My "trip" to England and my first family dinner :)

Thursday was the day of my planned departure for Leicester, England. My flight was scheduled to depart at 8:10pm so I left my house in Granada at 3:30. I had to take one city bus to the bus station in Granada. I bought a bus ticket to go to Malaga, where the airport is. Due to the first bus running late, I missed the 4pm bus and waited until 5pm. At 5:15 the bus left for Malaga and it was supposed to take 1hr and 2o minutes, but somehow we didn't arrive in Malaga until 7pm. I hurried off the bus to catch the connecting city bus to the airport. It was supposed to arrive at 7:05 and didn't come til after 7:15pm. (Are you seeing a trend with the Spanish bus transportation?) I got on the bus to go to Malaga and we were in standing traffic. I didn't get to the airport until 8pm. I ran through the airport, it seemed like a clip out of a movie. I found someone to help me and she confirmed that I wouldn't make my flight and directed me to the next person to help me. I went to the help desk to try and get on the next flight. Unlike the U.S., they aren't as willing to help you. I was crying and couldn't have been more relieved when they responded to me in English (although I spoke to them in Spanish...) They told me that there were no more flights for the day and I could wait until the morning and pay 75 euro to change my flight. I panicked and began calling all of my family members. I got through to my sister, Melissa, although she couldn't help me much. What was she supposed to say? hah. Anyways, I chose to leave the airport and go back to the bus station and buy a ticket to come back to Granada. As my luck continued, I missed the bus to the bus station. Once I got to the bus station, I saw the bus labeled MALAGA-GRANADA. I ran over to the bus driver and asked him how long I had til the bus was leaving. He told me I had 2 minutes, so I sprinted inside the bus station to buy my ticket and of course, there was a huge line of 10 people in front of me. I bought my ticket for the next bus which didn't leave until 12:30am. :( I had to wait in the bus station, which seemed like a sketchy place, for 3 1/2 hours! I got back to Granada at 2:15am and took a taxi home. 11 hours later, 4 buses, 1 taxi, 115 euro, and I was back where I started....Marvelous.

On a lighter note, I was able to text my brother and he let my Senora know that I would be home for the weekend. On Saturday, she had many visitors and they were all in the living room. I haven't quite been introduced to the family, so I just kept to myself. It was boring being around the house because Thomas and Dorothy were gone for the weekend and my Senora was busy entertaining. So I decided to go out on Saturday night with the "French" kids. We went to a discoteca in the caves and had a riot. They were playing hip-hop music and I enjoyed it too much. I was goofing around and dancing like a rapper and before I knew it, I had (black) guys coming over to me and telling me I was a good dancer! They started showing me all their moves, and I had really tricked them. I couldn't keep up! haha....It was fun though.

On Sunday afternoon, my Senora came into my room and invited me to lunch with her family. I was absolutely delighted to go eat at the dining room table. It was probably the most authentic Spanish meal I have had here. We ate with her son and daughter and their partners and two older people I was never introduced to. We ate paella, and in the center of the table was all this food that everyone just helps themselves to. There was shrimp, cheese, potatoes, and OCTAPUS. The woman next to me encouraged me to try the octapus and as I was eating my paella, I was examining the ingredients. There was chopped up octapus in my paella! As we ate, the family was pretty comical. They don't take turns speaking and they speak SO loud! I enjoyed listening to them bicker about things such as the bus system and how the price of the tickets went up. They were all very inviting to me and I was pleased to eat with company. It was a nice end to my weekend although I wish I could have made it to England.