España, no eres perfecta pero de todas formas te quiero.

Happy end-of-January, everyone! It's not a particularly special time of month for any reason other than the fact that I've now been here in Spain for just about four and a half months! What's scary to think about (for me, at least) is the fact that I've only got another four and a half months to go until I'm back in the States again. How is it possible that I'm already at the halfway point of my year teaching abroad?! How did it go by this quickly- did I miss something? Did I sleep through an entire month at some point? Is there any possible way to slow down time to make these next few months drag by? (Unfortunately, I don't think so.) So that's why, at my "halfway point," I'd like to share with you all a few things that I love and a few others that I don't exactly love about living and working here in Granada. It may not be perfect, but at the end of the day it's one of my favorite places in the world!

What annoys me most about Granada number 5: Explaining my hair color to Spaniards.

Okay, so this one really isn't a major annoyance, but rather more like a never-ending disagreement. Back home in the States, ask anyone who knows me (or ask any stranger that I pass by on the street, for that matter) my hair color and they'll say, "She's a brunette." Right. Agreed. My hair is brown. Not yellow, not orange- brown. It may not be a very dark brown, but it's a shade of brown nonetheless. However, my Spanish friends, family and coworkers (and just about everyone else in this country) all consider me to be  "rubia" or "blonde." What an outrageous thought! I don't claim to know everything but I do know that my hair is most definitely not blonde. (Reese Witherspoon is blonde, my brother Joey is blonde... me? No way!) Furthermore, Spanish people refuse to believe me when I try to explain that, technically, where I come from, I'm considered a brunette. When I say this, they simply laugh and shake their heads back and forth. Some of my closest Spanish friends have even lovingly (at least I hope it's lovingly!) taken to calling me "ginger" like we so affectionately call extreme redheads in the States. Wonderful. I'm the girl who can't even describe her own hair color over here... blonde, yes, redhead, maybe, brunette, whoa, crazy talk! Over time, I've learned to accept the fact that while back home I'm "Katie, a brunette," here in Spain I will forever be "Kah-tee, la rubia." or "Kah-tee, la ginger."

What I love most about Granada number 5: The fact that I never need a car to get anywhere.

One of the things that I love most about living in a city is the fact that I can walk just about everywhere. If I need to mail a package, I walk 15 minutes to the Post Office in the center of the city. If I need new jeans, I walk 15 minutes in any direction from my house and I'm surrounded by any number of clothing stores. If I run out of gum or shampoo, the nearest supermarket is just across the street from where I live. I love constantly being outside in the fresh air and I thoroughly enjoy watching and interacting with the people I encounter on the street. Even getting to work in Armilla is a breeze. I have a ten minute walk to the bus stop, a 15 minute bus ride and another two minute walk to the school. Public transportation not only takes me to work everyday but also allows me to travel throughout the region of Andalucía and the country as a whole very affordably. What a sense of freedom to not have to rely on a car for transportation! Back home in Ellington, I can't even walk to my friends' homes and they live in the same town! Another plus, I have nine whole months free of one of my biggest pet peeves- having to pay for gas. I absolutely loathe paying for gas; it bothers me at a very deep level. Why? Gas is expensive, it doesn't last long and my Dodge Durango guzzles it by the gallon, leaving me pondering (in great frustration) multiple times a week, "Wait... I'm down to under a quarter tank?! What, how...?! Didn't I just spend $40 filling the tank two days ago?!" It annoys me so much that I often drive my car until it barely has any gas left at all! Only then will I reluctantly go to the gas station. Just ask my Dad or my brothers- they're often very angry with me when they go to use the car and find its gas light lit up, as it frequently is. Here in Spain, I'm definitely loving my time spent walking everywhere and my freedom from gasoline!

What annoys me most about Granada number 4: The sidewalks on rainy days.

Back home, we're used to less-than-perfect weather conditions, especially in New England. We're used to cold, snowy winters and wet, rainy springs. What this means is that when I have to walk outside on a sidewalk in incremental weather in the States, I don't fear for my life the way I do here in Granada. I don't know whose grand idea it was, but just about all of the sidewalks in the city center (a.k.a. just about all of the sidewalks near my apartment) are made of marble. Whatever happened to plain, concrete sidewalks? Sure, they're not as pretty, but they're much more practical! I can't tell you all how many times I've slipped and slid on the sidewalks here while it's raining... even while walking at a ridiculously slow and cautious pace. It's awful. Hopefully it won't rain much more this year and I won't have to worry about breaking an ankle while out running errands or walking to the bus stop...

