While I have been here, I have gotten a chance to know the woman who cares for Francisco (the baby) and helps with the housework. Her name is Maria as well. Another woman who I have only met once, Marta, also comes in and cleans sometimes. Yesterday, we found out that Marta has received word that she has to return to Ecuador because she is here without her papers. It is interesting to see that immigration is a big subject in countries other than the United States. Lately, Spain has had a huge influx of immigrants from South America.

Mom and Molly, you will enjoy this - I was stopped in a "mall" today by a man selling lotion at a kiosk and it reminded me exactly of the guy who works at Oak Park. He used exactly the same techniques, and I even tried to pretend like I didn´t understand Spanish. Turns out he knew English too :)

Today, I explored the area around the bullfighting stadium. I still have yet to see a fight but I hope to soon. It has been SO hot here lately that it was getting pretty miserable to walk around. I also went by Santiago Bernabeu, the futbol stadium. Although it is the off season for Madrid, they still offer tours of the facility which I think would be cool to do one of these days. For dinner, we had ham and honeydew melon - apparently a hugely popular dish to enjoy in Spain. I would never pair the two flavors together, but it was actually pretty good!

Only five and a half weeks left in Spain – I can hardly believe how fast the time has flown. I have been continuing to have a lot of fun, but it amazes me how fast money goes here. I wouldn´t say that it´s necessarily all that expensive to live in the city of Madrid (unless you eat at the really touristy places), but it just adds up quickly!

The family that I am living with went to Valladolid this weekend. They are both from that Spanish city and have a small apartment there they so they went to visit family and friends. I stayed in town because I had planned a trip to Segovia on Saturday with some friends. It was quite the adventure getting to the RENFE train station on Saturday. We all took the Metro from different stations and decided to meet at Chamartin, the train station. Of course we all left later than we thought we would, one of our group members forgot to print her boarding pass, we never found one of the girls who was supposed to meet us there, and someone else hopped on the train one minute before they closed the doors! Segovia was a very small, traditional Spanish town with some impressive sights that included a massive aqueduct and the Alcazar, the castle upon which Cinderella´s castle was based. This was my favorite part as the inside of the castle still looked like people lived there. It had the big tall chairs where the rulers sat as well as a dinner table for the royal family. There was even a room with cannons and all sorts of weapons and none of it was behind glass or anything. We climbed the 152 stairs to the top of the tower too. Before we left, we had to stop off for lunch so a few people could order cuchenillo (basically, baby pig) which is the traditional dish of Segovia. I decided to pass since it was quite expensive.

Saturday night was another new experience. Because no one goes out until at least 1:30am here, it is typical to enjoy a botellón before going to a bar or club. It basically just consists of a group of people having some drinks in a park or public place. The five of us decided to go to El Parque de Oeste and the Templo de Debod, the Egyptian temple here because it overlooked a beautiful part of the city. The park was PACKED and I felt like we were doing a very local Spanish thing so that was fun. Then we took a VERY crowded Metro around 1:20 to the big club, Kapital. It is definitely a tourist attraction as I felt like I heard more English there than Spanish, but it´s one of those things you have to do once while you are here. The club has 7 stories with distinct themes to each one. The top floor was an open air terrace with comfortable couches and a lounge atmosphere, another was a smaller dance floor that played American rap, and the main floor was a HUGE dance floor and a stage with performers. There was even a karaoke floor where three of us (horribly) sang Can´t Fight the Moonlight. The layout of the place was really impressive and we had a lot of fun there, it reminded me of the clubs in Vegas or Mexico. But it was expensive, about 12 euros for a drink! But we ended up staying until the Metro opened up again at 6am

