A Book Lover's Blog Post

This post might be completely irrelevant to Spain.  However, I feel it is necessary for my own memory that I write down the different books I've read within the last month.  If you are in the market for some new books, please continue reading this post...

I have an addiction.  An addiction with books.  And my Kindle has fueled this addiction.  Wonderful for me; horrible for my wallet.  I've had my Kindle for about a month now.  And while I will always prefer holding an actual book and turning its pages, I have nothing but high praises to sing about the Kindle.  Being able to read and buy books whenever you want is a wonderfully, awesome thing.  I've composed a list of the books I've read thus far:

Kindle User's Guide

Yep I read all 568 pages.  I've actually read this guide two and a half times.  Very informative.

Allegient  

by Veronica Roth

The Summer before I left for Spain, I got hooked on the Divergent series.  So much so that I probably read the first two massive books in the series in a matter of two weeks and forced everyone around me to read it too.  However, I had to wait for the third book to be released.  And to make matters worse, it wasn't getting released until September when I was already in Spain.  With no libraries containing books in English, I pushed my love of this series to the side as if it were a stuffed animal of my childhood.  Of course, within 10 minutes of owning my Kindle, I purchased the third book of the series.  While this book was my least favorite of the series, it is still a set of books I would highly recommend for everyone to read.

The Crossfire Series  

by Silvia Day

 This next series was recommended to me by my old college roommate.  Internet reviews claimed it was better than the famous 50 Shades of Gray.  I obliged and purchased all three books.  Now, I have to say that the first 100 pages of the first book were definitely better than 50 Shades.  But after that, the next two books were just okay.  Very monotonous.  Still good though.  Just not a page turner.

Where We Belong 

by Emily Griffin

You might have heard about this author because of her well known books Something Borrowed or Something Blue. I chose to read this book because over the Summer someone had recommended it to me.  It was very typical Emily Griffin in her way of portraying life and love.  While I didn't love it, I definitely enjoyed it as an easy read.

She Wore Only White 

by Dorthe Binkert

This book was part of a set of books on sale for 99 cents.  Not being a very famous book, I was pleasantly surprised by how well written it was.  The story involved a girl from Europe traveling on a boat, similiar to the Titanic, to the United States.  While the main plot encompassed this particular girl, the story shed light on many characters whose historical accounts were told within this story. A quote from the book:

"I think the horizon is the most beautiful line in the world.  It's... it's a view into eternity."

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 

by Roald Dahl

The Kindle is great for more than just personal reading!! I use it in my private lessons.  This story is the center of some of my lessons with my brilliant 10 year old girl.  Each week, we take turns reading chapters out loud and discussing each one.  Any book written by Roald Dahl is a classic.

Stalina 

by Emily Rubin

This book was pretty dreadful.  The writing was bad but it came in the collection of 99 cent books so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.  If you like Russian history, there is a eensy, teensy, tiny possibility you might enjoy this book.  However, the story line and the writing were kind of awful. You've been warned.

War Brides 

by Helen Bryan

I just finished this book, and I loved it!  The story followed five woman growing up during WWII in England who become unlikely friends.  The author portrayed the livelihood and realism of what it was like living through the war and having the need to live your life as close to normalcy as possibly.  If you love history, especially anything about WWII, you will love this book!  A long book that I didn't want to end!  I'm still reminiscing about the characters! 

The Fault in Our Stars 

by John Green

One of the saddest books I've ever read and also one of the best!  I bawled my eyes out for about the last four chapters of the book.  But the book wouldn't have been the same or as good if I hadn't felt that kind of sadness.  I should mention there were also moments of genuine happiness that I laughed out loud out.  It takes a lot for me to laugh out loud when it comes to books, movies, or TV shows, and this book managed to make that happen.  The story takes the reader on a journey following two teenagers battling cancer while also trying to understand their lives and the universe.  It is not your typical love story and it's also not your typical terminal illness story.  Completely prophetic and insightful.  A must read for everyone!

The Goldfinch 

by Donna Tartt

I purchased this book tonight after finishing John Green's book.  I was still weepy with tears and wasn't really in the mood to read book descriptions, so I purchased it based off of Kindle's best seller list.  I'll keep you posted once I've finished it.  If it holds up to its number three ranking, I should be finished by the weekend.

