Am I still a tourist? I think so

Friends, Michiganders, Countrymen(women too)
Lend me your ears.

Two points to whomever can name where that comes from. I will give you a hint, the author is English. Anyways, a lot has happened since my last post. I am still getting used to editing and using this blog so bear with me. The photos I posted the other day didn't format like I wanted them too, but oh well.

Now some general information.
Life in Denia has been great. Spain works at a much different pace then the states does. For instance, everyone walks very slow and I am constantly wondering why I am flying by them on the sidewalk. Also, the pace of meal times is much slower. More emphasis is placed on the social gathering and talking of a meal then the actual food. However the food here is really good. I haven't had a bad meal since I have been here. They use alot of olive oil and almost everything is fried or cooked. For instance in this past week, I have had fresh fish, rice with vegetables, a morrocan dish with cous cous and rabbit, paella and ham straight from the leg of a pig. It is quite common for families to purchase a leg of a pig and eat from it for a while. I don't like ham in the states, but this ham is so good for one reason or another.

Now the specifics.
Alright enough on that. I had a very interesting and action packed weekend. On thursday, I went out with my spanish brother and his friends. Lucky for me, one of his friends is from Wisconsin and could speak fluent english. He helped me out alot with my Spanish and understanding the finer nuances of the culture. For instance saying "entiendes" which translates to "do you understand me" has some other more sinister meanings depending on the context. Needless to say, I will be using "comprendes" from now on which translates to the same thing without the dangers of the other one.

Friday night, 20 of us from the group went over to a Spaniards house for a fiesta before we went out. Now it will be hard for you to understand just how rare and incredible this actually is for spanish culture. Spaniards don't normally have alot of people over, normally people meet at the bar to hang out. Whats even more inconceivable is that she is a 60 year old Spanish women entertaining 20 Americans who may or may not have played a version of ping pong on her roof.

Saturday night, I went to Valencia (the third largest city in Spain) with my Sister and some of her friends. They spoke too fast for me and I mentally checked out of Spanish land by about 10pm. However Valencia is much bigger and more metropolitan. I almost rather we studied there instead of Denia.

Finally, this morning I was awoken by my sister at 11 pm. Apparently I had told them I might wake up around 11. I thought time was flexible here in Spain???? But I am actually glad I woke up, because they promptly took me and the dogs to the town square for the festival of San Antonio. San Antonio is the patron saint of animals. So the entire town takes their animals to the town square to have the priest flick holy water on them. However, its more of tradition then religious now. I saw ferrets, horses, ponies, rabbits, and of course lots of dogs. It made me miss bailey a lot. However, she would not have been able to handle that many dogs as many of you can attest to.

That was my weekend, and now I need to buckle down for the rest of this week until saturday when we leave for Barcelona. If you have any questions or want me to explain anything in more detail please leave a comment (there will be a link right beneath this post) and I will respond to it. I was hoping this would allow more of a forum for conversation then would a mass email. So long mis amistades.

Tommy