"Your English is better than most Portuguese people."

As any normal school I was given a winter vacation that lasts about three weeks. To be honest, because I've been so go-go-go, I didn't really have time to sit and wait for this vacation. I planned to leave the Saturday after my last day of school and head to Oporto in the north of Portugal for a little rest. However, it all seemed to sneak up on me because I was enjoying my time at school and in Madrid (maybe even a little too much because my last Friday was spent living it up in Rivas, and as usual packing the morning before my flight). Well Saturday morning (the 20th) comes real early when you have to get out to the airport, but somehow I managed. For the first time in my traveling career I flew Ryanair. They are great in theory because they have wicked cheap flights, but they have very strict regulations on luggage and that can cause problems. I anticipated a smooth two hour flight so I wanted to take advantage of naptime...however, the lady across the aisle had different plans. For the next 15 minutes she proceeded to pitch a fit because her luggage was too big and needed to be stored, so we took off late. Wonderful.

Even though take off and landing are my favorite parts of the flight I wasn't able to keep my eyes open for either. The next thing I remember is waking up already on the tarmac. Smooth transition at the airport because I only had a back pack and I didn't have to go through customs. From the airport I caught the metro out to my hostel in the center of the city. Traveling so much has made me immune to transportation woes so finding the metro and figuring out the system took all of about 2 and a half minutes. It is a relief because I was watching some people struggle and was even asked for help, so I guess I have an air of control about me when I travel. The commute was only about a half hour so I just stared out the window at the Porto countryside, pretty nice. Once in the city center I did have to get a general sense of direction because I still didn't have a map. My choice of people to ask? Two elves on Segways...I am not joking. So these two young women had me follow them, on their Segways, and they brought me to where the street was, the whole time dressed as elves. Fantastic! My hostel checked out fine, great location and clean. I dropped my stuff and then went off exploring. When I travel alone I usually just walk everywhere I possibly can. That first day I walked all over the city and down to the river just taking pictures and taking in the atmosphere.

For me this vacation was just that, a vacation. Usually, I am an "up at seven and out the door until midnight" kind of traveler. However, this trip was more about relaxing for me. I think a picked a great location because unlike Lisbon there is not as much to do as far as tourist places. I completely avoided any museums because nothing was really that interesting to me and I'd rather walk around in the great weather. I did make time to GO TO CHURCH and go to a Winery, but those were the only places I went that were inside. My time was spent wandering the back streets and sitting down by the river. Everyday consisted of getting up, finding a new path down to the Ribeiro River and being out in the sunshine while reading my book. One day I even fell asleep on the bench for an hour because everything around was so peaceful. I did enjoy two great traditional Portuguese meals, one of Bacalao (Cod) and the other Peixe cocido in these great little hidden restaurants. I will say that the smell of Oporto was incredible because everyone was always cooking something and it spread out into the streets. In the end it was the perfect vacation because I don't feel that I missed anything and I took some amazing pictures all the while getting a break from my intense schedule.

I did enjoy Oporto greatly but four days was enough alone time for me so I was wicked excited to get back to Madrid. My plane ride home was smooth per usual but when I saw the Sierras I felt a weird sense of comfort, like everything was normal again. Once I reached Goya again a half hour after landing I felt glad to be back in my city and ready to start my next adventure.

Oh and about the title, a girl at the airport asked me to watch her stuff in broken Portuguese so I asked if English was a better language for her (it was). To which she thought she'd compliment me on. Too funny.

More to come on how fun it is to get home by plane in the afternoon and leave by bus again that night for a new adventure.

Negative: Finally remembering my Portuguese the third day in Portugal.

Positive: Two new, fantastic pairs of earrings.

We guish you a Merry Christmas...oh, and Mary had a son named Baby JayZOOUS!

Christmas in Rivas...what a wonderful time of year. Festivities at school are as follows: Thursday was Elegance Day/ Three Kings and Friday was the Christmas concert. Nothing I can say will ever completely capture the true essence of these events at little old Hans Christian Andersen, but I will try.

Elegance Day/ Three Kings
In Spain presents are exchanged on January 6th, El Dia de los Reyes Magos, the Day of the Three Kings or Wise Men. Some gifts are shared on Christmas but that is from American influence, the major holiday is in celebration of the Three Kings. Because of this my school has three of the teachers dress up as the kings and pass out little gifts all day to the children. They position themselves on the stage and the kids come up one by one, like sitting on Santa's lap, and tell them if they were good or bad. They get their gifts, pose for a picture, and then take off. The young children are great because they are stunned and behave really well. The older children feel the need to annouce to everyone that these people are not the real kings because they saw the real ones on the internet or because its too early. All in all its a funny thing to witness and most children are estatic. Now as many people may remember I don't feel very strongly that Spain is past racism, and my feelings were confimed by the fact that they still do BLACK FACE! Seriously, the person who is supposed to be the black king will paint his face pitch black so as not to confuse the children! I completely understand that is normal here, and that their history is not the same as ours, however, it still just blows my mind. They reason that the children expect it and would be confused if there was no black king...amazing.
But seriously Spain I have one thing to say: don't call my country racist and then do this.
Since the Three Kings were at school the children were supposed to wear their 'sunday's best'. The teachers also dressed up quite nice and the school looked fantastic. Since I'm a huge fan of the fact that we can dress down at work, I took the kids off guard showing up in a dress and makeup...the things I do for these little cherubs!

Christmas Concert
On Friday the kids hard work for the last couple of weeks was finally put to the test. In the morning the Infantil children performed their Christmas performance for their parents and it was spectacular. They were all dressed up as little kings, reindeer, angels, or farmers and looked amazing. They sang songs in Spanish and English, since we are a bilingual school, but clearly it was challenging. Later in the day the older kids put on their performace for a new set of parents. Each age group did something in English and Spanish as well. They all put a lot of effort in and were quite happy to show their parents. My only job for the day was to gawk and take pictures so I could totally enjoy every moment.

In summation everything about Christmas time at school was a hit and very impressive. I spent most of the day laughing at/with the children and teachers and couldn't have been happier. After, school ended early so the majority of the teachers went out for drinks and lunch in Rivas. Let's just say that we are a crazy group when we all get together outside of school and leave it at that. Although I will say I never thought I could experience that much fun in little of Rivas!

(I updated a ton of pictures in my link)

Negative: Leaving my children and not seeing them for three and a half weeks.

Positive: Leaving 752 children and not hearing them for three and a half weeks.

Ladies and Gentlemen, We have vomit!

