On Sunday we got up pretty late because we had been tired from not getting sleep the night of Territorios and then not going to bed until 2am after the futbol game.
Rafael was in the kitchen cooking a massive pan of paella that smelled AH-MAZING! He's quite the chef. He told us that his daughter, Margarita, (from a previous marriage) would be joining us for our big lunch together along with her husband and 7 month old baby.
They were expected to arrive at 230pm so at 130pm Cassie and I went on a quick 20 minute jog through the city. When we got back all sweaty, of course Margarita and her family had already arrived. They were very kind but we just said a quick hello and then rushed to get ready.
After our shower it was nearly time to eat lunch. Words can't describe how delicious this paella mixta was. It included pork, chicken, calamari and gamba (big shrimp). I honestly thought that I didn't like paella because every time you order it at a restaurant every piece of meat is either completely shelled or still had bones in it so it appears there is a lot of food on the plate when in fact its all shells and bones. That is a sad imitation of the heavenly dish that Rafael created. Hands down, this is my favorite dish so far. Ohhhhh it was so yummy. I had two servings.
While we were eating, the baby (Rafael's nieto) was sleeping. As soon as we finished he woke up from his nap so Margarita brought him out. As soon as she turns the corner with the baby, Cassie says "Ohh es una nieta?" (Oh its a grandDAUGHTER?) She took the words right out of my mouth. Apparently in Spain they dress little boys as if they were little girls. Its "traditional" garb. Don't get me wrong, it was very precious, but it was very difficult to believe it was a little boy. He was wearing a red and white paisley baby bubble outfit (google baby bubble if this means nothing to you), red stockings, white dress shoes and a white cardigan. It was the most feminine outfit I've ever seen. I'm also used to Brandon (my nephew) wearing very typical boy outfits with monsters or stripes or cowboys on them. It was quite hilarious. The baby was precious though, so it was fine.
After lunch, everyone siesta-ed and I worked on homework, blogged and then had the special treat of facetiming with julie and mike and then my parents!! :) I also got to see Mr Brandoli, he's the cutest baby on the planet. This sounds biased, but it's not. I have friends who have legit told me that if their baby is half as cute as he is then they will be happy. Want to see for yourself, follow @bad_brandon on Instagram for adorable baby IGs on the reg.
(it doesn't get cuter than this)
Back to Sunday. Later that night, Rafael was in the sala watching Mama Mia because he said he loves musicals. Naturally, I joined him. I told you Rafael is the bomb dot com. He's a master chef, knower of all things AND loves musicals. Maca is a lucky woman.
On Monday I didn't have class until 1pm so I planned on getting up with Cassie around 8am and then running some shopping errands before class. WRONG. Sunday night when Cassie and I were watching Mama Mia, Maca went into our room and shut all of our windows. AKA my room was a legit cave. I woke up thinking it was 4am because it was so dark in my room and I looked at my phone and it was 1154am. Yes. I slept until noon. Legit, that's the first time I've ever done that in my life. I couldn't believe it. I was so bummed because I wanted to get things done before class.
Oh well. No pasa nada.
I only had culture class, and today we went on a little field trip to the fresh food market that is underneath Las Setas. Our professor, Vicky, gave us a worksheet to fill out about the market that required us to go up to the vendors and ask them questions. Some people were super nice and helpful and others not so much. Overall it was a cool experience. They have fully haired rabbits sitting on ice ready to be purchased and they also have some really exotic fruit there. I intended to take pictures during this time, but filling out the worksheet took longer than expected. So instead, I shall enhance your cultural knowledge of things I learned at the market.
- The spanish really love their pork. They don't mess around. Therefore, it is common knowledge to know which porks are the best and worst. The worst pork is Jamon Serrano. A good pork is Jamon Iberico. Finally, the best pork is Jamon de Jabugo. Jabugo is a small pueblo inside Aracena. Jabugo is the best because they feed the pigs bellotas (acorns) which apparently makes the pigs tiene el sabor de mantequilla (taste like butta).
- "Estar por los nubes" means that something is very expensive.
- A tagarnina is NOT a tangerine. It is a vegetable from the north of spain that they harvest in in the winter.
- "Aburrirse como una ostra" means to be as bored as an oyster which is funny because in english we have nearly the opposite phrase of as happy as a clam
After class I went home and had sopa de lentajes for lunch (lentil soup). It was my first experience eating lentils and I actually really enjoyed it! I only had un ratito to eat lunch and take a kitty cat nap because we had a mandatory 430pm meeting back at the ISA office. The meeting was super short and NBD. After the meeting I went with two of my friends to go to the bus station to buy tickets because WE ARE GOING TO LAGOS, PORTUGAL THIS WEEKEND!! WOOP WOOP! I'm so excited to go to a beach! Btw, all the beaches in Spain and Portugal are topless...
Then, at 630pm I met up with a group of people in my program to play futbol. I have not played soccer since I was 12. However, everyone agreed that it wasn't going to be anything competitive and that it would all be in good fun and it DEFF was. We played in a local elementary school inside their gym. This meant we were playing on some glossy concrete, which was supa dupa slick. When I say super slick I mean I literally was just sliding around like an ice skater. I fell like a million times. One time I was dribbling the ball and tried to pass it with the side of my foot to a girl on my team and I tumbled over my own foot and brought a defender from the other team down with me. It was quite the graceful moment. Fortunately, my team (Team Guapos) won 5-3 and I scored one of the goals!!! It was really fun, and Juan (the ISA coordinator of this event) said we are going to play every monday.
After our futbol game we went and had a beer and some camarones (shrimp) because Juan said that every one in spain has a beer after they play a sport. Clearly, I didn't protest this. Now in the picture you'll see that the shrimps are itty bitty. That's because they call big shrimp "gambas" and use camarones for tapas. You eat camarones full bodied (i.e. with their little feelers on their face and eye balls and shells) because they are so tiny and you eat handfulls at a time. Basically, like popcorn. They were tasty and uber salty. I only had a couple handfulls and then couldn't handle the feeling of their little feelers on my tongue anymore hahaha.
Cassie and I went home and ate pescado espada (swordfish) for dinner and it was very tasty! Then, I met up with Rachel (remember, there are 2 other Rachels on my program) and Cara to have some wine. We were at a bar named Papelon. Here they has botellas pequenas for 2 euros which are equivalent to ~3 glasses of wine. I got a red and they each got white. We sat in the bar for probably an hour and a half chatting and then Cara and I split a second bottle (#YOLO). It was a very relaxed evening that was perfect for gossiping over glasses of vino. Rachel and I ordered a plate of cheese to make it even better :)
(Rachel bought american flag leggings because "only the spanish would wear them because it's too american for an american". she's going for reverse psychology to attract the spaniards)
Tomorrow we have an exciting day of "Salir con los Espanoles" where they coordinate us with students from the University of Sevilla and we go and have coffee or whatever and hangout with them. Maybe they will pair me with an hombre guapo... fingers crossed.
Hasta Luego,
Raquel
Another fun day! That paella looked really good! totatlly different!
ReplyDeleteI'll try again. Who's the girl in the yellow shirt from your soccer picture? Any idea.
ReplyDelete