Make this go on forever: Dinner parties, strikes & paella...

I thought I'd do another quick blog entry before I head off for a weekend in Granada with Danny. So this week hasn't been too eventful.

It made a change to have a pretty chilled out Saturday night. Some of us headed out to a Mexican restaurant for enchiladas and margaritas, which was yummy. Definitely got a new fave dinner spot. I then headed to Churruca (surprise surprise) for some drinks with the Americanas, drinking to Alabama (I'm their new biggest fan, totally gutted they lost to Texas). ROLL TIDE! Somehow we didn't spend a single penny all night in either bar. How we managed 6 shots, 3 beers and a gin&tonic, each, without paying, I have no idea, but I do feel pretty guilty about it now.

We also hosted our first dinner party on Sunday night - I cooked for the 10 of us, which was a pretty daunting task, but the food went down really well. Everyone seemed to have a nice evening, and everyone seemed to like the food, so I was happy. Our first dinner party was a success!!

Starter - Spicy Veggie Soup

Main - Chilli Con Carne

Today has also been the infamous 14-N, a General Strike throughout Spain, as well as in other European countries such as Portugal, France, Greece and Italy. Vigo has been pretty crazy, with flares and firecrackers being set off as soon as the clock struck midnight, waking me up at regular intervals throughout the night. During the day today there was a demonstration through the city of people of all ages, all using their right to strike to protest against austerity measures in Europe and the shittiness of the Spanish economy. I knew that Rajoy was unpopular in Spain, my kids talk about it often enough, but I really didn't expect a strike on this scale. When I walked through the main street this evening after my private lesson, there were shop windows smashed, paint splattered across windows, banks graffiti-ed with hatred, and even fires in the street... I would never have thought that sleepy Vigo would have put so much effort in to this, but then that just shows how wound up people are about this. How effective their behaviour will be, remains to be seen. But I really can't help being cynical: it's one thing to protest today, but what will happen tomorrow? In my mind, it seems pointless to smash up shops and set fires in the city, when realistically the government, who are already struggling for money (yet somehow waste 700 euros a month on every single language assistant in Galicia) will just have to spend more cleaning up the mess left behind. All I can really say is "Good Luck, Spain!" and thankyou for the day off...