I blinked and somehow its 2nd May. I can’t believe I’ve only got two months left in Spain! I hate the idea of leaving this place. The only thing pulling me back home is the thought of the family and friends I’ve got there - but I’ve even had visits from them to stop me getting homesick.
The latest visit was from my friend Louise, who I’ve known since I was born. In fact, we’re pretty sure we were having chats from inside our mum’s bellies when they used to see each other at mother and toddler. Anyway, when we see each other now it’s like we’ve never been apart (and actually, like we’ve never grown up either). So when she decided to come for a spontaneous visit this weekend, I was unbelievably excited.
I was just coming down the ramp from the bus stop when she came through arrivals on Saturday evening, and we squealed and ran to meet each other. We had so much to catch up on, we chatted constantly whilst we grabbed drinks in a cafe, waited for the bus and all the way to Murcia.
When we arrived at the other end, we popped into the supermarket to get supplies for the next day (after I’d explained, to Lou’s horror, that everything would be closed) When we got to my flat, Giorgos and all the Greeks were all asleep, in true Greek style, leaving Lou and me to our own devices to get showered and ready to go out. When Giorgos eventually woke up, I introduced him to Lou and they seemed to get on well.
It was 10 o’clock before we made it out to dinner, at a cute Italian place not far from my flat. After that we met up with Annalisa and Lina, who were the only ones around, for a few drinks, calling it a night at 2.30 when La Colmena turned on its lights and started chucking everyone out.
We woke up the next day to the most horrendous rain I’ve experienced the entire time I’ve been in Spain. Finally braving it out the house at midday, we made a dash to Smoöy, which Lou was desperate to try after reading about it so much in this blog. When we got back, Giorgos and I were chatting and discussing our broken oven and how we should wait a few days before informing the landlady, when who should appear but Agustina herself. This woman has the worst timing in the world; last time she gave us a surprise visit, I was in my pyjamas at 3 in the afternoon; this time, we had six people living illegally in our three-person flat.
Not only had she chosen the most inopportune moment to visit, but she wanted to collect two months’ rent as well as over 200 euros-worth of bills, which she’d suddenly decided to spring on us. After she’d gone through these with us, she took a look at the hob, which is dying a slow and painful death, and the oven, which doesn’t seem to have any life left in it at all. Needless to say, she couldn’t fix it, and nor could our helpful elderly neighbour Carmen, whom I was asked to fetch. The whole thing was fairly bizarre and uncomfortable - fixing the hob in my obscenely dirty kitchen with my English friend and three Greeks hiding out in the bedroom.
Eventually Agustina agreed to make a call for someone to come and look at the oven and, since Lou and I had got completely drenched on our Smoöy run, we decided to spend the rest of the day curled up inside watching films. We even had dinner in, before we decided we probably should make some kind of an effort to do something whilst there was an ebb in the rain, and popped out for a few drinks.
The next day the sun finally decided to emerge, and we whiled away the hours browsing the little boutiques and high street stores, trying to find Lou a dress for an upcoming family wedding. We got back to the flat just after 3.30 - just time for a quick nap before I had to go and teach.
Teaching went really well that day. I had the perfect resources and managed to keep all three students fully engaged for their our each. Afterwards, Mariluz, the mother, approached me with a warm smile, telling me how pleased she was with how things were going. Apparently, Sergio is now top of his class, and the other day he knew something none of the other students did. When asked why he knew it, he said, “My English tutor taught me.” I’m so proud!
That evening all the girls were back, so we met up for tapas by the cathedral. In hindsight, tapas probably wasn’t the best thing for Lou, the world’s fussiest eater, but she’d said she wanted to try it and it did seem a shame for her to leave Spain without having experienced it. We had a good night anyway, and everyone seemed to get on really well. The night ended in a Smoöy, naturally.
Tuesday was our last full day together, so since the weather was stormy again we decided to go to Nueva Condomina. I was meant to have a German lecture so got up at 7.45, only to receive a text to say it was cancelled yet again. Not wanting to disturb Lou, I snuggled up on the sofa to get a bit more sleep. Two hours later I was being gently shaken awake. Apparently, the first thing she’d seen was my dark hair and, thinking I was at a lecture and not associating me with this hair colour, almost had the fright of her life.
As we were walking down Gran Vía, the sun came out and I started to regret my decision to spend the day indoors; but by the time we got to the shopping centre, not only was it pouring with rain, but there was thunder and lightning as well. Wandering around an indoor shopping centre definitely seemed the best way to pass the day.
