Kudos

This last week has been full of a little bit of everything.  However, to start off I want to show all of you guys this snapshot of my blogs stats. When I saw this for the first time I was shocked. Who would have thought that people all around the world be tuning into my year abroad.

I have a bunch to say in this post, but nothing is in a nice story form, so hence the following bullet points.

• Lets begin on Saturday, which was to say the least reassuring. Just the other day I found out that there is another American living in my neighborhood, literally a 3 minute walk away. Shes been here since the beginning of September and is in the class of a kid I swim with, and no one thought of mentioning either of us to the other until 3 months later. I have to say that for me knowing that another American is here really isn't a big deal for me or at least I didn't really think that it would have a big impact on how I'm feeling in my journey so far. I was a bit wrong, because meeting a girl my age who is taller than me and is from Atlanta, seemed to reassure me that I'm not all alone and that if I need someone she is right down the road. However what I do know is that she is going to be a bad influence on me learning Spanish. Which brings me to my next point. 
• I know that a lot of you have been waiting for this moment. The post when I say that I have dreamed in Spanish! I would love to tell you what my dreams are about, however I'm too tired to remember when I wake up. And most of the time I'm too tired to dream at all. But the other night I remembered speaking in Spanish in my dream, I only remember me saying very basic sentences, but then when I thought back I was speaking real, complicated Spanish. Lets say that the JOURNEY had begun. 
• How many times at home have you seen a fight, and I mean a real fight...people throwing punches, etc. Its not that often now is it?! Here its normal, mostly in a fun playful sort of "guy" way, but yesterday at practice my host brother and a fellow swimmer who is a beast went at it. No punches landed, but charges were made. Its quite frightening to see how quickly a person can change. They can go from the person you always see them as, to a scary creature. And the worst part is that their team mates. A team should be like a family, not a rival gang. 
• Being on this adventure, I need to always look at the positives, which at times can be quite a grueling task so early in the morning. However, a week or so ago I was told that I smile a lot, by a guy to whom I had never been formally introduced to, so his comment was a quick judgement, to which I was proud of myself for finding the positive in lifting. 

I'll wrap this one up for now, want to keep them short and entertaining to read. This weekend is a swim meet in Extreamadura, with a group of 16 carefully selected kids to represent Natación Mairena. Wahoo go me!