2 Months in Spain!!!!!!!! And counting....

Alright, it is officially my favorite month of the year. I am serious! I now have 13 days left here and I don´t know whether to be excited or borderline depressed! I love it here so much, minus the fact that I still do not know much Spanish. I must catch you all up on June - so hold on to your hats...

The weekend of June 12 was fantastic - El Escorial was having a fiesta of some sort and so we ventured down the hill to a couple vinos and to hang with the locals of our town. It was great and Fiona even found cotton candy! Although, apparently in Ireland (and Scotland too Mairi says), it´s called candy floss - we bantered over who had the better name for it. The next night was a GREAT day/night in Madrid even though it rained the whole day. We hopped in and out of great stores like Mango, Zara and Bershka to pass the time near Gran Via. That night we (Laurel, Katie, Cindy, Mairi, Carlos, Jose, Valentin and I) had game night aka MAFIA at Carlos´place before going to a smaller discoteca around 4 a.m. We danced until the sun came up and I even had Mairi at one point standing on my hands, as to give her a "boost" to request Journey or Britney Spears to the DJ - he did not know who Journey was (sad), but Brit Brit eventually came on - yahhh!!

The week following was another week of on again/off again rain. The pool was supposed to open, but it was too cold to swim, so I found myself sorta cooped up with the two boys in the afternoons and Silvia left for London for a week on June 16. I was thankful for the weekend of June 19 because Alberto took them camping, and of course, I took off for Madrid! It was a sunny fun weekend of discovering Museo de Jamon (Ham Museum) where you get HUGE sandwiches for only 1€, visiting the Meseo de Prado for the first time (only covered the first floor...more on that later) and meeting 5 new au pairs! It was fun to know the city pretty well by now because Mairi, Fiona and I kinda ended up being "tour guides" on Sunday before we went to the Prado. Twas so fun!

The Prado is AMAZING. I saw the original "Garden of Earthly Delights" by Bosch (c. 1450–1516) and some El Greco that amazed me. We spent 3 hours there and just got lost on the first floor - it´s that huge. I have never been so enamored by art, especially classical ever. I found myself staring at some paintings completely wrapped up in the emotion the artist was able to portray in the pictures. That was definitely a first!

The week of June 21st was the first week at the pool! Let´s just say that now (on day 10), my tan is GREAT and I´m loving this color I have not had since summer 2004 haha. Also, I have Fiona and Mairi and Annemarie hooked on "High School Musical" jumping-style pictures. I will add some to the blog shortly!

The boys got out of school on June 23 and all of our schedules have changed. Luckily, Mairi´s kids and mine both go to camp from 10-2, so that frees up au pair pool time ;) We also did a play date this week - Mairi´s 3 + my 2 and since they are friends already, it was so easy! There were no mini-Spanish civil wars, so all was well :)

I wished my father a happy 57th birthday on Skype on June 25 and got to talk to my Grandpa as well! He had never seen Skype before and loved it!

The last weekend of June proved to be the icing on the cake of a great month no. 2 here. With all the World Cup madness happening, it´s been so fun to get in to fútbol! I do not know much about the sport as a whole, but I have LOVED watching all of Spain´s games and even the other ones. On Saturday, a huge group of us au pairs went to Dubliner´s (a great Irish pub off Plaza de Sol in Madrid) and watched the USA-Ghana game. It was packed, the San Miguel was flowing and it was a great time! Sadly, we lost, but the mood and atmosphere was great and the television was all in English! It was weird ;) Earlier that day Mairi and I did window shopping, chatted with four attractive Italians outside the Prado and went back in (it´s free certain hours) and covered only about 3 more rooms haha...I need to go back ONE more time to finish it...

We are now in to July and I have my plans SET! I will travel with a group via Contiki.com and hit up 5 countries in 2 weeks starting July 16 in London. More on that to come...

Junio en España

It´s June! Ok, so ten days in, but whatev. In my first week of June, I had a dinner night at one of the other au pair´s houses that lasted until 4 a.m. on the following Tuesday morning. Let´s just say I like early morning, slightly tipsy walks home in San Lorenzo. It´s always very calm and it seems as though I have it all to myself!

Now...for something new I learned about: Bank Holidays. Yes, Thursday, June 3 was a Madrid Province Bank Holiday, so the government and banks close down and pretty much it means party time. It was also Alberto´s 43rd birthday and him and Silvia took the boys out for the day, so naturally I went into Madrid with Fiona and Mairi for a day of sunbathing and beer in Parque de El Retiro. It was a hoooooooot, but lovely day and boy did we have some nonbloggable convos :) Sorry, what happens with girls´convos stays between them. I also learned some new Scottish and Irish grammar and phrases and they told ME that I have a COOL accent!! Made my day. That night followed with meeting up with Katie and Laurel at non- other than El Tigre (they love us ther now...because now we get free Tequila!) and we were there for FIVE hours. We are good customers and our endless tapas, cidras and mojiitos purchased prove it. Now, after we left it was crossroads time...go home or keep going? Well, Katie and I decided to keep going and we met up with some friends we have made here and eventually we all watched the sun come up. I LOVE Spanish sunrises!

Saturday, June 5 - my FIRST Spanish Orienteering race!! Okay, the forests that are NW of my town are MUCH harder than the parks of Boise. Silvia went with me to find the first couple markers, then I was on my own navigating boulders, forest, trails and hills with my compass and map. I had a GREAT time and only missed two markers. It was challenging, but I´m so glad I did it.

That night was yet another crazy one. I should´ve known better, but it was Saturday and well, "when in Rome" I guess ;) Fiona, Mairi, Laurel, Katie and I found yet another great viewing spot of the Royal Palace and brought along our typical two bottles of vino tinto. We have decided to patent our method of smashing in the cork with Katie´s apartment keys, as this is now the fourth weekend we have used it. They say it´s my raging biceps...oh pshaw! Make me blush. Haha We ended up wandering to Puerta de Sol to meet up with more people and Fiona is hilarious when she´s a.) tipsy and b.) swearing while tipsy with her thick Irish accent.

The only truly messy part of the night was Fiona and I getting our wallets stolen. Yep, I´ve heard that if you stay in Europe long enough, it will eventually happen. I thought I was being so careful, but the last place we were at was CROWDED wall-to-wall and dark. Oh well, but darnit! I really liked my DL and CCL pics. And that wallet. Sorry Scarlett!!

Today is Thursday. I am still in sleep recovery mode as every day this week I have taken a 3 hour nap after the boys go to school!! Ey yey yey...I love you Spain!

The Best High Five of my Life

So there is this one little "side story" about Toledo that I completely forgot to write about. It has made me laugh from time to time this week when I think about it, so here you go!

As we were walking to the bus station to head back to Madrid, I see a bus unloading a rather large amount of Spaniards. It looked like some sort of futbol or other sports team, as they were all rather decent looking 20-something dudes. Immediately, the five of us girls are like "uh oh...haha..." and as we are walking by, one of the shorter, perhaps "pudgier" ones puts his hand up like he wants a high five! Well, naturally as I am in the front of the line of walking by, I put my hand up to give him his high five, but then he hesitated. He puts his hand back up and I give it a GREAT slap! Well, let´s just say that in the milli-second that there was skin-on-skin contact, you would have thought a riot started. Oh. My. Gosh. All I heard as we kept walking was "OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD." Now, hear it in your mind with a broken English accent. HILARIOUS.

I don´t think a high five back home will ever compare. *sigh*

:)

¡¡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