Dracula Lives in . . . .Pennsylvania?

Let's start with yesterday. Collin met with Manuel, the director of Bucknell in Espana. He told us we could buy an air conditioner since it is so stinkin' hot. The only problem is that we would have to lug it from the store ourselves since they don't deliver. I'm pretty crafty, but I don't know if I can construct a dolly.

After a long hot siesta, I walked an hour to church (in 100 F weather) for flamenco lessons. I can do the footwork of the first three parts, but not the arms. As soon as I try to do the arms, I forget what I am supposed to be doing with my feet. 

The mother of the flamenco teacher asked me where I was from and I said, "Pennsylvania." She and her daughter said, "Oh yeah, scary movies are always based in Pennsylvania." I said, "Do you mean 'Transylvania"? They kept insisting that it was "Pennsylvania." Finally, they figured out that it was Transylvania since Dracula is from Romania. I explained that Pennsylvania is known for Amish people. Later, the mother of the flamenco teacher asked Collin why we didn't have electricity in Pennsylvania. I guess my Spanish wasn't so hot right then when I was trying to explain how the Amish live. 

Collin and the kids took the bus to church and met me. The kids played with some of their new friends. Carlos, the boy pictured alone, is one of their new friends. He makes Ian's energy level look like that of a sloth. Carlos is a really lovable kids with a ton of energy. Collin played basketball while I went over to Maria's house with the kids. Her house is literally right next to the chapel. She served up some watermelon, cookies and orange Fanta. I figured out that I spoke Spanish for three straight hours yesterday. The kids watched Up in Spanish at Maria's. Aidan went back to the chapel to play with some boys from church. Somehow I ended up telling my life story to Maria in Spanish. 

We walked home from church and stopped at Burger King for dinner. I had the just about the fanciest fast food salad ever. It had raddiccio, endive, red leaf romaine, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and corn. Everything was very fresh without any brown spots and nary an iceberg lettuce leaf in sight. It also came with miniature bottles of red wine vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. You know the country takes pride in its food when even the fast food salads are beautifully presented and delicious.

Emma received a very nice letter from her friend Lauren Pilling and a best friend necklace that she never takes off. The two of them have been keeping up a bit of correspondence which is more than I could do at 8 years old. Emma also laughs a crazy laugh at the moon because she and her friend Amy Danowsky agreed that this was how they would send messages to each other. I wish I had brought the Lewisburg school directory so that the kids could keep in touch with their friends better. 

The River Genil runs by our street and is filthy. On one end it smells like a dirty wet wash rag mixed with a toilet that hasn't been cleaned for a few months (don't ask me how I know how that smells). I seriously hope our water isn't coming from there because it reeks and always has a weird scum on top of it. The fountain is near our house as well and while it is refreshing to sit next to and look at, we don't let the kids play in that water either.

I had another Spanish lesson today. We learned how to give advice, some vocabulary and some superstitions and how to combat them. I found out that the Asian girl is actually from Russia, the two people I thought were generally European are from Holland and New Zealand, there is one English guy from around London, only one Ukrainian remains from the 4 original to the class, out of the three Americans (1 is me) two are recently from Texas, but one lived in Salt Lake City as well as Allentown, PA. We have a new girl from Brazil as well. I only have one class left! I want to continue going, but can't afford the real classes. The secretary did say that they might be offering more classes in September, so I'll keep my fingers crossed. Collin wants to take an advanced class from the same school. I wish my Spanish was as good as his, but he feels that as a professor of Spanish, there is always room for improvement.

We went to the pool today. I think this red bathing suit top pictured should be outlawed for ugliness. I got a little sunburned, Collin got medium sunburned and the kids were fine. This time we brought food and water so we stayed for 4 hours until it closed. I am reading Year of Wonders, which is about the plague. I am enjoying it very much. I have tried to save the most interesting looking books for last, but I just can't do it. I've got about 5 different books going right now, most in Spanish or about Spain. I would really love to be able to enjoy reading novels in Spanish . . . . sigh. There is a whole library full of very interesting looking books here . . . . 99.9% in Spanish.

Aidan caught a lizard one night on the way home from a walk. The lizards around here are tiny and crawl along the walls near the sidewalk. We also saw a dead snake on the sidewalk on the way to the pool. I am curious to know how it died right in the middle of the sidewalk. Not to get all CSI, but there weren't any signs of a struggle or any blood, the snake looked very much alive. We knew it was dead because the boys dropped leaves on it to try and get it to move.

I made chicken with lemon tonight and I liked it, I think Collin did too, but it was not well received by the kids. Sigh . . . . why do I bother to make real food? Maybe I should just stick with cheese and crackers for them since they don't appreciate grown up stuff, but it is such a pain to make separate meals! Y'all feel me on that?

Today I only walked 10,390 steps, only 9 1/2 miles:( We didn't go out for our nightly walk because we felt like the kids were being crabby and needed to get in bed before 1 a.m. for once.