sunday night

i've had a really nice night tonight, and i surprised myself i think. was very tempted to hibernate indoors for the evening but i'm glad i made the effort to go out. went and sat in the square with a beer - it was so busy! i forget because my flat is so quiet and it's quite a surprise to emerge into the hustle bustle outside my door! got a bit chilly so sat inside and decided to stay and eat. then it got busy because the football was on - real madrid vs another spanish team, didn't have my glasses to work out which one! sat by the window enjoying the atmosphere, and the view outside. had a lovely "ensalada jamon jamon" - their salads out here are lush, so much nicer and more substantial than ours in england - plus a couple more beers, and it was just a really cool evening. glad i did it now. and the sunset was lovely and reminded me how beautiful it is here, lonely or not x

me naked...

...yep, does what it says on the tin! i promised some of you this picture was coming - hope it's tasteful enough to be out there on the world wide web?? this is me on vera playa just outside mojacar - you have no idea how hard it was to find an angle where a) my bum didn't look massive and b) there wasn't some old bloke's tackle in the background!! the joys of naturist photography eh?! ed, don't throw up - the rest of you, enjoy!! x ps. check out my fab towel ;o)

:o(

mummy's gone. have just got back from seeing her off, and it's some middle of the night time in the morning and i feel sad. we've had such a great time this last week, and now i'm on my own again it means i have to get back to building some kind of life for myself - it was nice to have a break from that for a week! but no matter, i've gotta write some pieces for this newspaper guy so i'll crack on with that this afternoon (once i've caught up on some sleep that is!)

mum, thank you for all the wonderful pressies, and the money you left behind (shouldn't have), i love my new stone arrangement by the way! thank you for treating me this week and generally being a top mum! i'll miss you xxx

long time no blog!

hi all, sorry for the lack of posts in the last few days - have been having a real giggle with my mummy! i've been designated driver this week which has caused a few funny moments - obvious wrong side of the road driving, leaning on the horn when we were trying to covertly park in the residents car park at the nudist beach - what's worse was that mum was busy taking her kit off by the boot, so managed to draw attention to both the fact that we were there "illegally" and mum's arse!! everything has been amusing these last few days and i have to say, i'm really gonna miss mum when she goes - i'll be back to lonely days in my flat - get the violins out!! we trawled around the seafront the other night searching for food and ended up in a chinese restaurant(?!). had a lovely meal and they brought out a chinese liquer at the end which i proceeded to knock back in one, only to then see mum sipping hers - apparently you're not meant to treat them like shooters! the waitress looked on as if i was some seasoned alcoholic!! oh dear.

today we went to a nearby town called garrucha and wandered round the market then had a long lunch. the plate of fried fish that we had was full of little faces staring up at me which was somewhat offputting! little prawns, whole baby squid, and these tiny whitebait-type things that looked like what can only be described as battered sperm!! saw a statue of these homoerotic fishermen(see above), thought certain endemol boys would appreciate them!!

went to a very lively bar tonight full of top spanish totty!! hooray! some very cute boys so i was in my element, although mum reckons they were about 15 - old habits die hard i guess! will be going back very soon no doubt. oh and i might have found a day job writing for the local paper - pretty cool eh?! i've gotta write a few sample articles to give to the top man there (who i met in a bar, how typical!) all ideas welcome... x

one last thing...

... ITS MY BIRTHDAY !! feliz cumpleaños to me! thank you so much to all the people that sent texts and emails yesterday - i enjoy spreading the fun, so will be warmly accepting birthday messages all week! hope you are all well, brainteam - if i was there you know i would have bought a stack of cakes, but you'll have to rely on del instead!! lots of love xxx ps. am hungover on my birthday - started the celebrations at midnight - need to go and top up!! xxx

first paella

one word...YUM x

mama esta aqui!

