April 7th - April 12th

Well, it does not seem long ago that I was writing my last post, and I suspect that is because I am trying to get back to posting on Monday's, not Tuesdays after two week of no posts!

The week has gone by quite quickly, but not without any fun and exciting times. Wednesday night Amy invited Marc, Ismael and me out to dinner with her mom who was in town visiting. I was about to tell you this long tail about Mrs. Stabler and how it was the first time I was going to meet her, but then I realized that I am delusional and I really met her last Sunday when we all went to the bull fight together (Tommy and Lorena included). Well, back to the story, we all met up at our favorite little Indian restaurant and Mrs. Stabler invited us to a wonderful meal full of interesting conversation and good company. Now some may wonder why we went to Indian food instead of taking her to a Spanish restaurant, but Indian once a week has become a custom and Jalal (the owner) would be heart broken if Marc and I didn't show up around Wednesday or Thursday! After dinner Isma and Marc went home and the rest of us went back to the hotel room to play cards. We had some wicked games of hearts....hmmm and maybe one other game that I am forgetting now before calling it a night around 2:30a.m. (Welcome to Spain Mrs. Stabler!) because we had a train to catch in the morning for a day trip in Salamanca. I did my best to find a night bus home to Moncloa, and ended up arriving around 4:00 a.m. after hearing some very interesting stories about the U.S. and how most all attacks on national soil (Pearl Harbor, 9-11, etc.) were inside jobs! I guess that is the conversation with the people on the bus at that hour!

Caught a few quick hours of sleep, and then met Amy and Mrs. Stabler at the Charmtin train station to go to Salamanca. We arrived in Salamanca around 11:30 or so in the morning after about 2 hours on the train. During the ride we were back at the cards and taking in the views of the country side. A complete step by step recollection of what we did might be hard but here is my best shot...in number form:

1. Went to breakfast (Tostada de Pan con Tomate) and Cafe con Leche at a bar in Plaza de Espana

2. Walk to the old town area and la calle de los tres cono's ... Hay cono una iglesia, Hay cono una casa con conchas, hay cono que frio! (please do be careful when or if looking up the direct translation...it is the slang equivalent of the slang term "man" in English...like, hey "man")

3. We then walked to the new and the old cathedrals where Amy did the happy dance every time we walked into an interesting room or area! I know you just did the happy dance Mrs. Stabler!

4. Checked out the Oldest University in the world, which started in the church, but has a campus now, at which we found the Frog on the hat of the statue, or facade.

5. Wandered aimlessly around the town around siesta time trying to find a place to have lunch at, ended up finding a nice little Spanish restaurant and enjoyed different dishes such as: revuelto con setas, ensalada campera con atun, arroz cubano, pescado a la plancha, and costillas de cerdo a la plancha all followed up with a cafe con leche.

6. After realizing that I had left my back pack with my ipod, book, and our map in it at the first bar where we had breakfast we stopped in to pick it up. Luckily, everything was still there!

7. We then wandered down to the river side to look at the old Roman Bridge and decided that since it was such a beautiful sunny day out and we had seen all the major sights that maybe we should sit by the water, in the grass, and soak up some sun!

8. Stopped in at the local store, armed our selves with two bottles of Cava (Spanish Champagne) and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon bathing in the sun,and taking deep breathes of Spanish air while enjoying the sights of a cathedral across the water

9. Sadly, that was the end to our glorious day in Salamaca. We hoped on the train around 20:30 and it was back to Madrid.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Stabler left Friday morning, so I said my good byes at the train station, but I am sure that we will meet again!

On Friday it was tough to get to school for class, but I managed to make it. Later that evening I met up with Marc and Ismael, and went to a birthday dinner for a friend Helena. It was nice because a bunch of our friends were there: Alvaro, Isaac, Vicky, Ana, Kike, and Eva. After dinner, we went out to a disco, and as usual...DANCED THE NIGHT AWAY!

Saturday, I went to Marc's house, and his dad made us an awesome Chicken Tandoori for lunch. Not much better than going to some where that feels like home almost and having someone cook you a nice meal! We booked out final epic trip before the family gets here...Istanbul, here we come! and promptly watched Troy after wards seeing as that we are planning a day trip there. Saturday night we went to Joaquim's house for a get together/viewing party of the Real Madrid vs. Barcelona game...again it was great to get a similar but different group of friends together. Saturday night we were: Joaquim, Kike, Eva, Marc, Mariel, Ismael, Amy and I. The game was very disappointing, and to make matters worse, Madrid lost 2-0. Marc, Ismael, Amy and I grabbed a beer after the game and then called it an early night!

Sunday, well Sunday's are for the Bull Fight's. Sunday morning was lazy, and then in the afternoon Marc, Amy and I went and enjoyed a beautiful day at Las Ventas. the sun was shinning and the crowd was animated. The Torrero's unfortunately were not that good being that they were Noviados (Novices), but all the same we enjoyed our top deck seats for 2.20Euro's, sunflower seeds, and a nice cold beer! After the Fight we went for a nice walk around Retiro park because the weather was so nice, and finished the day off with some Thai food. Not the quality Thai that we find back home, but nice to change it up every once in a while.

And after all of that, here we are back to Monday. Like usual, had class from 13:00-21:00, and came home exhausted. got home to some sort of emergency or something. The third floor of the apartment complex was filled with police and firemen, and before long I had a firemen repelling down past my living room window! I am not sure what happened, but they ended up going into an apartment on the third floor through the window. My guess is an old lady that has not left the house for a few days since there was clothes on the clothe line outside, but I am not sure...hopefully everyone is fine.

Well, that wraps up a much longer post than I was expecting. Until next week, and look for pictures from Salamanca soon!

Much love as Always,

Phil