And before the Kindle came along, I slowly read and savored the only two books I brought with me to Spain:

Bossypants 

 by Tina Fey

A non fiction book written by Tina herself that I purchased in Newark Airport.  I found myself laughing at almost every page.  It was also one of those books where you could read a chapter, put the book down for weeks, and then continue reading without having the need to remember what just happened.  If you want a good laugh or you just love Tina like I do, read this book.  She got me through my first month in Spain, particular my three hour wait in the middle of a pueblo called Carbra during siesta; I will forever be grateful.

The Cuckoo's Calling 

by JK Rowling

I purchased this book last June and resisted reading it until I couldn't take it anymore.  Once I finished Tina's book, I moved onto this one around late October.  I somehow managed to make it last until Christmas.  I will forever be a fan of JK Rowling thanks to her famous Harry Potter books, so this post may be a bit biased.  I will have to admit, her last book Casual Vacancy sucked.  So I kept my hopes low for this one.  But I was pleasantly surprised with its plot and characters.  The story involves a mystery that will leave you turning pages until the end until it is solved.  A recommended read.

And there you have it folks.  Books, books, books.  See, I'm not always partying in Spain; I spend the majority of my time lesson planning and reading. Enjoy!

Cumpleanos de Sara

A few things before I get into my weekend trip in Malaga...

1. In case you were missing them... I'm still surrounded by olive trees and they're flourishing thanks to all of this rain we've been having.

2. My Spanish has reached a cool new level.  Now, when I'm talking to someone who speaks both English and Spanish, I sometimes walk away from the conversation not remembering which language they spoke in.  What I mean by this is, most of the time the person is speaking in Spanish.  Buttttt now I'm more comfortable with Spanish and when I understand the conversation without any trouble,  I sometimes think they were speaking English to me.  Confusing to explain.  In summary, my Spanish has reached the point in my brain where it blends itself in with my main language, English, so now I don't always differentiate between the two when someone speaks to me.  In the past, I would have to stop and switch my brain back and forth between the two languages.  But now they blend together.  It's very cool.

3. The Spanish celebrate birthdays different than the people of the United States...

Sara's birthday is today-- February 16.  She decided to celebrate her birthday in the amazing beach city, Malaga.  So yesterday morning, myself, Sara, Maria, and Gemma packed ourselves into Sara's car and headed towards Malaga.  We arrived around lunch time.  So after dropping our things off at the hotel, we walked the city center until we found a place to stop and eat.  Immediately after ordering our food, a group of men dressed like they were from Shakespeare's time walked by.  I soon learned that these men were called "Tunas."  Yes, pronounced and spelled like the fish.

Spanish Tunas

As the girls were explaining to me how the Tunas are famous for walking the streets and singing to women, Gemma got the bright idea to flag down another group of Tunas walking by.  She quickly informed them that I was American, and they jumped at the chance to impress me.  Surrounded by a group of 10 men, they serenaded us and then one of them forced me up to dance with him.  In the middle of the street.  In front of probably 50 people.  Thank goodness for my years of theater training or this could have been disastrously embarrassing.

I'm now an honorary Tuna

The most precious part, was that after the Tuna men left, a little girl of about six years old came up to me and told me I was the best dancer she's ever seen.  My heart melted.  I must have done something right in this performance.

Once our Tuna friends moved onto another place, we decided to switch to a different restaurant for tapas.  At the next place, we ate a delicious vegetarian spread of food.  My favorite was a vegetable lasagna with a creamed spinach sauce.  I LOVE creamed spinach.  But, only the kind that doesn't have a sweet taste to it.  Which is surprisingly difficult to find.  And this place had it!! It was so good, I left the bowl completely dry.  As we were relaxing in the restaurant, another group of Tunas came inside.  One approached me and took my hand and kissed it all the way up to my elbow.  I must have looked extra American yesterday because all of this attention wasn't normal.  Him and his group of Tuna friends started singing us some songs.  I have to say, both Tuna groups were really good.

After this group of Tunas finished, we left the restaurant and started walking through the city center.  We passed another group of Tunas singing and as we walked by, they started following us too!   

 Okay.  I probably prompted them after taking this photo. But still...

SIDENOTE: I should mention that the reason there were so many Tunas in Malaga this day was because there was some kind of Tuna gathering at 7:00pm that night involving Tunas from all over Spain.  In preparation for their Tuna gathering/parade, during the day they were mostly going from bar to bar drinking and serenading unsuspecting women and children.

