Another week gone by in the good España…

¡Hola!

I can’t believe I’m going on my fourth week in Spain already—the days truly fly by.

Since I last wrote, I have done a few “musts,” in Spain/Madrid, such as a visit to Retiro park. It was a really cold and damp day, and as I was telling Mom, my winter coat is just not that cool according to Madrid style, (even though I love how warm it is), so I’ve been wearing my Portland leather jacket and it just does NOT do the trick. Anways, so I was ill-prepared for a trip to the BIGGEST park in Spain!!

Despite the yucky weather, Retiro is gorgeous. In its grand center it has a huge pool of water where one can rent a boat with friends and paddle around. Lots of gardens to stroll around in, too. I met a girl named Svenja there who is from Germany and who HATES beer and sausage and literally giggles at everything—very sweet. Whenever I say/think of her name, I think of the beginning to the Lion King, (AHHHHHH SVENJAAAA). She did not understand what I was talking about.

On Saturday, the lovely Kirstin and I went to Segovia, a small Spanish town ½ hour from Madrid. It’s so small that we were able to fully sight-see, shop, and eat in four hours.  The big attractions there included a spectacular cathedral and a palace, much styled like the Seville Moorish palace, but a little less grand. If you see below, though, there was quite the impressive moat that gave me a sickening case of vertigo. I told Kirstin I wondered if the alligator bones were still at the bottom of the moat and she thought that was a weird thought.

The most memorable part of Segovia was BY FAR the cochina…the most famous cochina dish in Spain. So, Kirstin and I had absolutely no clue what cochina could be, but we were told by both of our host families to try this delectable dish. As recommended by several strolling Segovians, we went to the fanciest restaurant in town for our cochina—it was 24 euro per person! So we decided to split. Good thing we did because when they finally brought the dish out, I was looking at the small hoof of a baby pig, and Kirstin was looking at its ear. We were eating baby whole pig. But ate it we did! I ate skin and all, (minus the hoof/leg), because the skin is apparently part of the dish’s appeal. I mean…it was good! Nothing I would ever crave again, though. Especially when I think about Babe and Wilbur.

We returned Saturday evening and turned around and went out into downtown Madrid for tapas and drinks with a few other girls. A past language assistant of the Gomez’s recommended I try “El Tigre” tapas bar, so that’s where we went. Awesome. Best place EVER. You order a beer, (I was telling Andy, the popular beer here is called una clara—half beer, half lemonade—mmm), for 2.50 € and your beer automatically comes with tapas. So, say you are with six other people, they bring you these heaping plates of tapas with all of your beers! I was in heaven. Please come to Madrid and experience this with me.

After that I went straight home because I didn’t want anything to happen to ruin that perfect dinner.

Yesterday, Kirstin and I went to El Rastro, a huge market that sells everything: food, jewelry, clothes, cheesy souvenirs, etc. Spent some money there, then went to my favorite “Patisserie,” (bakery), and got something that resembled a donut-croissant-almondy thing. I only get things that I don’t recognize! Everything is served warmed and drippy…oh so bad but oh so good. Did I mention it’s right next to where I will be taking classes?

Once we were filled with goodness, we went to the “Museo Nacional del Prado,” which for those of you don’t know, is the biggest art museum in Madrid. Really lovely, reminded me of the Louvre. We only went through the first floor, which was older works from the 14^th-17^th centuries. Not really my eras, so I will most certainly be going back to look at the more modern stuff, such as Goya’s works J

Since then, not much has happened. My Thursday lessons with the girls were unusually rough—both did not want to do work and wanted to play with clay instead. I will be a little firmer with them this week. I think I’m going to focus on punctuation marks—how fun does that sound?!

I have forced myself to stay out of the city today, as I have already gone way beyond my Spain budget—yikes! No huge plans for this week, but over the weekend I will be visiting Keque in Caceres, who once stayed with my family for a few weeks in the summer of 1998 as a foreign exchange student. I am very excited to meet his family and explore his hometown—plus, it’s warmer there!!

Hope everyone enjoyed the weekend back at home, and hope this Monday isn’t too rough. Don’t forget, “rabbit, rabbit, rabbit” on Wednesday!

Love,

Mary

 Kirstin and I in Retiro Park

 Bonita Garden(ia?)

 Segovia City!

 Piggy snackum

 Poor wittle footsie

 ORIGINAL Moorish Wall of Segovia

 The Cathedral

 Yikes! The moldy moat. Looks like the inside of our Townhouse closet last year.

