Petrer

This weekend, Alvaro (a friend of mine, who was a Rotary Exchange student to the US last year) invited me to go out partying with him (that's what the kids my age do on the weekends), and then spend the night at his house. The next day, we were going to go to a festival.

The party was fun, I guess. We started out as a group of about 5 guys, but then we met up with another group along the way, making it about 8 guys and 4 girls, or something like that. We bar-hopped, as is the norm. Bars here are a mix between what we would think of as a bar and a club. One had a karaoke room, one was more of a club, one was more of a bar. Basically the night consisted of drinking, smoking, and dancing. And since I don't drink or smoke, and I can't really dance (at least how they "dance" in the clubs), I did more watching than participating. Nobody got drunk, because we didn't go to a botellon, which is the other popular thing for youth to do. Botellones basically consist of a group of people getting together somewhere, usually outside (not in a restaurant or a bar) and getting drunk. That's all there is to it. It's only become popular recently among the most recent generation. Anyway, we did not go to a botellon. Once things started winding down, we went to Alvaro's house to sleep, what little we could, since we didn't get there until sometime after 3AM.

The next day, we both slept in and then passed the morning lounging about not doing much of anything. Once Alvaro's parents returned home, we went to Petrer. Petrer is a small inland town, where Alvaro's mother's family is from. We ate at his grandparents' house. One of the things we ate for lunch was whole shrimp. Legs, eyes, antenna, everything. Well, we didn't eat everything, but the shrimp were still whole and they taught me how to take it apart and what to eat. It was an interesting experience. I still am not used to seafood, and still don't really like it.
On a sidenote, my host parents find this story hilarious and tell it occasionally. About the whole shrimp, with legs and eyes and everything! Looking back, I suppose it makes sense that whole shrimp would have legs and eyes and all that, but for me, it was something new.

After lunch and the siesta, we headed out to see the festival. What it was for, I never really found out. But what the people do is dress up in all kinds of weird costumes and cover their faces with handkerchiefs. Then they change their voice and try to see if people recognize them. And it's perfectly normal for guys to dress up as girls and vice versa. There was some kind of band as well, that sounded cool. All in all, it was a very interesting parade, if it could even be called that. Not long after that, we headed home to Alicante.

Currently listening to:
Song: Believe
Artist: Yellowcard
Album: Ocean Avenue