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DAYS 27-33
Day 27: Monday, January 27th 2014
Today in my Spanish class, 2 members in my group had to leave 30 mins early. So it was just me and Spanish speaker! It was awesome! I got one-on-one practice! I spent all day after school with Martín. Marian had a meeting at her school and Nico goes to arithmetic classes. so there was nothing exciting about today. When Chechu came home, he told me that him and Marian are impressed with my Spanish and how quickly Im learning. He said maybe in 2 months, I'll understand everything and be able to speak without thinking so hard and translating in my head. I have to keep working!
Chechu left tonight to Mexico on extremely short notice. He has a 12 hour flight there, works for 6 hours, and then hops on a plane for 12 more hours. Sounds awful...
Day 28: Tuesday, January 28th 2014
Today is bitter cold. FREEZING. I didn't want to go anywhere far because my jackets are in the wash. So I went to a little souvenir shop that's on my street, and did a little souvenir shopping! I'm excited to brings things home to my family! I haven't gotten a chance to talk about next door neighbors, so I will now:
They are gypsies. Gypies are known for being thieves, beggers, untrustworthy and poor. These definitions though do not describe my neighbors. They have 9 kids, which is the same as having 18 kids in the US..it's a BIG family. Their family won 10 million dollars in a lottery, so they are loaded-and for life! These gypsies are not poor. Their first 2 sons are twins and they now both have their own families and live a few houses down. The 3rd son is my age. He got his girlfriend pregnant (who also lives with this big family next door) They both had to drop out of school to raise their 1-year-old daughter. Oh yeah, and another on the way. the 4th is another boy, 5 & 6 are girls. They are beautiful-both with really, long dark hair. 7, 8, and 9 are all young boys. They have darker skin than the Spanish, and they're all very attractive.
One day all the kids were out on the porch and they shouted to me "quien eres?!" (who are you?) They were asking me if I'm the hermana de Chechu. hahaha. They have a big silver van and one day when I was taking the boys to the park, all the children were gathered aound it, blasting their gypsy music. I took Martín's hands and started dancing with him. The children smiled and seemed to enjoy the way I embraced their culture instead of staring like most people do. Martín said "Ma," (more) They are friendly and kind people and Chechu & Marian said they like having them as neighbors. I'm not sure how 11 people and 2 big dogs are able to fit in that house, but they seem to be managing.
Well, I skyped a woman today who lives in Italy. So a little spill of information. . .my next destination might be Italy. . .:)
Day 29: Wednesday, January 29th 2014
Hi.
Lol. What a cold day. Rainy. I'm excited to get away from it because...
TOMORROW I GOT TO THE BEACH
Apparently the weather is super nice over there, so goodbye coats, scarves and boots and hello to short sleeve shirts and sandals!
Day 30: Thursday, January 30th 2014
Well I'm mad. I had big plans to take the bus to the mall today, but when I got on the dirver said "No tiene dinero." Meaning there's no money on my bus card. Ugh, after ALL that time Marian and I speant running all over town to get this bus pass. Instead I went to outlet stores in my city. All the clothes were hideous. So I have higher hopes for the mall. When I was walking today, I saw a stampede of extremely attractive Spanish boys. They all had backpacks and appeared to be high school age. I'm glad I had something to make my day better lol. Today the sun is out but still very cold. Give me some beach please.
Some exciting news is that I can understand just about everything people say to me or ask me. I can't describe how exciting it is!
Now, I am in Benicássim. It was a 4-hour-drive and wow, the seating was so uncomfortable. European cars are already really small, but with 2 carseats in the backseat leaves a 12-inch space for me. My body went completely numb. I made it out alive though. We went for dinner and I ate baby squids rolled and cooked with flour, and guess what?! I loved it!!
Day 31: Friday, January 31st 2014
Wow, today was just amazing. Benicassim is absolutely gorgeous. Last night we arrived here late, so I didn't see the beach or water. But this morning I opened the curtain to a beautiful, pink sunrise with the waves hitting the shore only steps away. Breathtaking.
