¡¡One Month and Counting!!

This last Thursday officially marked my one month in beautiful España. I have noticed that a LOT of my Facebook status updates usually start with or involve "looooooooove." Then again, one would have to be crazy to not use that word when describing this place and the Spanish culture. The people are incredible to me. It has only been 34 years since they came out of a dictatorship and you would have never known it.

On Wednesday, I finally saw the Monastery de El Escorial HERE!! It is a five minute walk up the hill from me. All I can say is GOOGLE it. It is over 500 years old, most of Spain's monarchy are buried there (yes, I saw the crypt) and the story of it is fascinating. I literally had goosebumps walking through it.

On Thursday night the au pairs here and I, plus some of our local friends went to a cute bodega or wine bar. We all laughed and talked until a little past 1 a.m. and got to know the newest au pairs, Fiona from Ireland and Mairi from Scotland. They are fantastic! Fiona is also fluent in Dutch because her father is from there and so her and Annemarie ramble off in Dutch and it is so cool to listen to! When, how and why would you ever hear Dutch in the US??!

This weekend Laurel, Katie and myself traveled to Toledo! When Laurel and I were waiting at Plaza Elliptico for Katie, we went across the street to a bar and upon entering were surrounded by 4 traditionally dressed Spanish musicians. I heard a lot of "bonita" and "guapa" and "bella" and thank goodness Laurel speaks Spanish and they spoke a LITTLE English, because they bought us a beer and then serenaded us with two songs. Not to mention, two of them were easy on the eyes. Apparently they do their music as a hobby for extra cash on the weekends. They were delightful!

We made Toledo a day trip and it was a gorgeous day for walking. The city is considered one of the World Heritage Sites and is all condensed onto a hill! The walk up from the bus station was a little steep! The streets are what one thinks of when seeing Europe...very narrow, curving, cobblestones and hanging flower pots everywhere! Our version of being tourists involved seeing the main cathedral (they will always make my jaw drop), consuming sangria at two different locations, then getting Marzipan for dessert. I probably spelled that wrong, but it is the pastry of Toledo. Every city and-or village in Spain has a trademark pastry or bread...pretty rad if you ask me! Oh! And we also saw nuns everywhere. Real live nuns...I wish I could have taken a picture!!

Upon returning to Madrid, Katie went home and Laurel and I were off to meet her boyfriend for a free concert at one of the Madrid Universities - Cuidad. I guess I was not expecting a college age Spanish style version of Woodstock. Granted, it was dark so I am happy I couldn´t really see what all was going on! There had to have been at least pushing 10,000 people there! No security, no officers, no rules. We could not find Carlos, so we ended up deciding that tapas were a definite winning choice, so we took off for our FAAAVOORRRIIITTTEE place, El Tigre.

Upon exiting the Metro at Gran Via, a little light bulb popped on in my head..."hmm, isn´t this the red light district?" And as Laurel was paying money to get more credit on her phone at an Internet cafe near the stop, I noticed the hookers EVERYWHERE! I have never seen one in my life, let alone so many, IN ACTION, pursuing "business." I felt like I was in an A&E documentary special. This might sound odd, but one of them I just could not stop staring at. I was convinced that her "top" was super glued to her perfectly shaped backside because there was no way something that short wouldn´t expose someone when they walked in heels as tall as hers. In fact, I wonder right now if she was even a she. "Her" features were quite masculine and she was the only blondish one I saw. Regardless, I watched "her" pursue short fat guys, old guys, young guys. We did not stay long enough to find out. All in all, it made me so sad for these girls. So sad.

We found our beloved El Tigre Sideria and it was GO time. One of the bus boys recognized Laurel because she was just there on Wednesday (I might need an intervention to get me away from Spain solely because of this place, FYI) and he immediately had a full plate of tapas and two big sidras in front of us. Sidras are NOT beer, but you would think it was at first glance. It is made from fermented apples, not wheat, so it is not a beer. It is amazing and I could drink it instead of water. It´s not that sweet either, which is nice. The tapas at this place blow my mind and I am thankful Spain has shown me croquettes and tortilla. Probably not considered "diet food" as Silvia would say, but on a Saturday night who´s counting?! We have our first and then move up to the bar so we can have some fun with the easy-on-the-eyes guys that work there :) Needless to say, smiling a LOT and being friendly works. We got more free tapas than ever before, made friends with an American teacher who has been going to El Tigre for three years and knows everyone there and we all end up with free shots of Tequila and alas, more tapas. :) At one point, a Spanish guy with two French guys came up and were talking to us and then out of no where apparently the Spanish guy had a girlfriend because when she and her posse showed up I wish I could have had a nickel for the daggers she was shooting her boyfriend...and Laurel. We were keeping our distance the whole time anyways, but Laurel is obviously cuter than this girl and her and her friends did not look happy. I just kept talking to Frenchie and Laurel was trying to cut the convo off with Spanish boy. Ah, good times. I´m glad Frenchie got the hint to try and save his friends relationship and got him (and the dagger girls) out. Hehe...we laughed about that the rest of the night.

