Here I am at the internet cafe again!
Today we went out to explore the city. It´s one of the girls in the program´s birthday on Monday and she wanted to get together today to celebrate by just wandering around and shopping. It was fun, but a very long day. I´ve been out for almost 7 hours! Tomorrow I have no plans, so I think I´ll just relax and maybe watch a movie. I´ve been thinking about buying a computer game that I can play that doesn´t use the internet. I don´t know how much free time I´m going to have once I start school, though.
We start our university orientation on Monday with a placement exam. Welcome back to school! After that the professors are all going to talk about their classes so we can get an idea of what we want to take. They gave us a list already and I´m thinking about taking a Spanish art history class, a Spanish movie class, a history class, and maybe colloquial Spanish. There´s also a regular Spanish class with grammar and all that stuff that everyone has to take. We´re required to have 5 classes so we will be considered full-time students. So we´ll see how that goes.
I don´t really have much to talk about today, so I´ll keep it short.
Missing everyone!
Bethany
Saturday, January 31, 2009
January 30
1-30
Hi all! We just got back from Toledo. It is a beautiful city! It’s quite a bit smaller than Madrid, so it had more of that small town feel, and the streets were tiny. I swear some of them were less than 10 feet wide! It looked like a wide sidewalk, but there were cars and all the pedestrians had to plaster themselves to the wall in order to avoid getting hit. In the morning we went to La Catedral de Toledo, which is the Cathedral of Toledo. It was the most beautiful building I’ve ever seen! They wouldn’t allow any photos, which really is a shame, but in a way it was good because then I could concentrate on just drinking it all in instead of taking pictures. They gave us a brochure that has some pictures on it, so I took pictures of the pictures so you can see it. They’re not very good quality, but at least it’s something. It was huge, and almost every inch of the walls was carved or painted or gilded. There was a tour in English that we heard a little bit of and I think he said the main sanctuary area was five stories tall. On the sides were those little hollows with the statues and paintings, and there were effigies of cardinals and archbishops. They had a display of a bunch of the ornate golden jewelry that the bishops wore, and gilded crosses, and those things that swing the incense around (you can tell I’m not Catholic). They even had General Franco’s sword. I’m not sure how that got to be in a church, but it was there. The pillars inside the church were huge, and all made from stone. The floors were all marble. All of the ceilings were gilded or painted too. In the sacristy were a bunch of original paintings by El Greco and other famous painters I can’t remember right now. It was amazing to see them in person. There were also portraits of all the archbishops since medieval times. My absolute favorite part of the cathedral was the display of the archbishops’ vestments. The oldest one I saw was from the 14th century!! They were all elaborately embroidered, and I was trying to see on each one how the designs were sewn. Some of them even had pictures of biblical scenes, like a panel of tapestry in the front of the robe or, in one case, the entirety of the cape. They were fantastic to look at. I don’t know if everyone knows this, but medieval and Renaissance clothing is a huge interest of mine. To see garments from that era in person was surreal. I spent so long in that room that everyone else was done with the cathedral and waiting for me. Oh well, that’s just too bad; I wasn’t going to rush my chance for such an incredible experience.
After that we went to a little store where they made all sorts of things with this special technique; I don’t know what it’s called. I think it’s made on iron with 24 carat gold and silver thread pounded into an intricate design. Then it’s burned and the iron turns black and the gold and silver stay their same color, so the result is a dramatic contrast between background and pattern. Apparently there are only 12 people that make these things by hand, I think in the world. They do this on earrings, pins, plates, pictures, anything that can be decorative. There was even a picture of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza made from this in the store. It’s really beautiful. The man that makes it for the store was there working, so we could see how he did it. He had a piece of gold thread that he pushed into the iron with an awl-type thing. He worked really fast and it looked easy, but it isn’t. The store owner said it takes two days of 9 solid hours of work each just to make one 1-inch necklace pendant. I can’t even imagine how long it takes to make some of those plates or pictures! It was very cool.
We also went to the Museo Sefardi, which is a museum of all things Sefardic (the Jews that lived in Spain before they were kicked out). I can’t remember if this was just the first time in 711 or if there was also stuff from the Reconquista in 1492 under los Reyes Católicos Isabel and Fernando. It was in a synagogue, which was beautiful. There were artifacts like bits of pottery and tablets with Hebrew writing. There was a lot of gold jewelry and ancient books with beautifully painted pictures. There were some clothes there too, women’s and men’s formal religious garments, I think. Gorgeous! It was a small but interesting museum.
