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.