We narrowly escaped the third group of Tunas before being followed by a new group of boys.  This pack was made up of five gentlemen from Naples, Italy traveling around Andalusia for a few weeks.  They asked to take a photo with us.  We obliged (because what girl doesn't like being wooed by Italian men), and we took a rather good looking photo if I do say so myself.

Gah how can you not swoon.  Italian accent and all...

Sorry Dad...

Post photo, we got to talking with the boys, and before we knew it, they were joining us for a coffee.  After a coffee filled hour of speaking in Spanish, English, and Italian, we headed off towards the beach.  The boys were very much gentlemen and also extremely funny.  We let them stick around with us.

To get to the beach, we first walked through Malaga's port.  The city itself is beautiful and very typical Spanish.  However, on the water, the city did an amazing job at structuring different architecture and pathways.  It was a really beautiful walk.

Did I mention the temperature was sunny and high 60's?

Once we arrived at the beach, I literally gushed out of love onto the sand.  Boots and all.  (I ended up taking half of the beach back with me in my sand filled boots.  Woops.)  Because the water is from the Mediterranean Sea and not the ocean, it was really warm!  Yes, I went in a little bit.  We walked along the beach and finally came to the famous "Malagueta" sign.  I've seen many friends take photos climbing on this sign, and now finally it was my turn!

After our photo shoot, Maria who is an AMAZING flamenco singer started singing some songs for all of us.  It was literally a perfect afternoon.  Around sunset, we parted ways with the boys and headed back to our hotel to get ready for dinner.  To make this day even better than it already was, Malaga was having one of Spain's famous processions.  And we were able to watch the whole thing from our hotel balcony!! I unfortunately was too enamored with the procession that I forgot to take photos.  But it is always very cool to see these when they happen.  As always, the most impressive part was the giant Jesus statue on the cross.  This statue/float was as big as a bus.  And with tradition, the men carried it on their shoulders.  With the procession delaying our plans of getting ready, we finally left the hotel around 11:00 and headed to a tapas bar.  The entire ceiling was covered with ham legs.  Ew.  Not the most comfortable place for a vegetarian...

We ordered a variety of food to split.  One dish that Sara had tried before and raved about was called "huevos y patatas."  Expecting to be brought a plate of potato salad, I was surprised to see the typical American dish of eggs, bacon, and potatoes.  It was hilarious to see the girls rave about how good it was since it wasn't something you can easily find in Spain.  However, for me, its a dish one sees in the United States almost every weekend for breakfast.

Now what makes Spain different than America when it comes to birthdays... the birthday person normally pays for everything-- drinks, dinner, etc.  So Sara treated us to this very enjoyable dinner.  After relaxing, we headed out into the night.  As per usual, we danced until about 4:00am where I called it quits and headed back with our other friend Carmen to the hotel.

Today, we arrived back in Priego.  At least it was sunny.  But I'm already missing Malaga and the beach.  Hopefully sometime in March I will have the opportunity to go back!

Valentine's Day

Out of all of the holidays celebrated, Valentine's Day is my least favorite.  The United States does a number commercializing this day so much so that by the time February 14 rolls around I want to throw a rock at anything that resembles cupid, hearts, or love.  The only redeemable thing about this holiday is the chocolate that goes on sale the day after.  So basically, in summary, Valentine's Day makes me want to throw up.

However, Spain's way of doing Valentine's Day is totally bearable.  The stores aren't filled with flowers, red, pink, hearts, or anything resembling this holiday.  The only V-day thing I saw today were a few people carrying flowers and a display of strawberries placed conveniently next to some champagne.  Other than that, you would never even know that this day was supposed to be something special.

Even the schools keep it simple on this holiday.  I, more or less, was the reason that it was even mentioned in my school.  In each of my classes yesterday, my lesson involved covering the topic of V-day.   I explained the similarities and differences and the students then made cards for a classmate and/or played some Valentine's day bingo.  I learned that the United States is the only country that gives cards to every single person in their class.  I also learned that candy hearts are an American thing.  Cupid is universal-- called Cupido in Spanish.

