So soon?

Hello Everyone!

So I bet you're pretty impressed I thought to update my blog on a Sunday to tell you about my weekend!? 

So I will start with school this week.  I'm starting to realize how much school work I have to do before I leave.  Sad story, but the good news is I got two of my big assignments out of the way this weekend and still managed to have a fantastic weekend!  

So Thursday after class, I was chatting with some girls and they invited me out with them for one of the girls 21st birthdays that night.  I figured since I had only been out once the whole semester, that I deserved to enjoy myself and that is exactly what I did!  Don't worry I got home safe.  But let me tell you, I was definitely reminded the next day about why I don't go out often.  

Friday brought a whole lot of sleep and homework (and water).  I had a really relaxing day.  

Saturday I woke up early because my host mom had asked if I wanted to go to the outdoor market in Poligono (another neighborhood in Toledo).  So off we went!  I found some great gifts for people and the prices were unbelievable!  We then did some Christmas decoration shopping and bought some things to bring home for my family.  I'm not going to lie, I did get a bit homesick because I always go shopping and run errands with my mom at home.  I'll be home soon madre :)  We had "comida" (lunch) which is our biggest meal on the weekends and I watched the Davis Cup doubles finals with my host dad.  I really enjoy watching Spanish sports with him!  We both get pretty animated while watching sports, so it made for a great afternoon!  I do miss American football though, so very much!   Marlene, Paula and I went out shopping again to find some more Christmas decorations for the house.  It was really great to feel like part of their family just doing every day things with them.  I think they have realized how much I enjoy it too :) Saturday night brought more tennis and great company. 

Sunday I was in for the best surprise ever!  My family asked if I would like to go to Consuegra with them.  Now let me tell you, I don't know if you readers have noticed a trend in my blogs, but I LOVE DON QUIJOTE!  Consuegra is where his famous molinos (windmills) are that he "fights" in the musical/book.  Anyways, we brought Epi and we just wandered around the 13 different windmills taking lots of pictures and enjoying the perfect weather!  After the windmills we went to Tambleque, which is a little pueblo (village) nearby.  It's a very old city.  We walked around a bit and witnessed the strangest thing.  At first, I thought it was a parade because I heard a band, so I was all ready to take pictures.  Well then it looked like a funeral procession and I thought it was kind of odd to have a band.  We asked the locals and they told us they were celebrating the feast of St. Cecilia.  I was happy to hear it wasn't a funeral.  So it was getting to be lunch time and we were pretty hungry.  I figured we would just drive home and have a late lunch, but to my surprise we went out for lunch!  It was delicious.  I had steak and french fries.  I have found a whole new appreciation for good old cow since I've been here.  I have had too much ham!!  After a leisurely lunch we headed home and I did some more homework.  It was quite the day and I had such a great time with my host family!

I'm really going to miss it here, the people, the laid-back atmosphere and attitude, but let me tell you all...I am getting very anxious to get home and get back to my own family and friends.  It's hard to believe I'll be home so soon.  I can't wait to share all of my stories with you faithful readers in person!  21 days from now I'll be back in the States.  Time has flown. 

Abrazos,

Amy

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Hello Readers :) 

So I thought I would catch you all up on my past week.  

First, I'll start off with a bit of sad news that happened on Thursday.  Jenn's grandpa had been sick for quite a while and passed away Thursday afternoon.  My heart just broke for her.  I feel like that is every student's biggest fear when they study abroad and I can't imagine what it's like for her.  All I can do is be supportive and give her lots of hugs.  Please keep Jenn and her family in your prayers.  Thanks :) 

