Well it seems yesterday I forgot to tell you about my plans, im going to Ireland this weekend to see The Lawrence Arms a chicago punk band. Today when I was checking over all of my stuff I came across a problem, one of the plane tickets i purchased wasnt correct, i had bought the wrong time slot.
After about an hours of trying to fix it I had to stop because I was so frustrated. I calmed down and realized the only way to make this still work is to eat the first ticket and buy another. Its not the worst thing that can happen it just fuckin pisses me off dealing with Ryan Air another time because they suck ass, but at the same time offer cheap flights so you have to deal.
Today the kids and I played outside and played a lot of different games. We decided that it would be a good idea to cook something small to go with the pallea we had for dinner. Everyone would be home tonight so we figured if we cooked for them they could just relax and so we thats what we did.The kids decided that we needed to cook another pizza.
We went to the store to buy some groceries, returned home only to find that we had no tomato sauce. We had to quickly run back to the store and make another run through to get the sauce. After that things went smoother, the kids made the dough and I helped Miguel with the sauce and the spices. However the kids decided the taste; which turned out really good.
Now I leave you to calm down and check on the pizza
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
Well it seems like I have a lot of catching up to do, a lot of summarizing will happen. This week was fairly mild, Monday I stayed around the house resting and looking at projects to do with the kids because this friday and the following mon+tue im here with the boys all day.
Not much else happened, I looked online at tickets for various things, had a relaxing class when the kids came back. It was the first class in over a week since the whole family was gone to San Sebastian. They had returned late Sunday night. Class was really easy going because their grandfather had just passed away so I didnt want to push it.
Sofia and I continued are ritual for starting classes on Mon, Wed, having chocolate milk. We see who can blow bubbles the fastest, most, and over the top the fastest with the milk. Sometimes messy but it helps Sofia get in a good mood for classes.
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Tues was another day at the house, it was fairly gloomy out all day so it wasnt worth a trip into madrid.
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Wed was Martha's(Language assistant) going away lunch cause she is going to do some traveling and then return home. We ate at 100 Montaditos, it is a great place on Wed. Every Montadito(bread with: meat or cheese, desert ones with chocolate, tuna+lettuce really annthing) and beer is 1 euro so it's def a good bargin.
After we ate and talked for a while I returned home to pick Sofia up from school. We started class like always and then did some translating and so on. On wed class is very short because all the kids have sports that day. Normally I will have class with Irene but she took this time to pack. Her and Sofia were going to the Canary Islands on Thurs until Tues.
Dinner had finished so I looked online and bought tickets for the next futbol match here in Madrid. Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid on Sunday evening. I told Miguel who is a huge Real Madrid fan, his life stops for the games, he doesnt eat or talk to anyone when the games on. After I told him he was really jealous and told me about the times he had gone to the matches.
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Thur was the kids last day of school before easter break. Sofia and Irene left for the Canary Islands and I stayed home to wait for the boys to return. We didnt have real class today just some talking cause they were now on break and no one wants to do classes on break.
I had a very nice conversation with my family and found out some real interesting news. My brother built the fastest pine wood derby car in his boyscout pack this year. Winning means you get a huge as trophy and get to go to Corvallis for regionals
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Friday I woke up and made breakfast for Gonzalo and I. Miguel was gone to a soccer tournament so it was just Gonzalo and I. After dinner we were quite lazy and played some games inside and then went outside to play some soccer. We took shots for a while, after we were bored with that we played a handball game that him and Miguel had invented.
After we were quite exhausted and hot, we went inside and made paper airplanes. After a couple of hours I believe we had each made four or five, flown them outside and ruined out first ones. We then had some lunch before we left for the park
Gonzalo wanted to see if one of his friends was down their so we rode down on bikes. Unlucky we started back home, however we didnt come back empty handed. We stopped at the small convenient store and bought some candy.
It was getting darker out so we played one last set of handball before going inside for the night. The kids are addicted to The Simpsons and American Dad so we sat down and watched that for a while. We kept ourselves entertained and busy until Oscar came home. We ate dinner quickly because Oscar brought home a film that he company was apart of.
It was one on the ocean, kinda like blue planet but almost two hours long and very well done, every shot taken was moving, it was never a tripod or stationary camera in the water but a scubba diver with a camera. It was really well done and Im gonna try and get a copy of it to bring back home.
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Saturday Oscar was home so we relaxed, Gonzalo and I played a couple games outside and then came in to get out of the sun. Some of Oscar's family was comming over for lunch and Oscar was going to make Paella. I watched him make it, they have a giant pan to it, it's a 2' circle.
The food was really good and as soon as it ended we were off. I got a free ride into Madrid from Oscar who had to bring Gonzalo to a party. I stayed in Madrid for several hours watching all the street performances, things from magic to music, art, etc. I had my first waffle, chocolate and whip cream here and ti was excellent.
I stayed in Madrid for a bit longer, bought a bag of candy for the match tomorrow and returned home. I got in around midnight and was surprised to see that I beat Gonzalo and Oscar home. I fell asleep before they returned so Im not sure what time they got in.
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Sunday I woke up and it was a very nice day, Oscar decided that we should go skiing for a couple of hours, of course I said I would go. So we headed off the hill that was about an hour or so away. Unfortunately there wasnt much snow. As in not much only the tow rope was open unless you wanted to hike. We still went because Gonzalo wanted to work on his snowboarding.
Oscar went hiking while we played around. This was only Gonzalo's second time on a snowboard and he has the basic falling leaf down so hes off to a great start. He got tired of hiking real fast(he didnt like the to rope) so we took a break, ate some lunch and had a snowball fight.
We hadn't seen Oscar in quite some time but had noticed someone climbing the whole mountain. We got a call about ten minuets later from Oscar, he was at the top of the mountain and was coming down and then we would leave. We went back out and did some more hiking around and I played around a bit.
We finished and returned to the house, I took a shower and went to the bus. I was going to Madrid early to pick up my ticket and have something to eat first. Little did I know that I was spring forward so I was an hour behind. After waiting for the bus for over an hour I hopped on the next one that came hoping that it stopped by Plaza Castilla, luckily it did. Soon I figured out that the match started in twenty minutes and that I was really behind.
I got on the metro, to it to the station, ran to the stadium, got my ticket, fought through the crowd of people going to their seats and arrived at mine just as the players were waling onto the field. I had a great seat, I was in the south corner, fifth section. It was far but not to far, I had a perfect view of the whole field. It could see everything that happened really clearly, I see another match sometime in my future.
The Stadium is huge, I will put up some photos. The first half of the match I had never heard a crowed of 63,000. Real Madrid was playing very poorly and was down a point. Luckily things turned around and it was a real exciting second half. Real Madrid came out on top in the end 3-2.
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Today I woke up and the kids had just gotten up themselves, Miguel had returned on Sunday from his tournament. I made breakfast again, after we finished Miguel was very tired from playing four matches and wanted to sit around for awhile, we played some games, xbox, and then went outside and played futbol for a while.
The tension between the brother started to grow so we took a break, had lunch, and relaxed. We had been talking about food and the kids said that they have only had doughnuts a couple times but love them. It's just not something normal that they eat here. Gonzalo and I went down to the store and I bought doughnuts for us in the morning; the boys are very excited. We played some more outside and now are relaxing. We are going to cook a side dish for dinner tonight and surprise Oscar
Not much else happened, I looked online at tickets for various things, had a relaxing class when the kids came back. It was the first class in over a week since the whole family was gone to San Sebastian. They had returned late Sunday night. Class was really easy going because their grandfather had just passed away so I didnt want to push it.
Sofia and I continued are ritual for starting classes on Mon, Wed, having chocolate milk. We see who can blow bubbles the fastest, most, and over the top the fastest with the milk. Sometimes messy but it helps Sofia get in a good mood for classes.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Tues was another day at the house, it was fairly gloomy out all day so it wasnt worth a trip into madrid.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Wed was Martha's(Language assistant) going away lunch cause she is going to do some traveling and then return home. We ate at 100 Montaditos, it is a great place on Wed. Every Montadito(bread with: meat or cheese, desert ones with chocolate, tuna+lettuce really annthing) and beer is 1 euro so it's def a good bargin.
After we ate and talked for a while I returned home to pick Sofia up from school. We started class like always and then did some translating and so on. On wed class is very short because all the kids have sports that day. Normally I will have class with Irene but she took this time to pack. Her and Sofia were going to the Canary Islands on Thurs until Tues.
Dinner had finished so I looked online and bought tickets for the next futbol match here in Madrid. Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid on Sunday evening. I told Miguel who is a huge Real Madrid fan, his life stops for the games, he doesnt eat or talk to anyone when the games on. After I told him he was really jealous and told me about the times he had gone to the matches.
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Thur was the kids last day of school before easter break. Sofia and Irene left for the Canary Islands and I stayed home to wait for the boys to return. We didnt have real class today just some talking cause they were now on break and no one wants to do classes on break.
I had a very nice conversation with my family and found out some real interesting news. My brother built the fastest pine wood derby car in his boyscout pack this year. Winning means you get a huge as trophy and get to go to Corvallis for regionals
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Friday I woke up and made breakfast for Gonzalo and I. Miguel was gone to a soccer tournament so it was just Gonzalo and I. After dinner we were quite lazy and played some games inside and then went outside to play some soccer. We took shots for a while, after we were bored with that we played a handball game that him and Miguel had invented.
After we were quite exhausted and hot, we went inside and made paper airplanes. After a couple of hours I believe we had each made four or five, flown them outside and ruined out first ones. We then had some lunch before we left for the park
Gonzalo wanted to see if one of his friends was down their so we rode down on bikes. Unlucky we started back home, however we didnt come back empty handed. We stopped at the small convenient store and bought some candy.
It was getting darker out so we played one last set of handball before going inside for the night. The kids are addicted to The Simpsons and American Dad so we sat down and watched that for a while. We kept ourselves entertained and busy until Oscar came home. We ate dinner quickly because Oscar brought home a film that he company was apart of.
It was one on the ocean, kinda like blue planet but almost two hours long and very well done, every shot taken was moving, it was never a tripod or stationary camera in the water but a scubba diver with a camera. It was really well done and Im gonna try and get a copy of it to bring back home.
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Saturday Oscar was home so we relaxed, Gonzalo and I played a couple games outside and then came in to get out of the sun. Some of Oscar's family was comming over for lunch and Oscar was going to make Paella. I watched him make it, they have a giant pan to it, it's a 2' circle.
The food was really good and as soon as it ended we were off. I got a free ride into Madrid from Oscar who had to bring Gonzalo to a party. I stayed in Madrid for several hours watching all the street performances, things from magic to music, art, etc. I had my first waffle, chocolate and whip cream here and ti was excellent.
I stayed in Madrid for a bit longer, bought a bag of candy for the match tomorrow and returned home. I got in around midnight and was surprised to see that I beat Gonzalo and Oscar home. I fell asleep before they returned so Im not sure what time they got in.
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Sunday I woke up and it was a very nice day, Oscar decided that we should go skiing for a couple of hours, of course I said I would go. So we headed off the hill that was about an hour or so away. Unfortunately there wasnt much snow. As in not much only the tow rope was open unless you wanted to hike. We still went because Gonzalo wanted to work on his snowboarding.
Oscar went hiking while we played around. This was only Gonzalo's second time on a snowboard and he has the basic falling leaf down so hes off to a great start. He got tired of hiking real fast(he didnt like the to rope) so we took a break, ate some lunch and had a snowball fight.
We hadn't seen Oscar in quite some time but had noticed someone climbing the whole mountain. We got a call about ten minuets later from Oscar, he was at the top of the mountain and was coming down and then we would leave. We went back out and did some more hiking around and I played around a bit.
We finished and returned to the house, I took a shower and went to the bus. I was going to Madrid early to pick up my ticket and have something to eat first. Little did I know that I was spring forward so I was an hour behind. After waiting for the bus for over an hour I hopped on the next one that came hoping that it stopped by Plaza Castilla, luckily it did. Soon I figured out that the match started in twenty minutes and that I was really behind.
I got on the metro, to it to the station, ran to the stadium, got my ticket, fought through the crowd of people going to their seats and arrived at mine just as the players were waling onto the field. I had a great seat, I was in the south corner, fifth section. It was far but not to far, I had a perfect view of the whole field. It could see everything that happened really clearly, I see another match sometime in my future.
The Stadium is huge, I will put up some photos. The first half of the match I had never heard a crowed of 63,000. Real Madrid was playing very poorly and was down a point. Luckily things turned around and it was a real exciting second half. Real Madrid came out on top in the end 3-2.
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Today I woke up and the kids had just gotten up themselves, Miguel had returned on Sunday from his tournament. I made breakfast again, after we finished Miguel was very tired from playing four matches and wanted to sit around for awhile, we played some games, xbox, and then went outside and played futbol for a while.