We ended up back at Carlos´apartment and I got my couch and sheet. At Moncloa this morning we broke down and got Dunkin Donuts. I have never had that either. LOL. Ah, a weekend of firsts. We got back to El Escorial this morning around 10 a.m. It is a beautiful day, but I am going to take a nap!

The Icing on the Mother of All FAIL´S Cake

It has now taken me one week to attempting to re-hash (no pun intended...you will find out why) what happened last Sunday, May 23, 2010 in the hills surrounding San Lorenzo de el Escorial. I was invited to be one of the "hares" in the "sport" of Hashing with Caroline, Annemarie and an American I had yet to meet, Steven. Now, simplified, Hashing is defined as "A group of drinking people with a running problem." (See www.madridhhh.com if you are really curious about the group here). This is an international running and beer drinking group and needless to say, it can get a little crazy. Caroline and Annemarie have lived here since September and got involved in it right away, and so last week was their turn to be the "hares" or the leaders who mark the trail and make false trails to try to throw the group off and mark the beer stops. Yes, beer stops...no water stops on these runs.

Since it was my first hash, I decided to go along as a hare and learn how to mark the trails. Ok, remember, that Saturday night I missed the bus, so I did not get home and to sleep until 4 a.m. Sunday morning. I was meeting Steven at the bus stop here at 845 am so I could take him up to Carolines and we could all start out together. Four hours of sleep and an impending 6 mile hike/run in the sun are not a good combination, but I was excited to do this, so I could handle that little detail. Carolines house is right on the forest line of the mountains here, so that is where we started at around 9 a.m. Hills, rocks, bushes, hills, thorns, cow pies, horse pies, STEEPER HILLS, mud, you name it were the theme of our trail. It was a beautiful day, we were all laughing, using the "stomper" to mark the trails, having good conversation. What could go wrong?

Well, for starters, you know how when you put on sunscreen it usually goes in the typical areas i.e., face, shoulder, chest, etc. Well, I was wearing my knee length running spandex of course and did not think about my calves. Not even a thought. Who does anyways?! So as the day is progressing, I am searing the backside of my calves all the way through three Martha Stewart shades of red into a hue that looked slightly terrifying the next day. At around 12:30, we split up so Steven and Annemarie could mark the starting point at the Arboretum. My gut immediately flagged this as a bad decision since Caroline only drew one map (which they got) and I have never been to the Arboretum before. Oh well, "I can figure this out! "Be a problem solver Erin!!" is what I thought to myself. Little did I know that my "problem-solver" attitude was about to take a nasty blow to the ego.

Caroline went to mark the end of the trail (it was a long way and I just did NOT want to run at this point) and so after I marked another false trail for her, I just figured I would find my way to the arboretum, following the markings. Easy, right? I got as far as the arboretum and upon entering, realized it is HUGE. All of a sudden the marking stop - I SWEAR! I start to back track and look around and have no idea where it went. So I just start walking towards the highway thinking I will find the starting point. Well of course there are a bazillion families picnic-ing (sp?) and I walk the ENTIRE circumfrance of this place two times. I probably looked like a walking borderline disaster, if not just plain effing creepy because I had the big read stomper marking stick with me too. I let out a sigh, sit on a rock and start randomly shouting "Caroline!! Annemare!!" but not very loud as I do not want to draw anymore weird attention to myself from small children. I absolutely can not find them. This arb is very dense, there are cars and people everywhere and I am lost.

Finally, I give up. I walk to the highway, leave that stupid stomper against a tree and hike my butt against crazy Spanish drivers all the way back into town. I do not know how long it was, but it was long. It was hot and let me tell you...trying to hop and cross a roundabout is not easy, nor do I recommend it. Ever.

I finally arrive home at 3:15 p.m., dehydrated, beyond exhausted, legs crispy and covered in dirt and mud and even some blood from scratches. I think I scared Silvia (my host Mom) with how awful I must have looked. I tell her the story and she actually ended up laughing with me because honestly, it probably sounded like nothing she has ever heard before. Sometimes I wonder what she and Alberto say in Spanish about me after incidents like this. Ah, Spanish ignorance is bliss in that case.

I take a shower, say "fml" until I start laughing by myself and fall asleep for 4 hours.

The irony of the whole thing is that all I wanted was a beer after getting lost. Oh well, next time :) And I WON´T be a hare.

