Update, part I

At long last, an update. I apologize to those of you who live to read my stimulating musings on Spanish life.

The run-down:

Tuesday night I went with Fernando, my host mother´s brother, to a suburb south of Madrid where he is director of an English-language school. His English is better than mine, I think. He speaks with an interesting blend of British and Irish accents, because the English that is taught here is British, but Fernando also spent a few years living in Ireland.

The language school caters to students of all ages and walks of life who are interested in learning English. I met with about half a dozen of Fernando´s students and we all went out for tapas and drinks at a bar in town. It was great to speak English for a little while. Some mornings I wake up and the thought of trying to communicate in Spanish all day is just overwhelming. The problem is that I´m such a perfectionist that it bothers me to say things incorrectly. But I feel like my Spanish has improved already.

Thursday, Ignacio had a birthday party to go to in downtown Madrid. He wasn´t going to be able to go because his parents work during the day, so I volunteered to take him on the bus, and Elena too. Talk about a couple of well-behaved kids! Elena and I dropped Ignacio off at the party and did a little shopping downtown, then we went to the shopping center near our subdivision and had a nice lunch. She´s so mature for her age, sometimes I think she´s 10 going on 30.

Thursday night was a blast. I went with Ashley (my non-Mormon friend from Utah, who arrived here two weeks ago and is working for the same agency) to a little restaurant in downtown Madrid and then we decided to find a good club and go dancing. Well, it took a lot of work – the first club we tried ended up being way too expensive, then we made about 10 laps around the neighborhood and met some interesting people. Finally, we hopped into line at a club and some guys in front of us gave us free passes to get in. We ended up hanging out with them for most of the evening. (One of them, Jorge, keeps calling me, and I keep having to shoot him down, which is kind of hard to do in Spanish. He´s really nice, but I don´t think I need a Spanish boyfriend – right, Mom? Poor Jorge.)

Friday, I went with Ashley (we´re tight now!) and one of Fernando´s students, Mercedes, to a town south of Madrid called Aranjuez. Mercedes is in her late 30s and her 17-year-old daughter, Arroncha, came with us. The Spanish royal family has a "seasonal home" there, and extensive gardens...

have to run...will finish later!