¡¡Look Reba, another blog post!!

I didn´t have school Monday because of something relating to Christ and instead, spent the day at the "campo", with my host grandparents. Mila and I got there around 11 am and studied until lunch time, at around 2. Lunch was filled with potatoes, more potatoes, and a fried egg. After lunch, people just started to drift in, one after another, and after about an hour or so, I got up from sitting next to the fire and the house was FULL of people. 6 of Mila´s 12 siblings were there, and then throw in some nieces, nephews, and in-laws, and there you go. People were playing dominoes and every few minuets shushing the people around them.
Suddenly, all of the women (95% of the people there), went into the kitchen to make something sweet relating to Christmas. I, as usual, had no idea what we were going to make, and even though 5 people told me at the same time, I was still in for a surprise. Well, it wasn´t really a surprise. We ended up making little doughnut type things.
Let me paint a picture for you. About 10 Spanish women surrounding a table, rolling dough, with a large ham leg in the center of the table, propped up on this special metal contraption made especially for this ham product, and the smell of the frying dough and sugar covering everything. But first, this ham leg. Oh man. Where to begin? Well, for starters, it is not an uncommon sight here in Cadiz. They are sold in every bar and grocery store, and look like someone cut off the leg of a pig, dipped it in wax, and hung it up to dry. They all have hoof and this particular one had some hair still attached. Imagine my surprise walking into the equivalent to Safeway for the first time to buy bread and coming face to face with what used to be a whole farm of pigs. So, one of these legs was sitting in the middle of table, the hoof sticking up, greeting me in the face, and the rest covered with a cloth.
Everyone is rolling little circles of dough, all talking and laughing at once, breaking into various songs about silly things, and one time, no joke, someone started singing flamenco while everyone else clapped along. But, if there is one thing that Joaquin (host grandpa) won't miss out on is a bunch of women, singing and making fried food. He came into the kitchen, leaned against the table, and watched us all with such contentment in his eyes. Because he has blood sugar problems, he couldn't have the doughnuts covered in sugar, so he got plan ones right out of the fryer. They were at first to hot, and I kid you not, he put the hot doughnut around the hoof of the pig leg to cool. I honestly had to stop what I was going and take a moment so I wouldn't laugh. He looked at me across the table, and with a HUGE toothless smile, pointed to the circular doughnut that was resting, glistening with grease, on top of the hoof. It was too much. At that very moment, I felt oh so very happy to be in a small house, in the countryside, in Cadiz, in Andalucia, in Spain, in Europe, on this Earth.

More to come later!

Violeta