Day 5

Tuesday we went to the carniceria (butcher) to get some pork and we tasted a bit of salted ham. Really good. Then we drove around the outer parts of Vitoria to see Nuria´s high school and a beautiful old Catholic church, where they were having a wedding. We walked down a long shaded walkway with trees and huge houses on either side. We passed a very old private school, the Fine Arts Museum, and the President of Vitoria´s mansion (complete with security cameras). ; )
For lunch we ate salad to start, and then white fish with fried potato slices and bread. YUM. We finished up with some yogurt, and I had everyone try the cinnamon hearts and Mary Jane´s that I brought.
Around 3pm Nuria and I met some of her friends from school, Paula, Ane and Mirari, who all had American girls visiting them too! They came in a group of about 9 teens (rising seniors) that came from a Catholic school in Idaho. We walked around and bought some souvenirs, and then went to a very busy ¨country club¨ type place with tennis courts, pools, and a cafe.
I talked a lot with Nuria´s friends, who were surprised that I spoke Spanish. It was great to practice.
At the pool a bunch of us played a popular card game called Come-----. I met some of Nuria´s guy friends and one American guy who was with the same group. It felt weird to speak English again; all of us agreed that after speaking halting Spanish for several days now, it was strange to speak English as fast as we normally do.
Later back at the house we had tortilla espanola, which is basically ham, cheese, and potato stacked in a round omelette. VERY good. Then Nuria´s dad drove us into the center, where all the teens celebrate the night before El Dia de Santiago (for the patron saint of Spain, St. James of Compostela).
We first met up with some of the girls from earlier that day, and joined the rest of the group to hang out for a while before the main concert in the center of town. Finally the concert started: we heard typical Basque folk and modern songs, and everyone danced (more like jumped) and sang.
Eventually Nuria´s dad picked us up and drove us home.