Last Friday the Fundacion had a day trip to Segovia.  It's a beautiful town about 2.5 hours away.  The first thing I noticed when I got there was the color of the trees!  It was absolutely gorgeous!  I finally was able to experience a little bit of fall for myself.  I couldn't take enough pictures of all the trees!  We walked through the town, which was very quaint like Toledo, and we made our way to the Alcazar (the castle).  An interesting little fact I learned during our walk was that this castle was the model for the castle in Beauty and the Beast.  Pretty amazing, I know!  So I got even more excited.  Little did I realize that they merely meant the outside of the castle.  Kind of disappointing.  We saw some pretty amazing rooms with very ornate details and decorations.  It was beautiful.  And luckily, we were allowed to take pictures (which I will try to post soon).  Then we walked through more of town and made our way to the Cathedral there.  It was ginormous and really pretty, but we didn't have enough time to go in and see it.  We continued walking and made our way to the Roman Aquaducts.  This was kind of a big deal.  They are the last standing Roman Aquaducts in the whole world (I think).  It goes on for quite a ways and is built with ginormous rocks that are held together without any sort of cement.  It was breathtaking.  We then went for lunch.  I usually really look forward to lunches on these trips because they're always a little bit nicer than what we're used to.  Not so fortunate this time though :(   I ate some sort of creamy mystery soup, along with mystery meat.  The only three things I could really count on where my french fries, bread, and ice cream.  We got back to Toledo around 7 and I spent the night hanging out with my family.

Saturday morning I went grocery shopping with Marlene and Paula for some American food.  I have been wanting to cook for them and finally got my chance!  Little did I know how frustrating shopping would be.  They don't have nearly the selection that US grocery stores have, so it was a bit disappointing.  I did find the ingredients for dirt cake (a big modified) and Paula and I made when we got back.  She was so anxious to try it, but knew she had to wait a day for the mousse to solidify.  We at it on Sunday, and didn't turn out quite as well as I hoped, but we ate it all up!  Almost the whole bowl in one sitting!  It was a delicious treat.  Saturday afternoon, I headed to the mall with Jenn in the afternoon and I bought the CUTEST dress ever!  I can't wait to wear it!  I was home again by 9:30 and spent time with my family again.

Sunday I woke up early and made french toast for breakfast for Paula and I.  It was quite the adventure trying to figure out how to use the stove because they're gas here.  Between the two of us we got it all worked out and enjoyed a great breakfast together!  I will definitely miss her.  Then we had an agenda for the day because Rodolfo and Marlene went to Madrid for the morning and we had some chores to do.  We swept and mopped the kitchen, took Epi on a walk, bought a fresh loaf of bread and cleaned our rooms.  It was a really great morning and I had a lot of fun with Paula!  She wants me to make her french toast all the time now.  That girl is crazy for sweets!!  This weekend I think my next baking task is banana bread.  I'm pretty excited.  I enjoy baking a lot!  

The reason for my blog title!  So Spaniards don't celebrate Thanksgiving (obviously).  So they've already started decorating for Christmas.  Our house is all decked out, the city is starting to hang up lights and decorate the streets in Casco (the old part of town) and it's just beautiful.  I can't wait to see it all lit up.  I love Christmas.  It is absolutely my favorite time of year!!! 

This week I haven't had too much homework, which has been a nice break, but I know I have a lot to finish yet before finals.  Oh well, all in due time.  I don't have much else to say for now, except that I don't have class til 5 pm tomorrow, which is pretty awesome.  I plan on getting some homework done and putting up some more pictures.  The Sevilla and Barcelona ones are up though, so check it out!  

Abrazos,

Amy

P.S. It's unreal to think I'll be home in 25 days.  I can't believe how fast it's gone!

SNC Reunion

Hello Everyone!

So I´m going to start off my blog with a few things from the past week that I forgot to mention and then I´ll tell you all about my trip to Barcelona.

First, the elections. What an experience to vote from a foreign country, see all the coverage in Spanish, and not know who the next President would be until I woke up the next morning due to the time difference. I have to say it, I wasn´t surprised with the outcome. It was pretty clear to most college students who the favorite was, not that I agree with this, but we´ll leave it at that. I also couldn´t believe how much the Spaniards love Obama. They were all so happy and excited about the election, which is weird, because I don´t get excited about other country´s lections. Anyways, it was cool to be able to vote for the first time and be able to vote for the candidate I thought was best.

