Well, it has been almost a week that I have been here, hard to believe! Sometimes it feels like I've been here about 12 seconds and other times for much longer.
Friday we went on a tour of Toledo. I was spoiled though and my spanish dad (sp dad from now on) took me for churros and chocolate first, which I love. Chocolate is like hot chocolate only much thicker, like they just melted a chocolate bar down and poured it in a glass. Then he drove me to school, which he has been doing and it is so awesome because it gives me about 20 more minutes in the morning. The tour of Toledo was really cool, we started on the bus and went around the entire border of the city, where you can get really good shots. The best views of Toledo are from the bottom outside of the walls of the city but its hard to get it and I never want to try on the bus, because its too hard. After we did the bus tour, we did the walking part. We went to more of the main spots, like the Cathedral. We also went past the building where the Jesuits used to live before they got kicked out of Spain for being too rebellious (go figure...) I asked the guide and he explained to me how to get to the convent where the Jesuits live now so one day I'll have to go explore and try to find that. After the tour a group of us went to the main plaza in Toledo and enjoyed a nice pitcher of Sangria. After that, I went home to my sp mom for lunch. Friday was a rough day, I started feeling sick and then took a nap. My sp mom has now switched me off tap water and on to bottled water.
After I woke up, I felt better so we went to find where my friend Liz (who goes to OSU and lives in Cleveland) lives. My sp mom is the classic spaniard...at one point when we were walking with the dog she was wearing high wedges, holding the dog and smoking a cigarette, the normal spanish walk. It took awhile but we did find where Liz lives and she actually came out with us. We went to the main street in Poligono to the bar my sp dad love to go to watch futbol, Il Gatto Mafioso (which is, ironically, italian). We met up with my sp dad and his friend Miguel,the police chief. Miguel is awesome, he knows a lot about the US, and he also always makes sure that I understand everything that is going on and he explains a lot of things to me and Liz. Ya-Ya, my spanish grandma met us there also. It was a lot of fun.
Saturday I got to sleep in, which was absolutely wonderful. My sp mom and I went to the mercadillo, which is the market in Poligono. On the way, we met up with some of the people I knew, so I went with them. The market wasn't very big, just your basic flea market. After that, it was time for lunch. We all met again after lunch to tae the bus to the mall. I did, of course, buy shoes at the mall. Taking the bus is always an adventure. We know where to get off, but the stops to get on are usually in a different place so it's kind of a guessing game to figure out where they will pick up. At one point by the mall we were like walking through what looked like a mini desert. We did find our way back and I went to Liz's house to meet her sp mom (I've already met her sp dad in town) and see where she lives. She also has internet!! We booked tickets to go to ROMA in 2 weekends, so while all of you are celebrating the 4th of July, we will be celebrating pasta.
That night I got do something realllly cool, we went on a night walk of Toledo. My sp dad is the vice president of something relating to the futbol club Madrid Atletico. Whether it is a fan club or a group of people that used to play or a mixture, I haven't been able to figure that out. It was all people from this group and they do it every year. It starts at 10 right as the sun is going down. I got to meet a lot of people who were all very nice. This tour was by far the best. I didn't take any pictures though because it was nighttime and the tour was moving very fast since everyone else was from Toledo. We went to the Jewish neighborhood (which is no longer so, but was exclusively for Jews only back in the day). We went down pozos, which are like wells and caves for purifying before praying for both Muslims and Jews. We also went by a lot of buildings where the guide told some awesome stories. There was one building that an archbishop built for women that didn't want to get married young but also didn't want to become nuns. The famous story with him is that he used to be extremely poor and homeless. When he was younger, he went to a shoemaker and said he'd never had a pair of shoes and would like one. The shoemaker took all of his measurements and said to return the week later to get the shoes. So a week later, the man returns to get his shoes. He tries them on and gets so happy because they fit so well. The only problem of course is when the shoemaker tells him how much they cost THe man realizes this could be trouble and says "I forgot to tell you, I can't afford to buy these shoes." The shoemaker says, no problem just bring back money when you have it. Flash forward many years and a person comes in and says to the shoemaker--the archbishop is coming! Of course the shoemaker is thinking oh no what have I done. THe archbishop enters, and sets down a bag of gold on the table. He says thanks to the shoemaker and leaves. The shoemaker opens the bag of gold and realizes its that man from years ago and he has paid it back, with interest. And there in lies the story. After that, we went to get drinks (I have a lemonade that I'm semi-addicted to). I had to laugh when Party in the USA came on in the bar and no one was there to appreciate it.
Sunday a friend and I went to Madrid for the day. Its a very short bus ride, a great one to sleep on in fact. Once we got tehere, we went to el rastro which is a huge open air flea market, and I mean HUGE. We wandered around there for awhile and actually saw people from our school, go figure. Then we went to the PLaza Mayor and had sangria and lunch. MY friend Ian from Xavier met up with us there and it was so nice to see him, plus he was our own personal tour guide to Madrid. We went to the cathedral, the palace and theatre and then we walked across town to the park, buen retiro. After that we tried to go to El Prado because it was free but the line was wayyyy too long so we headed home. That night of course we went to Il Gatto Mafioso.
Today has been just class. All I have today is Phonetics and that class seems like it will be really fun. I like a lot of the people in the class and the professor seems really cool, plus we have no homework outside of class. We are going to wander the city this afternoon and plan for our weekend.
Abrazos,
Emily
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