The tension between the brother started to grow so we took a break, had lunch, and relaxed. We had been talking about food and the kids said that they have only had doughnuts a couple times but love them. It's just not something normal that they eat here. Gonzalo and I went down to the store and I bought doughnuts for us in the morning; the boys are very excited. We played some more outside and now are relaxing. We are going to cook a side dish for dinner tonight and surprise Oscar
Monday, March 22, 2010
Before I tell you all about my amazing weekend I want to tell you the change of plans for my pictures once again. Go to snapfish.co.uk, sign in as prayingforsnow247@aol.com the password is letitsnow-no spaces. This way you dont have to follow those long links. Once you log in you should be able to see all my albums, however if some arnt there that you want to look at another time or havnt got a chance to look at go up to photos at the top and that will take you to all of my albums. Also in the slide show mode it you want to see the captions on some photos go the one of the bottons to the right and click it, it will tell you which one
This weekend I went to Valencia for the Las Fallas festival. Valencia is a coastal town in the east of Spain and is about straight across from Madrid. I left on Friday around noon for a four hour bus ride. Buss's were leaving every half hour from Madrid and everyone was mostly full.
I headed off with a new group, Felecia from Colorado, Martha from Chicago, and Abbie and Sarah from England. Once in Valencia we tried to find out where we were in relation to where we need to go. Maps in Valencia, both hand maps and ones on the side of the streets, are not as helpful as the ones I have encountered in Madrid and Koln. First they dont label all the streets, dont have a street index and dont tell you where you are in relation to everything else.
We just followed the crowed of people and started making are way into the center of the city. After we found the first falla we needed no more directions other that where do we want to go. We walked around looking at all the diffetent fallas and some drinks in a supermarket because they were way cheaper.
We headed after to the city wall(castle) looked around for a bit and watched a fresh batch of churros be made. They looked good and it was something that was going to be in my near future. We walked along the streets taking pictures of fallas and people dressed up in costumes. We all decided that we were terrible hungry for none of us had eaten much.
We walked around to find somewhere nice to eat. Eventually we a nice restaurant that served various paella's. We were quite bummed at the time to find they didnt have valencian paella. We settled for a meat one instead. When we were eating some of the meat we decided it wasnt chicken but rabbit. Not scarred we all kept eating. Side note-a few days later we found out we actually ate Valencia paella because it was made with chicken and rabit and I guess it's their vernsion.
After dinner it was dark or nearly dark and we wanted to find a falla that would be lit on fire soon. Luckily we found one quite near that was already on fire and almost completely burned. We wanted to see the real thing so we walked up the street behind us and I asked the man when it was going to be lit on fire. He said nine thirty but he lied it was more like ten thirty.
This was the first falla that I got to see light on fire and I wasnt sure what to expect. They wrapped it in wire that had maybe firecrackers or flares to catch things on fire. Then they repeatedly stabbed holes in it and poured kerosene all over it. The fireworks started which announced to everyone that this was about to start.
A guy goes and lights the fuse, the wire that was wrapped around the falla, I was thinking that it was going to be a fuse and take some time, wrong. He lights it and within 2 seconds the fire travels 15 feet and bursting the falla into flames. It wasnt a settle burst either it was a loud explosion, normally these dont bother me but this one was loud, as soon as it went off I was engulfed in to much heat and debris hit me in the face. So I scooted back a bit to finish my picture taking. When it was almost all burnt out and the shock was worn off another explosion happened. I forgot that they put gun powder in the falla and around it. This explosion was louder and i felt the shock wave, scared again.
We walked around for a bit after looking for other fallas and for fresh good churros. We kept running into booths that were ridiculously expensive and most of them didnt have chocolate to serve with you churros. Upset we walked around until we found a good deal. After we headed to a big falla to watch the massive fire. This fallas was quite big and very fun to watch burn.
This one unfortunately didnt explode and had a hard time catching on fire, however it was very fun to watch burn. I cant believe the amount of work that goes into those and they just burn them every year. But great for tourism
After it burned to the ground we set near another one. We waited for over an hour and nothing happened so we left. To our great surprise the city of Valencia was almost completely closed. Nothing was open, only a select few cafe's and they were packed. We evaluated the situation, nothing was going to open 'til ten or so, its two thirty and we dont leave until 630 that evening.
With a group decision we left for the bus station, got our tickets changed for a bus leaving at three. Luckily they were free. I returned home and made some food then went to bed for a couple of hours
This weekend I went to Valencia for the Las Fallas festival. Valencia is a coastal town in the east of Spain and is about straight across from Madrid. I left on Friday around noon for a four hour bus ride. Buss's were leaving every half hour from Madrid and everyone was mostly full.
I headed off with a new group, Felecia from Colorado, Martha from Chicago, and Abbie and Sarah from England. Once in Valencia we tried to find out where we were in relation to where we need to go. Maps in Valencia, both hand maps and ones on the side of the streets, are not as helpful as the ones I have encountered in Madrid and Koln. First they dont label all the streets, dont have a street index and dont tell you where you are in relation to everything else.
We just followed the crowed of people and started making are way into the center of the city. After we found the first falla we needed no more directions other that where do we want to go. We walked around looking at all the diffetent fallas and some drinks in a supermarket because they were way cheaper.
We headed after to the city wall(castle) looked around for a bit and watched a fresh batch of churros be made. They looked good and it was something that was going to be in my near future. We walked along the streets taking pictures of fallas and people dressed up in costumes. We all decided that we were terrible hungry for none of us had eaten much.
We walked around to find somewhere nice to eat. Eventually we a nice restaurant that served various paella's. We were quite bummed at the time to find they didnt have valencian paella. We settled for a meat one instead. When we were eating some of the meat we decided it wasnt chicken but rabbit. Not scarred we all kept eating. Side note-a few days later we found out we actually ate Valencia paella because it was made with chicken and rabit and I guess it's their vernsion.
After dinner it was dark or nearly dark and we wanted to find a falla that would be lit on fire soon. Luckily we found one quite near that was already on fire and almost completely burned. We wanted to see the real thing so we walked up the street behind us and I asked the man when it was going to be lit on fire. He said nine thirty but he lied it was more like ten thirty.
This was the first falla that I got to see light on fire and I wasnt sure what to expect. They wrapped it in wire that had maybe firecrackers or flares to catch things on fire. Then they repeatedly stabbed holes in it and poured kerosene all over it. The fireworks started which announced to everyone that this was about to start.
A guy goes and lights the fuse, the wire that was wrapped around the falla, I was thinking that it was going to be a fuse and take some time, wrong. He lights it and within 2 seconds the fire travels 15 feet and bursting the falla into flames. It wasnt a settle burst either it was a loud explosion, normally these dont bother me but this one was loud, as soon as it went off I was engulfed in to much heat and debris hit me in the face. So I scooted back a bit to finish my picture taking. When it was almost all burnt out and the shock was worn off another explosion happened. I forgot that they put gun powder in the falla and around it. This explosion was louder and i felt the shock wave, scared again.
We walked around for a bit after looking for other fallas and for fresh good churros. We kept running into booths that were ridiculously expensive and most of them didnt have chocolate to serve with you churros. Upset we walked around until we found a good deal. After we headed to a big falla to watch the massive fire. This fallas was quite big and very fun to watch burn.
This one unfortunately didnt explode and had a hard time catching on fire, however it was very fun to watch burn. I cant believe the amount of work that goes into those and they just burn them every year. But great for tourism
After it burned to the ground we set near another one. We waited for over an hour and nothing happened so we left. To our great surprise the city of Valencia was almost completely closed. Nothing was open, only a select few cafe's and they were packed. We evaluated the situation, nothing was going to open 'til ten or so, its two thirty and we dont leave until 630 that evening.
With a group decision we left for the bus station, got our tickets changed for a bus leaving at three. Luckily they were free. I returned home and made some food then went to bed for a couple of hours
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Prior to yesterday my days here have been fairly calm. It has been very sunny and warm outside. I spend a good deal of time outside with the dogs, on the git fiddle, and playing soccer. The house has been very quiet because none of the family has returned from San Sebastian. It is very interesting being in another country, still not all the way settled in and in charge of someones house. Its feels different than house sitting because Im still in the learning stretch of my privileges and responsibilities to the house and family.
Since I woke up I have been thinking how to talk with my family about this weekend. Im supposed to be leaving for Valencia tomorrow. However that would mean leaving the house and the dogs alone. Ive just been thinking of how to phrase it, I dont want to sound rude because they are dealing with some very important family issues currently and I dont know how to ask them if its ok.
Some other news: I have had a different house keeper since Thursday. Margarita left for the Dominican Republic and will not return until the 28 of March. Salma has been very nice while she has been here. She makes dinner a lot and yesterday morning I had to tell her not to make me dinner because I had so many left overs. Today, well this afternoon, when I woke up and made it out of my cave I went up to the kitchen for some food and Salma has made dinner for me yet again and it looks delicious.
Well as most of you know, yesterday was St Patrick's Day, I woke up at a reasonably late time scrambled with getting out the door to meet Abbie and Sarah-both language assistance that I met here and they are both from England. We were going to do a tour of the Royal Palace. Upon arriving at the Palace we quickly learned that the Palace was closed to the public today which was a bummer. Not to be let down for it was a beautiful day; we set off to find food for a picnic.
We found a nice shop where I got a sandwich, apple, and a beer for two euros which is a great deal and went to a park for a while. We sat in the sun, ate our sandwiches, wathced people row boats and relaxed. After a fair amount of time passed we all headed back to our houses to relax before my night started.
Well the plan was for me to take a little bit of a nap since I would be out all night, but plans quickly changed. I decided to learn some new songs on the guitar, play with the dogs and doing things opposite of relaxing and conserving energy.
Around nine I headed back into the city to meet people for tonight. When I got on the bus it was mostly full of teenagers. I met abbie and we headed down to puerta del sol to meet a group of other language assistants. Having never meet these people before they were kinda hard to locate and the only other contact I had was at a jazz club until midnight.
After we waited by the bear in sol we gave up and went to a bar until later. Now that I think about it I did see them there(im meet them later that night). Abbie and I found ourselves a nice bar, it wasnt an irish bar but it didnt have a line, cover charge, and it had empty bar stools.
We sat down and ordered our first drinks of the evening. In my mind the only way you can drink beer on St Pattie's Day is by the pint. We talked for a while and after my pint we ordered a picture of sangria and enjoyed that. Soon enough it was mid night and Felica got out of her jazz club. We met up at an Irish pub and I met the rest of the group that I was supposed to meet earlier.
Finally I made it to an Irish bar so I could enjoy my pints of guiness now. We sat in the bar taking, making new friends with some of the locals and killing time. Sooner than I expected it was maybe 5ish and we left the bar to find some churros.
We were(I) was a bit distracted by one of the guys that works there cause of his really bright red wig he was wearing. We ended up talking for a bit, he was trying to convince me that he was from Ireland himself which is why he works there. This could be true but I dont know I was convinced but Abbie wasnt. He then gave us some nice St Patties Day hats and I bought us a shot of Jameson. Finally we left in search of churros. This was my first churros expereince in Spain and I have to say it was really good, unlike any others that ive had. You got to dip them in fresh warm milk chocolate. So good
After churros we walked some more to find another bar. We wanted to find a new place so w kept waking when we met some people on the side or the street, or in the street, or was it an ally? I dont know the fine details. We were talking with them and one of the three guys was rolling a joint. We stuck around for about two more minuets talking with them.
He wasnt being to discrete that he had weed. About thirty seconds after he lit his joint three men walked over, I was paying that much attention but i think felicia and abbie started to walk away. One man comes up to me and tells me its now allowed here-said it in Spanish. It was some street cops, I took the easy way out raised both my hands and said look man I dont speak any spanish ad im not from here. Felicia yelled at me to go so I quickly walked away.
We finally found a bar were we settled for about an hour. A couple interesting things happened there. First when I came back from the bathroom I sat down next to Felicia and Abbie. Some time, a short time, went by when I noticed a two men sitting next to me and behind them was a really nice guitar. I turned around to get a better look at it and the closest fellow to me said something.
I asked him if I could look at his guitar, he said no, well he didnt just say no he kind of pushed me back. I told him i didnt need to pick it up but can i look at it. He said no its nothing forget about it, i didnt hear that the first time and asked him to repeat it, he did and he was pissed. His friend quickly
Next I met a very nice deaf elder man, unfortunately i never got his name. He was very nice and fixed my shirt a couple of times so that I looked nice. I tried hard to buy him a drink, he refused, I couldnt even buy him water. I got my picture with this nice man and then we left for breakfast.
I was trying hard to stay awake the best that I could on the bus ride home but it didnt work. Luckily my head smashed off the window just in time, we were one stop before mine. I got off the bus and walked home. I didnt know at the time but i think i was speed walking/staggering whatever you want to call it back to my house.
As soon as I was in the door and headed for my room, drew the shades and went to sleep.
Since I woke up I have been thinking how to talk with my family about this weekend. Im supposed to be leaving for Valencia tomorrow. However that would mean leaving the house and the dogs alone. Ive just been thinking of how to phrase it, I dont want to sound rude because they are dealing with some very important family issues currently and I dont know how to ask them if its ok.
Some other news: I have had a different house keeper since Thursday. Margarita left for the Dominican Republic and will not return until the 28 of March. Salma has been very nice while she has been here. She makes dinner a lot and yesterday morning I had to tell her not to make me dinner because I had so many left overs. Today, well this afternoon, when I woke up and made it out of my cave I went up to the kitchen for some food and Salma has made dinner for me yet again and it looks delicious.
