Monday, January 4, 2010
Exotic Animals
I forgot to add this story to the Spanish post, but we visited an exotic pet store. It was so sad! There were crocodiles, pythons, albino boa constrictors, chinchillas, chameleons and huge spiders. They were all in tiny terrariums. I even found myself feeling sorry for the 15 foot snakes that couldn't even move in there 5x5 terrariums. There were also the smallest little puppies that were all sleeping in the front of the store. When I raised my camera to take pictures of the animals, the woman rushed over and grabbed me by the shoulder to keep me from taking any photos. It is definitely not legal to buy a pet crocodile to raise in Madrid, so I took a few pictures on the sly. I wish my shutter didn't make so much noise. I will put up the pictures that I have, but if anyone reads this who wants to talk to Ana Roman, tell her that I was tempted to buy her a chinchilla, but I didn't think I could get it through airport security.
Hoy estaba muy ocupada, pero es mi último día en Madrid! Empezamos el día en La Reina Sofía Museo de Arte. Habia deseado que mi aprecio por el arte hubiera crecido, pero en realidad, era una de las experiencias más aburridas de mi vida. Vimos el arte de Picasso, Joan Miró y otras artistas muy famosas. Me di cuenta de que cuando yo estaba en la escuela primaria, podía pintar la mayoría de los cuadros que cuelgan en el museo.
Fuimos a la estación de tren de Madrid a comprar billetes para mañana para ir a Zaragoza! La mujer en el mostrador intentaron engañar a nosotros para que tendrían que pagar más por los billetes. Fue una suerte que la tarjeta de crédito no funcionó y tuvimos que ir a un escritorio diferente. La estación es hermosa y hay árboles y restaurantes en su interior. Estoy muy emocionada para el viaje mañana, porque Team Knight dice que los trenes son perfectos.
Después de la estación, era el momento para el almuerzo y encontramos un delicioso buffet vegetariano. La mujer que nos sirvio estaba embarazada, y cuando acabamos de comer, ella estaba hablando con otro camarero en el mostrador. Ella comenzó a llorar y hablaba sobre el estrés del bebé y de pagar las cuentas! Hemos terminado de comer y la dejó sola.
Team Cron fue de compras después del almuerzo. Compramos regalos para mi familia en los Estados Unidos y unos zapatos nuevos y una chaqueta para mi! Cuando volvimos al hotel, estábamos muy cansadas, pero ya era hora de cenar!
Le preguntamos a mucha gente si hay un buen restaurante español auténtico. Después de mucha búsqueda y algunas direcciones loca, hemos encontrado un lugar perfecto. No recuerdo el nombre del restaurante, pero cuando vimos el menú, todas las comidas había carne. La Sra. Knight es vegetariana, pero hemos encontrado un plato con papas para ella. El pollo era muy bueno y definitivamente fue un auténtico lugar para comer. Muchas personas estaban fumando y el restaurante estaba lleno de humo. Salimos después de terminar, para tomar aire fresco.
Volvimos a la tienda de helados y tengo otra Gofre con helado de chocolate. Creo que soy una adicta al chocolate! Estoy de vuelta en el hotel ahora con mi mamá y estamos de embalaje para Zaragoza! Estoy muy emocionada de estar con los Alquezars y vamos a celebrar una fiesta llamada Los Reyes Magos. Es como la Navidad y yo compramos los regalos para ellos. Mi siguiente entrada será en Zaragoza! Ciao!
Fuimos a la estación de tren de Madrid a comprar billetes para mañana para ir a Zaragoza! La mujer en el mostrador intentaron engañar a nosotros para que tendrían que pagar más por los billetes. Fue una suerte que la tarjeta de crédito no funcionó y tuvimos que ir a un escritorio diferente. La estación es hermosa y hay árboles y restaurantes en su interior. Estoy muy emocionada para el viaje mañana, porque Team Knight dice que los trenes son perfectos.
Después de la estación, era el momento para el almuerzo y encontramos un delicioso buffet vegetariano. La mujer que nos sirvio estaba embarazada, y cuando acabamos de comer, ella estaba hablando con otro camarero en el mostrador. Ella comenzó a llorar y hablaba sobre el estrés del bebé y de pagar las cuentas! Hemos terminado de comer y la dejó sola.
