This is when my flight leaves.  Just thought you should know :)

What you missed these past few days

So i have gotten really lazy.  I haven't posted in forever.  But not too much has happened.  We went to Piornal last weekend, and it was beautiful there.  We got to pick cherries, and raspberries, and they were so good!  They also had fresh ham, which if you have looked at my FB pics, they were the entire pig legs hanging in the supermarket.  It was really good, but a bit disturbing knowing that they had just cut it from a leg of a pig.  Especially since the foot was still on it.  But then we came home, and had a fairly uneventful week.  THen this past weekend, Carmen, David and the kids went to Caceres, and I stayed home, because I had plans to go to a nearby city, Toledo.  But sadly, on Friday, the girl I was going with texted and said her friend broke up with her boyfriend of 4 years because he cheated on her, and she was going to go and see her.  So I ended up not going to Toledo, because I didn't want to go alone, and take a bus all by myself, and spend a day touristing all alone.  Especially since my Spanish is improving, but still not good enough where I can get by.  So I ended up staying at home, and relaxing.  Which was nice.  And then Sunday, I went with Irene to a museum, the Prado.  I swear we saw all of the paintings in hat museum.   And we did see almost all of them.  Which is quite a feat.  I really enjoyed it though.  We then went to the retiro, the huge park in the middle of Madrid.  We ate lunch there, and saw a bunch of protestors again, and I almost got lost in the crowd of people.  We then headed over to the Teleferico, which is a cable car ride.  It was cool, and I got to see some pretty cool views of Madrid.  Monday was a holiday here in Tres Cantos, so the family stayed in Caceres, and I had another day to relax.  But now back to work, if I can actually call it that.  :P  I have only 12 days left here in Spain, out of a total of 81 days.  Wow.  

This past week has been pretty good.  Not much to speak of.  Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Lucia and I went to her friend's swimming pool.  I enjoyed it as much as she did, because her friend's older sister is my age, and we have become friends (Irene).  I get to lay in the sun for a little bit, play cards with people my age, and Lucia gets to play with her friends.  It is a win win situation!

Yesterday, Lucia and I took the train to Atocha, a train station in Madrid.  It is very close to el retiro, the park, and to a museum, La Reina Sofia.  The museum is where we decided to go, because when we had gone to El Retiro earlier, we had gotten free tickets to go the museum.

It was a fantastic museum.  The art was mostly Spanish artists, but I guess I expected that.  There were lots of Picasso, and Dali, Goya, Miro... I loved it.  Especially the Dali pieces.  He was quite a talented artist, even more so before he went crazy and melted clocks.

Today, Lucia and I went rollerblading.  What an experience that was.  Being a child that grew up on dirt roads, I know nothing about rollerblading.  I made out ok though, only one near fall, and I caught myself.  But I blame the bumpy sidewalk, and the boots for digging into my legs.  But it was an experience, and I have to admit, fun.

Today when Carmen gets home from work, we are leaving for the weekend to visit her cousin.  They live in the mountains, in a small village, where they grow cherries.  It's about a three and a half hour drive, much better than the drive to Calpe.  I think I can handle this.  I even bought a few gummy candies to help keep the kids nto bored, so they don't yell whilst in the car.

This promises to be a good weekend.  I will try to take pictures, and load them to facebook when I get a chance.  Hope you guys are looking at the pictures there, because it's a lot of work to come and load them here.  Plus I'm lazy.  You're lucky I'm writing at all :P

Last full day in Calpe

Today is the last full day of vacation here in beautiful Calpe.  It has been a wonderful day, as has been this entire week.
Today we woke up around 9am, and I made french toast.  Sadly, we didn't have jelly, or cream cheese, only maple syrup.  But it was still delicious.  While we ate breakfast, we watched the news, where the running of the bulls in Pamplona was re-run and commentated upon, and shown about four or five times.

Today there were only a few injuries, an Australian gored in the leg, and an American gored with a horn as well.  I don't think I could ever do it.  I have been around bovine enough to know that they are stupid, and should not be messed with.  Stupid people.  They obviously deserve it.
After breakfast, we went to the beach.  I have to admit, I love the beach.  It's so warm, and nice, but it's a bit annoying with children who can't sit still and then move and blow sand into your face.  But oh well.  Still a very good day at the beach.
We came home around 1:30, and went straight to the swimming pool for a little bit.  It felt sort of like a bath compared to the sea, because it was so warm, and I like the pool because it is cleaner and doesn't sting my eyes like the salt water does.

