I feel closer than ever with my relationships with my family. The past few weekends my host family has been in and out of the house with previous engagements --communions to attend! One day (Sunday May 13) Marisa had 2 to go to and while she had a millisecond of time to rest between the two we got to talking and I felt like she really confided in me with the information we were sharing and stories she was telling me. It felt really good. Close. I just wanted to shout in English, you can confide in me! Clearly there are many things that I sometimes don't feel comfortable expressing myself in Spanish still. Part of the reason why I wish I was enrolled in a year program here ;) 

During the week on Wednesday we had scheduled the inter mural awards ceremony. I wasn't expecting it to be a big deal or anything and figured I could come right at 1 when it started because as the stereotype goes (that I have physically witnessed and lived here), I figured it would start later than planned. When I arrived the main patio of the CLM was filled with a horseshoe of people around a main table with people talking on a microphone. I arrived just in time before they started giving a little background about the volleyball inter mural league. They called the first place team and they accepted their trophy and t-shirts. Then "IOWA", my team, was next! As the captain when they called IOWA as the subcampeon I knew I had to go up in front of everyone and give a little speech and thank the people. As soon as I grabbed the mike I was comfortable and the words flew naturally and suavely from my lips. It was a good feeling. I did make ONE mistake, and say estamos en vez de somos but that didn't matter. That feeling felt better than holding the big trophy in my hands! Well, maybe equivalent to. None of us were expecting winning ANYTHING for second place but of course we were pleasantly surprised. Our t-shirts serve as the memory we will take back with us of when we competed in Spain at the Fuente Nueva campus. Although the Central College Iowa program and Veronica have many other trophies from past years, we felt honored to present it to Veronica and take pictures with her and it even though it was just an inter mural league.

After the crowd settled down and the awards ceremony was over I planned to go join some friends for their "good bye" lunch at a local Mexican restaurant. They had just finished their final exam and were celebrating with margaritas and had invited me to join. Little did I know that the famous graffiti artist, El NINO, was coming to the CLM to work on a piece of art and have all who wanted to, watch him in action! It was a sight to see. ( www.elninodelaspinturas.com/ ) He didn't end up leaving his work at the CLM which was a bummer but he ended up inviting two girls from my program to drinks afterwards! I hear while being extremely talented he is a very nice guy. Little did I know that when I returned from the restaurant, there was a tapas celebration in the CLM with food and free beer! For lunch we were invited to margaritas and had discounted meals so it was alright in the long run. The celebration was hosted on the patio of the CLM for the CLM students that had finished their courses for the semester. I wonder if they'll have one for L&C students and CEH students (like me)!

This past weekend my Spanish sister had another recital and I was so excited that I could have a chance to see her in action with her rhythmic gymnastics, it was honestly like nothing I had ever seen before! Many of the participants are dancers committed to the sport year round. Paloma just joined the team at her school and this was her first year participating. I was SO proud of her! To watch the recital I was with Marisa, her mother, Juan, and met his mother for the first time. There were sooooo many children, mostly females, ranging from 3 to probably around my age, so it was a long show. It started late, and of course we had to wait until the awards ceremony. It was a competition and not just a performance so of course some are going to get awards and some aren't but they gave so many out that it would have made sense to give something to all of the participants :/ Paloma's spirit was a little down but I sincerely hope that she commits to this sport because I even told Marisa that I think she could have a lot of success in it if she keeps going! While we were in the car on the way home she asked her mom if next year she can join the club team. :) She's always dancing and moving in the house so it's easy to see the passion that she has for this art. It was fun to see her put into action all of the seemingly odd moves that she's doing in the house. She has talent!
21/5/2012 05:37:48 am

I am so jealous that you hve been studying abroad- you are going to be fluent in spanish and im going to be talking like i did in spanish 4 in high school. i feel like we have so much to learn from each other now that we've been apart and have been involved in things on separate ends of the spectrum- and im SO EXCITED to start that process. its going to be a busy summer..me with roughly 40 hrs a week, and you gone again in indiana, but lets cherish this time! and get F on board too. much sister rekindling needs to happen : ) so proud of you!!

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