Tortilla Espanola

Okay, July 2nd 2010
Friday, Day 2.... Test Day.
Test? We had to take a placement test at 9am so the people at the University of Granada could make sure we were placed in teh correct class level. There were three parts:
1.) Written.... I got about a 6/9 on this.
2.) Grammar.... 4/9... yeah....
3.) Oral.... 5/9ish
My average? Still not sure what they officially decided but it was a 5 or a 6. So, yay!!!!!

This is my breakfast...for today and every day while I'm here!

I should tell you about Breakfast, though. When Monique and I woke up, we went to the kitchen. Conchi asked what we wanted to drink. When I asked if she had milk, she wanted to know if I wanted chocolate or sugar put into it and if I wanted her to heat it up. She looked a little weird-ed out when I kept wanting plain white milk. It was room temperature. eww. She also gave each of us one piece of toast and then put a basket of these cracker-like things in front of us. Monique didn't really like the cracker things so she asked for another piece of toast. I seriously thought Conchi was going to throw a fit. She kept saying things like "One piece of toast EACH and then the crackers." Then, she huffed off and brought Monique another piece of toast. She said "TWO pieces of toast each morning, now. You will get TWO pieces."
Monique speaks practically no Spanish, mind you, and does not seem very interested in trying, so communicating is going to be a hassle.  Whew, but with that out of the way, we prepared to head  off to the school.

Conchi walked with us to the University for our tests so we would know where to go... it is about ten minutes away.I might have never found it, though if it wasn't for her! While we walked, she pointed out things along the way, like a really old movie theatre or a big fountain. She tried asking us about ourselves a bit, but Monique kept lagging behind and was uncooperative.

This is the school. Unreal, right? It is just this cute courtyard! Actually, it reminds me of my high school, which also had Spanish styled courtyards like this. The top had a retractable roof to create shade during the afternoons. 

After the tests, we had an "orientation." Basically, Thompson told us some stuff and then some lady gave us some papers to fill out and then this guy (I will call him Rec Guy until I remember his name) told us about  activities we could participate in.

This is the whole UCF group!

When we finally went home for lunch.... Spaghetti!!! It was very Hamburger Helper tasting though, and Conchi gave us each about four times the amount that I would ever be able to eat in one setting...and then grumbled when we couldn't finish it. Monique didn't like it, but I thought it tasted okay even if there was wayyy too much to eat. There was also a girl there, Rosa, who looks to be in her late twenties. At first I had no idea what she was doing there, but then she explained that she was Conchi's daughter who also live at the house. Apparently she had been out until late the night before.
While we were eating, Rosa asked if I wanted a Banana as well. I would eat a couple bites of Spaghetti then take a bite of banana and so forth.... Rosa could not believe it! She kept saying "No, No, the Banana is for after the meal. You like them together?" This leads me to believe that fruit is more like a dessert.
After lunch, Monique wanted to go out for a bit but first Conchi taught us how to work her locks. She has a crazy door! It has four dead bolts that close when the key is turned all the way... no amount of credit-carding will get you through these locks!
So I stayed in, trying to get the internet to work.... got to Skype with dad (yay) and then went and walked around for a bit. I could see the hills and mountains through the buildings.There is still snow on the tops!


When I got back, Monique had just taken a shower and had been told she was using too much water. Now our showers the first day had been about 5 minutes each... I thought that was pretty good for two United States girls, right? Instead, Conchi wants us to get wet then turn the water off and wash ourselves THEN turn the water on again to rinse off. I tried my best to use AS LITTLE WATER AS POSSIBLE when I went in next.I was not lectured, so I guess I did an all right job.
Okay, so it is 9:30 right now as I am writing this, and I am HUNGRY! Monique was laying down so I went into the kitchen to see what was for dinner. Nobody was there. Well, I didn't know what to do about that so I went back to the room and told Monique. Thankfully, Conchi's daughter popped her head out of her room just then and told us she was making dinner. Back in a flash!

~*~

Hello again!
About dinner...I did not eat much. Now I know I am a pretty picky eater sometimes but you'd think I would like at least one thing in a meal.
1.) Spanish Tortilla. Now, I've had some of these that did not taste too outrageous but this one tasted like mayonnaise. Cold mayonnaise. For those of you who don't know... a Spanish tortilla is generally made out of potatoes and eggs and is approximately an inch thick.
2.) Salad. I DO NOT like salad. It just taste like leaves to me. This one had some tuna stuff in it too, I think. I ate some to be polite...and in the hopes that my salad aversion might have gone away, but I did not enjoy it!
3.) Bread with a sort of think buttery/cheesy spread (this is pretty common in Europe) with some large pepperoni-like slices of meat on top.
I pretty much ate the bread and it's spread. For the record, I might have eaten more of the meat but it was hard to bite off with the bread. I also ate a pear afterwords.

After dinner, Monique and I walked around until about 11- which is not very late here. In fact, we passed streets and alleys full of restaurants and bars that were overflowing with people. There were people of all ages out late, too including families with small children. Some of the streets in the most popular sections have lights strung overhead, which are nice to walk around under. 


It was pretty interesting. We headed back and I am pretty much set to go to sleep right away... I think Monique is still adjusting to the time change here though. The Beach is tomorrow!