Granada: un ciudad de gitanos, perros, discotecas, y la Alhambra Granada: a city of gypsies, dogs, discotecs, and the Alhambra

First weekend I have stayed in Granada, well first weekend where I know where I’m going since I’ve been here. It’s been over a month now; it’s starting to feel less like a vacation now and more like I do live here. Strange feeling, I love it. This past week I spent some quality time with my host mom, Ana and her best friend who comes over every night, Paritu (spelling? No idea). Paritu has 3 daughters, all of whom still live with her. On Thursday night we all went out to dinner together. We all piled in Ana’s little car to enjoy a meal together. It was great hearing them tell me how well I speak. They asked me a lot of questions about Chicago and the states. It was so much fun to talk about all the differences between Spain and the US. Two of the daughters are close to my age (21 and 23) so it was great getting to ask them questions about the nightlife here and what they do for fun. We then drove to another bar for a few cervezas (Ana only drinks non alcoholic beer). This bar smelled like the incense from church, in fact, it was like walking into a church. From the floor and covering the ceiling there were Jesus and Mary posters, Jesus sculptures, Mary relics, santa semana posters and more. They were playing songs from santa semana processions and midway through our drinks the owners turn off all the lights except for the candles and sing a prayer to the throne they have for Mary behind the bar. Obviously I did not know this song, but Ana and Paritu did, and they sang it loud and proud. Amusing little old ladies. After our night of fun Ana was nice enough to even drop me off where my friends were so I didn’t have to walk by myself  Saturday afternoon we went to a market together also with one of Paritu’s daughters. I bought a pair of purple walking boots for only 12 euros! So much fun to check out all the crazy things, although I did feel like a good deal of the items for sale is stolen merchandise. Either way, I got a good deal. We went out for lunch together after and café con leche at a trendy little club where apparently all the juventud likes to hang out. So it was me, two little old ladies, and Fani (21) surrounded by 20year olds. No pasa nada. After talking about our families, I found out that Ana has a brother that lives in Germany and works as a cross dresser in touring shows. This finally makes sense why there are so many framed pictures of a transvestite in our hallways! Although slightly unnerved, I think my response was polite enough, “Que divertido” (How fun) when she told me all the photos of the women is her brother. But in all seriousness, I do like my host mom and I always get a good laugh at the end of the day. The other night she was asking me how tall I am. After explaining that I don’t know the meter conversion, she comes back with a measuring tape and asks me to stand against the wall so she can find out. In the meantime, Paritu is guessing numbers as if she were making bets. I think I function as their daily entertainment, aside from the countless telenovelas they watch. Either way, it’s amusing to hang out with these ladies. I have plenty more hysterical encounters with Ana and Paritu, so if you want some more good laughs email me and I’ll send you the story of the day haha