Ew.

Thursday, 9:07 p.m.

There are several foods I make it my life’s mission to avoid. Included on this list are instant mashed potatoes and anything hot dog or bratwurst-like.

I sat down to dinner tonight with a growling stomach. Imagine my horror when placed in front of me were a big ol’ pile of instant mashed potatoes (the kind that develop an outer skin after sitting for a moment too long) and two disgusting-looking bratwurst.

Little Ramón was not thrilled with tonight’s dinner either. He’s really picky and his parents always have to watch him to make sure he’s actually eating. Tonight he refused to chew and his mom was getting really frustrated with him. But honestly? I felt like doing the same thing so I can’t say I blamed the poor kid.

In attempts of setting a good example (and knowing that my next food won’t be until my scant serving of breakfast crackers with hot chocolate and juice tomorrow morning) I choked down one of the bratwursts and a few bites of the potatoes.

Yuck, yuck, yuck.

I think my host mom caught on to the fact that I wasn’t a huge fan of the food (normally I’m so hungry by dinner than I wolf it down in no time) and brought out my yogurt before it was gone.

I’ve never been so thrilled to see my yogurt than tonight.

Fortunately, tomorrow we’re having tortilla con patata for dinner – thank goodness! It’s a food I look forward to, and it will be a welcome change from tonight’s out-of-character horrible meal.

Unfortunately, I have 11 hours until breakfast.

It’s going to be a long night.

Another interesting meal...

3:12 p.m.

This afternoon I managed to choke down another interesting meal. I am afraid to ask what it is, lest I really despise it and proceed to gag, so I ate as much as I could stomach.

It was the same thing I had right when I got here - some sort of pea-looking vegetable with a few potatoes doused in some sort of tomato sauce...I helped myself to plenty of "bread" (it's the shape of a very tiny piece of bread with a crouton-like consistency) to help force it down. Tomato sauce really isn't my thing, and mixed with the texture of the peas (?)...blech!

Yesterday I spent my afternoon doing homework - it was pretty challenging. Then Sara and I went to Lupa and got snacks to take to school, plus dental floss (my teeth are so happy now!), then wandered down the Paseo for a while.

This morning I had my usual classes - grammar, conversation, and culture. I fell asleep in the culture class again...it's a struggle to get through! It's from 1:00 to 2:00, so at that point "breakfast" is a distant memory and my hunger makes it hard to focus. Add in a dark classroom and just being tired in general, and you have a sleepy girl who nods off for at least 10 minutes per class.

I hope I didn't miss anything important.

Sara and I decided we need to run at least three times a week, so that will be happening at some point this afternoon. I have no homework today, so after the run I'll probably wander around with my friends until dinner time, after which I will (somewhat) promptly fall into bed. My classes start at 9:00 instead of 9:15 tomorrow, but those extra few minutes of sleep are crucial to me (they are the difference between being awake for the entire culture class or not).

I'll try to find something interesting to take pictures of today so my next post will be more interesting...it's looking like a beach day, so it might be something in that area :)

♥ abigail