Domingo (Sunday)

I woke up around 9:20 and Carmen walked me to my orientation at the University about a 15 minute walk away. (I'm sure doing a lot of walking; good preparation for el Camino in about a month) We were split into two groups and went over the guidelines of this trip. It was reassuring to hear a professor talk in Spanish and understand almost 95% of it. After, we all met up and walked around town with José. The weather was great again (of course). We then split up into smaller groups of friends and recollected our evenings while walking around town. Man that was fun. We asked locals to take our pictures and we walked into a park where it was basically a zoo but they didn't need cages to keep the animals in, they just seemed to want to stay. We all kept walking around town until one at a time we left for our houses to eat. I went back and had another meal (which was much better for me) and then had my midday siesta again.

I woke up and we had to go to their cousins' first communion celebration (Clara and Emilio). It was at a 5-star hotel nearby. It was a great experience. The adults dined and drank in the hotel and the kids had their own reception area until they all met up later at the dance. The little kids all wore either their shirt and ties or their big white dresses. So Mónica, Eduardo and I walked around outside for a bit and talked about life in our countries. I was starting to understand and pick up on more of their Spanish-speaking. We went back inside the hotel and entered the dance portion of the party, complete with lasers and a DJ. I mustered up the courage to dance for a bit. Good times. It was mostly women dancing and they all tried to get the men to dance with them, but the men were all in corners sipping their drinks and talking fútbol (soccer) from young to old. The men all dressed so dapper and neat and sharp. Even the oldest men there were probably some of the most modern and sharply dressed. And if they weren't old enough to talk fútbol, they went outside and played it, regardless of how nice the kids were dressed.

We returned home around 8:00 and had our dinner (which is a typical time). Again, each meal seems to be much better than the last, which is great. After that I met up again with the group for some winding down at La Negra Flor, a bar which is kind of like our headquarters. I returned home at 1:00AM this time, which made sense. No one is as out and about as they are on Fridays and Saturdays. The next day was also a school day for us.

¡Hasta luego! More to come. I need to get caught up.