Well as most of you know, yesterday was St Patrick's Day, I woke up at a reasonably late time scrambled with getting out the door to meet Abbie and Sarah-both language assistance that I met here and they are both from England. We were going to do a tour of the Royal Palace. Upon arriving at the Palace we quickly learned that the Palace was closed to the public today which was a bummer. Not to be let down for it was a beautiful day; we set off to find food for a picnic.
We found a nice shop where I got a sandwich, apple, and a beer for two euros which is a great deal and went to a park for a while. We sat in the sun, ate our sandwiches, wathced people row boats and relaxed. After a fair amount of time passed we all headed back to our houses to relax before my night started.
Well the plan was for me to take a little bit of a nap since I would be out all night, but plans quickly changed. I decided to learn some new songs on the guitar, play with the dogs and doing things opposite of relaxing and conserving energy.
Around nine I headed back into the city to meet people for tonight. When I got on the bus it was mostly full of teenagers. I met abbie and we headed down to puerta del sol to meet a group of other language assistants. Having never meet these people before they were kinda hard to locate and the only other contact I had was at a jazz club until midnight.
After we waited by the bear in sol we gave up and went to a bar until later. Now that I think about it I did see them there(im meet them later that night). Abbie and I found ourselves a nice bar, it wasnt an irish bar but it didnt have a line, cover charge, and it had empty bar stools.
We sat down and ordered our first drinks of the evening. In my mind the only way you can drink beer on St Pattie's Day is by the pint. We talked for a while and after my pint we ordered a picture of sangria and enjoyed that. Soon enough it was mid night and Felica got out of her jazz club. We met up at an Irish pub and I met the rest of the group that I was supposed to meet earlier.
Finally I made it to an Irish bar so I could enjoy my pints of guiness now. We sat in the bar taking, making new friends with some of the locals and killing time. Sooner than I expected it was maybe 5ish and we left the bar to find some churros.
We were(I) was a bit distracted by one of the guys that works there cause of his really bright red wig he was wearing. We ended up talking for a bit, he was trying to convince me that he was from Ireland himself which is why he works there. This could be true but I dont know I was convinced but Abbie wasnt. He then gave us some nice St Patties Day hats and I bought us a shot of Jameson. Finally we left in search of churros. This was my first churros expereince in Spain and I have to say it was really good, unlike any others that ive had. You got to dip them in fresh warm milk chocolate. So good
After churros we walked some more to find another bar. We wanted to find a new place so w kept waking when we met some people on the side or the street, or in the street, or was it an ally? I dont know the fine details. We were talking with them and one of the three guys was rolling a joint. We stuck around for about two more minuets talking with them.
He wasnt being to discrete that he had weed. About thirty seconds after he lit his joint three men walked over, I was paying that much attention but i think felicia and abbie started to walk away. One man comes up to me and tells me its now allowed here-said it in Spanish. It was some street cops, I took the easy way out raised both my hands and said look man I dont speak any spanish ad im not from here. Felicia yelled at me to go so I quickly walked away.
We finally found a bar were we settled for about an hour. A couple interesting things happened there. First when I came back from the bathroom I sat down next to Felicia and Abbie. Some time, a short time, went by when I noticed a two men sitting next to me and behind them was a really nice guitar. I turned around to get a better look at it and the closest fellow to me said something.
I asked him if I could look at his guitar, he said no, well he didnt just say no he kind of pushed me back. I told him i didnt need to pick it up but can i look at it. He said no its nothing forget about it, i didnt hear that the first time and asked him to repeat it, he did and he was pissed. His friend quickly
Next I met a very nice deaf elder man, unfortunately i never got his name. He was very nice and fixed my shirt a couple of times so that I looked nice. I tried hard to buy him a drink, he refused, I couldnt even buy him water. I got my picture with this nice man and then we left for breakfast.
I was trying hard to stay awake the best that I could on the bus ride home but it didnt work. Luckily my head smashed off the window just in time, we were one stop before mine. I got off the bus and walked home. I didnt know at the time but i think i was speed walking/staggering whatever you want to call it back to my house.
As soon as I was in the door and headed for my room, drew the shades and went to sleep.
Monday, March 15, 2010
13.03.10
It was nice and sunny today with just a few clouds in the sky. I was planning on going into Madrid to see the Almudena Cathedral and some of the Reina Sofia. I had breakfast and got ready to leave when I got a message from Geno(i think thats how you spell his name but i have no idea). He is a kid around my age that lives here in Madrid and lives just across the bridge from me in the Urbanization Ciudalcampo.
He wanted to know if I would go skating with him and Javi(I know that this one is right). I still hadn't formally met Geno so I decided to go along. As most of you figured I didn't do much skating, mostly took pictures. I actually took a lot of photos for them and they really liked that. I think I counted around 400 when I was loading them onto my computer.
We hung out at the skate park for a couple of hours until Javi had to leave for paddle(sport kinda like racquetball). Geno and I then went to a skate park by my house for a while. There I met some other people that Geno knew: Alex, Nico, and another guy but I cant remember his name for the life of me.
We hung out for a while talking about things and eating some doughnuts. Eventually it was quite dark out and around 10:30 so I needed to go home and take care of the dogs. Currently Im the only one at the house. Everyone else went to San Sebastian this weekend to see Irene father who is not doing very well.
I went home and made myself some dinner, played the guitar for a while and then went of to bed.
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14.03.10
Woke up today and it was so sunny. Hardly any clouds in the sky and really warm, it was perfect. Got ready for today and looked at a few things on my map and book about what I wanted to see today. Unfortunately a lot of things are closed on Sunday's but I made my way around.
First stop was Plaza de Espana, I sat in the park for a couple minuets taking in the warm rays. Then before to much time was wasted I set of for the Real Palace. It is the biggest Palace in Europe, I have already seen the outside so now for the inside. Wrong this was also closed on Sunday's so I will have to wait for another day.
I went to the adjacent building Almudena Cathedral. This is a spectacular thing to see, so rich in color everywhere. I spent some time soaking it all in and taking pictures of almost the entire Cathedral. I didnt know what else to do now since most things were closed.
I set of walking in a direction looking for something interesting or somewhere good to eat. Since it was Sunday it seemed as though the whole population of Madrid was out walking through the streets and occupying every bar. I kept walking until the crowds started getting smaller and smaller, slowly leaving the heart of Madrid. I found a nice bar with mostly standing room.
I took a bit to decide but went with a large beer and a pork sandwich. This sandwich was typical, uncooked meat. However something I haven't seen before is the meat came from the wall where they were cutting it fresh of of a leg. It was still delicious none the less.
After I was satisfied I set of walking again towards the Atocha Train station to look at the construction and the Memorial from the train bombings in 2004. From the bar it was about a 30 minute walk to Atocha which was perfect considering that it was so nice outside.
Right before I got to the station I was passing a huge building and had no idea what it was, it was several stories tall and just huge. It turns out to my surprise that it was the Reina Sofia. I thought the Reina was big but not massive. I was truly amazed at the size of that art museum and a place I will be visiting shortly.
I headed across the street to Atocha, I looked at all of the construction going on, took some photos and then was off to a nearby park. This park is huge, which I should be getting used to since I am in Madrid. They had nice streams going everywhere, tons of grass for having a sit down, soccer fields, trees, lots of stuff.
I was focused on finding the small lake in this park where you can rent a boat and row around for a while. Eventually I stumbled across this due to the mass hoard of people engulfing the water/surrounding area. Many people were out here taking in the sun, looking at the couple items for sale or just spending a day out and about.
After a while my camera died, that was a bummer because there is a lot of things that I wanted to take pictures of, but that means I need to back another sunny day which will be great.
It was starting to cool down and get late so I started my journey back to a metro station that would take me Plaza Castilla where I get on a bus for home stretch. I had to make a quick stop at another ice cream store that I walked past. If I end up broke from eating ice cream every time I pass it is ok with me. I justify it as I need to try every flavor/variation from store to store.
I got home and relaxed for a while. Around 11 Oscar came home, he arrived in Madrid by train and told me that everyone else stayed behind. He will be going back possibly in a few day. He at some dinner and we talked for a bit then he went to bed. Wanting to make the most out of my day I went to bed soon after
Im working on my photos, uploading them etc. sorry its taking so long the past sites I was using doesnt let you have unlimited photos for free so its been a struggle to find a good site. Never the less they will be up soon so be looking
It was nice and sunny today with just a few clouds in the sky. I was planning on going into Madrid to see the Almudena Cathedral and some of the Reina Sofia. I had breakfast and got ready to leave when I got a message from Geno(i think thats how you spell his name but i have no idea). He is a kid around my age that lives here in Madrid and lives just across the bridge from me in the Urbanization Ciudalcampo.
He wanted to know if I would go skating with him and Javi(I know that this one is right). I still hadn't formally met Geno so I decided to go along. As most of you figured I didn't do much skating, mostly took pictures. I actually took a lot of photos for them and they really liked that. I think I counted around 400 when I was loading them onto my computer.
We hung out at the skate park for a couple of hours until Javi had to leave for paddle(sport kinda like racquetball). Geno and I then went to a skate park by my house for a while. There I met some other people that Geno knew: Alex, Nico, and another guy but I cant remember his name for the life of me.
We hung out for a while talking about things and eating some doughnuts. Eventually it was quite dark out and around 10:30 so I needed to go home and take care of the dogs. Currently Im the only one at the house. Everyone else went to San Sebastian this weekend to see Irene father who is not doing very well.
I went home and made myself some dinner, played the guitar for a while and then went of to bed.
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14.03.10
Woke up today and it was so sunny. Hardly any clouds in the sky and really warm, it was perfect. Got ready for today and looked at a few things on my map and book about what I wanted to see today. Unfortunately a lot of things are closed on Sunday's but I made my way around.
First stop was Plaza de Espana, I sat in the park for a couple minuets taking in the warm rays. Then before to much time was wasted I set of for the Real Palace. It is the biggest Palace in Europe, I have already seen the outside so now for the inside. Wrong this was also closed on Sunday's so I will have to wait for another day.
I went to the adjacent building Almudena Cathedral. This is a spectacular thing to see, so rich in color everywhere. I spent some time soaking it all in and taking pictures of almost the entire Cathedral. I didnt know what else to do now since most things were closed.
I set of walking in a direction looking for something interesting or somewhere good to eat. Since it was Sunday it seemed as though the whole population of Madrid was out walking through the streets and occupying every bar. I kept walking until the crowds started getting smaller and smaller, slowly leaving the heart of Madrid. I found a nice bar with mostly standing room.
I took a bit to decide but went with a large beer and a pork sandwich. This sandwich was typical, uncooked meat. However something I haven't seen before is the meat came from the wall where they were cutting it fresh of of a leg. It was still delicious none the less.
After I was satisfied I set of walking again towards the Atocha Train station to look at the construction and the Memorial from the train bombings in 2004. From the bar it was about a 30 minute walk to Atocha which was perfect considering that it was so nice outside.
Right before I got to the station I was passing a huge building and had no idea what it was, it was several stories tall and just huge. It turns out to my surprise that it was the Reina Sofia. I thought the Reina was big but not massive. I was truly amazed at the size of that art museum and a place I will be visiting shortly.
I headed across the street to Atocha, I looked at all of the construction going on, took some photos and then was off to a nearby park. This park is huge, which I should be getting used to since I am in Madrid. They had nice streams going everywhere, tons of grass for having a sit down, soccer fields, trees, lots of stuff.
I was focused on finding the small lake in this park where you can rent a boat and row around for a while. Eventually I stumbled across this due to the mass hoard of people engulfing the water/surrounding area. Many people were out here taking in the sun, looking at the couple items for sale or just spending a day out and about.
After a while my camera died, that was a bummer because there is a lot of things that I wanted to take pictures of, but that means I need to back another sunny day which will be great.
It was starting to cool down and get late so I started my journey back to a metro station that would take me Plaza Castilla where I get on a bus for home stretch. I had to make a quick stop at another ice cream store that I walked past. If I end up broke from eating ice cream every time I pass it is ok with me. I justify it as I need to try every flavor/variation from store to store.
I got home and relaxed for a while. Around 11 Oscar came home, he arrived in Madrid by train and told me that everyone else stayed behind. He will be going back possibly in a few day. He at some dinner and we talked for a bit then he went to bed. Wanting to make the most out of my day I went to bed soon after
Im working on my photos, uploading them etc. sorry its taking so long the past sites I was using doesnt let you have unlimited photos for free so its been a struggle to find a good site. Never the less they will be up soon so be looking
Thursday, March 11, 2010
09.03.10
I woke up today to some nice sunshine, however with my first venture outside it was freezing cold, colder then I had imagined. I returned inside and got ready for the day. I choose not to go into Madrid again because I wanted to do more investigation on my possible trip to Ireland and my trip to Valencia.
After to long of being inside I had to go out in the sun. I gathered up my beanie, trusty sweatshirt, music, and my book on Madrid and headed out. I found a nice park by the small shopping center in Santa Domingo and read for a while. It was nice to be in the sun relaxing and just breathing for a while.
After an hour or so I headed to the grocery store to pick up ingredients for cookies. Before I left I translated all the ingredients into Spanish so I would be able to find things.
Well I kinda found things, everything is arranged differently and stored in different places. Like milk, eggs, and beer not refrigerated. After about twenty minutes or so I found everything that I needed except vegetable shortening. I looked up and down every isle at least two times before asking someone.
