know. While I do know things like ´sobrevolar´ and ´alimiento´. You see, I never really fit in. However I enjoy whatever I am doing and I do fit in socially. The Russians want me to go with them to a village nearby (I´d love to but have flamenco), and we have fun saying ´doei´ and ´poka´ to each other. Having extra dance classes has its advantages and its disadvantages, but that is just the way it is.
By the way, I am generally late for my classes, I am always the one coming in 5-20 minutes too late. I don´t know what it is, but I just do everything on sense, I don´t look at the clock and for some reason I am not worried about coming in, eyes watching me and a mad teacher. I just usually make a joke at my entrance so everybody is laughing, sit down and participate immediately. Can you believe it? The girl that was always 15 minutes earlier and who would not come at all when she knew she´d be late because she was too scared?

Anyway, after lunch I will have flamenco classes of a man José Galvan in Málaga. I will go there by bus and I am really looking forward to it but I think I first go home and have a nap because my head still seems as full as yesterday. A Korean girl wanted to go to the beach with me, and I (again) would love to because I still haven´t been on the beach in Málaga but I just don´t have the time and in the evening I am too tired.

P.S. I usually write better writings, this is all quickly written because I am in a room with people talking of which some want to use the internet as well.
So, I went to my new flamenco teacher, and obviously was late, since there were obras everywhere and the bus was standing still more than driving. The class was estupendo. I didn´t understand anything about what he was saying because he spoke in Malageño, really fast and with a heavy accent, no matter my asking for a language I could understand, so I just followed what he was doing, which was hard but great. Most importantly I learned the compás of the buleria, a type of flamenco dance, as well as some movements included. I just loved it and now even start thinking about going for a flamenco school in Spain this spring if possible. I suppose it is not a very handy thing to do and I don´t know if it is possible but I still might do that.
When I came back I tried to skype with my mother which didn´t work and left me very frustrated and sad.

29/1

The classes again were extremely simple. I basically just had to conjugate the subjuntivo but only in the present tense and without the option of the indicativo, which comes down to a peace of cake and not the type of exercise I need. So obviously, afterwards I practiced a lot in the library, leaving me even more frustrated because I want to do it perfectly and it doesn´t seem I´ll ever learn it.
When I came home my ´mother´ had washed my clothes I gave to her for washing. It cost me 6 euro´s, which I think is expensive. Now she ironed and folded everything, including my underwear and socks! I guess you just start doing things like that when you don´t work outside the house for years and at some point you have got nothing better to do. Maybe next time I can ask her to not do ironing for less money since I never iron my clothes, especially not my underwear but I doubt if she could stand the thought of delivering unironed underwear.
After lunch of course I again had Sevillanas. I can now dance the first most simple Sevillanas and we started with the second one. Sometimes I am a bit annoyed though because the other girl in class needs so much time to learn all the steps while I already know how it works and the agreement was to have individual classes. Now I don´t mind to do it with another girl as long as the quality is of the same standard but if I have to wait half of the time or go practice on my own while the teacher is correcting her, that means it should be cheaper. However, Iris, that girl, already asked the payment department for a discount since we were 2 now but they didn´t give it to us.

30/1

Today the classes were of the level they should be, except obviously for the listening part, the way the teachers speak is far from reality so I´ll never learn to understand Spanish, especially not the Spanish spoken here. It now finally included some more theory about the use of the subjuntivo I can work with and I hope they continue on with that because it is what lacks my Spanish. I am however afraid there will be no imperfecto/indefinido explanations whatsoever, since these are group lessons with certain levels with certain things covered in certain levels that are certainly not coming back in certain other levels, so that is just a pity for me and I think I´ll probably just buy a book exclusively with exercises on this "!(SN"(W/&SG"/ imperfecto/indefinido in the spare hope I have I´ll ever learn it.

Anyway, again I studied in the library as usual, and soon there will be a free class of flamenco that I am going to join whereafter there is a movie displayed on flamenco that I am dying to see. The flamenco will of course be very simple I suppose and maybe boring but I suppose there should be something I can learn from and wherever I get the chance to learn this something, I will grab that opportunity.

