We only have two and a half more weeks until break and they are going to be crazy! Between now and then we have finals, books to read (in Spanish of course!), projects to complete and plans to make. The weekends are always a nice break, and this weekend was very fun.
Justin and I had lunch at our teacher's house after church on Sabbath. Each group here has a sponsor and they have us over to their house for lunch at least once during the semester. Our teacher was able to have our whole group over at one time, and she made a wonderful variety of foods for us to choose from. We enjoyed eating in an actual home and chatting with Maria Jose and her family. She has two kids who go to school here so we talked with them in Spanish.
By the time we were ready to leave it was already 5:30 so Justin and I had the drivers drop us off at the train station on the way back to ESDES. We were planning on meeting Ryan and Shannon there to go into Valencia for the night. We had one main goal: to go to Taste of America (this time it was open) and get our hands on some Dr. Pepper and mac & cheese. Basically the store is a like an over-priced, very selective Walmart. All our favorite would-be-cheap foods marked way up in euros. A can of condensed mushroom soup? Three euros. yikes. I was able to get away with a can of Pepper and one of Vanilla Coke for about a euro each. Other favorite items? goldfish crackers, celestial seasonings tea, poptarts, and reeses PB cups.
It was fun seeing so many familiar brand names and items, but it did make me miss home a bit. The funny thing is, even though I miss my friends and family and Mikey every day, it doesn't make me as sad as it used to. When we got here one teacher told us that eventually we would just get used to not understanding everything the teachers were saying. I think it's true of everything here. I never stop missing home, I've just gotten used to missing it. I've gotten used to hearing Spanish, and I've gotten used to sleeping later and sleeping less.
We continued our evening with a stop at H&M which was quite enjoyable for all, and then moved on to Lemon Grass and the Kebab shop for dinner before catching the 9:30 train home. Hannah and I stayed up late making popcorn and watching Far and Away, which only made us want to go to Ireland more! Soon, Sunday came and with it a large load of homework and other various tasks to complete. For the next two weeks, I'm going to be in reading and writing mode. I have three little papers due, but when they are in Spanish they take a long time to write (by hand . . . no one uses computers for papers here) and one and a half books left to read. It's time to crack down on this stuff! Until I have another free moment, ¡hasta luego!
Justin and I had lunch at our teacher's house after church on Sabbath. Each group here has a sponsor and they have us over to their house for lunch at least once during the semester. Our teacher was able to have our whole group over at one time, and she made a wonderful variety of foods for us to choose from. We enjoyed eating in an actual home and chatting with Maria Jose and her family. She has two kids who go to school here so we talked with them in Spanish.
By the time we were ready to leave it was already 5:30 so Justin and I had the drivers drop us off at the train station on the way back to ESDES. We were planning on meeting Ryan and Shannon there to go into Valencia for the night. We had one main goal: to go to Taste of America (this time it was open) and get our hands on some Dr. Pepper and mac & cheese. Basically the store is a like an over-priced, very selective Walmart. All our favorite would-be-cheap foods marked way up in euros. A can of condensed mushroom soup? Three euros. yikes. I was able to get away with a can of Pepper and one of Vanilla Coke for about a euro each. Other favorite items? goldfish crackers, celestial seasonings tea, poptarts, and reeses PB cups.
It was fun seeing so many familiar brand names and items, but it did make me miss home a bit. The funny thing is, even though I miss my friends and family and Mikey every day, it doesn't make me as sad as it used to. When we got here one teacher told us that eventually we would just get used to not understanding everything the teachers were saying. I think it's true of everything here. I never stop missing home, I've just gotten used to missing it. I've gotten used to hearing Spanish, and I've gotten used to sleeping later and sleeping less.
We continued our evening with a stop at H&M which was quite enjoyable for all, and then moved on to Lemon Grass and the Kebab shop for dinner before catching the 9:30 train home. Hannah and I stayed up late making popcorn and watching Far and Away, which only made us want to go to Ireland more! Soon, Sunday came and with it a large load of homework and other various tasks to complete. For the next two weeks, I'm going to be in reading and writing mode. I have three little papers due, but when they are in Spanish they take a long time to write (by hand . . . no one uses computers for papers here) and one and a half books left to read. It's time to crack down on this stuff! Until I have another free moment, ¡hasta luego!
