One virgen and lots of fireworks

Our visitors finaly got here at about 11 on sunday night, it took us ages to get to the airport because of queues and John had got trapped out of the airport when he went for a ciggerette, so we missed top gear and ended up eating very late.

I was working most of the week exept friday but michael had thursday off too, so we went down to fuengirola because i wanted to see the festival of virgen del carmen, the saint of fishermen. Apparently they parade a statue of her around for hours, then take her down to the see and have loads of fireworks.

I only just managed to catch the fireworks but they were spectacular! I was right at the front of the beach near the water with a totally unobstructed view of the peir where fireworks were being set off down the whole length. The sky was totally filled and the were so loud i could feel it right through my body. Its a shame the pictures don't do it justice.

Everyone (exept me as i had work) was hungover on thursday so we just went out and played mini golf in the evening, but friday we went out to Malaga, had a look around and spent a fair amount of time eating and drinking. They have put big sun shades up in the mainstreet. There was also some excavaition going on, and a big ampitheatre being uncovered.

Their holiday wes finished of with a big steak at an argentinian restaurant in fuengirola. We have spent the rest of the weekend tidying up, resting and being hot!

ergh...

That was the sound i made when i woke up this morning and remembered how much beer i had drunk last night! If thats the sound i made god knows what sort of sound michael made, he slept on the sofa all night!

Acctually we had a good day yesterday, we went to a bbq in the afternoon and then went to a reggae night on the beach in la cala. There were loads of people there, all smoking reggae related substances and chillin to some Bob Marley. Anyways the only choice of beer size was small or a litre, so you an guess which we ended up with. It was fun.

Friday night we played mini golf, i was really bad, but i got in some much needed spanish practice.

Today we have spent ages sorting the house out (with hangovers) ready for friends to come over. We had tv intervals just to make it more bearable, and ate junk food. What else are sundays for?!

As promised here are some birthday kew pictures. I would have put some reggae night pictures on but the battery in michaels camera ran out before i could take one!

Last night i was mostly...

Being sick. It seems me and scallops arn't friends. Never mind, ill stick to prawnies.

So today im feeling rather delicate, and as its soo hot ive done pretty much nothing, a bit of reading, watching telly, sleeping on the sofa. Its so hot i couldn't even be bothered to go to the pool, yet again this year im going to be the whitest english person living here.

Yesterday was michaels birthday, i think he had a good time, he liked his presents and we went out for tapas in the evening (hence the scallops). I stupidly left everything to the last minuit and spend most of yesterday rushing around getting a card and wrapping paper and making a big chocolate cake. I didn't quite get time to put the chocolate topping on the cake and couldn't quite face doing it this morning . Michael said he didn't mind, we could just save the '30' candle for my birthday!

Last week was ok, my spanish teacher has set me up with her sister for language exchange conversation which should help, and Bill had a moan about me to Paul, apparently imunhelpfull and we only ever refer him patients that don't pay, haha.

The plants on my small balcony are doing well, my runner beans are growing really fast and the sunflowers are getting there too. Ive also got some lettuce ready to eat.

Unfortionatly on the big balcony the catterpillars are getting to eat more than we are!

Its not quite Kew gardens yet but im getting there! I'll put some birthday kew pictures on some other time.

Cerveza y paella and some swiss roll.

Last week was not particularly good, so i made a swiss roll. I was my first one and i made it for Paul because he did some dental work for me, and this is what it looked like.

Saterday we mucked about and went out for a few drinks in the evening with Ben and Goga. I wore heals because i have decided that its about time i learnt to walk in them ! It was ok but my feet were cold all night!

Today we had to get up earlyish, which was pretty hard because of fridays late night, to go to a Vespa meetiing in Mijas. We rode up there and stood around for a bit and had a beer.

We rode through mijas and out into the mountains for a bit, then stopped for beer and Spanish omelet.

