Mi primera problema

Ok guys,

So I have been doing the best I can to make sure I stay contacted with everyone, yet it still feels like everyone is not getting the attention they deserve. Don't worry...because my family here in Ubeda feels the same way lol. Why does it always feel like a big contest on how you spend you time or why do people get so upset when you do your own thing.....

Let me start by saying I have the greatest mother in the world. Literally, she is so sweet and loving and for her to let me go off to Spain on my own is great. Thanks mom for never hounding me with a million questions or questioning whether I love you or not because I spend time with other people. Like Mom you are seriously the greatest (of course besides Caroline). You AND Dr. P are such wonderful parents. I love spending time with you because you are so youthful and wonderful, and you don't mind when I go and visit my friends. Thank you for never making me feel like it is such a hassle or a necessity that I spend every moment with you. You love me know matter what and I can't thank you enough for just wanting what is best for me and makes me happy. You are so selfless. Both of you (yes, im sobbing while I write this because you have no idea how much I miss your love and amazing parenting skills)

With that being said, I got in trouble again. Haha, like I suck as a Spanish daughter. So last night after what I thought was a great day with my family got a talking to. LOL. It all started when I came home from shopping and a friend's house and asked if I could go bowling. Well this led to a long discussion on how I'm never with my family and how I'm always out. ----Here let me explain that I'm always out with Spanish people lol. I don't just go hang out with my American friends. I'm constantly surrounded by Spanish people and trying to speak Spanish or do Spanish things like Salsa with Sarah's family----- GOD MOMENT (janie) thankfully the Lord opened up my eyes to understand almost every word they were saying so we didn't have to have a long drawn out talk because I already was on the brink of tears. Then I politely said they were right (which to some extent I do totally agree) and thought that was the end. Nope. My Spanish Dad literally made me go bowling after I begged and pleaded to not make me because I just wanted to stay here now. (like is this not exactly the scene of an American high-schooler and their parents) So I went bowling and sucked. (karma)

But..... Today is a new day, and even though I'm doing to do everything possible in Spain because who knows when I will come back, Familia es Primera. I love my family here, they are so sweet, they even told me that were disappointed in me in the sweetest way lol. So I'm going to try my hardest to turn down all the invitations to do other things and spend time with my family. They are great people and they really like me. It's just hard to know how to balance your time and make sure everyone is happy. A problem that I also have in America.

So, this post probably won't interest you at all but it has been the main thing weighing on my mind all night and day, and probably will continue to the rest of my time here. (12 more days in Ubeda, 6 in Spain, and then 14 in Rome, Paris, and London with my amazing sister and awesome roomie Jessica)

Also, I wanted to take the time to say thank you to someone very special for reminding me that I am a witness and an outsource of God's love and mercy. I will def. put up another post about the great diversity in beliefs here, but for now know that I speak to God often (thankfully he speaks English) and I need to continually have my loved one's support and prayers as I try to show the people of Ubeda and Europe that a relationship with God is possible.

Ok. enough for now, 3:00 and time for lunch (yep I said lunch) crazy huh.

If you read this around 10:00 your time pray that I have the ability to tell my Spanish family that my class is required to go to the museum today. haha I hate being a people pleaser.

Amanda

Salsa Salsa Salsa

I know that I briefly told you about my dancing experience...but for those of you who really know me, you know that dancing is one of my favorite things to do. So I'm going to elaborate for you about how awesome these three hours were....

Ok, so I arrive at my friend Sarah's house wearing what I think is a very cute and appropriate outfit, but I was soon told by Sarah's father that my sandals were going to be terrible for dancing lol (of course he said all this in Spanish which I understood about every other word, but his look said it all) Sarah's mom comes in and looks like something from a movie. She is wearing a denim dress with pink strapy (i know not a word Jessica) heels. I tell her how beautiful she looks and again get looks because of the shoes.

Around 7:00 we head to the place where we will be dancing. Upon arrival I get real nervous because there are a lot of people (a lot of older people) here. Most of the women have on tight dresses and all are wearing high-heels. Of course, Sarah and I get passed around being introduced to people always with two cheek kisses. Sarah is introduced as their daughter from the USA and I'm the friend who is always at their house lol, (but really they love me).

