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Published: August 4th 2008
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Chocolate con Churros
David, Julie and Chris enjoy the spanish classic for afternoon tea by anna (and david) July 7th-24th
After the excitement of the first two weeks back in Madrid, things have calmed down somewhat, nevertheless, we've kept ourselves busy. I have been back at 'school' for five weeks now, David has been enjoying life "as free as a bird", and we've both been loving life in Madrid - la vida espana.
The week before last, David spent a couple of days in London for work
(the most stressful part was having to get a hair cut for the first time since leaving - note the new clean cut look), during which I went out with Miguel, Alfredo and Mario for Miguel's last night in town, before
Julie and Chris came over for a weekend visit.
We had a great weekend, kicked off with some drinks at our fave bar in Chueca, Libertad 8
(where the manager made it a bigger night than we intended by shouting us all another round of gins, which are outstanding in Madrid due to their more than generous pours), and followed by almost non stop eating and drinking as we gave them a tour of our fave spots in Madrid. We had good intentions of
finally visiting the Prado, and waited in the queue for all of about two minutes, before deciding that was enough, and it was time for a long lunch. Another time 😊 It was an educational weekend though. For example I learnt that a home can be valued in hams as, according to Chris, "every day we don't buy a house is two hams, Julie". It was an awesome weekend
(finished with a lovely mojito at a Cuban cocktail bar), and we spent the next week recovering.
Being back at "school" is great. I'm enjoying
studying again, but I am definitely the grandma of the class. The others are all 20-22 y.o., spend their nights going out to clubs, and don't turn up to class now and then because they have met some random guy or gal the night before. Needless to say, most are funded by their parents - now that's a lifestyle!
I had another exam last week and am now in the second half of the intermediate course for my last three weeks of study. For anyone who has studied a latin / romantic language, you'll know that the grammar is never ending with 15-20 conjugations
Chris in the Jardines de Sabatini ...
... searching for more ways to get a ham back to England perhaps? of every verb
(it broke me). This was the focus of my first 10 weeks of study, but, thankfully, we are now moving on. It's good timing because I'm not sure I could take any more grammar! I still can't make proper sentences fast enough to converse well, but slowly I am able to say and understand more
(she is being modest).
We went to dinner last Thursday to celebrate having completed my exam, deciding to try a great looking asian restaurant, called Indochina, which is nearby. I couldn't help laughing when we had some questionable "Chaussie" style sweet and sour beef (not how the description sounded on the menu) and a "green" curry that was actually more 'yellow', and tasted distinctly of Keen's curry powder underneath the msg. It was disappointing to waste a nice meal out, nevertheless, very funny
(I didn't find it particularly funny - it was a disgrace they could serve up that crap in such a nice looking restaurant).
We washed it down with a drink at our fave local bar, where the barmen made it two when he gave us another for free, (it's becoming a habit at this bar - albeit
a great one). It was a nice consolation prize.
Last Saturday night we did another tapas tour with Carol and Brian, the parents of Hayden, one of David's mates from uni. It was a good night, nevertheless, I'm glad I wasn't getting on a bus like they were the next morning.
(It was a great night showing them around. We are mastering the Madrid tapas and town tour in a night, although I suspect Brian might have struggled in the morning as I did after Anna and I kicked on into the early hours at the "fish place" - a bar near where we used to live) We have now made
friends with the barmen (Carlos, Juan and Jesus) in our local where we go most mornings (about 1:30pm 😊 for coffee and, sometimes, a bocadillo with tortilla or calamares. Carlos is keen to learn English so we swap lessons.
With all this eating and drinking, we have decided we can't go another 3 months without exercise and have
joined a gym. It's only a block away, with some friendly managers and it isn't too crowded. It's been so far so good, as we have both gone
Night out with the boys
Anna with Mario and Miguel at a funky outdoor bar near Atcoha most days since we joined.
So, generally, we're starting to feel like we live here, and it only gets better.
Friday is another public holiday so we are heading to visit friends in Ireland, followed by a week of touring in northern spain ... stay tuned ...
PS Julie, it was tough, but, nevertheless, you owe me a bottle of champas 😊
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julie
non-member comment
nevertheless
i am very proud! next blog 'truth be told' followed by 'bottomline' the blog after and you will be up to the opscomm standards!