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| Bull Statue on my walk to Class |
8/13- Today I had
my Spanish Conversation class in the afternoon at the Don Quijote school
building. It went really well, and I actually enjoyed it more than my
“intensive” classes from last week because in my opinion, speaking the language
is what I need to work on the most.
My
teacher is really cool and we have a good mix of nationalities in the class
group this week again. Now, the next day
8/14
I went to class once again, and after a quick stop at the beach Bárbara
and I decided to order Domino’s pizza to our apartment for dinner. It was
delicious, and all was well, but THEN came the DRAMA! Here is the story:
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| Our Apartment Building- Site of Attack |
I was sitting on our little couch doing something, and Bárbara
was in the bathroom. Suddenly, I hear her screaming- the first thought that
popped into my head was “Oh my God, the pizza guy is attacking her”, even
though that was clearly impossible since he never came into the apartment- but
anyways… I ran over to see what was wrong. She flung open the door and bolted
to the other side of the room, jumping up and down like crazy screaming
“Cucaracha!!! A huge, giant Cockroach!!” These words sent chills through my
body, and before I knew it Bárbara was yelling at me to “KILL IT!!
KILL IT MICHELLE!!” First instinct, I say “we need a shoe, but not mine because
this cockroach is huge and it will ruin my shoe”, Bárbara suggests we use her
boyfriend Nathan’s shoe, but we can’t find it. In the hysteria and panic of the
moment, I run into the kitchen and grab a big aluminum can of bug spray. I initially think I will squish it, but then
realize that honestly, this cockroach- hairy legs and all- is definitely too
big to be squished without grossing me out beyond all reason. Then, the idea
dawns upon me- we can asphyxiate it! I approach the evil creature crawling
around our bathroom floor, and start spraying it with the can. I held the
nozzle down for a good 20 seconds, and stopped. Then, like a ninja, the
cockroach disappeared and re-appeared like 2 feet away within a matter of
seconds. It was terrifying. We both let out a blood-curdling scream, and Bárbara
was yelling at me “KEEP SPRAYING!! KEEP GOING!!!!”
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| Reaction to the Roach |
So, I spray it again, and
then the smell of the spray was starting to get to me and give me a headache
(the label says do not spray in small spaces without ventilation, oops), and
the damn thing was still alive! I shut the door and despite our panic, we tried
to have a logical conversation. Bárbara suggests, “I can call my Dad to
come over and kill it?” Since he is a 15 minute drive away, I felt bad, so I
said “no, no don’t do that. Umm, do you have any neighbors that you know? Like
any boys?” Initially she said no, but then the light bulb went off and she said
“Yes, I do actually- I met him yesterday, he is in the apartment next door!” So I say, "well, let’s ask him to kill it"! Even though it was 11:30pm on a work night, we
hopped over and knocked on his door. After a few minutes, he finally answered,
not looking the most thrilled. Bárbara frantically explained to him our
situation, and somehow convinced him to come into our apartment. He brought his
broom and dustpan, and then we led him to the crime scene. To our shock, the
stupid cockroach was laying on his back, apparently dead. All he had to do was
sweep it up. Then he asked us where he should put it- of course the toilet or
trash would not be okay, so we demanded him to dump it over our 9th
floor balcony. Thank God, that thing was horrible. Once the dust settled and we
were alone again, Bárbara and I realized how pathetic and embarrassing the
scene in the apartment was. At the same time though, it was absolutely
hilarious. This is one of those stories that we will add flair to and
repeatedly tell to our friends for a good laugh now. The only bad part about
the story is that I was looking up information on cockroaches online later, and
apparently they always play dead. Since they can survive nuclear holocaust, I
now don’t think it was actually dead when we thought it was, so THANK GOD we
threw it outside.
8/15- Now that we
had calmed down from the insanity of the “cockroach event”, Bárbara
and I were ready for another fun, relaxing summer day. Because in the month of
August almost all Spaniards are off work, I was planning to skip my class today
to spend time with Bárbara while she’s not working. Luckily though, today was a
Spanish national holiday- the feast of the Assumption, so I didn’t have class
anyways! To celebrate our freedom, we had plans with Marissa and Josep. They
picked us up and we drove to a beach about 20 minutes outside of the city. This
little place is called Port Saplaya, but it’s also known as the “mini Venice of
Valencia”. It’s a gigantic apartment complex, but it looks like a postcard from
Portofino Italy. We started the day off at the beach, which was beautiful and
not as crowded as the one closer to the city. We spent our time swimming,
chatting, and eating our bocadillos. The only problem with the day was the
crazy wind. It was intense, and all of our belongings and towels kept blowing
away, plus the sand was attacking us and it was a bit painful. Sooner than we
wanted, we called it quits. That didn’t stop us from walking around and
exploring the beautiful interior part of Port Saplaya though. It is definitely
very scenic, and I was glad they showed me around. We finished up the day with
some frozen yogurt at this cute little
place on the beach. It was a great day, a refreshing way to beat the heat, and I
had a blast with my new friends. All this, and I’m learning Spanish! J
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| The Venice of Valencia: Port Saplaya |
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