Even in Spain, the Word "FAIL" is Possible

Sunday, May 23, 2010 was officially the last day of my week of what is commonly called in YouTube videos, "The FAIL". See http://www.youtube.com/user/failblog?blend=1&ob=4

If a camera could have followed me around, they could have made multiple short films with great commentary. I am sure of it.

Let´s start bright and early on the morning of Monday, May 17. The time is 7:30 a.m. and I am walking down the hill into El Escorial. Now, please note that in Spain, NOTHING opens or gets going, business wise, until at least 9 or 10 a.m. The reason I am walking so early is because of a Spanish class I was told about for beginners that is FREE. Well, I was also informed that the class started last October, so if anything, I could just go and observe and maybe get some workbooks or what not. Well, I get to what I THINK is the plaza in the directions given to me (shame on me for thinking that the plaza I saw a couple weeks earlier is the same one referenced in my directions...HELLO!! THIS IS SPAIN! THERE ARE PLAZAS ON EVERY STREET CORNER!!). Anyways, the town is still ASLEEP. I end up walking several circles and alas, give up; I couldn´t find the building name, nor was there a soul walking around to ask for help. I decide to just walk the uphill (this place is a mini San Francisco) jaunt home. I tell my family, who has not left for work or school yet what happened. They feel terrible! I go back to sleep. I find out later that the class is in the PM...ahhh!!!

So, how much worse can things go, right? Well, I can´t find the building name on GoogleMaps and my host family did not recognize the name either. So, I figured that I will just go back at 8 p.m. and see if I can find it. I walk all the way down. Again. I walk in circles. Again. I go into a cute lil convenience store for some gum, but the cashier doesn´t speak English (which is normal and fine) and so I end up sitting in the plaza, confused and too afraid to ask someone for help. You see, this language barrier issue is really intimidating. Unless you are here and are dealing with it, it is hard to understand. I guess I was TRULY very ignorant that most of the world does NOT speak English or if they do, it is not much. I respect that Spanish IS their national language and I am not here to complain about it, but it IS really intimidating. Even the au pairs who have had Spanish in college still and are nervous about speaking it. Imagine my frustrations at times. It has definitely broken me down a little more. I just keep remembering that I left Boise for many reasons, but one is that it was TOO comfortable. I have not felt, at times, like this since I moved to DC four years ago. Anyways, a little deviation here, but you should catch my drift...I probably could have asked for directions, but I likely would have found no one who speaks English, especially in these smaller towns.

I walk home, feeling just a little bummed and once again, startle my family upon my early arrival. Julio asks, "Erin!!! You learned Spanish now!!!" Ah, I love the mentality of a 5 year old. The positive side, is that I Skyped with Laurel and we planned to get my cell phone and take a walk the next day so she could actually TAKE me to where the class is. This will be a great, right?!

Tuesday morning my straightener officially shorts out because I realize I am using the wrong adapter. Well, great...afro city, here I come. I meet Laurel and we walk to Movistar (the only cell phone provider here in SL. El Escorial and one of three in Spain I think) with my Blackberry in hand and an unlock code from AT&T. Yay! This should be easy, yes? NO! They don´t unlock the phones! We have to go to a different store to get THAT done. We walk UPHILL after a delightful cafe´ con leche and bizco-something-amazing to the store only to find out that it´s 20€ more to unlock a phone. Seriously? So then we walk waaaaay back down into El Escorial so she can show me the center where the Spanish class is. Hahahaaa...remember the plaza thing I mentioned earlier?! There is one about 1.5 blocks behind the one I was in. Problem solved, right?!

Wed. night, 8 p.m. - arrive at Spanish class. Wait for the instructor who is 15 min. late. Several immigrants walk in. Come to find out, one Moroccan, a Romanian (creepster), a Brazilian and two I did not talk to. The room or maybe it was the people, smelled bad. The teacher was hilarious, but she spoke NO English. GREeeattt....it was two hours of Spanish fast-talking hell. It was a long uphill walk home, but peaceful, as the streets are here at night. At least I didn´t fall on the cobblestones this time ;)

By Thursday, I´ve made my 3rd cell phone attempt since being here, gotten lost and mixed up in a town that´s truly only the size of Kuna, ruined an expensive hair straightener, and sunburned the top half my body. Oh, on this day I broke down and spent some American $$ to get a new hair straightener, of course ;) I also walked across the street from the store where I purchased the flat iron to the Movistar store AGAIN. I´m obviously a glutton for punishment as I walk in, see the lady from two days prior, ask "si habla ingles?" and get an abrupt, yet smiley "no!" I half awkwardly look at the phones, smile, mumble something and leave. I´d rather not document that part, but I guess it adds to the week. So, technically, 4th attempt. FAIL.