mum got here sunday, haven't been able to update this for some reason, the website has been down i think - anyway, i overslept and mum had to lug her bags up the hill on her own - bad daughter!! we have been eating huge lunches and watching a load of SATC (the weather is rubbish at the moment!) have had yummy tapas, and had a wicked paella yesterday (see next post!) and went to a swanky new bar here called jazz life - they have a lot of live music etc, although it was pretty quiet on sunday night. check out the piccies... hopefully the weather will cheer up soon else mum's going home minus tan. not cool xxx

learning day

today i am hard at work learning spanish from interactive bbc spanish web pages! i think its going in quite well so that's good. have set up my msn messenger if anyone wants to chat (except the brainteaser lot of course, you're not allowed!!) sent david a "lets just be friends" email and it was received surprisingly well - he has promised not to kiss me!?!? he's taking me on a road trip tomorrow (uh oh, maybe he didn't take it that well and is actually going to kill me?!) so i'll get to see some other parts of almeria which i'm really looking forward to - he has to take some photos for a website he's designing, so i'm gonna take some for here. we have agreed to help each other with our spanish/english, and he's painfully honest - yesterday he said my spanish was shit! it's because i was being lazy coz i know he understands a lot more english than i do spanish!! so i'm trying harder - msn is hilarious though - he's written about ten questions while i'm still trying to answer the first one! oh well, all in good time! x

odd night

not the best night at work tonight - was busy early on and i got flustered trying to do a hundred things at once, sharon was pissed off with me for not keeping on top of things, plus there were two massive cockroaches scuttling round my feet and they scare the shit out of me!! apparently, because they are building nearby there are more of them because they've been disturbed...yuk. stuart and sharon have sprayed though so they should be gone soon, i hope. so i was nervy already and then stacy's aunt and boyfriend came in to say hi - gavin is hopefully going to recommend me for any possible jobs he hears of which is nice. so i was having a chat with them at the bar when, out of nowhere it seemed, a guy behind gavin keeled over head first into the side of the bar with an almighty smack. and for a split second it was my dad. (for those of you who don't know, the restaurant/bar i'm working in is where my dad had his accident last summer - collapsed and fractured his skull amongst other things) and even though i wasn't there when my dad went down, i could see it happening - it was horrible. i went cold and shaky and it upset me. luckily, this guy was fine - a bit dazed as he hit his head pretty hard - but fine. and ironically they were sat for their meal right by mum's plaque that was put up after dad's accident. it says "please don't fall over in my bar - it upsets the other customers"!! or something like that. speaking of which, mum i can't wait for you to come out here - we're gonna have such a nice week together i promise! xxx

my first churros

the other great thing about the market is the man who sells churros. the dictionary definition is "a type of fritter" but they are best described as donut offcuts. he has them in a big bundle and he cuts sticks off, wraps them in paper and sprinkles sugar on them. mega calorific but delicious! they are quite a common snack in spain but none of the cafes seem to do them, so i'll settle for the pleasure once a week - to be honest, it wouldn't be healthy to have them any more often than that! yum x

market day

wednesday in mojacar is market day - i always end up there after the rush due to major lie-ins! the market is nestled in the hilly surroundings of mojacar countryside where the football ground is. its a strange mix of souvenirs, clothes, bags, groceries, practical stuff like toothpaste and hairbrushes, lots of jewellery and a fair amount of tat. there's a guy who sells chickens straight off the spit (they are delicious!) and there's music courtesy of generic spanish cds and a guy selling ocharinas (like little egg shaped instruments that work sort of like a recorder0. i bought one from him when i was younger and never did manage a tune on it! he's pretty good though. so i have wandered round the market this morning and now back at the flat doing my washing, oh the glamour! x

