The lesson of appreciation

Lisa and I got back to Logrono last night at midnight. The first thing we did was raid the pantry for food. Mel had cooked a green chicken curry (green curry chicken? Green thai chicken curry? It wasn't the chicken that was green) so I devoured the leftovers, then I fossicked through the fridge and considered going through the rubbish for some scraps of food. I felt like a half-starved Ethiopian refugee. During our time in Morocco, Lisa was so paranoid about the food being unclean that she made me paranoid as well and as a consequence, I didn't eat as much as I normally do. I was deprived of food for a week. When I got home, I realised how good it is to live in a country where you don't have to worry about food poisoning (well, except for the five times I got it this year). (Photo: Gian, Mel and me doing Keira Knightley impersonations)

Before we left for Morocco, everything was completely crazy and hectic. On Friday night we cooked a farewell dinner for the Croissant because she was moving out of the piso on Saturday, then on Saturday we went horse riding and in the afternoon had people over for dinner and videos. We ordered Chinese takeaway and Javier thought it would be hilarious to make me call up since I'm the token Chinese/Japanese/Korean/Asian. Afterwards we went to Concept, the only nightclub in Logrono that you have to pay to enter. Luisfran nearly burst a blood vessel because he paid 4 euros for a 330 ml bottle of water. (Photo: farewell dinner with our flat and Em)

On Sunday I cleaned the flat and at 2 am Monday morning, had to go pick Lisa up from the train station. She was instantly recognisable because she was so wrapped up in a boufy red Arctic weather-proof jacket she looked twice the width of a normal person. (Photos: Luisfran with a heart attack, group photo with some random guy in a red shirt who decided to jump in)

I thought it would be an excellent idea to invite Em and her flatmates, the Croissant and Javier over for dinner on Monday to meet my sister, but by 7 pm we hadn't even started cooking, the landlady was over to collect the rent and I was cursing my stupidity. It turned out well though. No one got food poisoning and Lisa managed to stay awake for twenty minutes of it. (Photo: Gian- popular with the girls)

We left for Granada early Wednesday morning and by this stage I was so exhausted I slept all the way to Madrid. Lisa nearly got left behind in Soria. Soria is a town whose only distinction is being the midway point between Logrono and Madrid. Anyway, so Lisa woke me up to tell me she was going to the bathroom during the 15 minute rest break at Soria and I was so tired I nodded and fell back asleep. Five minutes later she wasn't back yet. Ten minutes later she still wasn't back yet and everyone else had returned. Fifteen minutes later the bus started leaving and I stumbled down the aisle shrieking 'Wait! Wait! My sister isn't on!' The bus driver had to drive back in, open the door and let me out to look for her. Lisa came running up to me, looking a bit stunned. Apparently she'd got on two wrong buses and couldn't get out of the second one because everyone was entering and shoving her back. She thought she was stuck in Soria with no money, no phone, no knowledge of Spanish and with me asleep on the bus. It would have been quite funny actually, in a horrible sort of way.