If God didn't want us to eat animals, why did he make them so tasty?

I just got back from the first of what I anticipate to be many fabulous dinners. I met up this evening with one of the graduate students in Marian's lab, his girlfriend, and her cousin who are visiting from Madrid. They're fun folks. We went to a really wonderful restaurant and gorged ourselves on an amazing spread starting with a mixed green salad with a dressing that had so much garlic that I'm glad I have no one to room with, though it was well balanced with the spicy greens and sharp vinegarette. Followed by a plate of meats so impressive that I had to take a picture - 5 cured tastinesses. Then cheese croquettes which are essentially cream and flour cooked down to a paste mixed with cheese and chilled then rolled into little balls that are rolled in finely crushed bread crumbs and lightly fried until they're gooey in the center. Then a dish of shrimp sauteed in garlic, butter, and white wine. Followed by baked potatoes stuffed with ground beef and drizzled in some sort of bechamel sauce with paprika. And the final course was a cheese plate with 7 different cheeses, many of which are special to this region. One was a delightful soft cows milk cheese that was accompanied with quince paste. I think we had the exact thing in madrid with the addition of walnuts. Another cheese was a very stinky cross between a brie and a bleu cheese Everything was so simple and yet so incredibly yummmm because of the quality. Of course this was matched with two pitchers of sangria that tasted of the faintest addition of vanilla or banana and finished off with a yummy sweet cream liqueur that was sort of similar to Bailey's but lighter and with a more delicate flavor.

So I now understand when my dad would get mad at me for saying that his cows were fat. "They're not fat, they're FULL!" he'd say. And I'd say "well they look fat to me." Right now I look pretty fat to me, and while I'm definitely just full to the brim, if I keep eating like this I will most definitely be fat before long.

But I'm walking a lot to earn it for right now at least. Marta, an MD who is doing research in the department, called last night to warn me about the high winds and bad weather and then asked if I wanted to get out today with her if the weather was nicer. It was clear from the damage to potted plants and lamp posts that the wind last night was incredible. Today it was chilly and a little windy but not bad enough to keep us in, so we went for a tour of the town. It's not a very big city, but it's long and narrow. We walked the entire length of the city to the ocean and back in about 6 hours - stopping for wine, coffee, and snacks along the way. Collectively we ran into 5 people we knew which gives me the impression that this is a very small town indeed. Two were people she knew, two were professors from the department that I'd met, another was a young student raising money for the UN refugee fund who I met a counple of nights ago. He just wanted to practice his English because I needed to have a european bank account to give him money anyway. Nice...

Speaking of money, my new favorite spanish word is "rebajas" which means "sale". Every store window has it spelled out in big letters. The slumping economy has hit spain BIG TIME. When we were here in August the dollar was $1.57 per euro, and now it's down to $1.29. Everything is up to 70% off in the stores. You know what that means, Jenna - SHOES. Lots of shoes. Lots of pretty boots. But it makes me feel a little bit guilty even though I have nothing to do with it personally. The whole world's economy is taking a *huge* hit right now, and a lot of it is tied up in the US financial system. It's easy to sit at home and think that our troubles are limited to the US, but this is an enormous crisis (and they quite bluntly call it a "crisis" here) that is hitting the global economy. And it probably affects places like this that don't have as big an economy to begin with versus us at home. So in exchange, I'm going to see what I can do to help out a little bit in the retail sector...

My other big news is that I'm making friends left and right here. Folks are super friendly. The woman who runs the desk at the apartments in the evening, Carmen, speaks very little english (about as much as I do spanish) but she tries whenever I come through. She looks sort of like the Spanish equivalent of Darren's aunt Dawn which will only make sense to the few of you who have met her. Very short hair and sort of no-nonsense looking. She's been asking about my spanish, and I've been trying desperately to answer. She says I'm only allowed to speak in spanish and my friends here shouldn't speak english with me. I don't think she realizes how isolating that would be. I met another young gal, Isa, who is living on my floor, and she speaks a little more english. We went down the elevator together speaking english, and Carmen chastised her saying she was only supposed to speak spanish with me. So now we have an agreement. If Carmen will help me learn spanish, I will teach her some more English. I feel like I have a lot of people looking out for me here, and it's quickly turned into a lot of fun.

Must turn in for now. I got the best note when I came in at 1 am tonight. Marian is calling at 11 am tomorrow. I was afraid it would be a lot earlier. She and I are taking a drive out into the countryside to see a small village in a valley. It should be breathtakingly picturesque. I will be sure to have my camera and will try to post pictures!