Spanish Junk Food

February 14, 2011 1:20 p.m./8:21 p.m.

Getting in contact via Skype is proving harder than expected. The time that I have internet access is when most people are sleeping or at work/school. I am hoping my class schedule works out more favorably next week. I have free wifi at school and can sometimes pirate someone’s wifi in la Plaza de Gran Capitan however, my school closes at 6 p.m. and I don’t want to sit in la plaza in the dark. Hopefully I can find una café con free wifi near home, where I feel comfortable being in the evenings. I am waaaay behind on the checking of email. I’m also writing the blog in Word and then just copying and pasting it into Blogspot. Here’s my internet schedule as of right now:

9-10:59 a.m. - My school is open and I can use the free wifi. At home, this is 2-3:59 a.m. and everyone is sleeping.
11-2:15 – I have class and cannot get on the wifi. It’s a class of 4 people. I think they’ll notice.
2:15-3:45 – I have to walk back from class and each lunch with my host familia. They eat between 2:30 and 3:00 and this is the one meal per day they all eat together. I am also paying to eat this meal and am planning on it being my one large meal per day.
After 3:45 -6:00 p.m. - I will either attend the extra activity offered at school (3:45 or 4:00) or am free to use the internet. I can use it at a nearby plaza if it is warm and the pirating is favorable or I can walk back to school and use it. I really need to find a café con wifi gratis in the several block area. Walking back to school takes 20 minutes at a brisk pace. I’m not averse to walking all that way but the school closes at 6:00 p.m.. This time frame consists of 8:45 -11:00 a.m. at home, a time when most people are working or at school. The nephews, however, are not at school during this time on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
After 6:00 p.m. – I need to find a nice cozy place close by that has free wifi. Most people start getting home around 3:30 p.m. which is 10:30 p.m. my time. This would be a lot easier if I had wifi a mi casa so I could just Skype while lying in my bed or could leave the computer logged on to ring if anyone called while I was just sitting here.

Oh well; beggars can’t be choosers. My class schedule will change each week so we’ll see what next week brings and, at lunch tomorrow, I’ll ask the daughter of Señora if she knows of a good place to access wifi close by. This daughter, the older of the two, speaks English very well (thank goodness!) and came to lunch here today. She lives with her boyfriend elsewhere in Granada but I got the feeling that she eats lunch here each week day and every other Sunday. She, ironically, studied English in Chicago at the University of Illinois. She said she was there during summer time and gained 40 pounds. Ah, that nutritious American food!

Speaking of food, many people have asked me about the food in Spain. I’ll try to keep you up to date on what I’m eating. For breakfast, Señora asked me if I wanted tostados or something I couldn’t understand, for breakfast. I said tostadas. As I have had tostadas many times, I thought this was a smart choice. Ah but tostadas mexicanas are not tostadas españas. Tostados here are toast. It wasn’t bad though because it was what I was expecting. Everything I’d read said they have toast for breakfast. So, for desayuno, I had two slices of toast with orange marmalade, a glass of pineapple juice, and my yerba mate tea from home. Well actually my yerba mate tea is from Argentina and Paraguay but I buy it in Valpo.

As breakfast was at 8:00 a.m., I was STARVING by lunch at 2:45 p.m.. I woofed down today’s almuerzo, which was tortellini with chicken in a cheese sauce. It was amazing. I’m not even sure I chewed I was so hungry. As always with lunch, we had bread (whole loaf bought at bakery, tons of bakeries everywhere) and fruit for dessert. They also had some steamed mussels but I said “No, gracias.” Although I’d never had them before, I’ve also had two mandarins in the last two days. Spaniards are big on the fruit and this will be good for me.

After lunch, I headed back to school (muy rapido) to attend a walk by one of my teachers to Sacromente. Sacromente is the site of some seriously ancient catacombs. Also at Sacromente, the gypsies perform flamenco, although not on Monday afternoons. Also on the walk, besides my teacher, were Sophie (I’m guessing in her 50’s, not sure where she’s from) and Stefan (college age from Holland; not to worry Kev, I’m not replacing you as my Dutch friend) who invited me to go with them and some other students to see the gypsies perform Saturday at 3:00 p.m.. Thus, I’m going to watch the gypsies on Saturday. I’m also considering doing my school’s excursion to la Costa Tropical on Sunday. I’m not sure what all is there but can one really go wrong with a place called Tropical Coast? It’s 40€ but it includes transportation and is from 9:00-10:30 p.m.

I also went to Hipercor today. I had previously referred to it as Spanish Target. It’s more like Spanish Target butted up against J.C. Penny’s with no wall separating them. It also had multiple floors. It was crazy. All I wanted was an umbrella, clothes hangers, and some sort of protein heavy snack. I found those things but also found a pleasant surprise. New flavors of junk food. I love to try new flavors of junk food. I’m always checking for new flavors when I go through the chip aisle at home. I won’t normally buy chips but if there’s a new kind out, I will definitely try it. Then, normally, I take it to school and give it to my students so I don’t eat a whole bag of say, hamburger flavored Doritos (excellent, by the way). I could not believe my eyes when I saw the chip aisle at Hipercor. Lots of new flavors including ham flavored chips. Yes, ham. I LOVE ham! So, my first new chip was Jamón Pringles. Seriously, ham flavored Pringles. The verdict? Excellent! Unfortunately, they are laden with calories, which is terrible. I’ll have to take several days to eat them. Then, back to the Hipercor to try another! I’ll keep you posted!