Right now in Spain, the big rebajas are going on. These are just massive sales at all of the stores. You can find some pretty good deals, but I don´t really have the money to spend on that! I have a pretty fun week ahead of me. On Wednesday, I am going into the Weber Shandwick office in Madrid (the company I interned for in Chicago) to meet with the Director of Consumer Practice. They also have a nutrition communications division in this office so we are going to see if there is anything I can do there while I´m here. It will be interesting to spend even one day in a Spanish company though. On Thursday night, I am going as the guest of my friend Alyssa to the 4th of July celebration at the U.S. Embassy. She is an intern there and each intern is allowed to bring a guest. We also booked a trip to Valencia, Spain this weekend and will be leaving Friday morning around 9am to take a 4 hour bus ride. It will be another weekend lounging on the beach and enjoying the city that made paella famous. I am going with three other girls – Alyssa, and two girls from France, Marie and Élodie. Today and tomorrow I don´t have to pick Eloisa up until 5:00pm so I have a little more time during the day for sightseeing. Today, I went to the Botanical Gardens next to the Prado.

Besos! (Kisses)

This week, I met some friends for paella after work and then met up with a friend who was visiting Madrid that I went to school with. Wednesday was the big day, however, because the United States beat Spain in the Copa Confederaciones soccer game. That means we are moving on to the finals which is on Sunday. I can´t wait to watch it and be able to cheer for America! Of course, I was rooting for America the first time around but the bar we watched the game at was full of intense Spanish guys so we didn´t want to be too vocal. One of my friends who works at the Embassy and I are planning a trip to the beach in Valencia, Spain over 4th of July weekend with two girls from France. We went over to one of the girls´apartments last night to plan and cook dinner - we had pizza, cookies, and chips ha I felt like I was at home. I also found out that in France they use salt to clean up red wine stains! A trick to take home.

This weekend, I think we are going to try out some of the bigger Madrid clubs. They are a little pricey, though so it should be interesting! On Saturday, we are also going to make a day trip to Segovia and wander around the city. There is a gastronomic (food) festival at the Plaza Mayor this weekend so I may try and head that way too. I was absolutely exhausted yesterday from walking so much - I did two walking tours in my guidebook and walked nonstop from about 230 to 530 in uncomfortable shoes. I explored all of Puerta del Sol, Gran Via, Huertas, Chueca, and Malasaña. I just have one more walking tour left. I like doing them because it helps me see everything ïmportant¨in the city in a short period of time and also helps me find my way around a little better. I even got to see the Egyptian temple that is in El Parque del Oeste. Overall, things are picking up over here!