Well, today was quite interesting to say the least. Casualty count: 1 girl fainted, and 1 boy puked. Fantastic! I think the girl has an eating disorder so I'm not getting into that unpleasantness...however, the boy I will. I walked into my 3A class per usual and noticed little Javi was awfully quiet, usually he's mocking me. I excuse him to get some water and to use the restroom twice when he tells me that his stomach hurts. Third times the charm: he finds me in the classroom and says "Melanie, I don't Me duele, MELANIE!!" So we run out the door together but unfortunately he pukes all down the hallway! Again, I repeat, Fantastic! I practically carry him to the boy's room where he continues to get sick. Well bad news, it gets everywhere and the poor thing is hurting bad. Good news? I just pushed off being a mom probably another five years. I took care of everything, don't worry, but I'm not looking for this to be a regular occurrence. And I thought I was going to make half the year vomit free...
(Mary, Lisa, Steve, and I)
On to more positive news: the Hans Christian Andersen Christmas Party!! So Friday was our adult dinner at a restaurant near Atocha. Lisa and I arrived in stunning fashion to an already filled room. Here's the thing, Spaniards are never on time, never. But, apparently for one night only they show up exactly as scheduled and we look like idiots...Pues nada. There were many courses of delicious food but everyone was more concerned with the endless supply of wine. Right about the time that the dinner came (I had delicious Bacalao with pisto) everyone was getting antsy. Most people were up and taking/posing for pictures. My camera ended up in the hands of Gabriel at one point and the end result was priceless. When they brought out the shots chaos ensued, some sort of thick clear mixture and another that looked like Mountain Dew. Whatever they were, they were strong and wreaked havoc on many later in the night. From the restaurant we moved cross town to Lemon which is near the stadium. (Me and Elena in the photo). Parking took forever but apparently we knew someone important and skipped the entire line of about 35 people. Sweet! We then partied upstairs in a roped off section with our own bar for the rest of the night. A pretty amazing night if I do say so! Everyone danced, sang, and drank the entire night through until about six am when we all wandered off home. I would like to say my first work Christmas Party was a huge success! (...and I am looking forward to next years?)
(Me, Maria, and Laura)

This is probably my shortest post to date...only because I have to censor! Spaniards can get pretty crazy!

Negative: Small fiasco trying to get a new phone, probably shouldn't wait till Christmas time when they're all out.

Positive: MY FREAKIN N.I.E.!!! (I'm finally legal in Spain)

My mom Skyped me to put up the Christmas Tree

Today I'm celebrating the Day of the Immaculate Conception, and by celebrating I mean that I'm doing laundry and catching up on all things I was supposed to do this weekend. This weekend has been what is known as a 'puente' (which means bridge in Spanish) because there was a holiday on Saturday and one on Monday, they are 'bridged' together by Sunday. Usually, these holidays fall during the week so everyone in Spain gets some serious time off from work. However, all the puentes this year fall on the weekend more or less. I think this one was the only one that will work for me because it gives me Monday off, whereas the others only give me Friday which I already have off. Either case, I've been done work since Friday (when my adult students didn't show up). Bad news about the weekend though is that it rained pretty hard most of the time. On Friday I went out with Lisa to find a new coat and her a dress for our Christmas party this week, both of us were hugely successful. That was actually the last day of sunshine for the weekend. We got coffee and then walked around Gran Via because all the stores were in Holiday discount mode. On Saturday night I went out with Caitlin and her friend Amy in the Ruben Dario area of Madrid. Before I continue I must explain the term 'pijo': a rich or snooty person. I knew going in that this neighborhood was very pijo because my neighborhood tends to be pijo and the two are very close. However, nothing could prepare me for the sight I witnessed all night. It was a scene straight out of NEWPORT! I couldn't believe it, down to a T everything was the same as the mansion kids, pearls, salmon colored everything and so on. What's funny to think is that the rich people in Spain dress exactly like the rich people in Rhode Island, freaky. Anyways, we started at this little hole in the wall bar called "Michael Angel Bar" that looked like someone's house. Since it was the puente it started slow but soon filled up with a ridiculous crowd, mostly pijos. After we moved to "El Confidencial" which was a little bigger and had an interesting mix of music. The three of us spent a lot of time discussing Spanish ways and how the words "excuse me/perdona" are really just for show, not for actual use. After a few drinks here we moved to "Fortuny" which I thought was fantastic. You enter through these rustic doors into this beautiful courtyard (I can't wait to go back when the weather is nicer and warmer) and then up the stairs into the place. There are high ceilings and a spiral staircase leading upstairs. It could have just been the large red Christmas tree or the fact that it wasn't jammed packed like the other two places or the fact that a guy gave me a free drink ticket, but I would say it was my favorite. When we went to the bar I was in awe of this group of six very tall men. The thing about Spain, which clearly doesn't affect me at all, is that the men are short. On average I would say most men are around 5'9'' which by guy standards is petite. These men all towered somewhere around 6'5'' and upon talking to them discovered they were from around Barcelona. When you've spent that last two and a half months seeing only guys under six foot, these men were very impressive. After about an hour or so and taking a picture in front of the tree we decided to head to another bar. This bar however was charging a thirty euro cover which would be waved for us girls but not the guys we were with, not worth it. Somewhere around 6 in the morning we all headed home to recover. One fun night, and one large bill later, I was in my bed fast asleep.

I should probably back track and talk about Thanksgiving here in Spain. On Thanksgiving Day I had a field trip with the Segundos to an adventure park out in some little pueblo. We left at the start of school and took this awesome double decker bus about an hours drive from Rivas. I only see two of the three 2nd grade classes for phys.ed. so I was not looking forward to having little control over them. Once at the little campsite the monitors took the kids to the different stations and the other teachers and I went into town for coffee. It just so happened that the weather was sunny but the temperature teetered around 5 degrees! It took me all weekend to recover from the cold. The kids did a scavenger hunt, zipline, human foosball, a rope course and my personal favorite archery. Why my favorite you may ask? Well, obviously because the kids were given actual bows and arrows. Not some fake tipped arrow, but the real, pointy kind. Spain loves to give 7 year olds things that could potentially maim them. Oh, and the zipline was cool because the way the kids stopped was by a monitor pulling another rope tight. If he didn't do this they would crash into the unpadded tree that was a foot or two away. Fantastic! I digress.
I left Rivas on the later side because I just wanted time to relax, this of course made me late for my adult class which was still going on as planned. After class I went to the American University sponsored Thanksgiving dinner, same thing I did when I was abroad. The food was the same mush but it was better than nothing. To be honest the company was bad because the students are egotistical little brats and have no respect for the hard work that went into getting a restaurant to cook them a traditional Thanksgiving dinner in Spain. My table was full of my friends that had had this experience with me before so that was good. I came home and skyped my family who had already packed everything away and were ready to leave, but it was still nice to see new faces. On a sidenote: We always play this card game called "May I?" on the holidays at home. There are two things that are pretty consistent, my Uncle Roland will win the last round and screw over a lot of people and my dad will come closer and closer to reaching four digits. Well aparently this holiday my cousin won and I've heard about it 5 times now. No lie, every time I've talked to my parents I hear "Did we tell you who won cards?" Apparently, change is not accepted in the Lawton house!
My second Thanksgiving dinner was much more interesting. On Saturday there was a dinner at our friends' house that was more my style. We all brought a dish, mine was the mashed potatoes (read: Aunt Gloria, you're jealous!), and enjoyed a great meal. There were five Americans, five Spaniards, two from England, and one from Scotland, quite the group. For many it was their first Thanksgiving so it was nice to see how much they enjoyed a little part of our culture. The dinner was great because everyone made a little piece of home and we continued the tradition of eating until we were stuffed. The conversation was a mix of Spanish and English, which provided a great opportunity to practice.
As great as all this was, nothing beats being home for Wednesday night trivia at Brickhouse, dinner and cards with the family on Thursday, movies at night, and any type of last minute shenanigans on Friday and Saturday. Fact.