...and mojacar in the sun

daveeed dampner

well i hate to say this, but i'm not sure i'm into daveeeeeed as much as i thought!! oh no i hear you cry! thing is, i really enjoy his company and we have a good laugh etc, but i think i need a friend more than anything, and the thought of anything more is leaving me a bit cold!! i didn't really come here to jump into a relationship and i'm starting to dread the thought of anything happening which is not cool. certain people have put me off relationships for now i think. so anyway, we've had a lovely day together - he took me to this little restaurant just outside mojacar (don't worry mum, he's a good driver) and we had a very spanish lunch (you don't get much of a choice, the starter was lentil soup with what looked like pig penises floating in it! good thing i'm not a vegetarian!) and then we drove down what amounted to less than a dirt track to this little secluded beach (anyone else and i'd think he was about to make his move) but no, we just sunbathed and chatted and it was nice. this old couple came along and promptly got naked (so its a secluded nudist beach, again, anyone else and i would be panicking by now!) and david starts saying how he likes nudist beaches and being naked, so i'm sitting there thinking "oh god, any minute now he's gonna whip his clothes off and expect me to do the same!" but no. shame. ha ha! then we drove back, said goodbye (kisses on cheeks etc etc) and that's that. i just don't feel like pouncing on him, and frankly when i like someone that's how i feel! so i know i like him as a friend more than anything. my only problem is if he has other thoughts and i have to let him down gently in spanish!! should be interesting - the way my spanish is going i'll end up proposing by accident! but to ease this disappointment for you all, here are some nice piccies, first a couple of the beach we were on... x

update update!

saturday afternoon i receive a text from david saying "i hope to see you later", even though i have no idea where they are going! go to work, craig says they are going out but doesn't invite me - so this is a hard one. i never wanna invite myself coz i figure i don't want to be an annoying tagalong and craig shouldn't feel obliged to take me everywhere. so i say nothing and it looks like i won't be going out. and then at the end of work he says to call him if i fancy meeting up later. so this is at midnight. i go back to my flat, read a bit, drink beer, have a shower etc and at half two i think sod it! meet up with them at bbmas which is a real dope-smoker's bar. david is there so we start chatting and then, as with the other night, we stick together. to be honest, craig's the only other person i can talk to anyway!! so we have a good laugh, then we go on to the late bar we were at the other night. i guy comes up to me, starts babbling on in spanish, and david tells him i'm english and he turns round to me in a strange northern/spanish hybrid accent and says "oh you don't look english, i'm from yorkshire originally" !! very strange! i guess the dark hair and eyes mean everyone assumes i'm spanish. there seem to be quite a few like that guy, and craig/jess/joe. people roughly my age whose parents came out when they were younger and they're now honorary spaniards - craig says he speaks spanish far better than english. ended up piling back to craig's house and i went downstairs (alone!) to my flat around 8am. again nothing happened with david but we're getting teased a lot now and it's so embarassing because it's in spanish and i can only get the gist but not exactly what's being said - makes a girl feel self concious!! anyway, we exchanged emails and i wrote one last night and got a lovely reply this morning - we're going for lunch and to the beach tomorrow, as long as it's sunny. so now i have 24 hours to panic about getting my fat arse in a bikini! great. xxx

oscar, jessica and a couple of the others came into the restaurant tonight - oscar was fishing for information about david and i - i said i liked him and we had a good night but that nothing happened. oscar says we make a good couple and that we should be "making babies"!! nice. i'm sure if he had the vocabulary he would've been a lot ruder! he's funny though - they brought their son liam with them, he's four and very cute. he came in the kitchen saying "hola becca hola becca"!! bless!

soooo....

.. this david guy - i really like him, but i dunno whether we'll just be friends or something else. we were being teased a lot at the bar by his friends, and we both laughed it off but i think he likes me - i dunno, this boy-girl stuff is really difficult in a different language. it's hard enough reading those all important signs back home! nothing happened we just talked and talked...and talked! he's really lovely - tall, dark, handsome - you know the type! he's a musician and a graphic designer (one for you mr babb, he'd fit in well at e-shed!) he's the guitarist in the band jess sings with in fact. he looks quite skaterboy (leece you'd love him!) , in fact they're all way too cool for school - they make me look preppy! maybe he just wants someone to help him with his english, and to be honest i could do with some help on the spanish front so we'll see! whatever happens, i'm sure we'll be good friends and that's cool. god, just read this back and i sound like a right sap! feel free to take the p*ss!! xxx

view at 8am from david's balcony

the sky was pink and beautiful but these don't really do it justice!

drinking en el pueblo

view from the bar...

in da club

here is everyone dancing - danny is in the red nearest the camera, craig is in the baseball cap and jess is to the left with little bunches and a black wristband

i met a boy...

