Today we started our Spanish class and it went very well. The class is from 10am to 2 pm and we have 2 different professors. They are both very nice and only speak Spanish. This is interesting since I haven´t taken Spanish in over 4 years, but I am picking things up pretty well and seem to get by. Ashley and I got placed in the same level and class, so we will get to walk to class each morning together, which is good. The school we are studying at has two different language buildings in the city and our class is in the building that is about a 25 minute walk from our apartment. We walk everywhere throughout the city, so we are getting a good amount of exercise in each day. The streets in Granada are very narrow and you have to be careful because there are many mopeds driving around that will cut around the trucks and bigger vehicles on the road.
Yesterday, Ashley and I walked to the nearby Garcia Lorca Park and relaxed for a few hours there. The park is huge and has palm trees and many flowers spread about. Last night, Eloisa (our host Mom) made us hamburgers and mashed potatoes which was very nice of her. Mealtimes are at different times in Spain and it has been an adjustment to get used to. We eat around 8 or 9 am usually and breakfast consists of toast with butter or jam and always a cup of milk which we can put cocoa in if we want. Lunch is around 2 or 3 and is the biggest meal of the day. Yesterday we had pieja (which is a huge dish containing rice, spices, meat etc). Dinner is usually around 8 or 9pm, which is much later than I am used to, but I´m adjusting. Mealtimes are very fun because it is when Ashley and I are able to talk the most with the family since we are all gathered around the table.
Eloisa (our Mom) is very fun to talk to and she does a great job of speaking slower so we can follow her. Last night we were talking about various things and there came a point in the conversation when Ashley and I could not understand what she was trying to say. It was like a game of charades and when we would suggest what we thought she meant she would start laughing because we were completely off track. After 10 minutes of this we finally understood what she wanted to say. She was trying to explain to us that in Spain the mothers are the ones who discipline the kids..... She said it is "real fun" talking to us and trying to communicate. The older kids in the family, Sergio and Eloisa, love saying English words and the conversations at the table are quite funny because Ashley and I will be trying to say things in Spanish and then the kids try to say the equivalent words in English. Very amusing. Anyway, I just wanted to share a few stories about the last couple of days in Granada. We are visiting the Alhambra, the huge fortress in Granada, on Wednesday and are going out for churros con chocolate afterwards.