So I just want to write down my two must recent and vivid memories at this moment before going into the sites. This whole week I´ve been keeping up house while Susy has been in Málaga fighting for her other house. I´m not going to go into detail. All you need to know is that I´m here alone. Yesterday, when I was walking back to the apartment it was in the afternoon-evening time. Sometimes there are small gatherings of neighbors outside especially since it´s so beautiful outside. (got a tan today!) And I they said hola as I passed them at the gated area that leads to the street. In the courtyard the kids were playing on the ramp and stairs that lead to the door. A boy and a girl were playing and the girl, who was perhaps 5 or 6 saw me coming up the ramp and she stopped and stretched herself to hold onto both railings so I couldn´t pass her! When I stopped she held out her hand and told me ¨La tarjeta por favor!¨ (the card please) Obviously this was a fun game of crossing the ramp... I laughed and said, ¨La tarjeta?! No la tengo!¨ (i don´t have one) she smiled at me really big and skipped to the side of the ramp so I could pass.
The second memory was this afternoon. I already mentioned my neighbors in the previous post and how they talked up a storm with me and insisted that I listen to the radio to utilize my spanish and all. The Señora in particular really thinks I don´t get enough opportunities because Susy and I have different schedules and barely see each other. Anyway, I was leaving and locking up the door to our apartment this afternoon and my neighbor pops her head out the door as if she was waiting for me! She saw me and started jabbering away about whether Susy was around and I was practicing my Spanish. I told her Susy was out in Málaga for the week and I´ve been only practicing in school mainly...which feels like a lot b-c it´s all in Spanish. But she sounded worried! But I was right on time with my hour trip to school so I excused myself and she parted cheerfully and went back into her apartment! Bingo, totally waiting on me! Soo linda. I really love the people here they all greet when passing by and they´re very friendly.
As for the past week or so, here are pictures of my trips! I returned to Segovia with my class for like 2 hours out of the day long trip all over the countryside for my Environment class. The weather was horrific to begin with...soaked pants, tiny particles of hail hitting my face, blasting wind...you name it. And my crazy teachers were standing outside along the reservoir that they were showing us at the moment, as if it was any sunny afternoon! I didn´t take notes for that first stop, but the weather mellowed yet remained rainy through the the stops to the Valle Valsaín slash Sierra Guadarrama, La Granja, and Segovia. At Segovia the famous Roman Aqueduct, the tallest in Spain and the famous álcazar or castle that minutely resembles Disney´s Castle is there. Thankfully the first trip to Segovia was beautiful and I climbed the tower of the Alcazar and viewed the rooms where Queen Isabel had her coronation.
The following day I went with my Cultural Studies class to a field trip to the Reina Sofía which is a famous art museum that I prefer over the Prado and houses the famous Guernica and other Picasso paintings as well as Salvador Dalí, and Robert Caplan... etc. We had on head sets and the teacher talked on her mic so everyone could hear easily! She was being funny about it too saying ¨tengo la voz de Dios¨ I have the voice of God... It was funny at the time wearing the headphones... From there we got on the bus and went up the same mountain range I saw the day before but a different area and much better weather! We saw El Valle de los Caídos. Beautiful architecture, sad story. It´s the picture with the large cross which can be seen for miles along the highway. This monument was resurrected under order of Franco right after the Civil War, in order to bury only the Nationalists that had died. The part that makes me sad is that, the other party, the Republic was enslaved and forced to make the monument. However, today it contains both parties anonymously and mixed together. I saw the ´tomb´of Franco in the center of the Basilica with a arrangement of red and white carnations resting behind the altar or slab of granite that has a cross made of two pine trees from the outdoors. The infrastructure was immaculate, dark, and oppressive. Couldn´t take any pics inside, which is the norm here. But I´ll just say it´s not the place that I´d want to celebrate mass.