Also, I sent in my student-teaching application in already. I know, so crazy!!! I am not teaching until Spring of 2010, but they start working a year ahead on these things. I´m excited to see where I will be placed and with what age level. On that note, I´ve been volunteering at a school here in Toledo. I work with a first grade, second grade, and fourth grade class. The first graders are by far my favorite! I just love walking into the classroom and getting all sorts of poorly spoken English thrown at me and hugs and all sorts of uninmportant stories. Now as much as I enjoy it, I don´t know if I have the patience to do it every day. I also had the opportunity to be a translator yesterday. The teacher asked Jenn and I to sit in on a parent-teacher conference because the teacher didn´t speak English and the parents (who were from Lithuania and had just moved from Iceland) didn´t speak Spanish. Being able to switch back and forth between the two languages was a lot at once, but I can tell you that my language has improved dramatically since I´ve been here. I never would have been able to do that if I wouldn´t have had this study abroad experience.

So I have to tell you all a funny story about my history teacher. I love his class (I think I´ve mentioned that in previous blogs), but when he tries to speak English it is just terrible. So he wants to meet with students for an hour in between classes if they have time and practice speaking English and Spanish. This week after class he invited us all out for a beer after class to talk current Spanish politics. Now I don´t know if this would ever happen in the US, but it´s so nice and laid back here. I thought it was really nice of him to extend that invitation to us so we can all learn during our time here.

I also was asked to fill out a form for the upcoming study abroad students about what to expect when you get here. I could probably write a novel now on what to pack, what not to bring, cultural differences, traveling tips. I still can´t believe I´m going home soon. Don´t get me wrong, I´m excited to come back home and be with my friends and family and at SNC again, but I will miss the laid-back, "no pasa nada" attitude, the things that have become part of my daily routine, and the new friends I have made. I will especially miss being able to just leave the city or country for a weekend to travel and see all that I can.

Now, here goes the Barcelona story. First of, Barcelona is in a region called Cataluña. They have their own flag and their own language (a mixture of Spanish and French). So I wasn´t sure how helpful my Spanish really would be. We left at one on Friday from the Madrid airport. Got into Barcelona around 2 and then had to wait around for the rest of our group to fly into and then we were going to go to the hostel together. SIDENOTE: NEVER FLY RYAN AIR! It was an absolutely awful experience. We didn´t have assigned seats, you had to pay to check luggage and to check in and they weren´t so friendly either. To say the least I will never fly with them again. There is a reason their flights are so cheap...because they flight into airports hours outside of the city you want to be in. So we had to pay 20€ to take a bus into Barcelona. It´s a huge city too. We did a ton of walking and finally found our hostel and then met up with the others. We were there with a bunch of SNC study abroad kids, Cyle from Germany, Michael and his friend from London, Caitlin and Amy and 4 of their roomates from Italy. It was quite the weekend.

Friday night, we walked across the city to see the Font Monjüic. It was the most beautiful thing have seen in all my time in Spain. It almost brought me to tears (no surprise there). The fountain was time to music and had different colors and types of water effects. It was unbelievable. No words or pictures could do it justice. We walked back towards our hostel and stopped at a cute little restaurant. We spent hours sitting there catching up, drinking sangria and enjoying the company. It was a perfect night.

Saturday we got up early and did all of our touristy things. We bought passes for the touristy double decker bus for the day to get us around which SAVED OUR LIVES! There is no way we could have seen all that we wanted to by walking or taking the metro. It was also nice to have more of a guided tour. We saw the Sagrada Familia, Park Güell, some of Gaudi´s other famous buildings here, the 1992 Olympic Stadium area, and the FC Barcelona Stadium (their soccer team). We also did some shopping on the Mediterranean Sea and ate some good food. For dinner some of the girls and I went to a Flamenco show. For 30€ I got paella, sangria, a salad and crema de cataluña. It was delicious and followed by a spectacular flamenco show. It was a great night and wonderful to be able to show off some of our Spanish culture to the people visiting from outside the country.