We rode back almost into Mijas again and stopped for some sangria.

We rode through Mijas and back out the other side where we stopped for beer and bread with chorizo.

Then we rode back into Mijas and all stood around some more and drank beer and ate free paella. (to be fair we didn't drink that much beer!)

Then we played who can go the slowest and who can go in and out of cones without putting their feet down.

Michael won his round of the cone game.

Then we came home. It was good.

At home we just watched load so of episodes of the simpsons and ate sweeties.

That was our weekend.

Last weekend we bought a dinner table. We have eaten dinner on it everynight. Michael even talks to me while we have dinner(despite telling me not to expect any extra converstaion just because we have a table), and we drink wine and eat like civilised people. Its great.

So far we only have 2 chairs but we are hoping for another 2 in the future.


This week has been pretty much the same as most weeks, a few aerobics classes, a few spanish lessons...
On monday i started teaching a little spansih girl english. I was alot harder than i thought, unsupprisingly she didn't really want to learn english so we just chatted in spanish and she got all her teddies out and we tok photos of them with her plastic camera. I have found a dvd of Mr Men stories so im going to take them round for her to watch tomorow. I'll enjoy them too!

I have found out about a hygienist course starting in September, it is 40 hours long and will enable me to work as a higienist anywhere in Spain. The only catch is its all in Spanish! So from now on i guess i will be studying harder at my spanish!

Although after friday maybe i would be better going for a dentist course. We had a lady come in with about three quarters of a front tooth lef and as there was bo doctor around, i did my best to sort her out . ( i had asked permission from both the patient and my boss first!) She was very pleased and asked why i wasn't training to be a dentist.
Its always nice to get a compliment!

This weekend has been one of those lasy ones. Yesterday we did the shopping and then Holly came round and we went buy the pool for a bit in an attemp to get a tan (a bit difficult for Holly as she has her arm in a cast). We made some fruity chocolaty peanuty biscuits,

and mucked about on the internet.
Today we did some tidying, Michael fixed the hoover and we went to the video shop. Since then we have pretty much laid about on the sofa.
Sometimes you just have to have a lazy weekend right?

Sol y Salchichas

This weekend has been good, yesterday we went to a bbq for michaels boss' babys first birthday. There were quite alot of Spansih people there so we got some spansh practice.

In the eveing we went to the Feria de los Pueblos.

We ate pork from chile, samosas from India, beer from Japan,Smoked fish from finland and more beer from poland. I say beer but it was more like treacle, and it got me drunk and gave me a hangover, though what better way to cure that than go back down this afternoon and eat sausages from finland and a huge coctail from the canaries made of water melon, rum and banana liquer?!

The music in India was so loud you couldn' t hear it, and the Japanese dancer looked more like a cheerleader, but there was more than enough peruvian pan pipers to keep us entertained.

It was fun.

Then i came back and sun bathed for a bit an did 10 lengths in the pool. Yep, the first one was freezing.

No work tomorow.

Enjoy your bank holiday!

At last, we have the internet at home again. Though it wasnt easy, i had to ring the help line about 5 times before we could get it to work. A test on my Spanish, although perhaps the fact that it took 5 attempts is saying something.

Mum and dad were out last week, the weather was really good and we did lots of looking at things. The botanical gardens in Malaga, the Zoo, velez-malaga and a very long drive in the mountains in which we saw a circus school?!

We ate so much spanish food i could hardly move.

This weekend is the feria de los pueblos, we are going tonight i think, depending on if michael ever gets home from work!

I was back in england a few weekends ago, it was good spending time with everyone. We did lots of cooking, Me and mum made fresh pasta from the eggs 'the girls' had laid that morning, and me and Jon made bread, special bread that doesnt need to be cooked in a tin!

Ill try to take some good pictures tonight

Toodle pip

Nerja and frijiliana

I promised i'd change the scene, hope there new piccies will do.

Ill tell you all the exiting details of my life anothertime.

