Bus stop WiFi when i should be on the bus going home...

ugh! finally! i found some wifi by the bus stop! now i'm late... haha but i had to upload this before i exploded. haha :) te amo muchisimo!

~d

Madrid, Spain

La Casa de Santibanez

El 22 de Enero, 2008

4:36pm (9:36am Denton time)

Sometimes I wonder if this lady is for real… paloma, the mother of the house that I live, is not very helpful and it is very frustrating. I’ll ask her how to get places, or where I should get things, and you would think that she would offer to help me figure it out, maybe? Or at least tell me something rather than…”hmm… maybe El Corte Ingles (the big mall type thing)? I don’t really know. Maybe there. I don’t know where you would buy a fan…” like that was a stupid question? Ugh. Also they don’t have a dryer here… she said, “people don’t use clothes dryers in Madrid. We don’t need them.” People do use them in madrid. She just doesn’t have one. My towel felt like I was drying off with a loofa this morning. I love line-dried things… wait. No….

Katie’s family seems so helpful. I’m a little envious. I feel, sometimes, like she doesn’t really care to help me with anything, regardless that this is my first time in this country and I obviously don’t speak the language. I’m just here to tutor the kids. Neat.

Speaking of the kids. I love them. They are so cool. Eduardo is 11 and Victoria is 12. they are so smart and funny! They study so much I don’t know how they don’t have a mental breakdown every single day. Seriously. They go to school from 930 to 530 every day. Then they come home and have a snack. After their snack, we study English. I work one hour with each child. While I’m with one, paloma is with the other one working on other homework. After homework, they bathe and they have dinner (not together. One and then the other. I am with each of them.). they have 30 minutes for dinner and the whole time that we are eating dinner, we are studying verbs. It is so structured. After dinner, they go straight back to studying, and that lasts until about 1030pm. They go directly to bed after homework/studying. This is every day. 5 days a week. The weekend is the only time they have to not think about studying and school.

They’re going to las vegas to visit their dad around the first week or second week of February. I’m so glad they have some time off from this schedule. I want my kids to know more languages than just English, but this is a little ridiculous. I just feel like they are going to be so burned out so quickly… I don’t know…

Anyways. I got off the bus ok today. That’s a great thing… yesterday I couldn’t figure out how to make the bus driver open the back door to let me off. He let a bunch of people on from the front door, but the back door never opened and he started going again… I had to run to the front of the bus to get him to stop again and let me off! That was horrible. I was rushing and talking in English because I was freaking out, “POR FAVOR! I NEED TO GET OFF!!!!!” yeesh…

Katie and I walked around Moncloa (the part of Madrid where the agency that we came over with has their office). I feel pretty familiar with that area now. It’s the same area that I walked around for hours yesterday, looking for wifi.

Oh! And I found an internet café over there that is pretty good. They already have the computers and you buy hours for one euro/ hour. And you don’t have to spend the whole hour at one time. You have an entire week to use up your hour. So that’s cool. Also, it’s in a shop that has Dunkin’ Coffee (exactly like Dunkin’ donuts…only… called coffee instead… haha) and subway. Then there are tables to eat at and a line of computers along the other wall.

We were supposed to meet up with Caitlin today, but Katie waited for an hour for her at the metro stop they were supposed to meet at, and never saw her… she doesn’t have a phone yet, so we have no way to contact her. I left a message with her host mom to call me on my cell when she got home, but she hasn’t called yet L tomorrow we’ll all meet (hopefully!) up in another part of Madrid called Sol. Apparently it’s like the real downtown of Madrid. I’ve felt pretty safe so far, so I hope that this part isn’t too bad. There are a lot of tourists at that part, though… so… yeah. And gypsies… I hope I don’t have any pickpockets or anything. That would be terrible

ALSO a terrifying thing is to be walking around Madrid and taking the bus home while carrying 170 euros in your purse… yeah. But it was fine. I figured it would be because it was fine yesterday. I’m just glad we got the atm to work!!! none of the 5 or so that we tried yesterday would give us any money!!! I finally tried this other bank (BBVA) this morning and I actually got money out. Praise Jesus. That was so stressful. Seriously. But I’m going to take Tep’s advice (she’s the contact that Caitlin made with that ministry that we’re going to look into) and take out a certain amount of money every month and then just budget the cash for myself at home and only take a certain amount with me every day. Unfortunately when I took out 150 euros today, it gave me 3 50s so… yeah. I’ll have to take 50 a few days… and then get change somehow. Haha.