Also during the week, Adrian was here visiting to celebrate his bday and we ventured out into Toledo. We got a look at the Tajo River, one of the synagogues Santa Maria de Blanca, and a free historical museum that had a panorama video playing out the history of Columbus and the colonies on the cieling of a very Greek pillared gazebo. We also shopped and I got matching earrings for my necklace and Adrian bought Amy her knife. If you don´t understand the significance of buying a knife in Toledo, it´s time for a visit b-c they´re known for their engraved weaponry! The following day we took a tour of the Royal Palace in Madrid. Saw a room, very random room, that was decked out in oriental wall paper and style... Adrian snapped a pic and I have yet to see it! But the palace was excessive and the rooms were endless. There were some rooms that I want to say were there purely for one single activity for the king... like the fitting room. The entire palace wasn´t open, so I didn´t get to see the bathrooms, which I hear are interesting b-c they liked an audience for everything, nor did I see the bedrooms. But I saw the dining room, billiard room, and the pharmacy and the armory etc. Adrian noted that all the rugs were rolled up to a point beyond the makeshift boundaries for the public... guess our feet aren´t sacred.
Beyond all that I had Chinese food for the first time this semester. Rica! The food was pretty good. And the Chinese here actually know Spanish and don´t have funny accents! It´s weird, not gonna lie. Another type of food that I´ve been treating myself to instead of Chinese is the Donner Kebab, which is Turkish and really similar to the Greek gyro. And the US needs to get them before I return because they´re just too good. The first pic is at my 3rd Flamenco Dance. Adrian´s friend Kumar came to visit Spain and Italy. So we hung out with him and company that night.
I´m sure more things will pop into my head after I post. I´ve been mentally noting things, which is never good.
I apologize for the lack of order in pics! If you can figure out the palace, which is the panorama along with a couple more of the courtyard. The others are the Catedral de Segovia, La Granja which is a yellowish palace with gardens near Segovia, and the Roman aqueduct. The twin leaning towers are called Torres de Kio and they´re for the bank Caja Madrid. The light up at night building is some hotel in Madrid that caught my fancy. !if you watch the building the colors change!
So I just want to write down my two must recent and vivid memories at this moment before going into the sites. This whole week I´ve been keeping up house while Susy has been in Málaga fighting for her other house. I´m not going to go into detail. All you need to know is that I´m here alone. Yesterday, when I was walking back to the apartment it was in the afternoon-evening time. Sometimes there are small gatherings of neighbors outside especially since it´s so beautiful outside. (got a tan today!) And I they said hola as I passed them at the gated area that leads to the street. In the courtyard the kids were playing on the ramp and stairs that lead to the door. A boy and a girl were playing and the girl, who was perhaps 5 or 6 saw me coming up the ramp and she stopped and stretched herself to hold onto both railings so I couldn´t pass her! When I stopped she held out her hand and told me ¨La tarjeta por favor!¨ (the card please) Obviously this was a fun game of crossing the ramp... I laughed and said, ¨La tarjeta?! No la tengo!¨ (i don´t have one) she smiled at me really big and skipped to the side of the ramp so I could pass.
The second memory was this afternoon. I already mentioned my neighbors in the previous post and how they talked up a storm with me and insisted that I listen to the radio to utilize my spanish and all. The Señora in particular really thinks I don´t get enough opportunities because Susy and I have different schedules and barely see each other. Anyway, I was leaving and locking up the door to our apartment this afternoon and my neighbor pops her head out the door as if she was waiting for me! She saw me and started jabbering away about whether Susy was around and I was practicing my Spanish. I told her Susy was out in Málaga for the week and I´ve been only practicing in school mainly...which feels like a lot b-c it´s all in Spanish. But she sounded worried! But I was right on time with my hour trip to school so I excused myself and she parted cheerfully and went back into her apartment! Bingo, totally waiting on me! Soo linda. I really love the people here they all greet when passing by and they´re very friendly.