 Here comes the sun little darlin'!

 Segovia street

 muahaha I took a pic of Velazquez's "Las Meninas" even though I wasn't supposed to...

 My man, Goya!

Pretty Prado :)

Gettin’ my FILL of seVILLE!

My second weekend here was spent in the Southern region of Spain in a town called Seville, actually pronounced se-vee-ah. Arrival and departure ended up being disasters…but it was still an incredible weekend.

We left on the midnight bus Friday night/Saturday morning, and arrived in Seville at 6:00 A.M. Got very little sleep on the bus, but that’s not surprising because I’m a terrible sleeper, and I was surrounded by snorers. The nerve.

Rewind a bit, Lucy, my neighborhood friend, had tripped on the way to the metro and thought she had “pulled” something in her foot, but was so determined to go on “holiday,” (as the Brits call it), that she limped all the way to the metro. Assuming the foot would feel better after a 6-hour long bus ride, Lucy got on the bus full-spirited, only to arrive to Seville with a foot the size of a 5 grapefruits…

We took taxis straight to the hospital.

Poor Lucy broke a bone in her foot and had to fly directly back to London, leaving all of her stuff in her host-home in Madrid. Poor me because I lost my closest friend here and my walking buddy to the metro! Alas, her doctor in London told her it was a clean break that would heal in under 4 weeks, so she will be back!

After the dreadful hospital experience, we got to our hostal, (very lovely in a side, cobbled street), and PASSED OUT with glasses full of Sangria. When we woke up, we found a little Italian restaurant, ate, and went on the walking tour of Seville! I found it fascinating but two of the girls I was with left the tour early on, so it was only Hannah and I. The tour guide was a little boring and also a little too full of himself and his fantastic city, but there was much to learn! Mainly, a lot of stuff between the Moors and the Catholics. Sorry, Uncle Jim, but I didn’t pay enough attention. I was too busy looking at how GORGEOUS the city was!!

So Seville is the “Orange City” of Spain. As you can tell from my pictures below, orange trees are affluent throughout the city—however, don’t eat the oranges! They are incredibly bitter and disgusting. Once a year, British people come over and pick the oranges to make marmalade…mmm Dad, I had some on my toast and it was really good.

After the tour was over, Hannah and I found the square in Seville where people literally stand in the middle and drink beer and simply socialize. It happens between 3 and 6 everyday, and there are no laws about open containers. So awesome.

I have noticed that drinking in Spain, as it is most likely in other European countries, is more about the social aspect. My SMCM people and I love to listen to music, drink, and get ready together before going out, and by the time we are out we are usually kind of intoxicated. Here, you go out at 7 or 8, eat tapas, drink, and talk. You repeat this cycle like 3 more times and THEN you’re intoxicated by 1 or 2 in the morning, and that’s why these crazy Madrid-ers stay out ‘til 6 or 7 in the morning! Soooo not what I’m used to. But a nice change.

We watched a Flamenco show Saturday night, and it was absolutely amazing. It was on a tiny little stage in a tiny little bar, and yet the woman Flamenco dancer was apparently named second best in Spain! So awesome that she dances in this intimate little bar in a little city of Spain. The way these people move their feet is unbelievable. It really looks like their knees must suffer from all the stomping. The two dresses the female dancer wore were so authentic—a wayyy dropped waist line.

Sunday we had no agenda, which was AWESOME. Hannah and I seemed to be on the same page as far as sight-seeing, so in the morning we got up early and went off to some local art fair the Hostel worker told us about. Found some great stuff. Then we met up with the other girls and went atop the Plaza de Mayor. I really don’t know how to describe it, so see pictures below. Kind of like a waffle blob from where you can see all of Seville. Cool, but looked pretty wonky in the middle of this traditional European city.

Did some shopping, then Hannah and I found the Alcazar, which was a Moorish palace. So gorgeous. Makes you really appreciate the artistic abilities of people from the past. The garden went on and on with loads of palm trees. Dug one up for you Dad, to put around the pool.

We went out drinking Sunday night and found some cute little bars...the next morning, half of us were missing and half of us were puking. We had to be on the bus by 8 A.M….and we made it! Super stressful, though.

I am absolutely certain I will go back to Seville someday—Hannah, who has been in Madrid since the summertime, has been all over Spain and she says Seville is the most beautiful. Take a look at the pictures and see for yourself!

