Mar 14th - Mar 23rd

Well last time I left you all I was landing in Lisbon from Madrid to give a quick visit to Felicia. The visit went pretty well, on Sunday when I went to see her for lunch she was doing pretty well and in good spirits. She broke out a few of her jokes and was telling stories that were really funny. After the visit I spent some time with Tia Nicha, David, Teresa and Maria. It is always nice to spend time with them, Tia Nicha is like my mom on this side of the world, all ways looking after me and checking on me! Man is it good to have family around! In the afternoon they had to study so it was off to Avo's house with Francisco to hang out, we ended up hanging there for a while and then Domingos and Pedro came over for dinner. We ended up being a mess of people because Tio Joao was there with Marta and Mariana, and then Pedro, Francisco, Domingos, Avo and I...I am not sure how many that is, maybe 8, well it was a lot cause we went from 5 to 8 in the snap of a finger but Avo came through with a great meal as always, including my favorite soup (sopa de feijao verde).

On Monday I was up relatively early and it was back to battle with the Bureaucrats at the office to get my European Health card being that the temporary one they sent me expired, and the real one never came. After battling with no success it was off to another visit with Felicia before going back to Madrid to make it to class on time to turn in an assignment I had due. The second visit was not as good as the first, in that Felicia had not had a very good night and was pretty weak and tired. I helped give her her lunch and enjoyed spending time with her. After the visit, it was off to the airport. Like most the time, the flight to Madrid was delayed and hour or so. I ended up making it to class about 45 minutes late but better late than never right. After class I got a call from Tia Luisa, Marta and Mariana's mom, saying that she was in Madrid and wanted to get dinner together. I ended up meeting her and a couple of friends in Barrio Salamanca and having a great meal. I had some sort of Goose or duck breast in a sauce that I am not sure of, but it was excellent. It ended up being one hell of a long day, I finally arrived home around 12:30.

Tuesday was another long day at school, things are still heating up, tests and assignments to turn in and group projects to start on. Not exactly my idea of studying abroad, but I guess a little work won't kill me! Thank goodness I had something to look forward to and the day went right on by. On Wednesday I was off to Valencia for a festival called Las Fallas. I have a friend, Luis, that lives in a little pueblo outside of Valencia called Benevites, and he was nice enough to put me up for a night while I went to the Fallas. I arrived Wednesday around 4 in the afternoon, the flight was a mere 30 minutes or so and we still had the rest of the day ahead of us. Luis took some time off work during the day to pick me up at the airport, then we went back to his house and hung out. We walked around his little town and looked at the garden, and soccer pitch, and amphitheater that they have there. We also went to his folks new house they are building right around the corner from his. The whole pueblo has a population of 660 and is a surrounded by orange groves. Instead of going into Valencia downtown the first day, I ended up just hanging out in the pueblo and catching up on some much needed rest.

Thursday was another story, PARTY TIME! Luis had to work for the day at the family business, but his parents were nice enough to drop me off at the train station that was about 15 minutes away by car, and I was on my way to Valencia for the real action. The first experience I got with the Fallas was the train ride into town...I have NEVER seem a train so FULL. Luckily I was on my own so right as the doors were closing I shoved some people around a squeezed my big butt right in the door! At every stop more people tried to shove there way in but it was with little to no success that they would make it on, occasionally one or two might get real lucky and squeeze their way on. After getting off at the main train station in Valencia, I was right in time to catch the firework show at 2 in the afternoon. Yes, you heard it correctly, a firework show at 2. I have never seen something quite like it, and not sure where you will find anything else like it. In the center of the city, Plaza de Ayuntamiento, there were people shoulder to shoulder, I mean completely stuffed in and filling up about 4 city blocks deep of side streets in any direction. at 2 on the dot these big explosions started going off and smoke was everywhere. It was absolutely spectacular, and left your ears ringing for sometime afterward. The show lasted a good 5 or 6 minutes and after it was waiting until people dispersed so you could finally walk around a little bit.

