Odd Coincidences

Today I got to sleep in a little, and then a little more than I bargained for because last night was day light savings time. I woke up and studied for my history test all morning. One of the other girls came over and she talked us all in to going to lunch with her. She's very picky and prefers to only eat American food, so we had to go to TGI Fridays.

When we got there I was a little excited because I got to have a hamburger, I haven't had any red meat since I left California. At all people! So my hamburger was everything I dreamed it would be and made me very happy. After lunch Michelle and I had walked back to the apartment while the other girls went to see a bull fight.

I chose not to go to the bull fight because I don't think it's fair. They weaken the bull before he even sees the matador, how is that fair? I will go see a fight when the Matador's have the possibility of dying the same as the bull. One of the poor girls who went didn't know that they killed the bull every time. She thought it was just a fight, and I explained to her that yes, it is a fight to the death.

So I headed home and spent the majority of the day with Josune. It was a great day for me because she made me dinner while I sat and talked to her. We found out that both her father and my father broke their ankles and then we had to entertain them with westerns. They both prefer vacations where they drive around and stay where ever they happen to be. And they think everyone else is a fool, the only interesting difference is that my dad is in his 40s and her dad is in his 60s.

Her dad also loves to read Zane Grey books, and I remembered that I had read "Riders of the Purple Sage." When she called him later she mentioned that I had read that book. He told her that when we got home I needed to come to the house and he would give me some of the books from his collection, and let me borrow some others. He also told her to tell me that he will also give some books that are proper for a lady, not that much violence. He said that if I have read that type of book then obviously I was someone Josune should be friends with.

I then had her read an email that my dad sent me when I first got to Madrid. She loved it so much she made me read it to Alex when he got home. Both of them love my parents now and can't wait to meet them

.

Here is the email I received:

My Dearest Daughter,

I gave it a lot of thought last night and I am truly concerned for your safety. Being in a 3^rd world country has it perils! So I started thinking about your need for a sword, but then comes the total lack of upper body strength, according to the European web sites that I went to, this could be a problem. We did not talk about you carrying a lance while riding your new bull, but we can discuss this in the next few days when you have picked out the bull you will be riding (I will need to know the diameter of the horns, width and length. Spacing of the eyes is apparently very important, please keep this in mind; also something about "girth" but I think that is only if you are shipping. Shipping should not be a problem to other countries, I found that a lot of other countries have a bull exchange program, we can discuss this later).

After extensive research, I have decided that you should wear armor I can get it from Toledo in stainless steel so that it will not rust in the rain, at this point in your trip it might be something to think about. If the other girls are interested, we can get them fitted as well. The armor will take about 2 months to make, if they rush it. You will probably sustain some damage the first 2 months, but by the 3^rd month you will be on your game and the armor will come in to play (this will also allow you to hunt down the people that damaged you in the first 2 months).

Having a dagger is a must, this is something that you should pick up today at your local store.

We did not discuss carrying a hammer, but with the upper body strength issue I think we should table this for now, but I do have an alternative.

Now, this is a hammer pendant, this can be used to tap people on the head to get their attention followed by the use of the dagger. I need to know what type of metal you would like before I order this, gold and silver is too soft, they recommend staying with bronze, but this is your call. I can go with aluminum so it will be lighter, but you would have to probably tap them multiple times, again your call.

As far as the "snake dagger" it is not recommended due to trapping bits between the blades and requires constant cleaning after squirmishes, save time…..don't go with this one.

As far as a shield, the Spanish Government recommends that this be carried at all times (they do say that you have to leave them outside of bars and banks and some stores, not sure why the stores but so be it). I can order this on Monday if you like the design (they also said I can replace "Conan's name" with yours if you would like. I say leave the name, it will help instill terror.

I know that you really want to carry a mace, but it is really heavy and I say let it go unless you are going to put it on one of your pack animals.

I think that this is the style of sword that will go with the armor; light and fast moving, I say go with it……your mother I'm sure would agree.

If you let me know by Tuesday, I can go ahead and get some made up for the other girls and it will match yours (remember safety in numbers). It comes with a handy stand that you can put by the front door. Engraving is very expensive, so they will have to do this on their own. Interestingly, if you want a blood bowel to sit in the bottom of the stand it is only 5 euro's more, you can get it in wood or stainless steel (I say go with the stainless steel, cleaning will be easier).

I know that I have given you a lot to think about, but these are things that need to be taken care of as soon as possible. They need 3 full days to fit your armor as it is sent out to the local villages to be made.

Oh, KT borrowed your jeep yesterday. She said the tires seemed to be rubbing a little bit, I will take a look at it later today, I'm sure it's no big deal.

I love you Sissy and I'm thinking about you………..have way too much fun! But please, please be careful until we get you the shield and dagger as a minimum.