Oh another cool thing is that there were about 3 accordion street players on the street this morning. J I like that. It’s cool.

Ok. I know there’s a lot more to write, but I’m written out for now. More later. I’m going to work on my budget now.

I need a hair dryer and a fan.

Also my mattress is terrible… you can feel every single spring in it and the pillows are so flat… I wish I had my temper-pedic (is that how you spell that?) pillow that the Powers gave me for graduation… I wonder how much that would cost to have sent over here… :/

Overall spain is great, though.

Oh yeah! Katie and I went in search of some of the language schools to see if we can afford any of them. The one that we found today wasn’t accepting any more students because we missed the entry deadline and it goes until june… so… yeah. There’s one near Sol where we’ll be tomorrow, so maybe that one will work out. If we can’t find one that we can afford, or one that will take us, then I think we’re going to try and get together and do some learning Spanish from CD’s thing… someone gave Katie a set before she left. We just desperately need to learn Spanish. This is ridiculous for us to know as little as we do… it’s hard to get around. And we feel stupid. Haha. I wish I had the internet at home, then I could just look up schools and how to get to them… man. I am so thankful for the internet in the states and how much it is at my disposal there… seriously.

Ok. Thanks for reading that novel! I love you all. Wish you were here to learn the city with me. It’s pretty fun J and tiring!

But… I have been taking my vitamins every morning (Kelley and mom. You’ll be proud). I do better taking them here, than I do at home… J

Peace out!

~d

OH! I totally almost forgot to tell you! Yesterday, I think I got griped at by this old lady on the bus! Hahaha it was really funny. I was sitting on the bus going home. I was so tired. I had been walking for (literally) several hours with a heavy bag on my shoulder and I was so ready to be home. Anyways. I put my feet up on the seat facing me since no one was around me or obviously sitting there. She started talking really fast and seriously to me in Spanish… I’m pretty sure, by her body language and gestures, that she was telling me to not put my feet up in the seat because if I do, then the next person to sit down will get their pants dirty with whatever is on my shoes (there was nothing)… haha. So I acted like I was wiping the seat off and put my feet on the ground. Haha… it was funny, I thought. I actually have no idea what she was saying… ;)

Madrid, Spain

La Casa de Santibanez

El 23 de Enero, 2008

8pm (1pm Denton time)

So, I pretty much feel terrible about being so gripy in my last entry. I went to El Corte Ingles today (the big mall type thing) and just kind of wandered for a while. I really needed to buy a hair dryer and I didn’t know where else to go, so I figured if they had things like department stores, surely someone would have a hair dryer and hopefully a fan… anyways, El Corte Ingles is so different. Its cool:

There are about 8 different floors and each floor is about as big (wide/long) as a Dillards or something in the states. There are escalators at each end going up and down. Each floor is a different department. Like the ground level is bags/purses/shoes/perfume/makeup. The lower level is the supermercado. I was so happy when I found a big sign that told what each level was, and even more ecstatic when I realized that I was staring right at the Spanish lists and the lists were in English right below it!!! Holla! J so I looked at what all the levels were (mens, including a men’s hairstylist, womens, with a womans stylist, houseware/electronics, juniors/stylish section, etc…) so I went straight for the electronics, of course. I found a hairdryer and a flat iron since the converters we brought totally don’t work, unfortunately. They work for all of a few minutes and then whatever we have plugged in blows. Yup. My sound machine that I am in love with that jen got me for Christmas blew in the first hour of me being here. My flat iron that jeff let me borrow blew this morning. Neat…

So anyways. I bought those two things ( I found both on sale…that was interesting.. haha) for about 40 euros (60 dollars. Ugh…) but It’s ok because I totally need those two things. And I’ll have them for the next time(s) that I visit Europe J I plan on coming every chance I get in my life. Seriously. It’s so cool. Only next time, Aaron’s coming. (sorry, AP, you don’t have a choice…hope that’s ok).

