I probably would have known that we were going to go to the beach if my Spanish was a little better but what a surprise :) For the beach, I put my hair in braids -- and Agueda told her mom that she wanted her hair just like mine so I had to take a picture.. :) My host mom's sister has a house in a small city by the beach where the girls always go in the summer. On the way to the beach we made a stop at my host dad's father's house to have some lunch. His family was so welcoming and hospitable. My host dad, Julio, grew up on Ponteverda and so he took some time to tell me about the history and his school. Even though my Spanish is still bad, I feel like a part of the family.
After lunch, we drove through Vigo which is the largest city in Galicia and made it just in time to go to the beach with the girls. Seeing these young girls running around on the beach reminded me of the videos my parents have of when I was little at the beach. Even though they are not my children, watching them so happy just warmed my heart- and for a moment I didn't remember some of the things in my past, or that I missed my family, only that there was no place I'd rather be than watching these children play in the sand.
Sunday morning, we took the girls on a bike ride around the town. There are no words to describe how that moment felt. I mean, here I am - in Spain - at the beach - riding bikes with my Spanish family . I just kept saying to myself "I can't believe I live here, I can't believe I live here." I mean, yes, there are some times that are tougher than others...like when I cannot understand what people are saying or asking me, or how to explain something, but I'd rather have that problem and know that I took a leap of faith and stepped out of my comfort zone than to have not tried at all. I feel so lucky, and even more grateful, that I have this opportunity, a family who supports me, and a Spanish family that has taken me under their wing.
So Halloween is celebrated a little differently here--they don't Trick or Treat! or wear costumes! However -- they do LOVE pumpkins. The school had a contest to see which child could make the best pumpkin--and there were definitely some VERY creative pumpkins! My favorite was the one with red and orange hair! 
My host family has really good friends who live right on the border of Spain and Portugal, and their son had a birthday! Saturday we drove to Tui, a town at the edge of Spain, and then we crossed the border into Portugal. The city we went to was inside a fortress and it was full of small streets with little shops. Apparently shopping in Portugal is the best because the quality is great and it is cheaper than in Spain. We went to a little cafe where we could look out onto the Spanish frontier which was so amazing. 
My first little project was from a book called "Como se dice en Ingles?". It's basically an alphabet book of various words with pictures and the actual word written in Spanish and English along with the English pronunciation using Spanish letters. The set up of the book was more or less like index cards and I thought a fun way to learn some words was to make a memory game. I photo-copied 3 pages of words starting with 'A' two times each, cut the pages to make index cards, and laminated the cards. Basically, you turn the cards upside down and use your memory to find it's pair--the only exception is that you have to say the word in English before the next person can go. I decided to try it on my girls at home to see if it works and so far -- they love it! Last night, my host mom, host dad, Agueda (4) and Valentina (2) played the memory game together and it was a total hit! It works out well because the parents can use the pronunciation part to sound out the word in English and the kids just repeat :) 
I probably would have known that we were going to go to the beach if my Spanish was a little better but what a surprise :) For the beach, I put my hair in braids -- and Agueda told her mom that she wanted her hair just like mine so I had to take a picture.. :) My host mom's sister has a house in a small city by the beach where the girls always go in the summer. On the way to the beach we made a stop at my host dad's father's house to have some lunch. His family was so welcoming and hospitable. My host dad, Julio, grew up on Ponteverda and so he took some time to tell me about the history and his school. Even though my Spanish is still bad, I feel like a part of the family.
Sunday morning, we took the girls on a bike ride around the town. There are no words to describe how that moment felt. I mean, here I am - in Spain - at the beach - riding bikes with my Spanish family . I just kept saying to myself "I can't believe I live here, I can't believe I live here." I mean, yes, there are some times that are tougher than others...like when I cannot understand what people are saying or asking me, or how to explain something, but I'd rather have that problem and know that I took a leap of faith and stepped out of my comfort zone than to have not tried at all. I feel so lucky, and even more grateful, that I have this opportunity, a family who supports me, and a Spanish family that has taken me under their wing.