P.S. I am starting to get a bit annoyed by all the teachers and family members who assume we young people all like going out and will probably go out today and this weekend because we have some days off. I have heard too many suggestions today about how I´d probably be and behave being 21.

After class, I just took a pillow, my jacket and a book and had a wonderful 1,5 hour lying down on the terrace in the sun. I then went to the free flamenco class at school that was offered as part of the activity programme. There was no one to be seen at the picasso salon where the dance classes take place. At 6 finally two women with a cd player showed up and went in. I asked if one of them was going to teach flamenco which was the case. It seemed I was the only one applying for this but hey, what is better than another individual class of flamenco, free of charge? So I got on my dress and shoes and walked onto the floor. It was a somewhat strange experience. The teacher didn´t say anything, didn´t present herself, basically just started to do all types of movements so I just presumed that was what I was supposed to be doing and so I tried. She did mention it was a tango I was going to learn. The other woman was reading the newspapers on a chair. My teacher, of whom I don´t know a single thing except that she teaches flamenco, basically rushed me more or less through a routine, doing a bit of everything of which none of that I really got to do right because we were like I said rushing through a routine that I suppose you usually learn in a number of classes, while she once in a while would get in between temperamentful and angry about my arm not being in the right place or my feet going in all directions except in the right one. I however let it all come over me and wasn´t bothered by it. Every chance to learn some new steps I can practice I find awesome and actually I already enjoy wearing that dress alone and stamp around with my tacones whether it be flamenco or my own interpretation of it.

After this there was a film displayed on the big screen in the salon here called ´Carmen´, a somewhat old but interesting (because of the flamenco) movie about a flamenco school and some sort of impossible romance growing between the director/teacher there and a student. I hurried to the local I don´t know how to call it store, where they sell a bit of everything, like pie and icecream and bread rolls, and bought a huge and very expensive bowl of icecream to accompany me at the film, then robbed a spoon at the café and hurried to a good chair in our ´cinema´ and plumped down on it. I am starting to get annoyed by my impossibility to keep my weight to a normal level lately. I eat chocolate and icecream and chips EVERYDAY and still I am like 52-53 kilograms and do not gain anything. I wish there would be a way to eat normal and HEALTHY without LOSING weight.
Anyhow that was day 30/1. I suppose I might have done some flamenco steps at home after the movies and gone to bed.

31/1

Today I woke up at 8.00 to eat my so desired once to be tried famous ´churros´ with ´chocolate´ in the center of Málaga. Many Spaniards, so they say, eat them as a breakfast in the morning. Churros are long rolls of dough with or without chocolate. I had asked several people about places to get them since not every bar or café sells them and got two suggestions so went to buy churros at both places, hehe. And then icecream at another place, as if that wasn´t enough breakfast. I like icecream and shitty food like churros but I really am sick of filling myself with that to prevent losing weight and preferably to gain some which seems to be impossible. I am starting to feel unhealthy. I mean, at work in the UMC I had weeks in which I ate french fries 4 times a week! And still I am 52 kg.
But anyway, after that I bought some cards to send to some people home, really pretty, and then took the bus to my flamenco class, which was just as strange as the flamenco class at school. We had agreed on 11.30 but when ,I for a change, was on time, still all the stores and houses were locked and had their gates down. I knew the plaza where the flamenco school was located, however of course forgot the number of the place and didn´t recognise it through all the gates so I just sat down at a bench in the playgarden close to it and read my magazine. I don´t know at what time (I don´t look at my watch that I don´t have so much anymore since I am here), maybe 11.50 or so, my teacher José showed up in a car and parked it. He is the most Malagueño I have seen so far. When I am 15 min late he doesn´t mention anything, he shows up 20 min late like it is the most normal thing to do and just says ´hi´. Even stranger is that I am so OK with that. I could just have well left before, but considered going to the tetería (place where they serve all kinds of tea) if it opened at some time. I didn´t regret not having left, because the lesson was again extremely inspirational. I now want to do flamenco all day. Well that is exaggerated, the shoes hurt on my feet after 1h but I would really like to have a class each day. This time I could already understand a bit more of what he was saying and I learned a lot of steps from the bulería and actually looked quite professional doing the whole routine. He also gave me the CD for free, with the music, so I could practice at home and listen to compases of 12 counts. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12. (that I now pronounce as Malagueño as possible, un do tré cuatro cinco sei siete ocho nueve die un do.)
If I come to live in Málaga I will sure continue my lessons and very likely with him because he offers lessons very cheap in comparison to all the other schools and the classes are very good though a bit far of the center.