The dancing starts with one male instructor leading a group of 12 middle-aged women in new dance steps. This guy's clothes are so tight it is ridiculous, pero I don't know what is more ridiculous, his tight clothes, his vive la salsa shirt, or his one dread that looks like a rat-tail. Nonetheless, this man is like an angel on the dance floor. His hips and feet move in ways I never dreamed of.

The dance lessons continued for about and hour and then the men and women took the dance floor together. I have never seen such dancing. Everyone was different but gorgeous. There was one man who looked like he could have been a college linebacker, but his feet moved like a ballerina. This man asked Sarah to dance and she did excellent. Then of course it was my turn.

So people...picture the scene. a small blonde girl with sandals on, taking the dance floor with this large and older man who could have been my dad. He spoke no English, but yet thought he could teach me how to dance. and yes, he surely did! It was so awesome just being led and not relying on conversation and words to dance. I messed up often, but he was so kind and helped me get back on beat. The night continued on as Sarah and I danced with each other and her parents.

Then, it happened! Rat-tail man asked me and Sarah to dance. Whatever, I thought, this will be just like before. Nope I was wrong. It was only me and him on the dance floor. Of course we started out with a crazy move and I was terrified, but we had a blast. We dipped, and spun, and did some dirty dancing moves (don't worry parents they weren't really dirty). At one point, he literally dragged me as quick as possible all the way across the dance floor. It was crazy. We ended on a dip and the crowd went wild (in Spanish) lol. No but really everyone said I did good.

Oh what a night. It was ended around 9 because I had to be back to my house for dinner and to study! But I definitely plan on going back to the Salsa club next Sunday and bringing it back to America. Just wait friends!

Love yall!

Time flies by

Sorry that I haven't been keeping up with this everyday but days here are pretty long and busy. Esp the weekends. So here is a brief recap off the last couple of days....

Thursday-

Had class and thought I was going to cry because it was so long and hard. It probably didn't help that the night before all my classmates and I went out and had tapas late. Spanish is really hard, in case you didn't know. When I speak I feel bad because I literally only speak in the present tense. I need to study soon so I can pass my classes. That would be pretty terrible to come all this way and then not pass the class lol. Sorry Mom.

Friday-

My classmates and I went to Granada. I think I wanna live there lol. Sorry Mom. It's really nice and youthful and lots of things to see and do. We walked literally for 8 hours straight trying to see as much as possible (like the Alhambra, barrios, local hangout, shopsss...) After dinner all the girls went straight to bed because we were so tired. This is really funny because we were in the a city that's nightlife is unbelievable.

Saturday-

We went and saw the Cathedral which was my favorite. We saw were Isabella and Ferdinand were buried. It was really cool to see how much time, effort, and money people thousands of years ago put into building a amazing church.

So Saturday night we returned back here and then I went out with Sarah and her brother. Ok, its really weird but here they literally just go to a big street or run down apartments and hang out lol. They lots of kids just with their parked cars jamming to American music (they love some Neyo-here pronounced Nay--jooo) It was alot of fun and glad I got to see my American friends there too.

Sunday-

Went dancing with Sarah and her parents. Sooooo much fun. DEFINITELY learning some salsa and other spanish dances when I return home.

Overall, I've had a great weekend and bout to take a power-nap before studying for my first spanish quiz.

Love you all!

Random Differences and Other Things

Ok, top things that you should know (that I have learned) about Spain and Ubeda.... (in no particular order)

1. It smells so different here. Sarah (my friend from UNCW) and I have labeled it the Spanish man scent. It is a mixture of strong cologne that old mean where and exhaust and seafood.

2. When you order an alcohol drink (which is done at anytime during the day) most of the time you get free tapas (appetizers) because here you don't drink to get drunk and never without food. You drink to socialize. There are no drinking games, or pre-gaming, or obnoxious beer chants here, just everybody (literally everyone of all ages) just goes bar hopping trying different drinks and tapas. (((On Saturdays everyone is out until at least 2 in the morning))))

3. Jamon Serrano is my new favorite food. It is basically this salted/cured meat cut straight off a dried pig leg (this large pig leg can be found somewhere in every kitchen in Ubeda). It is great with queso.

