Sun, beach, sea and cheap and cheerful food in Alicante

I'm loving my life in Alicante where I'm for the next 20 days and work there. This time I found a host through helpx.

 

And since I'm arrived there happened a lot of interesting and open minding things. All that before I went to my host. That means in the first three days... 

 

For example I experienced a small culture shock after 3 month in Ireland.

 

Moreover my second CouchSurfing experience was very...ehm...different... hence I was very relieved when I went into the X Hostel where I met very nice staff and other nice people and went with them to a pub crawl. 

 

I also met at X Hostel the very intelligent, interesting and great storyteller Marianne. I received a lot of inspiration from her. Dear Marianne I hope you're doing well in Granada! 

I'm enjoying my life and the sun in Alicante. Prepared with my 'Tussi' equipment:-).

And I got to know to someone who showed me how easy and relaxed the life can be... But this story will get an extra post because it's so crazy, funny and passionate. The joy of life!

Yes, now I'm enjoying my life!

● ● ●

Finally I'm having sun! And also a lot of different behaviors... 

Happy in the frozen yogurt shop or rather at their bathroom.

• I'm used to it that everyone has to queue in a shop, bus etc. 
• When someone touches you by accident they say immediately 'sorry'.
• You can go by red light.
• I'm finally used to left-hand traffic, which took me really a while when I crossed the street.
• The Irish people are modest with the volume of their voice and mostly talk in a calm way.
• Quite cold and rainy... I mentioned that I got painful chilblains.
• Food and alcohol is quite expensive and as well my favorite cosmetic things (jap, that is important for me). Hence I became a lightweight in sense of drinking alcohol due to a pint costs usually 4,80 EUR in a pub. That means I cut my alcohol consume very down... 

• No queuing at all. The only rule is: survival of the fittest. That means for me back to the roots :-)
• Nobody cares when they touch you or barge into you.
• You are not supposed to go by red light. But they don't care when you do it, hence I still do it.
• Right-hand traffic... Honestly, it was difficult for me to switch.
• The Spanish people talk loud and over three tables in a restaurant.
• A lot of sun, beach, sea, great cheap and cheerful food, the price of my favorite cosmetic is very reasonable, contact lenses solution is very cheap and beer is very cheap (1 EUR for a small beer in a pub...)...

Well, never cream your feet with sun blocker and wear your flip flops...  First I thought it'S a kind of allergy the 'Y' pattern on the back of my feet. At least it seems I took a great choice with my sun blocker!

Actually, I like both cultures. I just underestimated that I could get a culture shock which lasted not really long.

On my fourth day I went into a help-yourself shop for frozen yogurt. For some reason the machine didn't stop when I pushed the handle back in the position. Therefore a lot of yogurt came still out of the machine.

The sales assistant was pissed and said something very annoyed in Spanish to me. I got also pissed and answered in English that it wasn't my fault and that the machine just didn't stopped... 

Some nice impressions from Alicante

Well, the Spanish sales assistant and I looked each other after shouting, started laughing and I got the frozen yogurt cheaper... :-). Culturas diferente...

Sun and warm weather in Alicante!

My lesson to become aware about my freedom

It is really amazing how important a nice and healthy environment is. And how great the feeling of pure joy and relief feels!

So all started with a strange experience which helped me in the end to appreciate the freedom I have.


Well, my second CouchSurfing experience in Alicante was very different in comparison to my first one in Galway. 

My host offered me to pick me up from the airport. That was really kind.

But when he picked me up he immediately said to me how busy he was and that he had a lot to do and which things are stressful at the moment and what went wrong... Well, ok. He wrote that he has to work but that made me feel stressed as well.

I felt very uncomfortable because for me he was a bit too controlled and not relaxed... My biggest deal breaker Ireland.

Really impressive was his topic for his phd which he had to finish. Also it was kind that he explained to me some things about Spain's historie. That helped me a lot to understand some development and reactions of Spanish people I met in Ireland. 

Anyway, I was so happy and relieved when I walked through the door into the X Hostel on the second day.