I am sure you have all been waiting anxiously for an update from me. I have finally settled back in after spending ten days on the beaches of Southern Spain. The night before leaving, I met a friend for some tapas and drinks so I was a little tired when I had to get up at 6am for the drive. I figured this would work to my advantage however so that I could sleep on the long drive. It is about 6 hours from Madrid to Puerto Real, where we were staying, but I knew with two kids we would need to make a few stops. I was right! The family made sure, however, that our stops were in places that we could explore. This was definitely different than our culture where I expected maybe a 20 min bathroom break and fast food, we actually got out and sat down at a restaurant and then explored the city. We were probably there for an hour and a half! This was my first glimpse of how modern Madrid truly is compared to the rest of Spain. I saw the first of many castles, old churches, and monuments in Trujillo and also indulged in a traditional Spanish breakfast of fried churros. The rest of the trip went by smoothly and the landscape was breathtaking. All of the pueblos are visible from the highway, there are mountains galore, and even palm trees. Spain is truly a unique country, and Maria and Javier reinforced this by telling me how Spain is the vacation spot for all of Europe. I also learned a lot about the Spanish conquests and they told me all about how different the various regions of Spain are based on the influences there, for example Celtic influence in northern Galicia. We saw areas where towns were small and close together and others where they were sprawling and far apart, all based on the speed of the conquest. Maria had packed some snacks and bocadillos, little sandwiches, to eat on the road and I noticed that even the chips like Cheetos and Bugles taste different here! A little more bland…maybe they add less sodium or other processed things but I´m not sure.
The first day in Puerto Real was spent at the pool with Eloisa while Maria, Javier, and Francisco traveled to the market to buy food for the next few days. We stayed at Maria´s father´s two bedroom condo. I shared a room with Eloisa. A few times during the night she got scared because she didn´t remember where she was and woke up in an unfamiliar place. She even ended up in my bed a few times! We ate lunch out every day on vacation and had a home cooked dinner…funny again because opposite of what I would expect on a vacation! Although we stayed in Puerto Real, we took advantage of the proximity of other towns in Andalucia, the southern region of Spain. We visited Cadiz, Jerez de la Frontera, Arcos de la Frontera, Chiclana de la Frontera, Jever de la Frontera, Puerto de Santa Maria, and Conil de la Frontera. Apparently, all of the Frontera names are in reference to the areas that were used for defense. All of these towns were up at the very top of large hills with large walled areas. Cadiz is on a peninsula and was very large compared to all of the other places we visited. It is the oldest city in Spain, I think. I also enjoyed seeing the American influence in Puerto de Santa Maria because it was one of the ports used by Christopher Columbus…the word America was used in a lot of the street names as well as massive ships in the middle of the rotundas named after the Niña, Pinta, and Santa Maria. Seeing this side of Spain made me realize how unique it is that there is such history in Europe. We just don’t have anything near that old in the United States. My host family pointed out that is one of the reasons why America is on the forefront of so many things, since we are so new in respect to the other countries. We didn´t have to deal with existing traditions within royal families, feudalism, etc. I thought this was an interesting way to look at it.
Of course, a trip in Spain wouldn´t be complete without trying new foods. One day in particular, we ordered a feast of seafood. We had lobster, calamari eggs, shrimp, langostinos, etc. etc. The three of us could barely even begin to eat all of it. The best part was that it was of excellent quality and cheap because we were right next to the Atlantic.
One day I took the RENFE train to Sevilla by myself. The city is a must-see in Spain but it was just too difficult to take the kids. The ride was about an hour and a half and only cost 15 euros roundtrip. I spent the whole day from 9am to 6pm exploring the city and it was absolutely breathtaking. Sevilla is the sister city to Kansas City so I was excited to see that the train station was located on Avenida (Avenue) de Kansas City. The Country Club Plaza is modeled after Sevilla and this was evident when I visited the impressive Plaza de España with its colorful tiles and brick as well as the Giralda Tower of which there is a replica on the Plaza. This was a fun experience for me, but I was definitely more than EXHAUSTED after walking all day. I impressed myself though by showing up alone, grabbing a map, and seeing everything I could see. I still have my KState ID so I end up getting in a lot of places free or for reduced rates. After the end of 10 days, I was sad to leave the beautiful beaches be cause I had yet to spend any time laying out in Madrid. On the way back, we stopped in Merida which is known for having the most well preserved Roman ruins in Spain. The sites were definitely impressive…I cant explain it all in words but I promise pictures will come! The trip was good for bonding even more with the family and the kids. We were around each other 24/7 instead of only after they got off work and it was very enjoyable. I am feeling a lot more comfortable communicating solely in Spanish. I am getting very adept at understanding the tv shows and news even though sometimes I still like to have Spanish subtitles so I can read them simultaneously.
A few more observations I have made over here in Spain: Everyone recycles. Even on the streets and playgrounds there are separate compartments for plastic, paper, glass. They love sweets! I think I mentioned before that there are Nestle ice cream stands on just about every corner but even McDonald´s sells donuts and cakes that they just don´t have in the U.S. because postre, or dessert, is a big thing here even though fruit is often chosen. Also, American culture definitely permeates. I would expect that in other Spanish speaking countries that are closer like Mexico but I have been surprised just how much here. Spaniards speak a lot in commands, which at first comes off as abrupt. I have just realized they don´t sugarcoat as much as the English language. We might say “Would you mind holding this for a minute?” Whereas they simply say “Toma”, or Take It. It kind of caught me off guard for a while wondering why no one was being polite! But I just realized that they don´t bother with the extra words and sometimes I imagine that I try and insert too many words when asking for something in an attempt at politeness when really I just need to cut to the chase and say what I need!
Oh, and I have made some friends who work at the U.S. Embassy so I am finally getting able to go out to the bars and clubs which has been fun. I definitely got a lot of sightseeing done on my own time but it has been a bit of a relief to have time to just speak freely in English. You never realize how much you take for granted even the ability to communicate without thinking about it! I still miss everyone back home and can´t believe I only have 6.5 more weeks here.

