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Published: August 16th 2010
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I know I’ve been very slack with the updates but I have been studying Spanish for the last 2.5 months… among other things!
A quick run through… I arrived in Madrid on the 2nd of June for the second time and for the first week I did some labouring for my mate Miguel. I started Spanish classes on the 7th June and took classes for 5 weeks. Then Kooz (good mate from AUS) arrived so I took a week off classes and went with him to Malaga - south Spain and started the holiday watching Spain win the world cup… on a big screen in a bull-fighting ring with thousands of crazy Spaniards!!!! (Devastated because neither Kooz nor I brought our cameras - I know, stupid! But we’re trying to get some photos from some friends that were there… hopefully we can get some of their photos) We went to the beach everyday and the weather was superb! We met a lot of cool people in the hostel we were staying and had a few drinks through the hot nights. One thing missing… waves!! No surf, flat as a tack! We had sangria, beer, mojitos, paella and tapas most of
the time… but we managed to fit in some McDonalds and hot dogs as well.
After spending a week with Kooz in Malaga I continued with the Spanish lessons for another 3 weeks. The Friday I completed class I went away for a weekend to Tarifa (most southern point of Spain, where you can see Africa - see photo) with 3 new friends that I met through class; Markus, Marta and Manuel. We went to go kite surfing but the wind was too strong the whole weekend, but we managed to have a few cocktails at the beach bars and relax. There was no accommodation available so Marta borrowed a Mercedes camper van from a friend and we slept in that… it was awesome… I want one!
The following Monday I helped Miguel with work. On Tuesday I organised some things for when I leave and cooked some food for the week. On Wednesday Miguel and his girlfriend Irma invited me to her Grandparents place in a town called El Arenal in the Sierra De Gredos mountains… we left early Wednesday and came back late on Thursday night… but we came home for only an hour or so
Bull-fighting ring
This is where we watched Spain win the cup. A photo from the castle wall in Malaga and then left for Asturias. We arrived at Miguel’s grandmothers house in Asturias at 2am on the Friday morning. We spent the weekend there and came back on Sunday night. So, for the last 5 days I’ve only spoken Spanish and I have learnt so much in such a short time and it’s so true when people say you have to live the language to speak it… so with what I learnt through classes and then putting it into practice while being away I feel I have come a long way, but obviously I still need correcting and I have a long way to go. Today I talked to the family on Skype and I talked with Jen (big sis) and Francisco (brother-in-law) in Spanish and they were pretty impressed. So hopefully I can continue the learning when I go to Cuba on Thursday and stay with Agustin´s (friend from work) family for 10 days. Then it’s off to Mexico for a month, Miami for 2 weeks with Mick (a mate from my old work) and then Colombia with Francisco’s family where I will take more Spanish classes and continue travels through South America with the rest of the English
family.
Ok, ended up being a longer entry than I expected… but it’s all about the photos, so I better get to it… it takes a while to download the photos.
I have been missing Australia and everyone there more than ever. Heard it’s been pretty cold down south… here in Madrid it has been mostly in the high thirties - low forties, sun shine every day, extremely hot. I’m looking forward to my further travels but what I would give to come back to AUS for a while! Missing you all so much! I’ll say it again… make sure you let me know if you’re heading the same direction as me and we can catch up. Bas, I’ll see you in Cancun!
With love,
Tim
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Margaret
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what a life
Some people do have a hard life. but,life wasn't meant to be easy. Enjoyed you Travel Blog.