My vacation was lovely! Everything that I needed to recouperate and get re-motivated again. I was sort of slumping there right before I left. I spent the first week in Alicante. It was sort of an accident how we ended up there, mostly due to a lack of research, but it was a nice surprise once we got situated in our hotel :) The first day was a bit hard for me. I seriously just left grass roof huts and village life and about 10 hours later I was in the land of suntans, paella, and sangria. Alicante was beautiful! I spent hours under the sun, evening out my bad Senegalese tan lines. I ate sooooo well! So many different types of fruit that I havent eaten in a year! Nectarines. Strawberries. Grapes. Peaches. Apples. I was in heaven! I went to buy fruit every day. Seriously. Every day. Don't get me wrong, I love the mangos, lamude,cashew apples, and citrus fruits that i can get in Senegal but I miss other kinds. I ate paella only twice, mostly because I have an aversion towards rice now that I eat it every day. I ate fresh seafood: calamari, shrimp, fish, etc! I also drank a lot. Not to the point of intoxication, but it was nice to have a glass of red wine, sit on the patio, and have thought provoking conversations. There were a few days during our stay in Alicante where we took day trips to nearby cities. We went to Torrevieja one day to see the lagoons, and Benidorm to check out more beaches. It was so nice! After our week in Alicante, we headed north to Barcelona to spend the last week. Barcelona was beautiful, but had way more tourists than Alicante. We stayed in the suburb, Premia de Mar, alternating between days on the beach and sight-seeing days in Barcelona. We did the big stuff, Casa Batilo, Gaudi Palace, Gaudi Park....pretty much all the architectural sites. I loved all of the art nouveau and just the atmosphere of the city. I also enjoyed lots of great food (including thai) and wine in Barcelona! It was just what I needed. I also got my fill of America there too. I forced Mike to go to Starbucks with me, and Subway so I could eat a sub sandwich. So good! Spain was AMAZING! I can't wait until the next time I go back, because there will definetly be a next time :)
But like all good things do, our lovely two weeks came to an end. I had a tearful good-bye in the airport, and made it back to Dakar safely. I spent about 5 days in Dakar before heading back to site. One: I needed to readjust to Senegal, and Two: I needed to do mid-service health stuff. I met with the doctors, got tested for TB (I don't have it despite all of the sketchy yogurt I've eaten the past year, Alhumdililah!). I've gained an embarrassing and shameful amount of weight that I refuse to mention on my blog....I still don't understand the reasons for it either. All carb diet? Lack of fruits and vegetables? Not being as active as in the states? I work out here regularly. I'm afraid I'll leave Senegal with an eating disorder...... But despite that, I haven't had any serious parasitic episodes now that all of my worms have passed. Although, I hadn't been back at site for a week before the diarrhea came back. Thanks Senegal for such a lovely welcome home gift :)
But in all seriousness, it's nice to be back. It was great seeing all my Amazing Peace Corps peeps and my Senegalese family and friends. Now that I'm back, I've been keeping myself busy finishing up Michelle Sylvester scholarship work (we are still lacking a little on the fundin so if you can, Donate. The girls are really going to benefit from such an awesome program!
Check out my Spain photos if you want! The links are at the bottom of the post :) Hay gongal!
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| Having fun on the Playa de San Juan, Alicante |
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| Enjoying my strawberrie! |
Facebook Album #1
Facebook album #2
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