In the end, my Valentine's day here in Spain has been rather enjoyable.  Sara's mother prepared us a delicious lunch.  Tonight myself, Sara, and two of our other friends are having a pizza, movie, and wine night.  And I even have my very own Valentine.  He may or may not be nine years old.  But at least he proved that he is learning some sort of English.  I present you the poem he wrote for me...

Happy Valentine's Day from Spain

The bagel blunders continue...

Bagel Blunder #9: A coffee cup is not equivalent to a measuring cup...

Last night while laying in bed and reading a book on my Kindle, I was overcome with hunger.  I thought, what better way to curb this hunger than with one of my delicious bagels.  I headed to the kitchen, opened the three plastic bags I wrapped the bagels in to keep them fresh, and retrieved one.  Cutting it open, I was heartbroken to see that the texture of the bagel had completely changed.  It was now more sour dough bread like than bagel.  I decided to eat it anyway, and I was sad to see that the taste had changed to being less bagel flavored.  I moped as I ate the bagel and contemplated what part of the recipe I had messed up.  Blaming it on the yeast or the flour, I pushed the negative thoughts out of my head and continued reading my book.

Today, while skyping my Mother, I explained to her what happened to my bagels.  I eventually decided that because I didn't have any measuring utensils, that was probably to blame since my recipe wasn't exact.  I thought I was being creative by using coffee cups and spoons, but Mom soon explained that a coffee cup is typically 12oz, not 8...  Well how I was supposed to know that!  Why aren't all cups a standard 8oz to make life easier??

The recipe called for three cups of flour.  So I filled three full coffee cups and then added an additional half cup just to be safe....  Basically I added an entire extra unnecessary cup of flour.  Wah.

With the mystery of the bagels solved, I proceed to have two more after finishing my Skype conversation with Mom.  If you toast them up really good and slather cream cheese all over, you won't even notice the texture or taste change.  So for future Kelly or anyone else who is lacking a measuring cup, a coffee cup and a measuring cup are not the same.

Good day.

BAGELS!

I'm sure all of you have noticed the change in appearance of my blog.  Now that I finally have photos of Spain, I felt that it needed a makeover.  So voila, now you have a picture of the famous fountain in my town, Priego de Cordoba.  While I love the Eiffel Tower, it needed to go.

This week, my desperation for bagels reached new heights.... I decided to make them.  Homemade.

Preparation for this endeavor started on Monday where I actively searched the internet for the BEST bagel recipes.  I then selected one and figured out what I needed to purchase from the food store. The most important ingredient was the yeast.  The most difficult ingredient to find in Priego... the yeast.  Yeast translates to "levadura."  So when I got to the grocery store, I asked one of the workers where the "levadura" was.  He told me there were two kinds and asked which one I was looking for.  I panicked not knowing the difference between the two and choose the first option he offered me.  He directed me towards a section with boxes of "levadura en polvo."  I was looking for "active dry yeast" so these boxes seemed like the I chose correctly; it was dry leveadura.  I browsed the two options I had.  One box was in both english and spanish-- baking soda, levadura en polvo.  The other box was only in spanish-- levadura en polvo.  Now, I know baking soda is not the same as yeast, but I decided to ignore the english box and go with the spanish one since it did contain the word "levadura" in its name.  I purchased it and headed home.  On my walk I started having anxiety over my purchase.  What if I brought the wrong thing and in actuality it was baking soda and totally ruined my bagels.  I texted my mother because of course all mothers are supposed to know these things.  However, I forgot her knowledge of baked goods does not really extend past the boxed brownie variety (sorry mom.)  So I went back to the internet and discovered...

Bagel Blunder #1: I had indeed purchased baking soda.
Which, if anyone is wondering, will not replace yeast.  Meh.  

That night I returned back to the grocery store, avoided the original man I asked (I didn't want him thinking I had a yeast obsession), and asked a lady worker where to find the "levadura."  Like the man, she offered me the two options, and this time I chose the second.  She led me to the refrigerated butter section where hidden between stacks of butter were tiny cubes of levadura.  I chose one and returned home.  

Finally Friday rolled around, the big bagel day.  (Lots of alliteration going on with this post!)  I reviewed my bagel recipe once again.  My anxiety soon returned when I looked at the yeast I purchased and saw that it was called "levadura fresca."  Back to the internet I went to see if it was the same as "active dry yeast."

