Sunday September 25 – Salobreña Beach

                My ankle has fully recovered. I ran on it a little today and I walk normally, there is no pain, nor stiffness in my ankle.               

It was a last second decision of mine to go to the beach with my Irish friends. They got to the bus station before me because I was behind. To make things worse, I took the wrong bus to get to the bus station so I missed the bus that they were on to go to the beach. Salobreña is about an hour away and I had to wait another hour for the next bus to come. I was proud of myself that I was able to figure it all out by myself.

                There were other groups that were walking to the beach and there were two German girls that I talked in Spanish, I was so excited that I was using my Spanish to communicate with others from non Spanish speaking countries. When I arrived to the beach at about 4:30, I found them quickly. The sand was more like little stones there and the water got very deep very quickly. There was a tiny mountain that went it to the ocean that had many cliffs on it. The tallest cliff was about 75 to 100 feet in the air and people were jumping off it. I wanted to so badly but could not make myself do it because it was a long ways from the beach and I am not a great swimmer and cannot swim for long distances. Although I did jump off another cliff that was about fifteen feet high, the water was so deep and there were no rocks around, so I felt safe. It was a cliff closer to shore and the water was warm. I practiced my swimming and I am getting better. We took the last bus at 8:15 and it was a full bus. All the Irish got sunburned, they were jealous of my tan even though it is not the darkest I have been. Alana I felt bad for because she had a bad sunburn on all the backside of her legs. Caoihme and I on the bus ride back had a very good conversation about Irish and American things, it was very interesting and fun.

Saturday September 24 – Bull Fight

                Today my ankle does not hurt but a tiny bit, but it is still really stiff and it does not have full range of motion back yet.

                We went to a bull fight, it was completely inhumane. They had a bunch of guys to tire the bull out at first by making him charge at them from different sides of the arena. Then a man on an armored horse come out with a spear and stabs the back of the bull, then they make the bull run more, then three guys each take two decorated sticks with hooks and stab those into its back. So the bull is now running with up to six hooks in its back. Then the matador comes and makes the bull run more and then takes a very long sword and stabs it all the way in its back. Next comes the gross part where the bull starts throwing up blood through its nose and mouth, like buckets of blood. Then the bull lays down and they stab in right behind the head and it dies and is dragged out by two horses.

                One matador had is shoe taken off by a bull. Another bull charged at a matador with his backed turned but the matador moved just in time because the crowd yelled. They let one bull live after the spear stabbing, we think it was because he fought well because he knocked the sheet from the guy and did not give up. One bull got under the armor of the horse and made the horse bleed, those horses are trained well because they did not move under any circumstances.

                After the bull fight some people came to our house to have a birthday dinner with Kevin. Our mom made empanadas, pizza, some bread stuff that I do not know how to explain, hotdogs in bacon, and cake. She bought us pop, beer, wine, and champagne.

Friday September 23 – Ankle Update/ First Rain in Spain

                When I woke up my ankle was not swollen, but it was sore and stiff. I hobbled to class and put it on a chair for four hours. I could not work out today because it still hurt to walk on it, but the pain was very tolerable. I have laid in bed nearly all day in hopes that it will get better quicker. It also rained in the afternoon for the first time that I have been in Spain, it smelled really clean and fresh, but it also cooled the temperature down significantly.

                During dinner it was just Kevin, Christina (our mom), and me, we talked for an hour and 45 minutes about everything under the sun. It was so cool because I think I made a big leap in my Spanish speaking, my brain was tired after that so I think that means it was a good conversation.

                After dinner I went and spent time with the Irish at one of their apartments. We sat around, talked, watched a movie, and then some Spanish television. They all got tired except Avril so she and I walked around Granada from about 2:30 to 4:00. I am still amazed at how many people are out at that time in Spain.

Thursday September 22 – Rolled Ankle/ Karaoke/ More Irish Friends

                Today I went to play soccer again with people from my class this time, some of the little kids from last time were there too again. As usual it was a lot of fun until I rolled my ankle. I jabbed for the ball and got it but my right foot got on top of the ball and rolled over, I think it went backwards and slightly to the side. Everyone said it looked painful and it was, so I just stayed and played goalie. The walk home was very painful but I made it and put ice on it.

                After dinner I went to Hannigan and Son’s Pub to sing Karaoke with the Irish, I already knew Alana, Áine, Laura, and Lisa, but then I met Avril and Caiomhe. Laura is the epitmoy of an Irish girl, pale skin, freckles and red hair. Alana is the most outgoing I believe and always ready for whatever. Áine and Lisa are very nice but are a little quieter than the first two. Avril looks like a model and is always making jokes. Caiomhe I am not sure how to describe yet. I had Magner’s which is an Irish cider and it was very good, I am slowly becoming Irish here. We sang “Wasn’t Me” by Shaggy and some Irish favorites that I just went along with and pretended like I knew what I was doing. The walk home was really bad for my ankle and when I got home at about 3:30 my foot was quite swollen.

Wednesday September 21 – Soccer

                Trevor, Parker, Kat, Kevin, and I went to play soccer, on our way I ran into Gavan, the Irish guy, and he wanted to play so he came along. We got there and there were younger kids on the field so we started a game, two older Spaniards wanted to play as well so they joined in. Gavan and one of the older Spaniards were very good, we all switched positions now and then.

                That night, our API group met up again at Granada 10 for Ladies Night, since there is a free bar and free entry for girls and free entry for guys if they sign up on the wall of Granada 10 on Facebook. There were also a bunch of people from my class and some of my Irish friends were there too. Kevin and I got home at 6:00, Spain is crazy in the fact that people here just do not sleep at all.