Life is hard, take it easy

We went fishing last Saturday

Since I’m always complaining talking about it, by now the whole world knows I’m a freelance translator with very little work. Here in Spain that means that every single month I must pay 250€ in taxes. Yes, that covers 100% my health insurance and my retirement, but still, when you have no job, dishing out 250€ is quite a thing.

Back in January, my friend Eric (not boyfriend Eric) asked me if I could take over the private lessons he was teaching while he was in France. A week later, another friend asked me if I could give his father private lessons. Oh, and for the delight of my dear hater, yes, I’m teaching English. At an extremely basic level, but English language. And you know what the best part is? I’m legally qualified to do it!! Ok, back to the point. I found myself with 4 hours a week of teaching. That would almost cover the infamous 250€, so yes, I’d do it.

The months went by, I had extremely ugly arguments with the kid’s father (apparently I’m a lazy ass if I ask to switch days because I have such a migraine that I’m at the doctor’s getting a prescription) but things were fairly well. I had the money to pay for… for what? For nothing! I got paid every week in cash, and that cash would just evaporate before my eyes. I’ve been having exactly the same difficulties I had before to find the money. 

In Small Notebook they’re doing the “No Spend Month” again. I really wanted to do it this month, but I couldn’t face it. First, I need to go back to have a budget and then I can try more extreme things like that one. It’s been a year and we haven’t found a budgeting system that works for us yet. Should work on that. Would love to try the zero-based budget system, but it’s hard when Eric gets paid monthly on the 9th, I get my lesson’s money weekly and my translation bills are paid randomply through the month (when there are any). Any tips?

WARNING: Guys, this is probably not a post for you. Unless of course you like reading about boobs and measuring tape. Which I guess you do.

Today was a nice day. 1st of July. 1st day of the Summer sales here in Spain. Hurray.

I decided it was about time to go and get a proper bra and not the cheapest or with the funniest print I could find. Maybe it’s because I’m old now. Maybe it’s because I’m tired of not having a good strapless bra. So, I go into a very nice department store and ask an assistant to help me find one. And it goes like this:

ME: Hello, I’m looking for a strapless bra that really works and doesn’t end up resting on my hips after 2 minutes.

GIRL: Of course! Let me see (tightens my shirt over my boobs) ok, what size are you?

ME: Well, it depends, because if it’s strapless I’d go a size smaller than usual, right?

GIRL: Oh, no, no, no, no. Come on, let’s go to the fitting room. I’ll get you sized.

ME : Moooom? Get me out of here!!! (too bad my mom was 50 miles away right at that moment.

So yes, she pulled out the tape and I ended up with 70€ less and one new bra that I fully intend to take back to the store and get a refund. There’s no way I’m wearing that. My winter coat is cheaper than that bra! But of course, after feeling that lady touching me everywhere and placing that VERY COLD measuring tape in places where I don’t want that, what could I do. Buy the bra and run away!

It  looks like we’re back, and I sure hope this is for good. The last few days my account over at bluehost was deactivated because of abuse issues. I noticed a really high number of pageviews compared to single visitors (like 1,000 times higher, if not more) in the hours prior to the deactivation. After researching and applying all the security tips I’ve read of, my account is up again. I just hope this never happens to me again. It’s been really stressful trying to research on something I don’t really get and fixing it before all data was lost. 

To add to the stress, Eric’s grandma is really sick. She lives in a nursing home in Germany in her hometown, so maybe we’ll be flying there really soon. Tomorrow is our 2nd anniversary together, and all we can think is her. I just hope she recovers and we get to see her again.

Here’s the story. One (glorious) day I decided to blog in English. Not because I think I’m Shakespeare, but because I thought it would be a good way to practice (and hopefully not lose) my English writing skills. So far, I think I’ve managed to be at least understandable for most people.
This blog gets about 150 visits a day. Comments are scarce. But surprisingly, hate mail is common!
Today I received my second “learn to write before you do so” email.
Well, I think I’m actually proud. Not because I think I write fantastically. Not because I believe in that old “you know you’re famous when people start hating you”. I am proud because my life is not sad enough to leave me time to write stupid emails. And trust me, being a freelancer with very little clients, that’s saying something.
Just to clarify:

I WAS BORN AND RAISED IN SPAIN BY SPANISH PARENTS

Oh, and your email had at least 5 ortographic mistakes. Learn to spell before emailing me. Thank you.

