Throwing Elbows at Las Fallas... In Spain!

Hola my faithful blog readers!
I am warning you now... this may be the longest post yet.  So many things have happened since I last updated you from Portugal.
Last weekend was Las Fallas in Valencia.  Las Fallas are these HUGE statues of characters - either animated or political figures for example - and they are made out of a type of paper mache.  They are absolutely insane!  At first I imagined them looking like something homemade - you know, when you paper mached as a kid in primary school? But these Fallas are astounding!  They look nothing like paper mache.  The colors are vibrant and the Fallas themselves can be up to 4 stories tall!  The whole week in Valencia is filled with activities like parades and fireworks.  Then on Friday night at midnight (more or less... it is Spain, where midnight means 1:30) they burn them all down.  Yes, they light these huge, magnificent ¨statues¨ (for lack of a better word) on FIRE.  It is so intense!  Although the actual burning of the Fallas is amazing, the rest of our experience was a little less than amazing.  Only because there were millions (and I am not exaggerating) of people shoved in the streets of Valencia, especially around the Fallas.  We were literally ¨throwing elbows¨ to try to move through the crowd.  Believe me, I have never seen anything like this before.  Also, throughout the day and night and the next days, every little Spanish kid was setting off these firework things that made a loud BOOM sound and continually scared the crap out of me, Carly and Melissa.  We never got used to it and Melissa even got hit with the remains of one of these little fireworks.  These little Spanish children had no parental supervision... well actually they did... but their parents encouraged them to throw them at the visitors and laughed when everyone jumped.  It would have been funny... from the other side.  Haha.  No but really... Las Fallas was an experience I was glad to have had (minus the firework bombs!)  :)
Las Fallas was the last stop on my five consecutive weekend getaways... Crazy to think that five weeks went by so fast.  Surprisingly I am still passing all my classes and only had one breakdown that had to do with computers... of course, technology.  LOL. (LOL - laugh out loud; takes the place of Haha or Hehe).  There were definitely some minor bumps along the way but you will have that.  The Lord has been teaching me to have a heart of peace (and not anxiety) and to trust in Him through all this.  Traveling can be so unknown at times and last minute so it was so comforting to know that the Lord was in control!  Last night, as I was thinking about how my parents are coming in a few days and how I will be traveling throughout Italy over spring break, I started to get a little sad.  When I return from spring break on April 18th, I will have less than a month in Alicante with my host family.  I know it may sound lame, but I have grown really fond of them and am attached.  I told Feli (my host mom) last night that I was coming back to visit - no matter what.  My host family has been such a blessing to me through this whole experience.  I could not have asked for or imagined a better host family.  
Speaking of my host mom, when I came home from Las Fallas in Valencia, her and Alba were sitting on the couch watching some TV, unwinding after a long weekend.  Alba told me that she wasn´t feeling very well and that her stomach hurt.  When I asked why, Feli replied that Alba had eaten ¨mierda¨ this weekend.  (¨Mierda¨ is the Spanish word for crap or sh*t).  Of course, I, who have never heard Feli utter a ¨cuss¨ word before, thought this was quite funny and when I started to laugh, Feli covered her face and was sooo embarassed!  It was so cute!  Later we had a conversation about how ¨sábana¨ (the Spanish word for ¨sheet¨) sounds a lot like the English word for ¨mierda.¨  Easily confused, of course.
Funny Language Barrier Story #2 - The other day in Spanish class we were talking about food and happened upon the subject of tortilla española, which is made out of eggs or huevos.  My professor, Don Juan, told us that he really didn´t like tortilla española so I asked him since he didn´t like tortilla how he liked his eggs.  Clearly, I translated it as ¨¿Cómo te gustan tus huevos?¨ - literally ¨How do you like your eggs?¨  Well, NOTE:  in Spanish NEVER put a possessive pronoun before the word huevos... if you get my drift... Kinda embarassing but all in good humor!
More on Spain - I told you this was a long post...
The other night on a popular Spanish talk show where they interview famous people etc. they had this thing on there called the ¨Idiotizador¨ - which is an invention that makes your voice sound like a mentally handicapped person.  I was absolutely shocked that this was on TV.  In the States, this never would appear on TV because it is politically incorrect.... but in Spain... most things are fair game on public TV, even porn - only after 10pm of course... Crazy, right?  I couldn´t believe it.  Speaking of things you would never see in Spain - Ranch dressing.  I have never seen even close to being similar to Ranch.  Instead, they use vinagre, olive oil and salt on their salads.  I tried to explain the idea of Ranch dressing in the States and how Americans put it on EVERYTHING but my host family didn´t understand the obsession... what a shame.
One profound change I have had since living in Spain for the past two and a half months is breaking free of my addition to pop - specifically Diet Coke.  How liberating!  However, now I really enjoy my morning ¨cup of Joe¨ as we say in the States.  Coffee seems to taste so much better here just like everything else including fruit, meat,  vegetables etc.  While in Valencia last weekend, I had the best cup of café cortado of my Spanish experience.  Café cortado is expresso with milk.  Mmmmmm delicious!!!  The other profound change has definitely been with my appearance... Since I am studying abroad with a limited range of clothing and other American comforts, I care less and less each day about my appearance.  My hair does whatever it wants whenever it wants, my legs go unshaven for days (even weeks now because on Friday I am having them waxed!  I´ll let you know how that experience goes...).  For everyone´s information, I may go ¨European¨ on my legs being shaven but I will never go ¨European¨ on my armpits... NEVER.  :)  I also don´t wear make-up much anymore... I mean, what´s the point?  I´ll admit that I kinda miss wearing some of the clothes I didn´t bring with me and grow tired of wearing the same couple outfits every week.  Also I miss painting my nails every once in awhile or straightening my hair.  Don´t get me wrong, I definitely could do those things in Spain but it takes time and effort that are better devoted to other things like .. um... learning Spanish perhaps? :)  All things in good humor, it´s liberating not shaving my legs every day or doing my hair or putting on makeup.  ¡Me gusta!
Well it is actually time for me to get to class...
If you could, please pray for safety in my travels and also support raising for summer project with Campus Crusade for Christ this summer!  I am trying to trust in the Lord every day with these things.  Even though I am in the dark, I know the Lord knows the whos, whats, whens, whys and hows of my life and my future.  What a comforting truth!  
Know that I am praying for you all as well!
Un beso
Sarah