Cola Cao, 8am, and 'Only Sleep': a guest entry by Audra Gentry

Yay! I am very excited and honored to be a guest blogger on Z’s (or Ali’s) blog. Let’s start from the beginning, shall we? First of all, the flight to Spain was very long. There was only so much reality TV on my iPod for me and LB to watch, and we were only able to sleep an hour or so. We left at 5pm and arrived in Madrid about 10am (8.5 hour plane ride, 8 hr difference). But we weren’t meeting up with Z until 10 pm, so it gave us basically the whole day to try and find stuff to do before we saw her, and gave me the whole day to realize that I wished I had worked a little harder in my Spanish classes. But after getting lost a few times, taking naps at a random Starbucks, and walking A LOT, we finally were able to meet up with Z, and had to kill more time until our 6 am flight.

After a lot of traveling, we finally made it to Malta, exhausted, but amazed at how cool Malta looked.

On our taxi ride from the airport to the hotel (I got to sit in the front, on the LEFT), we were able to see the beautiful scenery, but the drive was a little wild, as I thought our driver was going to kill us a few times. 

 


The island is stunning, with lots of stone buildings built upward, not outward, in order to fit on the small island. All of the buildings were made of stone, and looked sort of medieval, a mix of Italian and Greecian architecture, among many other cultures.   The hotel was not as nice as we thought it would be, with the shower head not attached, no shower curtain, and a semi broken tv, but for the price, it was just right for us, and it started to feel like home at the end. 

The Malta trip was definitely fun, but sort of filled with unfortunate weather. We were able to do some touristy things like going to the main city Valletta (before getting poured on), and see the cathedral and a few of the bays.

But the main reason we were there was to watch Z run her half marathon, which she KILLED, and we almost missed haha.

We were trying to find a spot where we could watch her run, and then meet her at the end to watch her cross the finish line. When we were on the bus, we were thinking, we may have gone a bit to far, and she might have already passed this part. So we got the bus driver to stop and we ran quickly to a spot where we could see runners passing. We thought we had fifteen minutes to spare, and Lb almost went to the bathroom, when about 3 minutes later, Z ran by. I was looking down at the camera and at my pictures, not expecting her to arrive so soon, so I almost missed taking an action shot. But luckily, I was able to get one shot after LB yelled, “Ahh its Z!”

After we got the pic, our next thought was, we have to find a taxi to get to the finish line! LB and I looked and looked for a taxi and couldn’t find a single one, so we basically ended up running the race along with Z (a little more than a mile or so), as we were trying to beat her to the finish line in jeans and with a backpack (yeah, right). We finally made it, ten minutes after she had crossed the finish line. Lucky for Z (and us), her race day was the only sunny day, and made the whole day rather pleasant. We were able to go out to the “6^th Street” of Malta later that night, and had a great time, but we were ready to get to Almeria

After a flight and a lonngg train ride, we finally made it to Almeria. When we walked into Z’s piso, we were greeted by her three roomies, Tomás, Martín, and Endika. I was overwhelmed, they were very nice, and greeted us literally as we walked through the door. After talking for a bit, I realized my Spanish is WAY worse than I thought, and I was really rusty. I wanted to use it, but was sort of embarrassed, and knew that I would probably make no sense.

In Spain, Thursday night is what they call "previernes", or pre-Friday, and similar to college, as it is a great night to go out. We went out at about 1am, and stayed out until 8am. So essentially, we were on an American schedule, haha, but it was incredible how long everyone stays out. I thought that by the end I would be really tired, but actually it made it a lot of fun, and we got to meet Z’s group of friends. 

There is Juanmi, who is one of Z’s close friends in Spain, and is essentially the same person as Reese (our friend from college). He knows everyone, knows where all the fun is, and knows a bunch of the bartenders, which is exactly how Reese is in Austin. Then there is Fran, who is very friendly and was up to party every night we went out. We were able to teach Fran how to fist pump and how to chug a beer, two things essential to being a young American haha.  There is also Cheti, the Spaniard who spent a lot of time in New York, and because of this, Z forced him to talk to us in English, and we attempted to have a conversation of both broken Spanish and English. There was Raul, who was really nice and fun to be around, and then of course, Z’s roommates, Martín, Endika, and Tomás. 