I’m working on a translation on particle accelerators. This job will kill me. But until then, it pays the bills.
Until now, I’ve learnt, through my translations, what are the most dangerous creatures on each continent, how clever pigs and hogs are, what are the coolest spots for GLBT holidays, 20 ways the world could end, what would happen in the next 20 centuries if the human race disappeared today, what Jack Johnson thinks about the pollution on the Hawaiian shores, the life of the Desperate Housewives actresses, the rice planting systems in south east Africa and a long etcetera.
I’m not saying it’s not interesting. It’s just exhausting. Now, back to black holes.

This was taken 2 years and 2 days ago:

We were in a pub. (That’s my friend Patricia in the middle, by the way). Eric and I talked  to each other over the usual “hi” for the first time.

This one was taken 9 days later, on our graduation dinner:

We sat by each other (Eric is 3rd from the left, I’m 4th), talked a lot, laughed a lot and well… yes. (Note: although you can’t really tell from the picture, some of us really did dress up that night. And I must say my dress was quite amazing)

Exactly one year and two days later, we got the keys of our brand new apartment. Here we are smiling uncontrollably, lying exactly were our bed is now placed:

We’ve had very difficult moments here, like when I lost my grandma last November, or with the difficult situation with certain parts of the family. Right now we’re having one of the hardest times because of money. We are not in debt, but we’re near being there. But we are also the happiest we have ever been together, and that makes up for everything.

In exactly one week we’ll celebrate our 2nd anniversary (with a dinner beach picnic, we’re that cheap). In exactly two, our first year living together (we’ll probably celebrate that by painting the kitchen table). What else is in the future for us?

And I’m so not feeling good! I feel old!

Maybe it’s just me, but it hurts being 25. I celebrated it with 23! friends partying at the beach last Friday. On Saturday, I woke up thirsty, with a stomach ache and my head about to explode. That’s right! I was hangover! Since when do I have hangovers? I’ll tell ya. Since I’m 25. Never happened before. Not looking forward to the next one.

Ok, so Saturday came, and Eric, my friend Alan and I decided to go to the beach. After one hour there I was begging to go home. Me. The one who could spend three days straight on the sand waiting for the skin cancer to come. So yes, we went home. Eric and I got ready and drove to Valencia to a great Japanese restaurant where I had been planning to go with him for my birthday for months. I almost fell asleep on the table. At 10pm. We went to my parents to spend the night, and I had a really hard time sleeping on a strange bed. Me. The one who could sleep upside-down hanging from a ceiling fan. Sunday went by ok, but on Monday, the actual day of my birthday, we had to leave the car for repairs at 8.15am. That meant we had to wake up at 6.30. And I was ok with that until 9 o’clock, when I started daydreaming… or maybe sleeping in my walk… or something like that. We spent all morning walking around town and I almost dropped to the floor exhausted. I couldn’t take the heat anymore! Then we went to have lunch with my parents and they gave me my presents. A shiny new Olympus FE-230 so I wouldn’t have to take my Nikon D-200 everywhere I go and risk losing it, and a battery grip for the d200.

I guess all these presents can only mean one thing: I’M REALLY GETTING OLD!

The best thing about my celebration was all the fun we had. Here’s my cousing setting up everything (sorry for the image wuality, these first pics aren’t mine)

And the tables:

My cousin (who drove three hours to be here with me) and I (I’m the one with lighter hair)

Eric (with the red shirt) and three friends wore matching attire:

Me, opening presents in front of the expectant crowd:

After dinner, we went to a “on-the-sand” pub to dance:

And my cousin and I tried to make Eric dance (although he was more interested in seducing the camera):

So yes, we had fun, we behaved like we were 15 and now I have a rotten body to show. Let’s hope I recover from this one.

*Disclaimer: don’t tell me I shouldn’t joke about cancer, blah blah, I know it’s very serious and actually my grandma got diagnosed yesterday. Joking is my way to cope.

