Feelin' a bit homesick

I think that yesterday was probably the most mentally exhausting day of my life.  Around noon I headed to a barbecue in the countryside with Eva, Jorge, Eva's boyfriend Arturo, and the dog Scooby.  There were about 10 of Eva's family members at the BBQ at her dad's house.  Everyone was so nice and I had a good time.  However, it was really intimidating when an entire table of people who don't know English were trying to help me understand something but I just couldn't figure out what they were trying to say.  At one point someone asked me how long I have been studying Spanish for.  I thought that they asked how long I would be here in Granada studying Spanish for and I said 5 months.  They all gasped and were like "oh wow!" I finally figured out that I had answered the question totally wrong and that the correct response was 5 years not 5 months.

At the barbecue, the men cooked just about every kind of meat that you can image like chorizo, lamb, chicken, and sausage.  Of course there was a ton of bread to be eaten along with everything too.  Eva, knowing how much that I love her salads, brought salad to the BBQ.  I was pretty much the only one that  ate it and I thought that it was so sweet that she brought it along just for me.  When we finally got home about 6 hours later, I was so mentally and physically exhausted.  However, once again when I tried to fall asleep my mind was spinning with both English and Spanish, and it took me forever to fall asleep.

Today we had a placement exam for the intensive language course that we are taking before actual classes at the university start in February.  I thought that I really nailed the writing part, but the grammar section was questionable.  The last section was a very short speaking session.  A lot of the students were told what level they were placed into right after their oral section.  Myself, along with a few others, weren't told right away and have to wait until they post the results online tonight.  After the exam I walked home down a different street then usual and finally found a supermarket with good prices on the things that I still needed to buy. I brought some essentials such as deodorant and hair products.  Now, I am going to take a siesta and then go for a run.

I forgot to mention that the mysterious urinal/sink in the bathroom that I mentioned before is for cleaning "down there." Yeah we definitely don't have those in the U.S... Another thing that is different here is that they have little circular tables in the living room that they play a heater beneath.  They cover the table with a large blanket, a table cloth, and then a glass piece on top.  When you are cold, you just lift up the cloth/blanket and put it on your lap.  It's hard to explain but hopefully you somewhat get the picture.

I am definitely starting to miss my family and friends, as well as some of my favorite foods like Greek yogurt, ice cream, spinach leaves, soy milk, and American coffee (which is definitely different then it is in Spain).  Luckily it's so beautiful here that I can just look out the window and be reminded that I'm in an amazing city and that this is the experience of a lifetime.