Toledo is where they make a lot of swords and things like that. Toledo means rapier in Spanish. So all of the little shops sold swords. There full size ones and daggers, and little letter-opener sized swords. I actually saw one of the daggers that I have hanging in my room at home at one of the stores. It was really cool, because at one store in the middle of the sword rack was a replica of King Theoden’s sword from Lord of the Rings! There was another store with a whole window display of LOTR stuff, like Sauron’s helmet, his gauntlet with the One Ring, a foot high statue of Legolas, the Evenstar, and little metal figurines of all the characters. It made me happy! J
Toledo only about a 50 minute bus ride from Madrid, so I think some of my friends and I are going to go back some weekend. It really was a fantastic trip! Now I’m really tired and I think I’m going to go to bed early.
G’night!
Bethany
Hi all! We just got back from Toledo. It is a beautiful city! It’s quite a bit smaller than Madrid, so it had more of that small town feel, and the streets were tiny. I swear some of them were less than 10 feet wide! It looked like a wide sidewalk, but there were cars and all the pedestrians had to plaster themselves to the wall in order to avoid getting hit. In the morning we went to La Catedral de Toledo, which is the Cathedral of Toledo. It was the most beautiful building I’ve ever seen! They wouldn’t allow any photos, which really is a shame, but in a way it was good because then I could concentrate on just drinking it all in instead of taking pictures. They gave us a brochure that has some pictures on it, so I took pictures of the pictures so you can see it. They’re not very good quality, but at least it’s something. It was huge, and almost every inch of the walls was carved or painted or gilded. There was a tour in English that we heard a little bit of and I think he said the main sanctuary area was five stories tall. On the sides were those little hollows with the statues and paintings, and there were effigies of cardinals and archbishops. They had a display of a bunch of the ornate golden jewelry that the bishops wore, and gilded crosses, and those things that swing the incense around (you can tell I’m not Catholic). They even had General Franco’s sword. I’m not sure how that got to be in a church, but it was there. The pillars inside the church were huge, and all made from stone. The floors were all marble. All of the ceilings were gilded or painted too. In the sacristy were a bunch of original paintings by El Greco and other famous painters I can’t remember right now. It was amazing to see them in person. There were also portraits of all the archbishops since medieval times. My absolute favorite part of the cathedral was the display of the archbishops’ vestments. The oldest one I saw was from the 14th century!! They were all elaborately embroidered, and I was trying to see on each one how the designs were sewn. Some of them even had pictures of biblical scenes, like a panel of tapestry in the front of the robe or, in one case, the entirety of the cape. They were fantastic to look at. I don’t know if everyone knows this, but medieval and Renaissance clothing is a huge interest of mine. To see garments from that era in person was surreal. I spent so long in that room that everyone else was done with the cathedral and waiting for me. Oh well, that’s just too bad; I wasn’t going to rush my chance for such an incredible experience.
After that we went to a little store where they made all sorts of things with this special technique; I don’t know what it’s called. I think it’s made on iron with 24 carat gold and silver thread pounded into an intricate design. Then it’s burned and the iron turns black and the gold and silver stay their same color, so the result is a dramatic contrast between background and pattern. Apparently there are only 12 people that make these things by hand, I think in the world. They do this on earrings, pins, plates, pictures, anything that can be decorative. There was even a picture of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza made from this in the store. It’s really beautiful. The man that makes it for the store was there working, so we could see how he did it. He had a piece of gold thread that he pushed into the iron with an awl-type thing. He worked really fast and it looked easy, but it isn’t. The store owner said it takes two days of 9 solid hours of work each just to make one 1-inch necklace pendant. I can’t even imagine how long it takes to make some of those plates or pictures! It was very cool.
We also went to the Museo Sefardi, which is a museum of all things Sefardic (the Jews that lived in Spain before they were kicked out). I can’t remember if this was just the first time in 711 or if there was also stuff from the Reconquista in 1492 under los Reyes Católicos Isabel and Fernando. It was in a synagogue, which was beautiful. There were artifacts like bits of pottery and tablets with Hebrew writing. There was a lot of gold jewelry and ancient books with beautifully painted pictures. There were some clothes there too, women’s and men’s formal religious garments, I think. Gorgeous! It was a small but interesting museum.
