I took a cooking class! Preshco offers a series of cooking classes at a local culinary school called Aula Ziyrab, and yesterday was the first one. We made gazpacho and fried fish, and also learned how to make sangria. It was cool is have a hands on experience, but the best part was the ending when we went to the restaurant attached to the school to eat the food we just learned how to make. It was so nice to have an all-expense-paid meal out, and the food was really delicious, which was a fabulous treat.
Making sangria
After lunch and a siesta, I met Johanna and her group at a little café and hung out for a while. She is studying in Sevilla this semester, which is slightly over an hour away, and was just on a day trip to Córdoba. Luckily my host mom, Maricarmen, said she'd be happy to have Johanna stay here for the weekend, so we've been having a great time! Last night we went to Botellon in the park (everyone brings a bottle of something and hundreds of young people just hang out before going to clubs, etc.)and had drinks with some of the Spanish guys who I've met through the Conpañeros de Concersación program, and we'll probably end up going out with them again tonight. We came home relatively early by Spanish standards, around 2am, because we had to get up on the earlier side this morning.
Esteban, the Preshco Resident Director, was nice enough to let Johanna come along with the Preshquitas on an optional trip to Castro del Río, a small city about 45 minutes outside of Córdoba. The city is surrounded by olive trees, and is one of the largest producer's of olive oil (aceite) and olives (acetunas) in Andalucía, and was hosting a fair this weekend celebrating olives and the cultural and artistic history surrounding their importance. We spent the morning on a tour of the city and had millions of samples of a variety of olive products, which were all delicious, including the olive sugar cookies. I bought a small bottle of olive oil to bring home with me for only three Euro; I would guesstimate that a bottle like this would retail for at least ten dollars, if not more, in the US.
Rolling hills of olive trees on the drive to Castro del Río
Aceite!
Jars of olives for sale
Johanna and me at the Feria de Aceite!
Preshquitas & Johanna
This afternoon Johanna and I took a nice long siesta by the pool, and have been chatting and reading magazines. Its almost time for dinner over here, and we're not quite sure what our plan is yet, but we'll certainly be going out the enjoy the city on this beautiful Saturday night. I'm so glad she's here enjoying this with me!
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