Ay Corumba

Spain sure knows how to throw a party. This weekend is a huge holiday in Granada. It is like a Granada fest and boy do people know how to put up a good festival. I have to walk about 30 minutes to school everyday and on the way home Tuesday I ran into a stage with Fleminco performers. Wednesday there was a parade. At the end of the parade every year there is a float with a lady who wears a special dress. The dress sets the fashion for Granada the rest of the year so the next day we saw all the women wearing the colors that were on the dress. Also, there is a huge feria (carnival). It is so big. There are isles and isles of bands, rides, booths, and so many people. The whole thing is lit with endless lights... it almost feels like you are walking inside the electric parade at disney land. We danced the night away at one club in the feria and I got a whole group of Spanish senior citizens doing the electric reel to a country song (spanish words of course). Yesturday we went to Almunecar and swam in the mediteranean sea. It is crystal clear, so clear that you can see in detail everything on the ocean floor even if it is 40 feet below. The town was beautiful, all white casa´s lining up the mountains that rise from the sea. It has been fun to travel during our time off and I am lucky to have made such good friends with other students. The food is starting to get to me though. Spanish comida is quite bland and something about it makes me loose any urge to eat at all. Maybe with that and all the walking I´ll manage to lose a few pounds before I come home. It wouldn´t be fair though to not mention the chocolate covered churros. I could eat those all day long. My Spanish is escalting to the rate of about three new words per day. Slow progress I suppose, but my heart is just not in it. I don´t have a talent for language. I´m thinking that gift of tongues thing would come in handy right about now. Today we went to a spanish mall and I saw some flemenco shoes that might find their way into my suitcase before I come home! In other news, we have been slipping in Mormon tid bits every chance we get when talking to our host mom. She likes to look at pictures of the Salt Lake Temple. I wish I had a better book to give her. Maybe on Sunday we can find the missionaries and ask for some good pictures. She is sweet and we are lucky to have her. Some of the others haven´t faired so well. One girl put her swim suit in the wash and a few days later her host mom started telling her that swimsuits were very cheap in Granada and that she should buy a new one. She never saw her swim suit again. Two others have had soup for every meal. Our mom loves to cook family recipes.... her favorite was a potatoe tuna egg mayonaise caserole that just about did me in. Wow, so much already and still three weeks to go! I hope I make it...