We then proceeded to come up to the apartment and eat lunch.  We had some left over paella from yesterday, and then there was some kind of vegetable salad, with like peas, carrots, potatoes, mayonaise, and tuna.  It was really good.  The paella was good as well.  It's a rice, a yellow-ish orange-ish rice (because of the flavoring) with lots of different types of seafood. I know for sure there was squid, shrimp, mussels, and there were some that I just didn't even want to know what it was.  It's probably best if I don't know.

After that, it was nap time for the kids.  I decided to take advantage of the last day, and head back down to the beach promenade.  I bought a few presents, and have to go searching for some that I saw earlier in the week, but couldn't find today.  On my way back down the promenade, I decided to stop for a drink.  I got a mojito, which is definitely one of my favorite drinks.  (only 6 months until I can have one in the US)  I walked along until I found a spot on the steps in the shade.  There was a slight breeze blowing, and I had a spectacular view of the Penyal D'Ifach, and the beach around it.  All I could think was that life was good.  It was so peaceful and nice to have a little bit of time to myself this week.  I love the family I am with, but I get sick of my own family on vacation sometimes, so, what can I say.  


Tonight we are going out to the port where Carmen and David went on their date the other night.  It should be fun.  I love trying all the things here, and can't wait to go out for dinner!  I will come back to this post later and post some of the pictures I was talking about, but I forgot my camera cord back in Tres Cantos.  So they will have to wait.  Hasta Luego! 

calpe!

Calpe is wonderful. It is really humid, but there is a beach, and a swimming pool!  yay! a wonderful spot for a vacation. today it rained a little bit as we were walking home from the beach, and it has been a pretty cloudy day.  But suntans are still a possibility, and I am going to take full advantage of this week here, and get as much of a tan as I possibly can.  Carmen says that I will go back home black, and that no one will recognize me when they see me.  I doubt it, because I am not as lucky with my melanin, and never get truly dark.  So sad.  But I guess I am okay with my golden brown-ness.  I am so lucky to have internet here, I am stealing it from the city. We are very close to the Plaza Mayor, kind of like the central park, and the city buildings are very close, so they provide free internet for tourists, and I receive the signal inside our apartment.  :)  Well, I should be going.  Dinner is almost ready, we're having hotdogs.  Then off for a walk on the beach promenade.  Should be a great night!

Last Day of June

Today is the last day of June.  I can't believe where the time is going.  I realized I don't have that much longer here in Spain.  Only a little bit more than a month.  Wow.  I have mixed feelings about it.  I really like it here in Spain, the weather is great, the sun is hot, the pools are refreshing, and it's fun to hang out with Lucia every day.  But I have to admit that I do miss home.  I miss mostly the food.

 Carmen and David have asked me if there is anything that I want, but nothing really comes to mind.  It's not a specific thing that I miss, it's more the combination of everything that I am familiar with.  I am definitely going to write down some of Carmen's recipes and bring them home, though.  Especially ones where you puree tomatoes, because I know my father, and he always plants an abundance of tomatoes that always end up going bad because we can't eat them fast enough.  Gazpacho and San Marejo would be a great way to use up those tomatoes, and they are very classic spanish dishes that are pretty easy to make.

Today Lucia and I have made a cheesecake.  It was all in a box, and all we had to do was add milk and water, but I think we had a pretty good time making it.  I am pretty excited to try it, it looks really good.  And the few taste inspections I had tasted delicious.

So, today is the last day of June, and tomorrow is the first of July.  That means that on Saturday, we leave for Calpe!  hooray!  

The Missing Days

Since I saw you last, I have gone dancing in Madrid, been to "el ratido", stayed up all night at the feria in tres cantos, saw fireworks that reminded me a lot of home, and stayed home with both eddie and lucia.  It's been pretty busy around here.  But then again, when has it not been busy!

Clubbing in Madrid was a blast.  Irene and I left for Madrid around 8pm.  First, we met a few of her friends, and then we ran to catch the train.  We just missed the 8:20 train, so we had to wait an extra 20 minutes to catch the next one.  For some reason, it always seems that when I meet new people, I am always the topic of conversation.  They ask how I like Spain, what is different, how I live in the U.S, and other things of that sort.  I guess I don't mind so much, because that means people are talking to me, and talking in English, which is nice.  The train finally arrived, and we got on, and rode the 25 minutes to Madrid, talking and laughing.  We met more friends in Madrid, and walked down the Grand Via at night, which was pretty cool.  The building in the picture below is the main building of the Grand Via, and very emblematic of the strip.

