san fran burger

(Monday) This morning we had our individual oral exams. I had mine with Mrs. Crider. And. I. Rocked. It. But seriously, I did really great. I got to choose six questions out of an envelope & just tell her my answers only speaking in spanish. (my physical appearance & personality traits, my Spanish family, compare my Spanish house to my American house, my likes & dislikes…) I am so happy! It lasted for about 25minutes. When it was over she was shocked at how much I have improved in just two weeks. Then we both started crying. I am so proud of myself & so was she. Thumbs up. & Adorable Jaclyn said it best, “it wouldn’t be a Teale exam without some crying.”

Sunday was a wonderful day. We slept in & spent the whole afternoon with our sweet family. We met Sol’s mom, drove through the breathtaking mountainous countryside, and explored a little town. That evening we met up with our samford group & went to a bull fight. Honestly, in my little fantasy world full of glitter and mermaids, I thought that the bull was just going to chase the matador around as he wildly waved his cape. Nope. The bull dies. & it’s not just one bull. There are six. They start with the youngest. Four matadors are in the ring on different sides & they tire the bull out. Then a guy comes out on a blindfolded horse & stabs the bulls spinal cord with a javelin thingy. Then three more guys run up and stab the bull with these small colored stick thingys. Finally, the main big shot matador comes out & waves his cape around and gets very close to the bull. Then he goes right between the bulls horns and sticks a long sword in the bull’s back. Gross & sad. I cried during the first one & we left half way through. But It was cool to experience this long running Spanish tradition & I liked the costumes & theatricality of it all.

On Saturday our whole samford group went on an excursion. I drive people nuts on the bus rides begging for them to tell me stories. First we toured a giant part castle part monastery called El Escorial. We toured for two hours and only saw 3% of it. So gigantic. Our guide said in order to see the whole thing you would need an entire week. My favorite part was seeing the under ground royal burial rooms. I love cemeteries, it’s just one of my funny quirks, so I was very excited. First, we walked down stairs through a emerald green marble tunnel into a gorgeous circular coral colored marble room. I died. Twenty-four kings and queens were kept there in giant marble & gold encrusted boxes than were stored horizontally in cubbyholes in the walls, & stacked four high. (coffin just isn’t the right word) It was beautiful. Then we wandered through eight more royal burial rooms, all holding insane amounts of decorative detail and interesting history. Call me morbid, but I loved it. I wished Grace could’ve been there, but I’m sure we’ll get our fill of royal dead people later this summer in England. We also got to see some of the royal bedchambers & the giant library. Then we wandered around the little town for a bit and waited to load back in the charter bus. Our second destination of the day was the Castle of Manzanares. It was magical. This mid-evil castle looked exactly like what they look like in picture books. As we explored the granite fortress we imagined the people who once lived there. Joerdan commented that “in teale’s world there was probably a dragon here”. Obviously no fairy tale is complete without a princess and a dragon.

When i was in high school, Daddy Skip began a tradition that is infamously known as Forced Family Fun Night. Either friday or saturday night, no matter what else was going on in my silly teenaged world, our family would spend the evening together. I have absolutely loved that my spanish family does the same thing. This past Friday night was a special one. It was our last family movie night and I had a feeling that Sol & Laura were cooking something up for my birthday. None of our other roommates were home so we got to have some great quality time with Sol. For dinner she made pizza & vegetable rice. Laura & I were very happy campers. Then they cleared the table & the rest of our Spanish family appeared. My little buddy Marcos plopped down on the couch with me & our padre Jose, & brother Ricardo and girlfriend came into the living room too. Suddenly all the lights went out & we heard Sol adorably sing “something is coming!” It looked like she was carrying a little fire ball because there were so many candles on that cake. Everyone sang happy birthday, in Spanish of course, and I made a wish. Then after cake & good conversation, we all cuddled up and watched a movie. Perfect early birthday. I got all of my favorite things in the world: pizza, popcorn, ice cream cake, a movie, a wonderful family, and a new best friend from Kentucky.

I’m not sure if the people who read this keep up with my Facebook but I would just like to clarify something. My pictures. We have toured around Spain like crazy the past week weeks. & Lucky for me four of my amazing girls all have big high-tech professional cameras with them. Plus, they edit their pictures like pros. I, on the other hand, have my trusty tiny cannon power shot. So the system that naturally worked out is as follows: they take phenomenal magazine quality pictures during the day & I take the fun pictures when we go out. So that is why the majority of my pictures are at night. What can I say, we just love to dance. Dad, you know I get this from you.

1. Siestas are still a very real thing in Spain. Most stores are closed & the metro is packed with people going home. Funny.
2. The metro in the morning is completely quiet. No one talks at all. Kinda creepy.
3. Spanish children live with their parents and are financially supported by them into their late 20s. (do you like how I snuck that in there dad?)
4. I thank the Lord everyday for my wonderful roommate laura, my adorable madre Sol, all the amazing samford people I am now lucky enough to call good friends, & for the opportunity to even be on this adventure. So blessed.

I can’t believe we are done with school. We all took our final exams yesterday morning. I studied so hard & worried about that test so much. So when I handed my final to our teacher I literally burst into tears. No, I did not shed a couple dainty tears of joy. I full on started crying like the emotionally dramatic diva that I am. And I think I scared my teacher. He was very confused. But praise the Lord I am finished! We just have our individual oral exams on Monday in the park. I’m honestly excited for that one because I love to talk. Surprise. But especially now that I can do it in Spanish! Who would have ever imagined I would be able to hold a (small/potentially awkward) conversation in another language?!