We Love the Nightlife

Boy do I wish I had my camera today at the pool. There was a lady wearing a thong bikini bottom and her boyfriend was helping her rub suntan lotion on her bum. A lot of girls were topless today, but they were 10 and under. I don't think I would let Emma go topless, even this young. I don't think she'd want to anyway. I KNOW I don't want to. There are some limits to our immersion in Spanish culture.

My jet lag seems to be getting worse rather than better. I woke up at 12:30 pm and went back to sleep until 3 pm. So far we're eating breakfast at lunchtime, lunch at dinnertime and dinner at what would be our bedtime in Pennsylvania. The kids are starving around midnight for some reason. This morning at 2 am Emma woke me up saying she was hungry. She ate a giant bowl of cereal and drank some warm milk. She was so wide awake that she was singing and telling me stories and gave me a back massage. All very nice . . . except I wanted to sleep. She finally went to sleep at 4 am. It is even easier for the kids to crawl into bed with us here because there is no foot board and the bed is very low to the ground. Collin actually woke up early this morning to Emma crawling cat burglar style up the middle of our bed.

I went for a run around 7 pm after we got home from the pool. It was still very hot outside. I didn't run very fast or very far, but I at least feel like I am getting back on the wagon. I discovered some wild blackberry bushes and a very old world looking Spanish farmhouse. I am definitely going to have to go back and take some pictures. The blackberries should be ripe in about a month. We walked 14,045 steps today, a new record!

The peach lady remains elusive. We went for some churros y chocolate instead. A Spanish churro is very different from a Mexican churro. They are longer and smooth, rather than ridged and they are not sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. Instead they are dipped in a cup of hot chocolate which tastes like hot chocolate pudding rather than Swiss Miss. Both the churros and the chocolate are served very hot. I only had one, but it was delicious. Everyone liked them, but especially Emma. That girl licked the cup until it was practically clean. She would have also liked her own giant plate of churros and her own cup of chocolate, but we're all about sharing.

Ian and Emma started doing cartwheels and handstands on the steps of an enormous cathedral. It was so big that I couldn't back up far enough to get a picture of it. A little Spanish girl wanted to see the pictures on my camera. She was very typically Spanish in dress and looks. She also tried to do some cartwheels herself. It really depressed me that her verb conjugation is so awesome and mine is so crummy. I have got to work on finding someone to do a language exchange with.

Collin and Aidan made me close my eyes and led then led me somewhere near the cathedral . . . to a yarn store! Hooray!

Here's Emma's journal entry from yesterday:

"Yesterday we saw a snake on the sidewalk that we were walking on and it slid off the edge and landed in the yellow grass. We couldn't find the lad that had sold us the most delicious peaches a couple of days ago. So we got cherries instead. They were good, but not as good as the peaches but at least we got some fruit. Earlier we went swimming and I made a friend named Sophie. I'm having a great time here and I can't wait until next year!"

We found an Ian-sized car in his favorite color. He was obsessed with the napkins at the churro place because they had pictures of beer on them.

We're trying to think of other Spanish foods we can expose the kids to. I think we will try some calamari next time since the boys love the ones Antonio makes at Marco's Tapas in Lewisburg. I made myself some patatas con aoili, but used only a couple tablespoons of the garlic mayo and then for the rest I used plain yogurt. I think I am going to try my hand at the almonds tomorrow. I'm not much of a soda drinker, but here it just seems so much more refreshing and delicious. Plus, we don't drink alcohol and water just gets old sometimes. Maybe once school starts we'll keep more American hours and get the kids in bed by 9 pm or so, but for now . . . we love the nightlife.