Supper with the Primary School

This past Friday night Ben and I went out for supper with my teachers from the Primary School where I teach at in Logrono. It was a great night! We started out by meeting everybody at 9:30 at a local bar for a drink before we went to our restaurant to eat. There was a total of 22 of us that got together. I didn't have a clue that it was going to be the biggest meal I had eaten so far since being in Logrono.

We sat down and they started bringing around many bottles of water and wine to everybody. After the wine, they brought out baskets and baskets of fresh bread. The appetizers we had were amazing. There was a total of 5 different kinds of appetizers! I couldn't believe it every time a new one came out of the kitchen. The first appetizer we had was 'croquetas' which are ham and cheese snacks in a breaded shell. They remind me of mozzarella sticks. The next appetizer we had were very large mushrooms with a garlic taste. Then we had typical Rioja ham and slices of cheese. After the ham and cheese we had cut up octopus pieces that we on top of sliced potatoes. Finally we had salad that had fried red pepper, sardines and tuna with it. I tried all 5 of the different appetizers.

While we were eating the different appetizers a waiter came out and read off a huge list of foods that we could choose from for our main meal. Ben and I had no clue what to choose. I had no clue even what was a meat or a fish from the list. It was hard to understand the man. He talked very fast. Finally all of the teachers started trying to tell us what we should choose to eat. The two ladies across from me helped me choose my meal and Ben's. When my meal came out it ended up being a huge steak fillet with potatoes, kind of like french fries. It was really really good! I ate the whole thing even though I was already stuffed from all of the appetizers I had eaten. I completely forgot about dessert! I am not used to eating dessert after every meal. Here in Spain it is always served with each meal. We all laughed when we saw our dessert come out. It ended up being 7 pieces of different kinds of desserts for each one of us! It was unbelievable. I was so full but I had to eat (because I really wanted to and love dessert) all of the different types of desserts. I was really full. After dessert they brought all of us either a cup of coffee or tea. I chose to drink a tea. After the tea and coffee they asked everybody want kind of shot of alcohol they wanted. That is very typical for people to do after a meal here. I declined the offer due to how full I was by that time. I couldn't possibly add anything else in me. Finally the bill was about to be given to us. I was scared! I couldn't imagine how much we would pay for this incredibly excellent meal. It ended up only being 24 euros per person. That is about $35.60. I have never paid that much for a meal before but I swear it was the most food I have ever eaten before at a restaurant. We were also at the restaurant from 10:00 until 1:30 AM!!! They eat supper very late here.

We all decided to go out to the local bars next to the cathedral to go dancing for the rest of the night. We went to two different bars and stayed out with all of my teachers until 4:00 AM! It was so much fun. We danced and danced and danced! I hope that we will be able to go out dancing with my professors again. We were able to talk Spanish all night and learn a lot more about the Spanish culture from them. The meal on Friday night was like having another Thanksgiving Day dinner. It was great!!