4. Children rome the streets at all ages and hours without supervision; crime is extremely low here and the only thing you need to watch out for is pick-pocketing Gypsies.

5. YOU WALK EVERYWHERE. I walk about 13 blocks to school everyday and cars have to stop for me when I cross. When I wave at people saying thanks, they look at me like I'm crazy because it's my right to cross the street and they aren't doing me a favor.

6. Wal-Mart= Carrefour. Except Carrefour is complete with pet store, laundry mat, nail place, and bank. There is only one in Ubeda. People don't push carts, they pull little trolly-like carts behind them.

7. There are more different kind of cheeses than I can count.

8. Everyone has either a small dog (like Yorkie size) or a pet canary (of course my family would have a canary)

9. There are no trashcans in any part of the house except the kitchen, which isn't really a can at all. Just a plastic shopping bag pulled across four sticks.

10. The weather is so weird. In the morning around school time I need a heavy winter coat and then by the daytime I've had a heatstroke. It is super dry here.

More to come....

Day 3-May 20th

I can't believe I've only been here three days. It feels like much longer because the days are packed full. I miss everyone and miss the sound of english and the smells of America lol. It is so different here. I had class for four hours today already and many of you aren't even awake yet (here it is 2:40-lunch time and in NC it is 8:40-breakfast) My body is tired and sore but my feet hurt the worse because you literally walk everywhere and I walk fast because its seems everything around me moves fast. Today in class we got to fill out a questionnaire with some spanish students, the students had to ask questions and answers questions in English while we had to speak in Spanish. That was really fun because it helped me laugh at the hardships of learning any language. The girls I was working with Inma and Eva said my Spanish was better than their English, but I think they were just being nice.

So last night I didn't have time to blog because I had a lot of homework (that we didn't even talk about today) and I was tired (we eat dinner around 9:30/10 so by the time I am ready to do homework or something else I am tired lol) Butttt.... at 6oclock my class went on a tour of historic Ubeda and it was beautiful. There have awesome beautiful old Moorish-style buildings with tiny roads and cobblestone. It was like something out of a movie. Unfortunately the tour was in Spanish so I only got about every third word but the sites were beautiful. Everywhere you look there are olive trees. Olive oil is used here like butter, sugar, salt, pepper, and any type of dressing is used in America.

PS... My family has a bird. lol. A small yellow canary that sings at the top of its lungs and scares me to death.

Anyways. I am going to put some pics up so you can see some of historic Ubeda and the snack we had at the bar (yes a snack at 8 and then dinner at 10--all involving carbs)...

The snack was..... delicious... lol. I had caracoles and a cerveza.

Day 1: Today is the day I learn how to be an adult lol

Already I have experienced anxiety, excitement, love, joy, sadness, and loneliness (yeah, it’s only day one). Saying goodbye to my family was terrible. I made it through airport security but did get in trouble for letting a man cut in front of me (he read the sign on my head that said sucka). I am patiently waiting to board my flight to Atlanta wishing my sister was here to talk to or my mother was here to sleep on her shoulder; this flying alone thing isn’t fun. But hey, don’t think I’m complaining. I am super excited about the adventures that await me and know my time in Europe will fly by (fly, did you see what I did there-ab). I love you all and miss everyone! ETIM. YMMS.

Day 2- So after traveling for a whole day I am now sitting at a table in my new family's house. The house is huge and they are really kind to me! I love Spain haha, and definitely need to keep practicing my Spanish. Ubeda is beautiful and my first taste of Spanish food wasn't bad either (tortilla espanola, a potato and onion bread thing). I haven't taken much pictures but I promise to start. The day was really hectic but I got to take a nap in Madrid's park. It was wonderful to lay down and rest and think about my life for the next few weeks. I miss my family and can't wait to buy you all wonderful presents. Love