Have made a couple new girlfriends this week, Kirstin from Colorado and Arielle from Cali, and have been trying to get everything completely settled, such as my visa situation, (Julie), and my permanent metro pass. It will hopefully all be together by the end of the week, and then I plan to day travel to Segovia by myself on Saturday, (Joe has not yet responded about Santiago, where he lives), and then to the Madrid market and the Prado art museum on Sunday!

Thanks for reading. Hopefully everyone is having a good week so far! A special “Happy Birthday!” shout-out to my little bro J

Love and miss you,

Mary

 View from hostel!

 Drinking square!

 Cathedral

 Muy bonita

 Flamenco--olay!

 Yeah, this place exists.

 Pickin' a bitter orange

 Panoramic view from Waffle structure

Off the Seville River

REAL Madrid

Hola! Que tal? (still about the extent of my Spanish language knowledge—bring on the classes!)

This week started off rainy. As mentioned in the last blog, Lucy and I decided to go on the “Sandemans” tour of Madrid, (big tour company throughout Europe that offers walking tours for FREE!), and of course the day we went was the only rainy day of the week! So be it.

It was very informational, and my head was able to wrap itself around Madrid a little better. Our tour guide was from Severna Park! Small world.

A few Madrid facts:

KATE and SAM, true lovers of Tapas. Tapas were established by a Spanish king, who went from Madrid and visited a smaller Spanish city, (I want to say Valencia?). When he arrived in the city, he headed straight to a bar where he was served ale with a slice of cured ham on top of the cup. The ham was to prevent any bugs from flying into his drink, (I guess flies were swarming the place). Instead of leaving the ham to its proper use, the king ate it, exclaiming what a good idea it was to serve a snack with a drink! And so became the tapas.

If you’ve seen the flag of Madrid, you’ve seen the bear climbing up the tree, the madrono tree where one finds madrono berries, a small red berry resembling the strawberry. Legend says, bears knew the season when the madrono berries would ripen—a ripened madrono berry can cause intoxication. Only the female bears were strong and able enough to climb the madrono tree, and so they would, in fact, climb up, become drunk off berries, and then climb back down to the pleasures of the male bears. And so “college partying” was established.

Lastly, my favorite: the site of religious unity. Forgive my historical inaccuracies, I’m going to do the best I can! It was after some Spanish war that the Muslims had won. Their intention was to unite the peoples of Madrid, regardless of religion, so they broke down their walls in the city that separated Christians from Jews from Muslims. Part of the walls still stand today, and directly behind the walls is a large, beautiful cathedral, (forget the name, we’ll have to go when you visit, Mom). In front of the walls is a fountain shaped into the Star of David. Thus, the differing religions lived in harmony for a little while during this time and the structures, (which I have pictured below), remain unscathed. Really nice! Co-exist!

At the end of the tour, one had the opportunity to purchase both a pub crawl tour ticket, and a tapas tour ticket from the same company. I bought both because they sound amazing and everything I could want from a tour.

The rest of the week has moved really fast. Met a new girl named Rachel. She is an American from Indianapolis. Really sweet, and so motivated to see everything! Already booked three trips to take with her: Barcelona, the Canary Isles, and Dublin for….ST. PADDY’S DAY! AHHH. This weekend I will be traveling to Seville, which is famous for its Flamenco dancing, (oh la la), and then hopefully next weekend I will be visiting Joe M. from SMCM! He lives on the coast near Portugal—the area is called Galacia. So traveling is under way!

Lessons have been successful this week. Working on tenses with Alicia, and written forms, (articles, letters, reviews, advertisements, etc.), with Maria. Bought the book Speak on my kindle to read with both of them. I think the content is a little mature, but it was on Alicia’s (12 yrs.)  reading list! And all the girls watch Sex in the City, so, I don’t think I will worry too much about censoring them.

Still eating a lot, but running a lot, too! See the pictures below of the park I’ve been running in—it’s like a kid’s dream park.

Will blog about Seville after the weekend is done! Hope everyone is well, and please have a nice weekend, too. I’m thinking about ALL of you a lot. And missing you. And loving you from afar!

Adios, Amigos!

Mary

 Me--in the oldest part of Madrid. Beheadings took place here!

 Oldest restaurant that still exists...in the WORLD! It's true. They have their Guinness Book of World Records certificate in the front window.

 The Cathedral I was telling you about.

