Day Twenty Eight

Interesting tag line... I've got nothing.

But today was quite the interesting day. This morning I woke up with just enough time to throw on some clothes, eat my favorite breakfast of greek yogurt+"cereales" and a Valencia orange, and then make my daily walk to Alcalingua... to the dreaded 321 Grammar class. It's real painful to sit through, but alas.... maybe I'll understand preterite and imperfect the 20th time around? haha

When class got out I did a very bad thing. I was feeling some alone time, so I hopped aboard the 2 bus, and rode out to the mall to walk around by myself awhile... and just my luck that the director's wife decided to hop aboard the same bus! Yep, I spent the whole ride trying to act invisible. It worked :) I think the hardest thing about this study abroad is never having any alone time. I really enjoy being by myself at least some of the time, so this "buddy system" thing we've got going on is kind of hard to deal with. I mean, I really like my roommate, the friends I've made, etc, but I've missed having a little solitude! Anyways, my alone time was fruitful, and in the process I didn't get mugged, stalked, or murdered! Success.

For lunch today I wanted to jump for joy. Why? We were eating asparagus, and not just any asparagus, but esparrago a la plancha! con aceite de oliva y sal grande! Last night when rummaging around in the fridge for something a. not seafood b. not a sausage and c. not mayonaise, I stumbled upon a bundle of asparagus. Pili was in the kitchen, and very excitedly I told her about the way I like to eat my asparagus- the way Aunt Teressa makes it (hi, Teressa) broiled with olive oil, sea salt, and pine nuts! Well, she didn't understand the pine nuts part, but much to my delight Pili said that she was actually planning on doing just that thing today for lunch. Brilliant. Oh, and it was delicious. Along with my vegetables, Pili also made a pasta alfredo dish with mushrooms. I've always been scared of mushrooms, but Spain is teaching me to love them. Thanks Spain. My mom will be proud.

We had to eat and run this afternoon because today was Museo del Prado day. You see, a couple weeks ago my Civilizations teacher cancelled class, so today we had to make it up. Not gonna lie, I was not that thrilled at the idea of going to an art museum and having Rebecca lecture us for a good hour and a half. She is a funny lady, our teacher, and just the thought of having to go to El Prado and listen to her kind of made everyone's skin crawl. To add to our dismay, we found that Antonio was coming to the museum with us too. Joy. Antonio is our "pseudo guide/travel agent" who accompanies us on our trips, talks during the whole bus ride while we're trying to sleep, and just kind of has that "tone". Anyways, we were feeling a little hopeless when we saw the both of them together, but actually the tour rocked. I loved it, even though my feet hurt and all I really wanted was to eat the apple out of my bag. We learned about El Renacimiento (renaissance) and saw various works by El Greco and followers of Las Tortugas Ninjas! Rafael, Donatello, Leonardo, and Michaelangelo, of course :) I learned a lot, and hopefully I'll be able to remember it all for the scary test at the end of the trip! Favorite work today?

Santa Catalina by Fernando Yáñez de la Almedina

Short history? Don't mind if I do! Basically Catalina spoke out for Christianity when Paganism was the law of the land, the king tried to kill her with a wheel full of swords that would slowly mutilate her, but when the wheel got close God intervened and it broke, sending the swords out and killing lots of the bad guys. The king got mad, so Catalina went to jail. The king's wife ended up dying, he decided he wanted to marry Catalina, but she said no. The king got mad and had Catalina decapitated. The end.

Oh, and all was well with Antonio- he basically kept his mouth shut most of the tour. Thank goodness!

After the tour it was official FHE time. First stop? Ice cream in Retiro Park, of course. After ice cream? Rowboats. While my boat did not get stuck underneath a fountain this time, that doesn't mean the 45 minutes on the high seas was not eventful. All I can say is that boys will be boys, and today the boys decided they were pirates. What did they want to plunder from our little blue row boats? Oh, ya know just our OARS. To make a long story short, they managed to secure a couple oars, but not ours- we put up a fight! However, they did do a lot of splashing, got us very wet, ruined my cellphone, (don't worry, they WILL pay) and one girl in my group ended up jumping her stranded and oarless ship to swim over to the pirate boat to give them a piece of her mind. Never a dull moment here, I tell you what.

Tonight when we got home I ate the dinner of champions. Chocolate cereales (the Spaniards have a fixation with chocolatey cereal) and, SALAD. Yep, I asked, and Pili delivered. It was the best iceburg lettuce, red cabbage, and carrot mix I have ever tasted. Oh how I have missed salad! She even had dressing. This woman is a saint.

goodnight