Español courses and further family tales

I was waiting to update until I could upload pictures, but here at the university I need to have some sort of special password to connect my usb. So I don´t know when I´ll be able to put pictures up, very sad. I´ll keep working at it.

Since the last update I´ve done some very interesting things at the pueblo, like feed the pigs and help cut grapes! I´ve also finally started my Spanish courses, which have been going pretty well. Basically I´m learning grammar, culture, oral communication and written communication. The professors are all really nice and helpful, and there are friendly students from all over the world - like france, africa, and japan (and a good number from the states). Right now the level I´m in is a bit easy so I´m trying to move up another level. The workload is really light...most of the "homework" is to go out and talk to people, and my culture professor even said to go to a bar! I think it will be a fun semester. There are also some afternoon and weekend excursions planned that I´m excited about.
I´ve been getting to know my family better. I have had some rough days, where I really want to come home because of misunderstandings or being left out. Sometimes I wake up and everybody is already busy or out, they don´t tell me what their plans are for the day. Or I´ve offered to help prepare food, but one time my host mom said I would do it wrong and she didn´t want to show me how because it would take too long. That was really hard for me. I´ve gotten the chance to help them cut grapes in their fields, but at first they didn´t want me to come. My host mom doesn´t want me to do any hard work, like I´m more of a guest than a family member. This past weekend my host dad and sister did show me how to cut the grapes and it was definitely hard work! Despite the sore legs and bizarre insects (ugh I hate bugs, but my host family is immune to them. Whenever they see one they cut it up with their knives - brutal - and they also kill flies with their hands!) it was really really neat. It seems like the grapes are endless, there are so many. And they taste so sweet! When I get back to the states I probably won´t want to eat store bought ones anymore.
I think my host family is used to other students who usually do their own thing and don´t rely so much on the family, so maybe that´s why there are some hard times. But I´m becoming more of a family member in some ways. Once in a while they invite me to go on errands with them, and they are definitely not shy about yelling at eachother or cursing in front of me which I don´t mind. One thing that I´m getting used to is that nobody closes the door when they use the restroom. I can handle it for the most part, but when we came back from picking grapes my host mom told me to wash my hands...and while I was washing she decided to use the toilet. I walked out in a hurry, and she asked if I wanted to dry my hands but I said no thanks. Ugh. So in some ways I´m part of the family and in other ways I´m not.
The days that I´m sad or lonely are hard for me. While my host mom and older sister don´t always know what to say to me, my other host sister Almudena still jokes around and talks to me. She´s easy for me to confide in, which is nice. She is the most enthusiastic about showing me the grapes, the pigs, the pueblo, etc. I´ve also gotten the chance to talk more with my host dad, he´s very nice and also seems interested in teaching me things - I thanked him for showing me how to cut the grapes, and next he says he´ll show me how he collects honey from their bees! Yikes! Nobody has brought up religion much, except for my host grandparents. When I walked into the kitchen on sunday morning they said they were watching "misa" (mass) on television and I was totally clueless. It turns out, when they don´t go to services on sundays they watch a big catholic mass service on television. I was kind of stuck, because I didn´t want to walk out or start heating up coffee, so I sat and watched with them while they followed the prayers with the congregation...it was interesting for me to see. I was glad that my host grandparents didn´t ask me too many questions about religion because I still don´t know how they are about those types of differences, they seem very traditional. I like them a lot though...the rest of the family seems to think the grandpa is a litte nuts or mentally off (he was sick with something last year) but he´s fun to chat with. He also taught me how to play dominos a few weeks ago...I´m starting to catch some things he says. My host grandma is really great. One day the rest of the family was gone for the day and we talked for a long time about random things. I was just excited I could hold a long conversation with her and understand what she was saying. My Spanish has gotten better in the past month or so...I still make lots of mistakes but I understand most things (if spoken clearly) and some phrases fly out of my mouth without me having to think about it. ¡Que bien!

I really like reading everybody´s comments. It´s nice to know people are thinking of me while I´m here, because I´m certainly thinking of people back home. Take care!