Love Dad

El Escorial

So I woke up this morning at seven. I was perfectly fine after last night and excited to go see El Escorial. It's a small town a little over an hour North of Madrid and it's famous for it's monastery. Stephanie, one of my other roommates, and I had a quick bite to eat and were briefly interrupted by Mandy swaying in to the bathroom. Steph wanted to know if she was sick and I let her know that no, she's still drunk. After helping her get the bathroom door back open she let us know that she didn't get home until five that morning, we then found a copy of her passport and keys on the counter. Fun.

We got to school and met up with the others, and then we headed to the Atocha station. Once we got there we bought the tickets and checked to see that we had an hour before the next train. Atocha station is actually known to be one of the most beautiful train stations in Spain. In one wing they have a large tropical garden, while walking through the garden you can see ponds full of turtles. It was so beautiful.

Finally we caught our train and headed out. Once we got there we realized that the weather is extremely different from Madrid. We were freezing! We found out which direction to go and took off. We walked through a small town until we hit a large park with one long, straight road down the middle. Unfortunately the long, straight road was completely up hill. So I had to walk about a mile up a hill in the high altitude – I almost died. But when we got close and the trees opened up we saw the most amazing view of the monastery, which Philip II also used as a palace.

We finally made it to the entrance and made our way in. First we toured the basement, which was full of the tools and materials used to build the buildings. There were also models and drawings of the construction. After that we made our way up to the art gallery, here we saw a lot of the royal painter's works. Then we toured the royal apartments, where we saw the bed that Philip slept in (really tiny) and eventually died in. We also saw a long strip of metal in the floor of one of the conference rooms that was used as an indoor sundial, I'm getting one.

We then walked back down to the mausoleum and saw all of the tombs of the royals who were buried there. A large majority of the tombs were built for the children who died before puberty. Finally we saw the inside of the basilica, which was amazing. You could stand in the center and look all the way up into the center of the dome.

After the church we walked across the small town to a small place to eat lunch. Here we found a menu del dia for 5 euros so we were pretty excited. We read through the menu and realized that though they tried to translate their Spanish into English there is some words that didn't quite make it. For instance, espegetti con crema translated into past with scum – very appetizing. I got sopa castellana, ham, egg and bread soup – which I love. And a piece of chicken with French fries. For desert we all got café con leche.

Later we headed back down to the train station to head home. On the train ride home I talked to Alex, Josune's boyfriend. He brought up that he thought it was odd that I have a Mexican accent when I talk about some things. I didn't realize that I did, but now of course I pay attention to that like crazy. I explained to him that I was raised by the Mexican family next door and that now I spend almost all my free time with Mexicans so it sounds like they're rubbing off on me.

We also were able to see the giant stone cross of the Valley of the Fallen. This cross was built by prisoners of war in the Spanish civil war and is now the burial place of Franco. It was cool to get to see it from the train because you can't really go there. It is a fascist landmark and is one of the most controversial things in Spain.

Once I got home I stopped by the store to grab a baguette and some jamon Serrano (I'm obsessed with it now) for dinner. I ran into one of the girls from the other apartment and we shopped together for a bit before heading back home. After eating my bocodillo I jumped straight into bed and passed out.

A Night for Drinking

So our roommate Mandy is pretty dramatic. Today she officially broke up with her boyfriend who she has been dating for two months. Granted, she did sign a year lease with him and move in together after a few weeks, but there ya go. I'm sure this will be a continuing saga and I don't want you all to miss.

Today after class a few of us went to grab a quick bite to eat at a small sandwich place down the street. We were talking to one of the other girls who loves to ice skate, another girl asked if she had seen ice princess because it's a cute movie. She said yeah, I was in it. She was a stunt double! Crazy huh? She got paid a ton of money that was put into a savings account that she can't get until she's 21. So now we are all dying to get the movie so she can show us her parts.

After skyping with my parents for a little bit I met some of my room mates down stairs to talk about plans for the night. It was decided that we should grab some alcohol and have a little party, just us. So I grabbed some Bacardi while everyone else was content with Smirnoff – lightweights. Josune, one of my roommates, pointed out that the Bacardi here is made in Cuba, not in Puerto Rico like at home, pretty stinkin' awesome.

So as the night went on it got more and more exciting. Mandy left to go out clubbing with some of the girls downstairs, and then the boys came over to have a drink with us. Two of them were drinking gin and tonics which I thought was very odd. I tasted one and it didn't seem that bad, but I was pretty far gone by that point. I had an amazing time, and apparently everyone enjoyed seeing this side of me. They claim that I didn't stop making jokes the whole night.

I made sure to drink three bottles of water before I went to bed and eventually I was asleep by about four in the morning. All in all, it was a great night.