Today, I am exhausted. I am finished packing my suitcase and bought last minute items for the beach. This evening, we went to the Tombola at the school which was basically a little carnival with a raffle. All the parents donated something to the raffle and then for 10 euros you could buy a pack of tickets. Some of the tickets had numbers on them indicating the prize and others didnt. Apparently only one in ten tickets had a prize and I think that was about how many came in a pack. Eloisa was lucky and one three prizesª They were pretty funny though...a wallet set, a plastic watch, and a hat with colored pencils. I saw one little boy carrying around a gold purse haha. I have noticed at the park a lot lately that families will come dressed with their kids in the EXACT same outfit head to toe. Even if there are three or more of themª I wondered what that was all about and Maria said it is actually a status symbol. If they can buy three of the same item for all their kids it demonstrates that they wont be handing down their clothes, etc. Well I could see how wealthy the kids at the school are at the Tombola..typically when I go to pick up Eloisa at school everyone is in uniform but today there were COUNTLESS families all dressed identically. It is so bizarre to me. Why would you buy three pairs of bright blue shoes to go with that outfit for all three of your kids+ It seems like it kind of limits their personality, and I would feel like I was wasting my money buying three of the exact same thing in different sizes. Ah well.

TOMORROW around 7am we leave for the beach for 10 days. I will blog all about it when I get backª

Another postª

I never knew there were palm trees in Madrid, but I saw some downtown the other day. I am sure I will be seeing a TON more when we leave for the beach at Cadiz. We are leaving this Thursday and coming back the following Saturday June 20th. I am so excited to lay out and get somewhat of a tan. The city pools are pretty far away so I have yet to do any of that. I am also looking at planning a trip or two with the friend I made on the airplane ride to Madrid. She is in Barcelona, but we are looking at our options. Its SUPER cheap to fly from Madrid to Paris so that could be fun.

On Sunday, the family and I went to the Palacio Real again. I got a better look at the courtyard and I was so amazed with the view they had overlooking a beautiful park at the top of the hill. I was just imagining what it was probably like for those who actually lived there. Its so interesting to me. Today, I went to El Monasterio de Los Descansos Reales, where there are still nuns living. It was very old and historic. I didnt get there in time for the English guide but I was fine listening to Spanish for an hour. I am getting so much better at understanding. It was funny because there were a few other U.S. families there and their sons were translating everything the guide said for them. I am guessing they didnt show up in time before the English tour closed.

Oh, and today I got hit VERY hard in the face by a ball at the park. Yay...ready for the beachª

I continue to be amazed with how late people stay up around here...I was going to go out last night until it was almost midnight before any concrete plans were made. The clubs stay open until like 5 but I didnt really feel like taking the Metro that late, paying for a cab ride, and especially not paying 20 euros to get in the place. So...I cozied into the West Wing of course.

Today and yesterday both were very chilly. I ended up having to buy two sweaters because I didnt bring anything with long sleeves. Of course, I dont object to buying new clothes. Maria said that with all of my new items from Zara I am a real Española haha.

Oh, and I finally bought a calling card the other day so that I could talk to my family. It was soooooo nice to have some sort of connection that way. I paid 5 euros for supposedly 150 minutes but I DEFINITELY didnt get that much time. I will keep buying them though so let me know if you would like a call...or if you happen to purchase an international calling card thats just as well. Also I have been trying to find WiFi around here but I keep hitting dead ends...I hear the Corte Ingles has it in the cafeterias but I went to one today and it was a full fledged restaurant. I felt a little odd pulling out my computer there so I am going to try the one on Calle Serrano tomorrow. I am hoping this way I might be able to use Skype but who knows.

