Never forget junior high math.

The family that I'm staying with here in Spain is absolutely wonderful, and they always ask me if there's anything I want or need, etc.  One day, I told them about how much I love peanut butter and how popular it is in the US.  As we continued talking, I told them about some other things that are popular in the US, including brownies.  Now, Carmela, the mom, loves chocolate, so she liked the idea of brownies.  So, later that week we went to El Corte Ingles which has everything, and we bought a jar of peanut butter and a brownie mix.  Carmela tried the peanut butter and of course loved it, and we planned to make the brownies the next day.  So, we started making the brownies.  I noticed that the directions were a little bit different than the mixes I had used in the US:  3 eggs instead of 2, butter instead of oil, and the measurements were in milliliters, not cups.  I thought they might turn out a little bit differently, but essentially be the same, and definitely still delicious.  So we measured everything and started mixing it up.  We measured the water in a little pot Carmela had, it called for 50 mL and I didn't really know how much that was, but she measured it and I trusted her since she's always used that measuring system.  After all the ingredients were added, I proceeded to stir it up, but it seemed really runny compared to what I was  used to, but I just figured it was a little bit different in Spain.  However, this brownie mix came with a little cardboard pan to bake the brownies in, and as we started to bake it, we realized the batter wasn't going to fit in the pan, so I mentioned that it seemed like a lot of water to me.  Carmela thought about it, and it turned out she had measured 500 mL of water instead of 50 mL. We decided to go ahead and bake it to see what would happen.  When we finally took it out, it was as though we had added gelatin to it...it was so gross.  But Fernando and Carmela both kind of liked it, and didn't really understand why I didn't. They finally did understand when I found a recipe online for brownies and made them.  After they tried that, they couldn't get enough.  As soon as we finished one pan, they had me make another! We had to concentrate a lot on the measurements this time, but they've turned out great....and let's be honest, who doesn't like brownies?

Always say obrigada!

Growing up, everyone learns the magic words: please and thank you  Well, I recently learned thank you in Portuguese: obrigada!  Last Saturday I went to Portugal with the family I´m staying with.  It was BEAUTIFUL!  We went to a little island and spent the day on the most beautiful beach I´ve ever seen!  The water was so blue and clear and the sand was so soft and white  We spent the whole day there finding shells, swimming, soaking up the sun, and eating!  We went to a little restaurant on the beach there for lunch  I order a chicken kebab and it was so delicious.  They had to bring it out on a special plate because it was hanging and ginormous!  It was not quite what I was expecting, but very very tasty.  I definitely said obrigada for that!  I deal a lot with the other magic word when I play with Carmen, the 2 year old girl I take care of here.  Since I´m supposed to be helping her learn English, I immediately taught her to say please when she was asking me for anything.  She´s a quick learner; now she says please for everything....The other day she dropped something she couldn´t reach, and she just looked at me and said please  It´s very cute...Now I just have to teach her to say thank you!

Wear Sunscreen

Wear sunscreen.  I have heard this over and over and over as long as I can remember.  Since I have pale skin, freckles and reddish hair, it´s kind of common sense at this point, but people still like to remind me...a lot.  I am currently in southern Spain, on the beach, with a pool outside the apartment where I´m living.  Needless to say, whenever anyone heard I was going to Spain, everyone told me to wear sunscreen.  That being the case I heard a song the other day called Everyone´s Free (to wear sunscreen) and it gave some great advice to wear sunscreen, which inspired this blog before I even left for Spain.  And now that I´ve arrived, everyone here also likes to remind me to wear sunscreen because I´m very blanquita.  Well, I´ve been here two days now, and I´ve been to the pool twice and to the beach twice, and I´m not sunburned yet, so the advice was good!  Anyway, since I´m not sunburned at all, I´ve been having a great time!  The 2 year old I´m au pairing for is adorable and a very quick learner, so it makes my job easy.  The family is wonderful too and I´m just enjoying myself so much!  More to come :)