After my flamenco class I went home and hurried up to be time for lunch. I met the one Korean girl that still liked to go to the beach with me and I agreed to meet her at 4, right after lunch. While I was butchering my fish and trying to butcher it as bad as I could so I didn´t have to eat all of it, I already regret having agreed on going at 4, since I was very tired and then had to go immediately after lunch. However I grabbed myself together, took my stuff and waited for a little 10 minutes. No one showed up, I was happy for it because in the end I prefer to be alone, and went to the beach, for the first time. And got somewhat desillusioned. Maybe I shouldn´t have expect more since everyone, except people from Málaga, had already told me that the Málaga beaches were not that pretty, but still. I wonder where you´re supposed to lay down your towel: either on the rocks and stones or on the dirt people throw up there, or a combination of it. It seems like you have to take a spade with you to first clean the spot you chose to lie down on, then straw down some sand and put your towel on it. I find it so disrespectful to nature and especially to the sea to throw it all there.
So, I still have to go to the center one of the next days and to the playa la malagueta of which they say it is quite a good beach of Málaga.

After the beach I did some supermarket shopping. When the woman said it was 18 euros (I had expected less but forgot that I had bought batteries as well), I said ´un momento´ and had to loosen my money belt to produce a 50 euro billete. They looked at me rather strange, which was to be expected of course, and I turned somewhat red, but mentioned something like security and the woman at the counter started a rapid Malageñan story on her ways of keeping things secure, of which I didn´t understand a word, but I just nodded yes and paid.
At home I fell down on my bed and didn´t change my lying position for the next 2-3 hours. I feel and felt a bit sick. Sick when I think about the fish I ate today, but also like my intestines are somewhat rebellious for the bad white cakybread I eat here and the lack of normal Dutch food. The past days I also miss a good portion of vegetables in my lunch so I bought carrots and mandarines and am planning on eating a lot of them because I feel my health is going down at the moment.

And then at 21 I went to the school to use the internet and now I am still waiting for the Russian woman to finish her extremely long story in Russian on the other computer which has skype. I admire her stamina though, she is typing so slow because she uses the keyboard as if it were Russian, which it isn´t, probably with some programme that offers the option of using a Spanish keyboard as if it was Cyrillian, but of course this mixes up the writing.
I´d get frustrated and wait until I got home or buy a Cyrillic keyboard but well.

Which of course wasn´t of much use since it was too late, mom was unreachable and no one was online.

1/2

A day almost as fucked up as the third day in Spain. It is Sunday and Sunday equals prison and boredom and frustration, for of course everything is CLOSED, including the library where I was wanting to study today, the only day I actually have TIME to study and have NOTHING to do, it is RAINING and I can´t think of anything useful to do with my time. I am also annoyed by Margot, the mother of the household because she thinks she knows everything better. This morning I had to wait 10 minutes in the shower, my hair all in the shampoo, for the water to get back warm again since it got to freezing temperature all of a sudden. I already had a discussion about this with Margot the other day, when I also had to wait a long time, but she keeps saying I am probably not adjusting the tap correctly as if I am retarded and haven´t tried adjusting the tap.
I already mentioned about her ironing and folding my underwear, well there is more. I don´t mind it most of the time, I am just surprised by her obsession of being the perfect housewife and having everything clean and tidy. Every two or three days my stuff is somewhere else. My suitcase I suddenly find in the closet, my clothes hanging on coat hangers, and even more intriguing, she put my anticonception pill package in a basket on the table as if it couldn´t just lay down on the table. She empties the dust-bin every day even if there is one piece of paper in it.
Suddenly the doors to my terrace are closed. Or my clothes are folded. I suppose she means it well but I don´t like this excessive sticking her nose in my stuff.

