homeless mussels

Just another day in La Coruña today: I had my early and best classes this morning from 9:30-1:00 with half hour breaks in between. I usually snooze about 5 times before getting up, but today I had one of those accidental shutoff moments, but luckily woke up with half an hour to spare. I biked over to school with my hands frozen to the handlebars and my head stuck to the ocean. No matter how cold it is, it's a good way to start the day. I arrived 10 minutes later with enough time to head to the school cafe to grab a cafe con leche (au lait) and some churros (spanish stick-shaped, crispy begneits). My classes on Tuesday are a bit older and much more talkative and responsive than the others, and I usually leave them more energized than I enter. I count that as a success.

(I'm giving David Bowie a try while I write this and I'm not really digging it. Ah, but Under Pressure just started.)

I left work and headed to the big cultural center that is nearby. This has become my getaway this year. It's a huge public space with high glass windows, wood beams, a theater, leisure areas and a nice library. A grabbed a layman's science book and the Woody Allen film Sweet and Lowdown, did my homework and then hussled home in the freezing rain. My lunch was a cabbage, chorizo and chickpea soup that I tested out the other day and some porkchops that needed to be cooked.

The interesting part of the day came at 8:30 when I was walking home with my bike in hand. I passed by the grocery store, Gadis, that I frequent when the stationary homeless man stopped me suddenly and handed me a bag of almejas (mussels). I was wary at first, but he was a jolly fellow and asked my name and then if I was Italian when he heard my strange accent. "No, Americano," I said. He said he was Jesus and advised me on how to cook the mussels and that they'd give me a hard dick if I did it right. He laughed and said I could visit him at the nearby Soup Kitchen whenever I wanted.
I hailed a little bit the rest of the walk home. Weird. I just cooked the mussels. They were good; I hope i don't get sick.

oh shit, it's 2013.

i'm picking this thing up again. i was disillusioned with it before, but i've seen the light and realized that there is some value to it. the problem with leaving off for so long is that I have a lot to catch up on, but I don't want to burden you guys down with too many long posts. Here goes for a summary:

Time has flown, but shit, when doesn't it now. This year has been substantially different than the last, mostly I think because I'm more settled and, well, more Spanish in some ways. It took me a couple of months to shake off my summer beach bum behavior, but now I'm working a lot more than i did last year which should be good come summer. I don't spend much time with many of the other Americans again, although I cherish the time with the select few. There are the lovely Mary and Bridget, my girls from last year with whom I do El Camino, amongst other cool things. Tacked on to the group are Jay and Monica, two great people from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. We met them in the early goings, they came on a hike with me and the outdoor club, and we've all stuck together since then. Jay's a great guy that, for me at least, is a catalytic person. I talk about a lot of things, he does a lot of things and together things blossom. We brewing beer together and take medium to long bike trips together and are even planning a 10 day trip from Paris to AmsterDaaaam-it's-gonna-be-cool! 

I've taken climbing to a new level, and my group of friends from the gym has really solidified, while simultaneously offering some great experiences one of which was road-trippin' 4 hours into central Portugal, camping under the pavilion of a church in a really small town on the edge of a valley before going to climb it's walls the next day. Epic!

Work is also a lot better than last year. I liked working with the kids, although i felt inexperienced and ineffective much of the time, but working with adults/felling more comfortable and confident is great. I teach Advanced 2, the highest level of a 6 year curriculum, at the city's official language school. I love it. I really enjoy being surrounded by people learning languages and studying, not to mention that i have access to a ton of resources and am even studying French in my free time. I still can't help but think of the French candlestick in Beauty and Beast or Peppy Le Pew when i speak it though. C'est bien!

I think this is a good length for a blogpost. I'll do my best from now on to fill in the spaces with anecdotes, recaps and even some philosophical meanderings.