¡Que Guay!

¡Hola de España!
I just talked to my mom a few minutes ago over Skype and she said that my ¨blog-readers¨ (you all) want to hear more about España!  I have been so busy with school and exploring and learning the language that I have not had much time to update the blog, also because I do not have my own computer here.  But I will do my best to frequent it more.
Anyways, so today was ridiculous.  I climbed a mountain.  Yes, a mountain.  A very tall one in fact.  The pictures are on my blog up at the top.  My Spanish friends (from church) and I went to a city near Alicante called Calp (pronounced Calpe... if that helps).  It was beautiful!!  We had to take the tram there which took about two hours but it was totally worth it.  During the climb, I was actually kinda of scared.  So I tried not to look over the edge or get too close for that matter.  But it was breathtaking.  The pictures do not do it justice by any means!  By the time we got all the way down I thought my legs were going to give out - climbing a mountain is hard work!  (And when you look at the pictures of the mountain, I am not joking when I say that I climbed to the very top!)
This past week was pretty regular.  School is going well.  I really like my classes and love learning Spanish.  Since I am here and living life in Spanish, I am much more dedicated to learning!  I study whenever I can and love practicing my language skills.  I hope that I will improve a lot over the next few months!  I am also learning a lot about the history of Spain, which I knew nothing about before I came here.  It is soo interesting!  Spain is so rich in history!  My government class is probably my most difficult.  It is only me, the professor, and one other student.  The prof speaks in Spanish making it more difficult to understand and take notes, but he is very understanding and repeats whatever you ask him to.
In addition to my mom telling me I need to post more on my blog, she also said people might be interesting in hearing about Spanish life and the differences between our culture and theirs, so here goes:
-They don´t refrigerate their milk before they open it, which is kinda odd.  So when you go to the supermercado the milk is on a regular shelf, not in the refrigerated section.
-Spanish life is much more relaxed.  During the week most stores and businesses close for a long lunch (1pm or 2pm to 4pm or 5pm depending).  Nothing is ever open on Sundays, not even the grocery store.  Customer service is not as important here as it is in the states.  No one ever tips.  Sometimes tipping is considered an insult, like the service or food was so terrible that you insult them by giving them money - its strange, I know.
-Right now in Spain the Rebajas are going on, which are the biggest sales of the year.  Spain does not have sales like we do in the states (all year around).  Their sales or Rebajas are once a year from the beginning of January to the end of February.  I need to go shopping :)  I really want to buy these super European pants; they are so ¨guay¨ which is ¨cool¨ in Spanish.
-Food... I love the food here!  My host mother, Feli, is an amazing cook.  She definitely spoils me!  The other night she taught me how to make tortilla española that has potatoes, onions, eggs etc. in it.  It is delicious.  We have also eaten paella among other Spanish dishes.  She said she would teach me to make most of them; we just haven´t had time yet!  They eat sooo much seafood here, which is wonderful for me because I LOVE seafood.  The shrimp or langostinos always have the shells and the heads and the eyes intact when you purchase them.  It´s hilarious but would probably keep many Americans from eating them. :)
-Soccer as many of you probably know is an obsession here!  The biggest rival is between the Real Madrid and Barcelona.  My family is a big fan of the Real Madrid.  Television is fun to watch here as well.  The other night Alba (my host sister) watched Grey´s Anatomy in Spanish.  We both love that show!!  Many of the movies here are American films but are dubbed to be in Spanish, which is cool.
I really love talking to my host family about what they think about the states etc. etc.  I like hearing their opinions and what their persception of things is. (PS my spelling is probably terrible because the spellcheck is in Spanish and sometimes I will type Spanish words instead of English ones... its confusing knowing two languages)  One night we talked about health care.  Spain has the 6th best health care in the world.  And my host family has nothing but good things to say about their system.  But I don´t want to get too controversial on my blog so I´ll save those discussions for another day :)
All in all Spain is amazing and is changing the way I look at things and how I act little by little, even if it is only eating lunch at 2pm and dinner at 9:30pm.  The lifestyle here is much more laidback, making it easier to enjoy life instead of getting caught up in the unimportant things.  Of course, people still work very hard but to me, it seems like people know how to relax better than in the states.  (I can´t wait til it gets warm enough to go to the beach.)  I will try to update this blog more often but I hope you all are enjoying what I´ve written so far.  If there is anything you would like to know more about or any questions just post me a comment and I´ll try to tell you as much as I can or find out if I do not know!!  I would love to hear some of your comments as well.
Ten cuidad,
Sarah