Welcome to Cordoba -- disclaimer: this is long

I know I've been MIA for a few days, and I apologize for that. If it makes you feel any better, I am logging in my journal daily, but it sometimes just doesn't get transferred to the computer.

So how should I do this? Like the program suggested, I'm keeping a journal... in spanish. I'm actually not too bad at it and it's coming to me rather easily. I've started thinking in spanish, which is peculiar. Let me know what you want to hear about and what you could care less about.

So Mark and I ended up both nights in hostels that only had one bed... which isn't exactly my cup of tea for someone I just met, but I figured it was a safer bet to be with someone on my program who wouldnt steal my stuff than a room of 8 or 12+ strangers. anyway, at the hostal in cordoba, the woman freaked out at the front desk because we're so young and its the one bed and she kept hollering something about "matrimonio" at me and I was like "i'm not marrying him... its not our honeymoon" i simply had no idea... thank goodness our friend ana translated for us and we realized that it just meant that there was one bed. and boy was it a tiny bed.

POURING rain sunday morning, we took a taxi to the hotel and met up with our friends from the bus and some more people, watched a movie, met the rest of the group, had orientation. Monday I met my family and they are wonderful.

Father: Antonio -- on the quieter side but witty, makes fun of me and thinks I don't understand
Mother: Marie Carmen -- absolutely wonderful woman who laughs at me and is very patient with my spanish
Son: Sergio -- 19 year old SUPER tall, violin, viola, organ, piano, choir. we match really well and he is the reason I was placed with this particular family. he speaks enlgish THANK GOD so when i get really frustrated with myself or simply have no idea how to translate it, I ask him. He corrects my spanish, i correct his english. He basically makes fun of me all day. Seriously.
They also have 2 other songs -- Alberto is older and lives in the building next door. He comes over for lunch and sometimes dinner. Raffa is married and has a brand new baby named Hector. I've met them once.

I have my own room, and everything is marble. The weather right now is constantly POURING rain and it is very unusual for the Andalucia territory -- usually they have droughts. So freezing cold + marble = Jamee bought a pink fleece blanket and it is the best thing of her life. They kicked Sergio out of the bathroom so now it's mine. I feel bad, and the second shelf in the shower is so tall I literally have to go on my tip toes to reach it.

I live very near "el centro" which is where all the shops, bars, clubs, and businesses are. The bad part about that is it's rather far from school, so I have to take the bus unless I want to walk a half hour or so in the rain. Nooooo me gusta. Since the area isn't known for rain at ALL I didn't pack rain shoes -- and seeing as Jamee has GIANT feet, there is no hope for buying them here. Yes, I've already asked a ton of shops and when I explained my plight to Marie Carmen (MC), she also laughed at me -- I am having a package with my boots sent to me.

My camera broke. No idea why. Literally. None. Sergio has tried to help. Nope.

As for school, I took the placement tests on Tuesday and thank goodness I don't completely suck at spanish. I got placed into the higher class for the language, which means I am able to take the Literature/Film class I wanted as well as the History of Spain class. Keep in mind, all my classes are in Spanish, so I'm in for quite the journey. I have Lola for Language & my Lit/Film class, and Antonio for my history class. Antonio is amazingly easy to understand and he's awesome.

Weird things about classes in spain -- you are NOT late (yes, go ahead and giggle as you think of me and my inability to be on time to ANYTHING), you do not eat in class, water and gum are only permitted if the teacher says so. No stretching, no yawning, no talking, no laptops. You can't leave to use the restroom or leave class early. Nothing. Nada. Nunca.

so my schedule is as follows --

8:30 -- wake up
9:00 -- catch bus
9:30 - 11:30 -- language
11:30-12 -- break (el descanso)
12-13 -- lit/film
13-14 -- history

lunch is around 1500 or so. so far for food, i've had [chicken with french fries], [eggs and thistle], [bean/potato soup], [green beans and hotdogs], [pasta], [tortilla espanola], [potato and pork soup with weird french-fry-esque anchovies], and [rice dish]. Every meal I have is with an orange and bread, and MC laughed at me for peeling my orange with my hands so I've learned to peel it with a nice and do a rather good job at it. Sergio rolled his peel into a rose today and was like "here, you're a girl, you like these things, you can have it" -- oh, so honored Sergio. funny guy.

After lunch you take a nap. It's called Siesta, and all the stores close down from like 1-5. It's only supposed to be like a 45 minute nap, but you all know me -- I pass OUT, especially because I am getting over a cold and my body is exhausted from travel, jet lag, and the time change. (By the way, Spain is GMT+1, or, 9 hours ahead of California, 6 hours ahead of NY) So on average, I'll sleep between 3-4 hours during siesta. Oops?

So I'll wake up around 7 or 8, and get a text (yes, I have a phone in spain... it's so expensive it's ridiculous. everything incoming is free, but when you respond to a call or text, YOU pay 16 cents for a text, 32 cents to connect your call, and then you pay fo ryour minutes as well) saying what plaza people are meeting up in and I'll go get a drink with friends or wander around the shops. Due to Spain's horrible economic crisis, there are FABULOUS sales going on... which is good because I need more sweaters. Like NOW.

I return home at 930 and we eat around 1030. Antonio always eats separately, and I think it's funny. The kitchen table and the salon table (family room) have GIANT thick long table cloths on them, which you shove as much of your lower body under because there is a HEATER underneath it. So during meals I am toasty and warm, and then after dinner we watch TV and go on the computer and again my feet are toasty in the salon.

They have a lot of american shows dubbed over in spanish, which is interesting to watch and listen to. I'm really fortunate and I love my family. I asked for a family with older kids because I didn't want to deal with small children, but I miss my siblings. It all worked out tho, because MC is a tutor and there are always younger kids (like HS age) in the kitchen staring at me like I'm crazy when I walk in wearing sweatpants, a sweatshirt, and my slippers, occasionally dragging along my blanket, just trying to stay warm and not lose my digits to frostbite. You get DRESSED here. Heels and boots EVERYDAY are normal, and they can instantly peg me as a foreigner based on my shoes. Stupid shoes. I'd kick them off in a fit of American joy but the Spanish dont go barefoot either.

I like the people on my program. granted, with a personality like mine and my strong opinions, there are a few I am keeping my distance from, but everything is great otherwise.