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Published: January 16th 2009
Hello all!
It is finally Friday afternoon and I am looking forward to a weekend! This week has been nice but a little long! Monday night was fun (wrote about it in my last blog)... Tuesday afternoon after class we had a cultural program which was going to a cafe in the plaza de lavapies and having a Tertulia. Tertulia is an old way of discussing issues which in the old days was the main way for the lawmakers to decide which laws to pass. We were put into groups and we discussed lots of different controservsial issues. It was really interesting because in my group there a guy from Germany, a girl from France and two other girls from the US. So i got to hear a little about Sarcozzi, the French President, who isn´t terribly liked, and other contemporary issues in the other countries (abortion, Obama, religion, etc)
When I got home that day I ate dinner and then my señora, who is a dance teacher, was having class. She built a little dance studio in the apartment which is where she has her classes! She teaches bellydancing!! (in addition to ballet, and a few other kinds I didn´t understand!) but my señora is a beautiful dancer! So I told her how I much I enjoyed watching the class and that I really wanted to learn so she is going to let me know the next time she does a beginners class! Wednesday afternoon, we walked over the Museo de Prado to get a brief tour with one of the teachers from Tandem. It was the perfect time, not too long that I was terribly antsy, but also not too brief. She talked to us about three paintings by Velazquez and a few by Goya. Then a few of us walked around a bit longer on our own before calling it a day!
Exhausted, I got home, ate, and went to bed at 730! Yesterday afternoon, a couple of us went to a restaurant called Nebraska and had a really yummy meal! Putting sunny-side up eggs on sandwiches is big here and its delicious!! Then we split in two groups and some people went shopping and the rest of us went to get some drinks! I had some delicious sangria! We saw the breaking news on the tv screens about the us airways plane in the hudson and the bartenders were nice enough to turn down the music for a bit and turn up the volume on the tv... I love good endings to potentially scary stories... We went to a bar on my side of town which was nice because i didn´t have to go home by myself last night!
When I got home later than usual my señoras were so suprised that I hadn´t asked them for a good bar to go to! So my señora took a magazine here that has EVERYTHING going on in Madrid, and highlighted a bunch of restaurants and bars that have really good tapas, and drinks etc! So that was really nice! I slept very well last night!
Today, one of the cultural programs is a Flamenco dinner and show tonight! I´m really excited about seeing Flamenco live! And on Sunday, another cultural program is that we are going to a small town outside of Madrid (about an hour away) called Alcalá to spend the morning...
I have my interview for Helsinki - España, Human Dimension on Monday! I technically already have the job, its just to go and get to know them and to introduce myself.
I have lots of my mind and am sending my love to everybody.
Talk soon,
Isabel
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sarah
non-member comment
Sounds Awesome
Hey! Its great to see you writing about your experiences over there! It sounds so awesome and I hope that I get to see the wonderful sights and hear the wonderful sounds of a different country as you are right now. Be safe, take care of yourself, take pictures and enjoy! sarah (your old roommate)