The kids are still great. Still hysterical. And still lacking in discipline.
Oh and I was corrected on my English pronunciation by a six year old. In case you needed to know it's pronounced "Booofalo".

Negative: Discovering my bed can not fit the other way in my room after moving everything around becasue I was convinced it could.

Positive: The lights that are now up over my street.

It's Christmas Time in the City...

Negative: It's freezing.

Positive: It snowed in Rivas!!

Cut and Cat, Beach and Bitch...it's all the same to the Spaniards

So it may seem a little curious as to why I'm posting so early in the morning my time, but I have a reason. This morning at five am I promptly knocked my glasses off my chair and heard what could possibly be the worst sound ever. I stumbled to find my glasses and found out that I had knocked the glass out of one eye, fantastic. A lot of things go through your mind this early in the morning when you have presumably ruined your day before the sun is even up yet. As I struggled to put the glass back in I tried to calm myself by repeating 'at least the glass didn't break', however, this doesn't settle the nerves completely. I spent about 15 minutes struggling to pop it back into place unsuccessfully. Now for many this might not seem like the end of the world, but clearly for me it was. I then had to decide how I was going to handle this: I could take them to the Rayban store on Goya but I'd have to wait until Friday at the earliest; I could call my wonderful eye doctor, but I would have a small window of time to do that in between jobs; or I could spend loads of money to send them home to have them fixed and then sent back, but that would take a month. Obviously, my stress was justified, not to mention it's just terrible to wake up to a dilemma like this. Seeing as my patience was already thin at this point, I did something out of character: I went for a run.
Yes, at about 5:30 in the morning on a chilly 0 degree (celsius) morning I dressed to go running through the streets of Madrid. Well, there wasn't a soul out yet which made the city seem so empty but peaceful at the same time. It definitely calmed my nerves as I passed through the same streets I walk every week. I found a new metro stop that isn't too far away, now I have a easier access to line 5. I ran to Calle Serrano which is the fashion district of Madrid, quite impressive. I'm by no means a fashionista, but I can recognize an impressive name when I see one. The street is filled with these such names but in the dark they look no different than the H&M's that litter my barrio. As my run came to a close somewhere around the seventh track on my Spice Girls playlist, I felt more at ease. I walked back into my apartment and straight into my room. This time my glass popped right back in, success. Problem solved and crisis slightly avoided.

Anyways, I'm clearly behind in posts so this will have to be a summation of last week. The previous Sunday was a great day for me. My co-worker in Rivas, Juanma, threw a small get together for a traditional Botillo de Leones. Essentially this is just meat, and more meat. He made some vegetables for me and Steve´s wife because we don´t eat that stuff. Gabriel, the music teacher at school, was also there and I finally feel comfortable around him now that we've actually had a conversation. The other guests included Conchi, his neighbor, Antonio, a subsitute from Rivas that now works at another school, and Steve and his wife Susannah. It was such a great crowd because it was small enough that everyone could share in the conversation. Antonio is Sevillan which means he´s quite dramatic in his ways At times it was a little hard to understand his accent but he´d act everything out anyways so I got by. The event went late so on Monday we all dragged, but it was worth it.
School in Rivas was nothing out of the ordinary, except the kids have now experienced my 'angry' side. Usually, I leave the discipline to the head teachers but last week I had just had enough. A few times the teachers left the room and the kids just went crazy, probably something in the water. So I'd count to five in my 'loud' voice and scare them half to death. Do they even know my father? They are getting off so lucky on this one. Yesterday I was asked by one of my little favorites why I was in such a bad mood after I raised my voice. Mary flat out told him it was because they were being 'maleducados' and it infuriated us. Its not an everyday voice but at times they talk so much that they can't even hear me speak to tell them to quiet down. It's funny though because no matter how mad you get, two seconds later they make you laugh until your side hurts.

Ok, this is officially the shortest post for all of you who complain that I write so much!

Negative: Thanksgiving away from home has finally started to settle in and there is nothing I can do about it.

Positive: Rocking out to "No Scrubs" in Raul's new car with Lisa and Emily.

If you speak Spanish, I'll give you a car

Such a beautiful day outside today, the weather is a decent 13 degrees and the sun is shining. I went for a nice long walk this morning to discover a new section of Madrid. The plan was to head towards Conde Casal where I catch the bus to Rivas but I was side tracked. Since the day Line 6 was closed on me I have been using the bus from Manuel Bercera to get to Conde. I decided to trace the bus' path on foot but ended up finding a new neighborhood all together. It was a very subdued area with lots of little shops and apartment buildings. From there I walked to the Atocha train station and found the hilly section of Madrid, who knew! I took some good photographs of my walk though, and since I've been slacking in that department I would say the off course streets were positive. I walked up Alonso XII towards Retiro and decided to spend another afternoon sitting by the water and people watching. The Fall foliage is really out and vibrant so I was in heaven. The park was crowded because the weather was nice so there were many things happening at once. I am wicked happy about the weather because it is one of the only weekends since I have been here that hasn't rained.

