Madrid!

What a lot to take in!! I don't think it has sunk in that I will be staying here for quite some time. Our director says that we are in the "honeymoon stage" of culture shock. Ha, it's true. I hope this honeymoon lasts 3 months because I like this feeling. It's true, at times during the day when I am really tired, I get a little discouraged and I don't pay attention to the spanish. But give me a 30 min. siesta and I'm good as new when I wake up! I keep waking up at 4am every day... Running on 4 hours of sleep a day is going to kill me if I'm not accustomed to the time change by tomorrow. It was nice knowing you all.

But really, it's super. I will give you a little synopsis of everyone in the household:
1. La Madre (Señora Rodriguez): What a gem. I think we are becoming good friends. She has fabulous coats. She's from León, the northern part of Spain (which we will visit as a group). I ask her questions and she has many stories to tell. I probably understand her the most out of all of them.
2. Dani (short for Daniel): The oldest son (probably 22-23). He's studying information technology at a university in the next town. He takes the car to school every day from 9-2pm. When he speaks spanish, I think of a radio commercial. He has one of those deep, sultry spanish voices that could convince you to buy anything. The other day at the dinner table, he was wearing a Chuck Norris shirt, and he had just gotten back from watching "Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs" but in spanish. They sure do like their american films. Even the ones for children. Pero, bueno. A couple nights ago, he mentions McDonalds and Burger King. What followed was a conversation between him and me on which is better. The answer is obvious: Burger King. Their burgers are bigger and their fries are crispier.
3. Guillermo: El Dueño de mi corazón. "The owner of my heart". Just Kidding, mom. I haven't seen him around that much in the past couple days. He's busy with Police Academy stuff and going to the gym. He is strong. He likes to make fun of me. I don't blame him. I suck at spanish.
5. The other girls: I really like the rest of the group! We haven't seen too much of each other, but we have a fun time when we meet up. I'm excited to start classes and get to know them better.

Hillary asked about the terrain of Alcalá. It's really just a big, flat city. Lots of buildings and apartments. It takes us 20 minutes to walk to the center of Alcalá and our university. It's probably been in the 40's this week (I don't know how to convert celcius to farenheit), and it's either raining or overcast.

Yesterday (Friday), All us girls met up with landes at the train station (estación de ferrocarril. fun to say) @10:30 am to go to Madrid. First we take the train then hop on the metro to La Puerta Del Sol (el centro de Madrid). The whole trip took about 30 minutes. Madrid was just like I remembered!! I was welcomed back with open arms, applause, and quite the parade. They really didn't need to go through that much trouble. We didn't do much except walk through la Plaza Mayor, eat churros at the Chocolatería de San Gines (We all went there, too!! Our first night in Madrid), walked past el Palacio Real (Royal Palace), and then took the train back home.

Since I woke up so early again today (Saturday), I decided to go to el mercador (the market) with Señora Rodriguez. This was soooo much fun! She rolled along behind her something she called a "carro", and it looks like a suitcase. we used it to put our bags of food in. Everybody has one. She goes to this traditional market in the middle of nowhere. There are several stations set up around the store that each sell its own thing. For example, there was one for fruit, one for verduras, one for sliced meats, one for beef, one for seafood, etc. At each station is someone behind the counter that takes your order. La Señora knows all the workers and asks about their families while shopping. After the market, we crossed the street to the panadería (bread store). A pleasant aroma met my nostrils when I opened that door. There were many freshly made desserts in the windows and lots of fresh bread.

For lunch la Señora made pizza. Not your typical pizza, but very delicious. Made with eggs. Everything is made with eggs.

After lunch, Dani, Guillermo, Riley, and I played RISK, La versión del Señor de los anillos (RISK, the Lord of the Rings version). I don't even know how to play it in english!!! Let alone spanish! I was the first one dead. With Riley soon following. George would not be proud of me! All the same, it was super fun!

We met up with some girls later on and walked the streets of Alcalá.

For dinner we had spinach, fish, and bread. It was all very good! I think I am very lucky to live with this family. Other girls say that they hardly see their families and often times make their own meals. I am very very lucky! La Señora's brother is visiting and will stay with us for a few days, I think. He is a cute little man.

Anyway, tomorrow is church! Riley and I need to take a 30 minute bus ride to the building. I hope we get on the right bus!