Ronda & Cadiz

     As I write to you now, I am sitting at a cafe drinking tea and a chocolate tarta or cake (this is rare b/c I ALWAYS have cafe con leche!) I have to eat this dessert at this unusual time of 6:00 pm BEFORE dinner, because we don't eat until 9:00. And then after we finish eating I never want to go out again for dessert. So my food intake here is really all screwed up. There is so much to write about now, but I do not have enough time or the energy to tell you all that has been happening! I love, love, love the city. It is beautiful and big, but  when you are in the center in the older historic areas with the twisting little streets, it feels small and quaint. School is interesting. I have definitely warmed up to all my teachers and the workload is bearable. The journey to school is long and we have early days on Mondays and Wednesdays. Then I get to sleep-in late on Tues/Thurs and eat cereal while watching Spanish tele. Last week, Annie and I went with some friends to see a flamenco performance in an old bar. It was incredible. The singers and dancer were captivating! (videos to come later!)

    Another thing we have been doing here is SHOPPING! Spain is currently on "rebajas" which means "sales." Like our after xmas sales, except they have a two month sale period where everything is dirt cheap! Annie and I are accumulating so much stuff too quickly!! At least we brought an extra bag for all our findings! One thing that has been terrible was trying to adapt to walking everywhere. My feet went through a period of death and  were reborn when I finally purchased some sneakers. While I have supportive tennis shoes back home, I neglected to realize how much walking I would do here and didn't bring them. Now, I am stuck wearing sneakers with all my cute outfits! I attempted to solve this problem by purchasing other "walking" or causal shoes, but to no avail. Apparently they don't have a lot of size "42" which is a 10. So, then I attempted to buy some online, but of course when they finally came they were too big!! I have now ordered another pair of shoes...hopefully this time "41.5" works out.

     Other experiences have been figuring out how to go out in a cafe and then pay. Learning not to walk on the bike paths that are EVERYWHERE in the city. And my favorite, learning military time (WHICH I LOATHE). The positives so far have been the trips we have taken around Seville. Last weekend we went to Ronda. It is a city a few hours from Seville up on the hills/mountains. Hemingway was said to have named it "the most romantic city." The view was beautiful and we hiked down a very steep trail and ended up seeing a ONE MILLION DOLLAR VIEW! It was absolutely gorgeous (pics below)!
     Another city we visited was Cadiz. They are having their annual week long celebration in which they dress up in colorful, creative costumes and form musical groups/choirs. We went on Saturday the main day of the celebration and there was lots of festivities. We took a coach bus there and stayed for most of the day. We ate our first paella with seafood and saw the Atlantic ocean as it is a city on the coast. We also went to this wonderful bakery where I bought these almond pastries that were to DIE FOR!!
      Speaking of food I found a couple of restaurants that sell HALAL food! There are lots of Moroccans that visit/live in Spain, so I guess some are catering to Muslims. I have tried one sandwich and it was pretty good. Possibly not as good as home, but close to it.    
     A note about Spanish people. They are overall pretty nice. Everyone looks like a movie star or model and everyone dresses impeccably well. They are extremely family oriented too. Dinners are always together and children seem to get more one-on-one time with their dads. Annoyingly, most of the stores here in Seville/ Andalucia (the region) abide by the "siesta" closing time. For example, they close at 2:00pm and reopen at 5:00pm. On Sundays its even worse because EVERYTHING is closed. The only things open are a few restaurants and lots of cafes.( Spain is a very religious country so they take their resting day seriously.) It's frustrating b/c we have to do all our shopping and fun activities on friday and saturday. But I guess it's kind of to our benefit as we are prevented from spending all our money on things in REBAJAS!

      I'm still struggling with my spanish. Not so much in class, because the teachers are very nice and understanding-- but in everyday life. Sometimes people cannot understand my accent and they treat me as if I were unintelligent or a child. I absolutely hate it. Not being able to express myself with my host-mom is extremely frustrating. 
     Most important news of all. Annie and I are OFFICIALLY going places!!! We have tickets booked for Barcelona, Rome, London and Paris. Add that list to the names of the countries ISA is taking us to (Morocco and Lisbon) and that's FIVE OTHER COUNTRIES!! We are going to Barcelona the weekend of Feb 21st. Italy is in March along with Morocco and London. Paris and Portugal are in April! Super exciting stuff!! Hopefully I can write again before we go to Barcelona, but if I don't you will hear from me after that trip!!
(Also, all those with a smart phone get the app "kik" or skype or tango so we can talk for free!!) 
**Please excuse the weird sentence structures and superfluous words!! I have been writing all my blogs super quickly b/c my free time is VERY limited!!***

RONDA

Ancient Bull Fighting Ring in Ronda 

!!!Cadiz Carnival!!!

Adios....