Host Family & Food

Saturday morning I met Teresa, my señora. She lives with Juana, her mother as well as Alfonso, her son. We took a cab to her house, located on Calle de las Flores, which was a bit uncomfortable because she kept looking out the windown mumbling some Spanish to the cab driver. Things improved a bit when we arrived at her apartment. She gave me the tour of the place and explained where I was sleeping; my room is bigger than I expected but when I walked in there was no bed and I was nervous I would have to sleep on a couch or something. She then proceeded to open these doors that looked as if they belonged to a closet and pulled down my bed! It is definitely small but cozy nonetheless....The bathroom is a nice size too (much bigger than my bathroom back at Madison!) and I had hot water this morning for my shower-yay! One thing that was a bit startling at first was when I walked into the kitchen and saw an entire hind leg of a pig (hoof and all) placed on a metal meat stand on the counter. The meat, called "jamón serrano," is cured and ready to eat...I know because that is what I had for lunch today!

I still am not too comfortable around the house because I don´t know the daily routine very well. My señora took me to a food market so she could prepare "paella," a common rice and seafood dish eaten at lunch. I had some yesterday and it was good, despite the beady little eyes of the shrimp looking at me from my plate. Yep, you guessed it. They cook up the entire thing-antenna and all! That was okay but I steered clear of the whole squid.

After lunch we rested a bit and then went shopping. My señora showed me all the stores with the best discounts for shoes and clothes (Aunt Val, I´m sure you can appreciate this!). It was a pretty long day yesterday and I had to get up early for an excursion so I didn´t check out any tapas bars near my house yet. Today we went to La Alhambra and it was beautiful beyond words. I hope to have pictures posted soon so stick around! Hasta luego.