Toodle pip for now.

Pan con tomate seca

I had a pretty good weekend.

Michael took me out for food and to the cinema on friday, we saw American Gangster. It was really good, the cinema was practically empty and we got these crazy big armchair seets at the back. Unfortionatly they put Spanish subtitles up, most of which i can understand these days. Its diffictult trying to listen to a film in English and read it in spanish. I kept thinking, ooh look, theres the imperative! I just slid down my chair till i couldn't see the subtitles.

Saterday we just mucked about, went for a breakfast of tostados con marmelada and cafe. did a bit of tidying and watched Master and comander. Oh and michael got his hair cut.

I was supposed to be going to the gym lostd but instread on sunday i made sundried tomato bread. Its very tasty and im very proud of how well it turned out, i am putting a picture of it up for you . As you can see me and michael have already eaten half of it!

Los Reyes part 2

Happy New year!

Christmas was fun! It was good seeing everyone back in england and especially good eating mum's chistmas dinner (on new years day).

Apart from a few days the weather here has been really warm and sunny. I even sat out on the balcony and read my gardening book in the sun. Might even start planting a few seeds if its stays like this.

Sunday was Spanish christmas (Epifany), so on saturday they have the 3 kings parade. We popped along to have a look as it was one of the festivals we hadn't seen. After waiting around for about half an hour we decided to walk up to the parade rather than wait for it to come to us. Everyone stands on the side of the road, many with boxes and bags waiting for the floats, all dresseed up as scenes of the 3 kings and other things, to arrive. They all have loads of kids sitting on them who then throw (with some force!) handfulls of sweets at the crowds. If not knocked out but a little sweety bullet everyone, mainly the adults scrabble all over the floor fighting for the sweets. If you have a box you just hold it up and wait for them to land!
its was acctually really fun! We ended up with 2 good pocket fulls of sweets which Michael is making his way through.

I hope you all had good christmasses!

Conjugating Verbs

Hello everyone.
Well work is slowing down for christmas, in fact everything is slowing down for christmas. We had 2 bank holidays last week, one on saterday and everything was closed (i mean everthing). Spain just can't keep up with the rest of you guys. So my christmas shopping has been put back another week, also due to michael making me stay out till 4 to try to watch the fight last saterday so sunday was a write off (exept for going to the pub to watch the fight we didnt quite catch on saterday) and tuesdays shopping trip being canceled for the bloody football!
So as you can see im well prepared for christmas!

Anyways the weather here has been really nice and sunny and warm, but im still going to have to get a new coat for when i come over to brave your extreame english weather (acctually it will start getting real cold here in january).

Im meeting Maria Jose for one of the last conversation sessions before chrimbo, then i can forget about past participles and conjugating verbs (in fact im not sure ive even got that far!) and get some englishness back in me.

Ole!

We don't need no stinkin' badges!

After my 2 very quiet weeks, i have been really hectic! Mum, Dad and Will came out at the begining of the month, we were so busy seeing things,we went to frigiliana on the first day, near nerja and the bacon de europe (balcone de Europe) . Its a very pretty village a little way up in the mountains. We also had a quick stroll around he's-a-nazi (iznate) and ate lunch in a chiringuito (beach restaurant) where dad got upset because no one would share a sea food paella with him.

On friday we set off to Almeria. It was a very scenic drive up to almunecar, then it was just polly tunnels all the way! Thousands of them. We found the desert, found a good hotel to stay in (all in spanish!) then went to get some a warm menu del dia, of which the choices were pork sauce with chips, pork in sauce with chips, or pork in sauce with chips. Luckily for me there were only 3 pork in sauce with chips left so i had rabit in sauce with chips instead.

