Gotta love the food!

Yesterday, I got to have fried fish by the sea, at a little restaurant right on the beach, which serves the food its fishermen catch, such as squid, red snapper, sardines, and octopus. The food tastes fresh, and they prepare it for you right away.

We started off by getting in the water, where the waves were huge, and then we showered at my uncle's house that's right on the beach. We dried off, changed our bathing suits, and walked down to the chiringuito, or beachside restaurant, to eat some amazing food. After we finished eating, we ordered desserts, such as arroz con leche, or rice pudding, as well as chocolate mousse, and natillas, which are a type of vanilla pudding.

Then we headed down to the beach once more, to get crushed by the massive waves. My brother had to get out of the water, because a huge wave thrashed him, and he went tumbling. He was more scared than hurt, I think.So then my aunt Cristina went to a local confiteria, or bakery, to get these little pastries for us which are delicious. (My dad also cut himself some Spanish sausage called chorizo.)

We then got into the car and drove home to my grandparents' house, where we swam in my grandpa's pool. What a great day!

An Average Day in my Life

Yesterday was a pretty normal day. We started out by getting up, watching some Japanese cartoons dubbed over in spanish, and eating a small roll of bread, toasted to perfection by grandma. After that, we put on our swim trunks and played cards with the cousins on the front porch right next to the pool. Meanwhile, my grandma is making a big lasagna for lunch, which is making the whole house smell delicious. 

Then, our grandma asked us if we wanted to go to to the beach, and since we said no, we put on sunscreen and jumped into our grandpa's pool. After about an hour of swimming, it was finally lunchtime. We feasted on lasagna and salad on the table on the front porch, and right after, we enjoyed some watermelon and cantaloupe. With our stomachs full, we went back into the house to watch some cartoons.

But since we were  feeling so lazy, my dad and I drove down to our uncle's house where their basketball playing cousin was staying, to ask him to go play some basketball at the courts. We drove down to the courts with him and we played basketball for a couple of hours with the guys at the courts, and after some time, more people started to show up, wanting to play. My dad then remembered that we had a play to go to, so we left, dropped off Diego, my cousin's cousin, and went home to shower and get changed. 

The time was now 9 PM, and we walked down to the play. I didn't quite understand all of the play, but I understood a lot of it, and it was pretty funny. It was a bout a rich man who always thought he was sick but he wasn't, with a funny gypsy man who brings him his medicines. But the rich man had a long lost brother that he knew about, and paid an investigator to find him. First, the investigator told the rich man that the gypsy was his brother, but then, about two days later, the investigator said that he was mistaken, and the gypsy was not the rich man's brother, but this old man was, and in came a short, bald, latin speaking old man. It turned out that the investigator was a con-man, and so was the old man. They were working together to get the rich man's money.

We then headed home after a long day, and went to bed.

The Basketball Courts

Today I found out about something really sad. 2 years ago, when we came to Spain, the city had just recently built some brand new basketball courts along with a skate park right next to it. Yesterday, my dad and I dressed up to go play basketball and walked over to go shoot some hoops. What we saw was depressing to my father and confusing to me. Instead of a basketball court and a skate park, all that we saw was a flat area of cement with the pole from the old basketball hoop, and a flat area of dirt covered in trash.

My father, who wanted to investigate what had gone on, walked over to the little cafe right next to the courts. There, he saw an elderly woman drinking some water, and he asked her if she knew anything about the courts. She said that the courts were torn town, maybe a couple of weeks ago, because the people that lived next to the courts, mostly elder couples, complained about the racket that the kids made during their nap time and late at night, when they were trying to sleep. But what they weren't very aware of , was that those basketball courts, and that skate park, are just about the only recreational activities that an adolescent has to do in our small town. So the only things that these kids are stuck with doing, are making graffiti on public parks and walls, and smoking, two horrible things to do. 

So what the people who live around the courts and skate park did, was complain to the city about the racket that the kids were making, and sure enough, the city went and destroyed the basketball courts and the skate park. 

After the woman at the cafe explained to us what had happened, we slowly walked home, thinking about what a bad decision the city made in tearing down the only things a kid had to do in this quiet seaside town.

New York City

I'm going start this post off by saying that I used to hate big cities. But I was proved wrong when my family and our friends all visited the legendary New York City. We took the train from a little town near Southampton to a village named Babylon. From there we took another train to the center of New York City. Then, right in front of the subway station, my parents started to plan our day, such as where we would go first, and where we had to go to get the whole New York City experience.

From the train station we walked to a pizza place called Vita Bella which served us a great Greek Salad and an even better pizza. Once we finished eating we walked to Times Square, where we stared in awe at all of the flashing signs and light-up billboards. My parents then decided that we should go to M&M world and get some candy. We came out with sacks of different blends of M&Ms. I chose the Yankees team colors mix with peanut butter and mini M&Ms on top. 

After that, we walked to the Rockefeller Center, a 70 story high skyscraper, located right next to the famous Radio City. We took an elevator to the top, and my mom snapped plenty of pictures up there. Once we were on the ground again I begged my parents to let me go to the NBA Store. On the way there I saw the MTV building, where there was a huge line to get into TRL. I also saw the NBC building, with the set for Good Morning America in the front of it. Finally, we arrived, at the NBA Store on 5th street.(Pretty much all of the stores are on that street.)I went inside and bought myself a Dwyane Wade shirt. 

My parents then decided that we should take the subway to the Metropolitan Museum, right next to Central Park. That was my least favorite part of the day, having to stand in a subway with tons of other people, and having to rush off to catch the next train, meanwhile, keeping track of my two little brothers. We arrived at the Museum in one piece, and took a thirty minute look at their Egyptian Mummy exhibit, which was really creepy.

Right outside the airport, we got a hot dog and shake from a street vendor, and afterwards we took a bus to the train station, and took the train to Babylon, and then back to Southampton. What a day!