This lady was real nice and was trying her hardest to figure out what I was looking for. She even went around the store looking for people that spoke really good English to see if I was explaining it wrong or had translated incorrectly. After all of this still no luck so I went back to the house.
After talking to Irene, trying to describe to her what I was after and researching on the internet, I came to the finding that Spain doesnt have shortening. I know that you dont need shortening to make cookies but it helps make them not so flat.
I went with Irene to pick the boys up from school because I havnt see their school yet. It's a very nice private school and I knew when we were getting close because everyone had a green sweater with gray pants.
We started class right away because when Sofia arrives around 730 we have to start the cookies so they will be ready to eat for dessert. The kids love helping in the kitchen especially with things that involve getting your hands dirty. I went through that same phase as a kid...that's a completley false statement, Im still proudly in that stage.
We got the first tray's of cookies in the oven just as Irene came into the kitchen to serve up dinner. Watching the cookies closely the kids were letting me know their status. We took them out of the oven and sure enough they were pretty flat but tasted good all the same.
We ate dinner and near the end I brought a plate of cookies over. The kids dug in right away, I think each kid at at least four cookies. They were a little misshaped but still passed the test. After dinner Gonzalo was the only one that wanted to help me with the rest of the cookies so we made a big cookie man.
After that it was time bed for the kids. Like most nights I follow soon follow to my room to prepare things and read/watch things.
Also people have been asking me questions/comments about my trip and blog, feel free to just leave the comments under the blog post. Just check back cause I will be sure an answer them. Also leave your name cause sometimes it leaves the post as anonymous; unless you are in hiding from the government, in that case let me know how i can help-except you are on the internet so they do have that information already
I woke up today to some nice sunshine, however with my first venture outside it was freezing cold, colder then I had imagined. I returned inside and got ready for the day. I choose not to go into Madrid again because I wanted to do more investigation on my possible trip to Ireland and my trip to Valencia.
After to long of being inside I had to go out in the sun. I gathered up my beanie, trusty sweatshirt, music, and my book on Madrid and headed out. I found a nice park by the small shopping center in Santa Domingo and read for a while. It was nice to be in the sun relaxing and just breathing for a while.
After an hour or so I headed to the grocery store to pick up ingredients for cookies. Before I left I translated all the ingredients into Spanish so I would be able to find things.
Well I kinda found things, everything is arranged differently and stored in different places. Like milk, eggs, and beer not refrigerated. After about twenty minutes or so I found everything that I needed except vegetable shortening. I looked up and down every isle at least two times before asking someone.
This lady was real nice and was trying her hardest to figure out what I was looking for. She even went around the store looking for people that spoke really good English to see if I was explaining it wrong or had translated incorrectly. After all of this still no luck so I went back to the house.
After talking to Irene, trying to describe to her what I was after and researching on the internet, I came to the finding that Spain doesnt have shortening. I know that you dont need shortening to make cookies but it helps make them not so flat.
I went with Irene to pick the boys up from school because I havnt see their school yet. It's a very nice private school and I knew when we were getting close because everyone had a green sweater with gray pants.
We started class right away because when Sofia arrives around 730 we have to start the cookies so they will be ready to eat for dessert. The kids love helping in the kitchen especially with things that involve getting your hands dirty. I went through that same phase as a kid...that's a completley false statement, Im still proudly in that stage.
We got the first tray's of cookies in the oven just as Irene came into the kitchen to serve up dinner. Watching the cookies closely the kids were letting me know their status. We took them out of the oven and sure enough they were pretty flat but tasted good all the same.
We ate dinner and near the end I brought a plate of cookies over. The kids dug in right away, I think each kid at at least four cookies. They were a little misshaped but still passed the test. After dinner Gonzalo was the only one that wanted to help me with the rest of the cookies so we made a big cookie man.
After that it was time bed for the kids. Like most nights I follow soon follow to my room to prepare things and read/watch things.
Also people have been asking me questions/comments about my trip and blog, feel free to just leave the comments under the blog post. Just check back cause I will be sure an answer them. Also leave your name cause sometimes it leaves the post as anonymous; unless you are in hiding from the government, in that case let me know how i can help-except you are on the internet so they do have that information already
teragigamegamulticentillion
08.03.10
It was a pretty relaxing day, I woke up to the sunshine rays like I do everyday. Stayed in bed for a while studding some spanish grammar. After breakfast and getting all ready for the day I decided to get on my computer and try to find a nice explanatory website that shows some neat things to do in Madrid
Luckily I found just that, a website called 100 things to do in Madrid, I spent the next three or so hours reading, planning, and marking on my map things and restaurants/bars that I need to go to.
Quite satisfied now with a very full agenda, I started researching for bus tickets to Valencia, Spain in the east of Spain. On the 19th of March Im going there to witness the end of the Las Fallas festival. It's an annual five day festival full of floats, costumes, etc that ends in setting giant mascots/puppets around the city and setting them on fire the last night.I would definitely google this and look at the pictures and find out more.
Found really cheap bus tickets and still in the researching mood look at a Lawrence Arms concert in Belfast, Ireland. I spent about an hour researching everything and mapping things out. I didnt purchase anything yet, I will leave that for another day until I fully decide.
It was now time to outside and play some soccer and hang out with the dogs for a bit. I go outside and I cant find the dogs anywhere, I look all over the house and again in the yard; they are nowhere to be found. I knew they must have gotten out somehow so I went of searching the neighborhood. After an hour or so I returned home just as the kids were getting home empty handed.
They weren't upset at all, they said that they always come back if they get out and wander. I started class with Gonzalo teaching him about different homonyms, synonyms etc. Then it was Miguel's turn and we just talked about different things that he likes to do and about soccer and school. Soon Irene and Sofia returned from their weekend trip to San Sebastian.
Sofia soon learned that we were not making cookies today for class but we are doing it on Tuesday. She was very mad at me and so english classes with here were a bit of a struggle to get her talking but it worked out in the end.
After dinner we relaxed for a bit, soon the kids went off to bed and Oscar came home. The dogs still hadn't returned so I went with Oscar to see if we could find them. We stopped by the local security building to see if they have heard or seen anything. They said no but you can try calling the police/city hall(im not exactly sure because they were speaking very fast if Spanish)
After a ten or so minute phone call Oscar discovered that they had been picked up by the police and he would have to pay a fine to get them back tomorrow. Relieved that they are ok we return home and tell the kids the news. Then I was beat so I went to bed
It was a pretty relaxing day, I woke up to the sunshine rays like I do everyday. Stayed in bed for a while studding some spanish grammar. After breakfast and getting all ready for the day I decided to get on my computer and try to find a nice explanatory website that shows some neat things to do in Madrid
Luckily I found just that, a website called 100 things to do in Madrid, I spent the next three or so hours reading, planning, and marking on my map things and restaurants/bars that I need to go to.
Quite satisfied now with a very full agenda, I started researching for bus tickets to Valencia, Spain in the east of Spain. On the 19th of March Im going there to witness the end of the Las Fallas festival. It's an annual five day festival full of floats, costumes, etc that ends in setting giant mascots/puppets around the city and setting them on fire the last night.I would definitely google this and look at the pictures and find out more.
Found really cheap bus tickets and still in the researching mood look at a Lawrence Arms concert in Belfast, Ireland. I spent about an hour researching everything and mapping things out. I didnt purchase anything yet, I will leave that for another day until I fully decide.
It was now time to outside and play some soccer and hang out with the dogs for a bit. I go outside and I cant find the dogs anywhere, I look all over the house and again in the yard; they are nowhere to be found. I knew they must have gotten out somehow so I went of searching the neighborhood. After an hour or so I returned home just as the kids were getting home empty handed.
They weren't upset at all, they said that they always come back if they get out and wander. I started class with Gonzalo teaching him about different homonyms, synonyms etc. Then it was Miguel's turn and we just talked about different things that he likes to do and about soccer and school. Soon Irene and Sofia returned from their weekend trip to San Sebastian.
Sofia soon learned that we were not making cookies today for class but we are doing it on Tuesday. She was very mad at me and so english classes with here were a bit of a struggle to get her talking but it worked out in the end.
After dinner we relaxed for a bit, soon the kids went off to bed and Oscar came home. The dogs still hadn't returned so I went with Oscar to see if we could find them. We stopped by the local security building to see if they have heard or seen anything. They said no but you can try calling the police/city hall(im not exactly sure because they were speaking very fast if Spanish)
After a ten or so minute phone call Oscar discovered that they had been picked up by the police and he would have to pay a fine to get them back tomorrow. Relieved that they are ok we return home and tell the kids the news. Then I was beat so I went to bed
Monday, March 8, 2010
05.03.10
This day was so uneventful, it was a sad rainy gloomy day from the time I woke up. I didnt want to walk around Madrid and be wet the whole time. I stayed in, studied some spanish, took a nap and not much else.
The kids came home and we dont have class on fridays so we hung out and played some games. Then Irene and Sofia left for San Sebastian for the weekend. Soon after Miguel and Gonzalo left to a friends house; I was left alone and bored again. A terrible way to put a day to rest.
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06.03.10
Woke up fairly early, I was going to Miguel's soccer match. It wasnt raining but it was still quite murky out. Oscar, Gonzalo, Juan(Miguel's friend) Miguel and I headed off to the match. There is over an hour of practice before the match so everyone besides Miguel went to the swimming pool.
Im sorry i might have painted you the wrong picture, it was a swimming facility. There was four giant pools outside for the summer time, a couple jacuzzis, pool for doing laps and swimming from end to end, a beginner swimming pool about three feet deep with tons of floaty toys, relaxing warm water lagoon with two separate hotubs, and finally the last room with bubble massages, huge hot tub, swimming channel/river(it had a current to swim with and wound around places) and a water slide all inside.
The kids asked me what I wanted to do, I told them it didnt matter and they chose the water slide. We went up the stair case to the entrance of the slide. It had a red/green light telling you when it was safe to go. Gonzalo went first but he didnt go down the traditional laying on the back style; he went down kicking the sides spinning him around in circles. I followed suit the same way.
I havent been on a lot of water slides but this one was quite unique. You go from pitch black, around a corner to having a few fog lights dimly lit above you, sharp corner back to pitch black, to a different go through a section of more translucent tube, around another corner and back to pitch black, through yet another corner to this very weird and out of place disco lighting in the tube, back to black and then finally out.
We switched on and off doing this and taking laps around in the river and switching up our styles going down the slide. We did everything from head first on stomachs and backs, on our knees, holding each others feet, trying to play catch and tag on the slides, Gonzalo standing up and spreading his legs and letting us go through. Eventually we did get kick off unfortunately for not obeying the rules but it was just about time for us to go watch Miguel's match anyway.
We left the pool and met Oscar to watch the match. It was quite good, this league is a pretty action packed league and some of the kids have pretty good moves at this age. It was still very soggy out because it was raining while we were swimming, making the match very exciting to watch people slide or fall in puddles.
After the match we headed of to the heart of Madrid and had lunch. It was quite interesting to hear the kids so excited to eat a Frazescos Hollywood. It is a very american dinner; classic menu of burgers, steaks, ribs, and sandwiches. The kids absolutely love this kind of food and eating here. Its a rare occasion that only happens once or twice a year. After a big ole American feast we headed of for more fun.
We went to go-kart center. This one had a track outside and inside. This wasnt no lousy run center either. You dressed up in full attire, a large red jump suit with many racing emblems on it and a helmet with a fold down mask. We got there at ten to five and the kids headed off to get ready. We were trying to buy passes but the lady said that the kids races closed at 5 and there wasn't enough time to get the kids ready and down to the track. Little did we no the kids made it down in time and we say their names on the screen.
Thankful that the kids got their shot Oscar and I bought our tickets and finished watching the kids race. You were allowed around twelve laps, depending on how fast you were you could squeeze in thirteen of even fourteen. It was an Indy style course and quite fun. Oscar and I made out the two best people in the crowed of twelve or so. It was quite fun, it wasnt on pavement but some type of hard flooring that make it fun to drift your car and squeal the tires whenever you turned sharp.
After all the fun we were off to see some of the early very basic drawings/sketches for a movie coming out. That was really neat to see, we got to see some of the drawings before we had to leave the room while Oscar conducted business.
After that long day we returned home had some dinner and watched the soccer match between Seville and Real Madrid. It was a very good match and was quite entertaining to watch and to hear/see the kids reactions when Real Madrid scored and won.
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07.03.10
Woke up today and it was kinda cloudy out but no rain which was awesome becuase I was headed into madrid. I left the house and checked my bus schedule, I had five minutes to get there before the bus left. Running as soon as I left the yard, hoping to catch the bus I was off. It's about a ten minute run from my house and as soon as I was rounding the corner to get on Guadalix(main street where the bus picks up) I saw it leaving for Madrid.
Out of luck I sat at the bus stop for an hour waiting for the next shuttle into Madrid. Missing the bus was quite unfortunate, I was supposed to meet a group of friends I have been in contact with for a movie. Now unable to make that happen since I missed the bus, I called Felicia(friend ive been talking to) and told her I would meet up with them after the movie.
While they were at the movie I walked around Madrid to the famous Plaza Mayor. It is a very nice place with paintings all over the buildings. Since I went on a sunday there was live music in the plaza and tons of people out showing of their art. After a good look around I went down calle toledo to see where this big swarm of people was coming from.
