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!  :)