Madrid/ Día de Acción de Gracias

Madrid

Royal Palace

This weekend’s trip was Madrid! I can now say that in my opinion, Madrid is a way cooler city than Barcelona. Which is exactly what the Spaniards have been telling me. Originally I didn’t even think I wanted to go to Madrid that badly and really wanted to go to Barcelona. Well, I was very very wrong. Madrid is fantastic. It’s one of my favorite big cities that I’ve ever visited.

El martes 13

Tuesday the 13^th is like our Friday the 13^th: it’s bad luck. Luckily (haha), nothing bad happened to me but I’m pleased to know they have a day just like us. Couldn’t tell you why it’s a Tuesday, though!

La huelga general

On Wednesday last week, there was a nation-wide strike all over Spain, as well as all over a lot of Europe. People were protesting against the government, the economic crises occurring over Europe and how the crises are affecting schools and businesses. This meant that I got the day off because my program director decided that we shouldn’t try to enter the university because people would most likely be blocking the entry and the bus system would be all over the place. Plus, many professors decided to participate in the strike as well, and not show up for class.

It was a good thing that I got the day off. I was able to write a good chunk of an essay for the coming week and go for my first official run in Spain (embarrassing, but the good news is that all the walking I’ve been doing has kept me in shape because my 5k time isn’t a minute slower than it was at my peak this summer!).

La casa de Pepa

Later in the evening on Wednesday, my grandma and I went over to Pepa’s  house (my program director) for a merienda (late afternoon tea and snack) because Pepa graciously invited us over, eager to meet my grandma. I actually gave English lessons to Candela (Pepa’s niece) and Clara (her daughter) while my grandma showed Pepa a thing or two about painting and sketching  (Pepa has just started taking an oil painting class). My grandma even sketched both of Pepa’s kids which they loved. Later we had our merienda, chatted, and took lots of pictures together. I love Pepa and her family. It’s nice to feel part of so many warm new families: my host family, the colegio, Pepa’s family, and Candela’s family. I’m very lucky to know so many amazing people.

Madrid

Finally got Kiersten a gofre! (waffle)

El Prado

La Reina Sofia

by Dalí

My grandma, Kiersten, and I headed to Madrid for the weekend. Our train got in around 2 p.m. on Friday, which allowed us to grab some lunch, explore the famous Plaza de la Puerta del Sol and Plaza Mayor, and tour the incredible Royal Palace. We were able to see several rooms of the palace (the palace is huge, something like 3000 rooms!). We were able to see the throne room, the dining room, and some dressing rooms. Man I wish I could live in a palace. For dinner on Friday, we stumbled upon a local restaurant miraculously and ordered sangria and pinchos (small dishes on pieces of bread), which were fabulous.

On Saturday we toured the Prado Museum, which was overwhelmingly huge but phenomenal. We saw many famous painters such as: El Greco, Rubens, Rembrandt, Velazquez, Goya and many more. We also toured the Botanical Gardens behind the museum, which was really nice because we were able to see Fall colors finally  (Fall doesn’t really exist in Alicante). We took a tour bus and saw the rest of the city and once again had a fabulous dinner of paella J

On Sunday we went to the Reina Sofia museum (contemporary art). I loved this museum…but I also love Salvador Dalí and this museum was full of his works, so that’s probably why. We also saw Picasso’s “Guernica” which is incredible in person. Afterwards we went to El Rastro, a famous and HUGE flea market in Madrid. I bought myself a little bracelet with Spain’s colors (red and yellow) as I am trying to collect bracelets from every city I visit. For lunch we had fried calamari sandwiches, which we were told we had to try. Afterwards we bought churros and chocolate and sat at tea place chatting until with was time to head back. This trip was fabulous! I definitely want to go back!!

Esta semana

This week I finished up another class. I had a final, a final paper, and a final presentation. So it’s amazing that I was able to do all of that with all the traveling that’s been going on.

On Tuesday, my grandma went back to the States. But I’m so glad she came, it was fun showing her my new life and it was super fun traveling together! Plus she’s an expert on art, so she was able to tell me lots in the museums. Thank you so much for coming, Nana! I miss you!

Today is Thanksgiving…so ¡Feliz Día de Acción de Gracias! Happy Thanksgiving! First day in history that I ever went to school on Thanksgiving. Weird. But I was able to teach my students a little bit about the holiday and I brought them some apple crisp that I made with Kiersten last night. I also went to a Thanksgiving Dinner/Lunch put on by my program at a restaurant on campus. First day in history that I’ve ever gone to school where I then had my Thanksgiving meal. Also weird. But it was fun nevertheless. The meal started out with tapas and then later we had the “traditional” turkey and the works. Their attempt was good, but I think I liked the tapas more ;)

Such enthusiasm to learn English!

My older kids :)

All  in all, a very good last couple of weeks. And now I’m off to Paris ! Au revoir!

Strange British English Words & Phrases That My Students Are Learning (and I guess me too!)…

•       Trousers
•       Taking out the rubbish
•         The rubbish bin
•        Lay the table (set the table)
•        Have you got a… (instead of ‘do you have’)
•        Cooker (stove)
•        Trainers (sneakers)

Real hard not to laugh at these in class, though...