Friday night I am ready for mucho vino. So is Laurel and Katie. We spent the early part of the evening on my patio with wine and chocolate and amazing Spanish cheese. Martin, a local who is friends with Laurel and Katie came to pick us up and he drove us up to an AMAZING look-out where you can see the Monestary all lit up at night! You could also see the city lights of Madrid. It was breathtaking. We drank wine up there, laughed at the pot heads near us and then went back down and to a cute half indoor-outdoor cafe. Katie and I accidentally used the mens restroom. Yeah....oops....

Friday made me feel that the week was not totally a disaster. I even had a great run-hike with Caroline that day. Hmmm...don´t hold your breath Erin...

Saturday morning. Vino tinto headache. I stayed up waaaay too late Skyping and Facebooking with peeps back home. This is becoming a habit after a night out ;) I chug antioxidants (well, that´s what I can read on the juice box label) and get my butt ready for a hike. We planned on going to Valle de los Caidos. I get ready, water, snacks, camera...check. I get to the bus stop where Caroline, Sara and Annemarie are waiting. The bus does not come! We walk to the next stop to find out that the Valle is closed Saturday. *sigh* THEN...when the next bus pulls up a few minutes later Caroline exclaims, "Let´s go to Madrid and do the boats at Retiro!!" I panic. Why? Probably because I´m in purple spandex booty shorts and and IDAHO VANDALS t-shirt, no make-up, greasy pre-hike hair and tennis shoes. NOT city attire!! Well, in a matter of seconds, I´m stepping onto the bus behind the girls, then I just TURN AROUND AND BOLT OFF. I see them motioning and waving inside and well, that was that. I was NOT going to look like a hillbilly in Madrid AND I had plans to have dinner with Katie and Laurel that night in Madrid. SO....how could we possibly still fail? Well, let´s keep trucking...this is going to be a long blog post.

Saturday night - After the hike fail, I go home and sleep. I get my self ready and head into Madrid to meet the girls at Katie´s for dinner at 9 p.m. We made (well, they mostly did) dinner at Katie´s since her host family was out of town. I am pretty delirious at this point. We start to watch YouTube videos and then a movie. I am drifting off, but there is not a 12:30 am bus, so I left at 12:45 to catch the 1:30 am bus back to SL. Well, the Metros are PACKED. I am half zombied out, dashing out of the last stop at Moncloa (my bus station) and MISS THE EFFING BUS BY 3...YES 3 MINUTES. I was under the impression the next bus was at 3:30...so I sorta pouted to myself for a minute then a super creepy short Mexican dude (sorry, not meant to sound racist, but I´m painting a picture here) sits next to me and won´t shut up. I "no habla Espanol" and I get up and walk away and he follows me. THANK GOODNESS there were lots of people passing by and the cutest young Spanish couple come up to me and ask if I am alright and if I need them to sit-stay with me! They said something trite to the *ucker and he left. Thankfully! For some reason, a bus came at 2:30, so I only count the bus as a "half fail" ;)

I get home and my head hits the pillow at 4 a.m. I need to be up by 8 a.m. for my first official HASHING event on Sunday morning with Caroline and Annemarie, and the local group of Hash House Harriers. It was bound to be a perfecto Sunday and a fun experience. Well, stay tuned for the Mother of All Fails. Sunday is its own entry.

Don´t know what Hashing is? Check out this site... www.hashnj.com

Happy Little Details

Could it be true that the sun shines brighter in the Madrid province? I swear I have never been so enamored with the beautiful skies and sun as I am here. Maybe it is because when I walk out the front gate of our condo complex, I have a view that goes for miles. Just sayin´... ;) Ok, so maybe it´s not as cool as Caroline´s view (all the way to Madrid), but it´s still pretty amazing!

This last weekend I had Laurel over for dinner on Friday night. My family was out of town and so we made burgers and had vino tinto of course! Well, several bottles later we were having a good time talking about what girls talk about. And well, those discussions are not bloggable! Oooo!! new word right there!!! The best part is that as we were talking, she notices the clock and it says 0:24 - she literally does a double take and then shouts "craaaaaaap!!!!!!!!!!!!! The last bus for Madrid leaves in 6 min!!!" We race down the stairs, I double check outloud that she has her pass, her money and her keys. All check. She bolts out my door into the rainy dark night and I´m holding my breath that she makes it to the stop down the hill. Approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes later I receive photo comments on FB from her and alas, she is safely in Madrid with her man :) One big fat "phew!!" is what I exclaimed to myself. The carnage left in my kitchen is another story. Damn, I should have taken pictures of it...