El Llanto

Today was a pretty nice day. It was about 60 degrees so that's really nice weather for us. After class I went to grab a quick bite with my roommates Natalia and Michelle. We went to a small sandwich chain and I ordered un Bocodillo con bacon y queso. So that caused all kinds of hilarity because I said "baah-cone" y queso. Natalia and Michelle were laughing and laughing at me because they said I said it wrong. This is because in Mexican Spanish there is a different word for bacon, but here bacon is actually a type of ham steak thing. So when I got home I asked my resident Spaniard, Josune, and she said I was right. I was right! Hahaha Natalia still refuses to accept it so I walk around saying it as much as I can.

After spending a few hours at school for my precious internet I headed back home. Natalia and I grabbed a quick café con leche to get our caffeine boost and then actually had a pretty serious study session for our literature class which was a first for this trip. At about 7:30 we headed out to meet some of the others to go see a play called "El Llanto".

The play was based on a poem by Lorca that is about a young man who dreams of becoming a matador and an aging matador who does not want to continue fighting bulls. As we walked to the theater thunder and lightning started getting pretty intense and next thing we knew it was pouring rain. We all partnered up to huddle under each other's umbrellas and ran as quickly as we could to the theater. By the time we actually got inside my pants were soaked and my shoes and socks were actually leaking water. The theater was actually very small; it had about 100 seats, so it was interesting to see a play in such an intimate setting.

The play was fascinating. Full of Flamenco dancing and singing which was amazing to watch. I absolutely loved how passionate the performers were. The entire cast consisted of three actors and one piano player. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time, and it didn't hurt that the young Spanish man was very easy to look at.

Once the play was over we all stood up to leave, I turned to edge out of my row and the man who was sitting next to me stood up as well. A woman from the other side of theater came over and started arguing loudly and very passionately with him. They continued to yell and the argument got very heated very quickly. Meanwhile, I was directly behind him with no idea what they were saying and no way to get passed them. Eventually they settled down and I was able to leave. I asked some of the others what the fight was about and it turns out that the man had been shushing people throughout the play whenever they clapped. The woman was offended and came over to tell him so; he told her that the only thing good about the play was her because she made him laugh. She told him to respect Lorca and he said basically … Lorca. Not good. Then talking to my teachers they said this was because Lorca was killed by the Francoists and by cursing Lorca the man was showing that he was a follower of Franco. It was a very interesting discovery and my first glimpse into the serious turmoil between Spaniards over the civil war.

We eventually made it home and finished our homework.

Spring Break Planning

Today I sat through class and tried to stay awake. But after class I went upstairs and skyped my parents which was fun as always. Plus I bought my tickets for my trip to Italy! I fly into Milan on April 9^th and from there we will take the train to Venice, Florence, Pisa and Rome and then fly home on April 18^th.

I'm working on a list of all the things I have to see while I'm there and I have no idea how I'm going to fit it all into 10 days. Crazy. Thankfully I have been getting a lot of good advice from my family and anyone else who can think of anything please let me know. It's weird to think that I will be going to Italy in two weeks which is crazy.

Later that day we went and did some grocery shopping for the week, I was able to get everything for 8 Euros which is really cheap. We all mostly stayed in to work on homework that we had been putting off so it was a pretty boring night.

El Rastro

Today I woke up almost completely exhausted from yesterday at Aranjuez. I woke up early to go to school and meet a few other people and Kieren and Sian to go to El Rastro. El Rastro is an enormous flea market that happens every Sunday morning. We jumped on the metro and headed over.

On the way over I was talking to Kieren because he went to Valencia to see the giant festival. He said that the minute he got off the bus on Friday there were little kids throwing firecrackers at him. So not cool. He couldn't get over the parents lighting these big firecrackers and then handing them to their children to throw into the street. He said it took him a long time to get use to the noise and stop jumping every time a firecracker went off by his feet. On that note I was so happy that I didn't go because I would not be able to handle it. I would be a nervous wreck by the time I got home.

When we got to the market I realized just how giant it really is. It is a type of swap meet like anywhere else but it takes place throughout a big neighborhood. The booths are set up on the tiny, winding streets up and down steep hills and it seems to go on forever. We walked around for a few hours until we figured we'd since a good majority and headed home.

I tried to study during the afternoon and got a little bit done. Finally as it was getting late a few of us decided to go grab some dinner. My roommate's boyfriend was there as well and he was getting hungry so he came with us, while she took a shower. We went to a little place on the corner called El Mundo Kebab. Here we got some shaved lamb sandwiches and a couple of drinks. It was very good and after a while we headed back home.

We spent the rest of the night putting off writing our English essay and talking to each other.