Ok. I’ve lost my place. I have no idea what I was rambling about…

Oh yeah! The fan. I feel bad… yes, yes.

So I was in the department with all of that, found the hair stuff, and was looking for the fan. I find the heaters, but don’t see fans ANYWHERE…so I set all of my bags down, pull out my little dictionary to figure out what the heck the Spanish word for fans is… (it’s vantiladores, by the way, in case you were wondering), and so I asked this lady about it… she was speaking extremely fast spanish to me, but I am pretty sure that she was telling me that no one really uses fans here in spain, so they don’t sell them. I asked, “Que usar cuado hace calor??” (what do you use when it’s hot??) she just told me ( I think…haha) that it doesn’t really get hot here, so really no one in the entire city sells them that she knows of… awesome… it’s ok though. One less expense. I’m pretty comfortable at night. Just in the afternoons when I get home, its extremely warm in my room since my window faces west and the sun is shining directly through the huge windows. Oh well. Win some, lose some, I guess.

Oh, by the way…the flat iron I just bought today and was so excited to use tomorrow? Yeah. It’s broken. Stupid. I have to take it back tomorrow. It was broken when I took it out of the box. Ugh…

Sick. Paloma’s smoking in the house again. I smell it. I absolutely hate this. When I asked her about the fact that she smokes, she told me that she does smoke but only in the living room by the doors that stay open, and that you can’t smell it anywhere in the house unless you are sitting right by her. I can assure you that the doors are not open right now. It’s cold. Also everything is above the living room. Smoke rises. Duh. You can totally smell it. Everywhere. Blech.

Oh well. I’m in freaking spain. I can live with smoke for three months. I’m in spain. Serisouly.

OH! Heath ledger died??? What the heck??? Katie got like three emails saying that last night… what the heck are they gonna do for batman movies now??? He seems (from the previews) to be the perfect joker, no? anyways…

-The song that starts, “angel of mercy, how did you find me…” just came on and it makes me think of aaron b/c he was singing it the whole week that I was leaving (not singing it to me. Just that it was in his head all week so I got to hear it all week… J) anyways. totally unrelated. Just made me think of him… yet again. You all wanted to know that. I know J

Man, I know that I say this a lot, but these kids are so ridiculously busy I cant even believe it… jeez. Also I found out today that each of them does THREE different sports every week!!!

Eduardo - hockey, tennis, golf

Veronica – tennis, golf, swimming

They both have math tutors, also, tonight, so I don’t think dinner is until like 9pm maybe? Bah. This is so strange. I don’t like eating so late. I eat, and then I just want to go to sleep… this city is exhausting. Haha. Or maybe it’s just that I’m walking about a million and a half miles every day! J either way, my metabolism is absolutely through the roof. I am hungry so quickly after I eat, it’s ridiculous. I went to the Super Mercado today and got some special K bars (the box is in espanol. Its funny J also some mixed nuts, some fish-shaped crackers (not like goldfish…they have the flavoring on it kind of like oyster crackers in the states, I think). Oh and I got some juice boxes. Today I got a bottle of water with my lunch, so I kept the Aquafina bottle (also in Spanish…you’d think I’d be used to that already, but I don’t think I ever will be. Its funny to see things that I am so accustomed to seeing in English be in Spanish… yeah. Anyways…I’m ridiculous) and so I ‘m just going to keep refilling that bottle from the water pitcher in the kitchen every morning, and I’ll take some fish crackers, a juice box, and a special K bar in my bag every day. That way I’m not spending money on lunch every day. That would be killer. I would just come home for lunch, but it’s so inconvenient to do that when you have to take buses and metros and blah blah blah. And then if you want to go back out, you have to do the same thing and then still be home by 6 in time to teach until dinner/bed time… so I think I’ll just maybe ask Paloma about packing sandwiches or something? Especially if we start going to the Spanish school from 1030 to 1230 every day… we’ll see J

