Weekends go by so quickly.

So it's Monday. What the heck. I feel like my weekend just started. It seems like everything goes quickly though, not just the weekends. I plan so much for classes outside of school and in between classes that by the end of the day I don't even realize that it has happened. Much better than time dragging if you ask me.

Friday I only have one class, so it feels like the weekend starts a bit early. I only had 6 students show up because of the swine flu. I would complain that no one came, but I guess I am going to consider myself lucky for not getting sick so far. Knock on wood. I had a football game - that's right you patriots, I am calling soccer, the original football, "football" - with the faculty team again this Friday and we won. I maintain my perfect record and killer rep with the students. They started calling me "portolazo", which means monster goalie. I'm honored. Little do they know, I am so nervous every time we play because there are 300 students watching us, especially me, being the foreigner. I thought I left this pressure back in high school...

Saturday I had a great ride with the UCA. We did 110 km again on the less hilly route. Less hilly, but super windy and one MONSTER hill. The first time I did this ride the hill almost killed me. Now, as I am getting used to maintaining a certain cadence and controlling my breathing, the rides are going much better for me. I was the first up the hill this time, which gave me the giddiest, most idiotic grin I have ever had. The best part about hill climbs is that there is usually an awesome descent on the other side, which there was in this case. It is a sweet series of curves and corners that I push 40 mph on. We also did a ton of "aflojando" which is where the peloton changes positions constantly to share the burden of breaking the head wind. It's a good skill to learn and made the ride much easier.

Later on Saturday I went back to Gib with the new English teacher, Dave the Canadian, to check it out for a bit, grab some fish and chips and then meet up with Billy and his dad. Billy's dad was in town from London visiting, so we decided to go watch another Manchester game with some Brits. I think I am quickly becoming a "Manc for life". We had a great time watching the game and listening to Billy's dad talk about the glory days of traveling, playing football and drinking pints until 6am with his mates. It's funny to hear the parallels between his stories and my own father's, even though they are from opposite sides of the Atlantic.

Yesterday we had a barbecue at our friend Jose's new apartment. It was a great time and I got to spend some time with him and a few other friends that I hadn't seen lately. Definitely a great finish to a quick, but fun weekend. I'm looking forward to having him and his friends over for our Thanksgiving feast this weekend. Yours truly, the vegetarian, is in charge of cooking the turkey.