Today, Marias mom and aunt came into town so we all met at a restaurant for a nice lunch. I ordered a tropical salad because I thought fruit sounded good but it was covered in different kinds of seafood and some weird creamy pink sauce. I wish the description had included that because I felt bad not eating it. Its just weird because when you order the primero plato and segundo plato with the menu del dia, its like having two meals. I mean a seafood salad and then turkey with potatoes...who needs both.

Also today I found a little theater that plays movies in their original languages. Which means I was able to see Angels and Demons in English. Such a great movie and I highly recommend it. It also made me realize just how much history there is in Europe and how I would like to see more of it, at least eventually. Im glad I was able to find a theater where I could watch it in English because since it uses complex terms I figured a lot might be lost on me in Spanish. Spanish is the one language that almost all American shows and movies are dubbed for, which means you can watch the movie and listen to it in Spanish but the characters mouths actually move with the words. American shows are really popular, that is pretty much the majority of what plays at the movie theaters and I have seen Hannah Montana, Arthur, etc. all playing on TV. And a lot of kids wear shirts with English phrases on them but who knows if they even know what it says haha. I dont have any big plans yet tomorrow but I am getting excited because we are going to the beach on Thursday. I doubt I will have Internet access so my updates may be lacking for about a week.

Yesterday I went to the Plaza Mayor. It is a really touristy place with a huge central plaza that is lined with shops and places to eat. It was in the old Austrias district which is the oldest area in Madrid and highly influenced by Moorish architecture. In my opinion, it was BEAUTIFUL! By far my favorite sights that I have seen so far I can´t wait to share pictures. I had a self guided tour in my guide book that I did that day which was perfect to see everything like the old Royal Palace.

Today, I had my first semi fiasco. There aren´t really a lot of open air pools in Madrid, who knows why bc it´s so hot, but I wanted to swim and tan a little so I found a few options in my guidebook. I chose one and got directions using the Metro. First of all - I guess the renovated parts of the Metro are the nice clean ones but I used some of them today that were very sub par. Ick. So then I got off at my stop and had some complicated instructions on how to get to the pool. Let´s just say after walking up and down the streets for about 20 minutes I gave up. I came back to shower and went shopping instead! The most popular store around here is ZARA so that´s where I headed. I think they have it in the U.S. but I have never heard of it before. Anyways, I loved it and bought a new dress to wear.

Another note to mention - here in Spain they pronounce their C´s like ¨th¨so I am having to get used to that. Grathias...lol. It made it even harder to understand everyone at first because I thought their words were trailing off. Oh yeah and for dinner tonight another interesting thing - we had thistle. The plant. Seriously. But it was good! And I got really excited when Maria showed me they had the entire 8 seasons of the West Wing in English. I have never watched it but it is comforting to know if I am ever bored I have something to watch that is familiar to me other than the Spanish television!

Tomorrow, I have the whole day free without any English lessons so we will see what kind of adventures I come up with!

This morning, I took my first exercise class at the gym that was taught all in Spanish!!! Kind of an accomplishment, at least I think so. It was kind of funny because a lot of the music was American or at least in English. Apparently they like it even though many can´t understand what they are saying. I also met a girl in the class who seems pretty young (I didn´t ask her age) that has been living in Madrid less than a year. She is from Alicante, near Valencia, Spain. We laughed a lot during the class because she wasn´t very coordinated and I couldn´t understand some of the things the teacher was saying and we stayed to talk after so maybe she will be a new friend! Also, kind of funny, I went and sat in the room and felt like people were staring at me (which seems to happen a lot here, I think my hair color is a dead giveaway I´m a foreigner) but then I realized I was sitting in the front of the room and not the side! Whoops! I definitely did NOT want to teach the class haha.

