My favorite part of today was volunteering at the Hello School. I already loved it because I get to help teach people English and it feels important and relevant for my future career, but now I’m starting to love it more because of the teacher I’m working with. She’s right around my age and is from Spain so it’s really fun to talk to her about all sorts of things, and she’s just a really nice person. I told her about the health problems I’ve been having and she told me if I ever need help talking to her a doctor or need anything to reach out to her, which is just so nice. She tells me about different places to go in the city, and today she showed me one of her favorite cafes so I will definitely be trying that out soon.
For dinner tonight our program signed us up for a Spanish cooking class to learn how to make paella, Spanish tortilla, and sangria that we then got to eat. There were a ton of us making things though, and it was really hot and crowded so I mostly helped with the sangria and slicing the bread. (Don’t worry family, I got recipes for all three.) I stuck around to try a little of the tortilla and vegetarian paella, but I started to feel really sick and decided to go home early. I’m okay, I think it was probably just the heat and maybe all the meds I’m on, but I got home and ate an orange and some yogurt. Now I’m going to treat myself by going to bed early and waking up for a real morning routine that, if I do it consistently, should help my body feel a little more regulated throughout the day. I’m getting a little tired of the long Spanish days. It could just be because I’m lame and never try to go out at night with everyone else to get used to it, but I don’t like still being expected to function like a normal person when my body thinks it should be sleeping. I like to stay up late on my own terms, not when I’m expected to. I also might just feel this way because I’m not feeling my best today, who knows.
That being said, I’m going to practice some self-love by drinking more water and going to bed soon. Tomorrow night I have to Skype in for a two-hour teaching workshop at night, and then this weekend I leave to celebrate my birthday in Sweden. I want to try to get as much rest as I can between now and then to help travels go a little smoother and so that I’ll be able to enjoy the journey more. I’m excited to have time to read on the trip and have another awesome solo adventure. Hopefully I’ll heal soon too; despite my stomach being a bit upset today, I’m actually starting to have hope that I will get better soon. It’s upsetting me now that feeling bad has kept me from two things tonight: being present at the cooking class and going out with a group of girls tonight I actually wanted to hang out with. I know there will be better days, and today wasn’t all bad, but right now I just want to feel good/normal again. Health is a simple thing to ask for, but it also isn’t. I’m thankful it’s not worse, but I want to get better. Regardless I’m doing my best to not let these issues get in the way of this awesome experience. I’m trying to make it my goal to focus on just enjoying my time more, because I think that’s needed more than anything. Until tomorrow! Oh, and here are some pictures from the cooking class in case you guys are interested:
haysetfree.com 