Sunday, February 7, 2010


Sorry to be away for so long, grandma, grandpa, I'm a blog slacker, but I'll try to keep you better updated this month! Here's January, my halfway mark (five down, five to go):

After christmas vacation, I'm just getting back to reading, and writing and arithmetic. But I decided to change the swing of things- I added more activities into my daily schedule as to inch away from facebook and skype. I now regularly enjoy classes of Tai Chi, latin dancing and Spanish language (free tutoring from a classmate), my new gym, volleyball, pool and coming soon: tutoring english to a neighbor (eight euros an hour isn't bad, eh?). So, its all to say that I am keeping busy, and it makes the days fly by.

Otherwise, I am just living and enjoying my free weekends. A few weeks ago, I enjoyed visiting a friend in Alcalá de Henares, which is one of the oldest cities near Madrid- the university was built in 1499, and is still functioning today. The town has old churches, old cobblestone pathways, its dirty and beautifully decrepit and is just a very different Spain from what I am used to (the town I live in is 30 years old....) The next weekend I went to my host dad's military ceremony, where he received an award for 30 years of service (see above). It was super official and patriotic and I enjoyed all of the stiff salutes and anthem singing that went on. This past weekend I attended an Arctic Monkey's concert with the Americans in Madrid and it was wonderful music and the ambient was very concert-y: hundreds of sweaty bodies in a mosh pit, singing and jumping in rythm to a British, alternative rock beat. And then yesterday I got a bit more spanish culture: a concert of "Jotas": typical spanish song and dance from little towns in the province of Soria. Old Spanish dress, pueblo dance. A big contrast from Arctic Monkeys. Wonderful, nonetheless.

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