Tetería

Today was a surprisingly wonderful day. I woke up around 11 and I could hear the rain pouring down on the concrete ledge outside of my window. I was hoping the rain would let up later on in the day so I spent the morning cleaning my room, doing homework, and watching some Netflix. I went into the kitchen to get some fruit for breakfast and my host dad had the little birds flying around. They’re really cute but their squawking and seemingly thoughtless flight pattern always scares me a bit (especially with their little beady eyes!). Around 4pm I skyped my family for a while and then met up with my friends for tea and hookah in the Arabic neighborhood. Essentially everything else is closed in Granada on Sundays; they take the day of rest incredibly seriously. They even shut down the supermarkets! This was upsetting to me because I’m in desperate need of granola bars for the 8-hour wait I have between breakfast and lunch!!

Chris, Peter, Me

Anyways, I met up with Peter and Chris at the center of the city. Even though I was complaining about the weather, the mist looked beautiful on the mountains in the distance, the rain also added an adventurous and rushed feeling to the calm Sunday. 

Misty mountain background :)

We walked another 15 minutes until we were on the popular Arabic street lined with teterias and hookah bars, we took our pick. We spent around an hour and a half in the first one drinking different flavors of teas and having the waiter, Joe, show us elaborate smoke tricks none of us even bothered to attempt. It was a great time and Joe was incredibly friendly. He was born in Morocco and had been living in Granada for the past 8 years. He made fun of our Spanish in the way only someone fluent in over 5 different languages can. Speaking to him was yet another reminder of how flawed the school system seems to be in America as far as languages go. Most people here are fluent in at least 2 different languages! After joking around and spilling tea everywhere we headed down the street, rain still drizzling, and found ourselves a half block down in a new tetería. Here we had more tea and smoked the “house flavor” of hookah, but the feel was completely different. This hookah bar was darker and filled with lit candles and crazy Arabic music; we were all dancing around in our seats as we played with the smoke and tried each other’s tea. I felt really happy to be listening to fun music with new friends, reflecting on our experiences so far, and mentally preparing for the week ahead. I think the Spaniards are onto something when the only things open on Sundays are tetería, theatres, and hookah bars J 

Chris :)

Peter!

**Also so as not to let my GB family and friends down I did manage to watch about 2 hours of the game via skype! GO PACK GO!

It was much clearer than this! Don't worry!