New Friends

Well everyone knows I don't have much in the way of friends here in Jerez, and if you know me at all, you know that I hate being without friends. I am a very social person, maybe to a fault. However, the gal who comes to clean the flat (every single day) is the one person I have connected with, mainly due to the fact that she is around M-F and she is about my age and she is very kind. She is from Romania, and has been through quite a bit, but she is a very happy person and genuinely nice to everyone she meets. 

Anyway, she invited me to the beach this weekend, so on Sunday, she and I went down to the train station. We just missed the first train and so we sat for an hour at a little restaurant drinking a coke and eating a little bit of lunch. From there, we hopped on the train and were in El Puerto de Santa Maria within five minutes. 
Taking the train here is a snap. The bus is a whole other story. Once in El Puerto, we took the bus from the train station down to the shore, and what should have been a ten minute ride max, took about 20. The whole town is set up on round-abouts, so not only was it a long ride, but we were twisting and turning the whole time, causing me to feel a little bit sick by the time we arrived. 
After a quick stop to pick up some water and ice cream bars, Simina and I were finally to the shore. We laid on the beach for some time, stopping to dip into the ocean here and there. The water is pretty cold, but bearable, the only problem is that the wind is so strong that when you are done in the water, you are freezing!

When we had soaked up our share of rays, we went up to the sidewalk where we sat and had a beer in the sun and ate a plate of olives. Simina's boyfriend came to pick us up shortly after, so we were spared the ride home in the bus!

I came home and took a shower and then went with Simina to the opening night of the fair. The fair is huge and very pretty. We walked around looking at everything and sat for a while having a drink and a small bite to eat. We waited until the sunset and the lights of the fair came on and watched the fireworks. Fireworks will just never get old for me!! The lights were beautiful, but I was exhausted. Time for bed!