Time's flyinnn

I honestly don't know where this week has gone.

I swore it was just yesterday that I wrote my last post, but then I checked the date and it's been almost a week!

I guess it's a good thing that time is going by so quickly because it means I'm spending more time enjoying myself without always missing home. I've also been extremely busy which could be another reason this week has gone by so impossibly fast.

So because I don't remember exactly what I did Wednesday-Friday I'll just start from Saturday.

Saturday:

Of course, once again, my family decides to take me out for one of their famous all-day grocery shopping trips. Lucky for me this one consisted of going to not one but two grocery stores!! This made the total shopping time around four hours...... After those fun excusions, we stopped by an outdoor market which was actually interesting. I unfortunately didn't bring my camera because I was under the impression we were just going to the supermarket. I was instantly blown away when I walked into the market because there in front of me were approximately 40 seafood stands and easily over 200 people all packed into a very confined space. Everyone was yelling and moving around so keeping track of my host parents as they made their way from stand to stand was a little challenging to say the least. We of course stopped at every stand, not just seafood, adding a good two hours to our shopping adventure. Needless to say, once we got home I was exhausted and ready for my siesta. Instead though,my host mom asked me if I wanted to help make lunch, which of course I couldn't say no to. I then proceeded to sit through a very long weekend meal which I wasn't even hungry for to begin with. I know I just made that sound like a horrible day, but it wasn't all bad. I really do love spending time with my host family because it gives me a chance to practice my Spanish without the pressure of being made of (this occurs quite a bit in school).

That night I went out with my friend who speaks English and Spanish (for anyone who's seen my Facebook photos, she's the short one who can be found in about 75% of my pictures.) The reason I mention what she looks like is because as of now she is probably my best friend here. I learn so much when I'm with her because no matter what language we're speaking we're always able to communicate with each other. I met some of her friends who were all very friendly and made me feel like I've known them forever which is always nice.

Sunday:

Nothing much happened except...

Churros!!!

I woke up and went downstairs expecting to have regular breakfast of bread and olive oil when all the sudden the doorbell rang. I froze. I had no idea what to do. You see, for many houses in Jerez, there is the door outside the house and then another door outside of the garden. The entire house is surrounded by a gate so to get in you have to ring the doorbell outside the garden. Usually there is always someone downstairs when the doorbell rings so I'd never payed attention on what to do. I contemplated on whether I should just let them in from the house (you do this by pressing a button unlocking the outside door) or going outside and opening the door myself. I decided on option number two and realized it was my host mothers parents bringing us churros! Best Sunday morning ever.

Other than that my day basically just consisted of homework.

of course.

Monday:

Monday was one of my good Spanish days. What I mean by that is, since I've been here, I've realized that my progress in becoming fluent in Spanish isn't a steady increase where every day I get a little better. It's actually a series of ups and downs, where some days I find that I understand almost everything, and other days I understand very little. This is very annoying but I'm getting used to it.

I also swam for the first time Monday which was quite difficult. First of all, getting the motivation to actually go to the pool is hard enough in itself. When nobody's telling you to go and you have no competitions to get ready for, it's very tempting to just stay in bed and sleep. Eventually though, I got up the energy and made my way to the pool. This was actually a lot harder than it sounds, because I had to make my way through the city over a mile, by myself, trying to remember where to go after only walking there once with my host mother. I did end up making it though and suffered through the terrible experience of swimming for the first time after taking more than two months off.

Tuesday:

Tuesday was supposed to be a pretty normal day for me, but of course, there are no normal days in Spain. As I was getting off the bus, one of my friends told me that I had to go to her house at 5:00 to work on our science project which was due the next day. I awkwardly didn't know we had a science project so I was really confused. Luckily, they didn't expect me to do anything except cut out papers and draw stars (there was some serious first grade déjà vu going on that day.) After that they asked me if I wanted to go the park with them and I accepted thinking it wouldn't take too long and I'd have plenty of time to do my homework. I thought wrong. One of the people I was with is an aspiring photographer so she spent over two hours taking pictures....of everything.... Needless to say, not much homework was done that night.



Wednesday:
I slept. All afternoon. I eventually woke up around 9:00 because my host family went out and I really needed to play my guitar. (I was sick last Friday which is when I usually play.)



This weekend I'm going to dinner with my host sister and shopping with my friends so hopefully there will be many more stories to come.
Now I must go finish my Math homework so I can watch last nights Psych :)
Adioss
-Libby