Team Cron fue de compras después del almuerzo. Compramos regalos para mi familia en los Estados Unidos y unos zapatos nuevos y una chaqueta para mi! Cuando volvimos al hotel, estábamos muy cansadas, pero ya era hora de cenar!
Le preguntamos a mucha gente si hay un buen restaurante español auténtico. Después de mucha búsqueda y algunas direcciones loca, hemos encontrado un lugar perfecto. No recuerdo el nombre del restaurante, pero cuando vimos el menú, todas las comidas había carne. La Sra. Knight es vegetariana, pero hemos encontrado un plato con papas para ella. El pollo era muy bueno y definitivamente fue un auténtico lugar para comer. Muchas personas estaban fumando y el restaurante estaba lleno de humo. Salimos después de terminar, para tomar aire fresco.
Volvimos a la tienda de helados y tengo otra Gofre con helado de chocolate. Creo que soy una adicta al chocolate! Estoy de vuelta en el hotel ahora con mi mamá y estamos de embalaje para Zaragoza! Estoy muy emocionada de estar con los Alquezars y vamos a celebrar una fiesta llamada Los Reyes Magos. Es como la Navidad y yo compramos los regalos para ellos. Mi siguiente entrada será en Zaragoza! Ciao!
Zaragoza!
Yesterday was such a full day that by the time all the activity was done I was fast asleep! I spent most of the morning with maddie, excluding the visit to the prado. Because my mother and I had gone the day prior to yesterday we went off in search of an atm machine. It was a very lazy sunday morning and we saw few people out on the street. It was a fine time to look for something becausethere weren´t any crowds to obstruct our way. I guess I should skip the part where maddie and I met up again because she described it below.. but at about 4:00 p.m. I did meet my host family. I have a new mom, dad, sister, and younger sister. The sister´s names are Claudia and Lucia. Claudia is 15 and Lucia is 10, they are both very petite and extremely nice. During our three our car ride to Zaragoza learned that Lucia, like many other ten year old american girls, is in love with ¨Hannah Montana¨ and ¨The jonas Brothers¨. Claudia does not share the same fascination with the two popular disney characters, but instead prefers to fantasize about a popular vampire and werewolf. In the car Claudia and I listened to Lady Gaga, Rihanna, and other artists that we both enjoyed. I have to admit... there were some akward pauses when neither of us knew what to say, but all in all.. it turned out pretty well. It was dark when were driving and one thing that I clearly remeber was right before you get into the city of Zaragoza, you have to drive through this huge electronic windmill farm and in the dark they all glow red. It was so cool and I´m sure they put it there for a reason because right after you pass the glowing red you go over a hill and see this field of white and yellow lights of the city of Zaragoza. We got to the apartment and I am living in the youngest sisters room. As well as Jonas brothers posters, a large Welcome sign decorates the walls of my new bedroom. For dinner we had Salad and Egg and potato tortilla. We watched the Simpsons during dinner... ¿typical? Later Claudia and I watched the third Pirates of the Carribean until one in the morning. We said goodnight and went to our rooms, I fell asleep reading one of my books from home. It was only one in morning, which was apparently early?
My day was very fun, and I will write again soon, so untill then... Ciao
My day was very fun, and I will write again soon, so untill then... Ciao
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Busy Days!!!
Well it is officially the end of my second day in Madrid and I already feel like I live here. I can find my way around the city! That is really saying something considering my family claims I can't find my bedroom from the kitchen.
The day began with breakfast at 9:00 with Team Knight. We went to the hotel's little diner for a buffet of eggs and toast. After breakfast, Team Cron headed off to The Prado Museum which was fabulous. We saw TONS of famous paintings and bought some postcards to send to my history teacher, Mr. G. Team Knight went shopping while we were at the museum, and we met back at the hotel at noon.
From the hotel we took a taxi to the Perkin's house, a family from Fairfield who are living in Madrid for a year. We had a delicious lunch with them and their two sons and one daughter, Clark, Sam and Lucia. They told us about their school and about how hard it is having to learn and take classes in Spanish. We walked through Madrid in the pouring rain and ended up miles, or should I say kilometers from their apartment and had to hurry back!