 The largest palace in Europe! Right smack dab in the middle of the city.

 The park near my house :)

 Another pic of it.

 Lucy at the old town square!

 The religious harmony image!

Spongebob and Patrick.

My first week/weekend in Madrid!

Rest of the week went very smoothly as the haze of homesickness began to clear…

I found out I will only be tutoring the girls two days every week—and one of those days, we work on their English homework from school—so not a whole lot of lesson planning going on.

Lets go over my eating habits, shall we? First of all, the Gomez’s (my family) leaves out both a basket of fruit, and a basket of bread on their kitchen table ALL DAY LONG. Can you guess which basket I pick from the most? I bet Grandma and Grandpa can…

Also, so mom knows my obsession with cereal—I have literally eaten it for every meal of the day a couple of times at home. I get here and take Granny’s advice to eat yogurt every day, but I have been craving cereal so much! I found a box in the cupboard that says “Cereales.” Naturally, I translate this as cereal. However, this type of cereal comes in the form of a round “biscuit,” with chocolate pieces all throughout…sound familiar? Yes, I have literally been crushing up cookies, and pouring straight cream, (they only drink Vitamin A&D milk in this house), over them, while convincing myself this is healthy. It wasn’t until yesterday, when I was munching on some for lunch after breakfasting on them as well, when Maria goes “can you give me some of those cookies?” that I finally had to come to terms that this was nothing like Kashi cereal.

Long story about cookies, sorry.

One other food experience, well three. Megan—I HAVE HAD PAELLA! I thought about you during every bite. Also, tapas = everything I could have hoped and dreamed. My British friends and I, (literally, I am the one American girl in our group of five), went to a really authentic tapas place last night. Potato wedges in a tomato spicy sauce, prawn croquettes, mushroom sauce, and calamari, to name a few. YUM.

And today, ANDY, I ate the most delicious churro ever! Tommy, you would have gone nuts. At this place, I forget what it was called, but it was basically a chocolate restaurant. You order a cup of pure, melted chocolate and a PLATTER of churros, and go to town. I might go there every day.

So, news beyond food. Well wait one more thing, I eat ham every day, sometimes twice a day. Adios cholesterol concern! There is just no way you can avoid it—you HAVE to eat ham or the Spanish spit on you!

Okay okay. So I joined this site called conversation exchange. It’s for anywhere all over the world, but basically you make a profile stating you want to learn Spanish, and then someone in Madrid will contact you stating they want to learn English—all free! Might be a little fishy—I will only meet people during the day, in a very public place to ensure safety—but I am very excited!

I will hopefully start Spanishes classes the beginning of February, and until then, I’m going to be as big of a tourist as possible in Madrid so that I can get it out of my system and feel more like a inhabitant of the city.

As mentioned above, have met some “lovely” British girls who insist my American accent is really very strong. They imitated it for me and it sounds awful—I hope we Americans really don’t sound like the way they made me sound. Lucy lives down the street from me and we get along well. She is sweet, funny, and a really good listener. We are planning a trip to Seville—southern Spain—for this coming weekend J. Tomorrow, we will go on the 3 ½ hour walking tour of Madrid. Andy and I learned together in Chicago that a city tour is probably the most helpful way to really get to know a city, so I researched and found a free one!

Different things:

1)    Uggs are HUGE! Ugh! I thought they were on their way out, so I didn’t even think to bring them, but all of the fashionistas have them!

2)    I know you all know this, but it is still fascinating to experience—everyone stays up—doing stuff—until 1:00 A.M.! I got back last night exhausted from the city and the house was buzzing. The 12-year-old, Alicia, plops down on my bed when I walk in and starts chatting about this and that. Crazy.

3)    My girls go to a French school, I found out. Thus, not only are they fluent in Spanish and English, but French as well. This, the mother tells me, is very typical for students in Madrid. I feel slightly dumb, and I can feel the girls glare at me as I close myself into my room to read, facebook, and watch T.V. while they study their little tails off.

Adios! Love you and miss you. Hope everyone is doing well, and please don’t feel the least bit guilty if you skimmed this—very long. Pictures below :)

Mary

Kristen—no plaintains or bibliotque, yet. I’ll let you know as soon as each of these are experienced. I did have fun telling my British friends your passion for afternoon tea, and they were very impressed.

