Ribs, Colloquial, and Tea

A Vale.
Hoy fue muy caro
Brevemente,
( Be warned , this post is a conversational. Its late and I need to sleep so off the top of the dome I go )
I hopped up out of bed and went to the country, pretty much.
  
     During a late breakfast, Maria Helena ( my mom ) called her niece who wanted to meet and asked if she wanted to go shopping for boots with me. Elena, the niece, said of course, so we met up in the plaza. She was so sweet, very energetic and we had a great time shopping. Later, we went to una barra of her choice for tapas. She asked if i wanted to come over for lunch, duh. So to el campo we went.

   Elena and her family live in el campo (the country) but that is similar to the suburb in the U.S.Surburbio is a negative connotation in Europe apparently , like the ghetto, so el campo is more acceptable. It was only about 20 mins from el centro de Granada. The house was beautiful , covered in painting and artifacts like Maria Helena's. TANGENT.Maria Helena has another sister who is a famous painter in New York so she sends a lot of her work to her sisters and brothers in Spain. 

    The whole family was welcoming, even their dalmatian Antonio. Elena's dad and eldest sister speak English but her brother, mom and eldest sister do not so the entire encounter was in Spanish solo. I was very nervous that the family would think i was some daft american who did not understand them but, au contraire.The first thing they told me was that they loved my skin & my hair & my face... 0_O. A lot of touching was involved as Spainards are very affectionate. So i returned the the affection with kisses and complemented their house and the beautiful family.

    After the introduction,we had tapas as Elena's mom finished dinner.For dinner,there was a side dish, Migas alpujarreñas, (fried bread crumbs seasoned with garlic and paprika) eaten with a variety of things, my favorite taste was with the melon.Then there was the ribs,which was of course called something else, but nevertheless divine.I enjoyed the meal very much and the chocolate and cafe afterwards as well. The family was so welcoming and i understood them and attempted a steady conversation. The Father said something to me that was a little interesting. He said that there is no racism in Andalucia against black people but the word negro (black in Espanol) is used to describe a black person and he hopes I do not take offense if anyone else says that when describing me.Well, that didn't bother me at all , i am more bother by black people calling themselves the n word constantly than someone from another country being politically incorrect when describing my skin color, i prefer oscuro :)

  Afterwards, more interesting conversations ensued then we relaxed in the salon and watched some movies and chatted about life and such. Elena's sister Maria, who is my age, asked if i wanted to go to the center with her to a teteria (tea shop). Wonderful Idea, the tea shop was precioso and they showed me different shops and told  me places I need to go during my stay. I really enjoyed our time at the teteria , not only because my pakistani tea was exquiste but also because Elena and her friend spoke english, so we were switching back and forth between the two languages and i learned a lot of colloquial terms, my favorite being hortera :)

I returned home and somehow managed to stomach another meal, but only because it looked so good.

Ay, Granada is going to make me una gordita. Oh well. Tomorrow voy a la iglesia con Maria y su amiga.
Estoy exictado.

xx