There are 3 western towns to visit in Almeria which are all old film sets, the really not very touristy one (western leone) the a little bit more touristy one (texas hollywood) and the mega touristy one (mini - hollywood). We started with western leone. It was really quiet when we got there , and after declining the offer to dress up as a cowboy and have a wanted picture taken we were left to admire the views whilst standing in a deserted westen town with the sun going down and the soundtrack to the good the bad and the ulgy adding atmospherically to the scene.

We had a wander around and went for a drink in the saloon. Dad bought a very drunk man dressed up in western gear a beer and they did a little play for us in which they forgot the lines and the ques (after cries of Donde esta la sherif? they just shot the barman instead) and someone died very dramatically onto Dad. An enjoyable but slightly bizarre experience.

We spent the evening huddled on the double bed of the hotel because it was absolutely freezing, and because it was the only room with a Tv, and ate a packet of biscuits for dinner.

Saterday we did Texas Hollywood, similar but bigger and with can can dancers, and a longer and funnier play (all in spanish though of course) We all pondered on which buildings were used in

which westerns and Dad has promised to sent all the Dvd's out to me in the post!

William wouldnt let us go to mini hollywood because he said it was to tacky.

Michael took us to a tapas bar in Marbella on sunday, we had chorizo, old cheese, spicey potatoes and octopus, Everyone tried the octopus but im not sure it will be ordered again. Oh and of course lots of coffee.

We went out for a meal on monday night and then everyone went on tuesday morning. It felt like a short visit but a busy one at least. We had fun.

So, after all that gallivanting around i had a really busy week at work too, lots of patients and Junaly is off ill for who knows how long. This week will be quieter (you can tell because of the length of this blog) because Paul is in England, but i had conversation and coffee with maria jose yesterday, ive got Tai chi tonight and im going to gogas on friday to help her out with some cake making.

Its nearly christmas everyone!

Tai Chi Soup

After 2 very dull weeks i decided to do more this week. After work on monday i met up with Maria Jose and we had coffee and chatted, mainly in spanish but i made her read aloud from good housekeeping magasine so she could get a little english practice. I asked her to come to the lottery shop with me so i could get a ticket (i was scared). So iv'e got my fingers crossed for tonight! I bought michael a cake on the way home but he had gone out to play pool by the time was back so i watched a film from the video shop (curse of the golden flower). It was good, chinese with some fighting and killing and lots of deciept. The story was acctually alot like Hamlet.

On tuesday i went for my first Tai Chi lesson, it was like doing very very slow karate. I have paid for a month of lessons in november so hopefully i will learn some more spanish and make some spanish friends. Its in the council run sports center which is pretty nice, its really big and has a pool, gym, tennis and football courts and rooms for martial arts and stuff. The best this is that its really cheep!

We started havin ghte new cupboards put in the surgery yesterday so its a mess, they are supposed to finish today but they are now saying they will do it on monday, spanish time!

I think i will be spending this weekend sorting out the house for mum and dad and will, wills room to be is currently a very messy store room. Ahh well there is always the bath!

I was making some soup the other day and an idea for a new recipe poped onto my head. Im gonig to try it out and send it to the covent garden soup company and make loads of money, life sorted!

Show and Tell

Last week was fairly boring work wise. Paul was away so it was Bill's week which usually means hardly any patients, and it was bank holiday on monday and friday ( i that to work them but i didn't work evenings). I spent most of friday at work moving everything from one surgery to the other so they can fit a new chair. There really isnt enough room for 3 chairs and all the equipment and patients but that what we are doing.

On tuesday i met up with my new friend Maria Jose. My spanish teacher put us in touch for conversation. She wants to learn english, me spanish. Fortionatly for me she can't speak much english so i think im going to get more practice. Its really hard tryin got think of something to say in a language you can't speak to well to someone you have never met before. Ahh the things i let myself in for. We are meeting again this tuesday so i am going to look for something to take for show and tell so we have something to talk about.

We went out for Bens birthday on Saturday, went for a meal and watched a terrible band. For some reason as soon as they start singing in spanish it just sounds soo cheesy.