I found a huge open market that is in Madrid every Sunday. There were hundreds of booths set up lines all of the streets. You could find anything there, old records, jewelry, clothes, pots/pans, comic books, really anything that you can think of. I walked through the market which was crammed full of people. You made it about ten steps before you had to stop and wait for an opening to continue moving.
I walked around looking at everything for almost two hours. Then I headed back to Plaza del Sol; sat and ate a sandwich and a beer and waited a few minutes until the movie was out. Then i met Felicia and Christina. Felicia is from Colorado and has been here for about five weeks and Christina is from New York and this is her second week here.
We set off to find a good tapas bar to indulge in some more food. We walked around for quite some time trying to find a good place to eat. Finally we decided on a small corner cafe because it started raining on us. This was an excellent choice because I got tarta manzana. Its like an apple custard and it was delicious, a very rich and fresh taste with the apple's.
Later we walked around some more and went to a couple museums. We ended up only going to one of them the Museo Thyssen-Bornimisza because it was free. It was interesting to see but it was hard to interpret a lot of the art.
After that it was starting to get dark and Christina headed back to her house while Felicia and I went to another tapas bar near Plaza de Castilla to wait for our buses that would come in about an hour. I could not resist any longer the craving for some ice cream so I tried a new flavor of honey and graham cracker. It was very good and full of honey.
After that we headed our different ways back to our respective houses. When I got home there was no one here so I made a little snack and listened to some music. Shortly the boys and Oscar returned. Oscar made dinner and this experience was another first for me. He cooked a dish with black rice.
This dish was excellent but looked repulsive. Everything: rice, fish, and the vegetables were coated in this dark tar like substance that took the color out of everything. It looked like a pan with black water paint and rice. Gonzalo was telling me the whole time that it looks bad but taste's good, which was the truth.
After dinner we sat around for a bit and then it was off to bed. I needed some new material to teach the kids tomorrow so I started researching new things
This day was so uneventful, it was a sad rainy gloomy day from the time I woke up. I didnt want to walk around Madrid and be wet the whole time. I stayed in, studied some spanish, took a nap and not much else.
The kids came home and we dont have class on fridays so we hung out and played some games. Then Irene and Sofia left for San Sebastian for the weekend. Soon after Miguel and Gonzalo left to a friends house; I was left alone and bored again. A terrible way to put a day to rest.
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06.03.10
Woke up fairly early, I was going to Miguel's soccer match. It wasnt raining but it was still quite murky out. Oscar, Gonzalo, Juan(Miguel's friend) Miguel and I headed off to the match. There is over an hour of practice before the match so everyone besides Miguel went to the swimming pool.
Im sorry i might have painted you the wrong picture, it was a swimming facility. There was four giant pools outside for the summer time, a couple jacuzzis, pool for doing laps and swimming from end to end, a beginner swimming pool about three feet deep with tons of floaty toys, relaxing warm water lagoon with two separate hotubs, and finally the last room with bubble massages, huge hot tub, swimming channel/river(it had a current to swim with and wound around places) and a water slide all inside.
The kids asked me what I wanted to do, I told them it didnt matter and they chose the water slide. We went up the stair case to the entrance of the slide. It had a red/green light telling you when it was safe to go. Gonzalo went first but he didnt go down the traditional laying on the back style; he went down kicking the sides spinning him around in circles. I followed suit the same way.
I havent been on a lot of water slides but this one was quite unique. You go from pitch black, around a corner to having a few fog lights dimly lit above you, sharp corner back to pitch black, to a different go through a section of more translucent tube, around another corner and back to pitch black, through yet another corner to this very weird and out of place disco lighting in the tube, back to black and then finally out.
We switched on and off doing this and taking laps around in the river and switching up our styles going down the slide. We did everything from head first on stomachs and backs, on our knees, holding each others feet, trying to play catch and tag on the slides, Gonzalo standing up and spreading his legs and letting us go through. Eventually we did get kick off unfortunately for not obeying the rules but it was just about time for us to go watch Miguel's match anyway.
We left the pool and met Oscar to watch the match. It was quite good, this league is a pretty action packed league and some of the kids have pretty good moves at this age. It was still very soggy out because it was raining while we were swimming, making the match very exciting to watch people slide or fall in puddles.
After the match we headed of to the heart of Madrid and had lunch. It was quite interesting to hear the kids so excited to eat a Frazescos Hollywood. It is a very american dinner; classic menu of burgers, steaks, ribs, and sandwiches. The kids absolutely love this kind of food and eating here. Its a rare occasion that only happens once or twice a year. After a big ole American feast we headed of for more fun.
We went to go-kart center. This one had a track outside and inside. This wasnt no lousy run center either. You dressed up in full attire, a large red jump suit with many racing emblems on it and a helmet with a fold down mask. We got there at ten to five and the kids headed off to get ready. We were trying to buy passes but the lady said that the kids races closed at 5 and there wasn't enough time to get the kids ready and down to the track. Little did we no the kids made it down in time and we say their names on the screen.
Thankful that the kids got their shot Oscar and I bought our tickets and finished watching the kids race. You were allowed around twelve laps, depending on how fast you were you could squeeze in thirteen of even fourteen. It was an Indy style course and quite fun. Oscar and I made out the two best people in the crowed of twelve or so. It was quite fun, it wasnt on pavement but some type of hard flooring that make it fun to drift your car and squeal the tires whenever you turned sharp.
After all the fun we were off to see some of the early very basic drawings/sketches for a movie coming out. That was really neat to see, we got to see some of the drawings before we had to leave the room while Oscar conducted business.
After that long day we returned home had some dinner and watched the soccer match between Seville and Real Madrid. It was a very good match and was quite entertaining to watch and to hear/see the kids reactions when Real Madrid scored and won.
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07.03.10
Woke up today and it was kinda cloudy out but no rain which was awesome becuase I was headed into madrid. I left the house and checked my bus schedule, I had five minutes to get there before the bus left. Running as soon as I left the yard, hoping to catch the bus I was off. It's about a ten minute run from my house and as soon as I was rounding the corner to get on Guadalix(main street where the bus picks up) I saw it leaving for Madrid.
Out of luck I sat at the bus stop for an hour waiting for the next shuttle into Madrid. Missing the bus was quite unfortunate, I was supposed to meet a group of friends I have been in contact with for a movie. Now unable to make that happen since I missed the bus, I called Felicia(friend ive been talking to) and told her I would meet up with them after the movie.
While they were at the movie I walked around Madrid to the famous Plaza Mayor. It is a very nice place with paintings all over the buildings. Since I went on a sunday there was live music in the plaza and tons of people out showing of their art. After a good look around I went down calle toledo to see where this big swarm of people was coming from.
I found a huge open market that is in Madrid every Sunday. There were hundreds of booths set up lines all of the streets. You could find anything there, old records, jewelry, clothes, pots/pans, comic books, really anything that you can think of. I walked through the market which was crammed full of people. You made it about ten steps before you had to stop and wait for an opening to continue moving.
I walked around looking at everything for almost two hours. Then I headed back to Plaza del Sol; sat and ate a sandwich and a beer and waited a few minutes until the movie was out. Then i met Felicia and Christina. Felicia is from Colorado and has been here for about five weeks and Christina is from New York and this is her second week here.
We set off to find a good tapas bar to indulge in some more food. We walked around for quite some time trying to find a good place to eat. Finally we decided on a small corner cafe because it started raining on us. This was an excellent choice because I got tarta manzana. Its like an apple custard and it was delicious, a very rich and fresh taste with the apple's.
Later we walked around some more and went to a couple museums. We ended up only going to one of them the Museo Thyssen-Bornimisza because it was free. It was interesting to see but it was hard to interpret a lot of the art.
After that it was starting to get dark and Christina headed back to her house while Felicia and I went to another tapas bar near Plaza de Castilla to wait for our buses that would come in about an hour. I could not resist any longer the craving for some ice cream so I tried a new flavor of honey and graham cracker. It was very good and full of honey.
After that we headed our different ways back to our respective houses. When I got home there was no one here so I made a little snack and listened to some music. Shortly the boys and Oscar returned. Oscar made dinner and this experience was another first for me. He cooked a dish with black rice.
This dish was excellent but looked repulsive. Everything: rice, fish, and the vegetables were coated in this dark tar like substance that took the color out of everything. It looked like a pan with black water paint and rice. Gonzalo was telling me the whole time that it looks bad but taste's good, which was the truth.
After dinner we sat around for a bit and then it was off to bed. I needed some new material to teach the kids tomorrow so I started researching new things
Friday, March 5, 2010
02.03.10
I woke up around eight but stayed in bed for a while because it just felt better. Eventually I got up had some breakfast and when through the normal daily routines. Not to sure how this whole first time Madrid trip was going to go I set of. The only thing that I knew prior to leaving the house is that I had to get on line 171 and that takes me to the very outskirts of Madrid(My house is quite far from there)
I got to the bus stop and got on the bus. Gabe had told me that it's about a 30-40min bus ride to Plaza de Castilla. Not knowing if it was the last stop or somewhere in the between I had to ask the bus driver who said he would tell me where to get of. I thought that bus drivers in Missoula were good but they dont come close to the drivers of Madrid.
He was talking to me or others, driving, printing out tickets, setting the machine, or talking on the phone. Not once on that whole ride was he just driving. Also the streets in Madrid are very narrow and in order to make a lot of the turns he would have to be very aggressive and take up the better part of two lanes.
Finally I arrived at Plaza de Castilla. Next I went down to the Metro and match where the RCI Club(organization that helps grammar teacher get involved with activities and classes in Madrid) was on my map with the corresponding map of metro stops. Eventually I figured it out and luckily to get of at the stop I needed at Plaza de Espana I only had to take one line.
To get on the metro in Spain you have to purchase a ticket before you can even get through to where the cars stop. So this ends my ridding the rails illegally experience which is probably for the best.
Not knowing how many stops 'till Plaza de Espana I was keeping an ear open for when it announced the name of the stops. After about twenty minutes of riding I thought I had to be close, about to stops after that everyone got of the metro so I did the same. I was at plaza del sur. That is the farthest south point of Madrid.
Of course realizing that I had completely missed my spot I got back on in the opposite direction and headed back north. This time I kept a better ear open and sure enough it announced Plaza de Espana. I got off and went to street level. Madrid is huge! There are hundreds of people walking in every direction and massive buildings. I couldn't look like more of a tourist because I was taking pictures of everything and I would have to pull out my 14"x14" map out of my pocket to make sure I was headed in the right direction to RCI.
After about a half hour of walking and site seeing I found my way to the RCI buildaing...or what I thought was the RCI building. It was the address that I had gotten from their web site but the building was locked and there was no advertisement anywhere. Thinking that I may have been just a bit dyslectic and I wrote down 82 instead of 28 I headed down the street. When I arrived at 28 Ferranz it was a watch shop.
Greatly frustrated I went back to 82 Ferranz to check it out one more time; no lights, closed door, out of luck. I asked man running a magazine booth and he had no idea what I was talking about. Disappointed I started making my way back home so I wasnt late for lessons. I got back to Plaza de Castilla and had to wait about twenty minutes for a bus, in the mean time I had some sugar bread and a ham and cheese rollito.
This bus driver was not as distracted as the previous, however it still must be hard to drive a bus on streets and corners built only for compact cars. I got back home just in time as the kids were arriving. Sofia and I read and talked for class, Miguel and I talked about soccer and other things he liked and with Gonzalo we read, talked, worked on pronunciation and played pool. After I finished classes with everyone I sat down and played a couple rounds of FIFA 10 with Miguel.
Soon it was time for dinner, during dinner we talked about things and I continued to ask the kids questions, sometimes they would respond in spanish which I can partially understand but Irene wants them to only speak in english. After dinner I sat with the kids and watched their favorite shows family guy and american dad.
After about an hour of spanish television the kids went to bed and I went to my room to study some Spanish and check again on the RCI building. Sure enough after I checked the website again and used the help of google maps I confirmed that I was in the correct place just that it was closed for a few hour that afternoon. After studding I went to bed so I could get up early and find that building.
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03.03.10
I woke up to the worst sound, it was raining out and raining hard. I laid in bed for a while and decided Im not going into madrid today so I started to do some spanish and looking at other ways to teach the kids. The day was fairly unproductive and boring except the fact that I got to talk to my family for a while which was nice.
Around five Sofia came home and she had this weird look on her face. "Uh Jeremy...were you going to pick me up school today?" I was in shock and confused, we started talking and I thought I was supposed to pick her up on Mon and Thur from school but I guess not. Luckily her school is only a few blocks away so she didnt have to walk alone a long ways but I still felt terrible.
We had class while she had some snacks, we talked about making pizza and cookies for fun things to do for class and she thought that would be fun. We then read a bit until Miguel and Gonzalo got home. Then all the kids had to go off to their different sports. I had class with Irene after she got back and we talked about things that I should see in Madrid and told me all about the museums and traditions of Spain.
After class finished it was dinner time. We talked more about making Pizza and about other foods that they like, Irene thought it was a great idea if I made pizza with the kids. After dinner Miguel was telling me that tomorrow night there is going to be a soccer match; Spain vs France and asked if I wanted to watch it with him. I said yes and asked where we were going to wathc it at, he said on the projector.