Ok. I write a lot… and theres still so much to tell. Sorry if the detail of these entries is totally boring for you. You don’t have to read them J they’re mostly, I guess, venting for myself. It’s strange to not have someone to talk to about everything every day. You know? Usually there are about 10 people to spread the stories out to every day so that not just one person has to hear the detailed version of my “interesting” life, but now you’re all stuck with it all. Just be thankful that I usually just don’t feel like writing stuff so you don’t have to hear a lot. J haha

Ok dinner! Yeah! And it’s only 830! More later. I’m sure.

…later (10:04pm –3:04pm denton time)

Ok… study time maybe is over now? Maybe? Eduardo is asleep on my bed right now. He’s so exhausted. His eyes are red and falling shut. He’s been studying for 4 hours straight now. Right through dinner like normal… I love these kids. Seriously. Eduardo and I have a handshake. It’s kind of a normal handshake and then you do the pound thing like from The Office where you make the explosion sound? You know? But we pound it and then bump our foreheads together and THEN make the explosion sound J he’s such a cool kid. Tonight aaron called me while we were having dinner (Eduardo and i) and so he got to talk to him for a minute or two. Eduardo loved it. I could tell from his face. It was really cool for him to have an older (American!) guy talking with him and asking him about himself. I also did Veronica’s hair tonight after her bath. I would have flat ironed it… but…yeah. Stupid broken things…

Also, something cool… I started praying for the meal the first night that we had dinner together (me and the kids) and so we’ve been saying the blessing before we eat every night and the kids want to pray too! They love it. Tonight I actually forgot to before dinner. Things were so crazy and different today with the tutors and all, but we were half way through the dinner and veronica said, “OH! Denise! We forgot to say the blessing!!!” J that was really cool, because then we all three went around and said a short little prayer at the table. Really cool.

I seriously love them. They are such cool kids! I’ll have to take some pictures and post them soon so that you can “meet” them.

Oh, mom… when you called the other day, it was Eduardo that answered. I know you couldn’t tell which one it was. Just thought you’d like to know J

Oh, and we went to see another school today. It was in the area of Sol. I think that I personally like the Moncloa area better (the area we’ve been in the past few days). It just makes me a little uneasy to have a lot of people just loitering around in an area, you know? Not really doing anything in particular, or if they are, they’re street vendors or beggars. Just makes me more nervous. The area seems a little less clean and a lot more touristy than moncloa. Maybe I’ll like it better when we spend more time there. I’m sure we will J anyways, we found that school and went ahead and took a placement exam. We’re not beginners at least! Haha. One step up J none of us knew past tense… haha. Dang…

Anyways. the price is just about 200 american dollars a month plus books but I think I’m going to do it. It seems pretty expensive, but if I’m in spain, I may as well be taking advantage of these opportunities. And I’ll practice every day that I’m here! Well, I’m working out my budget to see what kind of spending I’m looking at (average) and I think I’ll be able to swing it. No big spender here while I’m not getting income. That’s for sure. Haha.

OH…speaking of not spending much… new favorite store: BLANCO. It’s pretty much the Spanish version of Forever 21. I LOVE it. I got a brown clutch there yesterday for 2 EUROS!!! That’s like three dollars. Its awesome. I can’t remember if I already told you about that. Sorry, if I did.

Oh, and Lindsey, there are Zara’s EVERYWHERE! That’s the place you told us to go, yeah? I think so. They’re seriously on every street. Haha you should come J

Aaron, did you get your passport yet? I will forget to ask you in an email when I actually get to where I have internet, so I’m putting it here…. That’s all…

I love you!!!