We went to the club, and started dancing.  I think all clubs are pretty much the same wherever you go, they all have overpriced drinks, packed dance floors, music that is so loud you can't hear the person next to you even if they are yelling, drinks spilled all over the floor making it sticky and gross, and don't forget the creepy guys, and the old guys.  I will admit that some things were different, like maybe the music, most I recognized, but some was in Spanish, and at this club around 2:30 a.m. there were scantily clad girls with sunglasses who began dancing on pedestals on the dance floor.  We had a great time though.  In this picture, it is me, Irene, Alvero, Cristina, and another girl, who is from Wisconsin, and I don't remember her name.  oops.

 
On a different day, we went to Madrid and just walked around.  We went to the royal palace, and saw that, and we just relaxed in front of it.  It was pretty hot that day.  It was nice to just sit in the shade and stop walking for a while.  Me in front of the royal palace.  It's enormous, and this is just a small part of it.

So, this past weekend was the feria, translated to be like a festival of the city.  There was a carnival and lots of tents, representing different political parties, and areas of Spain.  There were also a few stages, and a DJ.  All of the places that played music played it much too loud, so loud that one of the girls I know who lives a decent distance away, could not get to sleep because it was so loud.  They have such good food though.  That is definitely one thing I really like, the food.  The carnival was quite similar to ones in the U.S.  The rides were much more expensive to ride though, about 2 euros per ride, which translates to almost 3 dollars per ride.  The good thing is that the rides are much longer, and they usually get a balloon or hat with the ride.  So it's better.

One of the nights, I went out with Carmen and we went to one of the tents, from the north of Spain, a place called Asturias.  They have a very peculiar drink, natural cider, or "sidre" and you must pour it into a cup from up high, apparently to carbonate it.  I don't get it.  Usually, you just end up wasting a lot of it. They showed me how the people from Asturias traditionally pour the cider, and it turns out I am quite good at it.  I became the cider pour-er for the rest of the night.

 Hooray for natural cider at 3 in the morning!

The next night, I went out with Irene and a few of her friends.  We decided to stay out all night, literally. We danced for a while, and sat around and talked a lot.  This picture is of Enrique, Alvero, Gonzalo, me and Diego.

We went back to the zip-line and played on that for a while.  We also went to another part of the park and played on the swings, and merry-go-round.  We stayed there until the sun began to rise, and then at about 6:30 we left to go to the churreria.  I was pretty excited about that.  I love porras, the bigger version of churros.  Sadly, it wasn't quite open when we got there, and the boys pictured above needed to go home, so we walked o the train station which is close to the churreria.  We said goodbye to them, and then us girls headed back to the churreria for breakfast.  OM NOM NOM.  I got back to the house at around 8:30 in the morning, and only took a 2 hour nap in the morning, and then took a 3 hour siesta in the evening.

The next night, we went to the fireworks.  They were gorgeous.  They were coordinated with music which was a nice touch, but I would have to say that the Detroit fireworks are bigger and better.  The fireworks show didn't start until midnight, and I was supposed to be at home, with the kids in bed, but plans changed and we all stayed for the fireworks.  We didn't get home from the fireworks until about 1am, and the kids were in bed around 1:30.

Carmen and David decided that it was best for Eddie to stay home the next day, because waking him up for school at 8:30 am would not have been a good idea.  So i stayed home with both of the kids, which wasn't as bad as i thought it would be.  They were both very good, other than a minor incident when Eddie hit Lucia.  He was promptly put in the corner, and had to watch and Lucia and I had fun dancing.  He apologized, and tole me that he would not hit.

Today is not over yet, but Lucia and I have been playing in the house, and having a grand ol' time.  Thank goodness for the internet!

This past week in retrospect.

The rastro definitely was a lot of fun.  We walked around a bunch of tents full of clothing, jewelry, stuff from China, and just about anything else that someone would want to buy.  There were belts, and purses, and knives, and video games, and shake weights, and so much more.  I did end up getting a few things, but I want them to remain a surprise, in case I decide i want to give them away as presents.  The only problem is that I like them so much for myself, I don't know if I can give them away.  Oh well.

The rest of the week passed by as usual, and on Thursday, Irene and a few of her friends and I went into the center of Madrid shopping.  We left at about 11:30 in the morning, and did not return until 7pm.  We hit all of the major stores that the girls usually shop in, and I ended up getting a few things.  I really like them, and am happy to know that no one else will  have them in the United States.  I like feeling unique.  :)

I think I'm going to go back one day, possibly on the weekend and go either alone, or only with Irene, because going with so many people is hard.  There were 5 of us, and none of them really wanted to buy anything, so I kept feeling like I was holding them up.  And that is never fun.  I want to be able to enjoy shopping, and not feel like I am a tag along, which I did that time.