The rest of the day didn´t get much better. The computer lost connection all of a sudden because of the tempestad, storm going on outside, at home the electricity also stopped working except I was the lucky one to have electricity in my room, and well it just kept on raining. After doing nothing for a while, sleeping and reading a bit up in my room I ended up watching a movie ´V for Vendetta´ that is English but with Spanish subtitles and that wasn´t too interesting but I still watched it more or less to the end. I don´t even remember what I did after that, I suppose I slept again.

2/2

Today the classes again started (thank god), no news. It is still raining. I have all the clothes on I have with me.
I am again completely unsure of what I would like to study where. And that I am completely sure I do not want to go back to the Netherlands endure this awful weather some 4 months more and do the dishes for 5 months more.
And that I don´t know what to do. And that I want to do flamenco all day. And I am still in need of summer and a good beach.

The one moment I think Málaga would be OK to study, allthough it wouldn´t make me very happy but I could get used to it, the next moment I think it will be a disaster.

Sevillanas were nice as always.

3/2

So far a day as most of the others. Just had Spanish class.
And I had the last two hours of Sevillanas. In total there are four and I learned two because we had 10 hours of class in stead of 20. I recorded the two dances on my camera and I am a little sad that it is over now, but on the other hand I also really need some time off to do other things. I still want to go to the playa malagueta, meet up with Pablo, work out some things in the library and Thursday I´ll go to the Montes of Málaga, finally, so I don´t have much time left. After the dancing I felt sick in my stomach, I don´t know why. Maybe because I ate so much and then danced so intensively but I am not sure. So I waddled home and slept until 20.00 or something, then ate something, went to school, chatted on the internet and went home again to sleep.

4/2

So far a very good day. While the past days and especially yesterday I felt rather insecure for some strange reason (I believe it has to do with my neurobiological system, hormones etc), except when doing Sevillanas of course, today I started off talkative and confident right away. There is a huge difference. When I am in my insecure less confident mood I don´t open up my mouth, I don´t dare to say what I want to say and make myself rather invisible. I am there but I am not. I am very self conscious and have to ´decide´ to say hi and bye. When I am in my confident mood like today I don´t think too much before I speak and these days I make everyone laugh, put myself in the center of attention, join conversations and greet people easily. I learned to say ´two baked eggs please, my dear´ in Russian for instance from a Russian girl, since I already know dio afga tikanita parakolo agapimou, which is Greek, but not yet in Russian. I shared my tangerine. I showed my Sevillanas dancing on videotape. I made pictures and a video of the class, and I made everyone laugh and open up with my stories about beavers in danger of extintion in the Netherlands, male/female discrimination in commercials and my knowledge on Russian. It was good.

I am now going to ask if I can see the grammar books locked up behind glass and if I´ve seen that I go home, enjoy the sun, maybe take a nap, and eat lunch. After that I am not sure yet. It could be that I go with Pablo to the beach, or that I go study more. I´ll anyhow try to attend the charla, dialogue, on flamenco tonight in the school.

After lunch I again slept a while, then went to the presentation/talk on flamenco. I recorded most of the compases and examples of the different types of flamenco on my grabador, and obviously again had to keep myself from crying. (I always go crying and can´t stop too well once I start with good flamenco).

It was and is raining like crazy. The water streams down the streets, it looks like the Spanish are not prepared for a bit of rain because it does only get higher and there seems to be no flow out of the water.

