Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Brave New Girl

So, Bill and I just returned from the weekend of fun with our Spanish friend Pablo.
Saturday, we arrived in Mojacar, where Pablo collected us from the bus station, took us to the hotel and demanded we change instantly into swimwear to meet his friends at the pool.
We did, and then I met the 11 20something Spanish guys we were to spend the weekend with. In my bikini. The stuff nightmares are made of. As a Kansan, I don´t really consider swimwear to be regular clothes, like those from Florida or Spain. Indeed, I am quite uncomfortable with the concept. So I am brave.
In any case, we went to the beach, and then, in the middle of the night, had dinner, where Pablo and his friends ordered while Bill and I sat incomprehendingly. And, as it often is on the beach, dinner turned out to be seafood, and more seafood! Fish with their heads, mussels, calamari, all sorts of things that I never, ever eat. But I was brave again (emboldened, perhaps, by the many pitchers of sangria consumed) and in fact, even liked the fish. Especially, oddly enough, the fish with the heads still on!
In any case, after a long night of drinking that Bill and I had to wuss out of at 4 am, we spent the next day on the beach, then went to Mazarron where Pablo´s family stays during the summer.
There, we spent two more days eating, drinking, and playing in seas and pools. And I continued to be brave, attempting to speak Spanish to Pablo´s non-english speaking parents and trying even more seafood! Clams, fully dressed with eyes prawns, more mussels and calimari, crab, etc. But I was so brave and in fact discovered that I love clams.
Incidentally, Pablo´s friends and family are about the coolest ever and I could not possibly have had more fun. Murcia is the best province in Spain, it is true. Also, they have peaches there that are literally the size of grapefruits. And man are they good!
Now we are in Barcelona, which hopefully will not require so much courage.

3 comments:

stefanie said...

okay ruth, i'm very proud of your bravery, but i have a serious grievance. i started reading thinks... by david lodge and i absolutely, unequivocally hate it. the tone is phillip roth meets bob hellenga and i hate both those assholes. how did you make it through this book? does it get substantially more engaging after page 59 or should i just give up now?

ugh. i just finished the section where messenger is showing helen around his lab and gawd, it's seriously awful.

Anonymous said...

Ruth,
I am so proud of your sexy beach body. I will know cemmence living vicariously through you, minus the traveling which i despise.
~Jess

Anonymous said...

Wow. A middle-of-the-States girl meeting people for the first time in swimwear. I couldn't do it. Not to mention all the food that is...well, still animal. Eeek.

Miss you, Ruth. Be good.

~Margaret