Then on Friday night, Irene and I went out to a popular disco in Madrid.  It was in the center of Madrid again, and it was pretty cool.  We were able to get in free, which was nice.  Inside, it reminded me of any other club back home, but the dancing was much more tame.  Except for the go-go girls who started dancing on pedestals around 2:30.  That was kind of weird.  But they played decent music, good dancing music, and I had a great time.  :)  According to Irene and her friends, we left the club early, around 4am, and I finally got home around 5:30.

Carmen has told me that this is early for Spanish people, because they are known to stay out until 7 or 8 in the morning dancing.  That to me is just a bit crazy.  I don't think I could do it.

On Saturday, we went to the swimming pool.  It a fun place to be, and I enjoy swimming with Eddie and Lucia.  Oh yah, and working on my tan.  Carmen and I have decided that when we go to the pool, we are going to swim laps, for "OPERATION BIKINI."  It is going well.  I don't think I have lost weight, but i feel good swimming, I forgot how much I love it.

 Afterwards, we had supper at a restaurant next to the pool, on their terrace.  We had a wonderful time, and the food was delicious.  I like the way they do food in Spain, because you order what is called a "racion" which is a portion, and then everyone at the table takes some. So you can order more than one thing, and have a sampling of different things.  It is quite nice.  To complement the meal, we ordered Sangria.  It's like a red wine mixed with lemonade and maybe some sparkling water, I'm not really sure.  But it was very good.  We were all talking and drinking and having a jolly good time.  By the end of the night, I was not the only one feeling a bit drunk, or in Spanish, "borracho."  Carmen later told me that we spent almost 100 euros on Sangria alone.  Wow.

I have to keep trying to post more often.  Things just get so busy around here.  This week is going to be quite hectic as well.  Carmen and David have lots of things to do during the week, and this is Lucia's final week of school.  So on Thursday, she won't have any school, but it's a bank holiday so everyone has the day off.  And Friday, Eddie has a long weekend, and Lucia has no school, so we, (minus Carmen, who still has to work), are going to go shopping in a nearby town which has a decent shopping center.  I'm EXCITED!

Alcobendas

Friday I went to Alcobendas with Irene and her friend Christina, and we met a few of their friends who live  there.  They were very nice boys, and we ended up going to the shopping center in the town.  We went into a store that is much like fye, but called fnac instead.  We listened to lots of sample music, and they tried to show me Spanish music that they liked.  Most of it was pretty good.  I liked it.  Then we went into a store that sold apple products, and we played with the iPad 2 displays.  We were quite the group.

At around 9 we left the mall, and found that the bus had already come, and it was going to be an hour before another came.  So we decided to walk to a metro station.  It was a really long walk.  And I know what a long walk is.  But it wasn't bad because we were all talking and having a good time.  Well... they were.  And sometimes one person would translate for me, or one of them would walk and talk with me in English.    We made it to the metro station, and it was maybe 10:30.  We decided that we didn't want to go home just yet, so we went to a close children's park.

We played on the merry-go round, and the teeter-totter, and then there was a teeter-totter that was on steroids.  That one was definitely the most fun.  It had 2 seats, and it was an arc.  The middle of the arc was attached to a heavy duty spring, and you could teeter totter like normal, or you could spin around and do some pretty crazy things.  And that is exactly what I did.  I think I scared Irene when I first did it.  She soon got off.  It really hurts to do it though, a lot of torque on your legs.  So it was around 11:30 when I decided that I was really hungry, and it wouldn't be feasible for me to go home and make food like Irene and her friend wanted to do, because the family would be asleep.  So I persuaded the group to go and get food.

First we went to what they call a "chinese shop."  It's pretty much a convenience shop and dollar store put together.  Cristina, Irene's friend, showed me a few sandwiches in a fridge, but I wasn't so keen on them.  One because you never take sandwiches from a fridge, they are never good news.  And two because none of them sounded very appetizing.  So instead, we went to a restaurant and I got a cheeseburger. I wasn't the only one who got food either, so I didn't feel as bad for rejecting the chinese shop food.

The cheeseburger was delicious.  It was a big burger, and cooked perfectly.  It reminded me more of American food than McDonald's did.  There were also some potato wedges, and it was a good purchase for only 4 euros.  By the time we were done eating, it was about 12:20, and time to go home.

We bought tickets for the metro, and began our journey.  The boys went with us, but only had to travel one stop and were home.  So before I continue, a little geography lesson.  Madrid is the big city, and going outward, there is Alcobendas, and then further out is Tres Cantos, where we live.  So, we had to head to Madrid to head back to Tres Cantos, which if you understood my previous sentence, is the complete opposite direction we wanted to travel.

