Shook Ones Remix/Street Encounters

Alright I just posted below so don't forget to read that one. I just thought I had to get this story out before I forget all the details. Before I begin I would like to announce that a spanish woman asked ME for directions on the street yesterday. I contribute that mainly to me rocking a Euro button-down shirt that had quite a few buttons unbuttoned revealing my  hairless chest.  Also the girls here must train in the mountains because they are steadfast in their stares and take alot of work to get them distracted. For example, I said hola mammi and one finally turned around, and then I realized I was the creepiest person alive.

On to the story however. Yesterday we went on a day long hike in a really beautiful mountain area outside of Granada. I will upload pictures later from my Sharapova Power Shot. Anyway Matt and I got off the bus after our arrival back in the city of Granada. We live only about 3 minutes away from the drop off point. It was us two walking with one girl who we were going to show the Colegio to. On our small walk back we were talking about the Cathedral near by, and I may have made a reference to the spanish mammis infront of us saying they were the Jenny from the Block girls. Anyway, during the walk I see this spanish guy rapidly approaching us on an angle and making weird faces and hand gestures. He is walking really fast and he comes up behind me with his face really close to mine and starts yelling Maricon, Maricon which can roughly be translated to Faggot. I knew this, so I knew that he was cursing me out. But I  kept walking and he veered away and then came back really fast still yelling and coming at me, Maricon, Maricon. I didn't say anything but I was just B-lining it for the Colegio while Matt and Stephanie were behind me. I thought he was going to knife me or try to hit me or something especially when he started saying Corto tu cabezas, I'm going to cut your head off. As I walked into the Colegio I watched him walking down the street normally with his briefcase as if nothing was out of the ordinary. I was definitely, definitely shook ones after that experience. Especially because I had just said I feel really comfortable speaking spanish and responding to anyone on the street. This guy I concluded was just fucking crazy. My neighbors didn't seem to shocked that this had happened but they did think it was kind of weird. While it did fuck with my head a little after, I was back on the calle soon after, because I corro Granada. 

Peace, and don't forget the post below with another story

Just livin ma life/Estoy Viviendo Mi Vida

So alot of stuff has happened to me in the past 24 hours plus we've been busy with hikes and whatnot.  I would like to begin this blog by clarifying something that special Ank inquired about. While I haven't met many mamisitas (spanish girls) I go out with a ton of Americanas. You kind of have to try not to, nevertheless though this is quite a change from the norm. Anyway, moving forward, I have some ridiculous experiences of recent. 

Two Nights Ago (Friday) alot of us IES people met to go to some Tapas bars. Pretty much everyone in our group is paroling the same area at the moment so we run into a lot of people we know. As mentioned you get a free beer with a Tapas, which is traditionally pretty small, kind of like an appetizer. But this one place we went to gave us legitimate panninis with fries. It was really really good...easily the best Tapas so far. The night went pretty well, nothing to really comment about we went to alot of Tapas bars which is the norm. We ended up running into another group who we traveled with to another Bar which I dubbed the Kanye West bar. It was pretty much just like being in America, there was beer pong....so I decided to bounce. Three of us who left ended up at an Irish bar where we had a beer called Alhambra 1925. Now, most of the time we ask for beer and get what is most likely the Natty Ice of Spain, and so it is easy to down. In Spanish class our professor told us of Alhambra 1925, she said it has way more alcohol than any other beer, if you have two you're on your ass. So we decided, the professor told us about it, why not have a night cap. For the first two sips, it is like drinking the greatest beer, it is pretty heavy like Guinness and with alot of flavor. After those first sips it is so hard to drink. It is like eating a four course meal, all three of us could have shared one.  After this hearty bowl of soup that is Alhambra 1925 we decided to see how the Americanas we left at the bar were doing, seeing as those they would probably require strong male accompaniment such as myself. We ran into them in the street and all decided to walk home. On the walk to our respective points of reference to get to our homes I began speaking to this girl in our program named Mary Maher. Mary goes to Ole Miss, and has the greatest accent I have ever heard. She ranks with Tabisa in my list of people I could listen to all day, and would have narrate my life. We both realized we live near Dunkin Coffee, in the US  of A, Dunkin Donuts. So we decided we would walk home together, thinking that we lived in the same place. Although I realized on the walk that I was going in the wrong direction, it was still not wrong enough that I didn't think she knew  a way to cut through a streets to where I was. Plus I was entranced by that accent. Unfortunately after about a 15 minute walk I realized that this Dunkin Coffee was not the one I had seen near the Colegio. The cool part was that it was near a street that my neighbors had told me was definitely the place to go.  Anyway, I said bye to Mary who is living with a host family, and bolted back towards where we had come from. I was walking really quickly because I desperately had to use the bathroom. As I was booking it home, and on the street right next to the Colegio I was stopped by some guys who live in the Colegio. They asked me if I lived there, and I said yes, they then called me Chabo or Chavo I don't really know. After a lot of Ques, and Como I found out it was a nickname. Upon asking my neighbors there is no definite verdict on this national mystery whether this is a good name, or a bad name. I tend to think bad, but why would the stop me on the street to tell me if it was bad unless they are really dicks. Anyway, I said Vale and left them and started knocking on the closed 1643 built huge wooden doors of the Colegio. I was a little nervous it may be closed, but I was pretty sure it didn't close that night until 7 am. I pounded on the door for about 7 minutes until I couldn't wait any longer and I peed in the backalley during which a cab turned down and I had to bolt again. Finally I made it back into the building, safe into the Colegio where I could ask Pablo and Bernardo about this nickname. I feel like my spanish is getting so much better just because I talk to them. They didn't know what it meant, or more appropriately implied, they guessed like chico,  essentially young. Afterwards I learnt some nice cursewords...and found out that saying this is the shit, is saying De Puta Madre. I got another story, that will be the next post. 

