Ronda

Yesterday the ISA group made a trip down to Ronda for the day.  Ronda is a very historic city and was very beautiful.  Ryann and I had a really good time there.  Our guide was so sweet and wanted to share all of his knowledge of the city with us.  While we were there we saw a lot of really cool things.  Including: the oldest bullfighting ring in Spain, the Arabic baths that were built in the 13th or 14th century, a huge bridge built to connect the old neighborhood and the new neighborhood and many wonderful views.

The bus ride home was completely silent--everyone was exhausted.  Ryann and I arrived home and talked with Carmen and told her we would be going out for Ry's birthday.  We went to dinner at a small bar/cafe in the middle of a beautiful terrace next to the Cathedral.  I had calamaria and Ry had Croquetas de jamon and we both ordered sangrias.

While at dinner, we overheard the celebrations from the futbol (soccer) game between Barcelona and Manchester United.  It was for some cup and almost all of Spain was going crazy watching the game an cheering--especially the guys in the bar right next to the restaurant we ate at.  Every time Barcelona scored, the entire bar went crazy and they all started singing "Olaayyy olay olay olay olay Ollllaayyy olllaayyy."  It was really cool.  After dinner, Ryann and I met up with some friends and had some Sangria with them.  It was really nice.  We walked around for a bit and we found a huge celebration because Barcelona won the game and whatever cup it was back.  People were going absolutely crazy.  They were all wearing Barcelona jerseys and the were lighting fireworks.  When we got there, they were singing and kicked around a Manchester shirt, obviously because they don't like them.  I was trying to ask one of the guys sitting there was the cup signified but he was talking too quickly and didn't speak any English.  Oh well, I'm sure I can google search my question.  Anyways, all of the people were singing and dancing.  They eventually wrapped the Manchester shirt around the firework and were blowing it up.  They even lit it on fire.  I have a video on facebook if anyone wants to really see.  One guy came up to me and introduced himself to me, which isn't the most pleasant here because they give you dos besos (two kisses) but they aren't really kisses, on the cheeks.  He was really sweaty and I tried to dodge his dos besos, but his nasty cheek still found its way to collide on mine. Gross.  Anyways, after that, we left quickly. Ha!

This morning, Ryann and I were supposed to go to the beach with Carmen, but her two twin grandsons came over so we aren't going anymore.  But, she did take us to the market with her and she bought some peppers and bread for lunch today.  The market was really cool, they had a lot of cheap things, but I would never go just Ryann and me.  It was a little frightening and we stayed as close to Carmen as we could.  On the way home she showed us all of the areas and even where she lived as a child.  It was really cool.

After lunch, we will probably go to the beach or we will go walk around the city some to see what else there is here that we have missed.  Tomorrow, I want to go to the beach too, but I might have to convince Ryann to do that.  I think Carmen asked us to go do something with her tomorrow in her car, but I'm not quite sure what it was now..ahha.  Stupid language barriers.  We don't have school Monday or Tuesday this week so we get to sleep in (YAY) and do whatever we want.  Wednesday, back to school and dealing with the people who hate me because I made them get off he bus early..oops. Oh well.  School and a routine will make the time go by more quickly here.  I'm sure I will write tomorrow about our adventures with Carmen.

Love and miss you all.

Vaya con Dios!