Tortitas

Thursday night we had a girls night at Estefania's house. There were four Spanish girls and four of us American girls. The plan? To make pancakes. The Spaniards were SO excited to make them and try them for the first time-- just like they see people eat on TV (they watch a lot of American TV shows and movies here). They all took turns flipping pancakes for the first time too. It was funny to see how nervous they were to do it, but they all did surprisingly well. Maple syrup is essentially non-existent in this country (although in my search I did stumble across a half litre of syrup that cost 26 euros!), so we bought lots of jams, chocolate syrup, and peanut butter to top our pancakes with. I also made some make-shift syrup like my mom used to do when we would run out-- brown sugar and white sugar dissolved in water. It turned out pretty good. And the pancakes were awesome too! Soooooo delicious. And to top it all off, unbeknownst to me, everyone had planned this get together at as a belated surprise birthday party for Tiffani and me. When we walked into the living room it was covered in balloons, and Tiffani and I were both adorned with crowns. What sweet friends I have :)

Friday marked the beginning of my three day weekend which, with the exception of some internship stuff, I have devoted entirely to working through Don Quixote and to napping. I also had some credit card issues that I had to work out last night. Even though I contacted my bank and both of my credit card companies before I left, they no longer had a travel record for me, and so all my accounts had been frozen and entirely unaccessible since last week, although I had used them before without issue. Apparently there are quite a few of us having this problem. Anyways, I had three plane tickets on my credit card and couldn't pay them off due to lack of access to my account. Scary, considering that could really tank my credit score. And the phone numbers that Visa and MasterCard gave me didn't work from Spain, even with an exit code. So, Mom to the rescue! I Skyped her, and while we were skyping she called my credit card companies, who I talked to on her phone via Skype. Talk about a complicated process. But everything got worked out! Hooray! 

La Guinda (my favorite bakery) tonight, along with working at the Catholic nursing home and maybe going to a 90s hip hop bar with Jess, and then working more on Don Quixote all day tomorrow until I go pick up mom and Davina from the bus station. I'm so excited to see them!!!