La Noche Buena

Buenas!

It is freezing!! Let me tell you, I took central heat for granted. Never again. This is only the beginning of the wintery months and it is freakin' cold! I bought a water bottle the other day to fill with hot water and put in my bed at nights to warm the sheets up. How old fashioned am I? HaHa! It works, though! Just don't leave any limbs outside the covers! I absolutely HATE wearing socks to bed, so this is a nice fix for that. I need to buy some slippers, though, because the floors are so cold you have to sprint to the bathroom and back in the middle of the night if you need to go. HaHa!

Ok, there are these stores here that are called "Chinese stores" (there is also a "Turkish store"). These stores have everything in it (minus any food/grocery items). This is where I bought my hot water bottle. It's kind of like a dollar store in the cheap prices (also very cheaply made) and similar to a general store in the amount of shit they shove on the shelves (with really no organization). There are literally no open spots on the shelf, above the shelf, below the shelf, etc. It's actually difficult to maneuver your way through the 'aisles.' There's little trinkets everywhere, clothes (not real quality), and this is where the children buy the school supplies as far as I can tell. It's not a bad place to have a couple blocks away, but at the same time, everything (for the most part) that I have purchased from there has not really lasted. I guess that's how they get you to come back! I saw a mini-heater thing there (plug in, not a flaming fire-hazard) that I think I will be buying for our bathroom. Getting in and out of the shower is so miserable, haha! Man, I need to stop complaining about the cold because it is not going to get any better, I'm afraid. I should just embrace it and realize that I may be made of ice come February.

The next few paragraphs and photographs may not be up all of your alley's... It's just a fun night out in the village and, like everywhere, you encounter some fun characters and equally entertaining surroundings... Scroll past all the pictures if you don't want to read it... :) 

I thought I'd share a funny story of last Saturday night. Joanne and I decided to go back to Pub Guli. There were definitely not nearly as many people in town as there was last week. We walk in and one of the first people we see is one of our 3^rd grade students. This was after midnight, mind you. I still can't get on board with the possibility that I could walk into class on Monday and have a student say to me, "Teacher, I saw you at the bar Saturday night!" It wierds me out! I wasn't really even in the drinking mood, but the bartender was easy on the eyes and made a good drink.

This is ONLY the alcohol.  I have not poured any soda in it.  They hand you this and a bottle of your chosen soda... lethal.

During our first round, this drunk old-timer in the bar made his way over to where we were sitting. This guy reminded me SO MUCH of Curtis (for those of you who aren't aware of who that is, he's a drunk old regular at the bars in Hays). He was harmless and just drunk, but Joanne doesn't have the kind of experience or tolerance with drunkies that I do, so she was bothered by the guy quite a bit. She lied and said she was French hoping that would get rid of him, but it actually made him want to talk to her more. HaHa! This guy was pretty ruthless. The bartender came over from around the bar and, like a good 'tender, asked the guy to leave us alone, made him a drink (weaker than normal) and set him up a bit further down the way. Well, this guy came right back, haha! The bartender asked us if he was bothering us to which Joanne quickly affirmed and he came around to the other side of the bar and tried to physically push him out of the bar. Whatever was said, old man drunkie was allowed to stay in the bar, but this time, the bartender took him clear to the other end of the bar and it sounded like he threatened him pretty good. We never really saw him again after that. He never bothered us, anyway. I had Joanne take a picture of myself with the guy in the background so you could kind of see him. Excuse the picture of me, haha, not my best!

He's the grey-haired main in the background...

All was well and good and we were enjoying our drinks and I was enjoying the scenery (the bartender, haha!). We ordered a shot. I'm still not real comfortable with my Spanish, but I know how to say vodka, so I ordered myself a shot of vodka and Joanne had a shot of Apple Pucker. I was really dreading it because I'm so spoiled at the bars of Eric Schuette and I want all of my shots cold... This one was not, so I was a bit nervous. I asked for a lemon and some sugar to help ease the pain. Ugh... It was tough and I had to chase it with some Coke, but I survived. And even better, hot bartender paid for it! HaHa!  To continue on with my story, we were having conversation when this other drunk guy came over and decided he should be a part of it. (Apparently, we had magnets on us for drunk guys everywhere...) I don't speak Spanish very well, but drunk Spanish is nearly impossible for me to interpret. However, when I drink, I can pretend with the best of 'em and I might have had my most fluent of conversations because apparently, he understood me. Even though I had NO idea what he was talking about except for a word or two here and there. He was obnoxious, but he insisted on buying us a round. I'll let him. HaHa! He knocked mine over by pushing me into it. Joanne didn't want hers, so I sipped on hers. This guy was so persistant and was very confident in his awful 'game.' Neither one of us were, at all, impressed with this guy, but he wanted to take pictures with us and would just not leave us alone. Here are some pictures. You can see the different phases with him and I think it's hilarious.

