4th of July

Hey! So I hope everyone had an awesome 4th of July weekend! Nati's niece Seila's birthday is on the 4th (but there were no fireworks for her birthday, unfortunately) so we had a barbecue/sleepover to celebrate- I ate SO much; I wish I could send some of this delicious food home! Especially tortilla de patata and chorizo. It is sooo good. Anyway, I'm going to Santillana del Mar to take some photos for the project I'm working on- hopefully it doesn't rain because I have to use a very expensive, very not-mine camera haha! It should be interesting- Santillana is cool though, it's a medieval city that has become rather touristy (much to the chagrin of the people who live there)- but it's beautiful, with cobblestone streets and flowers on the window panes- I'm looking forward to it!

I also started tutoring Miguel Angel's son, Diego, who is 10- I'm really glad to be able to, maybe I'll like it so much that I'll be a teacher, who knows? Amaya, his mother, told me that he has some learning issues, so it'll be a VERY good experience for me, haha! I'm looking forward to it though.

Also I bought my plane ticket to visit Barcelona and I'm SO excited! I've been wanting to go since I started this whole Spanish endeavor 8 years ago. John (my mom's cousin) seems excited to see me too, and I think I'll get to see his translation office, and maybe get to translate a bit myself, which I'm really glad about too. Plus, my friend Cristina will be in so I can visit her too! I just wish ya'll could come with too!! Haha!

Man, I can't believe I've been here more than a month already! Jeez! I must really be having fun! Anyway, I'll keep you all posted, let me know if there's anything you want to know, I'm happy to tell ya! Here's a few things I can tell you:

Mullets=fashionable (apparently)

Despite the decoratively carved sidewalks, it seems like EVERYONE wears heels/stilettos (except me haha)

Spaniards clean a lot- a LOT. For instance, Nati mops the kitchen floor once or twice a day, irons EVERYTHING (including socks and underwear) and even picks up my room- and makes my bed! I told her she didn't need to iron my sheets, but she shook her head like “yes, I do” (even though she told me she HATES ironing!)

There is a Spanish saying for literally everything you could want to say, and many of them have religious connotations. Hence, why I have trouble understanding what's going on at times hahaha!

So my pictures for this post are a sculpture of a cathedral on the Alameda (a nice place to walk), seals and penguins near Magdalena beach and palace, Magdalena beach, and some dessert from Seila's party (yum).

Ok, I guess that's all for now- see ya later!

Rach :)