Chucheria

I have a problem...gelato will always be my first love, but I have discovered since arriving to Spain, “chucheria”. These candy shops sit on every corner, with huge buckets of colorful candy in every variety, constantly begging me to come in and have some. So I do...way too often now at this point. You just walk in, grab a plastic bag and fill it with the freshest, fruitiest, fluffiest candies - anything that you feel like in every color, shape, size and flavor - licorice, marshmallows, gummy candies, sour candies, anything... And the cost is even better - you get about a pound of candy for about 1 euro. I normally wouldn’t care so much about this kind of thing, but there is one literally every other shop on the street and I just can’t resist. Even if you pop into a little bodega for water, sure enough, in the back are the wonderfully tasty little candy treats calling me by name to just have a little. Sean says he has created a monster, since he essentially introduced me to this candy phenomenon. He also confessed to having a bit of a problem staying away when he lived in Spain years ago. Every night we say “ok, tomorrow, no chucheria!” and then sure enough, the next morning, I say something like ,“I could really go for those gooey green candies shaped like little men...” I feel like a 12 year old too - like I just spent my allowance - once I have my bag in hand and walk out of the store picking through it all, happily oblivious to the rest of the world. And I always hear my mom’s voice in the back of my head saying, “you’re going to get cavities little girl!”... It is terrible, I know, and I had to confess my new obsession. But seriously, I need to put an end to the madness...no chucheria starting tomorrow!

We have found a home in San Sebastian! We are renting a room right in the city and about a 10 minute walk to the beautiful beaches. The weather has gotten fantastically hot and we have spent nearly every day on the packed beach, Zurriola, and in the perfectly cool water. I am loving it here more and more each day. It’s really quite a beach town, full of surfers and summer sun bathers. The restaurants and bars are always loud and packed with people enjoying the long days. Sean and I even found ourselves leaving the house at 9 pm to go to the beach to play smash ball, our new favorite thing, and still had an hour of light left.