Kate—Alicia likes to sleep, movies, arts and crafts, food, rugby, painting, dresses, high shoes, music, shopping, pictures, Kiaora, and bath. She does not like reading, studying, (great), getting bored, being sick, teeth, sparragus, to throw up, shower, or museums.  Maria likes her family, Kiaora, computer, clothes, music, basketball, holydays, tenis, sleeping, green, mac. She does not like tattoos, books, spinach, art, lies, allergies, or PSP. 

 Muy bonita casa, si?

 Some famous futbol player lives here...nope, don't know his name.

 First Spanish churro-ey-yi-yi!

 Sol--the EXACT center of Spain, (get it?? sol/soul???)

 Buenas nochos!

 MEGANNN! You are the seafood to my Paella.

 New Bri'ish! friends. Laura, Lucy, Me. They totally rolled their eyes at me when I yelled "bri'ish!"

 When you walk around Madrid at night, there are men promoting their bars who persuade you to come in the bars for free shots--I was persuaded.

My street!! Calle del Sotillo (So-tee-yo)

And so it begins!

Hola!

My computer is now completely in Spanish--it took me forever to find "post" on the site--and so it seems I really must take some Spanish lessons while I am here!

Welcome to my blog, everybody, and thanks so much for taking the time to read it...if you are in fact reading it. I've been here now for 48 hours and I have been up and down with bouts of homesickness and excitement! So far, I'm happy I came.

My host family is kind, generous, and funny. Pablo picked me up from the airport, and as soon as I walked in the door, had me driving the girls to tennis practice--nothing like jumping right into it! I didn't have time to cry or feel sorry for myself in a foreign city, (silly), and then we had a yummy dinner, (I was ravenous), of steak and fries followed by fantastico, ("does fantastico mean fantastic in Spanish?"), cheese for dessert.

Yesterday I went into the city ALL BY MYSELF. I got lost finding the metro. I got lost on the metro. I got lost in the part of Madrid I ended up in off the metro. But I did buy a phone! And eventually I found the place called RCI which helps American/English students adjust in Spain. I got all this information on Spanish classes, gyms in the area, other tutors in the area, and transportation--so, despite getting lost everywhere, it ended up being a very productive trip. And because I was beginning to get frustrated with myself and my lack of Spanish language knowledge, I sought comfort at a Starbucks, (I promise to start going to cafes instead!!).

Last night, I gave my first lessons to the girls. Alicia, the youngest, who is so bright, hated me because I had her write a bunch. And then Maria does not want to do ANYTHING, ("do you have a boyfriend?", "do you have a tattoo?", "can I try on your clothes?" , "can we look at pictures on facebook?") but I really like her because she likes to converse with me. I think that will be the basis of our lessons--conversations. I had them each write a list of their likes and dislikes, so that I could attempt to wrap lessons around those. I was lucky today, because I asked Maria what she wanted to read about and she goes "your university," and I was like "OKAY!!!!" and I found an article about the cruise ship docked at SMCM--she was fascinated and I was a proud mama. Well, not proud of the whole mold thing...just proud of SMCM in general...you know.

They have a dog named Kaoura, (see picture below), so cute, who, I was telling Hollin, is named after a mauori word, (the mauori = A people of New Zealand--right Hol??). It just so happens that Pablo's brother was the Ambassador of New Zealand--cool, huh? I'm probably considered famous now.

Today I met up with a girl named Lucy--she is British and really cool. I'm glad to have a friend. And she wants to go to Spanish classes with me, which will be great. We went into the district of Sol, right in the middle of Madrid--the buildings are astounding. I was on a time crunch, so no pictures, but I will be going back as that is near where our classes will be. On our way there, some lady got on the metro with a full speaker in tow, and she swung her hips and sang Spanish music. Kind of an odd, awkward thing to encounter with a new friend, but we both giggled so I figured that was a good sign.

Things that are strikingly different to me so far, (I'll add more throughout my stay):

1) All light switches are on the outside of the rooms--I am constantly shutting myself into a dark bathroom.
2) No pepper shakers! Only salt. I guess their food is peppery enough already? Never too much pepper, is what I always say.
3)The traffic circles have lights...so you have to stop at each quarter. I definitely did not do this right my first time around, and got honked at A LOT.

Miss you all! And reallllly love you all! I'll be writing again, thanks for reading. Below find pictures of my house, outside my house, and Kaoura. My family is really weirded out by my enthusiasm for their dog...

Love,

Mary

 una perrita!

 Christmas ham--yikes!