La Barbacoa

Today was an absolutely wonderful day. We woke up, got ready, and then we all packed in to Eva's car to go to the barbecue. We had it in this house with a huge back yard that Eva and all of her friends rented out. By the time we got there, Eva's mom and aunt and cousins were there ready to start setting everything up. It was a little chilly out, so we set up all of the tables and chairs in the back yard in the sun. Then it was time to get out the food. To begin with, there were all kinds of cold cuts, small empanadas, olives, and bread. I was starving by this time, so naturally I gorged on those, when little did I know how much food was to come. People started trickling in slowly and then by 2, pretty much everyone had arrived and the food was almost all cooked. There was shish kabobs, jamon iberica, vegetable casserole, tortilla, soup, sausage, hamburgers, basically anything you could want. After everyone had eaten a really good amount, the band showed up and we started dancing. I am a really terrible dancer, however I still gave it my best effort. I did know the dance that Eva and I learned earlier this week, and they played it probably three times, so that was my redemption. We danced and ate, danced and ate, for the majority of the afternoon. I even won a game that was similar to musical chairs, only when the music stopped you had to find your partner and strike a pose that someone with the mic called out. Naturally, my partner and I won (not competitive at all). That was a really good way to kind of break the ice and get people to talk to me more.

After a lot more dancing, we all sat down and started talking in our groups. Most of the people there were a lot older than me, so it was still really cool talking to them about where they were from and their lives and what they liked best about Seville. Then, out came dessert. There was chocolate cake, pound cake, and apple tart, which of course I tried all of them. There is a reason that the image of the fat American exists. Oops. Anyways, it was all delicious, not surprisingly. We danced a little more after that and then it was time to clean up and come home.

Besides the fact that the food was so amazing today, the reason today was so much fun was because of all the people I met. It was kind of hard at first to integrate myself and start talking to them, but once I opened up and they opened up to me, it was much easier and I even started to feel like myself. That is one thing I have noticed while here- personalities do not translate through language unless you are 100% completely without a doubt fluent. It is really hard to express yourself in the same way in one language as the other and I think that is part of the reason that I have been kind of frustrated while here. I feel like people don't know the real me because I am incapable of expressing the real me. But hopefully after what I saw today, it will become easier and easier to be the real me and truly express myself.

Also, as a side note, I have been here a month. It is crazy to think that it has been that long, and it is weird to think that I only have three more months left here. Better go make the best of them!