Eddie goes to the hospital.

Eddie and I at the Mirador de San Nicolás

Well, I'm not sure if Eddie will be visiting me again. Last weekend, Eddie- my friend from high school who first told me about the program in Spain and is living in Málaga this year- visited me in Granada. The weekend started with disaster, and ended just as unfortunately. Surprisingly, though, we had a great time. Until he had to go to the hospital.

To start, my roommates were gone all weekend to their hometown in Baza, a pueblo an hour and a half outside the city. So Eddie calls to tell me he's arrived, and just as I leave my apartment to meet him I close the door with my keys still inside. Great. Eddie's supposed to stay with me all weekend, and now I'm locked out.

My friend Helene let us crash as her place that night, and I planned on going to Baza the next day to get a key. I contemplated scaling down to my balcony from the roof (hombre de araña style)... a plan that I was almost desperate enough to go through with. But alas, I went with the bus plan. It would have taken the entire day, but I made the mess & I was willing to clean it up. But, as I mentioned before, I have amazing roommates. Antonio wouldn't hear anything of me heading to Baza and drove back to the city to let Eddie and I inside. One problem solved.

Unfortunately, as is life: when it rains, it pours.

Saturday was fun- As the Granada guide, I took Eddie and his friends to the mirador de San Nicolás, through the Arab markets, and by night to tapas bars and a discoteca. Not bad until Eddie woke up Sunday morning and could hardly breathe. Alright, so just to clarify, he had been sick for basically his entire time in Spain, never giving himself time to get better. What he needed were some antibiotics and a week of rest, but we decided instead to stay out all night on Saturday. Not too smart. I think we should have realized this fact as I was giving him chamomile tea before the Málaga dulce (a sweet wine that he brought as a gift from Málaga).

In any case, on Sunday Eddie headed to the hospital for what he thought would be a prescription for antibiotics. What he got were two nights of hospital stay. I visited to bring him pudding and other snacks, and also to laugh about the fact that he was in a hospital bed in Granada on Halloween night all alone saying, "I think this is my body telling me to slow down." I'd say so.

But, not to worry. Eddie's back in Málaga, hopefully taking it easy for a while. Not sure if he'll visit me anytime soon, but I am going to his house on Thanksgiving. His dad and brothers are visiting, and since he has a house (not an apartment) they're having a big Thanksgiving shindig where everyone makes a dish. I'm excited to have Thanksgiving plans with Americans who know the importance of a good turkey and pumpkin pie.

New phrases:

(As learned from the two teachers I work with, Cristina and Veronica. We got tapas and coffee last Friday, a sort of intercambio of Spanish and English phrases and idioms that is a lot of fun. They're really eager to learn, and I look forward to seeing more of them. Up next: exchange of American/Spanish food, where I'm going to learn how to properly cook a Spanish omelette)

- Chunga: A very Andalusian word used to describe anything- person, building, whatever- that has a bad or dated outward appearance. For example, the best tea houses look "chunga" but serve really great tea. Or, you can joke that a girl looks "chunga" to say that she's not such a looker. Can I also point out that they made fun of me when I tried to use this word- probably because my Spanish is a little too proper to be using slang.

- Bailar como un pato mareao: Literally, "dance like a drunk duck." Used to describe someone that can't dance. A.k.a, myself. One of the girls, Veronica, is an avid dancer of salsa, chacha, la sevillana, whatever. Cristina and myself, not so much. When Veronica takes us dancing, I'm making sure Cristina comes along so we can do the duck dance together.

- Tener el puntillo: While drinking, to be at a good point (not drunk, but feeling good). Andalusians love to add "-illo" to just about anything. They laughed when I said, "tengo el punto" and told me to say "puntillo" instead. Still unsure why. Damn accents, making it so hard for us extranjeros to use any of the cool phrases without sounding completely ridiculous.

Update: Eddie and I frantically booked a flight to BERLIN for December 6- 11. This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, but Spain has two holidays that week. So, no work! Perfect for a trip. I can't wait. Hopefully no German hospital stays for either of us... ;)