... and he's lovely!! after work last night craig took me to a party down by the beach at a bar called zig zag where oscar (jessica's fella) was djing so everyone i had met was gonna be there. so we went, got drunk, danced into the small hours and had a bloody good time! oscar says i am muy bonita and a very sexy lady apparently!! and he introduced me to his friend david (said as in daveed ginola etc etc) who he said was the only person he'd be happy to share me with! he introduced me as his babysitter (because i met oscar first when looking after his son liam!) anyway, david speaks a little english so between us we started chatting and hit it off. later we all went to another bar back up in town and chatted more and more and got on really well. then a few of us headed back to david's apartment and listened to music/continued drinking/had a smoke. and i was the last to leave at nine o'clock this morning!! so it's fair to say i'm feeling rough, but i don't mind coz i had a really good night. all this group of friends are really lovely - a girl i met the other night when v v drunk greeted me like her best friend, and the boys are all really funny. there's one guy called danny who is a total nutter but very sweet with it. and craig's girlfriend nina seems nice too, it was the first time i met her last night. piccies here are of zigzag - for some reason it'll only upload a few per post...

not much to report - tonight was much busier at work but still good fun. thought i'd post some piccies of the place...enjoy! x

ugh

definitely no pictures to accompany this post - i'm suffering with my first spanish hangover! and its not a pretty sight. i'm curled up in my duvet writing this, feeling utterly sorry for myself, and all on a tuesday morning?! had my first shift at work last night which went well - i actually quite enjoyed myself although it wasn't really that busy - the calm before the storm i think. then craig took me to his usual after-work hangout, a very funky bar where everyone smokes weed and gets drunk into the small hours. fine by me! so, forgetting about spanish measures, i piled into the vodka like a woman unleashed and, inevitably, ended up feeling like i do now! i did learn a few things last night though. the first is that even (or should that be especially) when fuelled by vodka i cannot yet speak spanish fluently. i learnt this from the bemused faces that stared back at me more and more as the night progressed, whilst i babbled on believing i was making complete sense! i learnt that you always kiss people twice here, and that if you ask a seemingly friendly group of guys at the bar which one is the ladies toilet they will undoubtedly point you into the mens for a laugh, ha ha. i also learnt that its not a good idea to play subbuteo when drunk. i don't know how it happened but i was taken to the subbuteo table by two guys at the bar and challenged to a game - i was man utd along with one of the guys (because it was fairly obvious that i was gonna be crap!) and the other guy was real madrid. well, man utd had a shocking game. their keeper, controlled by yours truly, seemed to be glued to the spot until after the ball had hit the back of the goal at which point i spun him into action!! it was truly pathetic to watch! and i only had four players to look after!! craig and i then stumbled back to our respective flats giggling at the fact that i could no longer speak english either! very funny.

ow :o(

i burnt my back yesterday on the beach and it hurts! this is what happens when there's no-one there to put cream on the bits you can't reach! tried to take a picture but do you know how hard that is, to take a picture of your own back??!! you'll just have to imagine.

la playa

been on the beach today sunning myself, i know you're all jealous but its not quite the same on your own! i bought a copy of spanish Elle and am slowly working my way through every word trying to understand the gist of things if nothing else - it's taken me all morning just to read the letters page! slightly concerned at how hot it is already - not looking forward to working in twice this heat! talking of work, i'm babysitting tonight for two bilingual four year olds - the hours are so different here - i don't start til 10.30pm so god knows what time i'll be there til. will just have to sleep it off tomorrow! waking up without an alarm is bliss but instead i have building work going on just behind my flat. apparently they'll be finished in two weeks time so hopefully by the time mum comes to visit, it might be more peaceful. i need to get another job pretty quickly before there are none left but if i'm totally honest, i'm terrified! its hard enough begging for jobs in your own country, but with a different language thrown in as well, i'm dreading it! i was hoping the couple of things in the pipeline might come up trumps but i don't know how long to leave it before i swallow my pride and attempt to negotiate employment on my own. i know i'm putting it off but i think tomorrow i'll have to get on with it. at least the experience will no doubt leave me with plenty to write about on here. you've gotta laugh really - spaniards keep chatting to me in the street and i keep lamely sort of laughing along and then running off to the safety of my flat! sometimes when i'm feeling wimpish i can feel myself hiding in here so i don't have to talk to anyone. it's pathetic really, and i'll never learn that way but i can't help it! each day i force myself into a situation where i'll have to speak spanish and just pray that i get it right!! i hope my confidence grows quickly else i'm in danger of becoming a recluse! x

jamon jamon!