Sunday we got up a little later, had a small breakfast and headed for the airport. That was after we walked to the bus station with our stuff, rode on the bus for an hour, and waited to board. We got back to Madrid without any problems (not including all the stupid fees RYAN AIR made us pay). I was home around 7 and had some time to catch up with my family, do some homework and skype with my real family.

I think that should just about do it for this entry. I will get some new pictures up tomorrow and throughout the weekend from my latest travels to Barcelona and Sevilla.

The US better get ready for me! I´ll be home before I know it. That´s really bittersweet.

Abrazos como siempre,
Amy

It's been a while..

Hello Readers :) 

I must apologize for the total slackage on the blog updates, but I've had quite the hectic week.  

Last Friday, we went on a school excursion to El Escorial, which is outside of Madrid.  It is the King and Queen's house during one of the seasons (I don't remember which one).  One half was the monastery and the other half was the King and Queen's quarters.  Pictures don't even do this place justice.  IT WAS GINORMOUS!  The weather was rainy and cold, so it kind of was a bummer, but a really nice day trip.  We ended the day at a cute little restaurant where we had pasta, steak, and crepes!  It was divine.  I love eating good food, which is sometimes hit or miss for me.

Friday night was Halloween.  I am SO THANKFUL that my host mom is from the U.S. because it makes holidays feel a little more like home.  Paula and a bunch of her friends got all dressed up and we went out for truc o trato (trick or treating).  It was kind of disappointing, most of the people who answered the door didn't even know what trick or treating was.  To say the least it made me miss home a little bit.  I did get some great pictures though and we were even able to carve a pumpkin earlier in the week.  Paula loved it!  I love being able to pass on traditions from home. 

On Saturday and Sunday Jenn and I planned a last minute trip to Sevilla.  It was quite an adventure.  The AVE (high speed train) got us there in only 2.5 hours so we had almost all day on Saturday to do some sight-seeing.  We had a hard time finding our hostel which was actually much closer than we had originally thought, but we did get there.  Staying in a hostel for the first time was quite an experience.  We ended up having to share a room with 2 guys.  Andy was from Manchester and about 40 years old.  He was QUITE the talker.  I tried to be nice, but I just couldn't listen to all his stories he had to share.  John was our other roommate.  He was in his 20's and from Scotland, but we didn't get to talk to him much.

On Saturday we saw the largest cathedral in Spain (the 3rd largest in Europe).  It was absolutely breath-taking.  It was so amazing.  The statues and chapels were just beautiful.  Then we ventured out to the Torre de Oro, which was a total bust.  At one point it used to be covered in gold...and now it's not.  So that was lame.  We also walked past the Plaza de Toros and made our way to the Plaza de Espana.  That was by far the coolest thing I saw there.  It's a huge half circle building and in front of the building is a little ceramic bench for each province in Spain.  Toledo was under construction, so that was a bummer, but it was so pretty anyways.  We decided we were too cheap to spend a lot of money on dinner so we found a grocery store and bought spaghetti noodles, sauce, garlic bread, oreos, clementines and a box of sangria.  It was absolutely delicious and a great change of pace.  The hostel had a kitchen with all the dishes and pots and pans that we needed, so we had dinner and then got our free drink at the bar.  It was tinto de verano (red wine with a bit of lemonade) and it was soooo good.  For sure my new favorite drink here.  

