Parties, Paella, and Strikes!

Okay so first, I'm planning on this being super long blog post, just to let everyone know.

This past week has definitely been my best week here because I really feel as though every day I'm making stronger and stronger friendships.

Because I haven't updated this since last Friday, I guess I should start where I left off. Don't worry I'll skip over the boring parts.

Saturday:

Saturday was my host father's birthday. The day before my host mother had told me that we were having a “little” party for him with a couple family members. I wasn't really expecting anything big so needless to say when I came downstairs Saturday morning to see over 40 people in our tiny backyard I was a pretty shocked. I don't think I've ever met so many people at one time in my life. The reason I was so shocked is because when anyone in my family has a birthday celebration especially an adult it's usually it's just the immediate family, occasionally some extended family, a cake, and maybe a couple presents. Things were much different here. In Spain, it's very common for an entire extended family on both sides to all live in the same town or in a town nearby. At this party, there were both sets of grandparents, aunts and uncles from both sides, and many cousins. Instead of just one cake, there were about 4 different kinds but that was nothing compared to the food we had before the cake. I still can't get over how good the food is here. To list some of my favorites:

-Mussels with a lemon sauce

-Mini sausages in rolls

-Tomato/pepper salad

-And Paella! Oh my goodness. Paella is probably the most amazing thing I've ever eaten. It's a typical Spanish dish with rice, meat, and tons of different kinds of vegetables. It's absolutely amazing. I knew it was good when I was actually craving the vegetables after.

Anyways, the entire family was at our house for over 12 hours but I went to bed early because trying to follow over 40 Spanish people talking at the same time can be both tiring and a little bit annoying.

Sunday:

Homework day (some things never change)

Monday:

On Monday I obviously went to school and once again I ran into the same situation of people trying to skip class. I didn't know what was going on at first but I caught on fast when as soon as the bell rang everyone sprinted out of the classroom and towards the door trying to not be seen by the next teacher. Once outside the kids split off in two directions. I went with the kids trying to go out the front door but of course they weren't allowed access to leave (I don't know why they thought they would be), so, we went back to class. The kids who went out the back made it with no consequences because all you have to do is jump over the fence and your free. Don't worry, I wasn't attempting to skip an actual class the teacher wasn't there that day meaning no class.

Tuesday:

On Tuesday, my friend invited me to go out and explore the city with her and some of her friends. I thought we were just walking around so I wore my school clothes but I soon found out I was very under-dressed. I guess walking around town requires a skirt and heels. Figures.. Anyways, seeing more of Jerez was very fun and I was able to see many famous churches and buildings. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera but my friend promised we would go back soon and my other friend took some pictures on her camera which she said she would send to me.

Wednesday:

Yesterday I went out with the same friend to go meet a bunch of people for dinner. This was really fun because there were people I knew from my class, people from other classes who I knew of but had never actually been introduced to, and people who I had never seen before. There were probably about 35 people there total which was interesting to say the least. It was nice because my friend from Germany who speaks English was there and we had a lot of fun trying to understand what everyone was saying and making fun of them in English without them understanding. I find myself doing that a lot actually. For instance, whenever someone lights up a cigarette I'm constantly mumbling to myself how disgusting it is and how they really need to stop being so stupid. I often do this without even realizing it so thank goodness they can't understand me.

Today, school was canceled and I was supposed to go the strike but I couldn't find anyone to go with because everyone wanted to use this opportunity to sleep. I'm a little disappointed but I hear that strikes occur often here so hopefully I'll get to go to the next one. Basically, the strike is about the Spanish government wanting to cut the education budget. I honestly don't know what else they can take though. Spanish education, or my school anyways, is about as basic as it gets. If anything, they should be giving money to the schools. Obviously I'm aware of the economy being a factor but in my opinion the Spanish government should find other areas to cut funds because education isn't always the answer when it comes to budget cuts. Just because it's the easiest doesn't mean it's right.

Anyways, that's basically what's been going on this week.

Now it's time for lunch,

At four in the afternoon,

Stupid Spanish eating schedule.

-Libby