FIN DE SEMANA

VIERNES
I don’t think it is possible to have a “dull” weekend in Spain, or at least not in Donostia.

To start off the weekend on Friday night a few of us girls went on a Pintxo bar crawl. Again, “pintxos” are the Basque version of Spanish tapas. They are so delicious…We went to 3 different bars to sample what they had out. I found some new favorites for sure. My personal favorites are anything with lobster, crab, salmon..or even squid if its cut up. But my favorite non-seafood pintxo is ham, brie, and sundreid tomato on baguette.

After that, we opted out of meeting up with the foreign kids to do the same ‘ol same ‘ol bar followed by night club. Instead, we decided it was time to mix with the Spanish people. So we went to a few bars in Parte Vieja, where I live, and danced and hung out with the locals.


SABADO
Saturday we ventured out to the shopping mall outside the city where they have a huge Walmart-esque store, only classier than the average Chicagoland or Milwaukee County Walmart.

Since we Spanished-it on Friday for din, we opted for Chinese food on Saturday. It was a slightly surreal experience speaking and reading Spanish in a Chinese restaurant with Chinese owners. But it was decent food, inexpensive, way better than China Garden, and they give you a palette-cleansing shot of some unknown sweet liquor at the end. Can’t beat it.

Also, some holiday or festival went on this weekend. I think it was a Basque thing. Once again my plaza filled numerous times with hundreds of people, horses, a donkey, a man dressed as a bear on a leash, pirate/mariachi looking men singing and gypsy looking women, not to mention the MC’s were drag queens in carriages…?? I’m sure it’s a historical thing. In any case, I enjoyed whatever it was a lot from my balcony since they had a great choir and marching band that filled my plaza with all sorts of songs I don’t understand, not to mention mountainous piles of horse poop and instrument spit. I clapped along and yelled “hey” too. I was tempted to go get a pot and a spoon to beat together because that’s what everyone else was doing in the Plaza. Alas, I did not.


DOMINGO

Although I’m missing probably the only time in my life the Bears will reach the Superbowl (the last time the Bears were there I was in my egg state), I guess I could care less because a) my dislike/disinterest for/in American football and b) I went to weather.com and saw the wretched temperatures in Chicago and Milwaukee. Sucks to be you. We got 59-63 degrees all week here...aka I’m never going home.

Surprisingly Spain broadcasts the Superbowl live in sports bars and pubs, so that is where I will be from midnight to 4 A.M. on Sunday night/Monday morning eating my hotdog and nachos, yes that is the truth. Since I’m the only person from Chicagoland that I know of in Donostia, I guess I will have to do my best as the head Bears cheerleader here. I probably won’t even really watch since I don’t understand football at all except that when you run across the end zone you get 6 points and if you kick it over the bar that’s like 1 more point…the rest is pretty much just running around, falling over, and beating people up; but, in any case Go Bears!