Team Bobo Reunion

Last week was the Team Bobo reunion. Well not the entire team but most of it. Lisa and Amanda from A2H came to visit and it was a blast. It was a packed, exhausting week but it was great. it was awesome to see them. Here are some highlights of the week:

• Goodies from America: I got girl scout cookies and lots of trashy magazines. Who knew Kirsten Dunst went to rehab??!! And thanks to Natania, I also finally got to see Juno (awesome movie...I heart George Michael) and I'm super excited to watch the Justin Timberlake DVD. Best of all, the girls made a video and I got to see everyone's beautiful faces. Check out it out at the end of this post.

• Salamanca trip: I only had one class on Thursday and it wasn't until 7:30 PM, so we decided to take a quick trip to Salamanca. It was wonderful and beautiful. The oldest university in Spain is located there. It had the feel of a college town (lots of young people and pubs), but not quite like the college towns in the US. The town was very quiet and peaceful and most of all, the architecture was amazing. The food, however, was a bit of a disappointment. But then again I think we just chose the wrong place for lunch. It was definitely bobo. My favorite part of the trip was when a cute old man stopped us as we were walking. He asked me if I was korean and I said no Filipino. He then busted out an index card from his wallet, reads it and says, "maganda". He turns to Lisa and we told him she's American, and he says, "pretty". To Amanda, he says, "gwapa". He totally had every word for beautiful in every language. That card was full. It was great!!!
  

Total travel time (there and back by train): app. 5 hours
Total hours in Salamanca: app. 4 hours
Total hours of sleep the night before: app. 3 hours

• Booty Dancing: Of course I was going to take this opportunity with the girls in town to go dancing. It's just not the same going dancing with the boys. I also wanted them to experience the real way Madrileños go out on the weekends. So Friday night, we pre drank at my house, watched some videos (more like me and Lisa getting really drunk and decided to watch dance clips from Stomp the Yard and America's Best Dance Crew), and left for the bar at 1:30 AM. We first went to a cool jazzy bar (so we could go to the bathroom and to appease Juan) on Calle Huertas. We met a really cool bartender who had awesome hair and talked to a Cuban trumpet player (hot!). After the bar, we moved on to a discoteca and danced the night away. It was ridiculously awesome! I had such a great time. And apparently, I speak Spanish way better when I'm drunk. Go figure! I was especially proud of Lisa because despite her concerns, she made it out until 5 AM. Unfortunately, Amanda was not feeling well and went home early. But I'm sure she would've rocked out in normal circumstances. She was already a trooper for putting up with me and Lisa's booty shaking drunkenness.
  

• Cordoba trip: We may have been a bit ambitious when we planned this trip but it was totally worth it. After a long night of booty dancing and an hour of sleep, we somehow made it to Cordoba. Cordoba is in the region of Andalucia, in the southern part of Spain. As many of you know, the south of Spain has a huge Muslim influence. The Moors left a huge mark in Andalucia and this is very obvious when you see the Mesquita. The Mesquita was once the mosque in Cordoba and later converted to a cathedral. I loved the Mesquita. It's so beautiful and also very interesting. It's strange being in a building in which the architecture is clearly Muslim-influenced, and yet it's full of Christian art and Jesus things and altars. It just wasn't quite right. I think it would've been better if they just left it as a mosque. Nonetheless, it was gorgeous.

The rest of Cordoba was just as beautiful. It was a bit hot and I was so sleep deprived, that I was physically but not mentally there during the trip. Thankgod, the city is so beautiful that the cool stuff definitely perked and kept me up.

Total travel time (there and back by bus): app. 10 hours (We left Madrid at 9 AM on Saturday and left Cordoba at 1 AM Sunday)
Total hours spent in Cordoba: app. 12 hours
Total hours of sleep the night before: app. 1 hour

• Flamenco Show: I saw my first Flamenco show ever in Cordoba. Flamenco originated from Andalucia, so it's only fitting to see my first show there. It was amazing!!! It was worth my last 20 Euros and the best way to end our Cordoba trip. The dancers were so good and the music was incredible. I now plan on taking Flamenco dance lessons. And if I can't do it, then I'm gonna take Flamenco guitar lessons. I have lots of video footage from the show. I will make sure to post it as soon as I get it all organized.
  

• Last but not the least, seeing the girls: Lisa and Amanda are awesome. I worked with them for almost two years and working and seeing them on a daily basis really made me get to know them. The three of us were also members of the "after hours club" at A2H - we stayed after office hours 95% of the time. As much as I didn't like staying at work late, these girls always made it much better. They brought much joy to me while working in such a miserable place. So it was great to have been able to re-live that with them, even just for a week. I loved hearing all the gossip and all the crappy things happening...makes me feel better about my decision to remove myself from an office environment for a while.

It was also nice to finally speak normal English. By normal I mean the way Lisa and Amanda speak. I miss hearing that everyday at work and talking just like them so I could also sound cool and hilarious. I just don't get that much opportunity here to say "gurl", or "y'all", "ain't" and purposely not making the subject and verb agree.

Well, that's about it from the past week. This Thursday and Friday are holidays here in Madrid. I plan to take advantage of it and use it to recover from last week. I now have a bit of a head cold, so I apologize if nothing on this post makes sense. I'm not really actually sure what I'm writing at the moment, but I wanted to make sure I get it out before I get too behind.

Pictures and videos from the past week will be posted as soon as possible.