Sunday Jenn and I got up early and went to the Real Alcazar.  It was built in a similar style to the Alhambra and it was beautiful!  The gardens were amazing and I could have just walked around forever.  I have soo many pictures from there!  Then we wanted to do some shopping, but no joke, there are NO stores open on Sunday in Sevilla.  Even the largest department store chain in Spain (Corte Ingles) was closed on Sundays.  That was disappointing, but we headed to the bus station and took a 6 hour bus ride back to Madrid.  It was AWFUL and I will never travel that long by bus again if I can ever help it.  We took the AVE back to Toledo.  I am always so glad to be back in Toledo.  It's like going home.  

The reason I have been so busy this week was because I had a huge paper for my history class due today.  I worked on it all week and now am unfortunately extremely behind on updating my pictures.  Oh well.  

The weather is getting cold here and thankfully my host mom is letting me borrow one of her warmer jackets.  I wasn't expecting it to be as cold as it has been. 

 

I had so many little stories to share and now I can't think of any of them!  Oh yes, the fruteria.  There is a little fruit stand right on the walk to school and I thought I'd stop one day and check it out.  I AM ADDICTED!  I think the lady recognizes me now because I am there almost every day buying a piece of fruit or two.  It makes for such a great snack and it's really cheap!  On the same street there is a little convenient store.  It's owned by this little Asian couple who are so nice!  I always stop to buy a bottle of water or another pack of PRINCIPE cookies from them.  I think they also recognize me there. 

 These are the types of things I know I will miss when I go back home.  I am so excited to go home and spend time with my family and friends again and get back to life on campus, but I am going to miss Toledo so much.  This experience has made me come to love traveling and be spontaneous and adventurous.  I am so so glad I have been able to spend some time abroad.  I think it's hard to understand unless you have studied abroad yourself, but I feel like it's changed me.  Like I've grown up.  I will miss Spain and the language, and especially my host family.  I just love them.  

I think that's all for now, I am off to Barcelona for the weekend with a bunch of other SNC kids studying abroad in Europe, so I will report back on Sunday.  

Abrazos,

Amy 

7 Weeks = Half way mark

I can’t believe my semester is half over already! 52 days down, 47 to go (but who’s counting?) J  I have totally fallen in love with Spain, but also never forget that I have a lot of people I love back in the States.  Leaving will be bitter-sweet for sure, but especially as it gets closer to the holidays, I am more and more excited to go home.

So readers, here I am again with a bunch of little stories for you and nothing too important. I will start with the most important thing though…my very cheap day in Madrid this past Sunday!

Jenn and I have been wanting to go to Madrid and check out the museums there (El Prado and la Reina Sofia).  We had found another friend at the Fund who was also interested so Flannery joined us on our little adventure.  These two museums are fairly well-known for some Spanish masterpieces and artists like Goya, El Greco, Velasquez, Picasso (all kind of a big deal!).  We took the high-speed train, which I love because it’s only a 20 minute train right instead of a 50 minute bus ride.  Pretty spectacular.

So we were within walking distance from the train station and got into the Reina Sofia without a problem, no lines, and it is free on Sundays from 10:30 to 2.  So we looked around, but the most important thing there is the “Guernica”.  This is a huge mural painted by Picasso during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) to remember the first ever…in the history of the world…time bombs were dropped on a civilian city.  I have learned a lot about it in a lot of previous Spanish classes so it would pretty awesome to see it in real life.  We saw some other stuff too, but not nearly as cool as the Guernica.

So we had some free time before the Prado opened up for free at 5, so we grabbed some lunch and were walking past the botanical gardens, we saw that it only cost 1 euro to walk through, so we thought it’d be worth it and paid the 1 euro.  It was beautiful, I have not seen much plant life in Spain so far, so grass and flowers and trees were a very welcoming sight!  I have some pretty awesome pictures from the garden.

