Mmmmm ham spread and octapus (aka wet cat food and...what should only be wet cat food.)

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Hi all!

Wow! I feel like I haven’t talked you y’all in forever!

Wednesday I discovered a new love: eggplant. Pepa made some for lunch. It was just sliced up eggplant with a little bit of flour and salt and then sautéed in extra virgin olive oil = YUM! So delicious. I have also been working on liking tomatoes more and being in Spain is helping, I am eating them ALL the time! Unfortunately I can’t say the same for the soup we had. It didn’t really smell good when she set it out, but Natalie took a bite before me and she goes, “Mmm…” So I was like, “well, maybe it tastes better than it smells.” Nope. Devin has discovered that she does not like sopa de pulpo (octopus soup). I politely told Pepa that I didn’t really like it, “Its ok, next time I will just fix you something else.” That’s one thing she is very good about. She is a really great cook and I have LOVED everything she has made so far, but she said that if there is anything we don’t like we need to let her know so she won’t make it for us. So, I told her and I apologized that I didn’t like it so much and she was very nice about it. She doesn’t want to make us something we won’t eat, partly because she doesn’t want us to eat things we don’t like and partly because she hates wasting food.

Often I don’t finish everything Pepa gives me. Trust me, I could if I wanted to, it is all very good, but I try to just eat until I am satisfied. When I got here I told Pepa I had a small stomach so she wouldn't be offended if I didn't eat everything on my plate. Today may have actually been the first time I finished everything on my plate and them some…I was HUNGRY!! Also very exciting was that today we had wheat bread, not white bread. When I saw it I turned to Natalie and I go, “Look its wheat bread!” The look on her face was completely priceless.
As I said though, Pepa doesn’t like food to go to waste, and it doesn’t, it goes to the dogs. Haha! It’s really quite interesting; none of the dogs beg at the table and they aren’t allowed under the table or around the table while we eat, but they do get the leftovers. Too bad Gus has not learned that skill yet, although he doesn’t really beg…he just commits thievery from the counter. Thankfully Coco the Chihuahua and the terriers are not big enough to jump up on the counter and eat whole loaves of bread. I think Gus would really like Spain; pastries EVERYWHERE. In fact tonight Pepa made bread pudding for us for dessert, Gus’s favorite apparently (Dad is still bitter).

Yesterday was our last full day of our intensive Spanish course so to celebrate our class went out for tapas after our last lecture with our professors. Our group is pretty small so we got to know each other well in class and I’m sad that we are all splitting up! Although, one of the German girls, Anna-lu, has offered to help me with some German so that when I head to Germany I will know some phrases! That way I can at least speak a little bit of German with Elisabeth and her family when I am there. Dankeshoen Anna-lu!

While looking at the menu I noticed something I recognized, Goulash! Oh, I got so excited!! Mom makes it at home and it is so simple but soooo good. I knew it wouldn’t be the same here, but I was curious about the Spanish take on goulash. Verdict: I approve. It was super delicious. There wasn’t any pasta in it; it was mostly just meat (BEEF!!) with this kind of spicy tomato sauce. I will definitely be going back for more one day; I may even try to finesse the recipe out of them. 😊 I also had some salmon thing because I love salmon and it is also in short supply here (although I can have all the tuna my heart desires). It was raw, but it still looked so good, and it was indeed delicious. Conor would be proud of me since he has been trying to get me to eat sushi forever; it wasn’t exactly sushi, but hey, it’s a step.
Then after lunch I went to Chamara to study for our final exam that we had today (which went just fine by the way, I think I will pass) and I decided I would have a treat, so I told Eva I wanted something sweet. “Ah!” She said, “I have something I want you to try! I just made it for the first time today and I want to know what you think about it. Be honest. Do you like bananas?”
“Yes! I love bananas!!”
And then I commenced eating an incredible delicious banana torte thing. It was just a small pie crust with bananas cut up and then maybe like a whiskey sauce? Not really sure, it was simple and small and very good!
“Do you like this better than the chocolate torte you tried last week?”
How do I decide? Bananas or Chocolate? Life’s great question. Throw in peanut butter and then we’d really have a thinker.
“I think I liked the chocolate torte better.”
“Ah, thank you dear!”
I’m really starting to love studying at Chamara. The people there are all so, so sweet. There are only four people who work there so they all know me and I know them and they know that I have my “spot” so if I walk in and order something before I sit down they always say, “Of course, I’ll bring it to your seat!” Its nice having a comfy place where everyone knows your name (Ah, I know, Cheers reference, but its true!) As a matter of fact our API group is starting to get well known at our new hangout place. On Wednesday afternoons at 6 we all meet up at a restaurant named “100 Montaditos” because they have all of the montaditos for only 1 euro. Montaditos are like little tiny sandwiches about the size of a large Swiss army knife, I would say, and they have 100 different flavors. All the flavors are different prices, but on Wednesdays they are all 1 euro. We call it “Montadito Miércoles” (Miércoles = Wednesday) and it is easily becoming our favorite weekly ritual! Plus it’s something that brings all us API kids together for an hour or so to talk about our week. It reminds me a lot of one of my other favorite rituals: Moesmeetingmodernfamilymensday. Ah, I miss Moe’s and Modern family…and my Mendsdays 😊

