Today was another great day! I took my first examen and composition and think i did, eh, ok. I probably should take the whole school thing more seriously since that is the main reason why I am over here (and it would help me in talking with Paquita).
After school, Robyn and I were finally able to take a siesta. It was much needed and left us feeling very refreshed and rested afterwards. This is when I realized: why don't we do things like the Spaniards? They wake up at the same time we do, ok maybe a little later. Have their morning, eat a later lunch at around 2. Have siesta from 2 to 5pm where EVERYTHING shuts down. Take a long nap or even just a break, then continue till about 10pm. Eat dinner and still have a few hours to have fun! I'm not that tired when I add a siesta into my day, and it makes the days seem so much longer! Plus, everyone seems just overall less stressed out over here. It's truly wonderful!
After the siesta, Robyn, Caitlin, Beth Anne and I decided to go into the center of the city and visit that mercado I wrote about earlier. I loved it. Its like a fancier central market.
After that we explored various streets. We then decided it would be fun to try to take pictures of objects that resemble letters and create a piece of artwork that spells our names. If any of you are from Baylor, you have probably seen something like that from Spice. It kind of gets addicting and all you start looking for is hidden letters. We also started trying to take artsy pictures since we have all noticed that Caitlin is particularly good at them. So Caitlin, Beth Anne, and I had a little challenge of who could take the best picture of some random cracked wall:
this would be my picture. I tried really hard.
And this would be Caitlin's picture. Can you guess who won? If you guessed me, sadly, you are wrong. Caitlin wins every time!
After exploring for a while we decided it was time to start sus tarea (homework). We tried to find a new park to study in and remembered a friend told us about the park de retino, I think is what it is called. Let me just say, it is BEAUTIFUL! Like, I would move here just for this park. Its like the central park of Madrid. This is a picture of when you just enter it.
When we left, we saw this man painting the fountain in the park. So, of course, as american tourists, we had to take a picture. Robyn took this one and was practically in his face. We got a good laugh out of that one!
We decided to give up the whole "blending in" technique and just accepted the fact that we are tourists after about the 2nd day in Madrid. We look different, talk different, dress different, have different humor. One way you can tell we are americans is when we are on the metro. First of all, we are kinda big compared to the native spaniards. I think my senora thought it was hilarious how tall I was. Second, it probably doesn't help that half the time we are doing some sort of balancing challenge or trying to work out our calves while riding on the train. I'm sure the locals just love it when we step on their toes or bump into them. It happens at least once a day. Anyways, here is a picture of when we sit down. Its literally like a puzzle piece.
Ok, enough for now!
Chow,
Maria
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