We had to do it because at that hour of night, the bus that we took to Alcobendas was no longer running.  So we took a metro to Madrid, and made it to Plaza Castilla, and took a bus from there to Tres Cantos.  By the time I got home, it was 2:45 in the morning.  Ugh.  It was a late night.  And today David left for Dubai, he is working on a project there, and will be gone until Thursday or Friday.  So now it's just Carmen and I with the kids.

It's been pretty good so far though.  The kids definitely like me a lot more now, at least Eddie does.  Lucia is at that age where she is just too cool for everyone.  But whatever.  I don't mind.

Tomorrow is an early morning for me, we are going to Madrid again for the "rastro" (i think that's how it's spelled) and it is another type of market that is much bigger, and Madrid is known for it.  Carmen has warned me that I have to be very careful with my purse.  And that I should keep my money in my pocket because people there have been known to cut your purse open to get to your money.  This should be interesting. :)  I'm quite excited!

Mercadillo

Every Thursday in Tres Cantos, there is an outdoor market.  They sell just about everything, from clothes, to shower curtains, fruit, and purses.  Today I went with Irene, a friend of mine.  We were walking around, and we saw one of the weirdest things ever.  It was a butt pad.  It looks like it would fit over-top of your butt, to give it more shape, kind of like a bra for your butt.  All we could do was look, and laugh.  But today was a very productive shopping day for me.  I got a few things that I am not goign to say because they are presents, but I did get a string of natural real pearls, a small purse that is adorable, and a slap-on watch.  (think grandma schrand's wrist pin cushion)  I really like the market, because it reminds me of the flea market, except with less bargaining.  Plus today, I got all of the stuff for about 26 €, which isn't bad at all.  I am quite happy with my purchases.

From then to now

So, Caceres is where Carmen grew up, and also where her parents and brother live.  It is a beautiful place.  The drive there was about 3 hours, but totally worth it.  The "old town" is beautiful.  It is all cobbled streets and just really cool looking.  There are even still people who live there, which I think is really cool.  I wish I could live there.  

Feria (i think) was going on during the weekend we went, which is pretty much a hugefestival with tents, and lots of food, and tents masquerading as clubs.  It had a carnival attached as well, which reminded me a lot of the county fair.  Some of Carmen and David's friends joined us adn e went dancing and had a great time.  I got to try squid even, and it was pretty good.  I liked it.  :)  Later on, I even had kidney.  I wasn't such a big fan of it, but I still ate it.  I think it counts.  I have been trying so much new food, and it's actually really good.  Usually I try it before I know what it is, so I'm not biased, like liver pate.  Not as bad as I thought it was going to be.  

So I have also been hanging out with Irene, an older sister of one of Lucia's friends.  She is only a year younger than me, and she speaks English very well.  The other day we went to the outdoor market, and the zip-line in the park, with a bunch of her friends, and it was really fun.  I hope to have more adventures with her sometime.

The past few days have been kind of rainy, but today looks promising.  Weather here has been colder than typical, or at least I am told, with temperatures ranging from 60-70.  I'm hoping for warmer weather soon, because wearing a jacket or jeans everyday is no fun.  I want to wear all the shorts I brought!  :P

Trip to Madrid

Sorry.  I've been lazy and been putting off writing on here.  I have been having a great time though.  The kids are really starting to warm up to me, and I have done a bit of exploring as well!

First, I guess, I will start with Madrid.  One of Carmen's friends called the house and told them she was planning a visit to Madrid, and wanted to invite me to go with them.  It was very kind of her to think of me, and I was so excited.  So after Carmen and I picked up Lucia and Eddie from school, I went with Maria and her daughter Irene, and Eva to Madrid.

 It was great because Irene is about my age, and she speaks English.  Eva also speaks English, but she is much more shy about doing so.  Most of the older generation of people are scared and ashamed to speak English because they think they are not good at it.  I think that when people do talk to me, they realize that I do understand their English, and it isn't bad at all.  Yet some still just won't even try, even though they understand what I say in English.