Luckily, when we were on our way back, not only did the tram arrive straight away, but the rain stopped just in time for us to walk back from Plaza Circular. On our way we stopped off to buy food and alcohol for that evening, before heading back to the flat and watching half a film before I had to go to teaching.
When I got back, everything got a bit hectic. During her previous surprise visit in which my chaotic landlady had asked for 500-odd euros of bills from each of us, she’d said she would come round that day to collect them. Giorgos had left me his money to give to her since he’s gone away to Paris and Madrid with his friends for a week. So, that meant I had no choice but to stay in and wait for her.
She’d said 7.15 so I wasn’t surprised when an hour later she hadn’t arrived. I decided to get on with cooking the dinner as there was no telling what time she would eventually turn up. This was complicated by the fact that the oven was completely failing to turn on, and Lou had bought a pizza which couldn’t be cooked any other way. I couldn’t send her out to order a pizza on her own, her knowledge of Spanish being restricted to “hola”, “señor” and “gracias”, but neither could I leave her to sort things out with my landlady, who doesn’t speak any English either. So, there was nothing for it but to order a pizza delivery - from the Dominos which is literally at the end of the road. I’m surprised the delivery guy didn’t laugh in our faces.
Naturally, just as dinner was served, everything started kicking off. My dad wanted a Skype chat, and then, just as I was finishing, who should arrive but my landlady. And typically, this was the time she decided to launch into a big chat about spring week and my Easter holidays. It was nice of her to be so friendly, but I really didn’t want to be having that conversation at that moment.
After our chaotic meal, Lou and I settled down to watch the end of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and to wait for responses from my friends, who were meant to be coming round for pre-drinks. At 11.30 everyone started to arrive (except poor Ali, who’d got herself a sore throat from the Beyonce concert) and we stayed at mine until around 2.30. We went straight to Badulake, of course, but it wasn’t long before I had to send Annalisa home in a taxi, by which stage everyone was ready to move on to Boutique. My bouncer friend let me straight in but I was stranded on my own for a few minutes anyway whilst the others got to the front of the queue - and even then, he wouldn’t let Alicia in without ID. So, there was nothing for it but to go to Mariano Rojas.
As soon as we got there we noticed how quiet it was. We still have no idea why it was so dead, but at any rate we tried quite a few clubs before finding one that had a half-decent amount of people in it. It wasn’t until we got to the toilets, which were unisex, that we realised we’d landed ourselves in some sort of underground gay bar - a fact that was only confirmed by the four men emerging, sniffing, from a cubicle one after the other. When we came out onto the dance floor it suddenly became glaringly obvious - the girls with short, spiky hair; the sheer number of well-dressed guys (well, proportionally, that is - the place was still pretty empty). We asked the barman what time it would get busy, to which he replied, “In a couple of hours.” Since in “a couple of hours” it would be approaching 7am, I was highly doubtful.
Lou and I decided the night probably wasn’t going to improve so got into a taxi to go back to mine. We were just cruising along Gran Vía when it happened to occur to me that it would be a good idea to get my keys out ready - and I’m so glad I did. My keys were gone.
In a panic, we emptied my entire bag, but to no avail. There was only one thing I could think to do; we stopped the taxi, paid the driver and ran to Badulake, praying it would still be open. When we got there, it was deserted; only the bocadillo man was in sight. Beginning to despair, Lou and I banged on the door of the bar. Finally, the bouncer opened it; I explained and he let us straight in. And there, on the side, was my pink lanyard, Frank the turtle keyring and all. I have never been so glad to see him.
We couldn’t believe how lucky we’d been to find my keys - or even that I’d lost them at all (I’d never lost a set of keys in my life). The only thing we can think is that they got attached to my purse and fell out of my bag when I bought a drink. Anyway, however it had happened, they were safely in my hands now and we could get back into my flat, safe and sound.
The next day we had a lazy morning and didn’t leave the flat until gone lunch time. It was a beautiful day and I wanted to take Lou to Plaza de las flores for lunch, but when we got there it was packed and there was nothing on any of the menus that Lou actually liked. After that I decided to take her to the cathedral square, as there are a few cafes there so she had more chance of finding something on the menu she might like. Fortunately, we managed to find a place straight away - a place I’ve been to quite a few times now with various visitors.
After lunch we just had a couple more hours before we needed to think about getting to the bus station, which we spent sitting in the sun in Plaza Santo Domingo. At just after 5 we met the girls for one last Smoöy before collecting Lou’s suitcase and heading to the bus station.
We made it just in time, with ten minutes for Lou to get settled on the coach before leaving. We’d miss each other but in just two months we’ll be together again, like we were never apart.
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