Then it was time to go to the Prado, but first we waited in the LONGEST line ever.  I was kind of tired already, and I’m not the kind of girl that reads every sign and analyzes every painting.  Luckily the people at the Prado understand this and created a pamphlet of all the big masterpieces and where they were located.  I recognized a few, so we checked them out.  It’s just a very cool feeling to see the original piece of art after seeing so many pictures and replications of the piece.  The highlight there was definitely “Las Meninas” by Velasquez.  There’s quite a bit of symbolism in the piece (I won’t bore you with the details), but it was very cool to see. 

Funny story for you, on the way home Jenn and I were just chatting and all of a sudden she asks me, “do you think I could be a flight attendant just in the summer?”.  Jenn and I are both education majors.  I guess it’d be pretty cool if you be a flight attendant part time, but I’m not quite sure where the idea came from?  She was pretty worried that if there was extensive training she might not have time to do it.  I guess you had to be there, but it was pretty funny and definitely made me laugh!

On Friday, Jenn and I also ventured over to la Juderia.  That is the name for the Jewish section of Toledo.  Toledo is named the city of three cultures, Jews, Christian, and Moors.  We were in search of the El Greco exhibit which is temporarily relocated, but were unsuccessful.  We found two other museums to check out...El Museo de Victorio Moncho (an artist/sculptor) and La Synagoza del Transito (a Jewish synagogue).  It seriously felt like were a whole different city, the styles of buildings were different, the atmosphere was different, and we had a great view of the Tajo river that surrounds the city.  We spent some time shopping around the city and then headed back to our own houses so I could get ready for Paula's birthday.Paula’s (my host sister) birthday was on Thursday.  To celebrate she had 12 girls sleep over at the house on Friday night.  Mind you, our house is a very nice size and fairly large for a Spanish house, but not for thirteen 10-year-old girls.  It was chaos, but a lot of fun.  I have included a video of the girls singing happy birthday.  I went to bed with a pounding headache, but it was a lot of fun.  My host mom made sure to remind me that I will have a classroom of kids someday and wondered if I was really up for the challenge! 

I also bought a pumpkin here.  Spaniards don’t really celebrate Halloween so pumpkins are hard to come by.  Jenn and I took an adventure to find some pumpkins to carve and were successful!  We haven’t had time to carve them yet, but I will post pictures as soon as I do.  If you haven’t already figured out, Jenn and I take a lot of adventures here.  Studying abroad has really made me broaden my horizons and be open to trying new things.  I am so grateful for this.

I have also included a video of my host dad doing a little dance.  He can be quite the clown, so for Paula’s birthday, he performed a little dance and song number after dinner.  It was absolutely hysterical and just another reason I love my host dad!  I hope you enjoy this as much as I do J

The videos are not working right now, so I'll try uploading them again soon. Sorry you'll just have to wait! :) 

I think that should about cover my weekly update, I’m sure I missed some important things, as I always do.  I really should write down my blog stories as the week goes on so I don’t forget them!  Next weekend has Granada in store (hopefully).  I will try to post pictures this week as soon as I have some free time and a little quicker internet connect at school. 

Abrazos como siempre,

Amy

Dreaming en Espanol

Hola!

So I should first explain the reason for my title.  This week I had a major breakthrough!!!  I had my first dream completely in Spanish!  I was at a bocadillo (sandwich shop) and ordered a bocadillo de jamon cerrano (smoked ham).  This is a favorite of Spaniards here.  So to say the least I felt a little like a Spaniard in my dreams :)  

This past Friday I went to Alcala de Henares.  It's a little town outside of Madrid.  It has a VERY old University and is the home of Miguel Cervantes.  He wrote Don Quijote.  For those of you who don't know this little dorky fact about me, I love Don Quijote.  I read it my senior year with Senora Elmer in Spanish class.  So we got a free tour of Cervantes' house and there was a cute little bench in the front with a statue of Don Quijote and Sancho Panza.  I took about 5 pictures with them!  We also went to a little theater called the Corral de Comedias and it was so cool!  It was so old and had so much history behind it.  I also went to my first Starbucks here!  It was a wonderful taste of home!! 

