hmatt's blog

There is a geocache on this little island about .3 miles from the shore. Most people take a boat there, but then you have to rent a boat.. so I wanted to swim to it.

I had thought that this was the island Sean had mentioned he did at night, but that was the even smaller closer one.

Anyway, Lauryn was up to the challenge with me.. so we rode our bikes to an area nearby, and I put my iPhone in my little waterproof bag.. I threaded my dollar store sandals through the string and we began.

It SUCKED! I mean, I’m glad I did it, but man.. it took seemingly forever. The worst parts were when you looked down through your goggles and could see seaweed below you.. and that’s it! That stuff feels so gross and I kept having visions of getting trapped in there or having some HUGE fish appear out of nowhere and nibble at my foot.

To make it worse, we were about half way and I look down to see one of my sandals is missing! A few minutes later the other one vanished too!

The Mediterranean ate my sandals.

Of course the island was nothing but razor sharp rocks and plants. The type of plants that have those little spikes all over them. Perfect.

We found the cache, but it had a big crack in the plastic lid, so hopefully it gets fixed some time.

When we got back to the beach Lauryn spotted one of my sandals waiting for me. The other one was no where to be seen, but at least I had some sort of protection when I was riding my bike back.

It was quite an adventure.

Trip to Alicante.. Viviana’s Birthday celebration.

Part 1
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2618917&id=10709142&l=3fe3002c8a
Part 2
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2618919&id=10709142&l=eea1d65579

One of Arianna’s friends was having a birthday party. She had heard about the Art parties that edge has had in the past.. like Colleen’s La Sala party. These are parties where different people share something art related.. kind of like a talent show or something.

The skill I was going to show was swing dancing with Xara. Others sang, and Sean did his one man improv show that he’s been working on.

There were a lot of complaints about the heat in the room. There were no windows, but it gave everyone a chance to take a break on the street. Also getting fresh air.

After the party ended we played Ninja in the street, and some freeze tag too.

–

July 17

In the morning Vivana invited us to their place. We were provided with a selection of various morning foods.. Pastries, cereal, coffee, and Spain’s FAVORITE drink Cola-Coa.. which is like this chocolate milk mix (like Ovaltine). Chocolate milk for breakfast? Sure!

I tried not to pig out too much on the food, but it was all so tasty!

When we got back, at some point Nick and I went to the beach.

I went swimming and Nick left his bag there on the beach… and some guy stole it.

A bunch of people saw the guy running, but there was no way we could have found him.. We know he had a tattoo of a marijuana leaf though… poor Nick lost his ipod, iPhone and 50 euros.. and his backpack.. and our keys to our apartment. Which, much later, I had to get copies made to replace.

That night we had our art show. There were lots of new faces, but I only talked to a handful of people..

Like Elena and Laura.. two incredibly wonderful people who- get this- restore art for a living!! That is like one of those jobs people have in movies! SO COOL!

I could have chatted with them for hours, unfortunately that was the only time I saw them.

I had a meeting with Arianna this day.

We rode a couple bikes to these little places along the beach.

How they work is that they are built only for the summer when tourists visit. They serve drinks and tapas and such.

There were two of them so we visited them both. It was nice being able to chat with her. She is a very inspiring person. She asked me about my life and goals and such, so I told her.

Spain was an amazing experience, and there were many reasons for that. One, for me, was the ability to clarify what it is that I want to do with my life. A lot of people don’t know.. but I do- and being able to articulate it aloud again and again has made it more attainable and more realistic. It re-inspires me every time I think about it.

Oh, and I totally forgot sunscreen, as did she.. we both got a little red that day.

Today we had workshops. The two to choose from were ‘improv’ or ‘salsa dancing’. Since I can do improv whenever, I chose dancing.

I learned some steps at one time, but I don’t dig the music.. so I rarely did the steps and then forgot them.

Omar taught everyone a few basic moves like underarm turns and such. It was difficult for me to get into the pushing down motion of the dance. It’s like you are drilling into the floor.

It was fun.. I was the only guy though.

Volleyball.

Usually they go after church, but due to the world cup, they played on Monday. Only Lauryn and I went, but we still had a lot of fun. When I was younger I remember taking a volleyball workshop for one day.

I totally forgot everything, but fortunately Lauryn gave me a few pointers. The most important being: “Don’t interlock your fingers otherwise you’ll break them when you hit the ball”.

July 11
They’ve split our group into a few teams where we visit local churches. My group would have to leave early to not miss the World Cup, so I decided to join the group that goes to Benidorm.

What a wise decision.

A german lady translated the sermon for us, so I actually got something out of it.

Afterwards a group of the youth there invited us to watch the world cup in a nearby park.

We took a trip to the mall, Centro Commercial- but it was siesta time so everything was closed. We stopped at a brand new store called Iceland where everything is imported from the UK, usually frozen (thus the name).

Spain was in the world cup. I was in Spain. WAY awesome! There was this giant screen in this park, and there were THOUSANDS of people there. Too bad I didn’t know that we were going to stay there for the World Cup because I wasn’t prepared at all. While everyone had a red shirt on I was wearing my green striped shirt.. I was like a backwards Where’s Waldo.

Afterwards there was some confusion on how to get home. No one spoke English except Elí (who spoke a little) but we were able to get a ride from George.

I sat in the front on the way home. George didn’t speak any english, but I didn’t want it to be one of those silent rides so I tried talking to him. It worked for the most part, but then we’d get into these areas where I didn’t know the words, so I’d have to steer the conversation elsewhere.

Good times though. = )

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2610774&id=10709142

I didn’t take any pictures on the 7th, so I can only say that I had Spanish class that day.

On the 8th I made a Spanish omelette, one made with potatoes which is called a Spanish Tortilla.

Then that night was ‘tapas night’ so Nick and I skipped that idea and went to the circus.

Amazing times.

• I just found out they are building a 99cent store right by my place! Woo-hoo! #

• I love Costco! #

• I've decided to start selling a lot of my old books and stuff.. I want to purchase a Kindle. You can read off of it in the sun! #