¡Vamos Rafa!/Allez Rafa!

Georgetown chicas out celebrating Kaley's 21st

¡Vamos Rafa! El número uno mundial y el ganador del Abierto de Australia de 2009 (el primer para un español)

Nadal (1) derrota a Federer (2)  7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-2

Translation: Let's go Rafa!  The world number 1 and winner of the Australian Open 2009 (the first for a Spaniard)

So why do I have all of this about the incredibly good-looking Rafa Nadal?  Well, for starters, you all know how big of a tennis fan I am, so it's only natural that I would pay attention to the season's first Grand Slam.  Also, Rafa is Spanish (from Manacor, Mallorca) and is the Spanish people's media darling.  I figured that talking about the match would give me something to talk about with Jesús, my host sister Noelia's boyfriend.  I know that he loves sports, so today at lunch, we talked tennis, so I was happy to finally be able to find something to talk to him about.  The second lunch was over, we rushed into the living room and turned on the match, only to find that it was match point in Rafa's favor.  The second the match was over and the lovable Spaniard collapses onto the court in elation, we could hear car horns blaring outside in celebration of another Grand Slam (the 6th for the 22 year-old, well on the way to breaking Pete Sampras's record of 14) for the Matador from Manacor.  

Before lunch, I had been listening to the match on Australian Open radio on my computer, and I decided that I wanted to experience the moment on Spanish TV, watching it with Spaniards.  It was really cool.  I said to Noelia that I hope there are Davis Cup matches in Spain while I'm here, because I really want to go to one!  Well okay, I just looked it up, and there IS a round against Serbia March 6th-8th in Benidorm (which would most likely also feature Novak Djokovic!), which, I think, is basically in the middle of nowhere outside of Alicante.  And the cheapest ticket is €160 for a three-day ticket.  Ugh.  Expensive.  Also, I don't know how I would get there.  But it IS very tempting!  It would be incredible to watch a Davis Cup match.

So besides tennis, which is probably boring you all, what else is going on in Sally Manca?  Well, not much.  It's still raining pretty much every day, and a trip that we were supposed to have to Peñafiel for a wine tasting yesterday got postponed until next weekend (which means that Kate will be able to come with us!  Yay!!!), so we basically did nothing yesterday.  Molly and I came to the realization yesterday that there really is not much to do in Salamanca.  We have spent the majority of our time in cafés, especially since those are some of the only places that have internet.  So our days are spent surfing the World Wide Web, and, since I've been sick this weekend, we haven't gone out.  

HOWEVER, on Thursday night, we did actually have a real night out.  Kaley, one of the girls in my program, turned 21, and we took her out for dinner at a nice Italian restaurant and then out to several bars.  We got to the first bar at around 11:30, which is way before Spaniards start going out, but by the time we left that bar, we were already incredibly tipsy.  Even though Spanish shots are about half the size of American ones, and a lot of them are very sugary, they don't have the same effect as American ones.  But we were still having trouble standing up straight.  Our remedy for tipsiness? Dancing, of course!!!!!!! At another bar.  It was a lot of fun!  Then we went to another bar (I think it was our 5th of the night), and it was soooooo packed that it really wasn't fun at all.  So we left, at about 4:15.  It was a really fun night though.  It was just a little frustrating, though, because, so far, the Spanish boys we've met at clubs (note that I call them boys, NOT men) have lived up to their reputations of being skeezy.  The catcalls never stop once they see a few tall, blond, or American-looking girls walking around, so it's left us wondering where all of the nice Spanish MEN are.  They HAVE to exist somewhere!  

One good thing that came out of this weekend was that we joined the gym!  I'm so excited!!!  I can't wait to start working out again!  I decided that, after Thursday night's boozefest, I would go out for a run.  That was a great idea.  But when I got over to the track across the river, I decided that it would be a good idea to do lunges halfway around the rather large track.  BAD IDEA.  I am still in an incredible amount of pain, pain that no amount of Advil will remedy.  I need to get back into shape.  This gym seems amazing, though, so I'm really excited to start working out there!

I just sent off a batch of postcards on Friday, so hopefully you'll all receive them soon!  I hope all is well with you, and I'm 

Sending you my love,

Kristen