Feliz cumpleaños, to me!

A few updates on my last post to help you sleep soundly. Tortuga is alive and well! We weren't sure how he got lost in the house, but then Silvia (the new woman living here) witnessed him making the foot long jump into the house another time. So now we have come to the conclusion that he might be suicidal. No wonder this species of turtle is endangered. And also illegal to have as a pet.... No pasa nada ;) Also, thanks to Abby's comment on one of my previous blogs, we figured out that Dona Flor (the tortuga) is indeed a male!

We also didn't end up going to the mountains last weekend, due to reasons I will explain in a moment, so Liz and I ended up making the trek up to and exploring the gratis (free) part of the Alhambra! We also discovered that some security guards will enforce the no-backpacks-allowed-in-the-free-museum rule whilst others will not. The guards that do not allow backpacks also like to speak condescendingly in English to foreigners. So two lessons learned there; 1. we need to carefully pick which entrance to go in, 2. we need to work on not looking foreign.

Anyway, I was all set and ready to go to the mountains last Saturday. Gloria was 2 hours later than she had originally predicted, but this is Spain, so that wasn't unusual. Then Silvia comes into my room, and very nonchalantly says something along the lines of "I just got off the phone with Gloria, and we probably won't be going today because Gloria and her friend just drove off a cliff." at this I'm like "WHAT???" freaking out wondering if they're okay, and she's like "oh no no, they're both fine, just waiting for a tow truck to get the car." Now maybe here in the mountains, driving off of a cliff isn't a big deal, but to me, that seems like something I would be making a big deal out of. We finally came to the conclusion that the word she used for cliff, doesn't exactly translate to "cliff," but still.

So then came my birthday, I went to class as I normally would at 8:30 in the morning, officially voted for the 2012 election (hopefully it gets there on time...) and came home to Silvia banning me from the kitchen and slapping me on the butt saying that she was in Canada when she turned 18, and she doesn't really remember 19, 20, and so on, but 18 she remembers and she wants me to remember my 18th birthday too. For lunch she made my favorite foods: Spanish tortilla (this particular one was the best you'll ever have), home-made HUMMUS (a rarity in Spain), and a salad. Then came desert of this absolutely amazing mango torte/cake/pie. It was delicious. I barely made it to German my stomach was so full. For la cena (late dinner), Liz and a few of our friends went first to tapas at this cool hip vegetarian place, and then to a Mexican restaurant where we ate food and they gave me fried ice-cream with a candle and sang feliz cumpleaños to me. All around it was a good day. I also met another girl who is taking a gap year who turned 18 the day before me!

Friday was an adventure of its own. We didn't really do much all day, but a friend came over and we were all hanging out sitting in Liz's room. You may have seen from facebook what happens next, but if not, here I will repeat myself.
Morgan: wow it kind of smells like somethings burning...
Liz: yeah all kinds of scents come in this window from other apartments.Me: yeah, someone's cooking...[a few minutes later]Me:...Wait guys, why is there so much smoke? [run to kitchen]Me: uhhhh we have a fire...Liz: FUUUUEEEEEEGGOOOOOOOOO

I turn off the stove, but the fire persists so Silvia runs in with a towel and beats out the flame. After spraying febreze everywhere in the house, no pasa nada.

And now we get to the weekend. Since we didn't get to go to the mountains last weekend, we went this weekend! Leaving yesterday and got back this evening. Gloria has a friend who owns a house in el campo (a farm house in the country) outside of Guadix. His house is one of the cave houses, so tucked into a hill. I felt like a hobbit, it was great. To get there, we had to drive through a river. No, I have not forgotten how to speak English, and do in fact mean, through (not over, not under) a river. It wasn't a raging river or anything, but still an experience. We finally got there and the place was beautiful and with a gorgeous view. To be perfectly honest, although the place was awesome, it was a little bit weird being there since it seemed like Gloria and her friend were sort of together and we didn't know anyone there. However, as soon as the puppies came out, Liz and I were set. So yesterday ended up being pretty fun.

Unfortunately, today was not the greatest because I slept on my neck wrong, and weirdly enough, the smallest silliest seeming injuries that occur whilst sleeping can also be the most debilitating. So I was in pain most of the day unable to move my neck, but I was happy to sit in front of the fire and read El Hobbit, so no pasa nada. After getting home, Liz and I felt a little weird about our home situation/lack of being in the know so decided to ask Silvia her thoughts on the matter (Gloria is staying an extra night). So we asked her if she knows anything about the marital issues/possible boyfriend in the mountains. And as it turns out, Gloria and Rafael split up about a month ago (this was the first thing Gloria told Silvia back when she came to look at the room). Knowing that all explains while Rafael is never home anymore and why it's okay for her to go hang out with her friends in the mountains so much. Thank goodness we have Silvia here!

Speaking of Silvia, you should all know that she is in fact a pretty famous Hispanoamerican news reporter! She has worked in Spain, Mexico, and Chile so knows all different varieties of Spanish and also speaks English because she lived in Canada for 3 years. Basically she has been an excellent addition to the household.