What started out as using my host sister’s birthday as an excuse for family to get together to celebrate, eat Spanish food (e.g. tortilla espanola, creamy cheese that despite smelling strongly and distinctly of feet everyone but me adored, crusty bread, shrimp with heads and legs still attached, thinly sliced meat from some part of a pig), share some laughs, and drink, turned into singing old Spanish songs acapella and then a crazy dance party.

From 9pm to 2:30am we had either an iPod, computer playlist, CD, or latin/Spanish music videos blaring as we danced in their living room with all the chairs (there were about 15 of us) and table pushed aside. First it was the classic flamenco music, then modern flamenco, then to today’s dance music (thumpa-thumpa songs, as my dad calls them) and Spanish rap with a bit of Latin pop thrown in here and there. (I didn’t know the words to Bailamos it was ALL in Spanish.)

Computer speakers turned into an iPod speaker dock to some rig to get the surround-sound stereo speakers going. Don’t worry, we kind of turned it down a little bit at 12pm to respect the neighbors…but then some other song came on everyone loved and, well, we were all betting that one of the neighbors was going to call or come knocking. (We live in flat in an apartment-like building.) I was impressed some of the younger kids could sleep through it. My host dad was dancing like I don’t even know what, trying all night to reel in people still sitting down to dance with him and whomever else was boogying.

It took me a while to muster up the guts to join them, but once I was up I didn’t go back down. While the two other students also living with me left around 11:30/12 to go out to clubs, I stuck around with the aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins to dance the night away Spanish style.