This past week was a little crazy for me on numerous levels. My adult classes have turned into a free for all. They've added new people to the classes so I have to go over a lot of the basics. One woman is in all of my classes Monday through Thursday, so now I can't use the same material. Usually what I could do in one day with the Tues/Thurs class would take me two classes to do with Mon/Wed. but now she's there so I can't repeat. This means a lot of extra work for me but it also means that one of the classes is going to miss out on some material. The other lady they added is quite special. I have already told the director that her and I are going to come to blows at some point. We're going to have problems because she is a disruption. She constantly interrupts the class in a negative way, whether it's that she answers her phone or she over talks other students, she is getting in the way. Also, she is not at the same level as the rest of class and it forces me to have to repeat my questions numerous times. Finally, the most problematic is that she expects me to translate everything for her; this is not my job. The director already explained this to me after one of my Friday students on the first day of class flipped out because I wasn't giving her the translations. Instead I am supposed to act things out, or work around them with other vocabulary to describe the word. I know this woman is going to get tired of this very quickly because she already spends a lot of class time speaking Spanish. I can just see this blowing up and it is not going to be pretty.

My little kids have been great for the most part. My Thursday tally was pretty funny: 2 kids hated me by the end of the day, and I made one girl cry. In my first class I made one girl leave her group in phys. ed. to join another so she got pissed at me, I laughed. In my second phys. ed class I made a six year old cry. She is always a pain no matter when I see her and on Thursday I had just had enough. This time she was taking the balls and hoops away from the other kids and not sharing. So, after 10 minutes of this and several warnings later I yelled at her to sit down. Oh boy, did the the water-works start! Finally I had Ricardo go over and explain to her that she has to listen to me and the rules of class otherwise she will no longer be allowed to participate. She came over and apologized so I let her play with her friends. Lastly in the final phys ed class of the day I had the eight year olds in 3C. Usually this class is pretty good but on Thursday everyone seemed to be acting a little strange. When it came time for the kids to get partners there was one boy and one girl left over. I forgot that at this age that is probably the worst thing to them in life and they both refused. I told the boy that he could either be partners with me or her, but I promised him that I'm pretty scary. He was still a little brat about it but he realized he had no choice. Then I continued on to explain what the kids were going to do for the class. As always I have to explain that if Elena or I am speaking and they are bouncing the basketballs they become ours. Well low and behold he starts dribbling as I'm saying all of this; I took the ball right out of his hand. By the time I walked back to Elena and turned around he was giving me the most hated death stare imaginable. Her and I just started laughing hysterically because I had just ruined his life: I made him work with a girl and I took his ball away. Man, I'm evil!
My 1B class has really taking a liking to me it seems. Whenever I'm not in class Maria, their teacher, says that they won't start class until they ask a million questions about me. Then when I do walk in they stop class to run up and hug me, so weird. Since when did kids start liking me? The other day on the way to the gym they had heard me say something to Ricardo in Spanish. Little David harassed me the entire way to the gym saying that he just wanted me to say apple in Spanish. I repeated the word only in English over and over again. So then he decided that he could bribe me. He offered me a car if I said apple in Spanish. He tried this tactic for a little while until his friend decided he had a better idea. Alvaro offered me his sister if I said "manzana"! I considered it but politely declined.
Finally, little Javi has a crush on me. He's the adorable "little monkey" in 1B that is too cute for words. On Wednesday I had arts and crafts with his class and they were working on still life drawings. I decided to make my own drawing because they were being really quiet and I had nothing to do. The teacher's desk is right near Javi's so we were talking. His English is pretty decent for a six year old, and he understands me very well. When he finished his picture he came over and stood next to me. Then I noticed him looking for a place to put his arm around me, and then as we talked I noticed that he had gotten to a point where he was practically on top of me. We continued talking about my picture and using English vocabulary, all the while with him leaning on me. Finally he got on his tip-toes and gave me a kiss on the cheek. It was adorable, my heart melted right there on the spot. So he ran back to his seat and I said thank you, to which he winked! This boy is absolutely hysterical.

I have yet to regret this whole teaching gig, which honestly scares me a little bit from day to day. Especially now that I know the kids pretty well and can read them I think we're all more comfortable with each other. Learning their names was key, but at the same time very difficult. Also, it's pretty funny when I say their names over and over again trying to get their attention and all the Spanish teacher has to do is say it once and they listen. They haven't figured out my accent yet, and especially with names they don't recognize how an American would say it in English. I try to pronounce them correctly but so far I haven't been that successful.

Negatives: Skipping over Thanksgiving and going straight to Christmas decorations.
Getting a racist lecture from an old woman in the line at the grocery store.

Positives: Booking my ticket to Porto for the few days before Christmas.
Finding an easier and faster route to work.

...But through all of this I was paid...in cash...in Euros...and twice!

So after much harassment I figured it was time to post again. In all fairness it has been a crazy few weeks for me. It all started when I got very sick two weeks ago and pretty much lost all hope of functioning like a normal person. I even left school early on Monday, I was that bad. I´m sure if you have been reading my blogs you understand how this is a very big deal for me considering I love being there. It took just about a whole week to recover from this little illness and I had many other things to catch up on as well. Also, to be completely fair, I neglected to write because I don´t want to have any incredibly negative posts. Unfortunately, my experiences that entire week were pretty terrible. I had an awful experience with getting a doctor´s appointment in the city, which is necessary to provide proof to my school that I´m justifiably sick. I went to three doctor´s offices all the while being miserable, and clearly I am not fluent in the language. I was yelled at numerous times for being in the wrong place and trying to explain what is wrong with you in another language isn´t always easy. Eventually, a very helpful nurse took care of everything for me, probably because she actually tried listening to me instead of writing me off as a foreigner. But I´ve moved on and will know for the future where to go and who to look for at the clinic.

For some fun stuff I should talk about Halloween here in Spain. Clearly it is not the same as in the States, however, over the last five years they have started to get into it more and more. The trick or treating aspect is lost on the city, but the costumes are enjoyed. My school celebrated Halloween on Thursday because they had Friday off from classes. Lisa, Steve, and I were given the task of creating a performance for all the kids to watch. We chose ¨Hansel and Gretel go Trick or Treating" and I was little Gretel. We made scenery and performed all day Thursday. I think in total it was about ten times in front of first through sixth, and they all seemed to enjoy it. Most of the time they yelled out things that we should and shouldn´t do (Example: we shouldn´t go into the candy house because the witch lives there, we didn´t listen). All of the children looked great in their costumes; mostly witches, ghosts, devils, and skeletons.
As for me, on Friday night I went out to see a Galician band play at a bar called the Irish Rover. Galicia is in the northwest part of Spain and has a lot of Celtic influence. Because of this, the band played a bagpipe for most of the songs. Now, unlike my graduation ceremony at good old AU, this bagpipe was pretty great. It fit into the songs well and it didn´t have that annoying feeling that is associated with these loud instruments. I really enjoyed the night because not only was the music fantastic but there were tons of costumes. The bar was packed solid with Spaniards trying their best of have a "Hachppy Hachloween" (try saying it out loud from the back of your throat).

