A Birthday And Some Adventures

I think your birthday can tell you a lot about your friends. I knew that this birthday would be different for me because I am on the other side of the world and all, but I was pretty surprised by the results. Of course I got the normal super random happy birthdays from people I haven’t talked to in years, great messages from my 7 best girlfriends in my old small group, a package from my family, a cake and some presents from my host family (a purse and an España shirt), and tons of Spanish children singing me happy birthday in broken English. It was overall a relaxed and good day. Unfortunately I didn’t receive a word from some of (who I consider) my best friends in college and some of my oldest friends. Kinda a slap in the face but maybe I just take birthday’s too seriously

Now back to the fun stuff after a little insight into what has been going on in my head. This past week I did a significant amount of activities. Last Thursday I went to my first Disco with a friend of my family, her name is Elena and she is 16. I met all of her friends and made my own. The disco was really fun and I got a little taste of the nightlife in Spain. The discos open at 1 a.m. in the morning and close at 7 or 8 in the morning! It’s crazy what night owls the Spanish are. The day after we traveled to the mountains of Spain to two villages, Zahara de la sierra and Setenil de las bodegas. They were both beautiful, spreading across the side of a hill with white buildings. Zahara de la Sierra overlooked a lake and at the top was this super old castle! We climbed to the top and I got some pretty cool pictures.

Next in Setenil, we drove through these extremely tiny streets. We managed to hit a wall, but we were all okay. This city was built into a rock, it was pretty cool.

 

Me And Elena At the Beach! 

They Have Gluten Free McDonalds here!!
We Got it for my birthday! 

Then on Friday to celebrate my birthday, I went to this Fair type thing called Feria. It was awesome! I went with Elena(the family friend) and got to meet all of her friends! They were all really nice to me! Throughout the night I was at first called the Americana, and then the Californian when they discovered where I was from. Donde esta el Californian!?! They kept saying. There was one point in the night when I felt like a celebrity because I had about 10 people tugging on my arm trying to talk to me! Below is a picture of me with some of my friends!

Something I find very interesting is that age is not very important in Spain. Ages 16-23 all hang out together! Also it is very common for people to have girlfriends and boyfriends! Much more so than California, out of all of Elena’s friends, around 10 only 1 didn’t have a boyfriend.

Yesterday we went to the house of one of the family’s friends. I’m telling you, they are living the life. Their house was beautiful, and this was their second home! It was great sitting with all the adults all day, they even commented that I got along very good with older people, Haha. My Spanish has vastly improved! I am able to have conversations a little easier now, in three more weeks I am excited to see how much I have learned.

The kids have their good days and their bad days. The youngest girl Caroline is the hardest because some days she is really sweet to me and other days she literally goes out of her way to make my life miserable. She thinks its funny. The parents are great thought, they definitely feel like my second parents. They are always trying to make sure I am having a good time. They asked me the other night if I liked Spain, and why I choose their family over the family in Italy. It got me to thinking, I honestly have no idea why, thinking about it now most people would have chosen Italy. I mean I would have had a lot more to do in Italy. That’s when I realized I am clearly in this place for a reason; my spur of the minute decision to go to Spain was clearly inspired by my prayers to God to help me choose the right place. I am very interested to see what God has prepared for me the rest of the summer, I feel like I have already learned a lot and I am looking forward to growing even more.

Missing Cali a lot but loving Spain!