5/2

I still find two things rather unbelievable about the Spanish. Both of them I already mentioned more or less. One is the attitude towards nature: even if nature is around the corner, they never ever take a walk in it and they don´t know anything about it. Yesterday I again talked about the Montes with Margot. This time she asked me why I didn´t go to the Gibralfaro. It is unbelievable. Gibralfaro, yes, is beautiful but it looks down to the CITY, there are lots of tourists, it is culture, not nature, and it is a building, no forest. It seems they think everything that isn´t a house is nature. Very strange.
The second is the attitude towards and use of bread. They keep bread in the fridge, usually and exclusively eat white bread, either in the form of french bread or bread as white as it can be, with as many conservants and other shit in it as can be, that tastes more like cake than bread, and that they keep eating long after the perishable date.
I don´t dare to generalise this, but so far this is what I have seen.
I by the way neither understand why chocolate sprinkles aren´t booming here. (Dutch) children adore chocolate sprinkles. In some supermarkets they have chocolate sprinkles, but only one kind, presented as something like ´after eight´, like a delicacy for adults.
Well I don´t know, I am not a great Spanish food lover anyway. My ideal place to live would be on or near a beach, in or near nature without people, with a lot of sun, people talking Swedish, Indian food everywhere, Indian clothing, a lot of chocolate sprinkles, normal bread and yoghurt as well, and fresh juices (there are no fresh juices here), with a Great University in the middle of nowhere. Now wouldn´t that be nice. And preferably I would live in a house of my own, possibly with a cat and near to my boyfriend who has his own home.
But I suppose that is not an option.

So far nothing that special. Classes. If all is right we´ll go to the Montes today, but the weather is completely fucked up. Tonight I woke up suddenly from a huge thunder.

No Montes. It is a sad story of me throwing away 35 bugs for an excursion that was supposed to go to the Montes but ended up in a pueblo blanco called Mijas closed to it, since it was raining, obviously, thus dangerous.
We instead went to a museum, to a bar where everyone drank wine except for me and ate scary fishy food except for me, and to all kinds of places in the village, that I am sure I would have liked more or less if it wouldn't be with a group of Russian people only talking Russian, having soaked up some nature beforehand and for less money. A pity, it became fun when I walked around alone for 30 minutes taking pictures.

6/2

Classes of course. Then went home, did an extensive session of flamenco zapateos practice, had lunch and went to the center to meet up with Pablo for the last time. We walked around the city, first to the playa malagueta of which I didn't absorbed too much because Pablo thought it was cold and Spanish people are generally more interested in other people and in cities then in anything that comes near to nature. But it was fun. I helped him for some hours with his form of Belastingdienst. It is a form everyone who works or did work in the Netherlands have to fill in every year and I have an economic insight equal to zero but still I could help him with most of it and I enjoyed playing the translator and asking stupid obvious questions like 'Do you have an ex girlfriend and now you have to pay money for your children that are with her?'  or 'Were you in the military?' because he wanted to know the meaning of everything, relevant or not.
He then drove me back home, where I had a few hour long conversation with Margot and went to bed.

That almost was Malaga. The story continues in the next travelblog about Granada.

Post your own travel photos for friends and family Pictures & Videos

Sevillanas	Sevillanas 2	Beach of Málaga	Beach of Málaga
Bath in Alcazaba	Malaga by night	Near to Calle Larios	Campus
Party	Gibralfaro	Cats	Supposed excursion to Montes
On the way to the party	Horses	At Pablo's	Rain
My class	Bookstore	Balcony	View from house at family
Host family house	Rainbow	Streets rich neigbourhood	Graffiti
Graffiti	Graffiti	Green	Cat
Cat	My class	My class	Swimming pool at school
Mijas	Mijas	Mijas	Mijas
Mijas	Mijas	From Malaga to Granada	Alcazaba at night
Evening	Campus	Campus	Campus
30 bugs half an hour	Bird	Bird	Park
Naranjos y Naranjas	Park	Statue	Paseo del parque
Paseo del parque	Plaza	Plaza	Road
Center	View	View	Road
Road	Flowers Gibralfaro	Gibralfaro	Gibralfaro
Gibralfaro	Alcazaba	Pablo	Party
Shoes	Shoes	Shoes	Shoes
Sevillanas	Traffic light	Dog at beach	Doggies at beach
People walking on a rope	People walking on a rope	Man under a palmtree	Rubbish at beach
Sea	Sea	Sea and beach	Road

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