Saturday morning I awoke late and got ready fast. I headed into Madrid to meet Laurel, Carlos and Katie at Plaza de Sol. It was such a prettier scene with the sun shining as opposed to the week before. People everywhere! It was the Festival of Madrid - celebrating 100 years of the city being there. It was INSANITY ALL AROUND! I´ve never seen so many people on EVERY street we walked up or down. The architecture and cleanliness of the city still boggles my mind. We hit up our new favorite tapas bar, El Tigre, followed by a couple others and just meandered the bustling city. As it got darker, there was a huge concert going on at Plaza de España and the crowd was beyond anything I´ve ever seen for a "festival" of any sorts. We kept walking and found a Cortes Ingles. Pretty much if you take Macy´s, combine it with IKEA, an upscale grocery store, a bank, appliances, insurance agencies and hell, I can´t remember what each of the NINE floors said, that is Cortes Ingles. We got some bread, cheese, serrano (pork), and vino tinto, then headed toward the Palace. Unlike the weekend previous with Katie, the grounds outside were packed and full of people. By now it was dark and there was a HUGE salsa dance show happening live. The music was beautiful, but we could not get close enough to watch, so we picnic-ed nearby and caught glimpses on the bigscreen! There were the sweetest older couples all just dancing in a nearby clearing. Brought a smile to my face and to my heart as well. I LOVE that PDA is normal here for ANY AGE!

We went back to Carlos´ apartment, just the 4 of us and had a chill night. We talked and talked. I am so thankful for these people. Laurel and Katie are a gift and it´s so crazy and awesome all at once how you can just feel like you´ve known someone and just be instant friends. Well, it IS a pretty big bond when you can say that you left your cozy homeland to live overseas and "just see what happens." I´m glad we all are doing it.

On the way home Sunday morning, after Katie and I shared two pushed together couches and a fitted sheet (lol - again, probably funnier if you were there), I took the Metro then bus on my own home. Laurel stayed a bit longer with her man. I admired four old ladies on the bus all the way from Madrid to San Lorenzo. They were all speaking Spanish or Italian, were probably in their seventies, dressed up classy (one had a beautiful long silky silver hair). They looked like how I want to be when I am that age. They were laughing, and I think they were teasing each other at times. Two of them had canes, but rightfully so - they were all wearing heeled pumps! (The flat square kind for you guys who don´t know! ;) ) For some reason, I will never forget them.

Today is Tuesday 5.18.10. It has been 3 weeks today that I left. Only feels like yesterday. I´ve gotten through my sorta homesick bout that hit me last week and I know now that I am and will be fine. I start a Spanish class tomorrow night!! It´s a beginner class that is 6 months in, but I am eager to learn and it´s FREE! Today Laurel and I had a café con leche date and walked for two hours. I have played a lot of Spanish monopoly today and tag. I love it.

The forecast now officially says more sunny walks are ahead of me!

Recession - Spain Knows

Today I noticed that many of the television stations were airing a Spanish political leader speaking to the Parlaiment and the words across the bottom of the screen had one that stood out to my English-only mind: "Deficit"

I knew that something big was happening today, but not sure what exactly. Well, I got my answer about an hour ago when Silvia came home from work. Alberto was making lunch and she announced to us that "well, today is the day of not-so-good news...we are losing 5% pay for the month of June." She and Alberto are both high school and university teachers, so state funded obviously. This means, technically, a 10% cut for their household. She joked that her brother (also a teacher) might have to pass up his nicer clothes and trips this summer, but right about then, Alberto brought out a bottle of vino tinto. "You drink if it´s good news, you drink if it´s bad news" he said. I now am currently very relaxed after a couple glasses of vino with my lunch. Alberto made a very traditional meal of chickpeas, boiled cabbage, various meats and chorizo for us for lunch. Him, Silvia and I talked about how similar the economic situation is here as well as in the US. Silvia said something that rings a bell..."all the bank presidents are living well, the government gives them plenty of money..." I felt like I was home again.

Fabrik...How Europe has a Dance Party

Ohhhhhhhh my goodness...what a night/morning I had this weekend on Saturday!! It all started with meeting Katie at Plaza de Sol - this is the center of Madrid. It was too bad that it was rainy yesterday because usually you can sit in the plaza with a bottle of vino tinto and people watch and hang, but we decided to just keep walking (and thankfully the weather held! It was overcast but not raining at this point). We came upon a Spanish military-esque wedding getting out from a cathedral. Talk about gorgeous people! The bride was gorgeous, the groom and all the suited men were very handsome and all the lady guests we noticed were wearing some form of bold colored chiffon dresses. Fashion sense duly noted ;)