I went to the book fair at Retiro Park today to look for some souvenirs. I ended up buying two recipe books. The directions are all in Spanish so we will see how I do with that! I had my first English ¨lesson¨(alone that is) with Eloisa today and it went well. They are getting their windows changed so we had to be at the park from 3-7 and it was really hot so it was hard for both of us I think. Plus we had to walk quite a ways to get to the park and she got pretty tired. I mean, she is only 3 years old!

Of course for dinner we had something unique again. Calamari (not fried) over rice. It was okay, but not really my thing. I mostly just ate the rice. Ah well. They have lots of interesting things in their cabinets - liver pate, foie gras, and even cow stomach in a can (it has some sort of Spanish name). Of course they never make me eat anything I don´t want to and there are plenty of things that I do like. It´s so funny how tastes are formed by what you grow up with because Eloisa will eat pretty much all of this stuff. I was really exhausted from the day so I settled in to watch some TV. I have gotten into two shows here - Madrileños X the World (people from Madrid who live other places now) and some show about Spaniards who are shipped off to live with tribes. They are both pretty funny...only in Spanish of course so I´m sure a lot of the humor is lost on me. Tomorrow I think I am going to do one of the self-guided tours that is listed in the Madrid guidebook I bought before I left and possibly a bullfight this weekend.

I have been slacking a little on the updates so this might be long. On Saturday, Javier and Maria had some friends in from out of town for lunch (although we didn´t eat until almost 4). I couldn´t believe the amount of food we had for a mid-day meal! We had octopus and olive bread as an appetizer, pumpkin cream soup, tomato salad and more bread followed by steak and then they bought a designer cake for the occasion. Needless to say, Javier didn´t cook dinner that night! The couple had two children so we all hung out at the home and at the park together. It´s interesting to hear the accents of all the different people in the area.

On our way back, I commented on the cars and Maria pointed out that since most of them are European brands they are not considered luxury. Makes more sense now! They also told me how all of the cars are manual and run on diesel, gas is even more expensive here than in the States. We figured out that it would be equivalent to about $3.30 per gallon. On the subject of money, THE DOLLAR TAKES YOU NOWHERE HERE! I am so glad I am being paid in Euros because the price in Euros is the amount it costs in dollars plus half the original amount. For example, when I bought my gym membership I paid 165 euros whereas it would have cost $230 if I had run it through on my card. Crazy! Another thing I have noticed - haircuts are really cheap here! You can pay about 17 euro at an upscale looking peluqueria...nothing like Great Clips back home.

Today I went to El Museo del Prado. It is a hugely famous museum mostly filled with paintings and some sculpture. I finally got to see the Las Meninas painting that I read about almost every year in my Spanish classes. I found the works of El Bosco (Bosch) to be the most interesting as well as a specific painting, The Triumph of Death by Brueghel. Of course, Goya is the most widely represented here and Velazquez is another artist to check out. They had a few by Rembrandt, Raphael, and other artists who although I have never heard of I don´t doubt that I probably should have. I started to read a book called The Story of Art a few nights ago and I am really enjoying learning more about European History. Wow...I sound old.

Finally, having kids IS A LOT OF WORK! I don´t have younger siblings so I have never lived with kids before. But waking up to a crying 10 month old and a chatty 3 year old is very new to me. The kids are so adorable, I just know it´s a good thing I don´t plan to have any of my own for quite some time! I am enjoying every minute of my time here in Spain and have been quite adventurous on my own. It is kind of lonely not really knowing anyone my own age, but I am actually starting to meet a few people that I can hang out with so that is nice. It´s a little harder than I anticipated not going through an organized program! Oh well, I wouldn´t trade doing it this way for the world because I feel like I am getting a true Spain experience since I never speak English except with Eloisa. Well, it´s getting late and I´m tired - ADIOS!

P.S. It´s really hard not to start writing things in Spanish or at least in Spanglish...I consider that a good sign.