Sierra de Algairén, thunderstorms and a better understanding of myself

15/7 - Throughout this month, I'm learning how children love to be engaged in something. They love structure, and if they don't have that, they get bored. That's when they start yelling, running around the house and making you want to punch something. I've also learned that kids this young have no concept of respect, disrespect, manners and rudeness. In their eyes, they're doing nothing wrong. In our eyes, so accustomed to adulthood with no children around, we're offended by such rude speech. The solution is to brush off everything they say because they don't realize what they're actually saying. After all, their world revolves around games, laughing, innocence and whether we're eating salad with avocado and tomato for dinner that night.

Yesterday I gave Alex and Nuria a simple word search, and they competed against each other with red and green markers. Though it ended in tears and screaming, they were completely focused on finding the hidden words in the puzzle. Later, I brought pizza ingredients back home so Alex and I could make pizza for everyone. Alex loved cutting bacon and placing his ingredients on the pizza. He later sat on the floor to watch the pizza cook, and he was frustrated when I said the pizza needed to cook for 10 more minutes. But in the end his pizza came out great and he was very happy. Even Nuria, who doesn't like pizza, said it was good. 

Right now, it wouldn't be a huge disappointment to move on to my next adventure. More than three weeks in La Almunia has been pretty great, as I've learned about Spanish culture, food, the government and better language skills. I'm in better shape from walking and swimming almost every day, and I'm definitely darker from so much sun. But there comes a time when it's time to go. Secretly, I'm counting the days until I visit Madrid.

16/7 - I went hiking yesterday above Alpartir in Sierra de Algairén, and it was a good time to have thoughts to myself since it was completely silent. For example, Rosa asked me a few days ago if I have a girlfriend. I was real with her, and I said no because it's easier for me to travel to a new country and stay with total strangers than to talk to women. Also, because I'm traveling so much. I'd like to have a relationship, but it's not a high priority. I love being single. I can do anything I want. Hiking in Algairén gave me time to reflect on that.

It was a good day, as the trail started off as a single road for cars, but I eventually got above the tree line where the trail narrowed into a single track, and it didn't look like it was used very much because of the weeds and plants growing across the path. There were also times during the hike I heard buzzing, as if there were a very large group of flies or bees nearby, so that made me pick up my pace.

It was the kind of adventure where I didn't know what to expect for how long I'd walk, so I only brought one bottle of water. What's an adventure without a bit of struggle? The final few hours of the hike saw me thinking of nothing but where I could find some water, and miraculously I found a half-full bottle of water sitting forgotten on the edge of the path. Thankfully, I found that a few minutes after I bit into a small, blue fruit that looked like a large blueberry. It tasted very tangy at first but then its juices burst from it and made my mouth taste like mud which sapped what little moisture I had left. I spit it out with crap left in my mouth, and I moved on annoyed.

17/7 - Finally, some weather. There was a thunderstorm in La Almunia yesterday, complete with lightning, and again today.

Yesterday I realized I hang around adults too much. It's such a big difference being around children, as they have no idea about societal norms; they just interact how they want to. That's refreshing. And I've learned not to take myself or the kids seriously at all anymore. If they call me bad, I agree and say I'm incredibly evil. When they call me fat because I finished my food before them, I snort like a pig. And today, I was called lazy, the guy who just lays around. Life is so simple to a child. 

I've written about this before, but sometimes when Felix and I are talking, he speaks in English and I speak Spanish. It's a funny reversal. 

I'm going to miss La Almunia after I leave next week, everything right down to how the church bells can be heard all over town. The family is not religious (they hate it) which is great for me, but I still like to see the insides of religious buildings, as I've written about before. I'm going to miss being able to walk in the middle of the street because there's very little traffic. Most of all, I'll miss my Spanish cousins.

18/7 - I watched another thunderstorm today, this time from the pool. I love watching lightning and feeling the ground shake from the thunder, and honestly, getting a bit uncomfortable with that very unfriendly snarling sound.

But today was defined by miscommunication throughout the month, to the point where I actually bought a train ticket from La Almunia to Madrid for Sunday, but later canceled it after speaking with the family.

19/7 - I've forgotten how the mind of a child works, but today the understanding returned just a little bit, highlighted by the fact I played with Nuria and her various dolls, something that took Rosa by surprise. I've spent four weeks in La Almunia, and today was the most illuminating of the whole month; It's taken me this long to actually start to understand the kids.

Thanks to Rosa, I had an epiphany, in that I'm still a very immature person. I still have the mind of a kid. It makes sense because I still lose my cool sometimes around the kids. I get offended easily. So in order to gain that maturity, the only thing I can do is have a child of my own. The only problem with that is the fact it will not happen for a very long time.

They say you learn things about yourself when you travel. I say that's been proven true. Only with me, it took living with young children for a month to understand myself just that little bit more. Though this trip has had its definite, rocky, spiky lows, it also had its high moments; it will always be a success, no matter which way you look at it. I have to thank Rosa, Felix, Alex and Nuria for accepting a total stranger into their home for a month. Despite the small language and cultural barrier, we found a way to tolerate each other, and we weren't afraid to air our concerns with each other. Besides improving my Spanish skills, the thing I can look back upon and be proud of is the fact I did not leave early; we talked it out. That by itself is a success.