Sure enough the family had projector mounted in the living room. Now I was really excited to watch the match. We went off to bed. I stayed up for a while doing emails and getting in contact with Felicia, she is another grammar teacher over here who I was in contact with before I left. She told me of some plans she had this weekend, one of which is a surprise bike tour of Madrid which sounds like the best way to get to know the city. Bed time
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04.03.10
Got up kinda early, I forgot to set my alarm but it was before 930 cause Sofia had not left for school yet. I quickly got ready and headed out for Madrid. It was a beautiful warm sunny day, it was t-shirt and jeans weather out, it felt so nice.
I headed to Plaza de Espana again. Since I had a lot of time to kill today I spent a couple hours wondering around looking at all the fountains, buildings, architecture, and spent some time relaxing in the sun.
Eventually I made my way back to 82 Ferranz to the RCI building. It looked closed again but there was a man standing just inside the door. I made some eye contact with him and he opened the door for me, he was the official door man of this building. I asked him if the RCI office was here, he told me second floor.
On the second floor the door was locked. The sign outside said it was open for a couple more hours. It took me about ten minutes of trying to open the door until I spotted a small switch that had a bell on it. Rang it and someone answered the door.
She invited me in, she was very nice, asking me about my time so far in Europe. She printed out a packet for me containing information about private spanish classes, places to buy metro and bus passes etc.
After leaving I decided to treat myself to a nice lunch. I went to a place next door called Thomas Bar. There was only one man running it so I guessed he was Thomas, but I could still be wrong. I had a good empanada, grilled cheese and ham, and a beer.
Quite satisfied I headed back to the house cause it was getting late. Just as I was walking down the street to the house Irene and the kids pulled up so I was cutting it close. We talked about phrasal verbs(verbs with prepositions today), it was a short class because Sofia wasnt there and we needed to go to the store and get stuff for pizza.
Miguel, Gonzalo, and I rode bikes down to the store. We were hoping to find everything but they didnt know where to find the box with dough mix in it, they were actually quite sure they didnt have it. After about twenty minutes in the store we found it, we also got bacon, more cheese, and tomato sauce.
We headed back home when I discovered this is the first pizza that the kids have ever made, they have only done pre-made pizza's before. We got inside and started making the dough, Gonzalo loved playing in it and Miguel joined after shortly. I started the sauce putting spices in it that smelt good and some thai pepper to give it a bit of a kick.
We let the dough rise while we went outside and played world cup. Miguel and Gonzalo are really good soccer players so this was really fun. We played for a solid 45 minutes before remembering that the dough had been rising. I checked, it was still good. Sofia had just arrived so we started rolling out the pizza's. They wanted to make two giant pizza's we didn't have enough dough for two so they rolled out the first one with thick crust while I prepared more dough.
We made the first pizza full of sauce, cheese, bacon, ham, and hotdogs. Then Sofia and I had english lessons while the dough was rising. Those went ok, she is kinda shy and doesnt like the lessons one bit because she would rather be on her tuenty(adolescent version of facebook). So we compromised today and she told me about her tuenty and we worked with verbs and prepositions.
Then we rolled out the next pizza, we made the same except we put the meats on after the sauce and put a thick layer of cheese over top of it. These pizza's looked good and they had a thick crust of almost an inch. We put them in the oven and went to watch american dad.
As the pizza's were getting close Miguel called his dad to see how close he was. Oscar was about a half hour out so we turned off the oven and let the pizza's sit in the warm oven until Oscar arrived. At ten to ten Oscar arrived and we dug into the pizza because everyone was starving. The pizza was a success, the dough even cooked all the way through which was my biggest worries about having such a thick crust.
This was the first time that I got to speak to Oscar and he told me he was in the entertainment business, working with Movies and that he had just returned from London from some job.
After dinner was finished the kids went to bed and I followed suit, it was after eleven and I was quite tired.
I woke up around eight but stayed in bed for a while because it just felt better. Eventually I got up had some breakfast and when through the normal daily routines. Not to sure how this whole first time Madrid trip was going to go I set of. The only thing that I knew prior to leaving the house is that I had to get on line 171 and that takes me to the very outskirts of Madrid(My house is quite far from there)
I got to the bus stop and got on the bus. Gabe had told me that it's about a 30-40min bus ride to Plaza de Castilla. Not knowing if it was the last stop or somewhere in the between I had to ask the bus driver who said he would tell me where to get of. I thought that bus drivers in Missoula were good but they dont come close to the drivers of Madrid.
He was talking to me or others, driving, printing out tickets, setting the machine, or talking on the phone. Not once on that whole ride was he just driving. Also the streets in Madrid are very narrow and in order to make a lot of the turns he would have to be very aggressive and take up the better part of two lanes.
Finally I arrived at Plaza de Castilla. Next I went down to the Metro and match where the RCI Club(organization that helps grammar teacher get involved with activities and classes in Madrid) was on my map with the corresponding map of metro stops. Eventually I figured it out and luckily to get of at the stop I needed at Plaza de Espana I only had to take one line.
To get on the metro in Spain you have to purchase a ticket before you can even get through to where the cars stop. So this ends my ridding the rails illegally experience which is probably for the best.
Not knowing how many stops 'till Plaza de Espana I was keeping an ear open for when it announced the name of the stops. After about twenty minutes of riding I thought I had to be close, about to stops after that everyone got of the metro so I did the same. I was at plaza del sur. That is the farthest south point of Madrid.
Of course realizing that I had completely missed my spot I got back on in the opposite direction and headed back north. This time I kept a better ear open and sure enough it announced Plaza de Espana. I got off and went to street level. Madrid is huge! There are hundreds of people walking in every direction and massive buildings. I couldn't look like more of a tourist because I was taking pictures of everything and I would have to pull out my 14"x14" map out of my pocket to make sure I was headed in the right direction to RCI.
After about a half hour of walking and site seeing I found my way to the RCI buildaing...or what I thought was the RCI building. It was the address that I had gotten from their web site but the building was locked and there was no advertisement anywhere. Thinking that I may have been just a bit dyslectic and I wrote down 82 instead of 28 I headed down the street. When I arrived at 28 Ferranz it was a watch shop.
Greatly frustrated I went back to 82 Ferranz to check it out one more time; no lights, closed door, out of luck. I asked man running a magazine booth and he had no idea what I was talking about. Disappointed I started making my way back home so I wasnt late for lessons. I got back to Plaza de Castilla and had to wait about twenty minutes for a bus, in the mean time I had some sugar bread and a ham and cheese rollito.
This bus driver was not as distracted as the previous, however it still must be hard to drive a bus on streets and corners built only for compact cars. I got back home just in time as the kids were arriving. Sofia and I read and talked for class, Miguel and I talked about soccer and other things he liked and with Gonzalo we read, talked, worked on pronunciation and played pool. After I finished classes with everyone I sat down and played a couple rounds of FIFA 10 with Miguel.
Soon it was time for dinner, during dinner we talked about things and I continued to ask the kids questions, sometimes they would respond in spanish which I can partially understand but Irene wants them to only speak in english. After dinner I sat with the kids and watched their favorite shows family guy and american dad.
After about an hour of spanish television the kids went to bed and I went to my room to study some Spanish and check again on the RCI building. Sure enough after I checked the website again and used the help of google maps I confirmed that I was in the correct place just that it was closed for a few hour that afternoon. After studding I went to bed so I could get up early and find that building.
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03.03.10
I woke up to the worst sound, it was raining out and raining hard. I laid in bed for a while and decided Im not going into madrid today so I started to do some spanish and looking at other ways to teach the kids. The day was fairly unproductive and boring except the fact that I got to talk to my family for a while which was nice.
Around five Sofia came home and she had this weird look on her face. "Uh Jeremy...were you going to pick me up school today?" I was in shock and confused, we started talking and I thought I was supposed to pick her up on Mon and Thur from school but I guess not. Luckily her school is only a few blocks away so she didnt have to walk alone a long ways but I still felt terrible.
We had class while she had some snacks, we talked about making pizza and cookies for fun things to do for class and she thought that would be fun. We then read a bit until Miguel and Gonzalo got home. Then all the kids had to go off to their different sports. I had class with Irene after she got back and we talked about things that I should see in Madrid and told me all about the museums and traditions of Spain.
After class finished it was dinner time. We talked more about making Pizza and about other foods that they like, Irene thought it was a great idea if I made pizza with the kids. After dinner Miguel was telling me that tomorrow night there is going to be a soccer match; Spain vs France and asked if I wanted to watch it with him. I said yes and asked where we were going to wathc it at, he said on the projector.
Sure enough the family had projector mounted in the living room. Now I was really excited to watch the match. We went off to bed. I stayed up for a while doing emails and getting in contact with Felicia, she is another grammar teacher over here who I was in contact with before I left. She told me of some plans she had this weekend, one of which is a surprise bike tour of Madrid which sounds like the best way to get to know the city. Bed time
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04.03.10
Got up kinda early, I forgot to set my alarm but it was before 930 cause Sofia had not left for school yet. I quickly got ready and headed out for Madrid. It was a beautiful warm sunny day, it was t-shirt and jeans weather out, it felt so nice.
I headed to Plaza de Espana again. Since I had a lot of time to kill today I spent a couple hours wondering around looking at all the fountains, buildings, architecture, and spent some time relaxing in the sun.
Eventually I made my way back to 82 Ferranz to the RCI building. It looked closed again but there was a man standing just inside the door. I made some eye contact with him and he opened the door for me, he was the official door man of this building. I asked him if the RCI office was here, he told me second floor.
On the second floor the door was locked. The sign outside said it was open for a couple more hours. It took me about ten minutes of trying to open the door until I spotted a small switch that had a bell on it. Rang it and someone answered the door.
She invited me in, she was very nice, asking me about my time so far in Europe. She printed out a packet for me containing information about private spanish classes, places to buy metro and bus passes etc.
After leaving I decided to treat myself to a nice lunch. I went to a place next door called Thomas Bar. There was only one man running it so I guessed he was Thomas, but I could still be wrong. I had a good empanada, grilled cheese and ham, and a beer.
Quite satisfied I headed back to the house cause it was getting late. Just as I was walking down the street to the house Irene and the kids pulled up so I was cutting it close. We talked about phrasal verbs(verbs with prepositions today), it was a short class because Sofia wasnt there and we needed to go to the store and get stuff for pizza.
Miguel, Gonzalo, and I rode bikes down to the store. We were hoping to find everything but they didnt know where to find the box with dough mix in it, they were actually quite sure they didnt have it. After about twenty minutes in the store we found it, we also got bacon, more cheese, and tomato sauce.
We headed back home when I discovered this is the first pizza that the kids have ever made, they have only done pre-made pizza's before. We got inside and started making the dough, Gonzalo loved playing in it and Miguel joined after shortly. I started the sauce putting spices in it that smelt good and some thai pepper to give it a bit of a kick.
We let the dough rise while we went outside and played world cup. Miguel and Gonzalo are really good soccer players so this was really fun. We played for a solid 45 minutes before remembering that the dough had been rising. I checked, it was still good. Sofia had just arrived so we started rolling out the pizza's. They wanted to make two giant pizza's we didn't have enough dough for two so they rolled out the first one with thick crust while I prepared more dough.
We made the first pizza full of sauce, cheese, bacon, ham, and hotdogs. Then Sofia and I had english lessons while the dough was rising. Those went ok, she is kinda shy and doesnt like the lessons one bit because she would rather be on her tuenty(adolescent version of facebook). So we compromised today and she told me about her tuenty and we worked with verbs and prepositions.
Then we rolled out the next pizza, we made the same except we put the meats on after the sauce and put a thick layer of cheese over top of it. These pizza's looked good and they had a thick crust of almost an inch. We put them in the oven and went to watch american dad.
As the pizza's were getting close Miguel called his dad to see how close he was. Oscar was about a half hour out so we turned off the oven and let the pizza's sit in the warm oven until Oscar arrived. At ten to ten Oscar arrived and we dug into the pizza because everyone was starving. The pizza was a success, the dough even cooked all the way through which was my biggest worries about having such a thick crust.
This was the first time that I got to speak to Oscar and he told me he was in the entertainment business, working with Movies and that he had just returned from London from some job.
After dinner was finished the kids went to bed and I followed suit, it was after eleven and I was quite tired.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
01.03.10
That morning was very interesting and i mean interesting. I was woken up around four-four thirty in the morning by someone standing over me talking German. I was completely thrown of guard by this especially since I had been awaken from a deep sleep and the only thing i could do is say "wait what?" Luckily this kid spoke English too.
He said: "you are sleeping in my bed, my bed is number 203-2 and this is that number, get out of my bed."
I didnt know what to say, it was still completely dark and no lights were on.
"Look you are in my bed, look at my receipt, see the numbers it matches this bed."
I couldnt see shit so I told him we can walk outside and look at everything. Sure enough his receipt said he should be staying in my bed. I told him I will put some clothes on and we talk it over with the front desk. He said some rude remark like you better cause your in my bed-or something along those lines, I was still quite sleepy.
He went down stair, I got dressed and went down to the locker room to get my paperwork. I met him at the front desk and he didnt look happy. We talked with the front desk man(im not sure what to call him) for almost a half an hour trying to sort this out. He couldn't find me in the computer anywhere and he said I was probably supposed to change rooms that night. Well after every we figure out that I didnt have a bed there that night and that I didnt book enough nights and the hostel was completely full.