Sunday was one of those days when its cloudy out side and you just want to stay in bed. I managed to get up though and dragged michael out for some lunch. We had big yummy rolls at the bakers. We had gone down on the vespa so went for a ride around until the back tyre burst!

The Asbos (horrible people living in our bloque) had let the tyre down and michael thinks he had put to much air in when he blew it back up. Anywasy, we wernt going anywhere, so i called the grua and we waited, in the rain, for about half an hour. It was my first time in a grua truck, my favorite bit was when michael stood on the back with the bike while it went up and down.

Me and Goga are going for a tai chi lesson tomorrow. I think it will be fun, and i need to get out of the house in the evenings, especially now i have given up the cleaning (till i find someone cleaner to clean for, haha).

Bikes,steak, football, horses, flamenco dresses...

I supppose i should tell you about the scooter rally in Marbella first. It was pretty much the same as the one in cadiz but we got to drive( on Michael's newly fixed bike) around marbella and puerto banus which was cool because we know the area and its full of snobs and plebs and they all looked surprised to see 100 old vespas in bright colours driving around where the toff usually parade their expensive sports cars.

We all ended up in a restaurant which was so cramped it was difficult to actually eat the 3 courses they had prepared for us (Michael ate some pretty good rabbit, but i opted out on the tripe soup with chickpeas!)

There was alot of riding that day and i ended up with an incredibly sore bum! Unfortunately the repsol vespa of which there is a picture on my last entry broke down on the way home so we all stopped for coffee in La Cala to wait for the grua.

Michael went to Valencia last Sunday to work and the football ground putting up the publicity. On the Saturday we went to one of his work mates bbq's. He is Argentinian and had got half and Argentinian cow to put on the bbq. It was the best steak i have ever eaten (after i had taken the skin and fat off, this was proper cow!) He jsut put loads of salt on when he was cooking it but it was really tasty.

Anyways, Michael went off on sunday morning and i stayed in all day waiting for holly to come back from Seville because she had promised to stay over and keep me company but she didn't come so it was a bit of a wasted sunday.

I survived whilst michael was away, even through the thunder and lightning and the spider in my bedroom! The valencia chelsea game was on on wednesday so i met Ben and Goga for dinner and then we went to whatch it to see if we could see micheal. Unfortionatly i think the only time he was on tv was right at the beggining which we missed. Nevermind, they won and michael came home with loads of chelsea stuff from the ground to put up around the house (yay).

The feria is on this week so there are loads of flemenco ladies on horses all around Fuengirola. Me and Goga went down to see what was going on yesterday. i will put on a few photos so you can get the picture (haha)

2do Encuentro Nacional Scooters Classico

Last weekend was the 2do Encuentra nacional scooters classico (classic scooter rally).

We Went down to the bike shop on friday night to arrange what time we were leaving for Puerto santa maria near Cadiz on the saterday. After 2 hours of spanish fannying around we got our Fuengirola vespa club t shirts (s and m both the same size after much trying on and disscussing from the men) and arranged to meet at 1 the next day.

There was one other couple ready at 1 so we had some beers and waited , and waited ,and waited in true spanish style for 2 hours for everyone else to arrive (they were having lunch!)

Loaded the vespa precariously in the back of a fruit and veg van and set off.

In the evening we all went out for a ride on the bikes, untill we ran out of petrol. someone wizzed off and got us some but still she wouldnt start, so that was it for michaels scooter! We borrowed a pink one (to my delight and michaels dismay) for the rest of the weekend.

We ate lots of tasty tapas, gambas, sardines, fried fish, little octopus things, yum, then moved on to a Harley Davidson bar and admired more scooters. I acctually managed to have a few conversations in spanish by this time and learnt nearly everyones names and what they did, and said, 'Lo siento me Espanol no es muy bueno', a fair few times!

