Real friends!!!
For a while, I knew I had people that I could hang out with during school, or follow around when I'm with my host brothers, but now I know I have friends all of my own!
On Friday after school, I met up with Marta and Laura to have lunch at their house.
Marta and Laura are twins. They are some of the sweetest girls I have ever met. These girls are my official friends.
So, along with another new friend named Paqui, we rode the bus to the station near their house. They live pretty far away from the school, so we couldn't walk the whole way.
When we got to their street (named after Picasso...so cool!) I saw many small apartment-looking buildings. Little did I know, these were houses. I was shocked to see an actual house in Spain, because I thought that 99.9% of Granada lived in apartments.
It was very different to be in a house...especially one that was about 3 times larger than my apartment here. I live in a small house in California, and I have lived in a large house, but I guess I've just gotten used to apartment living.
Anyway, enough about their house (which was beautiful by the way). For lunch we had some empanada, rice, and chicken. It was delicious! Their mother is very nice and a great cook. I also learned that their father is a math teacher (like my dad!) and the principal of a school (not like my dad!).
After lunch, we played MarioKart Wii and listened to Selena Gomez.
Now I know that video games and Disney channel stars don't really go with the rest of my life in Spain...but then again, neither do Marta and Laura.
We then walked to a nearby cafe to meet up with one of their friends. She was so cute and sweet and funny...unfortunately, I totally forget her name (sorry!).
I didn't have any money and wasn't hungry, but Marta and Laura bought me a chocolate milk and pretty much forced it upon me. All in all, it was a very relaxing afternoon.
Later that evening, my host brother Samuel informed me that it was one of his friend's 18th birthday that night and I was invited to the party! I was supposed to go out with Karly and Robin to the city center, but I was a good exchange student and said "Yes!" (or rather "Si!").
Once we were finished doing a little shopping for party necesities, we went over to the birthday boy's house. Technically, it was a surprise party, but he was most definitely not surprised to see 10+ people sitting in his living room when he walked in.
The party was laid-back and super enjoyable, but I had an awful stomach ache the whole time. That sure put a damper on my festive spirit. People would tell me, "Talk, Tessa!" and "Dance, Tessa!" but it was hard with such an icky tummy.
Then, Samuel told me we were going home to eat some dinner, and then return to the fiesta. This was a godsend! I love being around my Spanish amigos and having a good time, but my health and comfort definitely comes first.
When we got home, I b-lined it for the bathroom. Sure enough, I ended up bowing down to the porcelain throne and giving it all I had...and ended up feeling much better afterwards!
However, I still didn't feel up to eating, let alone heading back to the party. So I had a glass of water and told Samuel "Adios!"as I tucked in for the night.
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Saturday morning, at around 10:30, my host mom comes into my room and wakes me up. She tells me that she and my host dad are going mushroom hunting and want to know if I'll be joining.
Now, being woken up earlier than I would've liked and being invited to squat in the forest scoping out a specific type of mushroom wasn't appealing to me in the slightest, but having no other plans for the day and being a good Rotary Youth Exchange student (it's a tough job!), I said "Yeah!".
So I put on my grungiest clothes (which are surprisingly not that grungy), and hopped in the car going who knows where. Soon enough, we drove up to nature! We met up with one of my host dad's colleagues and his family and we went hunting for 'shrooms!
All was going great, we were finding some lil shroomies, and then all of a sudden I hear my host mom screaming "Pablo! Pablo!" (my host dad's name). It turns out, she had walked right through a wasp hive!! Despite getting stung around six times, she was a trooper and insisted that we keep mushroom hunting...in a different spot, of course.
At the second spot, we found un monton of mushrooms!! The type of mushroom we were collecting are called Niscalos and have lots of skinny orange circles on the top. I found some, too!
The last picture is my (adorable) host mom with all the Niscalos we scavenged...I know, we do well.
After we got home from mushroom-ing, we all got into clean, cozy clothes and had lunch: pasta with some of the mushrooms! It was delicious, to say the least.
Then, we slept. Or at least I did. I am always sleepy here!
Later that night, my host parents went over to our mushroom-picking partner's house for a mushroom feast. They told me it was going to be very boring for me due to the fact that they have a ten year old son and most of the conversation would be about work. So they were very understanding when I opted out.
They also told me that I could invite Karly over to watch a movie or something...which I did!
Karly and I made ourselves sandwiches (A+ housewife material). Then, Samuel came home. So we talked and hung out and had a really really really good time! We watched stupid YouTube videos and tried to invent our own boardgame and ordered pizza! It felt so much like home.
A little bit later, we heard the gate buzzer. Apparently, Samuel had invited someone, too! It was his friend Javi, who is nice. The four of us hunkered down on the couches and watched Project X in Spanish. I didn't understand the movie, but Karly told me that she didn't understand it even when she watched it in English.
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Sunday: Karly and I wanted to bake cookies but all the stores were closed so we couldn't buy the ingredients and ended up getting some coffee. That is all.
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Today- Monday. Ugh.
School felt crazy long and was extra not-interesting today. The highlight of my school-day was making cootie-catchers in math class with my friend Daniel who went on exchange to Fresno last year (#CaliSwag).
Another plus: I didn't have to go to my Spanish class (I actually regret this decision because I missed out on a crucial lesson- the alphabet).
Instead of sitting through a whole lotta "Mi llamo"s and "Soy de"s, I went with my host parents to the Centro de Juventud (I think that's what it's called) in Maracena.
The Centro de Juventud is basically a Boys and Girls Club, and my host mom thought it would be great for me to volunteer or take classes there because only Spanish is spoken there...I couldn't agree with her more!
When we got there, we met up with this guy who is in Karly and Samuel's class at school named Raul. Raul is apparently very active in the Centro de Juventud and was going to help me sign up.
I couldn't sign up today because I had forgotten a necessary paper at home. However, I talked with the head-dude and got a little tour around the place. I am most interested in volunteering with the little kids and taking the cooking classes. Everyone liked the idea of me helping out with the youngsters because I could teach them some English, some American traditions and songs (we have traditions?), and because they speak much more simply than most of the people I try to speak with in Spanish.
I am very excited to start!
Later, Karly, my host mom, and I rode the bus to our Rotary meeting. At the Rotary meeting, we were planning on chatting a little, receiving our monthly allowance, and taking off. However, Rotary decided not to give us our 70 Euro at this meeting and let us sit there for an hour listening to their budget for the month before telling us we could go.
Luckily, Karly and I only have to wait until Wednesday to get our money. Along with money, we also get free food! Everything an exchange student could ever want!
That is all for now, I am off to sleep.
Muchas gracias! xo
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