Paris tomorrow!

Sorry this post is a little late! I've been trying to fight off sickness for the past week so I didn't have much to share! However, I am happy to report that I (yes, mother, finally) went to the doctor on Monday and she gave me an antibiotic, so I feel substantially better! This past weekend, on Friday I believe it was, I was feeling well so I decided to go out and snap a few pictures of everyday Salamanca. I didn't get to take many because my camera died, but don't fret, I will go out again sometime with a fully charged camera battery. I know you guys want to see the monuments and stuff, but I also think sharing a little bit of everyday life can be interesting sometimes too. :) Not to worry, should you find this post boring, the next post will be full of pictures from Paris! This trip to Paris is one of the trips with API, so it's going to be a really fun trip with all of my friends there. I can't wait! :D

So, I'm going to start with how I start my day! I get up in the mornings, shower if I didn't shower the night before, and then I get dressed and go downstairs for breakfast. For me, my breakfast usually consists of plain flakes cereal with milk, and of course some sugar sprinkled on top. :) Amanda has cereal or she makes halfback pb&j sandwiches and eats a cup of yogurt. We could also make this stuff called ColaCao, which is like hot chocolate. Usually if you make that you eat some breakfast cookies dipped in it, but I usually save that for the night time, like an after dinner snack. The picture here is what my breakfast looked like last week: cereal, two different meds, water, and the little sugar box. What I found reallllyy interesting when I first came here was the fact that they don't refrigerate their milk until after they open it! When I opened the breakfast cabinet and saw that there were boxes of milk (no plastic gallons here, boys and girls!) I was honestly a little afraid! However, I must say, the milk here is really rich and I think a little bit sweeter than in the states! I like it, but it's not something I just drink a glass of like I would back home. I haven't had a glass of milk since I left home. I am SO looking forward to the day I can sit on the couch with a bag of powdered donuts and a tall glass of milk! Haha, it's the little things you miss. :)


These pictures are just things I see basically on a daily basis. There are some days where I just stop and look around and I have to wonder "Is this real?" Sometimes it just looks like it's straight from a post card. I love the history. There are so many stories being told everywhere you look. Some things I don't really understand because I haven't lived through the history here, but they are things I am interested to learn about.




So there's a street that is lined with cafes where people can eat al fresco. I'm really sad I never had lunch there before it got too cold, but we always have lunch prepared for us here at home, so I can't really complain. Speaking of food here at home, Concha, who is the sister of my host mom, is probably one of the best cooks ever. The woman who owns the house doesn't live here, so Concha basically always cooks for us. I LOVE her food. Back home we're all about flavor and spice and salt, but she mixes foods with sweet things instead, like fruit or chocolate. For example, one of my favorite foods I've had here was Concha's empanadas! She makes them with ham and cheese and DATES! Ohh my gosh the mix is heavenly. I could probably eat that every day. So THANK YOU Concha for taking such good care of us! :)

Okay, back to that street! These pictures were taken on that street, however there are many streets like this one. One of the pictures is of a "menu del dia" that I told y'all about earlier (I think in the Toledo post), and another picture is of a "50's Diner" that's supposed to be "American," but according to Aura it's not all that great. Another picture is of the typical "pharmacia" here in Spain! They're everywhere, and you can always find one by the big green flashing "+" sign outside!

The picture in the top left is one of the ham places!
Those are PIG LEGS hanging from the ceiling! YUCK.

Now I must say, one thing that I have hated about Spain has been their love of pork! I can't stand pork! There are these stores EVERYWHERE that sells cured pork. I can't stand walking by one of those stores because the smell is so pungent it makes me sick. I have to hold my breath every time I walk by there! Ughhh! BUT, I had to share because it is such an important part of life, at least here in Castilla y Leon. There's a special kind of pork from Spain called jamon iberico that comes from a pig that has been raised on bellotas (acorns) from a certain kind of tree here. Also, from what I've seen, they graze their pigs like we graze our cows, but there are always clusters of these trees everywhere for the pigs to eat from. Not my thing, but apparently that kind of pork is really good if you enjoy it!

Anyway, that's all the pictures I have for now! Like I said, I intend to do a much more in-depth photography session at some point, so in the future you'll see more posts like these. :)

So I have to admit that this Texas girl only THOUGHT she was ready for fall. It is COLD here. Today, for example, I had to go out and get travel-sized contact solution for the flight tomorrow and of course it had to be raining. It was a chilly 54 degrees farenheit and raining. We don't get weather like that in Texas until the end of November! Haha, when I asked for fall I meant 70 degrees and sunny! These people need to get it straight! It would be so bad... if we had heating in the house! They have some sort of heating system, but they don't turn it on until it gets "cold" (whatever THAT means- I'm not sure I'm ready to find out!). SO currently I'm decked out in my tall volleyball socks, pajama pants, an undershirt and a long sleeve shirt, topped off with my cozy blanket from home. I am COLD people, this is not what I asked for! Haha

Although I have to admit that today was actually a nice day to go out. I mean, it was rainy and cold and miserable, but it's something we don't get to experience very often. Amanda and I were walking towards Calle Toro (where all the shops are) and I said "do you smell that?" and she said "what?" and I said "the pine! do you smell it?!" and then yeah, after taking a second to sniff she did. It smelled like winter! It was such a lovely smell, the smell of pine needles mixed with someone's fireplace burning somewhere... it was almost dreamy. :) It was one of those moments that I will always have a snapshot of in my mind.

Aaanyway, I'm going to get off blogger and go do my homework and pack! I'll talk to y'all later! :)