Journal Entries
Lanzababy's NaJoPoMo 2014 #7 Evening Drinking
Posted Nov 7, 2014
Just a brief journal because by the time I get back home it will be after midnight. Evenings run on late here, 2am is not considered unusual, we have siesta during the afternoon. I'm not 'going out drinking' so much as going to meet a group of friends and we do so in a bar.
A lot of people drink water, or coffee. People come, people go. The bar staff come by the tables regularly and check we're all happy, bring little olives and so on, and replenish our drinks with a smile and a few jokes. However, they only ask you to pay when you're leaving, and even then they don't press. How do they do it? No idea, because it's a busy world in there. I suspect I'd be useless at tending bar here, as I have a poor grasp of faces.
So lots of kissing**, lots of laughter and not actually that much alcohol. It's rare to see anyone drunk, in fact I can't remember the last time I did. You might notice a few tourists drinking more heavily - but then they are on holiday.
**I should qualify the kissing remark. I don't mean smooching, but when anyone arrives or leaves, we all stand up and give each other a kiss on both cheeks. Even if you've never met the person before that evening, it's just what you do. You don't shake hands, you kiss when being introduced. And I don't mean air kissing, this is the real McCoy. Actual proper kissing. And often hugs if you *are* good friends.
If I don't reply, it's because I won't be here and tomorrow I have an early start. Yet more lovely Spanish conversation, and tomorrow we meet for coffee in a Tapas Bar in a little square a few minutes stroll away. We start with coffee, and depending on how long we natter for we might end up with a lunchtime glass of some delectable wine (this place serves quality wine) and some tapas. If I'm really hungry before that, the German bakery next door sells fab cakes and bread, which work really well with the coffee earlier on. The owner of the Tapas Bar is happy to provide a plate, knife and napkin for the cake.
You don't really have to guess very hard why I like it here.
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Latest reply: Nov 7, 2014
Lanzababy's NaJoPoMo 2014 #6 Daytime Drinking
Posted Nov 6, 2014
... well late afternoon really. And I don't make a habit of it.
My dear friend and accomplice in Pilates has returned from a brief visit to the UK, so we had a catch up. One of the best things about living here is the bar culture - more of which I intend to write about in a future journal. But because I feel a bit nebulous today I'll just stick to something a bit less taxing to write about. You wonder about the cloudy feeling? That's because I had a splitting headache yesterday and had taken some paracetamols earlier but it still hadn't lifted by the time I was trying to fall asleep. So, I swallowed two more pills from my bedside drawer and as they were going down my throat I realised they were a different sort of painkiller, for neuropathic pain. And I'd already taken the bedtime dose about 40 mins earlier. It wasn't dangerous, I'd not OD on them, but I decided not to risk paracetamols on top.
I had a fab night's sleep 
as you can imagine and woke up feeling lovely and cotton woolly.
So, back to a little story about my friend and I doing one of the first Pilates classes, which we take in my house.
It's hot here, and I've managed this year to get a couple of men to fix my glass roof, which is over three metres square and acts as a light well into the downstairs rooms. Now it has a new electric motor, custom made new wheels on the runners and a little switch in the living area so I can slide it back with a finger tip.
Cue to the lesson - the window is wide open and nobody can see into my house - apart from some random neighbour who is fixing something on his roof in the row above mine. (The next row up is literally a level above due to the cliff edge we live on.) So Polly and I are lying on the floor with our attractive teacher, who is saying 'More! More! Push!' and Polly and I are groaning and saying 'No!!' 'It's too hard' And a few expletives. And the teacher is saying 'Yes! Yes! Keep going! Don't stop!'
Suddenly I look up and see this bewildered man who must wonder what the hell he has stumbled across. We all fall about laughing.
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Latest reply: Nov 6, 2014
Lanzababy's NaJoPoMo 2014 #5 Out to Lunch
Posted Nov 5, 2014
Today's journal is brought to you courtesy our amigo: The Soup Tureen.
Last week I was invited, with a friend, to go to a luncheon do at the home of another newish friend. Unfortunately I didn't read the invite carefully, it was via one of the messenger type apps, and so confused the date. I am entirely to blame. So convinced was I about the date, that I dragged my friend to the venue a week early.
The do was the sort where you bring a dish, so it was even more excruciating to have forced the friend to make and bring food as well as me. And add into this mix the shocked look on the dear hostess' face when she opened the door to us *really* early visitors.
Anyway, I must have been forgiven because this week we had the actual event, and I made a second lot of soup. What possessed me to say I was bringing soup, heaven knows. Soup is dead easy to make but rather tricky to carry. My house is more than 80 steps down from the road, and her house was a fair few miles away up in the hills. But I'm thankful to say that two lots of soup got carried, and none of it plastered the insides of my friend's car.
So I've eaten rather a lot of soup recently, the first sort being pumpkin, carrot and orange. It was a nice colour! This week's was spicy lentil and tomato.
The rest of the contributions from the other guests were absolutely delish, but if I am invited again I am going to make and take a dessert. Less scary.
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Latest reply: Nov 5, 2014
Lanzababy's NaJoPoMo 2014 #4 Pilates en Español
Posted Nov 4, 2014
Pilates is hard, if you're doing it properly. Apparently it should hurt AND make you sweat. I am finding both these to be true. Mistakenly my teacher asked for the degree of pain on a 1-10 scale and I answered 8. *Wrong!!* 
It has to be 9.5 - anything less is pointless.
Primarily I nicknamed the teacher Cruella deVille, but now I think of her more as Miss Whiplash, cos she laughs in delight while I mutter curses and groans. As she is Argentinian I don't like to remind her of the Malvinas...
The good thing is that I have a lot more Spanish practice while the lesson progresses. I have some new technical vocabulary about bits of the body, some of which I'd never felt working before, in my life. And I used to go to dance classes.
Working one-to-one is the best way to learn and improve, but I am looking forward to my dear friend returning to the island. She shares the class with me, and we end up giggling. Rubbish for the breathing we're supposed to be controlling, but great for the sense of living.
To be honest I adore my Pilates teacher, she is the best one I have ever encountered. She's many years of experience and really focuses on the exact bits of your body you're not working to the fullest. This morning, before I dressed I glanced in the mirror and noticed actual muscles in my abdomen, rather than general floppiness. If I get a flat stomach out of this all the pain and sweat will have been totally worth it.
Now, a smoothie. 
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Latest reply: Nov 4, 2014
Lanzababy's NaJoPoMo 2014 #3 Learning Spanish
Posted Nov 3, 2014
I am not bilingual...in fact I am very far from being so. Whereas many h2g2 Researchers are fluent in English as well as their first language. Me, I struggle hugely with Spanish, and just when I think I have made some progress I find that there is still a huge hill of language ahead of me.
The good thing though, is that I've joined up with some really cool people - half of whom want to speak Spanish better, and the other half want to improve their English. So we meet a few times each week and we mangle each others' language mercilessly. This is where I have just come back from and my brain is finding great difficulty in composing this journal.
I meant to be more coherent in this particular journal, but it's not happening.
Discuss this Journal entry [30]
Latest reply: Nov 3, 2014
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