No, no,no, these things, when combined, make to be what might be the greatest festival I've ever been to. Scratch that. It was the greastest festival I've ever been to.
I woke up at 8 :25, had to leave at 8 :30, so you can bet your bottom dollar that I threw on my bathing suit, chugged my cafe con leche, and stuffed a gofre ( like a waffle but so much better because you eat it cold and it's sweet) down my throat in a matter of 3 mins, with 2 mins to spare. I'm just that good. Hahahaa jk, this morning I was pretty much a walking zombie until I met my new friends Oscar, Nadia, and Ana, who quickly woke me up with their peppy personalities and tons of amusing questions about America such as "Is it really like it is in movies? Are cheerleaders really popular? Do the popular groups sit together at lunch? What about prom? Do you eat peanut butter? What is peanut butter? " And on, and on, and on.....you get the picture.
We drove about 15 mins away to a town called Javier, which is also has beaches right in the town. Today was the town's festival, and mind you, it was considered a "small festival" because it was only one day. Usually the town festivals are about a week. Oh yeah, Spaniards don't mess around when it comes to partying. It's pretty much considered a second occupation for them here.
For awhile, we sat in the shade talking and me answering their questions about America. Then, we got in line to go get free chocolate with what was a biscuit, which you dipped in the chocolate. It was so good!
Javier kind of has a sort of square with shops and things, and then you go down some stairs and you're on the beach. So then, we waited a while longer and everyone gathered in the middle of the square we were sprayed and completely covered in foam! There was a huge machine and everyone was laughing and dancing and throwing foam on each other. We were all completely soaked.
Then, after the foam is finished, you walk towards the beach and there are these huge trucks filled with pastelitas (little cupcakes with sticky marshmallow icing). The people on the trucks start throwing these little pastelitas out for everyone to catch. Cool, more free food! Not so much. Everyone takes the pastelitas and throws them at each other and every one gets completely covered in sticky, multi-colored marshmallow icing. Keep in mind, you're already soaked from the foam, and now strangers are wiping marshmallow all over your face. I'm not gonna lie, it was pretty much the most fun experience of my entire life.
Then, everyone runs into the Mediterranean to wash off and swim around. After, we lie on the beach and dry off and walk around the block to the area where the boats dock, and you can swim in deeper water if you want to. This is where they set up a pole sticking out from the dock to over the sea. Then, they grease the pole with something so it makes it slippery and attach a flag to the end of the pole. The big prize for getting the flag first? 5 euro. It's more about the fun of the challenge though, and the pride of winning.
So we watched person after person attempt to win the flag, and fail until finally, some one finally got to it! It was so amusing to watch, and took awhile because of how difficult and slippery the pole was. Also, it was really hot today so many people jumped in and watched from the water, or took a quick dip. However, there were many really obnoxious kids that kept yelling and pushing each other in the water, called chungos, my friends told me, which basically means ghetto in spanish.
I was watching the kids attempt to win the flag, when out of nowhere, I am hit by what feels like a brick wall, and suddenly I'm flying over the edge of the dock and plopping straight into the Mediterranean. I come up out of the water, completely bewildered, cracking up and I look up and see my friends hysterically laughing too. They explained to me that un chunga, was trying to push her boyfriend in, which was terribly stupid because everyone was so crowded together, and I was the lucky one who was standing next to her boyfriend and accidentally pushed me in when she pushed him in. Oh well, I thought it was hilarious.
After the greased pole tradition, everyone goes to a street and has free paella that they make in these huge pans. However, we didn't eat the paella because it was too crowded so we walked to the supermarket, bought food, and took it back to Ana's house and made pasta.
Then, we watched Sex and the City on the T.V. which they put on the original sound (the English version) with Spanish subtitles so we could both understand. They told me it's surprising to them every time they hear the real actor/actress' voice because they are so used to the voiced over English voice with a Spanish actor/actresses' voice. I've always wondered about that, so if you did too, now you know.
We went swimming at a nearby pool that the residents of the condo Ana owns can use. It was really fun, and even though I can't always understand what everyone is saying, I have been understanding more each day and have been paying more attention to the languages I can understand, like body language, or horseback riding. For example, I went horseback riding 2 days ago and it was the exact same way as it is in America, and it was really comforting to be able to speak at least one language, and at least be able to communicate with horses like I do at home.
Anyways, when we were at the pool my friends started imitating different ethnicities of people speaking spanish, because they get a lot of tourists in this area. It was the most confusing yet interesting thing I've ever heard and very funny too. They imitated French, English, American, Moroccan, Italian, and others. I had to think in like 3 languages at the same time. It was so confusing, but I found the less I thought about it and kind of just went with it, I understood better than if I overthink everything.
After that, we went back to Ana's and i had to go home afterward even though the festival still had the whole night to go. They go out at 12 and stay out until very early in the morning, but I couldn't do that because I had a dinner party tonight at my house with my host parents and their friends. It was very good. We had meat,and pizza with fish, and these roll type things with tuna and spinach. It was different, but I am now used to being open with different foods, and just in general.
Today was so much fun, and everything went by so fast because of all the craziness and excitement. I am so exhausted and absolutely burnt to a crisp right now because I spent all day in the sun (and water, thanks to a certain chunga!) hahaha.
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