I hate waiting....waiting for public transportation.  Waiting for emails and letters from home.  But mostly, I hate public transportation.  They never are there when you need them to be, and they're never on time.  I need to plan at least 45 minutes to get to where I need to be because I usually end up waiting 10-15 for a bus.

So I found a new love here.  PRINCIPE cookies.  Now I don't eat a lot of sweets here, so I discovered this yummy treat from other kids at the Fund because they're so cheap.  So it's my new addiction.  I'll make sure to bring a package home for you to try family!  

This entry is a lot of little things, so I'm going to change topics again.  I love my history class.  The history of Spain is so different to me and it's nice to learn about a completely different type of government.  The professor lets us ask questions at the beginning of class about current events and I really just enjoy learning.  Call me a dork, it's fine.  

I also found a new TV show that I love, Los Internados!  I hate scary movies, but this show is about kids in a boarding school and it's a big mystery.  All the people are linked somehow and all this bizarre stuff happens.  My host mom and sister are addicted and they  just started a new season so I'm all caught up already!

So I had a really interesting learning experience this past Tuesday.  In my immigration class we were discussing gitanos (gypsies) and how predominant they are in Toledo.  Later that day I was volunteering at an elementary school and met a little gitano boy.  He was in my English class I was helping with, but was sitting to the side coloring a picture.  When I asked my teacher why he wasn't participating I found out it was because he can't even read in Spanish.  He only speaks it, so normally during this English time he gets reading help, but not that day for some reason.  I tried to explain to him that I wasn't Spanish and didn't speak fluent Spanish, but he didn't understand.  He had no wordly concept of where the United States even was.  It was just really sad to see that some parents and their lifestyles don't support their children to get a proper education.  It is a law that gitano children have to go to school though, so they send them, but don't emphasize the importance of an education.

One last thing, I am getting SO sick of wearing the same clothes over and over.  It's really irritating.  Oh well, my friends here understand because we're all in the same situation!!

I have midterms this week, so wish me luck!  Continue the emails and letters, I love them!!

Abrazos,

Amy

Con Ojos Cerrados

Welcome back!!  I know it took me a while to write another update. But here it is. 

So this past Sunday Jenn and I went to Madrid.  It was Spain’s National Holiday so there was going to be a huge parade!  We had to take the high speed train at 9:30 to get to Madrid on time, so we planned an hour to get there.  The station is only on the other side of Toledo, but with the bus system, you can never be too sure.  So we waited..and waited..until 9:00.  Now we’re both pretty nervous that we’re not going to get there on time.  Luckily, there was no traffic and we were able to transfer buses without a hitch.  We walked onto the train at 9:23…that’s only 5 minutes before they close  the doors.  We got very lucky to say the least.

So we weren’t sure what kind of parade to expect, but I figured there would be bands and floats and fun things.  Not the case at all.  October 12 is the day Spain celebrates it’s military and it’s fallen soldiers.  Every troop of every branch of the military marched in the parade.  It was so cool.  I wish I would have known what each troop was and why some got applauded and others didn’t, but my host dad was able to fill me in when I got home.  Just a little sidenote: my host dad is great.  He is the person I go to with all my Spanish history and culture questions.  It always sparks a great discussion and I love learning new things! 

So after the parade we met up with some other students from the Fundacion in Toledo who were also there.  We headed to the Rastro (which is the big Sunday market).  Now most of you know I’m extremely directionally impaired.  But you would be so proud of me (DAD!)  I have now mastered not only the Toledo buses, but also the Madrid metro and airport.  I’m not going to lie, I’m pretty proud of this accomplishment.  I can do anything if I have a map!  We got to the Rastro and it was seriously chaos!  There were people everywhere and there was pushing and shoving and the browsing was not so enjoyable.  I did buy a Spain flag for 3 euro though for my dorm room next semester.  I was very excited about that!