After the show I started wandering around aimlessly. I probably should have done some more research about what to see, or where do to go but instead I was just flying by the seat of my pants. I ended up seeing the offering that all the Falleras took flowers to, and saw the Falla that one first prize for the year. the structures were absolutely incredible, and really funny. They are all plays on different things, political, social issues, or anything else you could think of. Please enjoy the pictures and videos that will be up later today. Around 11p.m. Luis made it into town and we were off to cut up the town, he showed me the natural history museum or something like that...some incredible modern buildings, and then we met up with a few of his friends for a drink at a restaurant, and then went bar hoping all over Valencia. Before you knew it, it was 6 in the morning and I had a plane to catch at 8. Right after I got on the metro that was again, extremely full, I happened to glance to my side and ran into one of my colleagues from Carlos III...what are the chances, that we catch the same metro, and get in the same car, at the same door! It was pretty funny. I got to the airport with time to spare, and fell right asleep when we took off. I was rudely awoken by the bump of the pilot landing, and it was straight home to clean up for David and Bernardo (cousins) to come visit. I cleaned to room a little bit and then grabbed another 3 hours of sleep or so before going to the airport to pick them up.

The pick up went pretty smoothly, I found them with out any major problems although they both came out of different doors than the screen indicated. Being that they are both 16 and growing the first thing that we did was head to a restaurant for some late lunch. After going home and dropping there stuff off, it was right out the door to check out the main sites of the city, we wandered all over and took in the city little by little...I don't know how much we walked all weekend, but it was a lot. We went home for dinner, and then it was back at it again, off to the neighbor Vasco's house to hang before going out to the Disco. Like any good older cousin I took them out for a night on the town. unfortunately we did not make it till the very end of the night because the 3 hours of sleep I had had the day before wasn't enough! I know, what a wimp right, but there is always the next day and we had things to see on Saturday.

Saturday we got up at a reasonable hour, as in not much after 1 in the afternoon, and it was right off to check out the town some more. Marc met us at the house and then we made our way to our favorite Indian restaurant for lunch. We ate well and then it was teach these kids about art and history so we went to the Reina Sofia museum to see some of Picasso and Dali's work. As always boring tasks are rewarded, after walking by the Prado, and skipping it due to a line that must have been a quarter of a mile long we went to a nice little Tapas bar for some Tapas. Not bad right! By the time we got with all of this we went walking even more, we checked out the Royal Palace, and Templo Dibod, which is an Egyptian Temple that was given to the king of Spain, in the year I don't know how many as a gift. The temple was deconstructed, brought to Spain, and put back together. I had actually never been to the site, and was thoroughly impressed. It is up on a hill that looks to the west of the city and at sunset is quite spectacular. We went back to the house for a small dinner, and then once again it was out for the night. Saturday night Ismael and Amy met up with us and the five us headed out. This time Bernardo, David and I made it all the way till closing, we had an awesome time cutting up the dance floor and grooving!

With just a few hours of sleep yet again, it was up at 9:45 to get Bernardo up and take him to the airport. I was like a zombie on the way home, and right after I jumped in bed again David woke up! Luckily I was able to still grab a quick little 30 minutes or an hour or so and it was back at it. We grabbed some lunch and then went cruising for ladies...ok we didn't go cruising for ladies, but it sounded cooler! We went and checked out this place called the Caixa Forum, which is a really cool building near my old house. The building has been lifted one floor off the ground and always has some cool expositions outside of art (pictures in the Picassa album). Before you knew it, it was time to head right back home and get him to the airport. Really looking forward to getting to sleep early I ended up talking with mom and Andrew, then almost everyone else back home was up and for some reason or other I was up till way to late talking with everyone...well worth it though.

This post should have been written yesterday, but being that I had an exam I was not prepared for, I tried to get some studying in before I went into the room for a rough, rough exam. I guess any points I get are better than none! I think I did ok, but not too great...the weekend was well worth it though.

Well, that should keep everyone busy for quite some time. I hope I didn't bore anyone to badly, and if I did I am not sorry cause that was one heck of a week! I hope this finds everyone doing well, and I am really looking forward to having Tommy come hang out for Semana Santa, or Spring break!

Also, I wanted to give a big congrats to John for the job offer! Great job man, really proud of you and your awesomeness.

Ok that is really it for now!

Much Love,

Phil