Mi Familia Española

My room!

The last few days have been pretty routine; class, homework, and meals. Thursday we were in class from 9:00 - 11:00, 11:30 - 1:30, and 3:00 - 5:00. The breaks are not long enough to go back to my house so usually we end up eating in the Plaza and after our last class, we booked our trip to Valencia, Spain for next weekend! Quite a long day but I can't wait to swim in the Mediterranean!
The best part of this new routine is the time I get to spend with my host family. I know I keep raving about them, but they truly are the best. Wednesday night, Laura, Cris and I went out for drinks (and tapas of course!) with one of Laura's friend (also happened to be name Laura) and her mom, Carmen. Carmen grew up in the United States and on a U.S. military base in Spain so speaks English perfectly. After living in Spain for so many years and marrying a Spanish man her Spanish is also perfect! I was given permission to talk to her in English, which was definitely a breath of fresh air. Instead of just getting the overall concepts of what my family is talking about I finally was able to understand the details! Carmen and Laura are both extremely kind and leave for a trip to New York City next week, but hopefully I will see more of them when they return.
Over the last two days I have for some reason decided to try and explain and describe concepts that are difficult to understand in English, let alone in my broken Spanish. Describing Rosemary Pool took over 30 minutes and when I explained how it is in a lake and only has three walls Laura and Cris were sure I was either getting my words mixed up or lying. I ended up needing a picture to help me, but they finally got the general idea. After that fiasco on Wednesday night, I set myself up again last night trying to describe how I was called up on stage at Blue Man Group. My stories in English are sub-par to say the least, so I am sure you can imagine how great my story sounded when it was missing words. After showing them a video of the twinkie scene which I participated in, they were all very entertained and I think I slightly redeemed myself. Thank God for the internet!
I am glad to be spending the weekend in Alcalá after the first week of classes, it is nice not to have to worry about packing for a trip. On Sunday there is a huge flee-market in Madrid we are planning on going to, hopefully I will be able to find some good gifts!

Muchos Besos!

La Plaza de Cervantes