A Free Friday.

Well, today is my second and last Friday here in the town of Jaén. It is hard to believe that in merely a week, I will be home again... It is even harder to believe that the time has flown by so very quickly.

This morning I woke up around 8:00 am, and Mari made me some breakfast. Luis was home from baking, so we talked for a little while as I ate my toast and drank my orange juice. Around 9:30 am I left with Raquel to go to her pre-school to visit her class. It was a very fun little place. The lady that was in charge was extremely nice and the other helpers were no less so. I got to spend about 4 or 5 hours with 3 and 4 year old children... how fun it was!! Each child has a cute little red and white gingham smock with their name on it that they put on over their clothes when they come in to the preschool. We spent the better part of the first hour trying to calm the kids down and get them to sit in their seats. Raquel introduced me as a new ¨seña¨ for the day... she tried to explain to me what it meant, but I am not exactly sure... I am pretty sure it is a term of endearment. The first little boy I met was named Fran... he was a very fun little boy, but strong willed as any child I have ever met. The second little boy who was cute as a button was named Ruben. He was the only one who would tell me his name. One little girl who followed me around all morning and sat in my lap while she ate her banana was named Marina.

I got to sing songs in English with the kids. Raquel is studying to be and English teacher, and all the little preschoolers learn English songs... so we sang ¨Row Your Boat¨and the ¨Itsy Bitsy Spider¨. They all loved it!!!

As soon as snacks were over, we went out to the playground... and boy, oh boy, were they excited!! I played with the kids... I swung them around, picked them up, held their hands while they went down the slide, and all sorts of things. Three main events stand out: First, three little girls found a ladybug on the wall, and proceeded to shriek with delight and shout ¨Mariquita, mariquita!!!¨ (which means ladybug) over and over again. :) It was so very fun!! It flew away and then they found another one on the wall and proceeded with all the same excitement again. After they had played with the second one for quite some time, Marina kept coming and telling me that the ladybug was broken... I would take it from her and give it back, to which she promptly began pulling its wings apart and squishing it... no wonder it was broken. :) The second event that made me smile was when one of the little boys did something to one of the younger smaller girls named Paola. She was so little with blonde hair and blue eyes... she began to cry, and one of the little girls with curly blonde hair promptly marched up to the little boy with her hands on her hips and demanded, ¨What have you done to Paola?¨ It made me laugh because it just reminds me how much I love kids and how incredibly alike they are in all places of the world. The third event: Ruben threw up all over Raquel after having his lunch. Oh, yuck... not fun. It looked like honey mustard... not fun at all. He just stood there and cried until they took him to clean him up. His mom soon came to get him because he had a fever.So, my morning and early afternoon were very fun!! I had lunch which consisted of rice and tuna that were covered in a homemade, stove-top hot salsa... It reminded me somewhat of a fruit salsa. It was absolutely amazing!! I would have to say that it has been one of my favorite dishes of the trip. I took a siesta for about an hour and a half, and now I am up... I have been working on a presentation that I have to do in class on Monday.

I have no scheduled events until next week other than going to the mercadillo (open air market) on Sunday with Raquel and some other people. I don´t know if her mom (Mari) is going or not. I guess we´ll see... but now I know that I have rambled on for long enough. I will surely post again when I have fun things to tell!!