End of Week 2

    Hello Everyone!  It sounds like I should be jealous of the awesome weather in Nebraska.  And luckily I will only have to be jealous of people watching NFL games two more times this semester, today and the Super Bowl.  I plan to ask our U.S. Liaison if there is any place in Europe that plays the Super Bowl so I won't have to miss it.

    I'm already starting to have cravings for American things.  Yesterday at lunch I thought I would die without some ranch dressing on  my salad (we have vinegar and maybe salt on our salad).  In the afternoon, all I could think about was peanut butter and McDonald's french fries.  Luckily my friend Mary texted me and we went to check out a cupcake shop between our houses. That helped a ton.  Afterwards, we went into the shopping district so she could get some much needed rain boots.  We also explored the Casco Viejo neighborhood which is the original shopping district in Bilbao.  The streets are tiny so there aren't cars.  All of the stores are in antique buildings and it's in style to go down there and shop or go out to eat.  I hear there are really cool thrift shops in the district too, so I may need to check those out since I'm unable to stop myself from buying things.

    At least I should have a little job here in the next few weeks.  My program asked if anyone was interested in going into primary school classrooms once a month or so and engage in conversation with the kids in English.  Not only is it a great way for me to practice my Spanish and practice my teaching, it will also pay $10 an hour.  I'm not going to turn down a little extra spending money or such a great experience, so hopefully I hear back about it soon.

     Today has been very quiet.  My "aunt and uncle" joined us for lunch today and supper last night.  If I understand what they keep trying to tell me, they are redoing their kitchen so they will be eating with us a lot. My "Aunt" Christina said that they have been staying at her mother-in-law's house which is right by the ocean.  I think (and hope) she said that we will be coming over there for dinner one night soon.  I've never seen the ocean so I'm very excited.

    Last night when we were having supper we were trying to decide what was the right word for the scarves I had bought.  I had called them "bufondas," the word I had been taught throughout all of my time in Spanish classes.  My host family then informed me that there were nearly 10 different words for scarf and that I was wearing a panuelo not a bufonda. They then went on to list every different kind of scarf.  I still don't know what makes mine a panuelo but I'll go with it.  My host mom also thinks it's very funny that we call mixed fruit "fruit salad."  I think it's her new favorite word.  that is one of my favorite parts of having a bilingual family.

    Tomorrow unfortunately starts another full week of class. I guess I'll just have to control the excitement that comes with being four days away from being in Rome.  :)

    I heard my family say something about having pallea for supper and I hope its true.  Sra. Schwisow has been saying great things about it for years!