It's been a while...

 I'm sorry I haven't written in so long, I was really busy while home, and have also been super busy since returning to Spain. I'll just write a brief summary of everything that has been going on over the past month. First, I want to comment that my trip to Valencia (pre-hospital) was wonderful. It is a great city with a really interesting science museum that they call La ciudad de las ciencias. There are multiple, futuristic looking buildings each dedicated to a type of science. It seemed like we could have been in Star Wars! We rented bikes one day with some people we met in the hostal which was also alot of fun!

My trip home for Christmas was really nice. It was great to see my family and friends. I spent 2 weeks at home and then went to NYC to spend New Years with my friends from college. Then back home for a couple days and two days later I left for Spain.

Dad's side of the family. Mom, I don't have any from yours :(

Now I am back in Badajoz and am getting used to being here again. I lost some of my Spanish while I was at home, so now I have to practice alot! I am making plans for lots of trips now, including Salamanca this coming weekend and Lisbon in February. I also have Mallora, Germany, Denmark and the Running of the Bulls in the works for later this year!

The one about the Hospital...

This post will be dedicated to my hospital stay, since everyone has been asking me about it and wants to know what happened. I met my friend Maureen in Valencia, then we went to Granada, where she is living. I had some sort of stomach bug, but thought that if I ignored it, it would go away, apparently not... I went to get ready for bed one night when I began to feel a lot of pressure in my chest and didn't have much feeling in my left arm. Again, I tried to ignore it, but it was too uncomfortable, and we decided I should go to the ER. When I got there I had to convince the woman in admissions that I did have insurance, even though I have still not received my insurance card and didn't have any other information about my insurance company. She finally just told me to fax her the information the next day...

When I went to talk to the doctor all of my tests came out normal, and they told me to wait for the results of my blood test. I already had started to feel better and thought it was just a fluke and would be able to go back to Maureen's apartment that night. But when my results came back they told me I needed to stay for a few tests because the results were similar to those of a heart attack (Ah!). Everything is a blur from there, I had people poking me from all angles with an IV, another blood test and some other injections, while they were asking me questions about my health history and my activities of the night. Then they took me to the ICU, but Maureen couldn't come with me, and that's when I started to freak out and cry. They put all of my belongings in a bag and handed them to Maureen, telling her she could come visit for 30 minutes the next day. When I got to the ICU the doctor immediately did an ultrasound of my heart and concluded that it was working perfectly, so I still thought it wasn't serious and would be able to leave the next day.

But that wasn't the case. I spent 2 days in the ICU hooked up to machines to monitor my heart and an IV. I could only get up to go to the bathroom accompanied by a nurse. The ICU was dark and lonely, and I felt really out of place being 22 years old and surrounded by people who were seriously ill. I felt completely fine by the next morning, and the nurses kept the curtain closed around me because they said it was too sad for me to be seeing the other older and sicker people there. I also became well know as la nina americana, and one of the nurses called me la reina (queen).

Then I started to hear rumors about "the planta" which seemed like a magical place that I never would actually get to go to. The planta was the normal cardiac wing of the hospital, where the patients can get up, walk around, have visitors, eat real food and not be attached to an IV. I learned that the doctors really enjoying saying, "just one more day". For six days everyone told me "just one more day, then you can go to the planta", or "just one more test tomorrow and you can leave". 

My bed was the only place big enough for the puzzle...

I eventually got to the planta and Maureen came to visit as much as she could. We did a 1000 piece puzzle, played alot of rummy and went for walks around the hospital and courtyard. I really can't express how grateful I am to her for keeping me company, but more importantly dealing with all of my insurance issues between the hospital and the insurance company.  She did absolutely everything for me.

Finally Free

It was certainly an experience talking with doctors and nurses only in Spanish. I found myself paying more attention to understanding the words they were saying than actually being able to internalize and analyze what they were telling me. It didn't help that I don't know anything about medicine or the heart. I also had some medical students do some of my tests. For an ECO two students worked together to figure out how to do it correctly, and it was actually amusing to observe. I met most of my roomate's family, who was a women in her 40's. Her nephews helped Maureen and I finish our puzzle, and I taught them the English words for the things in the puzzle. I also met another 22 year old boy who was there for the same condition as me. He came into my room one morning, handed me a piece of paper and said, "I drew you a picture. I'm in the room down the hall if you want to talk." It was pretty funny at the time and we ended up hanging out in the courtyard for a while. Many of the teachers from school also called me to check in and see how I was feeling. It was really nice to know that so many people were thinking of me.


This entry is getting quite long, so I will just conclude with my diagnosis. I had mioperiocarditis. I'm not exactly sure of the English translation, but it was an inflammation of a small part of the heart called the pericardium, caused by a virus, and is apparently fairly common in people my age. I am completely fine now, and just need to rest for a couple weeks. I am SO excited to go home and relax with my family after such a stressful and strange week.

Improptu Ice Skating

Last weekend I was on my way to the Feria Hispano-Portuguesa, a fair that celebrates the relation ship between Spain and Portugal, when some friends and I were distracted by an ice skating rink that popped up over the weekend. The rink and some other kids rides were there to celebrate winter and the Christmas season and will be up for a few weeks. 

I haven't been ice skating in years, and I'm definitely not a very talented skater. However, the Spanish proved to be worse. There were quite a few people who would stand up, and immediately fall again, over and over. It was entertaining to watch, but looked pretty painful! Morgan and I were the only two who actualy went skating, and we had fun...for a short time. The skates were super uncomfortable, so we had to stop after only about 15 minutes. It felt so good to have normal shoes on after that though!!