Toledo is where they make a lot of swords and things like that. Toledo means rapier in Spanish. So all of the little shops sold swords. There full size ones and daggers, and little letter-opener sized swords. I actually saw one of the daggers that I have hanging in my room at home at one of the stores. It was really cool, because at one store in the middle of the sword rack was a replica of King Theoden’s sword from Lord of the Rings! There was another store with a whole window display of LOTR stuff, like Sauron’s helmet, his gauntlet with the One Ring, a foot high statue of Legolas, the Evenstar, and little metal figurines of all the characters. It made me happy! J
Toledo only about a 50 minute bus ride from Madrid, so I think some of my friends and I are going to go back some weekend. It really was a fantastic trip! Now I’m really tired and I think I’m going to go to bed early.
G’night!
Bethany
January 29 again
1-29 #2
I asked my señora if it would be ok if I read in the living room. She said that the living room isn’t for reading, only for TV, because the light is really bad. I know it’s ok because there’s a lamp in there that I was reading by the other day. But she said the light is better in my room and this is where they always go to read when I’m not here. That didn’t exactly answer the matter of whether or not I was allowed in the living room, but she didn’t say specifically that I shouldn’t be in there at all. So maybe I misunderstood about the living room being just for them. I wish I knew more Spanish so this wouldn’t involve so much guesswork. If they’re watching TV tonight I’ll probably ask if I can watch with them and that should hopefully answer it once and for all. The only other circumstance I can think of is that I would be watching it without them, and I don’t think that’ll ever happen. Rosaura has made it very clear that she hates TV unless it’s the news or debates or stuff like that. I think if I watched something else in her house she might flip. Maybe I should put on the most ridiculous, offensive show I can find the next time she comes home. Just kidding; I’m not that mean. I had another longish talk about her sewing and TV, and then they told me that the metro stop where we’re supposed to meet tomorrow to go to Toledo no longer has a bus stop. I called Patricia and she’s checking online and is going to call me back. That would have sucked if we all got there and then had to go somewhere else instead. But anyway, I’m feeling like things are pretty good with the family right now. We’ll see what happens.
I can’t believe I haven’t even been here a week. Four months seems endless. School needs to start soon. I can’t believe I’m saying that.
Bethany
PS. I have re-come to the conclusion that Brahms is amazing. Whoever said that German was ugly clearly never heard the German Requiem. Incredible!
I asked my señora if it would be ok if I read in the living room. She said that the living room isn’t for reading, only for TV, because the light is really bad. I know it’s ok because there’s a lamp in there that I was reading by the other day. But she said the light is better in my room and this is where they always go to read when I’m not here. That didn’t exactly answer the matter of whether or not I was allowed in the living room, but she didn’t say specifically that I shouldn’t be in there at all. So maybe I misunderstood about the living room being just for them. I wish I knew more Spanish so this wouldn’t involve so much guesswork. If they’re watching TV tonight I’ll probably ask if I can watch with them and that should hopefully answer it once and for all. The only other circumstance I can think of is that I would be watching it without them, and I don’t think that’ll ever happen. Rosaura has made it very clear that she hates TV unless it’s the news or debates or stuff like that. I think if I watched something else in her house she might flip. Maybe I should put on the most ridiculous, offensive show I can find the next time she comes home. Just kidding; I’m not that mean. I had another longish talk about her sewing and TV, and then they told me that the metro stop where we’re supposed to meet tomorrow to go to Toledo no longer has a bus stop. I called Patricia and she’s checking online and is going to call me back. That would have sucked if we all got there and then had to go somewhere else instead. But anyway, I’m feeling like things are pretty good with the family right now. We’ll see what happens.
I can’t believe I haven’t even been here a week. Four months seems endless. School needs to start soon. I can’t believe I’m saying that.
Bethany
PS. I have re-come to the conclusion that Brahms is amazing. Whoever said that German was ugly clearly never heard the German Requiem. Incredible!
January 29
1-29
I just played a Solitaire game on my computer with a store of 725! That’s the highest score I’ve had in a long time! Mom and I used to have competitions with who could get the highest score. I got 735 once which was like 20 points higher than either of us before, and then mom got 740 within a week or two. I was so upset! But I’m rather proud of my little 725. J
Anyway.
