Noches en los Jardines de España

Apparently my dad is having fun translating these spanish headings so I´ll keep using them for awhile.

Well, after a morning visit to the Barcelona aquarium, and some drama at the airport regarding everyone´s luggage exceeding the domestic flight weight limits, I was off to Granada on the fifth. We arrived at 10:30 pm, but didn´t meet our families until 12 because some kids´suitcases didn´t make it onto the plane (luckily not me).

I live at the bottom of the city, right across the street from a big park and Federico García Lorca´s house. My family consists of Alfonzo and María Pepa Ruiz, each of whom stands (at most) about five feet tall. They´re older and walk around the house humming and singing under their breath - kind of reminds me of Pop-Pop. Granada is a small city of about 250,000 (plus 70,000 spanish and foreign students). The main streets look like any other modern city, but every back road is historic and quaint and cobblestoned. There are little cafes and plazas hidden everywhere, and you can see the Sierra Nevada mountains on the outskirts of town.

My first interactions with the family were pretty awkward. I thought they were pretty quiet and uninterested in conversing with me. I kept asking them questions at lunch just so that it wasn´t so quiet. But by my first dinner, the situation was a lot better. I told María Pepa that I liked the park and she said that she and I could go walking there some afternoons. (In the mornings she works in a dry-cleaners. Alfonzo is retired.) They are both very curious as to why I don´t have a boyfriend and seem somewhat convinced that I will find one in the next few days... Lunch is the biggest meal here, and my chicken and potatoes could have fed three people. Then, at dinner, María Pepa made me two ham and cheese sandwiches, a salad, and flan. I told her it was really good, but too much. She responded by asking what my mom would say if I didn´t eat enough. Feeling guilty, I ate both sandwiches. This afternoon she and I are going to the beach and staying at one of her friend´s house until tomorrow afternoon (but Alfonzo can´t come because another student is coming to stay with us later today). All the other UD kids are jealous. She also told me she hopes well be good friends.

The apartment is on the seventh floor and is somewhat small. My room is seriously 6´x6´. I have a bed, a small table and chair, some shelves, and a closet. When I want to get in the closet I have to move the chair and table. I have a window which looks out onto a tiny courtyard at the center of the building, and there´s a huge print of bleeding Jesus after he was taken off the cross above my bed... Also, María Pepa takes her job very seriously and is constantly rearranging my room, but it doesn´t really bother me except that I lied and told her I didn´t have a towel (because I brought my own only for when I travel), and I´m pretty sure she´s found mine in my room. Our University of Granada building (the Centro de Lengua Modernas) is a good 20 minute walk away, and all the students there are foreign - mostly from the states.

Last night I met up with a bunch of kids and went to "Little Hannigans", an Irish pub near our school. It was karaoke night, and filled with americanos and really hysterical Spanish kids trying to sing american songs. I met a girl there who went to Abington High School and we scowled at each other.

Meanwhile, my spanish speaking abilities are hit or miss and I´m incredibly awkward about it... This morning I was explaining to Alfonzo (who was very intently watching a TV program) that I was going to the school to set up my wireless internet, and he said "mira, ven". That means "look, come here". And even though I totally knew that, I got confused and thought he was telling me to go ahead. So I was walking out of the apartment and he was following me saying "ven". I finally realized what he was saying and decided I am the biggest tool in Granada. Then he showed me this great view of the park we have from our apartment (which I will share with you once I master the art of online pictures). Then he pointed out what he was watching on TV, a televised view of the front door courtesy of the security cameras. So much for a TV program...

Well, I think that´s about it... I´ll probably be less detailed in the future, but I thought I´d give you the total picture of things here. The weather´s nice, the city´s safe, and I have a cell phone and service at long last!

Goal of the day: ride on a moped. :)

Abrazos