before i wade through my next piece of ham(!) i thought i'd post some pictures of mojacar so you can all picture me there! here is the street i'm living on (just up on the left) and the view from the main square. the trees there are all growing oranges - they're lush! i was on my way down to the front to go to the supermarket and have a wander, and bumped into craig on the way down - joined him and a couple of his friends for a beer and missed my bus! not only did one of them give me a lift down to the front but i've also got babysitting work for friday and saturday night (maybe the 4 year olds can teach me some spanish?!) and one of the girls is going to see if she can get me some day shifts at one of the nicer beach bars (i guess she knows the owner or something). not bad eh? i could get used to gaining employment over a cerveza or two! i then went to a big everything type shop on the front in search of hangers and in trying to convey what a hanger was in my best spanish (algo para las ropas??!!) the guy proceeded to laugh at me and then chat in english! well i tried. he then said something as i was walking away and i just said "eso es todo" (thats all) thinking he was offering something else, and he came back round the corner saying "you didn't understand that did you? i asked if you were looking for a handsome man as well?" aaaaggggghhhh! i just said "oh.......er.......no". short and to the point is best i think! i should've said "why, do you know any?" but that would've been a bit harsh, and he did find hangers for me!!

thank you

now i'm here and settled i'm realising how many thank you's i owe people for their love and support in the last few weeks. so gonna try and remember as many people as possible - will prob have to do a new post of apologies for those i forget first time round!! first one goes to mike and caroline - you are all and more that a girl could ask for. thank you for food and board at the flat, thank you for shoulders that have been cried on, thank you for putting up with my numerous moods. mike thank you also for buying so many drinks, thank you for my laptop (I LOVES IT I DOOS) and thank you for playing big bruv and bailing me out when i need it! i'll remember the offer this time round before i get deported or anything equally as drastic!! also in the pic is caro's friend wheeze who i realise i never thanked for the hairband she kindly lent when we had a speedy emergency trip to spain last year! i can't tell you how valuable a hairband is sometimes, and you were a lifesaver!

thank you to all the brainteaser lot - for all the laughs and for putting up with the tears! thank you mr rudge - supportive and caring as always, i hope i return the favour whenever i can (i try!). thank you all bristol/marlow peops past and present - it wasn't easy to leave you. thank you aber crew for endless phone chats, and being "there", wherever you are.

thank you to my family - for everything really. there's not enough space on the internet to list it all. you're the best, you honestly are. right, oscar speech over for now! sorry but it has to be done, and i never say it as much as i think it so there!

i'm here !!

well i'm here and its all good. flight was fine and i feel pretty settled already. my flat is small but v cute. check out the piccies. mojacar is as beautiful as i remember it and it's pretty hot already. of course i'm missing home and everyone in bristol, but i'm feeling good. i did all my goodbyes without losing it (a great achievement!) and i'm hoping to get lots of visitors over the summer - everyone's welcome! my spanish, however, is a little embarassing at the moment. i'm trying, but failing miserably - i ended up with a ton of ham today as i managed to somehow ask for thick slices!! it's all i'll be eating for the next week or so! once i manage to tune in the little telly i've got i shall be immersing myself in spanish telly (joy!) and hopefully getting a little radio too. my first job has been lined up already - i start on monday at el antler. its 6 nightsof waitressing a week, 8pm til 12am so gonna get a few hours of work in the day from one of the bars/restaurants down on the front. it's ideal though because el antler is only two doors down from my flat. my friend over here, craig, says he's gonna take me out with all his mates soon so that'll be good. and sharon (his mum) says i need to get myself a spanish boyfriend if i really wanna progress quickly with my spanish. i couldn't think of a better excuse myself - "its ok mum, i'm just improving my linguistic skills!!" ;o)

will post piccies of the town soon - may as well act like a tourist for a couple of days before i settle into working life here. off down to the front now in search of work and hombres guapos xxx