Ain’t no mountain high enough and no valley low enough…to keep me from a futbol game!

What a busy last few days.  I’ll admit the newness of Spain began to wear off and the shock of being in a foreign country with few friends and no family began to sink in; I was blue.  After walking around the city aimlessly we accumulated lots of numbers of available aliquos pisos (apartments for rent).  Sounds great lots of for rent signs however most of the follow up calls included some really fast Spanish speakers and the words occupado (occupied).  At last we found our gem of a place in the exact location we wanted; it’s a quaint 2 bedroom apartment and is going to be our first perfect cozy place.  Now if only my mom could fly in to help arrange furniture and decorate on a budget, her specialties.  Fun Fact: most apartments here do not include dryers or stoves and of course no air or heat.  Also, most guys/girls live with their parents until they are 28-30 or until they marry.  On the bummer side we can’t move in until Friday which puts us homeless for 2 days so we’re trying to bunk with friends so we don’t have to pay for a hotel or hostel.  The exchange rate of the dollar to euro is killing me haha

After the stress of the hunt we needed a little fun.  Yesterday we went for a hike and let me tell you it was a hike.  We climbed an old castle Alcazaba and Gibralfaro.  Talk about working for a good picture.  What I saw was nothing less than a speechless view.   I’ll put up pictures to explain it.  I being as graceful as I am managed to fall on the way down but left with only a scratched up knee, no worries friends. 

Now the highlight.  I went to my first Spanish futbol game!!   Spanish friends (Juan y Arnesto) invited us to take on the experience and who could refuse?  Fans of futbol here are like nothing I’ve ever seen; three times more verbal and cheerful than the states.  It was exhilarating and stressful as we chanted MALAGUETA MALAGUETA.  The other team kept taking cheap shots and kicking the Malagueta’s in the shin with their cleats OUCH so one of our players punched him and of course got a red card.  For all of you not familiar with soccer a red card means you’re thrown out of the game. I can't wait until the next game!
     On a final note I must share a funny story with you where our languages failed us.  We were discussing cars and Juan said “Cuantos caballo’s en un coche” “How many horses are in a car.”  Kerianne and I look at each other and are like what the heck, why does he want to know how many horses you can fit in a car?  So we ask him to explain in another way and he says the same thing. I’m like ok well maybe his family is into horses.  So we respond  “ahh dos cabellos” (ughh 2 horses)  Juan and Arnesto look at each other and die laughing and say “no no no.”  Kerianne and I are more confused than ever and say “well how many can you fit in a car?”  They respond “at least 200” and we’re like “no entendemos es no possible” “we don’t understand it’s not possible” and then a light bulb hit and I said “you mean horse power how much horse power is in a car” hahaha we died laughing and explained we thought they were talking about the animal it was a fun learning experience..
Your Struggling Spanish Learner