Currently in my house there are

• a million bottles of beer and wine
• 2 bags of (the good) chips
• 3 jars of homemade salsa
• 2 huge jars of olives
• 1 bag of dried nuts
• 3 huge bags of little snacks made from puff pastry and filled with sausages, chorizo or caramelized onion&goat cheese
• 1 jar of hummus waiting for me to finish making it
• 2 pounds of salmon marinating
• a 20-egg bacon and zucchini fritatta

As of today, I’ve started 8 or 9 blogs. As of today, I regret every single one of them. They add stress to my life. They make me feel bad if I don’t write, and then make me scared of writing again in case people judge my absence. Well, enough of that. I won’t let anything created by me make me feel bad about my procrastinating habits. At least not until I’m a mom. Or maybe not even then.

So! I have 6 days left of being 24. Six days left of being young and pretty. I really don’t want to turn 25! I know I probably won’t turn all wrinkly and achey overnight, but the number 25 was always a big one for me. I always thought I’d be a “woman” by the time I turned 25. And I’m not there. I’m certainly not there. 

When my friends tell me I’ll make a great mom I don’t think “really? cool!” or even “not yet!”. All I can think is: do I even look like something remotely close to being able to bear a child? I AM A KID MYSELF!

Ok, enough of that. With my upcoming birthday next week, I decided to celebrate with my friends. I invited them all for dinner at the beach and then party. BUT I sent the invitations to way more people than I should. The thing is, I know I should consider them close enough to be invited, but the truth is I don’t really like them that much! I hoped people would just decline my invitation and I’d have my intimate, 12-people party. But no, we’re 22. And guess who’s cooking? Yes, that girl who said she could do it all, and didn’t want people eating disgusting greasy sandwiches on her super-special 25th birthday. Wait, did I say 25?? That was the age I thought I would get married! True, Eric and I have been living together for almost a year now (11 months and a day!) but… I’m still 24!!!!!

I’m sure you didn’t know. Today is Earth day. Never heard of it, huh? Well, Google has changed its logo, there are tons of websites you can check,  lots of information everywhere and unfortunately not enough action.

So we’ve decided to show how we put into practice all the advice we hear every day.

I wanted to share a few things we do aroung here to take a little more care of the Earth, because, after all, is the only place we have to live!

We have written a bunch of green-posts. We’ve talked about saying goodbye to our second car, Green your whites, we’ve discussed if all green products were really that good, and we explained many things we do around the house. Today we’ll share some pictures.

Scrap paper. These are hand-outs from college, etc. only printed on one side. We use them for notes in language school (I’m learning German), to print things we don’t need to deliver anywhere, recipes, etc. Oh, and they come in handy when certain little cousins come over and want to make us some art for the walls.

Now you can say it. You have seen Eric’s undies. And my jeans. Which is more exciting is for you to tell. We line-dry our clothes, even though we have 0 outdoor space. No garden, no balcony, nothing. Luckily, we can use the roof in our building, so we hang it at home and then bring it upstairs.

This is the latest adition to our family. My bike! We found it (well, my dad found it) in a second-hand shop. NONE of my friends, not even two of them who work at a bike store could guess it wasn’t new. And it was 70% off its original price. Now I ride it everywhere, while before I’d just wait for Eric to come back from work and use his car.

We’re growing cherry tomatoes, mint and parsley. For now, we’re using toilet paper rolls as planters.

Buying in bulk is not only green (less packaging), it’s also frugal. And to take it even further, we buy our beans, lentils and chickpeas dry and soak them. Even less packaging, and way cheaper!

We would drink tap water, but you can see tiny white particles in the water here, it is so hard. So instead of buying bottled water, we bought a Brita pitcher. Greener and cheaper.

Hanging from our kitchen door (which is always open, so you don’t see them) are our shopping bags, collected from Germany, Sweden and several congresses. On the right, a bread bag crocheted by my grandma. It keeps bread fresh for a very long time.

We’d rather give old clothes to charity, but sometimes things end up so torn that there’s no way someone could use them. So we just cut them in squares and store them in this IKEA plastic bag dispenser to use as cleaning rags.

My mooncup. Go. Get one. Now. If you have questions, ask me. But seriously, it will change your life. 

They may look old-fashioned to some, but cloth napkins clean better, feel softer and are greener and cheaper than paper. It doesn’t get much better than that! (yes, we have super cool black ones.)

This is our bedroom at 7pm. With such a sunny house, we save lots of energy (light, heating) and we’re always smiling, which is a plus, I guess.

Oh, and what do you think of the bread I baked this morning? Doesn’t look bad, huh?