Hurricanes, Hockey, and Gyros!

Last night was quite an interesting night, if I do say so myself.

I was texting my friends to go out for the night, but basically one person in each apartment is sick: Katie, Natalia, Cassi, Dave. I watched some TV for the first time since I left the states, and of course every channel was in Spanish. That is, except for the British-run MTV stations and BBC. And Al Jazeera. I watched some American shows dubbed in Spanish, like the cartoon Jimmy Neutron, as well as Lost "PERDIDOS." I was also in severe withdrawl of modern music (I guess they play some hits that are hits in America, but it's like the 2-year old "Rehab" by Amy Winehouse and "Womanizer" from Britney Spears, for the most part). HERE, on their MTV, they ACTUALLY PLAY VIDEOS ALL DAY! It was amazing. Oh, and they had VH1 as well, where they played The Doors and The Who.
My host dad came in the room as I was flipping through some of the music stations, and we chatted about music that he listens to and concerts he's been to. He said he saw Tina Turner a couple years ago, and I told him my parents went to her concert/planned to go to her concert (I actually can't remember if they did now or not) this past year, and they had a special party room with a balcony to watch the concert. He was like "Oh, como los VIPS!?" Only he said VIPS as one word instead of letters and I thought that was funny.
He said he also went to a Michael Jackson concert back in the days of "Bad." He also saw Van Morrison, who he loves. He also mentioned his older brothers, when he was a kid, played in a band. I asked what type of music they played and he said "pop music" like Van Morrison. HOW COOL IS THAT?! He also saw the Rolling Stones in concert three times. Twice in the past 10 years, then once in '85 or something. He also once saw Elvis Costello and he also once saw Steve Winwood. It was hard to catch on to some of these names b/c of the accent he'd say them with, but I eventually figured it out. He mentioned a few other bands he went to go see in the past, but I can't remember them right now.
He also mentioned that Pink Floyd is coming to San Sebastian next month. I am for SURE looking into that. Even though they don't have all their band members.
I eventually got a hold of Luke and made plans to go out with him and a few friends to dinner.

I left the house at around 9:45 to meet up with Luke at the bridge, then we went from there to wander somewhere to eat dinner. On the way, we ran into Carter, another USAC student. We chatted with him for a while until The Columbians showed up, then Carter left to go hang out with his friends in La Parte Vieja. The four of us wandered aimlessly and I noticed this guy dressed in a light brown blazer and tee and khaki pants around our age or a bit older walking in the same direction as us for a bit and told Ana, who started noticing it, too. Eventually, he turned to us and said "Mind if I ask where you all are from?" in English, with an Australian accent. He was 24, his name was Tom Cleghorn, and he played Hockey for the San Sebastian team (http://www.rfeh.com/web/competiciones/goleadores.jsp?competicion=180&fase=1&grupo=1&origen=competicion1.jsp). He heard us talking in english and wanted to know where we were from, since he obviously felt out of place in a country without english-speakers. He was asking us what we were doing, and we said "trying to find somewhere to eat." He suggested a place and we started walking toward it, but on the way we found a gyro place (strangely, I had mentioned eating gyros about 10 minutes before discovering this place) and it had fries which pleased Ana and Natalia, so we went in. We hung out and chatted with this guy for a while, and he was really nice and interesting, telling us about how he surfs around here and is here for about 7 weeks to play hockey for the SS team.
At this restaurant, also, Ana asked for a Bailey's on the rocks, and none of us thought the guy who worked there knew how to serve that, since he basically filled half a cognac glass with Bailey's and put ice in it. I also have no idea what language the men here spoke, since they seemed clueless whether we spoke in Spanish or English. I think they were Turkish.
When we were done, I don't think they knew how to calculate our bill, because in total we had...
A gyro
A gyro and fries
just fries
potatoes
5 beers
a water
a Bailey's
2 cokes
and an ice cream.

And the bill total was 32 Euros or so.

I know for sure the ice cream was at least a euro, the cokes were at least a euro each, and each gyro was about 5 euros. That's 17 euros there, and that wasn't including fries, potatoes, 5 beers, a water, and a bailey's. And I am sure that would not add up to only 15 euros.

But hey, cheap food is nothing to complain about.

After we left (which we had to do since they started turning off the lights...), we wandered around a bit, heading in the general direction of the columbians' apartment, since they live on "Reyes Catolicos" nicknamed "Reyes Alcolicos" because it's the bar street. On our way, we discussed how the USAC people sent us an email about how the weather would be, advising us to not leave. Since my internet was down (i'll explain in another post), I didn't get this email. Now I've had a chance to read it, and summing it up won't do it justice, so I will just repost it here:
____________

Title: Important Weather Alert

Dear Students,
We are expecting severe weather tonight in the Basque Country. Winds of 95
miles per hour are expected and waves may reach as high as 40 feet. You
should avoid being outside during this type of weather as tiles, flower
boxes, trees or cranes may fall. You should not be alarmed but use prudence
when you are outside and try to stay inside for the worst of the storm
between 6:00 pm tonight and 6:00 am.
Be safe!

USAC Office
____________


By the time we were leaving the restaurant and walking to the girls' place, it was midnight, and it was also a balmy 55 degrees F, with light winds, not enough to mess up my hair. Natalia was mocking the email we got, saying "apparently CRANES are supposed to be falling, WATCH OUT GUYS!" It was very mild weather.
We went to WARHOL, a bar, and the boys and Ana got a drink each, but Natalia sat down, saying she didn't want a drink b/c she was beginning to get a bit of a cold.
After a little bit, Natalia said she'd just go, because she wanted to sleep. She left, then about 4 minutes later returned and said there was a salsa bar next door and she wanted to go in. Obviously this is the opposite mood she was in 4 minutes ago, but she said she'd stay out longer if dancing was involved. So everyone finished their drinks and we went next door, only to find that we stuck out like a sore thumb. I am not sure if it was the age difference, with the crowd being in the 30's age group, or that it was only half full, allowing more staring from the patrons. We left as soon as we arrived.
Then, everyone seemed to not be in the party mood anymore, so Ana and Natalia went back to their place, then Luke said he was going to a friend's(Dixon's) house, and that Tom was welcome to join, but it would be in the opposite direction and therefore a longer cab ride home so he decided to just head back now.
Therefore, I was left to go home, too, so Luke and I went in the eastward direction together, across the bridge, until he had to head up north again to go to Dixon's.