Now on to politics: November 4th here in Madrid was decently abuzz with election chatter. All of the morning newspapers had information on how the election would play out as well as interviews with Europeans about who Americans should vote for that day. This was another reason from my disappearance from writing, I was quite upset about some of the things I read. First, I was a little perplexed at the misinformation Que decided to use, specifically when it stated that Rhode Island was a state that was definitely going to go for McCain. Now if you take a quick little look at our history we are the most Democratically consistent state. Even during the Reagan years we were not easily won over. The history of Rhode Island voting for a Democratic president is pretty steady so it was quite a shock to me that they reported it as "definitely McCain". Another article in Metro asked Europeans who we should vote for, most were consistent with Obama and gave various reasons why we should pick him. However, what really bothered me was the 26 year old Spaniard who said "[Americans] should vote for Obama, but McCain is going to win. Americans are racist and conservative." This infuriated me, and for those of you who have spent time in Spain can probably understand why; this country is quite racist themselves. There is hardly any diversity here other than Asians (whom Spaniards refer to as a whole as Chinos), Latin Americans, and a few Africans. These minorities are all treated quite badly and are never given a fair chance. The difference with me saying that Spaniards are racists is that I have actually lived here on different occasions. The majority of Spaniards have not been to the United States. So basically this guy was making an assumption about something that he has never seen or been apart of firsthand; very infuriating for me. Let me ask you a question, when was the last time Spain (or any European country for that matter) had a black person even run for President/Prime Minister?
On to better news, Obama won and the next day all the papers were filled with pictures and articles about the US. It was very exciting to be an American here because I got the sense that there was a lot of approval. No matter how anyone personally feels about Bush, you have to understand that being an American in a foreign country can be quite difficult with him as leader. Everyone associates me, the American, with him and his policies and often times that is met with anger. I completely understand that this is the role I take for being in a foreign country, however, it is not always easy to take criticism after criticism about someone whose policies I myself do not always agree with. For the first time since I´ve been abroad, including 2006, I am comfortable speaking English out loud in public places. I feel like I no longer have to work so hard to blend in because as of now there is a lot of support from Europeans. It is not something I can not completely explain because it is something you have to experience first-hand to really get a true sense of the feeling.

This is all for now because I'm getting on a negative spiral that does not truly reflect my time here. We'll chalk this up as my "culture shock" post and move on.

Negative: Taking a week out of my time here to be sick.

Positive: Making up new recipes for my continuing Pescatarian/Pescetarian lifestyle.

Profe, I EAT MY FRIENDS!!

This week was great as usual, the kids, the food, the atmosphere, just about everything. The highlights:
My kids were excellent this week, I can really see their English improving at a steady rate. The test scores came back on their Science test and they were decent. A few kids always do better than others but in general I was impressed. One of the sweetest little boys, Felix, received a low grade and started crying. It was heart wrenching because I knew he was going to do poorly based on his questions during the exam. However, seeing him so upset with himself made me want to cry with him. (I didn't) One of the grasshopper twins was walking around the classroom, before I caught her, looking at the other kids' scores and saying "I did better than you." She irritates me, I couldn't snatch that paper from her any faster and yell at her to sit down. I would have told Mary to take away recreo but its useless seeing as all the girl does is sit up against the wall anyways. She and her sister are quite intelligent but their social behavior leaves much to be desired.
The third years have now moved on to senses. Carmen explain them to her students by discussing what can be smelled, seen, eaten, touched and heard. She put things on the board like apple, water, and music. When she said 'friend' we had just about finished when a student yelled out, "Profe, I eat my friends!" Carmen and I exchanged nervous glances and then the whole class started laughing. Probably another 'you had to be there' moments but equally amusing.

I had to teach two classes on my own this week; one of their teachers was sick so I went to class as usual to discover I had a substitute and one of the fourth grade teachers who doesn't speak English filling in. Good thing the classes were my beloved 1B and 1C! They listened to me very well and did exactly what I asked of them. Since Halloween is next week I had them make drawings for their parents about Halloween. I have become an excellent chalk artist so I made a pumpkin, skeleton, bat, ghost, Frankenstein, and a werewolf for them to copy. We went over colors as they drew and the kids listened enthusiastically. They are also very keen on getting my approval on everything so I had 25 kids at a time running up to me asking if I loved their drawings. I'm trying to teach them new 'congratulatory words'. My big one right now is excellent, which I wrote down for one of the boys who kept repeating it. The next thing I knew he was using all the tape in the world to put it on the back of his chair where everyone could see, it was adorable. Another popular thing this week was the "5 little pumpkin" poem. I was supposed to read them the story and show pictures, but that quickly turned into me acting it out. After repeating the story no less then 40 times, I have it memorized (obviously).

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate,
The first one said, 'Oh my, its getting late!'
The second one said, 'There are witches in the air!'
The third one said, 'But we don't care!'
The fourth one said, 'Let's run, Let's run!'
The fifth one said, 'Isn't Halloween fun?'
Then woooo went the wind,
and out went the lights!
And five little pumpkins rolled out of sight!

Picture me acting this out many many times and you'll have a great laugh. Anyways, point being having the 6 year olds by myself wasn't as scary as I thought.

My adult classes are going great but getting to a point of ridiculousness. We spend most of the time laughing because they ask me interesting questions or just because we're having a good time. Sometimes I think they try to embarrass me with their questions so I get red in the face a lot, or I'm at a loss for words. Funniest moment of this week came when I had class with only Joaquin on Wednesday. When I ask him about his weekend he always says "my girlfriend and I..." so I thought it was a safe subject to talk about (this is what literary people call a 'red herring'). So he was talking about his family and I asked him to tell me about his girlfriend {side note: he'd be perfect for my roommate so I have to try and find out his story}. He goes, "Pfftt, No more!" He then proceeds to tell me that they had dated for six years but as of this past Monday, they were done. I was horrified because I felt that I had brought up a horrible subject. Well, apparently not because at the end I asked if he had at least dumped her and, after explaining what 'to dump' meant, he said proudly " I dump her". Ridiculous.

