feliz cumpleanos a alberto!

Forget what we're told before we get old...

It was in the upper 70s here on Saturday, which made for perfect beach weather! We headed for the beach as soon as we woke up (which was surprisingly early for us!), and we found that the beach was much more crowded than the last time we were there! I guess that makes sense considering it was a lot warmer and earlier. We waded in the ocean for a while; it was a little cool, but I'm sure that it would have warmed up if we were out there jumping around in it like some people were. We were able to find a nice little spot near the tide to lay our towels down at. It had a really nice view of the ocean and, unfortunately, everything else. Apparently the women don't care for bathing suit tops here in Spain. I've never seen so many bare boobies in my life, young and old alike! It was awkward to fall asleep on the sand and then see 50 year old nipples when I first opened my eyes, but you know, whatever.. It's all part of the experience! My favorite was this girl who had CLEARLY had a boob job and the men that would repeatedly walk by to look. How awkward.

Other than that, the beach was lovely!! I still can't get over the fact that we are here, two minutes from the beach. If you had asked me last year where I would be in February 2008, I would have never guessed a beach in Spain! It's so crazy to think about, but here we are. And I have the sunburn to prove it. :-)

When we returned to the piso that evening, the most beautiful sunset I've ever seen in Valencia occurred!


This was taken from the view of my bedroom window looking in the direction of the beach. It was absolutely breath taking. It made my heart a little sad, though, because it reminded me of all those times when my grandparents were still living down the street from us that my grandma would call our house and tell us to go look outside at the sunset because it was beautiful, and so, we would go outside and look, and we'd turn our heads down the street and there she would be standing in her driveway waving at us. I know this would have been one of those sunsets that she would have called and told me to look at. I wish I could have experienced it with her, but at least I have beautiful things, like sunsets, to remind me of her! :-)

At 1opm on Saturday night, Lucia and Alberto picked us up for Alberto's birthday party. He's 22 now!! We headed for a restaurant in Blasco Ibanez and met a lot of their friends (including Lucia's cousin) there. They have a special for large groups that's tapas (appetizers) + sandwiches + unlimited beer and sangria, so that's what we had. I kind of like the idea of tapas. They just bring you random food, and everyone tries different stuff. Some of it was good, and some of it was not. I also discovered I'm a big fan of sangria. It kind of tastes like Hawaiian Punch, but it's a red wine/fruit/brandy mixture that's typical of Spain. Good stuff.

Birthday parties in Spain are fairly similar to American ones. You eat lots, hang out with amigos, give gifts, and have cake with candles (see Alberto blowing his candles out on the lower right?? :-)). Oh, and we also sang "Happy Birthday" in ENGLISH!! How funny.. I'm glad to see that the song is universal!

There is one difference, though. Everyone gets SPARKLERS (upper left picture) to celebrate with while singing happy birthday. It was really fun! I want sparklers for my 21st, Mom! :-)

After dinner, we headed for the bar. By this time, it was already 1AM in Spain. We stayed there for a few hours, and then everyone decided they wanted to go to the disco. Seriously, I do not understand how people have this lifestyle!! Eating late, staying out all night.. It's seriously the city that never sleeps! Or tires! I definitely don't think I'll be adjusting to this before leaving. I value my bed way too much.

Thanks to the ridiculously late Saturday night, we slept in on Sunday and were lazy all day, but Emily and I both managed to Skype our families. My parents, Aaron, and I had a 2 hour long conference call, and we were able to plan stuff for our upcoming trip, which is in ELEVEN days!! How exciting! Mom and Dad also showed me my sweet little baby Mongo on the cam. Oh, how I miss him.. oh, and them! :-) Still, 11 days is not far away at all! I can't believe the time is almost here. It's crazy how quickly life moves.

Today we had to meet at the university to work on our group project. I do think that's the most productivity I've had in my life since finals in December. I guess it's kind of good for me; I wouldn't want to get out of the swing of homework!

Other than that, life in Valencia is grand (minus the whole we still don't have a working shower bit...) but LOUD. Las Fallas, the huge festival of Valencia, are later this month, and the city officially started with pre-celebration on March 1. Every day at 2pm the courthouse shoots off fireworks (Yeah! In the middle of the day!) to celebrate and anticipate, and local residents (even tiny little kids!) also shoot them off all day long everywhere. Apparently the park across the street from us is a popular place to do so, so lately it's sounded like we live in a war zone, and we see huge balls of fire go up in the sky at the most random times. All of the locals are so excited about the festival; I can't wait to see what it's all about! If it's this loud now, I can't imagine what it's going to be like then! Anyway, I MAY go do some more homework now. There is more class tomorrow, but on the bright side, there are only 3 more days 'til the weekend, 11 days 'til my family, and less than 3 weeks until Ashley and Rachel!!

...show me a garden that's bursting into life.