much has happened since I last posted. Things here are still amazing, everyday gets a little bit better. I constantly have to pinch myself to realize what I get to see.
In a nutshell this is my last couple weeks...
Two weekends ago I went to a tiny little castle town about 1 hour and a half out of Madrid with my host Dad, Pepe, and Nerea and the Morenos, which is the family I went to lunch with the last time. We walked around this historic little village and then we went to this tiny restaurant for lunch. This part of Spain is known for their lamb, so that was what we had for lunch. Lamb, salad and of course BREAD! They cook the lamb in an old fashion oven and its pretty much the whole body and lots of butter, but it was delicious. After lunch we hopped back in the car and drove about 20 mins to Segovia. Its famous in Europe for its huge aqueduct. This was probably one of the coolest places I have been in Spain. Very European, narrow streets, plazas and historic sites. That day there happened to be a festival going on in the town so there were soldiers marching through the town and tons of people dancing. It was a great day and I was blown away at all the beautiful things I had seen.
This past weekend I went to Jerez to visit my host Mom, Arantxa. It was a very clean, quiet city about 30 mins away from the Atlantic ocean. Nerea, her best friend, Sara, and I took a bus about 7 hours to Jerez. Spain is beautiful, very golden with lots of vineyards and cotton fields. It reminded me a lot of California. On my second day there I went to my host Mom's apartment on the ocean. It was absolutely beautiful. She has a place in a little fisherman's town on the Atlantic. Its really close to Cadiz. We traveled along the cost for like 3o mins and the showed me a river that runs from the ocean to Sevilla. On my second day I went to what they call a "Feria"which translates to fair. But it was actually more like a rodeo/horse show, except there was no roping or bull riding. We watched them bring horses, ponies, cows, calfs, and bulls into the ring while listening to them talk about their breeders. After, everyone gathered together for lunch and some flamenco!! Flamenco is a type of music and dance. For about 3 hours I listened and watched flamenco. Its very beautiful. The next day we took off back for Madrid and I was actually excited, I missed my new home.
Yesterday I took the day off from school and went into Central Madrid, to see more beautiful monuments and buildings. Nerea, her good friend Sergio and I went to the Royal Palace, a building where the kings and queens should live, but now you can tour it and then we went to Plaza Mayor, which is a beautiful famous plaza here in Madrid, I also go to go to Almudena Cathedral which is right next to the Royal Palace. It is the first church I have been in since I got to Europe and it blew my mind. After all the sightseeing Sergio and Nerea took me to a typical Spanish restaurant for lunch. I payed 10 euros to get 4 tapas (Little tasty combinations on a piece of bread), a main dish, drink and dessert. It was a ridiculous amount of food but absolutely delicious! Tapas are amazing, my favorite was raw salmon rolled and stuffed with crab and mayo with a special sauce and a deviled egg on top. The rest of my day consisted of a tour of a famous market here and a famous bakery and then a relaxing afternoon in Parque Retiro in the Center of Madrid. Its absolutely beautiful.
Some more funny things:
1. At my host mom's I had an "American Hamburger" that consisted of American hamburger meat dipped in mustard, mayo and ketchup. No bun or veggies. Ha
2. The eat their pancakes with hershey's syrup.
3. The smoking is starting to drive me crazy. During recess at my school, everyone goes and smokes even 13 year olds.
4. Everyone thinks its so weird that I have natural pink cheeks.
5. Spanish people can never make up their minds, it takes them like 30 mins to decide where to go for lunch.
Language is getting better, I am starting to understand a lot more. All I need is time. I will soon be reading Harry Potter in spanish to help me out..
This weekend I am taking the train to Southern Spain with Nerea and we are going to Sevilla and then Granada. Monday is a holiday for Spain so I am going to Granada for a fiesta!
I can't believe I have been here a month today and I have already done all this traveling.
Hope all is well, I am sending snow wishes for Tahoe.
All good thoughts*
Dev
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