But I digress.  Back to the trip to Madrid.  Maria drove to the train station, and they bought a ticket for me.  It was very nice of them.  As they were buying the ticket, we looked at the schedule, and it said that the train we wanted was departing in 2 minutes.  We had to run to make the train, and if we hadn't, we definitely would have missed it.   The train ride there was pretty uneventful.  Irene and I talked about ourselves in turn, and got to know each other a little bit better.  When we got there, we had to swipe our tickets again.  Apparently in our rush earlier to get to the train, we had only swiped the ticket 2 times instead of 3, for Eva, Maria and me.  (Irene had her own ticket)

 So as we were going through the turn-styles, (which were doors that automatically opened and shut) one shut on me.  Eva was telling me to hurry through, and I wasn't quite quick enough.  The man who was guarding the gates began talking to Maria, and they started arguing.  At that point I had no idea what was going on, except that we were in some kind of trouble, and that my arms kind of hurt from the gates closing on me.

We ended up getting a ticket for not swiping our tickets enough, and they were not happy.  I offered to help pay for it, but they would not let me.  So we went out of the train station into Sol;  the center of Madrid.  It was full of protestors.  It was kind of cool to see all of them, camped out on the pavement, and with all of their signs plastered everywhere there was room.  

We soon left the plaza though, and went down a maze of crowded streets to a few shops where they needed to go.  One was a flamenco shop which has been open, as Eva was telling me, since she was a little girl doing flamenco.  It was cool to be inside of the shop because the flamenco dresses are intricate, and are very beautiful to look at.

Soon they had found what they were after, and we left the shop.  Next we wandered down more streets, and Irene was showing me shops where she liked to shop.  I remember some of them from when I was in Germany with Viv.  It was pretty cool.  I definitely want to go back and go shopping at some of them.

We went to a few other places in Madrid, but nothing really interesting happened, unless you count being scared by the creepy street performers.  But I think that is pretty normal.  One was a headless person dressed as a sailor who made chirping noises.  Weird.  Another was dressed kind of like a caveman, but more exaggerated, with pointy ears and a spear.  He yelled the equivalent of "BOO!" as we were walking by.  Not cool.  Then there was the weirdest one.  A stroller with a huge baby head, and it was making crying noises.  Irene and I just thought it was really weird at the time.  When we walked past it again, the man who was the baby, was standing up smoking a cigarette with a painted white fake baby face on.  It was just really weird to see.

I almost forgot.  We went to a little bakery type deal, and sat down to have a coke.  The coke is so much smaller here.  It's only 200 ml, and it always comes in a glass bottle.  I think I like it, because it is a better portion size, and it is just cool to see the glass bottles.  So we sat down and talked for a bit, and then decided to keep moving, but before we left, Eva bought a few "napolitanos."  To me, they are croissant type pastries filled with custard, or chocolate.  Eva bought me a chocolate one, and it was SO GOOD!  Literally, it was one of the best pastry concoctions I have ever tried.  When I tried to pay her back, she wouldn't let me.  She just told me to speak English to her daughter, Natalia.  I thanked her, and she said it was not a big deal at all.  Or at least I think that is what she meant.

So we then headed back home, after about 3 hours of shopping and walking in Madrid.  I definitely want to go back.  It is a huge city, and I think I want to explore.  Preferably with someone who knows Spanish, in case we get lost.

First days on the job!