Last comment, I am definitely crushing on Carlos in my Friday class. Yesterday we were just by ourselves in class because Eva didn't show up (maybe she reads my blogs?). We spent the whole time laughing and joking around. He told me about his house and how he's renovating it and everything. The first thing about that statement that's incredible is that people in Madrid don't have houses. They are too expensive and people don't have the resources. He's young and can afford to pay for one all by himself. Quite impressive. Secondly, the fact that he can also renovate it on his own is equally amazing. Really, he's just dreamy. We also discovered that his friend owns the bar across the street from my apartment. I told him I lived near Goya metro and he said his friend had a bar near there on General Pardinas, which is my street! After further discussion we found out the bar couldn't be any closer to my apartment without being below it. So let's recap: He used to train with Real Madrid, he has his own car and motorcycle, he coaches a futbol team, he has his own house (very close to me), he's attractive, and he asked me out for drinks. I see absolutely nothing wrong with this situation. He offered to help me with my Spanish whenever I wanted to get together. I will definitely take advantage of this not only for the obvious reasons but because it will also introduce me to more Spanish people. Excellent.

Loving life here in Madrid, per usual.

Negative: A certain young 3A boy's parents allowing him to leave the house with a whole bottle of cologne on.

Positive: Laughing until it hurt at the three troublemakers in 1B. Probably the most adorable 6 year olds ever, can't help but enjoy them as they run amok.

Tea-chair! Tea-CHAIR!!

I had a pretty fantastic day today, I have to admit. Easy time waking up this morning...although I'll skip over the part about reading a certain sport's score. Left the house and it was still dusk so the color of the sky was a great shade of dark blue with the street lights. They finally fixed the Red/2 line so I wasn't waiting for forever. When I arrived in Conde de Casal it was still a little dark above ground. A lot of this had to do with the impending look of rain, which never actually came. I made a friend in the bus line after the drive shut the door in our faces. Usually what happens is the driver drops off people and then shuts the doors and heads for a quick coffee. On his walk back to the bus he signals for the line of people that has formed at the bus depot to follow him to the bus. Well today when the people followed he shut the door right in their faces. I hadn't moved yet because I was much farther down the line so to me it was great. The guy next to me and I had a great chat about how ridiculous the driver is every morning. Let's just say he's not my favorite. Anyways, the sun rose as I took the bus ride listening to some Brett Dennen. Getting off in Rivas was quite chilly but I have a minute and a half walk to the school so I'll deal. Once inside I received an amazing compliment that started me off on the right foot. It is weird though because no matter how tired I am or how much I feel that its the start of a full week, as soon as I step inside that building everything goes away. I am immediately energized and excited.

What is happening to me?

Mondays are when I have a huge break before my first class so it gave me a lot of time to prepare for my adult class at night, which will come into play later. My first class was with Javi for Science 3B, they had a test. The kids were great all class though, quiet and content. I never realized how hard it would be to give a class a test. They are allowed to ask questions and it is so hard to not give them the answer. I know they know it because I walk around during regular classes asking them questions and discussing the chapter with them. But sometimes at test time the words aren't there, or in this exam for example, the style of the test was awkward. I did the best I could but I wanted to do more. They are all very smart, some just understand speaking more than reading. I have to find a balance between helping and giving them the answers (which i didn't do, but came close).

After lunch I had my 3A's as always. I recently realized I have them at least once a day, some days twice. I enjoy them because I know exactly what they are working on at all times. Today made my day though because as I was heading to class one of the little boys greeted me wicked enthusiastically. He put his arm on my waist (not surprisingly some of them are not much taller than me) and talked excitedly about heading to class. I was shocked because little Adrian is what I would call a trouble maker. He talks incessantly and just walks around. I usually spend class standing between him and Pablo trying to put the fear of god into them, not usually that successful. I had the impression that he thought I was a joke really because he's very good at mocking me. But today was different, he pronounced my name properly (all day long I hear "Sit Properly", it is starting to wear off) and waited for me when I had to run to the English room for something. He even wanted me to sit next to him in class. Which brings me to Beatriz, one of the smartest kids I know. Her grasp of English is impeccable and she is very pleasant. She also chose today to follow me around everywhere and do whatever I did. Actually not that annoying. The class went great; everyone listened, even Alex who at least sat silently in the back, and they learned question words. I went around the room as usual helping them, but they were all doing so great. In the first week I would check their work and they wouldn't pay attention. In the second week they would ask for my help and then after I told them it was perfect they would run to Mary and have her check it. Now they call "Teacher" (which in a Spanish accent sounds like Tea-Chair!) and Mary heads over to help, they turn her away and say "Tea-CHAIR Melanie (Melody, Melandy-take your pick). We both find it hysterical because it finally means that they understand me. They realize that I'm here to stay and not just an observer. I was really proud of their hard work today.
Following English I have Physical Education with Elena and this class. I love how excited they get heading to the gym, they can't control themselves. Beatriz was still on my heels so we waited for the two other girls to get their crap together and then went down together. When I got inside the gym they all wanted me to sit next to them in the circle. It's great to be so popular among eight year olds! The main game today had to do with hoops and they all wanted to show me how amazing they were. All I heard was my name echoing through the gym. I like how we are finally bonding as corny as that sounds. I'm going to be with this class six times a week for the next 7 months or so and I think it is important for them to actually like me. I spent most of my last 45 minutes at school laughing and I couldn't be happier.

Bus ride home was short and sweet in the great sunshine. I made it to my adult class by 5:30 so I did a little shopping. Good news/Bad news is that there is an H&M right off the metro in Nuevos Ministerios, pretty much heaven. I figured that since a certain team of mine was making me wait until April to see them I could do a little shopping therapy. The cost? A new shirt, wallet, and headband all under 20 euros. The headband is for ears that I will need for a Halloween skit Lisa, Steve and I are performing. Since my lesson plan was already done I had time to just wander about, pretty fantastic.
Class went smoothly, except that Tomas the oldest guy in the class is a class clown. I'm not bothered by it, well except for the whole Rhode Island spiel (I never knew that 'spiel' was spelled that way) that won't be repeated. They are still asking good questions so time flies and I'm home by 9:30. Maybe by December I can start talking at a normal speed again. Ah, who am I kidding, probably not.

Sidenote: I went to Alcala de Henares for the Cervantes festival on Sunday. Its in zone B3, so not that bad of a commute. Walked around the town for a while before finding the center. There was a protest of some sort for what looked the like construction of a chemical plant upwind from the town. People were none too happy. The main part of the festival was last week so all they had was a book fair. It was still nice to wander the booths and search through old books. I looked through some of the cookbooks but none of them had pictures so I figured it best to pass. Cooking in another language is hard enough, a different form of measurement even harder, but without knowing what the food was supposed to look like? Forget it! Mulletted protesters on the top, Book Fair on the bottom.





















Negative: Having both the "grasshopper twins" in my classes today.

Positive: An amazing paper airplane present from good Alex in 3A.

