I can´t believe we are headed home in a few days! This has been an amazing experience I will remember! Since we haven´t had school I have had a lot of time to spend with my host family. They are nothing but kind and accepting of me. We went to Santa Cruz together to finish up some Christmas shopping. It was very nice having them go with me because they knew their way around.
For the past couple nights there has been a block party right down the road from where I live. The first night we didn´t attend, but could see the fireworks from our front poarch. That was really neat. The second night we did attend and it reminded me of a fair. There were a few rides, bumper cars and little kiddy rides, lots of stands set up with food vendors and the a rodeo area at the very end. I was able to see the event in the rodeo area, they had several bull riders and then sometimes would do bull fighting, but never hit the bull with anything sharp. The way my host dad described it was that they don´t hurt the bull, the bull hurts them. There were probably about 15 or so men in the ring and would get the bull to chase them. It was very interesting to watch. After we watched for a little while, we went to a tent to sit and enjoy some good food. My family bought two big plates and we all shared. Something I noticed while at the festival is that everyone dresses so nicely here. Not only at the festival, but in their every day life they always look very nice.
One thing that was a little hard for me was this weekend my host family and then my host dad´s family all got together for dinner. It was such a nice atmosphere, everyone enjoying themselves, having good conversation and great food. I felt a little like an outsider and I know that is not anywhere near how they felt, but it was just hard to follow the conversations and made me miss my family a little. I enjoyed the evening and of course the food!
I´m looking forward to my last few days here and then arriving home just in time for Christmas!
A picture from the rodeo area.
My host sister and I at the festival.
Fireworks at the festival.
Our real Christmas tree at the house!