Sunday started with a drive around santa maria on the vespas, there were about 100 maybe more , its was a really good feeling being in the middle of all those bikes, even though they don't go very fast and there were bits falling off them and smoke everwhere.

We all got back intact and stood around for another hour or two looking at more bikes. We paid 20 euros to participate and got free oil, a t shirt, a badge, loads of free drinks and then a free meal! It started with tapas, lots of tapas, in fact so much tapas we assumed that was it, untill they bought out the main course, which looked so disgusting i just couldn't eat any. It was processed kebab with fatty bacon on top, surrounded with tinned vegetables and potatoes swimming in oil and grease. How can they get some food so right and some so wrong?!

Our club won an award for most bikes or something (couldn't really undesrtand) and one of our members won for best presented bike!

We loaded michaels vespa back into the fruit and veg van with the manic speeding driver and headed off home, only to unload her and mourn the damage, (michael says he will put a sticker over the scratches).

We had fun, it was probrably the first time we have done something compleatly spanish, with only spanish people. We're getting there, after 3 years!

We should be off to another rally in Marbela this weekend if the bike is fixed so ill take some more photies for you and tell you all about it when im back.

And another

Portugal

August 2007

Pictures, at last!

San Juan

June 2007

Cookies and curry

Yesterday i was mostly eating cookies and curry.

The reason for this was it was mine and Michaels 5 year goingoutiversary. We had planned to go out to eat but in the end we could be bothered and to anywhere good would have been too expencive so we have put a hold on the meal till we are richer and went for an indian take away instead. It was good.

As for the cookies, i had planned to make some yummy chocolaty cookies( i think i have mentioned how good they are before) but idecided to cut out a few tonnes of chocolate from the recipe in an attempt to make them a little less fattening. This lead to the mixture being a bit to runny and the cookies spreading out into pancakes. They still taste good, but don't look to good. Michael kept asking for lemon, and when i asked why he said that what he usually puts on his pankakes!

Then we finished the evening with a romantic film, farenheit 9/11! It was pretty good, there was alot in there i din't know and its unbelievable what oges on in politics. If you want to get wound up its a good film to whatch.

I have abloslutly nothing planned for this week but we are off to cadiz for a Vespa weekend with lots of Spanish people, promises to be interesting!

Ps. I disn't make or eat the cookies or the curry in the picture. They look disgusting and mine were both quite tasty!

Last week we went on holiday to portugal. The plan was to drive up in michaels car on saterday, meet up with his parents who we were going to stay with , then come back on thursday.
So friday night we take take the car to the car wash, and hoover it out and everything, and michael puts in the new part he has bought for it. Of course packing gets left till saterday morning but we are on time so no worries. Traffic is pretty bad on the autovia so we stop and start all the way to the areport turn off just before Malaga when someone a few cars in fron decide to break hard. The car 2 in front breaks, the car in front breaks, we break, the car behind doesn't.
All the people involved Happened to know eachother and be from somewhere in morocco or africa. Luckily thaey did have insurance but our car is still a write off. I had to call Spanish 999, after someone finally remembered the number!
So we drove home, stopping on the way to let some steam out from under the bonet, and started again on sunday with a hire car.
We got to Portugal in the afternoon, have a llok at the beach and ate bbq. (This is what we did for most of the holiday)
We Swam in the sea, went up into the mountains and ate piri piri chicken, walked along the beautifull coast, all jagged cliffs and smooth sand. We spent a day in Lagos too and ate fish soup i a very Portugese cafe where they give you bread and a tin off sardine paste among other things for a starter. So fun was had by everyone!
Driving home was fine exept for the speeding fine we got, 70€, 146 in a 120 limit. oops.
Jane from keycamp arrived in the evening and we spent the weekend looking pottering aroung, went to Mijas, ate a chocolate brownie ice cream, relaxed around the pool.

Back to full hours this week at work but me and Michael are off to Cadiz next weekend for a Vespa Meeting.