We kept walking until we got to the Royal Palace! It´s so cool to know that palaces really do exist and monarchs still live in them. Katie and I daydreamed a little of course :) We walked all the way around to the gardens that are on the other end of the palace and proceeded to find a bench that directly faced the palace and there we opened our vino tinto...HOWEVER WE DIDN´T HAVE A WINE OPENER! Well, "where there is a will there is a way", so I used her apartment keys, she held it steady and we jammed that cork in (thank goodness I was wearing black) and that was that! We sipped our bottle of wine while being onlookers to the insanely large amount of typical Spanish PDA going on and also saw THREE other brides-grooms getting their wedding photos done. Lets just say I´ve found my future venue :)

Katie and I then got hungry for tapas! Buuut...we got distracted (I love this girl!). Plans truly are subjective...especially when in Spain we´ve decided. We were walking by the Havana Club (the cuban smoky bar we went to last weekend) and so we decided to stop by! Well, Raufa (I think that´s how you spell it) the owner, has a big crush on Katie, apparently from the first week she lived here. He´s a large Cuban man who is quite entertaining. It was 915 pm and the bar was barely open. Well, lets just say Raufa made me a believer in Rum and Cokes again because he let us drink it all on the house and then I inhaled the best version of baked goldfish crackers I´ve ever tried. YUM. And yes, that was my dinner. At about 1130, Laurel and her boyfriend Carlos and his friend José met us there! We all then walked to Plaza De España & grabbed a cab to take all the way out to a discoteca called Fabrik...now this is where the night gets interesting!! Well, we should have been able to get on the "special" bus heading for Fabrik, but some cold-hearted skanks cut their way in...the nerve....

We are pulling up to what looks like a decent warehouse with huge letters on it - "FABRIK." The line is crazy long and it was 20€ cover. We get inside and my jaw dropped to the floor. I´ve never seen such a HUGE place, completely packed full, loud, lights and mist and the whole place is literally bouncing. We meander over one of the bars with our drink tickets, but the bar itself is so long you can not see from one end to the other. Granted, the dark lighting and crazy lights do not help, but you get what I´m saying. In bars here they just serve you the alcohol on the rocks and give you a full bottle of whatever mixer you choose. Gin and Fanta are fantastico! We polish off our bevs and get to the ROCKIN´DANCE FLOOR!!! A dance floor sounds so lame to describe this. Grr....

We get pretty much to the front so we are right under the DJ´s. Apparently they are 4 of Europe´s famous ones and they sure do know how to make music. Katie had her huge ass umbrella with her and so we were all taking turns holding it while dancing. The guys especially were funny...dancing with a huge blue umbrella in hand. Oh, what we girls do ;)

As I´m dancing and taking multiple photos, I start to smell something. Imagine my surprise when right about then a girl asks me if I have a pipe she can borrow. I do not, but I notice the guys in front of me do, so I motion to them for her. I start to realize that literally everyone around me is smoking little pipes...and pulling out bags of weed. Yep, once again, I remember where I am :)

I do not know what time it is because a.) there are no clocks and b.) I do not have a cell phone...yet. Katie and I leave to go outside to see when the bus is coming back and well, we did not know you needed "salida" or "exit" stamps. Oops. We are coming back in and get stopped by two bouncers who do not speak much English. Of course we do!! At this point I´m buzzed, tired, it´s raining and windy outside, both of us have our hair turning back into afros and I´m not in the mood to be congenial. They end up getting their boss who speaks english and I tell him "I´m sorry, but I paid 20€ to get in here hours ago, it´s cold outside and NO ONE told us about a salida stamp!!" Those of you who know me can probably picture this very well. DON´T MESS WITH ME BOUNCER MAN!! He let us back in.

We lost track of Laurel and the boys, so we found a spot to sit and then Carlos had texted Katie and said to come outside. Apparently Laurel lost her cell on the dance floor! eek. Some time had passed, so by the time we got outside, we only waited about 20 min for the bus, but it seemed longer since it was rainy and people were everywhere. The bus ride back into Madrid is foggy...probably because it was after 6 in the morn and my body is not used to staying up all night or because the sun was coming up...who knows. We got onto the metro, then I got to my bus station and not before I found a cafe and had some yummy tortilla while I waited. Tortilla is not what you think, like he Mexican kind. It´s like a cross between a omelette and quiche and it rocks. I´m def bringing home a recipe! I found my bus, sorta fell asleep on it and by 830 am I was walking the street back to my home. Not before I fell, yet again (wearing those damn black boots) on my butt on the cobblestone street. This time, I do not think I scared anyone and thankfully none of you will ever see the bruise that I found today (Monday) on my derriere.