What I love most about Granada number 4: The weather.

Okay, I know that I just wrote a whole paragraph ranting about Granada's sidewalks on rainy days, but overall I really can't complain about the weather here. For the most part, it's amazing. Fall is warm, winter is snow-free and mild and spring comes in February. No below freezing temperatures or black ice covered roads? No need to scrape ice, slush and snow off my car every morning? No rainy, miserable springs that don't come until March or even sometimes, April? Sign me up! Case in point- the past two weeks. Everyone back home has been telling me about the incredible winter storms in New England and how Ellington already has accumulated two and a half feet of snow with more predicted to fall this weekend! Not here in Granada, though! I've been walking around the city with a normal coat, enjoying mostly-sunny days and mid-50 degree temperatures. I could definitely get used to this type of weather all the time!

What annoys me most about Granada number 3: The napkins.

I love going out for tapas here in Granada; in fact, it's one of the traditions that Granada is best known for. Whatever the kind of food you get, it's almost always 1) delicious and 2) a finger-food. So, you'd think that they'd have decent napkins in the restaurant or bar to help you not make a mess of yourself. Nope. The type of napkins here in Spain are small, greasy little things with the words "Gracias por su visita" written on them. They're awful and they certainly don't do anything useful. The napkins are slick to the touch, too... I think that they may actually be greasier than the tapas you eat! Once I spilled some tinto de verano while out at a bar. It was just a little splash, nothing major, and I went to wipe it up with a napkin. Well, one napkin turned into two napkins turned into three napkins (you get the idea...) until I had a mountainous pile of about 15 useless napkins on the table in front of me. I actually made more of a mess trying to clean up the wine (the napkins did nothing more than spread the liquid around the table) than I did by originally spilling it! If I'm ever broke at one point in my life, I intend to start up a napkin factory here in Spain and market them to all the bars and restaurants in the area. I'll make millions.

What I love most about Granada number 3: Going out for tapas!

Despite the pathetic excuses for napkins that you find while out to eat, going out for tapas is a wonderful tradition! When you go out for "tapas," you spend the night wandering from bar to bar, having a drink here, two drinks there, drinking, eating and chatting with friends. No matter what you order- a beer, a glass of wine, a soda, a mixed drink- you receive one tapa per drink. When you order your next drink, you receive another tapa, almost always different from the first you received. Every bar and restaurant has its own style of tapas... some are more typical "Spanish" foods, some are larger portions, some are dishes from around the world, etc. What's even better... the tapas here in Granada are free! Most nights, I end up spending around six euros on a few beers and a glass of soda and with these drinks I receive a full meal! There's no need to have or pay for dinner while you're out for tapas; the food you receive for free is your dinner. How wonderful! I wish that we had something like this in the States... I remember being very disappointed upon returning home back in the summer of '09 and noticing that when I would go to order a drink out at night, there would be no accompanying tapa to go with it. The general feeling of "Hey, waiter, you forgot to give me something!" is one that is hard to shake back in the States after you've spent any amount of time going out for tapas in Granada!

What annoys me most about Granada number 2: The lack of to-go cups.

It may not seem like such a big deal, but yes, the lack of to-go cups here in Granada definitely annoys me. I'm what you would call a "coffee-lover;" coffee and I are very good friends. I drink it everyday- no matter the time, it's a great pick-me-up and gives me that little extra energy boost I need. It's especially imperative that I have my coffee every morning when I wake up. Some mornings, in my rush to get out the door and make it to school by the time my first class of the day begins, I don't have time to have more that a few sips of coffee with a quick breakfast before I head out the door. If I were in the States, this issue would be solved by grabbing a coffee to-go for my morning commute. However, here in Granada, no one ever drinks coffee to go. In the five months that I was here in 2009 and the four months that I've been here now, the only people that I've ever seen with coffee in a to-go cup were American study-abroad students, and very few of them at that. In the States, almost everyone drinks their coffee to-go- while driving to work, while walking to class, while out doing errands- at any moment. My morning commutes would sure be a lot more manageable if I could enjoy a nice, hot cup of coffee on the bus... oh well!

