welcome to the house!!!

These are the times...

For the past week we’ve been camping out at Alberto and Lucia’s. As you can see from the pictures, we’ve sort of taken over their house:

This is the air bed we slept on for the first night (and please note some of our luggage that's shoved off to the side). They were so nice to let us use this, but it lost air throughout the night, and when we woke up the next morning, we were cuddled together for warmth ON THE GROUND! Thus, Alberto and Lucia came up with another plan: they got an extra mattress from Albert's parents house, put it in Little Lucia's room, had little Lucia sleep with them, and Emily slept in Little Lucia's bed while I took the floor.

As you can see from the picture, this new set up is MUCH better!! Poor little Lucia has lost her play place for a while, though. However, that'll all change soon because after a very long week of apartment hunting, WE FINALLY FOUND AN APARTMENT TODAY!! That means that we’re not homeless anymore; we have an apartment! It’s a little three bedroom apartment with one bathroom, a kitchen, and a living room/dining room. It’s definitely not the newest apartment we have viewed, but when you consider all aspects, it is the best! It’s in the budget of our scholarships, allows us both to have our own room, is located in a safe part of town, lacks creepy roommates, and is very near to the university, beach (yeah!!), tranvia (Spain’s above ground metro), and the bus station. Two of the bedrooms are fairly big, and one of them is small, so Emily and I are thinking about taking the two big bedrooms and renting out the small one to anther exchange student. Hopefully we can steal wifi from the university, but if not, we will be getting it hooked up ASAP! You can expect a video tour of my "crib" sometime this week!!

This week was fairly stressful as we struggled to find an apartment, but as I look back now, I can see how blessed we've been! God has taken SUCH good care of us! He has given us this amazing little family here in Spain that have taken us in and adopted us! One of the things I love most about Spain is their "siesta" time. Every day around 2:00 they all stop working, head to the parents' house, and eat lunch together. Okay, I don't like eating lunch that late, but I think it's so awesome that they get together as a family every day (and they let us be a part of it!). The mom of Alberto makes us a home cooked meal every day. We've had pasta a few times, chicken noodle soup, ham and cheese that are made only in Valencia (It was sooo good! It sort of looked like bacon, and I was freaked out because it didn't look cooked, but seriously, it was amazing!), and then she made us home cooked paella! Paella is the dish of Valencia; it's basically a rice mixture with either chicken or seafood. Emily and I have seen many restaurants serving it in Valencia, but we wanted some authentic paella, so we decided to wait. When she heard that we had never had it before, she insisted on making it! She made LOTS of it; the whole family loves it:

Seriously, this family has been so welcoming! One night they took us to El Corte Ingles, which is like a combination of JCPenney's and Wal-Mart. It's 5 stories, and the coolest thing was that the escalators are ramps instead of stairs so carts can go up them! I had never seen anything like it, but I thought it was a good idea! While at El Corte Ingles, I picked up a few things to buy - towels, shampoo, etc, and when I went to check out, Alberto's mom refused to let me pay for them. She insisted that she buy them! I felt bad, but that just gives you an idea of how giving these people are. Seriously, God has blessed us beyond words by giving us this little family!!

There seems to be a pretty steady routine at lunch time, and it goes something like this: Al's mom puts food on each plate individually in the kitchen, and then she brings them out and sets them on the table two by two. We all take our respective seats, and it looks something like this:

(Left to Right: Me, Em, Alberto, Lucia, Jose, Al's Dad, Al's Mom)

Then, Alberto pours our drinks, they all talk to each other in Spanish, Emily and I try to understand but usually just talk in English. After the main course is finished, Alberto's mom takes away the plates, and Alberto's dad brings out the fruit. He eats one orange (Valencia grows their own oranges!), and they offer it to us. Sometimes we say we want an apple, and sometimes we don't. However, even if we say that we don't, Alberto's mom encourages us to take it, and we eat it happily! Jose leaves the table while we're eating to watch TV. We sometimes offer to help Alberto's mom clear the table, but she almost never lets us, and we don't press it too hard because we don't know what the customs are here. Seriously, though, the family is amazing! We are so blessed!

Here are a few other things that I've noticed about Spain: everyone talks really fast and LOUD; it seems like they're yelling at each other all the time, but I guess they're not! Everyone drives manuals here, and everyone parks other people in. However, if the person needs to get out, they just go and physically move the car themselves. It's hilarious! Also, you always parallel park. I would be horrible at driving here! Oh, and I think it's legal to litter, but I'm not sure!! That's how it appears, though.

Anyway, there is SOOOO much more to say, but I need to get going! Emily and I just did the most spontaneous thing I've ever done: we booked flights to London and Cork for TOMORROW! We leave Valencia tomorrow night and head to London, and then we fly out of London early on Sunday morning and land in Cork. We'll spend all day Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday (EMILY'S 21ST BIRTHDAY!!!) in Cork before returning to London Tuesday night. We'll stay in London until late Thursday, and MSU people that are studying abroad are going to let us stay with them for free!!! Yay!! Thanks, friends! Anyway, we seriously must go now! Lucia is waiting for us to eat dinner, and then we are hitting a few bars, but it will not be a wild night because we have to pack tonight and get our apartment in the morning before flying out!!!

So, I guess my next post will probably be from a London airport! You can expect a lot more then. I know my posts are always long, but I'm an English major, so I reserve that right! LOVE YOU ALL!! Thanks for the support!!!!!

...let's make the best of our lives.