We have also been spending a lot of time with the Erasmus kids; they always have something fun planned! Tuesday night we went out to a Salsa bar thing and we learned to Salsa! It was really fun! This time it was more of a class so we were able to participate more. However the instructor kept telling me to stop looking at my feet. “¡Su hombre no está en el suelo, su hombre está aquí!” (Your man is not on the ground, he is right here!). It was really fun though, and the instructors were really good, the girls hardly have to do anything, they are so good at leading you just have to let them lead and follow along. In between our little lessons, the instructors would dance with each other and they were REALLY good…I don’t really think I have the “Salsa” in me, but it is really fun to watch! Some parts of it are actually a bit like swing dancing though, so it wasn’t totally foreign, but still very Spanish! 😊

Also very Spanish are Hayley and mine’s very Spanish driving lessons. Today we worked on stopping on hills and having to get the car going again (which I remember being particularly difficult when Heather tried to teach me when I was 15). It actually wasn’t bad!! I only killed it once today, what an improvement! Haha! We also went out on real Cádiz roads, not very far, but just so that we could practice on a real road. Scary much? Rubén: “Tranquila, tranquila, no tiene miedo, esto es fácil.” (Translation: Calm yourself Eago. Aladdin reference for Heather). No, what it really means is “Calm, calm, don’t be scared, this is easy.” Sure Ruben, sure. Although once you go around a few times it really isn’t so bad. Hayley and I did ok, but we were a little preoccupied about our exam we had today. “Hayley, you are being very quiet. Are you ok?”
“Oh, yeah I’m just worried about our exam tomorrow.”
“Well I am Spanish! I can help you! What are you worried about?”
“All of the vocabulary.”
“What is your vocabulary about?”
“Modo” (Fashion)
“Modo?” (Some word that apparently doesn’t mean fashion?)
“Si, ropa.” (Yeah, clothes)
“Oh! Modo!” (Pronounced like mo-though, In Spanish ‘d’ actually makes a ‘th’ sound. )
Haha! Apparently our American accents still cause issues.
So, during my turn driving Ruben quizzed Hayley on all of the different articles of clothing and helped her study! We need to bake him cookies or cake or a pie or something. That’s what we do at Clemson whenever someone does something nice. “If you do this for me I will bake you any kind of pie you want.” Fool proof. 😊

Speaking of Clemson, I got my package today ladies of College Heights!! Thank you very much! It really made my day and I loved reading all the letters!! I have been keeping everything everyone sends me and hanging them up on my wall by my bed. I really like reading them and hearing what is going on!
Alex, I was laughing out loud when I read your letter, my roommate was definitely laughing at me laughing at my letter. Well not laughing at my letter, but with my letter.
The trail mix you sent was indeed very appropriately named! (It was called “Nutty American”).
And Kate, you are right; I would go to the lib with you in Smart Wool socks and Sperry’s (or Birkenstocks, whichever fits my fancy for that day).

Hmm, I just realized that this blog revolved mostly around food…well, it is one of my favorite things about this country so far! 😊 Haha, not everything is fabulous though. They love ham here…and not like Thanksgiving or Christmas ham, it’s like pâté or ham spread stuff or very processed ham. The other day a girl in our group, Whitney, got a snack from the cafeteria at the university and it was just bread with the ham spread. I turned to Hayley and I whispered, “That looks like wet cat food.” Whitney started to eat it and mentioned about how great the food is here and, I can’t remember exactly what she said, but she said something about the ham spread and how great it is. Hayley says out loud, “Looks like cat food to me.” I couldn’t help but burst out laughing. Whitney was kind of offended, but I thought it was great. Thank you for that Hayley. Hahahaha!

Tomorrow we take off for an API excursion to Seville until Sunday night! I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures!

Love and miss everyone!
Love always,
Devin 😊

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Photos

Learngin the Basics
First we all get in lines and learn the basic steps...sort of like line dancing, only for Salsa.

Eva
Eva is from Poland and the only non-German/ non-American in our class.

Me getting my Salsa on too!
There were many girls and few guys, so we rotated between guys and just practicing the steps by ourselves. During this turn I got to dance with the instructor.

Turn!
The turns were way easier than I though they would be, but then again the instructor was such a good dancer I hardly had to do anything!

La esquina
La esquina=Corner. This is my bed and my corner were I hand up all of my letters and photos!

Comments

[Sean]

When in Spain...
Dev, Thanks for the post card! It is great to hear from you & i love reading the blog. I hope you live every moment of your stay because it can truly be an enlightening experience. BTW, the boys are pretty freaked out by your locale; WAAAAY to close to sharkville! Be careful out there! Love ya and have a blast. P.S. Send good Spanish vibes our way on 10/1, we'll need it...