We got back to the hotel and met India's hosts, the Navascuez family. They were so awesome and so outgoing! Claudia spoke English to us and we responded in Spanish so it worked great! Their family was adorable and they drove three hours to pick India up! I can't wait to take the train to Zaragoza to meet Silvia and her family. Claudia said that she is good friends with Silvia and every weekend we will all travel together to the Pyrenees mountains where they have a cabin. Awesome!
Well India left and we went back to the hotel for nap time! The jet lag is slowly wearing off so every thing is getting easier. The whole idea of sleep is apparently very abstract to Spaniards. They stay up all night and sleep all day like they're nocturnal. Claudia told us about Discotechas and the fun night time activities so apparently my strict 10:00 bedtime will not be in effect here in Spain.
After nap time, we went out to dinner at this small Indian restaurant. While we walked down the road, a young man came to us and gave us a brochure for the Indian food and walked us to the restaurant. He asked where we were from in broken English, and we told him New York because Connecticut is not well known among most Americans, let alone Spain. Well he told us he was from New York too... but we doubted he had been out of Madrid. It was sweet though, and he walked us out after we ate our curry chicken and rice.
We went out in search of some delicious ice cream and it was a huge success. Before we could find the quaint little waffle and ice cream stand though, we were asked out by a young Spanish guy. He sort of waltzed over to us and said in his heavily practiced, charming Spanish accent, "Escuse me ladies, would you care to join me for a beer?" We kindly declined and he sauntered away, but not before raising his fist in the air and yelling, "Cheers!!" I didn't know that two middle aged women and a fifteen year old girl could be very appealing, but apparently I wouldn't know.
Well the ice cream and waffles were delicious and now we're back in bed, ready to crash from all the walking and eating. Tomorrow is my last full day in Madrid before I'm off to Zaragoza for the rest of the month. I can't wait!
The day began with breakfast at 9:00 with Team Knight. We went to the hotel's little diner for a buffet of eggs and toast. After breakfast, Team Cron headed off to The Prado Museum which was fabulous. We saw TONS of famous paintings and bought some postcards to send to my history teacher, Mr. G. Team Knight went shopping while we were at the museum, and we met back at the hotel at noon.
From the hotel we took a taxi to the Perkin's house, a family from Fairfield who are living in Madrid for a year. We had a delicious lunch with them and their two sons and one daughter, Clark, Sam and Lucia. They told us about their school and about how hard it is having to learn and take classes in Spanish. We walked through Madrid in the pouring rain and ended up miles, or should I say kilometers from their apartment and had to hurry back!
We got back to the hotel and met India's hosts, the Navascuez family. They were so awesome and so outgoing! Claudia spoke English to us and we responded in Spanish so it worked great! Their family was adorable and they drove three hours to pick India up! I can't wait to take the train to Zaragoza to meet Silvia and her family. Claudia said that she is good friends with Silvia and every weekend we will all travel together to the Pyrenees mountains where they have a cabin. Awesome!
Well India left and we went back to the hotel for nap time! The jet lag is slowly wearing off so every thing is getting easier. The whole idea of sleep is apparently very abstract to Spaniards. They stay up all night and sleep all day like they're nocturnal. Claudia told us about Discotechas and the fun night time activities so apparently my strict 10:00 bedtime will not be in effect here in Spain.
After nap time, we went out to dinner at this small Indian restaurant. While we walked down the road, a young man came to us and gave us a brochure for the Indian food and walked us to the restaurant. He asked where we were from in broken English, and we told him New York because Connecticut is not well known among most Americans, let alone Spain. Well he told us he was from New York too... but we doubted he had been out of Madrid. It was sweet though, and he walked us out after we ate our curry chicken and rice.
We went out in search of some delicious ice cream and it was a huge success. Before we could find the quaint little waffle and ice cream stand though, we were asked out by a young Spanish guy. He sort of waltzed over to us and said in his heavily practiced, charming Spanish accent, "Escuse me ladies, would you care to join me for a beer?" We kindly declined and he sauntered away, but not before raising his fist in the air and yelling, "Cheers!!" I didn't know that two middle aged women and a fifteen year old girl could be very appealing, but apparently I wouldn't know.
Well the ice cream and waffles were delicious and now we're back in bed, ready to crash from all the walking and eating. Tomorrow is my last full day in Madrid before I'm off to Zaragoza for the rest of the month. I can't wait!
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