I talked to Patricia yesterday about the living room thing with my señora. She didn’t look happy, and said it was unusual. I said I might have misunderstood some of it, and she encouraged me to ask outright if it was ok if I sat in the living room and read or something. I’m not going out tonight, so I think I’ll try it then. I’m so nervous to ask her anything like that now. But I’m just going to suck it up and do it. Maybe if they’re watching the news or something it’d be ok.
Last night some of the girls and I were going to go to a Flamenco bar that Hannah’s tour book said was free. I thought that would be fun so I agreed to go. It didn’t start until 10:30 so I knew it would probably be a late night. We found out soon before then that you need reservations and it’s not free to see the show. So they said they were going to go somewhere else. I thought they meant another flamenco, so I still went. But no. They wanted to go to bars and clubs. We first went to a really cute restaurant for sangria, but we were required to order two things of raciones with drinks, so it ended up being a lot more expensive than any of us expected, And the sangria was really strong and not very good. After that we went to a club. Actually it was the same club we went to the other day, but it was almost deserted last time and it was Ladies’ Night last night so it was busy. I have come to the conclusion that if I never go to another club in my life, it would be totally fine. There’s loud music, flashing lights, big crowds, lots of smoke, and drunken people. The music is so loud that you can’t hear the people you’re talking to, and the people are so loud that you can’t understand the music. The only things to do are drink and dance, and I don’t like to do either. So I’m not going to go out again.
I talked with my señora this morning about my diet and what I can and can’t eat. I told her that I had been losing weight for a year and a half by not eating carbs and I had taken it easy for the first week to experience Spanish food, but now I needed to crack down. She asked some questions, and then started talking about how this complicates her cooking and how if she’d know about it she would have given me to another señora who was more used to cooking for diets. I was like: oh thanks a lot. I don’t feel unwelcome enough here, so just tell me that you don’t want to have to deal with my diet and you’d prefer I lived somewhere else! I wrote on the housing sheet that I didn’t eat carbs, but I also said I didn’t think it would be a problem because I can usually find something to eat in every meal. So I guess they didn’t tell her at all. That was my mistake. I should have been more insistent with it. I think it probably would have been ok, because she does serve some things I can eat, but she pushes the food on me so much that it’s more difficult. I’m used to where the food is in the middle and you can just take what you want, but she serves only one course at a time, so if it’s spaghetti or something that I can’t eat at all, it’s already on my plate and probably considered tainted, instead of being in the communal bowl. She understood that I can’t eat macaroni, but she was going on about spaghetti and how that would be ok because the noodles are so thin and the sauce is all natural tomatoes and stuff. I told her I can’t eat spaghetti and she went back into the thing about complicating her life. She also talked about how I can just eat the regular stuff but smaller portions. Which is partially true, but even a half a piece of bread has as many carbs as I can have in probably two meals. It was a very awkward conversation. I think that she’ll comply up to a certain point, and the rest of it I’ll just have to not eat it. If I leave it enough maybe she’ll finally get the idea that I won’t eat it. She said her daughter was on a diet once, but it was so long ago that she doesn’t remember what she ate, but it was a lot of natural stuff. Natural is all well and good if it’s the right things. I did tell her not to buy any more yogurt, and then she was like, well what about the natural stuff which doesn’t have any sugar or fruit in it, and I wasn’t really sure about that because I’d never had it. So I said I would try and see if I like it. I’ll probably just tell her I don’t like it. I have my doubts about even natural yogurt. Anyway, I hope it turns out ok. I feel like everything I do pushes her buttons in some way, and I’m not even hard to live with. Except for the food thing, I guess. This morning she told me to be careful not to bump my purse on the doorframe. My cloth purse. What’s it going to do, leave a dent? Scratch the wood? I don’t understand. Oh, and she also asked me to turn off my computer when I leave, which I understand because it saves energy and they’re really energy conscious here. But that wasn’t even the reason she gave. She wanted me to turn it off because it gets hot when it’s on. Because the heat from my computer is going to scorch the table or burn down the apartment. I don’t have a problem doing it, it was just a weird reason.