We spent half the day at the beach. This is the first time I've been on the beach in January! There is a restaurant right on the beach and we ate breakfast there. It was lightly toasted bread, and then you spread this tomato sauce on it, and drizzle oil, then sprinkle salt. and wahhhhllaaa! Breakfast. Delicious. My day was spent basically being a mom but I had fun! For lunch, I FINALLY got to eat paella. It is their famous dish here in Spain. They burn wood from an orange tree and let the smoke soak into rice. it turns yellow, then they add chicken or rabbit, green beans, corn, chicken kidneys (BLEH) etc. Later Marian and I took the boys back to just relax on the beach. Even later we went to another city to the biggest sports store in Spain. WOW. You'd think the sports stores in the US are big. nooooo. I walked down almost all the aisles in this store, and there was equipment for every sport you could ever think of. Clothes, shoes, balls, swimwear, scooters, the list never ends.
We grabbed McDonald's for dinner, which for me is unfortunate, but it's crazy to see how many people are packed in at McDonald's. People make a family reunion to go to McDonald's, I swear.
Day 32: Saturday, February 1st 2014
I decided that I'm moving here to Benicassim. I can't think of a more perfect life than beach, sun, mountains, and a Spanish-speaking country with all their delicious food. I'm so happy here and I just think that I am so lucky to be able to live here in a foreign country with everything free except for my flight!
Today was just splendid, and I'm starting to feel more and more comfortable with the family and I think that's because of all the hours we've spent together. I'm starting to get comfortable with speaking Spanish. A stranger will say something to me, and I'll understand and respond and then that's it! We part, and they'll never have to know that I don't really speak Spanish. I'm ready to stop telling people "No hablo español" (I don't speak Spanish) and instead - just go for it! Day 32 and I can understand a lot more than I thought I'd be able to in 32 days. Usually they would translate for me to English when they are having conversations, but lately I've been saying "No, no, I understood!" I'm just so excited, this is just the best thing ever. Everything here! I just love it all.
We spent another day having breakfast on the beach. It was cloudy, so a little bit colder but still fun! Later we had lunch, and honestly, I ate so much, I'm done eating for this next week! First, appetizers with crusted bread and the tomato with oil, floured meat-bites, and a bread basket. Nobody even eats the bread! I don't just mean the family here, but everyone in all the restaurants. I just don't understand because it's so delicious. But I've noticed that people use bread more as a utensil than food. I want to be like, "No. here, let me show you. It's food, it's delicious." Well anyway, when they don't eat it, I take over. Next I had ribs and potatoes. And for dessert, I had a variety of sliced fruit and little pastries. I took a bite of one, and they had to say "Wait!" Because it's made with wine. Whoops. Be careful with the desserts here. Apparently it's wine and hollyberry. I told them it tasted like a Christmas tree, and everyone started laughing. (Marian's sister and her bf had lunch with us)
After lunch we went for a walk on the beach. Marian let me take her rollerblades, and I got to rollerblade all around this beautiful path right on the beach! I had so much fun! And it was nice to get some exercise after a big lunch. Later that night we went bowling. On the way there, I said "Don't laugh me because I'm so bad at bowling." When I got there, I must have been given "First time in Spain-Beginner's luck" because I played so good! I won them all by 20 points. Marian said "You just told us you were bad so we could relax and then you could win us all!" hahaha.
We ate dinner there. Sandwiches. Okay so the word 'sandwich' is the same in english and spanish. BUT, the sandwiches we had are actually called 'bocadillos.' In Spanish, 'sanwich' is the kind of bread you use for a school lunch, the kind everyone buys! But if it's a sandwich with a different kind of bread, it's called a 'bocadillo.' Fun fact of the day.
Day 33: Sunday, February 2nd 2014
WOW! Beautiful, sunny, gorgeous day! Perfect beach day. it's always the same, we have breakfast on the beach and spend the day there. Today was shorter because today is the day we travel home. We stopped halfway on our journey home and had lunch with Chechu's relatives who live in that town called Teruel.
Let me tell you the things I tried..
Lamb neck-it was delicious
Fish neck-gushy, nasty texture.
Octopus legs-I thought I was going to throw up
No wonder I feel sick.
- comments
Trisha Smith Love the mom comments. Now you understand why we are so tired and want to get out of the house! Also I forgot to tell you that my friend Andrea Diaz sent you a friend request on Facebook. She is from Argentina and came to American not knowing the language at all. She said she can give you some ideas on how to teach English to the boys. Maybe she can help? Looks like you are enjoying your adventure! Yay!!