Fabrik was a once in a lifetime thing. I highly recommend. Just don´t forget the salida stamp!

See it on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xo8398yJ7rM

The MOST RECENT Best Week of my Life (So Far!)

It has officially been one week of being in beautiful San Lorenzo de El Escorial. It seems I am in a dreamy dream land. I love it here. It is relaxing, the food is ALL different and good, hiking is my new form of exercise and the Italian coffee maker is my morning best friend ;) I am so thankful for the 5 other Au Pairs here. They have truly colored my life here more than I can imagine. I am SO grateful God gave them to me!!

Today I went into Madrid with Caroline for several hours. She is such a curious and interesting person and knows a lot about the city and Spain in general, so we have lots of conversation. She had planned with Katie to meet up in Plaza de España so we could walk to the Häägen Däz Ice Cream, but Katie ended up not making it so we indulged...and thankfully I felt like we might have walked a bit of it off. We explored the Plaza and then went over to another nearby (and huge) parque that had great views of the city and an Egyptian Temple! Serious! It was given to Spain in 1967 as a "thank you" for helping them in some war...or something...I took a pic of the writing outside of it...probably could explain it better than me right now.

I got back into San Lorenzo and it had just rained (thankfully it was stopped because I was wearing my fave suede ankle boots today! hehe) and was quite happy about the fact that I know the shortcut from the main road in San Lorenzo that leads back to my home here. Yay! Ok, so it took a "trial & error" session for a moment, but I found the proper stairs leading down into the park above my house!

This afternoon Alberto left for Grenada with his Orienteering team. They have a huge meet-race down there this weekend with over 800+ runners! Julio and I made a mess of yarn all over the living room, which reminded me of a sorority tradition haha. Silvia had a dinner party to go to, so after she made dinner and the boys went to bed, she left around 10 pm. I just watched "Lord of the Rings" part 1 and vegged out. It´s now time for me to sleeeeeep. Silvia just got home a bit ago.

Speaking of, she is such a typical cute Spanish mom. She dresses adorably and gave me a Mango fashion ad book today! She says that I need to go shopping there. She got some really cute things the other day!

Eternal Sunshine

Today was a thing of beauty. It started with a brisk walk UP (literally) to Caroline´s home to meet for some trail exploration at the base of the Sierra de Guadarrama - the mountains that my town(s) rest against. We went high! The higher we went, the more beautiful the view. We could see all the way to Madrid! Well, you technically could see a little bit of Madrid from the patio of her au pair family´s patio (the house is insanely huge).

The nice thing about the hike was that we only saw one other person the whole time, it was spotless and the trails were wide! We got to a point on the border of the Valle de los Caidos (Valley of the Fallen). If you have ever seen a picture of a huge cross memorializing the Spanish Civil War (which was just fought in the 1930´s btw), this is it. I WILL BRING MY CAMERA NEXT TIME! There is a stone fence (as is normal here) bordering it and let me tell you, the climb upwards was so STEEEEP!! Talk about a workout, but we made it. It was so fascinating to be hiking along a historic area. I hope to learn more about it while here!

Four hours later I was home. My hands were very swollen and I don´t know why. They were swollen after yesterday´s run as well. Still trying to figure that out.

Today I got to meet Alberto´s madre! (The father´s Mom) She is a tiiiiiny Spanish woman and she still lives in Madrid. She doesn´t speak any English at all (made me sad that I don´t know Spanish again) but was so sweet. She is such a typical Grandmother - she brought the boys yummy treats and the biggest wheel of cheese I ever seen...and it is tasty! Alberto´s father passed away just last year and so she is looking to buy a flat that is just down the street from us.

This afternoon-evening Mario, Julio and I played tag. Let me just say that wearing flip flops while chasing two very spry Spanish children was not my wisest choice. I taught them "Red Light Green Light" and they LOVED it! Little Julio came up to me as we were walking back home and grabbed my hand to hold and we skipped like school children all the way home. We waited with the Grandmother before her bus came and he picked flowers for her and I. Precious.

Silvia spent the day in Madrid with friends and came home just in time for dinner. She is fantastic. I asked Alberto earlier today if they ever fight and he said never. I can believe it. They are both such fun-loving and energetic happy people. I see it in their children so much. He said it takes too much energy to fight and that really there is never anything that would cause such tension. Silvia jokes that Alberto forgets things (like telling me or her that his Madre was coming today haha) and he jokes that she doesn´t always get away with being perfect. They do so in such a way that is different. It´s lighthearted and sweet. Definitely things I need to remember.

Well, tomorrow morning Caroline and I are going into Madrid for the day to meet Katie. I´m hoping for some more tapas!