Feeling relieved and happy with nice and relaxed people

I checked in at the X Hostel and had a nice chat with a lovely girl from Austria, Felicitas. 

Due to I was so happy and relieved that I told her that I'm so glad to be there due to I had a strange experience which made me feel very uncomfortable etc. Well, I was quite surprised how strong my need to talk about it was!

She was so kind to me and showed me through the hostel and explained a lot to me. Moreover she gave me some advice around Alicante. 


There was also Ruairidh a funny and cool guy from Scotland who quit his job in Scotland few days before and took the next flight to Alicante where he worked in the X Hostel. What a crazy guy :-).

He swept in that moment the rooms and we chatted a bit too much, hence he got the information from his boss that he should keep going. Sorry for the distraction :-). But I was so excited about his story etc. 


Well, this story I'll write in an extra post... I just say I had one of the best, funniest and open minding evenings in my life on this day with someone who is quite the opposite of controlled and not relaxed. 

On another day it was even more funny and crazy. Like YOLO - you only live once... And I live in the moment and enjoy it.

By the way I'm so glad about the invention of Google Translate and about my old memories in Spanish which helped to communicate properly... :-)

Very happy and pure joy :-)!

Celebrating a nice day

When I came back to the hostel Felicitas told me that a pub crawl will take place in the evening. Great! That is really a nice opportunity to get to know to some nice people and ending a great day.


The pub crawl was guided by a very cool guy: Alexius. He was the boss in the X Hostel. I was quite impressed that he organised the stuff very well. He is also very charming and knows a lot of people and women in Alicante. But he is also very respectful to women. Well, his is really cool. 

But he said unfortunately the same sentence to me in sense of my 'BAD' t-shirt: "How bad you really are?" I couldn't believe it... I just said: "Oh man, what's wrong with you guys? You're the second guy with the same creativity...". ;-).

On the whole I had really a lot of fun at the pub crawl and a lot laughter with the Scottish guy Ruariridh who had to make sure that nobody got lost. And he did a great job :-).


Well, I really like the atmosphere in the X Hostel. They create a nice environment for the guests and I felt very integrated. Thank you guys! You're doing really a great job.

Sorry Felicitas that I my tries to help you with the chatty guy didn't work like I expected. I hope you could avoid him later ;-). Take care!

Very Interesting and intelligent woman

I was sitting in my 8 female dorm when a blonde and tall woman came in. She attract immediately my attention and I thought: "Wow! This is a very interesting person and I would like to get to know to her!".

She walked to a free bed and said: "Ladies, I snore...". Well, quite cool. By the way she reminded me a bit of Jane Birkin... I love Jane Birkin! In Germany I listen very often to her music at home.

Two days later we met in the kitchen during having breakfast. She introduced herself as Marianne from Holland.

She said that she wanted to go to the museum and if I like I could join her. I told her that I first had to do some online stuff but I would really like to join her for an activity.

Well, I couldn't make it for the museum due to my laptop got some updates etc. and all things took longer then I planned. So we made an appointment for the beach.

Before the procession... Nice decoration everywhere.

Marianne is taking some pics of the nice decoration.

Guys with funny clothes :-).  Well, few days before I got the information what that means. "Que es una traje Alicante..."

After the procession we went back to the hostel where we had a nice dinner, vino tinto and a great chat.

I'm really happy that I had the chance to get to know to Marianne. She is really an interesting and intelligent woman.

All the best for you! Please let me know about your next plans after Granada :-).

New chance

Well, it might sound a bit strange that I'm enjoying my life now because it seems that I already did. But not quite.

The change of the culture and environment helped me to change my thoughts as well. Also the uncomfortable CouchSurfing experience. It opened me to appreciate the freedom I have.

And it opened my for a crazy and funny experience which makes me feel free... Well, YOLO = you only life once... I'll write about in my next post and I would be happy when you read it.

Well, I'm very happy and enjoy now!

Finally I found the perfect item for travelling! A hippie dress which is also a skirt. I love it.