So upset and disappointed I went back into my room-well his room and gathered up my few thing in there and went down to the lobby. Luckily in this hostel there is an upstairs smoke lounge with a couch and a few chairs so I went up there for the night.
I didn't get shit for sleep because it smelt terrible and the front desk man was blasting this cover songs. To make matters worse his cd only had about eight songs on it so I had to listen to the same song over and over
Finally but not soon enough light and morning came. I eat some breakfast fast and then headed of to the Dom to meet Gabe so we could go to the airport. We get on the metro and head to the airport. It was a very long and tiring ride. Other than thanking Gabe for inviting me to Germany and telling him about my night not much was spoken on this almost half hour ride.
We arrived at the airport over an hour early luckily. It took about fifteen minutes to get my tickets, then Gabe and I said our goodbyes, then into security. You could definitely say that I was new to how things work over there. People were just slowing "cutting" there was through line. I was cut by almost twenty people. Finally I got through as they were starting to seat the last half of my plane.
I made my way to the very last row of the plane, as bad as that seem I believe that those seats recline even farther then regular ones so I didnt mind. This take off was the first time I seriously considered if planes were meant to be flown. As soon as we take off from the airport the plane is taking plunges, moving left and right and shaking terribly. It was fun at first but this continued for almost ten minuets and everything seemed to be getting more severe.
To make things even worse I was sitting next to a lady who must have been terrified of flying and today was not a good day for her to be on a plane. With every jolt of the plane she let out a little gasp or squeak. She was glued to her chair, arms clenching the seat and the wall and her feet braced as hard as possible on the floor. The only time I saw here hands move from clenching on to things was to tighten her seat belt as tight as humanly possible.
Eventually the plane settled down and so did the lady next to me. Soon after I fell asleep. I was sleeping very peacefully and was actually dreaming of snowboarding in the Swiss-Alps. Everything was going so well, it was a nice blue bird day and there was knee deep powder. All of a sudden I hear a squeal and feel a jolt; the plane landed on the ground. I must have made some noise oh ha when the plane was landing or something because the gentleman in front of me turned around looking at me and said" Oh you that that was fun too."
Im still not sure what that meant, but I got off the plane and on to the next. Finally out of all my flights so far I finally got a window seat, I put me head against the wall and was asleep before the plane took of and woke up when when it was landing.
Still not sure what my family looked like I got off the plane a little bit nervous. Got my back and headed out of the terminal. I pulled out my poorly drawn/written sign that said OSCAR VEGA. Sure enough my worst fears were coming true. I walked up and down making eye contact with everyone and making sure that they saw my sign. I walked up and down four or five time when suddenly I heard "Jeremy?"
Irene(Mother) and Sofia(12 years) came walking into sight. Re-leaved I followed them to their car and off to their house. Sofia was a bit shy and didnt say much the whole car trip other than she just had a birthday and she got some new clothes as presents.
Soon I arrived in the beautiful suburb Santa Domingo. This is a very nice upper-middle class neighbor hood. Irene drove me around and showed my Sofia's school and the small mall in their neighborhood.
At the house I met Miguel-13, Gonzalo-9, Cata-5(Dog) and Malco-4(Dog). They are both really nice boys. Luckily they like to play soccer so we did some of that and then Miguel showed me the house. It is a very nice house, I have my own room and a shared bathroom downstairs. It was around dinner time after that so we ate and then it was time for the kids to go to bed. We didnt eat until around nine which is fairly common here in Spain.
I too went to bed so that I could catch up on the rest of my sleep and be ready for my first english lesson tomorrow.
--------------------------------------------------
02.03.10
I woke up fairly early that morning at eight to the beautiful sun and the sound of birds not chirping but whistling different tunes. I stayed in my room for a while and planned out my day and finished my slides of my family for the first english lesson.
When i left my room to go get breakfast I was very unsure of my place here. No one was home, except for the house keeper Margarita who had just arrived,so I had to help myself but felt very weird about doing so in someone else's house with out any sort of permission or introduction. All of that must have been covered in the greetings the night before. It seemed quite strange to me and what im used to to be put in a situation and all that I was told was when my classes were and what time I needed to pick Sofia up from school.
After breakfast I decided to get out and explore the neighborhood. It was a nice sunny day, perfect for a t-shirt, got some music and off i went. I walked down the main road Guadalix and then turned off and headed up the hill. I walked up the hill until i found a nice little park near the top. I sat down and read my madrid book and wrote in my journal.
Not wanting to be late for my first obligation of picking Sofia up from school I headed back to the house however I decided it would be a good/fun idea to take different roads back down to the house. This was going great until the roads I was following down started looping back up the hill but in a different direction. I had to make some fast lucky decisions and eventually found myself back on Guadalix.
With still some time to kill I headed back to the house. I played with the dogs for a bit and then walked to Sofia's school which is only a few blocks away. Only a couple minutes away I notice that Cata is following me, I figured that I left the gate open so in fear I ran back to make sure that Malco was still there.
When I got back Malco was laying inside of the closed fence. A bit confused I put Cata back in and headed back towards the school and within a few minutes Cata was right behind me again. So once again I went back and put her in the gate. This time as soon as I shut it she slips right between the vertical bars and is at my side. Frustrated and confused I took of to the school with Cata by my side.
I arrived just before school was dismissed. On the way back I asked Sofia about Cata and she said the Cata just comes and goes as she pleases and it is impossible to get her to stay in the yard.
Sofia and I returned to the house, got some food, and started our first english lesson. It was very basic and we just talked about some of the things she likes and I showed her a slide show of Missoula and of my family.
Then Gonzalo and Miguel got home. Id did about the same thing with each of the boys however with Miguel there was a lot more conversations because his english is very advanced.
After lessons we sat down for dinner of pasta. It was really good and full of cheese. Shortly after dinner it was time for bed and the kids went of to their rooms and I followed so that I could plan my next day in Madrid.
That morning was very interesting and i mean interesting. I was woken up around four-four thirty in the morning by someone standing over me talking German. I was completely thrown of guard by this especially since I had been awaken from a deep sleep and the only thing i could do is say "wait what?" Luckily this kid spoke English too.
He said: "you are sleeping in my bed, my bed is number 203-2 and this is that number, get out of my bed."
I didnt know what to say, it was still completely dark and no lights were on.
"Look you are in my bed, look at my receipt, see the numbers it matches this bed."
I couldnt see shit so I told him we can walk outside and look at everything. Sure enough his receipt said he should be staying in my bed. I told him I will put some clothes on and we talk it over with the front desk. He said some rude remark like you better cause your in my bed-or something along those lines, I was still quite sleepy.
He went down stair, I got dressed and went down to the locker room to get my paperwork. I met him at the front desk and he didnt look happy. We talked with the front desk man(im not sure what to call him) for almost a half an hour trying to sort this out. He couldn't find me in the computer anywhere and he said I was probably supposed to change rooms that night. Well after every we figure out that I didnt have a bed there that night and that I didnt book enough nights and the hostel was completely full.
So upset and disappointed I went back into my room-well his room and gathered up my few thing in there and went down to the lobby. Luckily in this hostel there is an upstairs smoke lounge with a couch and a few chairs so I went up there for the night.
I didn't get shit for sleep because it smelt terrible and the front desk man was blasting this cover songs. To make matters worse his cd only had about eight songs on it so I had to listen to the same song over and over
Finally but not soon enough light and morning came. I eat some breakfast fast and then headed of to the Dom to meet Gabe so we could go to the airport. We get on the metro and head to the airport. It was a very long and tiring ride. Other than thanking Gabe for inviting me to Germany and telling him about my night not much was spoken on this almost half hour ride.
We arrived at the airport over an hour early luckily. It took about fifteen minutes to get my tickets, then Gabe and I said our goodbyes, then into security. You could definitely say that I was new to how things work over there. People were just slowing "cutting" there was through line. I was cut by almost twenty people. Finally I got through as they were starting to seat the last half of my plane.
I made my way to the very last row of the plane, as bad as that seem I believe that those seats recline even farther then regular ones so I didnt mind. This take off was the first time I seriously considered if planes were meant to be flown. As soon as we take off from the airport the plane is taking plunges, moving left and right and shaking terribly. It was fun at first but this continued for almost ten minuets and everything seemed to be getting more severe.
To make things even worse I was sitting next to a lady who must have been terrified of flying and today was not a good day for her to be on a plane. With every jolt of the plane she let out a little gasp or squeak. She was glued to her chair, arms clenching the seat and the wall and her feet braced as hard as possible on the floor. The only time I saw here hands move from clenching on to things was to tighten her seat belt as tight as humanly possible.
Eventually the plane settled down and so did the lady next to me. Soon after I fell asleep. I was sleeping very peacefully and was actually dreaming of snowboarding in the Swiss-Alps. Everything was going so well, it was a nice blue bird day and there was knee deep powder. All of a sudden I hear a squeal and feel a jolt; the plane landed on the ground. I must have made some noise oh ha when the plane was landing or something because the gentleman in front of me turned around looking at me and said" Oh you that that was fun too."
Im still not sure what that meant, but I got off the plane and on to the next. Finally out of all my flights so far I finally got a window seat, I put me head against the wall and was asleep before the plane took of and woke up when when it was landing.
Still not sure what my family looked like I got off the plane a little bit nervous. Got my back and headed out of the terminal. I pulled out my poorly drawn/written sign that said OSCAR VEGA. Sure enough my worst fears were coming true. I walked up and down making eye contact with everyone and making sure that they saw my sign. I walked up and down four or five time when suddenly I heard "Jeremy?"
Irene(Mother) and Sofia(12 years) came walking into sight. Re-leaved I followed them to their car and off to their house. Sofia was a bit shy and didnt say much the whole car trip other than she just had a birthday and she got some new clothes as presents.
Soon I arrived in the beautiful suburb Santa Domingo. This is a very nice upper-middle class neighbor hood. Irene drove me around and showed my Sofia's school and the small mall in their neighborhood.
At the house I met Miguel-13, Gonzalo-9, Cata-5(Dog) and Malco-4(Dog). They are both really nice boys. Luckily they like to play soccer so we did some of that and then Miguel showed me the house. It is a very nice house, I have my own room and a shared bathroom downstairs. It was around dinner time after that so we ate and then it was time for the kids to go to bed. We didnt eat until around nine which is fairly common here in Spain.
I too went to bed so that I could catch up on the rest of my sleep and be ready for my first english lesson tomorrow.
--------------------------------------------------
02.03.10
I woke up fairly early that morning at eight to the beautiful sun and the sound of birds not chirping but whistling different tunes. I stayed in my room for a while and planned out my day and finished my slides of my family for the first english lesson.
When i left my room to go get breakfast I was very unsure of my place here. No one was home, except for the house keeper Margarita who had just arrived,so I had to help myself but felt very weird about doing so in someone else's house with out any sort of permission or introduction. All of that must have been covered in the greetings the night before. It seemed quite strange to me and what im used to to be put in a situation and all that I was told was when my classes were and what time I needed to pick Sofia up from school.
After breakfast I decided to get out and explore the neighborhood. It was a nice sunny day, perfect for a t-shirt, got some music and off i went. I walked down the main road Guadalix and then turned off and headed up the hill. I walked up the hill until i found a nice little park near the top. I sat down and read my madrid book and wrote in my journal.
Not wanting to be late for my first obligation of picking Sofia up from school I headed back to the house however I decided it would be a good/fun idea to take different roads back down to the house. This was going great until the roads I was following down started looping back up the hill but in a different direction. I had to make some fast lucky decisions and eventually found myself back on Guadalix.
With still some time to kill I headed back to the house. I played with the dogs for a bit and then walked to Sofia's school which is only a few blocks away. Only a couple minutes away I notice that Cata is following me, I figured that I left the gate open so in fear I ran back to make sure that Malco was still there.
When I got back Malco was laying inside of the closed fence. A bit confused I put Cata back in and headed back towards the school and within a few minutes Cata was right behind me again. So once again I went back and put her in the gate. This time as soon as I shut it she slips right between the vertical bars and is at my side. Frustrated and confused I took of to the school with Cata by my side.
I arrived just before school was dismissed. On the way back I asked Sofia about Cata and she said the Cata just comes and goes as she pleases and it is impossible to get her to stay in the yard.
Sofia and I returned to the house, got some food, and started our first english lesson. It was very basic and we just talked about some of the things she likes and I showed her a slide show of Missoula and of my family.
Then Gonzalo and Miguel got home. Id did about the same thing with each of the boys however with Miguel there was a lot more conversations because his english is very advanced.
After lessons we sat down for dinner of pasta. It was really good and full of cheese. Shortly after dinner it was time for bed and the kids went of to their rooms and I followed so that I could plan my next day in Madrid.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
28.02.10
I slept in for a bit that morning allowing myself to have a good days rest so that I could fit as much into my schedule as possible for my last day in Cologne.
I went up to the Gabe's house and we got bicycles to ride through the city. Cologne is a very bicycle friends city and it couldnt have been a better to day to ride. It was sunny a blue sky's out in every direction.
We rode into the center of Cologne which was a little more than a twenty minute bike ride. Upon entering the main shopping street we heard our dear friends Frank and Joe. We locked up our bikes and went and had another listen to them. They were excited to see us back there. Every time they play they draw in a crowd of about fifty people so it was really nice that they came and talked to us. They told us to bring them to the U.S. so that they can play, that will be a challenge that Gabe and I are looking forward to when we return home.