I feel like I’ve done nothing but complain on these blogs; I’m sorry for that. I really am enjoying the city. Today we didn’t have any activities with AYA. We were going to go to a real flamenco tonight but she found a different one that was either better or cheaper (I’m not sure which one) for next Friday. So today was all free time. I got to sleep in until 10! That was exciting for me. Then Katie and I went shopping around Sol. There are a lot of really quaint shops. We went in one that was selling all the decorations for churches like statues of Mary and Jesus, and bibles and ornate pedestals and stuff like that. It was a lot of really beautiful stuff, but I felt like I shouldn’t touch anything. Katie’s mom wanted her to get her a rosary, so she found one for 9 euros, which was a lot cheaper than I thought it would be considering the nature of the store. There were lots of touristy shops that were fun. I bought a little spoon with a picture of the royal palace for my collection. We also found a party/costume shop which was really fun. They have so many American cartoons and shows on their balloons and plates and stuff. There were Pirates of the Caribbean, the Disney princesses, Winnie the Pooh (which I think is actually originally English) and a lot of other things like that. They also had sets of plastic breasts with elastic to strap to your body. It was so weird. They’re a lot freer with that kind of stuff here. We ate at a cute little deli that had really good salad. It’s called Rodillas, which means ‘knees.’ I don’t know what that’s about. We also went to Fnac, which is a huge store that’s like a Best Buy and a bookstore all in one. I think it had 5 floors. We had fun looking at the Spanish translations of all the American movies. Some of them were exact translations, but a lot were completely different. For example, there are posters everywhere for Role Models, but they call it “Mal ejemplo” which means Bad Example, and takes all the irony out of the title. It seemed like most of the movies there were American. It really tampers with the concept of being in a foreign country when there’s so much that’s familiar.
Tomorrow we’re going to Toledo! I’m so excited. It’s supposed to be one of the more historic, beautiful cities. It’s smaller than Madrid and I think it’s about an hour away by bus. I can’t wait.
I’ll let you know how the confrontation with Rosaura goes. Bethany
I just played a Solitaire game on my computer with a store of 725! That’s the highest score I’ve had in a long time! Mom and I used to have competitions with who could get the highest score. I got 735 once which was like 20 points higher than either of us before, and then mom got 740 within a week or two. I was so upset! But I’m rather proud of my little 725. J
Anyway.
I talked to Patricia yesterday about the living room thing with my señora. She didn’t look happy, and said it was unusual. I said I might have misunderstood some of it, and she encouraged me to ask outright if it was ok if I sat in the living room and read or something. I’m not going out tonight, so I think I’ll try it then. I’m so nervous to ask her anything like that now. But I’m just going to suck it up and do it. Maybe if they’re watching the news or something it’d be ok.
Last night some of the girls and I were going to go to a Flamenco bar that Hannah’s tour book said was free. I thought that would be fun so I agreed to go. It didn’t start until 10:30 so I knew it would probably be a late night. We found out soon before then that you need reservations and it’s not free to see the show. So they said they were going to go somewhere else. I thought they meant another flamenco, so I still went. But no. They wanted to go to bars and clubs. We first went to a really cute restaurant for sangria, but we were required to order two things of raciones with drinks, so it ended up being a lot more expensive than any of us expected, And the sangria was really strong and not very good. After that we went to a club. Actually it was the same club we went to the other day, but it was almost deserted last time and it was Ladies’ Night last night so it was busy. I have come to the conclusion that if I never go to another club in my life, it would be totally fine. There’s loud music, flashing lights, big crowds, lots of smoke, and drunken people. The music is so loud that you can’t hear the people you’re talking to, and the people are so loud that you can’t understand the music. The only things to do are drink and dance, and I don’t like to do either. So I’m not going to go out again.
