Yolado

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For those of you familiar with spanish, ice cream is “helado.” And when we were walking through the streets, specifically on Gran Via, there are many gelatorías (gelato shops) and heladorías. But today we discovered “yolado” which is the butchered spanish for frozen yogurt. They had samples on the streets for us to try… LIES. It was definitely not fro yo. It was some nasty concoction made to look like fro yo and suck americans in. Seriously probably the most disgusting thing I have ever had in my life, and I have had a lot of new foods the last few days so that’s saying something. So, lesson learned: no yolado.

My new favorite type of gelato is estrellacha. It’s hard to explain its kind of like a creamy chocolatey cappucinno with raspberries. I’ve also come to learn the reason there are so many places to get ice cream and gelato, etc., etc., is because it is hot as hades down here. It’s not too humid, but definitely more than I am used to. I also find myself feeling like there is too much air to breathe---altitude problems. And because we walk literally everywhere it’s a convenient snack. I’ve only had gelato twice though, so I am behaving!

We had 5 hours of “review” today to prepare us for the placement exam. The only thing we really worked on was the vosotros form of verbs because we don’t use it in the US, Spain is really the only place that uses it. It’s basically the verb used for talking about “ya’ll”

Bread, or el pan, is pretty much a staple. For breakfast we had toasted french bread with EVOO and a little juice. Dinner was essentially half a baguette with 5 pieces of salami in it. My favorite thing about this country so far? NO CONDIMENTS!!! If you know me well, you know I despise mustard, relish, mayo etc. and so not having to worry about having that on my sandwich is perfect. Lunch is the biggest meal here and I can’t tell you how hard it has been to get used to that! We got out of class at 2 and decided to wander the streets a tiny bit on the way home- I am talking like maybe 5 minutes of wandering added onto our 35 minute walk home and just as we were about to walk up to mountain, not an exaggeration, to the house, I received my first phone call on my spanish phone!! I was super excited, until I realized the person on the other end was our host mom Marie speaking in such an exasperated manner that on top of the accent, lisp, and speed of her speech I could understand basically nothing. After she realized we were alive and not lost she calmed down, but it turns out she knew we only had class till 2 and was extremely worried when weren’t home right at 235. So another lesson learned: write notes to Marie telling her where you will be.

We arrived home, completely drenched in sweat- not hot yoga sweat, but darn close, to a bowl of soup….. Hot soup on a hot day, when you’re hot and sweaty? No. So she told us to go upstairs and lay down for five minutes and then come down. The soup was amazing. I have never had lentils so tender. And it had sausage and pepperoni and then chunks of potatoes and carrots as well. She also served us “ensalada” which was not actually salad, but rather, tomatoes drenched in olive oil. I tried them., but have never really been a fan of raw tomatoes, and that has not changed. Julia and I both barely touched it and so she asked and we said we preferred tomatoes cooked. It’s weird telling someone you barely know if you don’t like something, allow I am glad it isn’t something she cooked and is just something she cut up. Funniest moment of the day was when Julia went to dip her bread in the soup. Apparently that’s a no no and Marie came flying across the kitchen and yanked the bread out of Julias hand telling her that if you eat soup and bread together you get too full. I just about died of laughter when she left the room. She also made fresh juice with her juicer which was super refreshing- just a couple oranges, a mango, some pineapple and a lemon.

We went on a walking tour of the city, which it turns out is a lot bigger than I thought it was., but totally manageable. Then we went to flamenco in the caves up in the mountains. It was really fun… until I started laughing when the boy next to me was the first person they made dance in front of everyone, and then she made me dance too. First of all, I do not dance in general. Second of all, my feet do not move like that, nor do my hands, so needless to say it was embarassing yet really awesome at the same time? Like anthony says, white people’s feet shouldn’t leave the ground when they are dancing. I am 100% in accordance with that statement. We decided to take the back way home and be adventurous, and it was definitely the best decision I have made yet. We saw a beautiful sunset and got to see Granada from above. Don’t worry, I took pictures of course!

I think that’s about all. I am extremely engrossed in my hunger games books… so thanks to those of you who got me hooked on those. I am bummed I do not have technology at my exposure to talk about it.

We haven’t gone out yet because we have such long days, but don’t you fret! The craziness of the spanish lifestyle is just around the corner!!!

Mucha cariña

~Annemarie

PS- they call Mcdonalds Mah donna. Just another example of the lisp/ pronunciation issues we are experiencing! Oh and this morning marie asked how the yela was… it took us about 2 minutes of explaining what she was saying to realize she was saying jet lag… yela…. Jet lag…… ayay.

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