We both decided to go have a look at the Roman-German museum. It was truly spectacular to see all these things that have been preserved for over two thousand years. There were so many things to see from old cooking utensils, eatery, silverware, coffins, gladiator armor, money, arrow heads, spears etc. One fascinating thing that we learned is that when a slave died, on his tombstone was the name of his master and not the name of his father.
We got to see a tile floor that was composed of almost two million tiny squares about 1cm small. Pictures can be found in my blog of this tile floor, it's the one that im looking at through a window. This floor luckily survived the mass destruction of Cologne in 1945 by being carried into and stored under a bomb shelter.
It was a good time to see all of these artifacts. I was absolutely amazed in the exquisite detail on everything from the dental tools to the earrings and silverware. It was well worth the time to spend a couple of hours there.
After we finished up Gabe and I stopped by REWE a grocery store t get a lot of ingredients for the paella that we were cooking for the Hoyer's. For those who dont know it is a traditional Spanish dish consisting of: rice, green/red peppers, black beans, peas, green beans, some sort of chili's if you like it spicy, tomatoes, some sort of meat(we used shrimp and chicken), and some spices. You then decorate the final product with more red pepper slices and lemons. I plan on making one of these at home sometime cause they were delicious.
After we had dinner Gabe and I went out to meet his friend Leo, we wanted to go to the corconian and irish pub and drink some strong bow but that didnt happen because there was a bouncer at the door and Gabe forgot his id. So we headed down to the beer museum where i fell in love.
We sat down upstairs and started conversing about music and such and it turns out that Leo is into a lot of punk/hardcore music which was great. I wrote down a bunch of bands for him check out. After our first round of beer we looked at the menu and I noticed a 28% be a beer. Leo asked the waiter what that meant for me and sure enough it was what I hoped for, it was 28% alcohol beer! It's name is the Kulmbacher Eisbock. It was a very heavy dark beer that was not translucent in the least bit. It had an interesting taste, one similar to soy sauce but it was great none the less.
After that we set out for a walk and some food, we walked down to the Rhine which I needed to pee in before I left because it is always necessary to mark you territory.
We went and sat at a local bratwurst shop ate some food, talked about how much we hate Mcdonalds and other political subjects and then said our good byes.
I wouldnt have chosen to spend my last day in Germany any other way than with a good friend, a good beer and in the company of a new friend.
----------------------------------------------------------------
I slept in for a bit that morning allowing myself to have a good days rest so that I could fit as much into my schedule as possible for my last day in Cologne.
I went up to the Gabe's house and we got bicycles to ride through the city. Cologne is a very bicycle friends city and it couldnt have been a better to day to ride. It was sunny a blue sky's out in every direction.
We rode into the center of Cologne which was a little more than a twenty minute bike ride. Upon entering the main shopping street we heard our dear friends Frank and Joe. We locked up our bikes and went and had another listen to them. They were excited to see us back there. Every time they play they draw in a crowd of about fifty people so it was really nice that they came and talked to us. They told us to bring them to the U.S. so that they can play, that will be a challenge that Gabe and I are looking forward to when we return home.
We both decided to go have a look at the Roman-German museum. It was truly spectacular to see all these things that have been preserved for over two thousand years. There were so many things to see from old cooking utensils, eatery, silverware, coffins, gladiator armor, money, arrow heads, spears etc. One fascinating thing that we learned is that when a slave died, on his tombstone was the name of his master and not the name of his father.
We got to see a tile floor that was composed of almost two million tiny squares about 1cm small. Pictures can be found in my blog of this tile floor, it's the one that im looking at through a window. This floor luckily survived the mass destruction of Cologne in 1945 by being carried into and stored under a bomb shelter.
It was a good time to see all of these artifacts. I was absolutely amazed in the exquisite detail on everything from the dental tools to the earrings and silverware. It was well worth the time to spend a couple of hours there.
After we finished up Gabe and I stopped by REWE a grocery store t get a lot of ingredients for the paella that we were cooking for the Hoyer's. For those who dont know it is a traditional Spanish dish consisting of: rice, green/red peppers, black beans, peas, green beans, some sort of chili's if you like it spicy, tomatoes, some sort of meat(we used shrimp and chicken), and some spices. You then decorate the final product with more red pepper slices and lemons. I plan on making one of these at home sometime cause they were delicious.
After we had dinner Gabe and I went out to meet his friend Leo, we wanted to go to the corconian and irish pub and drink some strong bow but that didnt happen because there was a bouncer at the door and Gabe forgot his id. So we headed down to the beer museum where i fell in love.
We sat down upstairs and started conversing about music and such and it turns out that Leo is into a lot of punk/hardcore music which was great. I wrote down a bunch of bands for him check out. After our first round of beer we looked at the menu and I noticed a 28% be a beer. Leo asked the waiter what that meant for me and sure enough it was what I hoped for, it was 28% alcohol beer! It's name is the Kulmbacher Eisbock. It was a very heavy dark beer that was not translucent in the least bit. It had an interesting taste, one similar to soy sauce but it was great none the less.
After that we set out for a walk and some food, we walked down to the Rhine which I needed to pee in before I left because it is always necessary to mark you territory.
We went and sat at a local bratwurst shop ate some food, talked about how much we hate Mcdonalds and other political subjects and then said our good byes.
I wouldnt have chosen to spend my last day in Germany any other way than with a good friend, a good beer and in the company of a new friend.
----------------------------------------------------------------
27.02.10
After being absolutely stunned by the musicians we headed of to an indoor rock climbing facility. We arrived there sometime around one thirty. It was great, every inch of this place was covered with walls to climb, boulder, place to slackline, and cargo rope to climb.
It has been a while since Gabe and I have both climbed and we thought we could still pass the required material so we could belay ourselves...wrong I couldnt remember how to tie the figure eight not and we couldnt figure out how to use there belaying devices which are completely different then what I have used.
Failing the test but still in high spirits we spent a good deal of time bouldering. We spent time playing follow the leader, climbing specific routes, or just seeing who could make it the farthest around corners.
Im sure we looked like idiots on the wall because Gabe and I dont know the first thing about climbing "correctly" but we made do. After spending enough time on the wall we went over on the slack line.
That was only the second time that I have slacklinned but it was fun. I only made it across a few time but that not really important. Gabe has quite good balance and has done it quite a bit. I worked with him helping him walk backwards on the line which turned out fairly well.
Next we moved to an empty section of the floor and worked on our handstand, cartwheels, head stands, round off, etc. It was just time for us to act like we were eight again. One word of advice is to not do a lot of head stands on wood floors because you get a huge soft/sore spot on your head the next day.
We went back through everything again and decided to call it a day after almost four hours. After that Gabe needed to return back to his house so I returned to my hostel. Quite hungry and in the need of the classic german bratwurst.
After satisfying my hunger I headed back to the hostel to enjoy a quite couple hours watching a soccer game before I went off to bed
After being absolutely stunned by the musicians we headed of to an indoor rock climbing facility. We arrived there sometime around one thirty. It was great, every inch of this place was covered with walls to climb, boulder, place to slackline, and cargo rope to climb.
It has been a while since Gabe and I have both climbed and we thought we could still pass the required material so we could belay ourselves...wrong I couldnt remember how to tie the figure eight not and we couldnt figure out how to use there belaying devices which are completely different then what I have used.
Failing the test but still in high spirits we spent a good deal of time bouldering. We spent time playing follow the leader, climbing specific routes, or just seeing who could make it the farthest around corners.
Im sure we looked like idiots on the wall because Gabe and I dont know the first thing about climbing "correctly" but we made do. After spending enough time on the wall we went over on the slack line.
That was only the second time that I have slacklinned but it was fun. I only made it across a few time but that not really important. Gabe has quite good balance and has done it quite a bit. I worked with him helping him walk backwards on the line which turned out fairly well.
Next we moved to an empty section of the floor and worked on our handstand, cartwheels, head stands, round off, etc. It was just time for us to act like we were eight again. One word of advice is to not do a lot of head stands on wood floors because you get a huge soft/sore spot on your head the next day.
We went back through everything again and decided to call it a day after almost four hours. After that Gabe needed to return back to his house so I returned to my hostel. Quite hungry and in the need of the classic german bratwurst.
After satisfying my hunger I headed back to the hostel to enjoy a quite couple hours watching a soccer game before I went off to bed
Monday, March 1, 2010
25.02.10
Thursday night was great, I headed of to the Hoyer's house for dinner. When I arrived at the door and show Gabe the chocolate beer he was excited to! Both of us were quite curious on how this would taste but we wernt scared.
Gabe and I made dinner for the kids and decided it's time for some chocolate beer. As soon as you opened the bottle you could smell chocolate. With the first taste the name explains itself, it taste exactly like chocolate and beer. Chocolate first, beer, chocolate, and beer.
After dinner was finished Sebastian, Maria, Gabe, and I decided that a good game of hide and seek was needed. Still fairly unfamiliar with the house I had trouble with great hiding spots, however the game was still fun. Sebastian had some of the best spots because we would either not find him or look past where he was hiding.
Finally it was time for bed so we retired the game and sent the kids to bed. Then after a bit of conversation I headed of to the hostel to get some good sleep.
--------------------------------------------------------------
26.02.10
Woke up feeling quite well that day, I headed down for some good breakfast and then off to meet Gabe at the Dom. We meet and start discussing our day and before we headed off for some indoor rock climbing we decide we need to eat some fresh food from the bakery. Now normally I would never choose an apple strudel over a glazed raisin cinnamon roll but today I went for the apple strudel. Great choice it was loaded with flavor and the rich taste of fresh apple's stayed in your mouth through the whole mastication cycle.
Highly satisfied we headed off towards the metro stop when we saw a didgeridoo being set up in the street outside of a shop. We decided to stay and watch to see what it sounded like. Now Im no didgeridoo connoisseur but I have never heard the didgeridoo played like this before, he was beat boxing and making funky beats. Oh and i almost forgot there was another instrument which I didnt see before i heard it. It is called a cajon, it is a type of drum from south america. It looks more like a small speaker about two and a half feet tall and 14 inches wide.
I have not heard such good music in a long time. Everything that these guys were playing was absolutely amazing and new. There band name is Muskat120, check them out if you can, later I will up load there music for the world to hear.
After watching them preform for quite some time we went and talked to them during their break. Thus we meet Joe-Drummer and Frank-didgeridooer. These guys were sweet and nice we bought their cd and dvd and then they started to pack up. We asked them why if because they only played for a little under twenty minutes. They explained to us that in Cologne after twenty minutes you have to move to a new spots 200 meters away and cant return to the same spot for an hour
I will finish all my entry's later but know its time for bed
I finally got my pictures up so check them out, you can find the link near the bottom right of my page next to a picture of me snowboarding
Thursday night was great, I headed of to the Hoyer's house for dinner. When I arrived at the door and show Gabe the chocolate beer he was excited to! Both of us were quite curious on how this would taste but we wernt scared.
Gabe and I made dinner for the kids and decided it's time for some chocolate beer. As soon as you opened the bottle you could smell chocolate. With the first taste the name explains itself, it taste exactly like chocolate and beer. Chocolate first, beer, chocolate, and beer.
After dinner was finished Sebastian, Maria, Gabe, and I decided that a good game of hide and seek was needed. Still fairly unfamiliar with the house I had trouble with great hiding spots, however the game was still fun. Sebastian had some of the best spots because we would either not find him or look past where he was hiding.
Finally it was time for bed so we retired the game and sent the kids to bed. Then after a bit of conversation I headed of to the hostel to get some good sleep.
--------------------------------------------------------------
26.02.10
Woke up feeling quite well that day, I headed down for some good breakfast and then off to meet Gabe at the Dom. We meet and start discussing our day and before we headed off for some indoor rock climbing we decide we need to eat some fresh food from the bakery. Now normally I would never choose an apple strudel over a glazed raisin cinnamon roll but today I went for the apple strudel. Great choice it was loaded with flavor and the rich taste of fresh apple's stayed in your mouth through the whole mastication cycle.
Highly satisfied we headed off towards the metro stop when we saw a didgeridoo being set up in the street outside of a shop. We decided to stay and watch to see what it sounded like. Now Im no didgeridoo connoisseur but I have never heard the didgeridoo played like this before, he was beat boxing and making funky beats. Oh and i almost forgot there was another instrument which I didnt see before i heard it. It is called a cajon, it is a type of drum from south america. It looks more like a small speaker about two and a half feet tall and 14 inches wide.
I have not heard such good music in a long time. Everything that these guys were playing was absolutely amazing and new. There band name is Muskat120, check them out if you can, later I will up load there music for the world to hear.
After watching them preform for quite some time we went and talked to them during their break. Thus we meet Joe-Drummer and Frank-didgeridooer. These guys were sweet and nice we bought their cd and dvd and then they started to pack up. We asked them why if because they only played for a little under twenty minutes. They explained to us that in Cologne after twenty minutes you have to move to a new spots 200 meters away and cant return to the same spot for an hour
I will finish all my entry's later but know its time for bed
I finally got my pictures up so check them out, you can find the link near the bottom right of my page next to a picture of me snowboarding
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