I talked with my señora this morning about my diet and what I can and can’t eat. I told her that I had been losing weight for a year and a half by not eating carbs and I had taken it easy for the first week to experience Spanish food, but now I needed to crack down. She asked some questions, and then started talking about how this complicates her cooking and how if she’d know about it she would have given me to another señora who was more used to cooking for diets. I was like: oh thanks a lot. I don’t feel unwelcome enough here, so just tell me that you don’t want to have to deal with my diet and you’d prefer I lived somewhere else! I wrote on the housing sheet that I didn’t eat carbs, but I also said I didn’t think it would be a problem because I can usually find something to eat in every meal. So I guess they didn’t tell her at all. That was my mistake. I should have been more insistent with it. I think it probably would have been ok, because she does serve some things I can eat, but she pushes the food on me so much that it’s more difficult. I’m used to where the food is in the middle and you can just take what you want, but she serves only one course at a time, so if it’s spaghetti or something that I can’t eat at all, it’s already on my plate and probably considered tainted, instead of being in the communal bowl. She understood that I can’t eat macaroni, but she was going on about spaghetti and how that would be ok because the noodles are so thin and the sauce is all natural tomatoes and stuff. I told her I can’t eat spaghetti and she went back into the thing about complicating her life. She also talked about how I can just eat the regular stuff but smaller portions. Which is partially true, but even a half a piece of bread has as many carbs as I can have in probably two meals. It was a very awkward conversation. I think that she’ll comply up to a certain point, and the rest of it I’ll just have to not eat it. If I leave it enough maybe she’ll finally get the idea that I won’t eat it. She said her daughter was on a diet once, but it was so long ago that she doesn’t remember what she ate, but it was a lot of natural stuff. Natural is all well and good if it’s the right things. I did tell her not to buy any more yogurt, and then she was like, well what about the natural stuff which doesn’t have any sugar or fruit in it, and I wasn’t really sure about that because I’d never had it. So I said I would try and see if I like it. I’ll probably just tell her I don’t like it. I have my doubts about even natural yogurt. Anyway, I hope it turns out ok. I feel like everything I do pushes her buttons in some way, and I’m not even hard to live with. Except for the food thing, I guess. This morning she told me to be careful not to bump my purse on the doorframe. My cloth purse. What’s it going to do, leave a dent? Scratch the wood? I don’t understand. Oh, and she also asked me to turn off my computer when I leave, which I understand because it saves energy and they’re really energy conscious here. But that wasn’t even the reason she gave. She wanted me to turn it off because it gets hot when it’s on. Because the heat from my computer is going to scorch the table or burn down the apartment. I don’t have a problem doing it, it was just a weird reason.
I feel like I’ve done nothing but complain on these blogs; I’m sorry for that. I really am enjoying the city. Today we didn’t have any activities with AYA. We were going to go to a real flamenco tonight but she found a different one that was either better or cheaper (I’m not sure which one) for next Friday. So today was all free time. I got to sleep in until 10! That was exciting for me. Then Katie and I went shopping around Sol. There are a lot of really quaint shops. We went in one that was selling all the decorations for churches like statues of Mary and Jesus, and bibles and ornate pedestals and stuff like that. It was a lot of really beautiful stuff, but I felt like I shouldn’t touch anything. Katie’s mom wanted her to get her a rosary, so she found one for 9 euros, which was a lot cheaper than I thought it would be considering the nature of the store. There were lots of touristy shops that were fun. I bought a little spoon with a picture of the royal palace for my collection. We also found a party/costume shop which was really fun. They have so many American cartoons and shows on their balloons and plates and stuff. There were Pirates of the Caribbean, the Disney princesses, Winnie the Pooh (which I think is actually originally English) and a lot of other things like that. They also had sets of plastic breasts with elastic to strap to your body. It was so weird. They’re a lot freer with that kind of stuff here. We ate at a cute little deli that had really good salad. It’s called Rodillas, which means ‘knees.’ I don’t know what that’s about. We also went to Fnac, which is a huge store that’s like a Best Buy and a bookstore all in one. I think it had 5 floors. We had fun looking at the Spanish translations of all the American movies. Some of them were exact translations, but a lot were completely different. For example, there are posters everywhere for Role Models, but they call it “Mal ejemplo” which means Bad Example, and takes all the irony out of the title. It seemed like most of the movies there were American. It really tampers with the concept of being in a foreign country when there’s so much that’s familiar.
Tomorrow we’re going to Toledo! I’m so excited. It’s supposed to be one of the more historic, beautiful cities. It’s smaller than Madrid and I think it’s about an hour away by bus. I can’t wait.
I’ll let you know how the confrontation with Rosaura goes. Bethany
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
January 28 again
I´m finally on the internet! There´s an internet place two blocks from my house where you can use it for €1 an hour. I´ve already written blogs up till this afternoon, so I don´t really have much to write now. I´m going to see about posting some pictures here or on facebook, but the computer´s kind of slow, so I don´t know if I´ll end up doing it or not. If not now, I´ll wait until I´m at the university where the internet is free.
