¡Palabras Nuevas!

First day of school! First day of school! Our classes started today. I have my grammar class from 9-10:30, and culture from 11-12:30. I have the same teacher for both classes, Rosa. She is really sweet, and very helpful to us. She is probably about thirty and very fun in a class of all girls. Today all we did the entire time was go around the room answering questions about ourselves that we had written on the board (strengths and weaknesses, favorites, what you want to learn, etc). This was great because I don't know a lot of that vocabulary. We then had a little break. I tried a Coca-cola lite. A lot of the girls were raving about them. I mean it was good but nothing special. Then we went to culture. I was exhausted! I could barely keep my eyes open. A lot of the class was struggling. My coke definitely did nothing for me. I think a lot of the fatigue I have felt here has been dehydration. We have milk with coffee in the morning and then maybe a little water until lunch at 3 or so. I realized this and I have a water bottle I'm going to bring with me from now on. Still I think the classes are going to be great. They are taught all in Spanish, and let me just say that after 4 hours of Spanish I did not feel guilty speaking in English for a while with my friends like I had the previous day. Erin and I were so exhausted but we slowly made our way back to the house for lunch (stopping to admire beautiful clothes that we can't afford on the way). A prized moment, however, was when someone asked me for directions in the Metro and I knew exactly where to tell them, walked a little with them and showed them where it was all in Spanish! Thankfully what they were looking for was a hospital that is right next to our apartment. I feel like I'm getting a better feel of the city, at least where I have been. For lunch today was empanarillas y arroz. Empanarillas were little circles of friend bread with eggs, I think peppers and I'm not sure what else. She folded the bread over into a half circle and fried it. It was pretty good. Then there was rice with tomato sauce and that was really good! I'm trying to be adventurous with my eating and try everything and eat as much as possible so as not to be rude. Although she did tell us to tell her if we did not like something (although I don't know if I actually could bring myself to do it). She also gave us a little dessert with the same fried bred with whipped cream and rainbow sprinkles on top! Muy bien! Then I took a very long siesta (after a lot of water). Later tonight the school hosted a little met and greet for all the students there at a local bar. Everyone got a free drink of there choice between (wine, coke, sangria, or a beer). Every school pretty much stayed with themselves. I had sangria and it was very good! Afterwards we went with a group to eat dinner, although Erin and I had to leave because our Madre was cooking diner and we had not told her not to so we didn't want to leave her waiting. But where we ate was called El Espejo. It is in one of the paseos, which is a little pathway, almost park in the middle of the roads that you can walk on. This was a little restaurant with a lot of outdoor seating, and the actually small building was all glass! It was beautiful! We sat and hung out for while, then took the metro home. Dinner was also very good tonight. I sat at talked and watched her prepare it. It was thinly sliced beef, dipped in flour and friend in olive oil. They always use olive oil here. Never butter. She did the same with a vegetable called a bevengenia (or something close to that). It looked almost like an avocado but it was not. It had a thick texture and not a lot of taste, but it was good. She then gave us cooked green beans (they were huge!), and carrots. Sabe muy bien! Then a lot of people were going out again, but I was so tired today in class (having stayed up until 2, 2 nights in a row) and I wanted to stay in. We also did not finish eating until around 10:30! (I know) Still, I sat and talked with my Madre and it was wonderful! She is helping me learn so much and eventually she just started giving me new words and I realized I needed to start writing them down so I can see them too. She helped me write them and say them. Yes I know I am a nerd. I think I'm actually going to buy a small little pad to write new vocabulary words down in. Now I am getting ready for bed. Random thought, but something really neat about Spain that we learned yesterday that I forgot to say is that it is a huge city, but you don't see any parking decks! Where does everyone park you might ask. Their parking is all underground! Genius! The US needs to jump on that bandwagon because it makes the city so much more beautiful. I just really like the idea and wanted to share. That's all for today I believe :) Hasta luego!