This weekend was Pilares, which is a huge religious holiday in Aragon, and three nights of parties. As I mentioned about my first Spanish party, in Senegüe, my host mom had me come home around 3:30AM because I was getting over being sick and also she didn't think it was a good idea for me when I wasn't really accustomed to the Spanish lifestyle. This weekend was different, because my host parents decided to give me complete freedom as to when I wanted to come home, they would suggest a time, and then I would call them around then to come and get me.
This weekend also, my host parents' friends from Valencia visited with their two small children. It was very interesting, because their four year old daughter spoke better Spanish than me. I honestly never thought that would happen, that a four year old would understand more than me, but it makes sense, and it was a very strange experience. I really love kids, and I've actually kind of been missing my old babysitting career, so it was nice to take them off of their parents hands and run around a bit. The trees around my house are starting to change colors, and one of their favorite games became looking for pretty leaves in the tree, and then pointing at it and because I'm tall, I would be able to pick it for them. I got the best of both worlds, because during the afternoon I got to run around with the kids, but at night, I was always invited to join the table with the adults. Even though I couldn't contribute to their conversation, it was nice just being able to listen. However, Thursday was really the only day that I spent with them, because Friday, Pilares began.
On Friday afternoon, I went to my friend Blanca's house. I was supposed to straighten her hair, but it was raining, so we decided that by 1AM it would be curly again so it would be a waste of time. I did do her makeup though, and she really liked it! After we were ready, we went to our friend Marina's house for dinner. We had burritos, which were good, but Mexican food doesn't really taste like Mexican food here. After we ate, her mom came home, and we hung out with her until 12. She's a bit eccentric, but very nice. She asked me a lot about California, and my favorite and least favorite parts of Spain so far. At 12, we met up with 7 or 8 of our other friends to walk down to the party. The party itself was in a sports arena, about a 10 or 15 minute walk from where we were. It was pretty cold out, but we were all prepared for the weather so it didn't matter much. For an hour or so, we hung out in a park near the sports arena, waiting for more friends to show up and just talking and joking around. Eventually, we went inside. There were probably about a hundred people in there, and it was absolutely crazy. There was a band playing and everyone was dancing! We just danced and hung out in the club like setting until my friend Blanca and I decided to go home, around 4:30AM (and that was my earliest night!)
On Saturday, I woke up only after about six hours of sleep. I couldn't fall asleep again so I went downstairs and watched movies with our family friends' kids. On Saturday evening I went to Blanca's again to get ready. I was supposed to straighten her hair this time, but my host dad was really late dropping me off, so we didn't have time. For dinner, we went with about twenty or so of our friends to my family's social. It's pretty much a pimped out basement, with huge banquet style tables, a tv, a kitchen and lots of drinks. Everyone brought their own dinner, so that we wouldn't need to clean up too much, and we linked the tv with YouTube and listened to music. We sat at the tables for a while, we skyped my host parents' daughter who is on exchange in Colorado this year, and then eventually we moved the tables to the sides and danced. It was really fun, and we stayed there until about 12:30, and then cleaned up a bit, and walked down to the sports arena again. The night was pretty much the same as the first one, except that I stayed out until 5:30AM this time. It was very fun.
On Sunday night (we had a holiday on Monday, so this was our final night of parties), we went for dinner at the social of our friend Cris. It was really fun, to just be with all of my friends, making jokes, dancing, and speaking Spanish. We went to the sports arena around 12:30 or 1:00. There were carnival rides next to the sports arena, but we hadn't gone on them any other night. That night though, my friends realllly wanted to try one, so we went on this ride that is like a circle, with a bench all around it, and bars. It's hard to explain. The weird thing about it, is that you aren't belted in at all, you are just expected to hold on to the bars, as the ride whips you around in circles. It was really crazy and seemed like a complete safety hazard to me, but I went on it with my friends, and now my tailbone is seriously bruised. Afterwards, we went to the sports arena, and we danced until 5:30AM again, when my host dad came to get me. Yesterday, unsurprisingly, I slept for most of the day. In the afternoon, I wrote a paper for my English teacher, and went to sleep as early as possible. I went to school today, and when I got home, I napped for about two hours. That's okay though, it's normal here. My host mom left for a class about an hour ago, so I'm currently home alone, and seriously contemplating sleeping for a bit longer. It's going to take a while to regain the hours of sleep I lost with this weekend, but it was totally worth it, I had so much fun!
Thanks for reading, I'll update again when I have time!
Hasta luego! ~Zeph(:
Blanca and I on the first night 
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