You have no idea how good it is to be able to be on here. I can´t do skype here I don´t think, because it´s just a row of computers with tiny dividers, and I don´t want to carry on a conversation here. But hopefully I´ll be able to find a place at the university where I´ll be able to. Oh, except I won´t be there at night when people are available. Hmm. I´ll have to see.
Anyway, enjoy reading about my first few days in Madrid, crazy as they were. Are.
Bethany
You have no idea how good it is to be able to be on here. I can´t do skype here I don´t think, because it´s just a row of computers with tiny dividers, and I don´t want to carry on a conversation here. But hopefully I´ll be able to find a place at the university where I´ll be able to. Oh, except I won´t be there at night when people are available. Hmm. I´ll have to see.
Anyway, enjoy reading about my first few days in Madrid, crazy as they were. Are.
Bethany
January 28
We went to the Museo Sorolla today, which is the house where the impressionistic artist Sorolla lived, turned into a museum. It was amazing. They had a lot of his original furnishings, although they had removed some of them so people could walk around, and the walls were covered with his paintings. You could even see his studio where there were still his paintbrushes sitting on the table. I liked the art. It was something I could identify without a lot of interpretation and personal inflection and all that crap that modern art is supposed to be. He painted a lot of really wonderful water and beach scenes. One of my favorites was a group of people playing instruments out in the garden. The house is huge, and there’s a really exquisite garden outside with statues and a water fountain and everything. The stairs and a lot of the walls surrounding the yard have little mosaic-like tiles, and there are iron coats of arms on one of the walls above a bench. It was hard to believe someone actually lived there, and not very long ago. It was very cool.
After that we went back to the Parque del Retiro. It was so warm today, I took my coat off for a little bit. Then the wind picked back up again. But it doesn’t feel like January at all!
I’m going to go mosey over to the internet café now. I hope it’s not closed for siesta. It is so weird to me that stores are closed for the afternoon. Oh well, it’s not very far away; if it’s closed I’ll just walk back.
I think we’re going to go to a flamenco show tonight around 10:3. That should be fun. I hope it doesn’t go too late. I want to catch up a little on my sleep.
Hopefully I can post these today!
Bye,
Bethany
After that we went back to the Parque del Retiro. It was so warm today, I took my coat off for a little bit. Then the wind picked back up again. But it doesn’t feel like January at all!
I’m going to go mosey over to the internet café now. I hope it’s not closed for siesta. It is so weird to me that stores are closed for the afternoon. Oh well, it’s not very far away; if it’s closed I’ll just walk back.
I think we’re going to go to a flamenco show tonight around 10:3. That should be fun. I hope it doesn’t go too late. I want to catch up a little on my sleep.
Hopefully I can post these today!
Bye,
Bethany
January 27 again
I just had an intelligent conversation over dinner with Manuel and Rosaura about what I did today, and the metro system, and gas vs. electric cars, and the weather, and various other topics. I didn’t make a fool of myself today! I understood almost all of what he said and I could answer well. I feel like I participated in the conversation, too, instead of just listening, although I did that, too. When he said that it was going to rain Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, I made a face and said ew, and he got a big kick out of that, but I’m not really sure why. I guess they probably don’t say ew here. Oh well. It’s a noise that expresses my feeling, not a word, so I’m not going to stop using it. J Rosaura told me for about the fourth time that this winter was the first time in 30 years that it snowed. I wonder if she doesn’t remember she already told me or if she assumes I didn’t understand, or if she just wanted to restate her point. Again. I really don’t mind, it just seems like she repeats herself a lot. I feel like Manuel is more willing to just talk about random stuff, whereas Rosaura mostly asks questions about what my plans are and when I’m going to leave and eat at home. And makes me feel guilty about not eating everything she makes, but that’s beside the point. Anyway, I’m feeling pretty good about myself right now! J Even if we don’t really mingle or communicate much outside of mealtimes, maybe we can still connect over supper.
I’ve got nothing more to say. I just wanted to share my happiness!
Bethany
I’ve got nothing more to say. I just wanted to share my happiness!
Bethany
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