~d

Madrid, Spain

La Casa de Santibanez

El 24 de Enero, 2008

7:10pm (12:10pm Denton time)

Ok only two things for now, which is good because dinner (cena!)’s in just 20 minutes! Yeah!!! I saw tomatoes and corn on the table. I think maybe for a salad type thing? J I’m glad. Everything the first few days was fried. I’m glad to have healthy alternatives now! Haha

1. Annie (the maid who lives downstairs with her boyfriend) works so much!!! She starts before 8am or maybe at 8? And she doesn’t finish until about 8 or 9pm! I just found out that she irons from about 5 or 530pm until about 8pm!!! What??? Goodness! She irons EVERYTHING. Sheets, towels, EVERYTHING. So strange… I guess since everything is line dried and that makes it pretty wrinkled… still. Weird…

2. FUNNY! And terrible… haha: Just now, I was having my study time with Eduardo and we were talking about Dirk Novinsky…. He kept calling his name Dick instead of Dirk… so I told him not to say that word because it was a bad word in English… BAD IDEA! Jeez. I should have known better. Hahaha. We spent about 10 minutes of our hour together looking up different English/Spanish words in order for him to figure out what it meant… oh man. Anyways. so I just came upstairs and I could hear him in the bathroom saying, “dickdickdickdick”…. Hahahahahahaha oh jeez. What the heck did I do???

I told him seriously not to say that in the united states and that it was extremely offensive. He wanted to know how much so and if they would take him to jail for saying it. I said, “no. they won’t take you to jail, but someone might punch you in the face for saying it to them.” Haha J

Is that wrong? Nope. I think not.

Funny? Yes.

Terrible? Yes….

The end for now.

CENA!!!! Yeah!!!! J

Later, at 11:15pm (4:15pm denton time)

Ok. Funny story that I have to write before I forget. Aaron, I know that you, in particular will love this story. This just goes to show how funny these kis are!! (the last story was eduardo’s funny story. This one is victoria’s… haha

So, I go downstairs and have dinner with Victoria and we head to her room about 9:40pm to start her English homework. On her way to her room, I noticed that she went into eduardo’s room for a moment. I didn’t know why. I figured it was just to grab an English book or something. They share some of them. A few minutes later, Eduardo comes into his room and Victoria goes in and whispers something in his ear. He makes a gagging, crying sound and lies, flailing about, on his bed with his head buried in his pillow. I think he’s crying.

Me: VICTORIA!!!! What in the world did you just say???

Victoria: (laughing hysterically) nothing…! J

Me: (to Eduardo, comfortingly) what did she just say to you??

Eduardo: she just tell me that she “PTHHHHH” (makes the fart sound) in my room!!!!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

I said to Victoria: is that why you went in his room when we came upstairs just now??

Victoria: yes! JJJ

Oh my gosh… I cracked up!!!!

Victoria could not stop laughing for the first 10 minutes of her lessons. It was so funny! I told her that I was going to have to tell aaron about this. She was still laughing but yelled “NO!!!” hahaha J

I said, “it’s ok. He’ll just think you’re the funniest 12 year old girl in spain. J”

My kids are so cool! Hahahahahahaha

I love laughing with them. Ugh! I forgot to take pictures with them again today!!! I’ll try and remember to do it before they leave for the country tomorrow. They are going for a long weekend (Monday is some saint’s holiday or something) to their “Country House” which is actually a freaking CASTLE in some town about an hour and a half north of here… I took a picture of a picture of it that is framed in my freaking bedroom. Haha J it’s ridiculous. An actual castle… seriously… yeah.

J I love these kids.

I’m going to take my laptop to the park that we’re going to tomorrow. It’s a huge, beautiful park that was only open to royalty until the 1800’s. There is a huge lake/pond thing in the middle that I think you can rent rowboats for, too! J it’s supposed to be absolutely beautiful. I am seriously hoping that they have some wifi available out there…. Anywhere would be fantastic, really. I need to upload some pictures for you guys!!! J

~d