Today is the second day for me on the job.  I help get the kids ready for school, and then I walk with them to their respective schools, which are less than a ten minute walk away, which is measured by a 3 year old's pace.  Yesterday, well, let's just say we started with a bang.  Eddie, the 3 yr. old, wanted his dad to walk him to school.  But David (his dad) had already left for work.  We started on toward his school, and he didn't really want to go, and he was walking really slow.  So I tried to ell him that we had to go, or we would be late.  He was having none of it.  So I tried to pick him up and carry him, and that was the wrong choice.  He then started crying, and yelling "papa."  I didn't know what to do.  He didn't want to even look at me.  So Lucia went to him and started talking to him, thank goodness she was there.  I don't know what I would have done otherwise.  He was inconsolable.  Even with her telling him that papa was at work, and he would see him later, we would not stop crying.  We finally arrived at Eddie's school, and I felt so bad walking into his school with him crying on my first day.  Not a good first impression.  But i believe that they understood that it wasn't me who had done anything to him, since he was still calling for "papa."  After dropping both kids off at school, I walked back to the apartment, and I tried to find Spanish practicing online.  I hate being the one out of the loop.  I don't know much Spanish, and no one knows how to speak English here, other than Carmen and David it seems.  They can't always be with me, so I am often sitting by myself, and just listening to the flow of a conversation that I cannot understand.  Which is ok, I guess.  I don't mind too much.  Today David is leaving to give a presentation in the UK, and will not be back until late Thursday night.  These next few days should be interesting.  Today I will also be going with a friend of Carmen's to the center of Madrid.   In case you haven't been watching the news, or the news hasn't found it important enough to mention, there have been protestors in the main square of Madrid peacefully protesting the entire government itself.  But David and Carmen have assured me that it is completely safe, and that the protests are not violent.  And I will be with a mother and her daughter, so I am even less concerned.  I am quite excited to be going, because it will give me something to do today, instead of aimlessly wandering the streets of a city I do not know, like I did yesterday.  Yesterday was pretty fun though.  I walked up adn down the street that Carmen and David's apartment complex is on:  Colmenar Viejo.  It is a beautiful street, at one end it has a fountain, and at the other end it has a mall looking thing.  I first wandered to the fountain, and when I realized that there were no benches in the shade, and no one my age anywhere near, I turned round and headed in the opposite direction to see what else I could see.  The mall thing is a kind of half circle building, and it has advertisements of McDonald's on the top, and a supermarket.  I figured that i could at least window shop for a little bit to pass some time.  So I went into the mall.  Inside, it was cool, which was very agreeable.  I walked around on the first floor, and didn't see very much.  So I tried the next floor.  There wasn't much there either.  THe third floor housed even less than the second floor, and the fourth floor of this mall thing had only a restaurant, and it was not a meal time, so I headed back down to the ground floor, and decided to check out the supermarket, called "Dia".  It was an interesting place, I could not find the way in.  When I walked in, there was a gate inside, and it had a red and white sign that meant "do not enter."  In all countries it is the same sign, so I kind of walked around, and finally saw a blue sign with an arrow.  I walked through it, and by that point, I had drawn a few curious stares.  Oh well.  I proceeded to wander the aisles in search of nothing in particular, and ended up buying a liter of lemonade.  It was quite refreshing to drink.  After that excursion, I walked home and cleaned my room a bit, helped Stella with the laundry, and played on my computer some.  It is quite the existence.  I am hoping for one of the girls that Carmen told me about to email me back so that I can do something instead of sit around.

The first weekend.

Oh my goodness.  This has been such a hectic weekend, I have only now had a chance to write, and it is almost midnight.  This weekend Carmen's cousin Aricelli and her two kids, Ana and Miguel, came over and spent Saturday and Sunday at our house.  To say the least, we had a full house.  It was a lot of fun though.  On Friday, David, Carmen and I had lunch around 3 (which is their normal lunchtime) and then went and picked up the children.  From there, we went to a park where the children played, and we sort of sat in the shade for a while, and then we went and played with them.  Later on, we went to a bar that is owned by one of their friends, and had tapas and beer there.  I am legal in Spain, so don't worry.  That was around 7 or 8.  We sat and talked for a while, and left for home about 9 or 9:30.  Lucia and Eddie probably didn't get to bed until around 10:30, because when we got home, we still had to eat dinner.  I think more than anything that will be the most difficult thing to get used to: the different eating schedule.  So the rest of hte weekend progressed with playing with kids, and familiarizing myself with a few different parks.  I hope I will be able to find them when Carmen or David isn't leading the way.  Also this weekend was Eddie's birthday party.  So we went to a park, and celebrated it with a few children, and it was a lot of fun.  There were children running around and playing soccer, on the swings, EVERYWHERE.  I find it hard to play with them though, because they do not understand me.  I feel bad, because I would love to play with them, but they are a bit scared because they don't understand much of what I am saying.  Many of the adults also do not speak English, so I am usually talking only to Carmen or David.  I feel antisocial, but their Spanish is so fast, and complicated that I cannot keep up.  I am trying to pick some up, and I do recognize some words, but by the time I remember what it means, they are already onto the next sentence!  Oh well.  I might pick up some by August.  Well I should be getting to bed.  It is quite late, and I should be getting up early so that I can help Stella, the woman who takes care of the children in the morning.  And yes, I know, that is my job.  But Stella is getting married on the 4th of June, and will be gone, so it will be my job soon enough :)  Buenos Noches!