As for the past week or so, here are pictures of my trips! I returned to Segovia with my class for like 2 hours out of the day long trip all over the countryside for my Environment class. The weather was horrific to begin with...soaked pants, tiny particles of hail hitting my face, blasting wind...you name it. And my crazy teachers were standing outside along the reservoir that they were showing us at the moment, as if it was any sunny afternoon! I didn´t take notes for that first stop, but the weather mellowed yet remained rainy through the the stops to the Valle Valsaín slash Sierra Guadarrama, La Granja, and Segovia. At Segovia the famous Roman Aqueduct, the tallest in Spain and the famous álcazar or castle that minutely resembles Disney´s Castle is there. Thankfully the first trip to Segovia was beautiful and I climbed the tower of the Alcazar and viewed the rooms where Queen Isabel had her coronation.
The following day I went with my Cultural Studies class to a field trip to the Reina Sofía which is a famous art museum that I prefer over the Prado and houses the famous Guernica and other Picasso paintings as well as Salvador Dalí, and Robert Caplan... etc. We had on head sets and the teacher talked on her mic so everyone could hear easily! She was being funny about it too saying ¨tengo la voz de Dios¨ I have the voice of God... It was funny at the time wearing the headphones... From there we got on the bus and went up the same mountain range I saw the day before but a different area and much better weather! We saw El Valle de los Caídos. Beautiful architecture, sad story. It´s the picture with the large cross which can be seen for miles along the highway. This monument was resurrected under order of Franco right after the Civil War, in order to bury only the Nationalists that had died. The part that makes me sad is that, the other party, the Republic was enslaved and forced to make the monument. However, today it contains both parties anonymously and mixed together. I saw the ´tomb´of Franco in the center of the Basilica with a arrangement of red and white carnations resting behind the altar or slab of granite that has a cross made of two pine trees from the outdoors. The infrastructure was immaculate, dark, and oppressive. Couldn´t take any pics inside, which is the norm here. But I´ll just say it´s not the place that I´d want to celebrate mass.
Also during the week, Adrian was here visiting to celebrate his bday and we ventured out into Toledo. We got a look at the Tajo River, one of the synagogues Santa Maria de Blanca, and a free historical museum that had a panorama video playing out the history of Columbus and the colonies on the cieling of a very Greek pillared gazebo. We also shopped and I got matching earrings for my necklace and Adrian bought Amy her knife. If you don´t understand the significance of buying a knife in Toledo, it´s time for a visit b-c they´re known for their engraved weaponry! The following day we took a tour of the Royal Palace in Madrid. Saw a room, very random room, that was decked out in oriental wall paper and style... Adrian snapped a pic and I have yet to see it! But the palace was excessive and the rooms were endless. There were some rooms that I want to say were there purely for one single activity for the king... like the fitting room. The entire palace wasn´t open, so I didn´t get to see the bathrooms, which I hear are interesting b-c they liked an audience for everything, nor did I see the bedrooms. But I saw the dining room, billiard room, and the pharmacy and the armory etc. Adrian noted that all the rugs were rolled up to a point beyond the makeshift boundaries for the public... guess our feet aren´t sacred.
Beyond all that I had Chinese food for the first time this semester. Rica! The food was pretty good. And the Chinese here actually know Spanish and don´t have funny accents! It´s weird, not gonna lie. Another type of food that I´ve been treating myself to instead of Chinese is the Donner Kebab, which is Turkish and really similar to the Greek gyro. And the US needs to get them before I return because they´re just too good. The first pic is at my 3rd Flamenco Dance. Adrian´s friend Kumar came to visit Spain and Italy. So we hung out with him and company that night.
I´m sure more things will pop into my head after I post. I´ve been mentally noting things, which is never good.
I apologize for the lack of order in pics! If you can figure out the palace, which is the panorama along with a couple more of the courtyard. The others are the Catedral de Segovia, La Granja which is a yellowish palace with gardens near Segovia, and the Roman aqueduct. The twin leaning towers are called Torres de Kio and they´re for the bank Caja Madrid. The light up at night building is some hotel in Madrid that caught my fancy. !if you watch the building the colors change!
whoaaaaa longggggg post... but i lked it, it was cool... i think u just bout covered everything
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