Week of Updates in Madrid

Hola mi Famila y Amigos!

It is day five in Spain and I have so much to tell you! I won't tell you everything because the blog would be very long, but already I have seen so many new and different things. I feel as though I am awakening a part of my brain that I have never used before....it's very neat. But, challenging too.

So, I am settled into the house and I believe my jet lag is gone. The family is still great and very accommodating and helpful. They feed me too much though. They sit down for every meal together (except lunch on Mon-Fri when the kids are at school) and have a feast. Breakfast is usually cookies, doughnuts (sweets they just call them)and pan/toastada (bread/toast). Lunch is chicken or fish, vegetables, crackers and cheese if you like and sometimes sopa (soup). Dinner is some sort of meat(chorizo(sausage), jamon (ham), etc.) and arroz (rice with cheese- very good!)or pasta, vegetables and then a treat after like cookies, ice cream. So, not too much different than our meals, but different flavors and such. On Friday night I hosted a little "American dinner" which the kids requested to their parents to have hamburgers, nachos and brownies. Their favorite American food. It was fun!

I went into Madrid twice now. Once was just a drive through with Pilar (host mother) and the other was yesterday to get a phone and meet a friend. I have a friend from high school here teaching English. We spoke via facebook and connected yesterday finally to grab a drink and walk around a bit. We met in Sol and walked to the Plaza Mayor- a historical and popular monument/area in Madrid. We walked around a bit and stopped in a local bar. I got vino (wine) for 4euro and it was a mini bottle that had about 2 1/2 glasses- it was very good and cheap. The bartender there happened to be doing his English homework so we helped him out a bit and also asked for his help in Spanish. All in all it was a good time.

Today is Sunday and I am relaxing with the children, just watched the Pursuit of Happiness- we watched the first half in Spanish and the second half in English. It was nice. The kids all got the flu today and are miserable. I hope it wasn't a virus that I brought! Anyhow, I am keeping my fingers crossed that I do not get it.

Now for my updates on things I have seen and heard....
Things I like:
1.) Bar Snacks. With every drink you get at a bar, you get snacks with it like peanuts, tortilla chips, crackers or corn nuts.....yummm! I love snacks!
2.) Fashion. The fashion here is different, not crazy different but interesting. They love to shop in Madrid and have ALOT of great shopping it seems, I'm looking forward to seeing more!
3.) Everyone here wants to learn English if they are not already. I would say 90% of people I have come in contact with (even on the metro or in the phone store) know a little bit of English. Think about in the USA how many people know a foreign language, not many. We need to catch up!
4.) Transportation is very clean, easy and accessible. So far, so good.

Things I do not like:
1.) My biggest complaint is the smoke. EVERYONE smokes. And I don't have a problem so much with the adults, but the kids- tons of kids smoke. You can be 14 years old here to smoke legally. I went to go pick up Jamie (son-9yr) with Pilar and kids were smoking on his playground area. I just thought it was a terrible shame to start so young and have it be accepted.
2.) Graffiti is everywhere. We typically see it in places in the US too of course, but here no place is respected enough to not have graffiti. Even the Plaza Mayor and old historical place had graffiti on it. It's not like in D.C. you see graffiti on the Washington Monument. If there was, it would be cleaned up right away.
3.) Money. Of course this is not surprising that I do not like our exchange rate right now. For every euro it is $1.35 American. Ugh, this adds up quickly.
4.) I am really missing American TV. The Office, Friends/Seinfeld reruns, Brothers & Sisters, Project Runway....it goes on. I haven't watched any TV in what feels like forever. Any updates on those would be apprecaited! Or if you know of a way I can watch them online, let me know (I already tried NBC and ABC websites, doesn't work, same with hulu.com- ugh). Oh well, things could be worse. On the brightside, bars do play American football and other US sports!

That's all for now! Thank you all for your posts and emails. I love hearing from you! Please keep me updated on the happenings back home via email!

Love and miss you all,
Holly