09-10-07Baloncesto

Today all of us in the program got back together to talk about how the families we have been staying with have treated us and whether they have honored the contracts they signed before taking us in. I didn’t have many complaints, but a few others did. Little things and big things. After listening to lots of complaining, I talked to Rita about my honors projects and such and found out that I might actually get to take a class with the Spanish students! Woooo!

After the university and lunch I took it easy for a while and talked to my ‘parents’ for a while. My ‘mom’ I make nervous I think due to my eating habits. I don’t eat as much as she wishes I would, and there are a few things (again FEW) that I don’t eat but she doesn’t want to make a mistake! Really sweet woman.

In the evening I went for a run and perhaps to find a game of something to join. Soccer games were everywhere but looked quite exclusive. I did, though, finally manage to find a basketball game.

I was invited to play as soon as I got there. The games are done quite a bit differently. First off, there is no checking of the ball. Second, contact in ANY WAY AT ALL was a foul. It was quite the downer. It was frustrating, since what would be a completely ignored in the US was a foul no matter what in Spain. Lastly, they were all pretty bad. A couple could rebound, a couple could shoot, the rest though…eeeeh. After playing some American style aggressive basketball I was nicknamed Kirilenko (after the NBA player). A little later though, I became giri (Cadiz slang for a Nordic Person). It was difficult for me to talk to them bccuase it was my first interaction with people my age in Spain and I really didn’t know much basketball terminology in Spanish nor many congratulatory phrases. Give me a couple more games to learn.

That night though, oooh man was it exciting. Dinner, homework, and sleep.