What I love most about Granada number 2: The "siesta" and the fact that hardly anything is open on Sunday.

If you had asked me two years ago, this would definitely have made it to the "what annoys me" list. However, since then I've really come to love the fact that everything closes for "siesta" in the afternoon (roughly between 2:00pm and 5:00pm) and that nearly all the city's stores are closed on Sundays. When I'm at home in the States, I use Sunday as a day to "run errands" and "go shopping." While it is nice to have the convenience to shop on Sunday, I've come to appreciate the fact that here in Granada I don't have that option. Why? Because it means that Sunday really is a day of rest, of relaxation, of spending time with friends and loved ones. Every Sunday, I look forward to taking walks in Parque García Lorca, a park right next to my apartment building, going out for an afternoon coffee, relaxing in the apartment with Ana and Cristina, etc. The same can be said for the daily "siesta" (and okay, yes, while the word does technically translate to "nap" and while, yes, I do enjoy "durmiendo la siesta" every now and then, not everyone sleeps during this time). Since everything's closed between the hours of 2:00pm and 5:00pm, it's a time to go home and eat lunch, the main meal of the day, with one's family. There's no rushing or feeling of "I'd better eat quickly and get back to work..." Instead, it's a time to relax and recharge one's batteries. I've come to love the siesta and I think that we Americans would benefit from such a concept, too...

What annoys me most about Granada number 1: The fact that life hardly ever runs according to schedule.

What a hassle this is! I'm not sure, maybe it's the East-coast American in me, but I like it when buses and other means of public transportation run on schedule. I like knowing that when I have an appointment at a certain time, I will almost always have the appointment at that certain time, give or take a few minutes. This is most definitely not the case here in Spain as the concepts of "time" and "schedule" and "convenience" somewhat differ from our expectations and concepts of the same three words in the States. I can read the bus schedule as many times as I want, but I'm still never sure about when exactly it'll be at the bus stop. Many times I've left the house or my school with plenty of time until the next bus, only to find myself running down the street after it. Other times I've thought, "Well, it's never on time, I'll leave five minutes early today" only to be waiting ten to fifteen minutes before it arrives! On just about every trip that I've taken this year, whether it has involved a bus or a plane, I've had some sort of delay. I have to admit that I really admire the Spaniards' patience when it comes to this sort of thing... while they, for the most part, accept the fact that things probably won't leave or happen on time and for the most part, they don't get too bent out of shape. (My frustration, on the other hand, is somewhat slightly more visible on my face.) One thing's definitely for sure, I'm certainly becoming a more patient individual over here in Spain!

What I love most about Granada number 1: The fact that life hardly ever runs according to schedule.

Yes, that's right. What I love most about living here in Granada is also the thing that most annoys me. Seems strange, right? Well, not if you really think about it. While I would like a bus to come on schedule every now and then, and while it would be convenient to know exactly when something starts, in reality, I love the less-hectic pace of life here in Spain. I never feel rushed or hurried and I'm surrounded by a culture and a people who always make sure that they relax and enjoy themselves everyday. When I'm walking somewhere, I don't worry about arriving on time because I know that if I'm a little late, it's okay. I have been able to learn to "slow down"- to walk a little slower, to eat slower, to look up and notice what's around me. An excellent example of where I've noticed this is at my job. As I sit in the teachers' lounge after our breaks every day, the bell rings signaling the start of the next period. However, no one jumps up and starts grabbing his or her material in a rush to the door. No. The teachers finish their conversations, their coffees, their last-minute preparations and then head to the classroom. Many times I'll be finishing up an activity for a class when the bell rings and the teacher that I'm about to work with will tell me not to worry, to take my time and finish and meet him or her up in the classroom when I'm ready. It's very refreshing. Don't get me wrong- work is still done, deadlines are still met and progress is made- but at a much less hectic pace. I ask you in advance- try not to be upset with me if when I come back I'm not as punctual (a.k.a. getting everywhere early!) as I usually am!

So, there you have it. Five things that annoy me and five things that I absolutely love about Spanish life. At the end of the day, and despite some minor annoyances, I still have to say that all-in-all, I do love living here in Granada!