I can’t even begin to explain how good it feels to talk to my friends and family from home and be able to have full, fun, memory filled conversations! I didn’t really realize how much I missed it (or rather hadn’t expressed how bad I’ve wanted to have a real conversation where I can contribute and reminisce) until talking to my old roommate for 2 hours and my mom for about a half hour. Now that I’m starting to understand the language a bit better I desperately want to be able to speak it just as well. Yes, I know it takes time, my mother already beat you to that point, but as I told her today, I want to be good at it Now! In reality 3 weeks is nothing in terms if time, but it goes against my nature to not be able to pick something up right away, let alone in 3 weeks… It’s one of the things that I’ve always been able to do whether it be in terms of sports, music, what have you. I mean shoot, I learned how to play and sing the song collide the second time I picked up a guitar! So why can’t I get a grip of this language I’ve spent so much of my education and time trying to learn?

Seeing as how I don’t have the technology or capacity to cram 3 months into 3 weeks, I guess I’ll just have to be patient and persistent…how annoying! Even more annoying is my growing need to play this country’s (and mine) favorite sport, but I have yet to see any sign of a goalpost, let alone a field! What The Heck!? Maybe it’s my location being in the middle of the city, but I expected to see some fields where people played pickup, or league games, or whatever! But nothing? Not even a whiff of grass since I’ve been here…so disappointing. However, I have not yet lost hope on the people here and although I began to doubt their fervent love of the sport, they make up for their lack of facilities with their devotion and enthusiasm to Real Madrid, Barcelona and the Granada team! Every time I walk into a pub here, there’s some sort of game on or a heated discussion of the two most hated and loved teams (depending on who they root for) in this country. It’s quite funny actually, and I definitely feel right at home with the Barcelona fans!

Well, seeing as how it’s been a few days since I’ve written (sorry it’s been hard to find the words to describe everything) but you’ve only missed my first outing with 20-somethings, my first sardine (it still had eyes and they were creepy and staring at me…so gross! Haha but the fish didn’t taste too bad), my first embarrassing mispronunciation (saying salmon with an American accent instead of a Spanish one means something very inappropriate and I found that out over dinner with the fam…kill me now!), my first Spanish wine (one of the cheapest glasses yet still quite delicious) and my first impromptu  salsa lesson! All that within the last few days haha it’s been a bit crazy but in a good way, especially since everything that happens here is in the evening, so we end up staying out till 5 in the morning and that’s normal! I’m not kidding, when everyone else in the world is getting up for work or their early morning runs, Spain is getting home from the night out! haha It’s an entirely different world and schedule here, and one that I’m desperately trying to adjust to and keep up with, but I have to say the part of me that’s taking the longest to adjust is my stomach. I’m quite accustomed to eating a light breakfast around 7 or 8 depending on when I wake up, eating a good lunch around 11:30-12, then eating dinner around 6 all while snacking throughout the day…That does Not happen here! Lol We wake up in the late morning, have a light breakfast, then have a dinner size lunch around 3, then dinner at…wait for it… 10pm!!! Oh and here’s the kicker, the city shuts down, including the restaurants, until about 8! So any chance of having a light appetizer or snack is out of the question lol Rafa doesn’t seem to understand that I can’t eat a lunch of dinner proportions then expect to be held over for the next 7 hours! It’s just such a different way of living and eating that even after 3 weeks of it I’m having a hard time. I did walk to the local mercado to pick up some stuff I can snack on so that’s been helping along the way, but if it doesn’t get any better I have a feeling I’m gonna come back looking a lot heavier! Haha