Aranjuez

Today I woke up at 8, again missing Natalia. I got ready to go and Michelle and I headed to the metro to meet Doug and Sian at the train station. We had decided to go out to see a smaller city, Aranjuez, which was about 45 minutes by train south of Madrid. Michelle and I knew nothing about it but Doug said there was a palace and amazing royal gardens so we were hooked. We jumped on the train and headed out to the country side. I had brought along my eReader for the trip but Michelle and I talked the whole time, plus the other train passengers were fascinating. The majority of the train was full of people my age that had been in Madrid partying all night and were just now heading home. We watched one girl pluck her mustache for a while which was very entertaining for us.

When we pulled into the train station I was reminded of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid when their train pulls into a small town in Bolivia and it's just a square with chickens a few pigs. We pulled in and it was a very beautiful building with enough room for a small donut shop. We walked out, looked around and had no idea which way to go. We asked one of the people who were waiting for a bus and they said to go straight and then turn left. So we did. We walked down a road that was extremely straight and it seemed like a large majority of the town had come off the train with us, they kept turning off to walk into the smaller suburbs. We walked down the road which would have been beautiful if all of the trees had been in bloom, until we came upon the palace. It was just like that, one minute we were walking and the next we saw this huge palace. So we walked in and got our tickets and an audio guide and we were golden.

We started out in the courtyard and then followed the tour through the various rooms. I'm beginning to notice that the important parts of a palace are all pretty much the same. They have a large entrance with a stair case, the king's rooms on one side, the queen's rooms on the other and the throne room in the middle. They were lavishly decorated and a large majority had been re-decorated by Isabella II. I am becoming more and more fascinated by her, especially because she is so prominent in Spanish history. Then we walked down stairs and saw some of the personal items of the royal families that had lived here. We saw giant, extravagant baby cribs, toys, clothing, furniture, and a few carriages. We also saw some of the wedding dresses that some of the princesses had worn which was really fun to see.
We left the palace and walked around the garden surrounding it. They're very planned and organized like those at Versailles, with a lot of hedges and fountains. After walking around for a while we thought about what we should eat for lunch. As we came around the front of the palace there were about four or five young boys that ran up to everyone and handed out pamphlets for their restaurants. We looked through these and decided on a menu del dia that sounded great and happened to be right across the square.

A menu del dia is basically a fixed lunch. The meal also includes wine, beer or water; so in true Spanish form I had a glass of vino tinto (red wine) with my lunch. We chose our first course from a short list. I got a soup made in a dark broth with ham, egg and bread. It was a large bowl and very delicious. For the next course I got a pork chop with potatas, which turned out to be French fries, and a spiced mayonnaise sauce. Doug and Sian got salmon and a salad, and Michelle got chicken in a broth with French fries. For desert we had strawberries and cream and chocolate mousse.

Feeling revived, we headed across the town to look at the other gardens. We walked through beautiful walkways and orchards and I took hundreds of photos. We then came up to the royal boat museum and stopped in for a quick look. This turned out to be a small house full of the barges used by the kings and queens to float down rivers to other towns. They were amazingly ornate, and beautiful to look at. That is definitely saying something because I don't care too much for boats…or airplanes for that matter…sorry dad.
We left the museum and walked through the garden some more, I found a small castle they had formed out of hedges. I immediately ran over and went inside, it kinda reminded me of the fort that my cousins and I swore we had in Grandma Alice's backyard but that turned out to just be some grapevines – but it was still awesome. We saw a pond with a sort of Chinese design, or at least they tried to. We saw some peacocks and some beautiful pheasant which I have never seen before, and some geese which was not fun at all for me I ran away. We then walked to the end and found an even smaller palace but this one was closed already.

So we found a small café which consisted of a counter and a sink with tables and chairs out in the grass. We order café con leche and relaxed after such a long day of walking. As we were sitting there some of the spores, which looked like dandelion seeds, started blowing down off the trees. It was so beautiful to sit in the bright green grass covered in small daisies and have the small white seed blowing around like snow.

Finally we got up and walked the few miles to the station. Miles people. I am getting in way better shape than when I left that's for sure. We got to the station and as we walked in the train was getting ready to leave so we were able to sit down and head back to Madrid immediately. On the way home Michelle and I talked about Arizona, she was raised in Bullhead which isn't too far from Kingman. We spent a while trying to explain just how incredibly hot it can get there to Sian and she had never experienced anything like it. Then Sian mentioned how she wanted to see LA now after hearing so much about it and I immediately invited her to stay with me. She's 23 and such a sweet heart it would be perfect. So I'm going to try and convince her to come stay for a while so I can show her the sights, plus then I would have a friend who lives in England which is incredibly appealing to me.

We got home around eight and I was so exhausted I went to bed as soon as I walked in.