Day Fourty Seven

Today was my first last.

Today was the last Sunday I will ever be a member of the Alcalá de Henares ward. I tried to make it all last as long as possible during our meetings today, even if that meant me holding the last note of the closing song "Cuando Hay Amor" a little too long. I'm so sad to see it all go. I can't help but to wonder when the next time will be that I will I be in a place where meetings don't start until at least 15 minutes after they're supposed to, where a grown man can walk up and kiss his buddy on the forehead and act like it's the most normal thing they could do, where women belt out the words to their favorite hymns as passionately... and off key, where the organist is actually a concert pianist who sounds like he could have arranged Fantasia, and where a whole ward can put up with almost 30 new members every couple of months.

I'm going to miss them!

Lunch must have been a special occasion today, because when we got home we were greeted by Fransisco Jr, his wife, and little ball of energy Natalia herself getting ready to eat with us in the dining room! Yep, the dining room! I've been her for almost 2 months and I've only gone into this room a handful of times. It seems Pili had been experimenting with more eggs and potatoes, because every dish we had today had them all over. Boiled potatoes with green beans, an egg quiche with some kind of squash inside, potato salad with apples and fishy things, and rice with more squash and pickle looking green things, all finished off with the moussey/flan chocolate cake from the other weekend. Ah, it was great. Nothing like stuffing yourself full after a long hard day at church!

The remainder of the afternoon was spent at McDonald's doing homework and stealing WiFi, and it seems that all the American students in Alcalá had the same idea, because there were tons of Americans there. Bleh- I walked out smelling like a french fry and wishing we had somewhere more classy to steal internet. Sometimes Spain is just too smart for it's own good!

Oh, and in honor of my last Sunday in Alcalá, I made it a point to take a plethora of pictures so that I never forget the little kids, old people, roses, and good times that happen in the plaza at night, especially on weekends.

So I couldn't handle it any longer. I thought I was strong, but it was just too hard to fight the urge. Tonight I cooked pancakes for the family. Last week we got on the subject of "tortitas" somehow, and I knew I had to make Pili some of the best pancakes in the land. She was pretty excited to see me exhibit my cooking skills, and we finally settled on tonight. After a lot of talking around "baking powder" and "cooking oil" we finally understood each other, and all the necessary ingredients were found. Tonight was one to remember in the Poveda household! :) Let me just say that Pili and Fernando are so cute! When Fernando saw that I was getting ready to cook in the kitchen he automatically asked me if I needed anything, and when I told him about the "special oil" I couldn't find, he quick as lightning put on his coat, told me to hang on, and headed down to the Churreria to get some of the oil. When Pili came into the kitchen to see how it was all going, she automatically began praising me and wanting to know exactly how I'd made these "tortitas tan ricas". Let's just say it was love at first bite! And even though I basically had to make up a recipe due to the lack of measuring cups in American measures, substitute cake flour for real flour (which makes a difference I think...) and top them all with chocolate syrup and whipped cream or mermelada instead of my customary peanut butter and syrup, they worked out just fine, and Pili has been begging me for the recipe/ wanting to have a tutorial soon, and Fernando talked about selling them in the Churreria and making sandwiches with them instead of Bimbo bread (like Wonderbread). Mom, your recipe is now an international sensation. Congrats :)

Well, that is the word for the day. 4 full days left in this Spain dream. Time to make them good!