After the Rastro, Jenn and I had ANOTHER challenge.  To go to another plaza in the huge city of Madrid and find out where we had to pick up our bullfight tickets.  We had no address for the place, all we knew was that it was in the Plaza de Carmen.  We found it without any problems!!! It was this little hole-in-the-wall ticket vendor and we got the tickets with no problems.  We went to McDonalds for lunch then.  I know what you’re all thinking, you’re in Spain, why are you eating McDonalds…well let me tell you, Spaniards love their cuerdo (pig) and I was missing some Wisconsin vaca (cow) so we enjoyed delicious cheeseburgers and french fries.  It made me so happy, even though I haven’t felt so full in my whole time abroad. 

Then we took the metro to our final destination…the Ventas…aka the bullfighting arena.  It was built in 1929 and has so much history behind it.  Spain is famous for bull fighting and let me tell you, I was not disappointed.  We had awesome seats and got to experience a great part of Spanish culture.  At the beginning of the fight, all of the matadors and their assistants parade into the ring.  They have the coolest looking costumes and are very proud of what they do.  It ALMOST made me want to be a matador (in Spanish it’s called a torero).  There are 6 total bulls to be killed and 3 toreros.  Let me explain..there are 5 stages to a bull fight.

Stage 1:  The assistants (6)  all are in the ring.  The bull is realeased and they basically take turns waving their capes at the bull.  They make the bull work a little before anything else happens.

Stage 2:  There are 2 men on horses that come out.  The assistants try to keep the bull’s attention but eventually they see the horses.  The horses are blind-folded and covered in metal armor so they’re safe.  The bull charges the horse.  While the bull is doing this, the man on the horse stabs a spear into the bull’s back to start the bleeding. 

Stage 3: The torero comes out (without a cape) and gets handed these colorful spear/bobber looking things.  The goal is to stab these things (there are 6 total) into the bulls back.  It’s very dangerous, but cool to wactch.

Stage 4:  The torero now has his red cape and again makes the bull work a little and tires him out.  He has to do this until he does such a great job at one run that the crowd cheers for him.

Stage 5: The torero has his cape and his sword.  This is when the bull dies.  It’s sad, but eventually the torero sticks his sword into the bull’s back. And then slowly the bull just sits down on the ground..and dies.  Then there are 3 horses that come in and drag the bull away. 

I have to say, it sounds gruesome, but it was so cool.  The toreros were so dramatic, it was almost like watching a theatrical performance.  I have added a video for you all to watch.  The reason I look down at the girl in front of me was because I forgot I was taking a video.  I’m such a loser.  We left after the 4^th bull and made our way back to Toledo.  This is why my host dad is so great.  When I came home I had all sorts of questions about the different military branches and about what they do with the bull after the fight and they were all answered.  The bulls are sold afterwards (all the parts) to different butchers.  The meat is very expensive, but a delicacy in Spain.  Apparently the tongue and testicles are the best. (I’m just telling you what I heard).  There is a saying that “you grow what you eat” here, so I guess it’s appropriate then.

Now for the title of my blog…”Con Ojos Cerrados (with closed eyes)” .  I still am super sketchy about eating certain foods here, especially meat.  Rabbit, bull, partridge, snails, and a lot of other things are all very common here.  This is gross to me.  So as my host dad says, “come (eat) con ojos cerrados”.  This is the best advice I could get about eating food here.  I’m much better off if I don’t know what I’m eating, but I can tell you I have successfully eaten a ridiculous amount of onions AND eggs.  Things I have never really liked before.

I also played with Photo Booth tonight with my host mom and sister.  They loved it!!!!  It was so much fun.  We just had a really great night talking.  I was so happy to be able to spend quality time with them.  It really makes me miss spending time with my family back home.  And I definitely appreciate it a lot more. 

This was a pretty long post.  So thanks for sticking through it to the end.  I’m sure I missed some things and had more stories to tell, but this will do for now.  Until next time.

Abrazos,

Amy