Three is always a crowd

Everyday I find more and more things to be amused by at school with my kids. My roommate mentioned that she felt school was becoming routine and that she didn't have much to say about it, but I think I disagree. The kids are never the same and always find a new way to entertain me. Take this week for example with my favorite (cough cough) 1B class. One little boy, Carlos, ran up to me on Wednesday inside the classroom almost in a panic. When I finally got him to slow down he explained to me why he was out on Tuesday, just in case I was wondering. He proceeded to tell me in detail, without leaving out anything, that he had spent all Monday night and Tuesday day vomiting. His tummy hurt all day and he made a mess of his room, and his mom had to stay awake with him all night (he continued to ramble on like so). He thought maybe I wondered where he was and wanted to bring me up to speed. I thanked him for his picturesque story and told him I was glad he was feeling better.
Oh this class! Unfortunately, they were able to bring down another teacher this week. As mentioned before I usually have physical education with Elena as the head teacher, however, for 1B I am supposed to have Ricardo. My first week of classes he hurt his ankle or something so the classes with him were canceled and the second week of classes there was a substitute who just let them do whatever they wanted. This was the third week and first time for Ricardo to have this class. His English is not that great so I translated for him most of the time. The only thing that makes it hard is that the games have different names, so he talks about them under another name and its not until they start to play that I realize I already know the game. Good example is that instead of playing 'Duck, Duck, Goose' they play the Lambs and the Wolf. Anyways, Ricardo had a nice couple of games set up for this class and I was hard at work explaining them to 1B in English. Except for one small problem, minor detail really; the class doesn't listen. Plain and simple. They were running all around the gym instead of sitting around the circle like every other class, they were climbing up the walls, and they were piling on each other. I found it quite normal because I see them about three times a week, so I'm used to their shenanigans. Ricardo was not. He was getting really flustered and finally decided to just yell at them in Castellano. He ended class early and we all went back into the classroom. As we were going up the stairs the other physical education teacher, Alicia, and Maria, the teacher I have them with for Science and Arts and Crafts were at the top. One look from Ricardo and they broke down into hysterics. I guess this probably doesn't sound that funny but it was a "you had to be there" moment. We all spent the next 10 minutes discussing the class and just how bad they act. Ricardo wants me to help him plan out a better system for dealing with them, I say shoot 'em up with horse tranquilizers.
Damage control for a 45 minute physical education class:
1 stolen face wash soap
2 falls from the climbing bars on the wall
5 hysterical pleas that he/she was lying about something
13 kids in tears at one point or another (1 of which was my anatomy conscious 6 year old boy, kar-ma)
and 1 child drenched in mud somehow, even though we had been inside the clean gym the entire class.

Very unproductive Friday much to my dismay. This week has had me on a tight schedule of waking every hour on the half hour so I'm a little off. I was finally able to get a decent night's sleep, it just took longer than I would have liked. I left early for my night class because I had nothing at all prepared. At class time I discovered a new woman was joining my class thus making it me, Carlos, and Eva...wonderful. Odd fact: we all wore the same color shirt. The first part of the class was for grammar, so I taught them the difference between the past simple and the present perfect. For those of you who don't know what that is don't feel ashamed, I feel like I was never taught that there were names for stuff like that either. Past simple is a closed action in the past. [I went to the post office this morning.] The present perfect is a continuous event in the past leading up to now. [I have missed all of the Sox games in Madrid since arriving.] They had a hard time with this so it looks like it will be on the lesson plan for next week too. The second part of the class is conversation, we're supposed to use stuff that was learned earlier in class. Big shocker coming up: I run out of things to talk about. It is harder than I thought to talk for an hour and a half straight with strangers. I don't think we are supposed to get too personal so certain questions can get a little uncomfortable. Take for example when I mentioned something about Pais Vasco and what was happening there (google it). Apparently Eva is from Bilbao and has a very different opinion than most people. I respect her for answering mine and Carlos's questions, because I could tell she was uncomfortable. I am not sure how we're going to keep this up until December. Oh and as always, Eva, three is a crowd!

This morning was a great little Saturday in the chilly Autumn air. Rushed off to the post office to finally mail my ballot. I have now officially voted. Be jealous. After that I decided to try out a new grocery store and found that so did every other person in Madrid. The store was crammed, people were waiting at the check out lines just to steal carts. I took awhile wandering each isle because I wasn't familiar with this particular one. Pretty successful trip so I'll probably use them from time to time for everything but vegetables and fruit. For that I head to my favorite little market on C/ Lagasca. One of these days I'll take pictures of just how great a place it is, but since I feel like they will think I'm a tourist I'm going to hold off. I have to assume that I'm the only one who shows up every Saturday morning at the same time wearing a Red Sox hat.

Speaking of the glorious little team that is the Red Sox, I am currently watching the game via Skype via Keith and Monique via TBS. Also, it is currently 345am here in Madrid and we're only in the fourth; we all know how well I do pulling all-nighters. I had no chance of catching this at a bar because Real Madrid was playing Atletico Madrid, obviously the two main teams of this city. My parents' laptop is sitting on the table in the tv room facing the screen and I can hear my parents in the background talking about the game. Thank goodness for webcams built in to new computers. Not a bad picture.
I will continue to watch with the same hope I have every year...Let's Go SOX!!

Negative: Finding a cigarette on our kitchen window ledge even though none of us smoke.

Positive: My new reusable grocery bag from Carrefour that I discovered can hold a small child, oh and it has a leaf on it, so that makes me excited about this time of year.

And then I was attacked by a posse of rollerbladers

I leave for work around eight am every morning. At this time in Spain the sun is not up yet. I have a very short walk before I hit the metro on Goya but this picture is what I see every morning. That street heads west towards the very center of the city and it is just amazing in the morning. There are usually a lot of taxis waiting at the corner to take people to work so the traffic is a little heavy. The Salamanca barrio is becoming the new hot spot in Madrid so there is an eclectic mix of people. Lots of business men heading to work and many kids heading off to school. Even though Madrid is starting its day, it is still very quiet. The street, even with all the cars, is peaceful. It is a great way to start the day. I enjoy not having to drive to work.

This is the front of my school, CEIP Hans Christian Andersen. Rivas-Vaciamadrid is what I would picture a western desert town to look like. The bus ride through the city is pretty interesting because all the houses are the same. Stucco outsides with no lawns and gates leading to the garages. I really like what I've seen of the town because it is so different from Madrid. My school is one of two bilingual schools in the town, but I'd like to think that it is the best. There are always parents at the school begging the principal to let their kids join. We have a great reputation for teaching the English language.