You can see the drunk in his eyes, haha...

I'm sure I'm speaking fluently to him at this point, but he's tuned in...

Screw it!  HaHa!  He looked at this picture after we took it and got mad that I wasn't serious, so I had to take another one with him... I deleted it.

He tried to follow us home or get us to go to another bar with him, but we shook him fairly quickly. At one point, we, quite literally, sprinted in one direction hoping to get away from him. It did not work, haha! Oh well!  In the process of trying to avoid younger drunkie, I took it upon myself to go behind the bar and take pictures with the bartenders (leave it to me, of course, to get back behind a bar...). Enjoy the photos... I don't know the name of the first guy, but he's clearly married. The hot bartender's name is Javier. Pub Guli may make it to the top of my list of places to frequent, haha, if only to check out the scenery from afar. :)

This guy only poured me one drink, but he poured it, looked at me for a second, and then proceeded to pour MORE alcohol into the glass.  And then, for good measure, he poured some rum INTO my bottle of coke.  It's like he sensed it about me...

Javier...

There were a few fun side notes of the evening. They played some pretty decent music. Some of the songs, I was familiar with, but I decided to ask for Eminem. They said they had some which completely surprised me. It was a techno version of "Love the Way You Lie." I HATE techno, but with a little Marshall involved, I wasn't mad about it. :) 

You know how you go into a restroom at bars, etc? (HaHa.. I just re-read that sentence, but I'm leaving it in there anyway...) Well, I went into the women's restroom and on the wall was the typical condom dispenser that comes with the territory. Next to the condom dispenser, however, was another dispenser... selling Viagra! HaHaHaHa! I thought it was freakin' hilarious that women could buy Viagra for only 3 euros!! Look at the picture. It even says "the blue capsule" on it, haha! I know this may not be appropriate for some of my readers, but I want to include something for everyone... and this will make some of my more, um, immature (?) readers laugh. It made ME laugh, haha, so I'm right there with those immature people.

 

I thought I'd update the whole NIE thing... I think I mentioned that I was in the same boat as another girl from the states, but I wanted to talk to my director, too, so she knew 1) that I won't be in school next week and 2) that the whole NIE thing was a pain in the butt! I brought it up in school on Tuesday and told her all about the day and what they had said about her and all that... she actually got quite angry that they had said that about her. Apparently, my appointment WAS on October 31^st, but she had called to have them change it so Joanne and I could make the trip on the same day. It makes sense to any normal person, right? I thought so, too. Anyway, I showed her what they gave me and she read it and asked me about another paper that it had mentioned. I don't have any other papers. So, she decided to call them and speak with them herself. Initially, these people insisted that I did NOT have another appointment. After repeating that I did and telling them the date, it was, "Oh. Ok, I guess she does have an appointment. She needs to bring her tax papers with her." These are the papers that I do not have. I don't have a clue as to what they are! Isabel (my director) did not either. So, now, I must go to my appointment on the 15^th and get this paper and pay my taxes (whatever and wherever that is) and get my fingerprints and submit my photographs. I have to be honest, I am TERRIFIED that I am doing this all alone. I know where I'm going and all that crap, but I am not, at all, confident enough in my Spanish to rest assured that I will know what the hell to do or say or if I get everything done. I'm really scared. Tuesday will probably be one of those days that I will be a negative Nancy (consider yourselves warned).

Today is my Dad's birthday! I did not get to talk to him, but I have a Skype date tomorrow afternoon with him, so that will have to suffice. I tried to call, but he wasn't home, so let me take this opportunity to say "Happy Birthday!" to my favorite dad on the planet!! ;) He, Janet, and I have been discussing the whole going home for the holiday's thing for awhile now... It's very expensive. I don't want to put that kind of burden on my family and I don't have the means to support a flight home (whole or partially), so I just helped them make the decision by letting them know I was not going to come home. Instead, my intentions are to spend some time in England with some friends that I met in Concordia in my Cloud County days. It was a really tough decision, but like Dad said, we can survive anything for awhile. It's gonna suck!! But, I'll Skype with everyone back home and hopefully get to see everyone via the world wide web. :) So, for those of you who have been wondering about my holiday plans... there you have it. I'm super sorry and wish I could be there, but sometimes, it just doesn't work out as you'd wish. And who knows, maybe I'll come across some new traditions and things in England... and can I really complain about getting to spend New Year's in England? Nope. I cannot. :)

Well, I suppose... I will close for now... Happy Birthday, John Cook! I miss you and I love you! Try not to worry too much about me. I'm doing just fine! To everyone else, have a great rest of the week!

'Till next time...