Happy Saturday :)

You guys, I could get REAL used to this whole 4 day weekend every week thing, let me tell you. It's doing HORRIBLE things for my productivity. Ha, as if I've been very productive at any point during my time here. I mean, I'm here to speak Spanish, right...not to do homework. ;)

(Just kidding, mom. I'm doing my homework, I promise.)

Anyway, this week has been lovely, but oh so rainy! I was joking with my family here that everyone had told me that it never rains here and I was so excited, but it's been rainy and gloomy for so long! They laughed along with me and commented on how weird the weather has been lately and how utterly not typical it is. But guys, it's been COLD and rainy here. Okay, I got really used to the idea of it being warm almost the whole time I'm here, so I wasn't prepared for cold and it hasn't been like THAT cold...but there's something about the cold here that just gets straight down into your bones...I'm going to die when I go up north to France and Italy...yikes.

Homework and classes and stuff are really starting to stack up on me. I have so much to do but all I want to do is explore the city or talk to my family, especially when my Tio Jose is here...he's SO RAD. He's this bald guy who is just so funny. Last night when I got home, he and his wife Aurora were home and invited me to sit around and talk. So there I was with my hostpadres and host-tios. Haha. Even though I was tired, they do a really good job of talking to me and explaining things that I don't understand, so it wasn't hard for me to hop right into the conversation. Especially because Tio Jose actually asks me questions about my life, about what I like and what foods I miss from the US (ha, that was a weirdly difficult question). Anyway, today is their 39th wedding anniversary so they're here again. Hahaha and Tio Jose always says things like "Oh, I'm pretty sure Kiersten wants to do blah blah blah...trust me. She's my niece. I know her." Hahaha he kills me...

Also, my mom is making this delicious looking lemon meringue pie looking thing. WIN.

The other day, my mom made this dessert that's called "Tocino del Cielo" which basically means Bacon of Heaven. You guys, it was weird. It was basically egg yolks and sugar, and it just tasted like sweet eggs. Which is weird. And it was sort of a texture mix between flan and jello. WEIRD? Yes. Weird. My hostbrother LOVES it though, along with Pepe, so they ate my share. Hahaha.

WINES OF ALICANTE!

So, uh, Thursday night my gastronomy class was wine tasting. It was so much fun! Although I'm still lost about what people said they were smelling in the wine. "This one smells fruity, like wet earth, a little bit dark." Uhhh, right. It smells like wine and I'd like to drink it now, please, if you don't mind.

Wow, this is thrilling, can I drink it now?

But it was still really fun. Some of the wines were absurdly good. And some of them were really not good, at all. And the red wines were way better than the white wines. At least I thought so. :)

My beautiful friend Shauna contemplating her wines.

Also, I may have been that girl who knocked over her wine glass, which then SHATTERED and sent red wine FLYING all over the white walls of our little cubicle things we were in. Guys, it looked like a murder scene, it was so weird. I don't know how the wine possibly exploded like that. And it scared Harley (the guy next to me) so bad that he ended up spilling his wine everywhere too, haha. Good one, Kieks. Oh well. "No pasa nada", right? :)

Me with my broken wine glass...

Oops...

Yesterday Shauna and I went shopping, that was fun. She really wants to talk in Spanish more so it was nice to actually spend almost a whole day just speaking Spanish. And today I'm making apple crisp with my friend Saki who is Japanese, so the only way we can communicate is in Spanish...haha my brain is getting tired, but in the best way possible!

Also, right now I am watching Moulin Rouge in Spanish. Guys, it's the best of both worlds. The songs are normal and in English, but the dialogue is in Spanish. Spanish in my brain + Ewan McGregor's sexy singing voice? Can't go wrong.

Miss you all!!!