Happy Turkey Day!

As you all know, last Thursday was Thanksgiving. This was my first year that I wasn't at home for Thanksgiving. Though I missed my family, we managed to have a really nice celebration here. All of the Americans organized a feast for us and some Spanish friends. It was complete with a 14 lb. turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, baked brie and pumpkin souffle. For dessert we had pumpkin and applie pie, apple and blueberry crumble, apples with a caramel dip, and of course yummy bars.

What is a yummy bar you ask? Well, if you have ever been to a gathering of my family for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or any other holiday, you will sure have eaten them before. If not, you are definitely missing out. Yummy bars are a chocolaty combination of cake, brownies and caramel and lots of butter. I knew that they were delicious, but I had no idea just how popular they would be in Spain. First I will say that it wasn't easy to find all of the ingredients here. There was only one brand of cake mix in Carrefour (similar to Walmart), and I could only find caramels in El Corte Ingles, and both were wildly expensive! Everyone at the dinner was blown away and begged me to give them the recipe. The Spanish guests told me that nothing like yummy bars exists in Spain, which is probably why they seemed so delicious!

In fact, none of the food at the dinner is easily found here. While us Americans/Canadians/English were so excited to have our traditional food, the Spaniards looked intimidated and nervous to try our strange recipes. By the end though, they were all happy to say that they had experienced their first Thanksgiving dinner. All in all, Thanksgiving was a success.

A Quick Trip to Sevilla

So, it's been a long time since I last wrote, sorry for the delay! My time here is flying by. I am so busy with school, private lessons, tennis and flamenco during the week that before I know it it's Friday, and then the weekends fly by as well.

View of Plaza de Toros from the Giralda

Two weeks ago a bunch of us English Assistants spent the weekend in Sevilla. It's such a beautiful city, and it was nice to get out of Badajoz for a little while. Over the course of the weekend we saw the tourist sites and ate some delicious tapas. We went to the cathedral and climbed the Giralda, the bell tour of the cathedral. It was a beautiful day and there was a great view of the city in all directions.




        
We also visited the Real Alcazar. I had been there before with the Bucknell en Espana program when I studied abroad, but I had forgotten how amazing the Moorish architecture is. It's almost impossible to believe that people were able to create such intricate and detailed designs hundreds of years ago. There are extensive gardens full of fountains, flowers and ponds. Can you imagine living in a place like that?




We also found some delicious food in Sevilla. We ate at an amazing tapas bar that one of my friends knew of from previous trips there. It's not very often that you have to wait for a table in Spain (at least not that I have experienced) and this restaurant had a 40 minute wait list. Everyone put their name on a list, then waited in the street with drinks until there was space. The food was certainly worth the wait!

Then, one night our hostel served Moroccan food, which was also delicious. As much as I love Spanish food, it was nice to have some international flavors for a change. There are much more opportunities to find international food in Sevilla than in Badajoz, but still most places serve tradition Spanish tapas. The one thing that I am finding hard to get used to is that all of the restaurants in Badajoz have almost the same menu, with some variation of ham, cheese, croquettas, tortilla and bocadillos. There isn't much variety from place to place, except for the handful of international restaurants.  I recently tried the sushi in Badajoz, which I was a little nervous about, but turned out to be quite good. There is also a couple Italian/pizza, Chinese and Portugese restaurants around to be tried. Good thing I've got seven six more months to figure out all of the food options!

Happy Halloween!

1st ESO

Friday we had our Halloween Party at school. We have been talking about Halloween all week in classes and finally it was time to celebrate and have some fun! All of the students in the Bilingual section went to the audiovisual room, and we started the party by watching two Halloween episodes of the Simpsons. The Simpsons is a very popular show here, and is on TV every day, dubbed in Spanish of course. We watched the episodes in English, so the students had a hard time understanding what was being said. That's probably for the best because there were quite a few inappropriate topics!

Then it was time for the costume contest, the pumpkin cake contest and the jack-o-lantern contest. Only a couple of the younger students dressed up, because the Spanish don't actually celebrate Halloween. I asked a lot of students why they didn't dress up and they said because it wasn't really worth it to make or buy a costume just for school.

More students participated in the jack-o-lantern contest, and there were some really interesting submissions, and even some made from gourds and melons!


And then there was the pumpkin cake contest. I decided to make a pumpkin pie to give everyone a real taste of an American treat. It sounded like a great idea until I realized that it is impossible to find canned pumpkin here. I managed to find pumpkin that was already cleaned out in the grocery store, but had to boil, peel and mash it myself. It was quite the project!

The final product...

I was able to use the kitchen at school because I don't have my own at home, and the woman who runs the kitchen thought I was crazy for making such a strange food! It was a bit ambitious, seeing that the kitchen lacked a measuring cup and I was using ingredients that were slightly different than the ones I would find in an American grocery store. After 2 hours of baking I ended up with a pretty decent pie. The crust was questionable, but the rest was yummy!

5 Minutes in Portugal

Badajoz is located just 4 km from Portugal, and last weekend we decided to walk to the border. As you can see in the picture, there wasn't much to show the distinction between Spain and Portugal.  There was only an E for España and a P for Portugal. No fences, no tolls, just a some paint on a bridge.