Week 1 Part 1

It´s been almost a week since Amy got here. We´ve been all over Madrid and even out, visiting all of the places of interest. Amy was supposed to get here Saturday, but she ¨chose¨ to stay in JFK airport instead. They were nice enough to give her a cot that she guarded with her life! So, after 24 hours in New York, plenty of running around airports, and little sleep, Amy arrived in Madrid on Sunday. We got a ride home and then went into Madrid to go through the Royal Botanical Gardens. I think that it almost had every plant in the world. The dahlias were really pretty, but we were disappointed that the roses weren´t blooming.

Monday, we went to find the school I´m teaching at, San Isidro y San Eugenio. It was about an hour 20 minute trip, but we didn´t have any problems. It was good to finally meet the teacher I´ll be assisting and teaching under. Hopefully I will get to talk to her soon about more specifics of the teaching. She invited both Amy and I to come over sometime for coffee. After the school visit, we grabbed a snack at a produce stand and made our way to see the sites of the neighborhood. First, we walked and saw the Puerta de Toledo (see pictures), a really old neighborhood, ate Chinese food, walked through Plaza Mayor, went to an artsy souveneir shop (and bought nothing because we didn´t want to pay 60 euros for a plate), and then to a ceramics store. There, all of the pieces were painted in the old Talavera style and the owner´s children were the artists. We also walked through Puerta del Sol and saw the famous bear statue, the symbol of Madrid, and went through some of the department stores. Amy bought a cute kid´s sweater! And I almost left my sunglasses in the bathroom.

Tuesday, we went to the Archaelogical Museum, saw the Puerta de Alcala, and strolled through el Parque Retiro. It´s kind of like Central Park in New York City, with gardens, trees, fountains, a pond with fish and rowboats, gypsies, a crystal building, and plenty of people kissing. It also has a sports club and a funny hill.

Wednesday we took a train up to el Escorial, a monastery/school/palace in the Guadarrama (spelling??) Mountains to the northwest of Madrid. It was spectacular. The gardens that we could see from the windows were sculpted and patterned, the paintings were beautiful, the building was gigantic, and the burial chamber was interesting/weird. We couldn´t take pictures, unfortunately of the inside, but if you bug Amy, I´m sure she´ll show you the souvenier book she bought. It´s really cool. I think that our excursion has been both of our favorite parts of the trip (the excursion spilled into Thursday, which we´ll talk about later). The next part of our trip was a little stressful. We had to figure out how to get from El Escorial to Segovia, to the north. But, as often happens when you have problems, kind people are there to help and cheer you up. In one train station we met a man from Puerto Rico who helped us find our train and then chatted for awhile about his wife and being so far from home. Earlier that day we met a Russian woman who spoke a little English and asked us for help. I think that, as the Puerto Rican did for us, we gave her a little company and someone to talk to for awhile. I can´t imagine travelling alone without speaking the language!