Bagel Blunder #2: Levadura Fresca or Fresh Yeast is not the same as Active Dry Yeast.  
GAH.  HOW MANY DIFFERENT KINDS OF YEASTS ARE THERE?!

Eventually I stumbled across a baking website that told me I could substitute Fresh Yeast for Active Dry Yeast as long as I knew the conversion formula.  I found the conversion formula which simply involved multiplying the amount of dry yeast the recipe called for by three.  I went back to my recipe to see how much dry yeast I needed...

Bagel Blunder #3: My recipe used the American Measurement System instead of the Metric System used by Europe.  

What felt like a million hours of math formulas later, I finally figured out how many teaspoons and tablespoons are in a gram.  And then did the yeast conversion and discovered my cube (25g) of fresh yeast was the perfect amount.  Now, with my yeast anxiety gone, I went back to the recipe to get out all of my ingredients.  Then this happened...

Bagel Blunder #4: Normal Flour (aka all purpose flour) is not the same as Bread Flour.  

Back to the grocery store I went.  It was probably naive of me to think that all flour is the same.  With my new bag of bread flour in hand, I headed back to the apartment.  FINALLY, I had all of my ingredients and could begin bagel making.  The first step was to get a half cup of warm water ready for the yeast.  Measuring cup... measuring cup... hm....

Bagel Blunder #5: I forgot that measuring cups or spoons don't exist here.  

But don't worry.  Nothing was going to stop me from completing this task.  I grabbed my coffee cup and filled it to what I think was the halfway point.  I added some sugar and the yeast and let that sit to the side.  Next, I mixed my bread flour and salt together in a large bowl hoping my measurements were accurate.  After letting the yeast sit for five minutes, I poured it into the bowl of flour and then added another 1/2 cup of warm water before mixing.  The recipe called for a hand mixer.  Lacking a hand mixer, I went the old fashioned route and kneaded the mixture together to form dough.

Bagel Blunder #6: I don't actually know what "kneading" is.  And by the time I had everything mixed and was ready to "knead" my hands were too messy to go back to researching on the internet so I made up my own version of "kneading."

Something must have worked because within ten minutes I had a giant ball of dough.  The recipe said it should take about 20 minutes for this whole process.  So either I have magic fingers or I totally messed up....fingers crossed it wasn't the latter.

Because I had extra time on my hands and sometimes I like to act like I'm 10 years old, I decided to be a pizza chef and try throwing the dough up into the air like in the movies...

Bagel Blunder #7: Being the coordinated person that I am, my giant ball of dough landed on the floor.  Whoops.

You would think I would learn after dropping my homemade pumpkin pie on the floor back in November... I brushed off my dough and decided to go back to being Kelly the bagel chef.  I lightly greased my giant bowl and put my dough in it.  I covered it with a damp cloth and placed it on the floor of my room in front of the space heater.  (The recipe said to keep it in a warm place.)

1 HOUR LATER

I checked on my dough.  It had risen... yay!  I gave it a giant punch in the middle (really fun surprisingly), and let it sit for another 10 minutes.  

I retrieved the dough from my room and brought it back to the kitchen where I separated it into eight small balls.  I then dipped my finger in flour and poked it into the middle of each ball.  I was surprised to see how easily that little trick helped form the holes in the bagels.  I had assumed that that part would be tricky considering the dough was very elastic.  But the flour kept the holes from closing up.  8 bagels later, a preheating over, and a pot of boiling water, I was ready to boil these babies.  I took my slotted spoon and dipped three bagels into the boiling water.  I timed it for two minutes then flipped them over onto the other side for another two minutes.  After all eight bagels were boiled, I returned them to the cookie sheet and popped them into the oven for 20 minutes.

Finally the moment had arrived.  I removed the bagels from the oven, cut one open, slathered on some cream cheese (I even splurged and bought the more expensive Philadelphia brand), and took a bite!

Bagel Blunder #8: You should wait at least 10 minutes before attempting to eat a bagel fresh out of the oven.

It was similiar to eating a cookie right after it comes out of the oven.  It was SUPER hot.  Too hot to even taste it.  With a cup of cold juice in hand to soothe my mouth, I returned to my bagel.  

The Verdict: my bagels were actually, surprisingly good.  They weren't the best in the entire world.  But they tasted like a bagel.  I was pleasantly surprised.  And after devouring the first, I helped myself to a second bagel.  I'm currently in carb-overload.

