Más fresco.

The past couple of days have been pretty relaxing, so they´ve been pretty Spanish. Last night the three of us took Paqui and Papa out for dinner. They were ordering food, beer, and wine left and right, even when we were full. We had caballa, which is a delicious fish commonly served in Cádiz. It came with the head, eyes, and everything, so Papa taught us how to eat it. (Although I´d already received fish-eating lessons from my real Papa.) Throughout the night, Paqui would run into her friends and introduce us as her "hijas americanas" (American daughters). We kept laughing and calling her the "mariposa social" (social butterfly) because she talked to so many people. They don´t use that term here in Spain, so she was amused and kept referring herself to as a mariposa. After dinner, they treated us to ice cream, and Papa explained the history behind tapas (TAH-pahs), which are very popular in Spain. They´re pretty much small meals that you can order as appetizers, or you can order many for your meal. He told us that tapas originated in a bar in Cádiz when the customers would have to keep their hands over their drinking glasses in order to protect the wine from bugs. When they were done with their drinks, they asked for the camaeros to serve their food in the glasses so that they could continue to shield their food from the bugs. He´s quite the historian.

We also went to the Museum of Cádiz yesterday afternoon. There were about 10 new API American students from San Diego who came with us. Thereś a lot of ancient Roman history in Cádiz. I didnt understand half of the tour (mainly because I kept spacing out), but there were a lot of interesting artifacts.

Today in class Stephanie and I started a well-known Spanish play, La Casa de Bernarda Alba. We don´t understand everything in the play, and it takes forever to read it aloud, but the whole process has really helped with our pronunciation.

Tomorrow weŕe off to Granada with API. Iḿ not really sure what weŕe going to do there, but I´ve heard talk of Arab baths, which entail saunas and massages. So that sounds good to me.

While we were walking around last night, it really hit me that Iĺl be leaving here in about a week. Considering how long Ive waited and how hard I´ve worked for this trip, itś hard to believe that my stay in Cádiz is almost over. I´m really looking forward to my time in Greece; I just didnt plan on being this sad to leave. Paqui and Papa said I can come back and stay with her whenever I want, but life is only going to get busier. I hope I make it back here one day. Iḿ really going to miss my Spanish family.

Luego.