O-BA-MA!!!!!

Tangent from my usual musings about my life here in Spain....

OBAMA WON!!! I'm really happy, too. Also, I still can't believe that the USA decided to put that racial pish posh BS aside, for this. It's not like it's the end of racism in the United States, but it's definitely a huge leap towards more acceptance. I just hope that Obama can steer the USA back to the great country it is supposed to be, on the international playing field, and less of an economic flop of doom and a war monger that we can include among George W. Bush's accomplishments in the past 8 years. I can't believe that I'll always have to say that Bush was the president for the majority of my high school and ALL of my college years -- he is just such an embarrassment.

Last night, the girls in my apartment had a mini fiesta for the election. We played some games and had some bebidas (drinks), but the election results were finalized after we were long asleep -- at about 5 or 6 a.m.

It's funny to me, too, that all the profesores are asking me a) who I voted for and b) all my opinions and then they will also throw something in about un político negro (black politician) and how they can't believe he was elected -- but they are happy, because they overwhelmingly support Obama in Spain. When most Spaniards brought up the American presidential election, they would ask in the same breath if I would vote for Obama. Amusing...

Anyway....phew. I'm sure I'll bring up politics in this blog again at some point, but back to the rest of the junk I usually talk about in this blog.

I'm going on a trip to Edinburgh, Scotland, in a few weeks! :-D I'm really excited, too, because I've been to England, but never to anywhere else in the UK. I'd like to make it to Ireland at some point, since I'm part Irish, but who knows when that will happen. But yeah, I'm going with Carole and 2 of the people she knows in Málaga. Originally we wanted to go to Rome, but the flights were ridiculously cheap to Edinburgh, so we booked that instead. I'd love to go to Rome, but I've already been there. Scotland should be a lot of fun.

As for THIS weekend, I changed my plans -- I'm not going to Málaga anymore, but Emily F. is coming to Cabra. A couple of Michelle's friends from Seville, who I have seen twice already, will be coming to Cabra, too. Emily B. and Kim will also be here. I figured, if all these people will be here, maybe it would be better to ask if Emily F. just to come here. I love to travel, but I'm getting a little bit of travel fatigue, because I'm definitely a homebody and I think traveling takes a bit more energy, planning and €s!!! I want to save a bit of €s because it seems like I've been blowing through a lot of money lately, and it would be nice to have some finances left over by the time I leave Spain! Ay ay ay. So yeah, it should be just as fun to be here in Cabra, even though it's a dinky town and there's not as much to do here as there is in Málaga. I'm definitely excited to see Emily again, too, since I haven't seen her since orientation. The fun thing about being abroad in groups like this is that social life for everyone is like potpourri -- so many different types of people that you would never interact with if you were in your comfort zone/social bubble that most people rarely leave when living in their hometown.

Speaking of random social events -- this weekend, I'll probably be going out just to hang out with my bilingual coordinator and his girlfriend, who also works at the school here, so I see her every day I'm working. They're both really relaxed and fun. They have 2 dogs and when I mentioned I wanted to see them again and offered to walk them if they ever need someone, she said that maybe we could all go out this weekend. Carlos and Noelia (those are their names) already have my number, so they can contact me whenever. Should be fun. It's definitely a completely different experience to hang out with people from another culture, but in a way, I'm used to being a fish out of water after moving so many times. But this is a whole different thing, too. Exciting.

OK, gonna get some work done...unfortunately, my bilingual coordinator, Carlos, isn't here today. I would be in an hour long meeting right now and actually being productive, but today I can't. Usually Carlos heads a weekly meeting that I sit in on and receive assignments from the teachers I work with: Mónica, the music teacher; Beatriz, the art teacher; and Victor, the French teacher.
So yeah, right now I'm kind of aburrida (bored). I don't have much work to do, either... I really wish that they used the language assistants for 24 instead of 12 hours and we made twice as much money -- that would be so much better. But I guess the average teacher 30-something hours in a school a week, but they're not constantly in class, so...I don't know how many hours teachers work on average. I just wish I could work MORE and get paid MORE. That would be sweet. Oh well. I just know that if I were in the USA working at a newspaper, right now, I'd probably be working 2-3 times as many hours in order to make the same money, which is ridiculous.

On that note, I return to being bored. Hasta luego.