  

I give it less than a week before the rest of the bagels are gone.  The whole process probably took about three hours.  The majority of the time was spent waiting around for the dough to rise.  I would definitly make them again and maybe experiment with some toppings.  Some recipes called for mixing honey into the flour;  I might try that too to see what kind of affect it has on the taste.
 

My future bagel store also featuring Baseros coming to a city NEAR YOU!       

No, but seriously, I've always wanted to open up a bagel store.  I can't give away the secret that will make my bagels different from the others.  But I know the idea is genius.  And throw in Braseros as an added bonus, who wouldn't want to eat there!

You can find the bagel recipe HERE

Candelaria and Vino

1. The Museo
On Tuesday, I accompanied my 1st graders and their teacher to the local art museum.  Once again, we walked down trafficked streets with 20 little ones.  Upon arriving, the rule of not touching anything was stressed to them.  Oh and that silence was important too.  (That silent rule lasted about five seconds.)  I really enjoy that my school teaches art appreciation.  And that the students really liked the museum.  The trip itself was chaos.  The art gallery had a lot of open space.  Open Space + Spanish children = them running around and screaming like crazy.  Needless to say, I arrived back at the school completely exhausted.

 Their art magnifying glasses

2. Sick
So far, (knock on wood), I've managed to avoid "gripe" (the flu),  However, the Spanish colds are not something to brush aside either.  This is my third one since arriving in Spain and each one hits hard.  Serious sneezing (I've gone through 12 of those little tissue packets in the last 48 hours), and a serious headache.  Bleh

3. My best friend is visiting!!
March 27-April 6.  I CANNOT WAIT.

4. Candelaria
Friday night was a fundraiser at my school called Candelaria.  The word "candelaria" translates to "bonfire."  The school built a giant bonfire in the middle of the playground.  Beverages were sold (both alcoholic and non alcoholic) along with "Rosca" and the money went towards the field trip to Madrid for the older students at the end of the year.  "Rosca" is a type of bread shaped into a ring.  The bread comes with either fish and olives or the typical Priego chocolate.  At first when this was explained to me, I thought the fish and olives were baked into the bread.  I was relieved to see that they simply just put it in the center of the empty hole that the bread made.  The children played around the fire while the parents and adults socialized around the 20 foot bar.  The event was simple and successful.  (If only American schools could relax some of the rules and regulations and copy this fundraiser-- it was so easy!) 

 Rosca

5. The Rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain...
HA.  The writers of this song have no idea what they're talking about.  To begin with, I am surrounded by mountains, not plains.  Spain is blessed with blue skies the majority of the year.  But once winter hits, the skies are mostly filled with gray clouds and LOTS of rain.  No one prepared me for this.  I'd say it's comparable to England.  I'm also very much over it.     

6. Groundhog's Day:
 The children of Spain, have officially been introduced to this old fashioned American celebration.  Each class voted on whether there would be more Winter or Spring.  I'm excited to reveal the results to them manana!

7. Bodega
Last but not least, I was finally able to get together with my good friends Maggie, Katherine, and Maura yesterday.  We decided to meet up in a town located in the center of all of us-- Montilla.  This town also boasted some famous wineries so of course we had to check them out.  Kath and Maura's friends from their teaching town joined us too.  We started off with a hearty lunch at the bodega.  We feasted on salad, calamari (not fried), potato salad, some kind of fajita thing, and fried eggplant drizzled in honey.  The fried eggplant with honey is a typical dish of Andalusia, and I love it!  These ones in particular were some of the best I've ever eaten.  After a wine and food filled lunch, we headed off with our tour guide to walk the grounds of the winery and learn its history.  (Keep in mind, this was all in Spanish).  I've been to my fair share of wineries in the United States, and it was nice to see the different methods Spain utilizes.  After touring the beautiful grounds, we headed back inside to another room for a wine tasting.  We sampled a dry white wine, a sweet white wine, and some sort of liquor.  The wines from the tasting were good but definitely not my favorite.  I much preferred the ones from lunch.  Lunch, tour, and tasting for 14 euros made for a perfect day with friends! After the bodega, we drove back to Puente Genil where Katherine and Maura live.  Because I had to catch a bus in an hour, we hung out at another bar.  Afterwards, one of their friends drove me to a bus station in another town and an hour later I was back home sound asleep.