The Blazing Winds

Alrighty, it´s Wednesday and I´m hoping with fingers crossed that early today was the last of the insane winds we´ve had since late Sunday night. I know, I know...growing up in southern Idaho, I should be used to this, but that´s nothing compared to here! The whole house has been a lot colder and the winds are so strong outside that you can´t even go out in them. Monday I barely went out on my patio to put the plant back before being whooshed away myself!

Yesterday, I went with Alberto take the boys to a birthday party at a miniature and much cleaner version of Chucky Cheese called Happy Planet. :) This is the second birthday party the boys have been to since I´ve been here. Let´s just say that Spanish children are probably some of the prettiest little people I have ever seen. And feisty! Alberto stayed with some of the other parents while I walked around El Escorial. [Okay, here´s how I explain the town: El Escorial and San Lorenzo are right next to each other. Where I live is literally right in the MIDDLE! Up the hill is San Lorenzo, down the hill is El Escorial. However, if you saw my address it´s both.] Anyways - I´m walking about El Escorial and it´s very quiet (and cold and blustery because of the insane winds) and I think I´m good, but then I must´ve lost concentration for a bit as I marveled at something and proceeded to fall flat on my butt on a downward sloping cobblestone street! I think I scared the crap out of two Spanish teens walking by. They rushed over to help me and all I knew to say was ¨gracias¨ hahaha. Oh well. I escaped with only a bloody knuckle and probably looking like a spaz. I went back into the birthday party where the parents are all drinking beers and sat with my La Casera (bubbly water) and visited with Alberto.

This week "on the job" has been amazingly easy. The boys are so smart and love to learn about anything I am saying. Silvia says they have to listen extra hard because of my accent! haha, I LOVE the fact that I really do have an accent!!

Alright, time for some more BrainQuest with Julio. Mario is at his Chess class, then he has tennis, then music lesson. Ah, to be a kid again :) These kids are set for success...

The FIRST Weekend!

It just has to be said: España is incredible!

Yesterday morning Caroline (who runs a LOT!) took me running and kicked my butt! We ran for an hour straight through some of the most gorgeous countryside I have ever seen. It looked like a scene out of Robin Hood and the Sherwood Forest! Winding paths, stone fences, GREEN and of course, horses and cows just sharing the area with the running paths. We found our way back into town and then got ready really fast to meet up with Laurel. We all took the bus into Madrid yesterday to meet up with Katie who lives there with her familia.

The four of us went into what is the equivalent of Central Park, but in Madrid. And let´s just say that it actually outdoes Central Park by a million. There were peacocks just hanging out like no big deal. There were sculptures and people laying out sun tanning and then a HUUUUGE pond-lake in the center where you can rent little boats. There were so many people, but surprisingly what I noticed is that it was all very clean! In fact, Madrid is now the cleanest big city I have ever seen. Makes San Francisco look like a garbage dump. I didn´t see homelessness or trash or anything. And on weird smells.

We visitied the Jardin de Botanico (Botanical Gardens). AMAZING! I´m amazed at how respectful people are of places like that here. In America, you´d have to have glass walls or chain link fences keeping people back. Not here, the respect for things is just on a whole different level.

After that we went to El Tigre for tres cidras and tapas! I LOVE THAT THE SPANISH SERVE FOOD WITH THEIR DRINKS!! Smart, once again. These tapas rocked my world. Who needed dinner after that? It was cool because you order a round and they automatically give you plates full of amazingness and it´s all a part of the drink order. YUM!

We then meandered and had some authentic mojitos at Club Havana, a Cuban bar. There was a guy with hair that we decided was either super healthy or super greasy. Hmmm..it was also longer than mine and curlier.

The funny part of the night happened on our way to discoteca or this dance club called Taboo that the girls like. We had decided that all the policia in España are very attractive until we saw this particular group of older and well, shorter slightly pudgier policia. Katie (thinking she was saying this quietly as we walked by) was saying ¨hmm...ugly...ugly....ugly...and...ugly...darn...¨ Well, they heard her somehow and one of them said back as we passed ¨We heard you!!¨ oh shit. So we walked faster feeling sorta bad and laughing a lot. Guess they can´t all be eye candy! hehe

We had a great night at Taboo. It didn´t get really packed until 3 am and we danced for a little bit, but it was soooooooooo crowded on the dance floor that I don´t think my moves were at par haha ;) Laurel made friends with some locals because she speaks great Spanish and it kinda made me sad. I really need to learn or at least I have this huge desire. Need class stat!!!

Laurel and I took the 5:30 bus back out to our town. I fell asleep around 6:45 a.m. Now, that´s a first!!!!

Today has been a relaxing Sunday of playing with the boys and visiting with Silvia and Alberto. This familia amazes me. More on that to come!