week 3.
i have successfull survived three full weeks in espana.
Type your cut contents here.
1. the parents (read: dad, nancy, kellie and jillian) visited this week. they arrived sunday and left this past saturday. we had a great time. pictures are coming soon but we climbed the castle, hit the beach, drove around spain, visited the waterfalls, ate and drank a lot of wine.
it was sad to see them leave...there was no crying, although nancy said she cried in the car. my weekend was busy so it cushioned the blow.
2. the highlights of the trip by far were:
- the fam. meeting my madre espanola. it was...interesting. first, there were awkward besos (the common spanish greeting of a kiss on each cheek), then, pastry, coffee and some kind of wine liquor. my madre insisted that we all drink the liquor (kellie and jilli concentrated on the candy and chocolate). she refilled dad's shot glass about 5 times. the woman practically force fed us and tried to get dad drunk. then, she asked a bunch of questions. yelled at me for not speaking enough spanish to her...never being home and really just breathing. dad and nancy agreed with everything she said. it's a very awkward experience...translating for others, someone yelling at you. my madre also said nancy was young and beautiful...clearly, after this experience my family likes my madre and no longer likes me.
- we tried to navaigate spain using a map. this is never a good idea. the roads are never on the map. please imagine the 5 of us driving on tiny dirt roads that are scarily close to the edge of cliffs and wind around seemingly in circles, through the mountains of spain in a little 5-speed diesel vw golf. i was the navigator, dad drove, nancy slept in the back and complained dad's driving was making her ill. it was amazingly funny.
- dad decided to make friends with the spanish police and made me spend about 45 minutes trying to play translator so he and these cops could have 'cop talk' time. although much 'cop talk' is pretty universal...dad ran into trouble when they started comparing the size of their guns and channels on their radios. they even offered to let us 'tour' their cop car.
3. i climbed to the top of the castle twice last week. the view is amazing from up there. all the girlies and i at the top:
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">http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a255/Blondi619/th_CIMG0290.jpg"> ;
4. saturday i went to two winery's in Jumilla. we took a bus about an hour or so outside the city. we got to tour two winery's and drink TONS of wine...and eat lots of different cheese! the wine was good and i bought three bottles...it cost 11 euro (about 9 american dollars). wine was everywhere. brittany and i posed in front of the oak barrels in their basement.
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by erinspain06
http://community.webshots.com/photo/2135048960096746701wmQfOx">
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by erinspain06
5. sunday, catherine and i took the ferry over to tabarca. the island is beautiful. we snorkeled here:
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">http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a255/Blondi619/th_P9160230.jpg"> ;
6. saturday night we all went out...and drank on the beach, then went dancing. it's what everyone does here...but i felt super sketchy drinking out of my adult-juice-box.
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">http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a255/Blondi619/th_P9160207.jpg"> ;
overall things are good. pictures have been updated here:
http://community.webshots.com/user/erinspain06
xoxo.