The rest of my journey

So when I last left you, I was getting ready to board the plane to Madrid.  I was optimistic that it was going to be a good flight.  I was slightly mistaken.  Everything started out well and fine. I was in the last "zone" to board the plane, which was fine with me.  I didn't really care.  And after my previous experience with babies on planes, I wasn't too concerned that there were toddlers in the row behind me, and an infant in the row in front of me.  BIG mistake.  The toddlers behind me could not, or would not sit still.  I don't know which.  The entire flight, (or at least that's what it felt like) one of the children was either flapping the tray table, kicking my seat, pulling my hair, hanging off of my seat, or causing some other kind of ruckus.  Needless to say, I was not very happy.  I did restrain myself from yelling at the kid, but when things got bad, I did glance back, and that usually elicited a "sit down" from the kid's mother or father.  Which was effective for about 2 minutes.  No good.  I got maybe about 2 hours of sleep on that flight, and it was not good sleep.  It was waking up every half hour to a bored kid who was up past his bedtime.  Then there was the infant in front of me.  She was pretty good.  The family was traveling with one of their mothers, and she was a particularly fat woman, who didn't think she was.  It was weird.  What makes this story funny though, is as they lean their seats all the way back from the second they were allowed to, they had the nerve to ask the flight attendant to ask the person sitting in front of them to recline their seats forward because they had a baby.  The flight attendants politely told them they couldn't, but as they walked away, I watched them shake their heads.  Some people have such nerve.  When the flight finally landed, we deplaned on the tarmac, and got bussed to the terminal.  For the first time in a while, the airlines didn't lose my luggage!  It was quite exciting.  For some reason, I had figured they would.  But I collected my baggage without incident, and thought about standing in line to exchange money, and then decided the line was WAY too long.  So i jumped out of line and headed out the doors of the airport.  David was waiting outside to meet me, and chivalrously took my bags from me and carried them to his car.  It was about a twenty minute drive to Tres Cantos from Madrid, and we talked the entire way.  Well, mostly David talked and I listened, but it was better that way because he was telling me about Madrid, and different things.  We arrived in Tres Cantos, and made our way to their apartment.  The parking is underground, so we dropped my bags off at the door, and he drove down to their parking space, which was the second underground level.  The parking is so tight!  I don't think I could have done it... especially in a stick shift.  But as David said, with the backup camera and the sensors, it makes it much easier.  So we walked to the door, and made it to the elevator.  It is such a tiny elevator.  So different from any elevator in the U.S.  If you think you feel claustrophobic in those elevators, you should try riding in this one.  It doesn't bother me, but it is definitely not made for lots of people.  David punched the 6th floor button, and off we went.  On each floor, there are only 2 apartments, so their apartment is large, but small at the same time.  It feels very homey, and I like it a lot.  My room is yellow, with textured walls, and moon, star, and sun curtains.  There is a bed, a desk that folds down flat against the wall, and a small folding chair.  The closet is tall, and has two drawers.   The outside is a mirror, which is perfect.  I have just finished unpacking, and everything is great.  I don't think I forgot a single thing!  Hooray!  Well, I am probably now going to be off to bed soon, as I am quite tired.  Waking up at 6am Thursday, and getting intermittent sleep will do that to you.  It's been almost 24 hours since I've been gone.  And almost 24 hours I have been awake.  wow.

Flight #1

So I woke up this morning ready to go.  Kelsy and I made our oatmeal, and watched about half of a "Big Bang Theory", and then realized that it was time to go!   The drive down was pretty uneventful, and we made it to the airport with plenty of time.  When I got to the airport, I checked in and behind me in line was a woman who I ended up spending quite a bit of time with.  Her name was Tina, and we ate lunch together at T.G.I Fridays.  We were on the same flight to Charlotte, so we had a nice lunch and then made out way to our respective gate.  We did not end up sitting anywhere near each other, but I ended up sitting next to a great grandmother, and a mother with her 9 month old baby.  When I got on, I was like, "oh no.  I'm sitting next to a baby."  But I was pleasantly surprised, because the baby was quite well behaved, and handled hte flight like a champ.  I chatted a little bit with the women on both sides of me, and my glasses got a little bit chewed, but it was a pretty good flight.  When we got off, Tina decided it was now time for dessert, so we went to Pino Gelato, and bought delicious Gelato.  I forgot how much I like that stuff :)  Now I sit and wait.   My flight doesn't leave until 4:25, and it is only 2:20.  ugh.  Needless to say, I am VERY excited.  This is actually happening!

Hello!

To those of you who remember this blog from when I went to Germany and Sweden about 2 years ago, Welcome Back!
 To those of you who are new, this is an old blog that I am reinstating.  The old posts are from a previous trip, and you are more than welcome to read them.  Please don't judge, I was much younger when I wrote the older stuff, and looking back on it, all I can do is laugh.
This summer I will be gone much longer than my previous trip, and I hope to make a more detailed account of my goings on.  I might not post every day, but I will definitely try to get on here as often as I can.  It is weird to think that for the entire summer I won't be here in the U.S.  But I am hoping that I have a bunch of adventures this summer, and I can remember it as a great experience for the rest of my life.
Tonight is my final night here.  Tomorow at about 1am Detroit time, I will land in Madrid, Spain.
Wish me luck!  :)