Martín seemed to be the head of the household essentially, being the responsible one, but also being the one who knew the some of the best English. He was very friendly, and was able to talk to LB a lot, since his English was so good. Endika was Z’s other roommate, who had just moved into the house in October. He was only there for a few days while we were there, as he went out of town over the weekend, but he was one of the roommates I connected with the most, especially towards the end. He has a very kind soul, and someone I got along with well and was able to talk to, despite our language barrier. And Tomás wasn’t out that night, but Tomás was by far Z’s funniest friend. The thing I wished the most while in Spain was that I could understand what he was saying, because his joke delivery is hilarious, as he always has a straight face when he says anything, therefore I would never know when he was joking or not. We would have to wait for Z to translate what he was saying (he has a very thick accent), and it just wouldn’t be the same (sorry Z). 

We also met up with her other friends Lulu, Luis, Alberto, and Nick Parker look-a-like, Juan, and they were very nice, and we had a great time with them as well.

 




 Before we went to Spain  Z, LB, and I had made the decision that one of the nights we were going to have American night. This meant we were going to show the Spaniards some of the drinking games we played when we were in college, games they don’t have in Spain. We taught them beer pong, flip cup (which they were miserable at ha), and made them take jello shots. 
I would say this seemed to be a great success, and I think they enjoyed beer pong the most, despite the fact that they had to drink the beer quickly. The chugging beer quickly never quite caught on, which I was happy about, due to the fact that I can’t chug to save my life (not even water, right Christina?).

We were also able to see a professional men’s volleyball game, and watch Z play with her women’s team in the game afterwards. The men were absolutely incredible, especially the American David Smith from California, who was a 6’7’’ middle but could jump out of the gym. We met his very nice wife, Kelli, and overall had a great time, despite Z’s coach not playing her due to her missing a practice (due to preparation for our American party, whoopsss). Z, to me, was by far one of the best players on the team, so it was a shame not to see her play that much.

I know this has been excruciatingly long, but there is one more story I must tell before ending this blog. Tomás loves Cola Cao. It is just a known fact, and the first thing I learned in Z’s piso. Cola Cao is similar to Ovaltine, as it’s just a powdery hot chocolate mix. But, in order to drink Tomás’ favorite drink, you must abide by his rules. First off, you have to put A LOT of chocolate in the cup. Second, you must put the milk in on top, but DO NOT stir it yet. You must then put it in the microwave, but not too hot, as Z always does haha. Then, you must stir it to the right, and once you can tell the liquid is moving in that direction, you switch to the left. Then you have to drink within 2 minutes or you have ruined it. Well, I made the mistake of having him make me Cola Cao the “right” way, and that also meant I had to drink it the right way (remember now, I can’t chug….. anything). So, he made me drink it quickly, and forced it down into my mouth, and he kept tilting the cup, and I couldn’t swallow, so…. Yeah, I spit Cola Cao everywhere. It was a mess. But, not as big of a mess as when Z, Tomás, and eventually Fran all tried to light Cola Cao on fire after American night. Cola Cao is flammable, so Tomás wanted to show us how it will light on fire if you spit the dry powder out and hold a lighter underneath. After a bunch of failed attempts in the stairwell and a massive mess they were finally able to light it on fire. 

Step 1: Put on appropriate protection

Step 2: Light the lighter

 

Step 3: Spit out powder above the flame.

Step 4: Fail.

Step 5: Repeat until desired blowtorch effect is achieved.

Step 6: Clean up gigantic Cola Cao mess in stairwell

The next day, the neighbor complained not about the mess, but about some girl who screams when she laughs…Bet you can’t guess who that was…. cough*Z*cough. Anyways, Cola Cao and I became quite close, and I miss its flammable, fake, chocolaty delectableness.

I know I have written way too much, and there is still so much more I wish I could talk about like seeing a soccer game, seeing the castle in Spain, playing volleyball with Z’s team, helping teach Z’s class, and so much more, but I have probably already lost everyone by this point. But to sum it all up, going there made me see why Z wanted and still wants to live there. The people and her friends she has there are amazing, and even now they still talk to me via Facebook and WhatsApp (a text messaging program that works all over the world), after only hanging out with me for less than a week. The kids at Z’s school love her, and her job seems very enjoyable, with few hours but a lot of teaching practice she can forever use. And finally, Z is able to live a different experience and culture that she will always remember and treasure, while also becoming fluent in a different language. For all of this, I am extremely jealous, but happy for my friend, and am blessed that I was able to experience a piece of it myself. Z, you better make room next year, cause LB and I are coming back!