La noche en blanca

At the Teatro
For my Dad! :)
At the Prado after being trapped by the Tour de Espana
In front of the Prado Museo

Well- you all mised an incredible weekend here in Madrid. I spent Saturday out on a walk with my friend Liz from Marquette and we talked and went "people watching" in a park for a few hours. It was classic Europe: sitting outside a little cafe, sipping our cokes, an acordion player, kids out in the park...just perfect. That night my roommates took the two of us to "La noche in blanca" which is the phrase for an "all nighter". The top 5 major European cities have this night where all cultural activities in the city are free. We went to an interpretive dance in a really nice theater in town (see picture above). Then, my roommates treated the two of us to REAL tapas with REAL Spaniards. It was a lot of fun and great practice for learning the language. Everyday the 3 of us who are home eat lunch and watch what I call "AMIGOS" even though the translation is still "FRIENDS". Nothing makes you feel more at home then Joey, Chandler, Pheobe, Ross, Rachael, and Monica!

I'm taking a Caopoiera (sp?) sports class here at the University in the evenings. It's a type of Brasilian dance/fighting and since I can't even SAY the word, I'm sure I'll have many stories once that starts.

The other pictures above are from Sunday when I went to the Prado since it's free to the public!
We got there and the whole street was roped off for some stupid bike race so we were stuck and had to watch it until they finished. Turns out, that "stupid race" was the 2nd of 3 major Euro Cup races (one of which you all know as the Tour de Frace!!!!) It had been a 3 week race and we caught the finish line by mistake and all the heliopters, spectators, etc....my luck!

Funny Story #?: I keep getting the word "tu" which means "you" confused with "me". When people keep asking "Tu eres de los EEUU?" or "Are you from the US?" I keep thinking they're saying "I'm from the US" so I went through about 5 days where I kept thinking everyone I met was from the US. I couldn't BELIEVE how well everyone had learned the language. No wonder they were confused when my answer to the question was "Wow, really....you speak really well!!!" I also kept saying "Have I____?" instead of saying "Have you______?" So I kept trying to ask questions like "Have you seen the film Volver?" and it was coming out as "Have I seen the film Volver?" My roommates kept saying "I don't know!!!!!" and I thought THEY were stupid. haha oh man. 10 more months. I wish you were all here to see my face when I realize all of my mistakes...I laugh by myself for about 3 minutes.