This is the patio that the children use for recreo (recess) and to line up when their parents pick them up and drop them off. In the background is the flat top for more running around. There are basketball hoops set up and of course soccer nets. Today, since a few teachers were in Bulgaria for a bilingual school conference, the end of the day consisted of 6 classes or so running around here like crazy. The teachers didn't feel like being in the classroom because it was so nice outside. I wasn't about to object. However, this is what I learned from my favorite little ones in 1B today, and remember that they are six years old:
1. My glasses are ugly.
2. I have the whitest skin they have ever seen.
and my personal favorite,
3. "Tiene tetas muy gordas!" (figure it out)
In fairness, the first one was spoken after 4 girls said they loved my glasses and necklace. One of the boys was being playful and wanted to make everyone laugh. The second was spoken by a girl not much darker than me and I think that is why she found it to be the most fascinating thing ever. The next few minutes consisted of giggles and comparisons to my skin. And the third, well that was actually spoken by one of my favorite kids in the classes. He's the most adorable thing but he clearly has a little devilish side. After this comment there were whispers and giggles between all the little boys. Some things never change.

This is a picture of a typical classroom at school, this particular one is of my most common class, 3A. In the beginning the desks were in groups but because the third years were talking too much and causing trouble they were put into rows. I am really starting to enjoy this class because I know all their names. The trouble makers now realize that I will take things from them or stand next to them if they talk so they behave fairly well for me. It's funny because most of them are very intelligent. They understand what I am telling them, they just like to be the class clown. I'm starting to learn their habits too which makes it easier to read them. I have this class for physical education, science and English many times throughout the week. Notice the rolling backpacks around the desks. They are literally hell on wheels. They hurt and take up too much room. I have to admit I was a little pleased when one boy tripped over his and went flying today. Not in a demented way, well maybe, but it was more for the fact that yesterday him and his little buddy tried to block the isles. During class I walk around making sure that everyone understands and they decided to block my path. I call it karma.

Finally, this is the cafeteria. The children have lunch in shifts since there are six grades plus three years of infantils. For this meal there are crazy women who are essentially lunch ladies. They are responsible for taking the kids from their classrooms to lunch and watching them. Then they take them outside to play and make sure they don't kill each other. These ladies are absolutely, without a doubt crazy. They scream at the smallest things and quite frankly they scare me. I am wicked surprised there aren't more tears during the day. The teachers also eat during recreo and lunch in this room, which is funny because as soon as the students spot them all you hear is "Hi teacher!" As previously stated the meals are very good and I can usually find my way around the meat. Well, except for the course of meatballs today. No one has asked me yet why I separate my food so I'm going to try to fly under the radar for a little longer. Today's meal was also a little crazy because the topic of the teachers' Christmas party was brought up. Apparently last years night was a little out of hand and all I need to know is that it involved lots of alcohol and confetti in precarious places. I'm wicked intrigued and can't wait for this years. Oh, also Spanish people are very dramatic so my meal consisted of me ducking and avoiding flying hands during wild gestures. I was also used as a demonstration dummy because I was in the middle of the table. Oh joy! Some things never go away: One of my 6 year olds stopped me in the hall and said "un besito?" (one kiss). My reply? "Really, is it necessary?" Kids here are very affectionate, which I blame on the culture, and I'm still adjusting.

Today Lisa, Steve, and I had our picture taken for the local magazine. I'm sure it was for an article about how great the school is and how fortunante they are to have native English speakers assistiting their full time teachers. I'm interested to see the finished copy.
Oh, also, on my way to the metro in Nuevos Ministerios I was almost trampled by a pack of rollerbladers-no joke! They came out of no where and I was stuck in their path, my life flashed before my eyes.
Extra side note that can't go unnoticed: one of my 3rd year students is fervently convinced that monkeys are responsible for all the pollution.

Negative: Having to listen to one of my adult students tell me that Rhode Island is not a state and then defend his opinion when I told him he was incorrect.

Positive: My new, large, purple bag that fits everything I need for a 14 hour day.

He's peeing! He's PEEING! Did you hear me say 'He's Peeing'?

Happy Spain Imperialism Day! We'd like to take this opportunity to thank Spain/the Catholic Church for reeking havoc on all of Latin America, some of the Caribbean Islands and bits and pieces of the the Pacific Islands as well. Today we celebrate Columbus Day in high fashion with a huge parade and enormous amounts of red and yellow apparel.


In all seriousness I missed the parade. Last night got a little out of hand (example being the random man on the street peeing on a car) and Liz, Meagan, and I did not wake up on time.
We headed down to Plaza de Colon where the royal family and distinguished guests sit. However, the road was blocked off a quarter mile around them in all directions so we have to go down farther to see the road. The extent of the parade for us was watching cars zoom past really fast as the crowd whistled and cheered. We assumed that these were all the royals and such. You'd think they'd carpool seeing as they were all going back to the Royal Palace...

We decided to walk towards the Palace and do a little sightseeing. Every Sunday there is a book fair between Colon and Cibeles. There are all types of books; some from 40 years ago, others in German, and of course popular books translated into Castellano. I like to look at the travel books from the 50's and see what has developed. The prices are flea market prices so no matter what you buy it is a good deal.

From there we headed up Gran Via to my old neighborhood. It was nice to back on the street and see the places that were so familar to me from last time. I noticed a ton of new stores and of course the old ones that I spent many afternoons wandering in and out of. However, as I rounded the corner to where my old street was I was at a loss for words. The buildings on the left side of the street were stripped down! It is just a massive hole of where these restaurants used to be. I still can not believe it! I walked down that street everyday for three months and now the buildings were gone. I'm going to have to ask Maribel, my host mother from 2 years ago, what happened and why they came down. Que raro!

By the time we got to the actual Palace we were starving so we quickly took a few pictures of the gardens and admired the hoards of military that had collected inside the gates. Everyone was there from the parade, including the military on horses. All the horses were tied to the back of the building in a straight line, it was quite a sight. There was a huge crowd of spectators in front of the Palace so we stuck around to watch a very weak changing of the guards, all two of them. We walked through Opera and found this amazing Turkish restaurant. The falafel was incredible and the apple tea reminded me so much of Istanbul. The three of us were very satisfied with the little hole in the wall place, we'll probably go back. From there we headed to Sol for a quick glance at the Spanish patriotism that was looming around the whole city. Lots of people were out and about which was a little surprising seeing as it was supposed to be a horrific weekend, weather wise. We made our way down Gran Via and hopped on the metro for home.

All in all it turned out to be a beautiful day; a nice walk through the city and I was able to revisit some of my old places.

Negative: Lots of horses, lots of messes in the street.

Positive: A new found appreciation for the colors red and yellow, together, and everywhere I look.