Back to civilization!

It´s now been about a week and a half since I´ve been here and I´m slowly coming back to civilization! I´ve been staying with my Spanish parents at their summer house in Villanueva which is a small town about 30-40 minutes East of Alcala de Henares. It´s like I got lost in the movie Under the Tuscan Sun! Their summer house is so precious and my day has been consisting of sleeping in, going for my run, going to the pool with my Spanish niece (Sonia) and my Spanish nephew (Sergio), coming back to eat lunch, taking a nap, going back to the pool, coming home to shower and eat dinner and relax with my family, and then go out or play cards at the house until about midnight and then go to bed. It´s so very relaxed and the food is very good. Here are some pictures:

This thing takes FOREVER to upload photos so I´m putting the rest of the ones that I have with me on Facebook. I have more but forgot to put them on my computer so when I transfer them, I´ll add them to Facebook.

Here are some of the things that I forgot about Spain that I think might be interesting to show what it´s like here:

1. They call everyone ¨guapa¨or ¨maja¨ which means gorgeous or pretty. I think it´s so cute when someone greets me by saying ¨Hola maja¨ as they say to everyone.
2. When it´s just family, they often go to the bathroom with the door open. I don´t know whether to be freaked out by this or take it as a compliment that they see me as part of the family.
3. Here we eat every meal with fresh bread and I love it! It´s so funny when my Spanish mom gets all worried and tells my Spanish dad to hurry up and go for the bread before we eat lunch. 4. Here they drive SO crazy! I was asked by my Spanish brother in law if I had a license to drive and I told him that I do, but that I don´t think that I want to. They park in every place that they can, drive very close to other people, stop in the middle of the street, and honk and yell the whole time to those who are driving too slow or badly.
5. When it is time for the siesta after lunch (around 3PM), they tell the kids to play outside quietly because other people are sleeping and don´t need loud noise. I love that they are so considerate.
6. They complain that it is SO hot here but make us all change out of our wet bathing suits to different and dry bathing suits so that we don´t get sick from being cold. Also, when I lay on the grass to do my sit-ups after running each morning, they about throw a fit saying that the grass is too cold and I should put a towel or blanket down. :)

I´ve gone with my Spanish parents to two concerts where my Spanish dad sang with his group (or band) and I loved it so much! They are very traditional here still to this day and they sing some of the older traditional songs of the country. It was so cool to experience that and I also love that the older generation here are still so active and involved. I will upload photos of that as soon as I get them out of my camera.

I miss you all very much! Please email or text me as I really enjoy getting things from back home.
Love always,
Steph