Everyday I'm Corto-ing

Whatsup Pappis y Mammis

Day 2 in Granada is going pretty sweet.  I'm getting more used to the Colegio life, which means I'm getting used to waking up in arctic winter and having to walk across a hallway to the shower. Regardless its pretty sweet and I'm meeting more Spanish students...unfortunately they are all dudes, I don't know where all the mamisitas are. But I'll find them eventually, there are a boatload of bars. Pretty much every corner street has like 3 or 4 tapas bars. Here in Granada if you order a beer it comes with a free Tapas which can be anything from fish, sliced ham on bread or croquetas which I have no idea what they are made of but are delicious. Pretty much you order a beer and get given what you're given. It is a pretty sweet way to have inexpensive dinner while getting your drink on so to speak. Last night a group of us Americans went out. When I say group I mean like four groups of 15 people or something like that. Not too easy to fit into a bar like that but you know I'm just living my life, or as I say now estoy viviendo mi vida, pappi. I've been talking alot about speaking to spanish chicks by saying oye mamisita soy pappichulo but I haven't done it yet. Probably won't be a good thing. In Granada tapas bars stop serving at 12, but then people go to pubs until 3 am and then if you are still craving the night life you hit up las discotecas.....which I don't think any of us have "hit up" yet. Pero es muy temprano.  

I'm really liking the IES group. On the first day we all got suckered into buying phone plans called appelcom which no one in my dorm full of spanish students have ever heard of. They are all just shitty Nokias but if you know me it is barely a downgrade from my Razr. Anyway if you are in the service and want to speak to others in the service all you need is a Corto, which is just a 4 digit number. It is not only easy to remember but Corto is a fantastic word. For example, one could use it such as 

"Hola Mammi, I could get yo corto?" 

or "Corto me later."

Last night we went out and went to a couple of tapas bars. We're obviously americanos. Some girls started getting hit on my some gelled up Spanish pappis. Us Americans can't compete with that. But they looked like some of the Colegio people who I have mentioned are a little big distant with us Americanos. Maybe this will be a conversation starter, how'd you go with those chicas americanas? Alot of us ended up at an Irish pub though which I found out how to ask for my go to drink after beer, the rum and coke or Pallido Cola. Pallido is a type of rum, it was iight. 

People in Colegio are becoming more and more friendly. Each day someone new will introduce themselves. For example, we met another Pablo today who invited my roomate and I to ball next week. 

Thats it for right now....above is another picture of where I live...im on the 3rd Floor. 

Granada

Whatsup Ma Dus

I'm writing this blog to detail my life in Granada spain and keep ya cats updated. We arrived in Granada yesterday from Malaga where we had our first day of Orientation and getting to know people. It's unfortunate to say but you can tell that this is not a GW group mainly because everyone is unbelievably cool and friendly. The group is comprised of around 80 people, about 3/4 of which are girls. In Granada most people have homestays with host families, about eight are in residence halls, which leaves myself and my American roommate in a Colegio. It is called Colegio Mayor Bartolome y Santiago. We are two Americans living in a small room in a  building built in around 1643 with a courtyard with about 120 Spanish students from other cities in Spain.  Thankfully our neighbors Pablo and Bernardo are really chill. Everyone else is a little distant. It was pretty terrible walking into the dining hall of the Colegio with the other 120 Spanish students staring at us. Every once in a while someone will say hey and introduce themselves though. 

Last night Matt (my roommate) and I walked around Granada and found some Tapas Bars. If you order a beer they give you a tapas included with the beer. It can be sliced ham on bread or fish, whatever the bar decides actually. Two beers and one tapas cost about 3 Euros so its type dope. Last night we got into a conversation with a man at the bar who started going off on a 45 minute monologue about how American involvement in the Spanish-American war killed children or something like that....who knows. The bartender told us he had no idea what the guy was talking about either. 

Thats about it so far, Siesta time (right now) is pretty sweet. The picture above is the entrance to the building. I'll try to add a picture of the courtyard and where my room is.