So I’ve been visiting the motherland for the past month, and I must say that I am enjoying it! I’ve missed my family and speaking English in my natural habitat! I’ve been driving all over the place, eating tons of foods that I crave while in Spain (photo examples to follow), and just relaxing WITH A/C! What a life! I’ve been spending tons of time in my old university town because this trip has made me realize that I don’t really know anyone near my parents’ houses… sad thought! Everyone is moving away, still studying, or just M.I.A.! I still know quite a few people in Athens, GA (where I studied), so I can’t stay away!

And now the anticipated food section. What foods did I miss the most? Check them out!

Steak… that looks just like this! Not “al punto,” not “vuelta y vuelta,” but in the middle! I fight  a lot about meat temperatures in Madrid, but I can never get it just right! Medium-rare just doesn’t exist there.

Big Zak Snack… mmmm… this is no ordinary chicken, people! It’s delicious. The fry seasoning is really what does it for me… I used to ask for little containers of it and I put it on EVERYTHING for a few months. It was totally worth it.

Southern sweet tea (Although I do a half-and-half mixture of sweet and unsweet tea)!! If you haven’t had it, you are missing out! I could make it in Madrid, but it’s just not the same! I am bringing Lipton tea bags with me when I return… we’ll see how it ends up!

Last but not least, Chick Fil-A waffle fries. Need I say more? They are perfect. And awesome. Perfectly awesome.

And those, my friends, are the main things that I HAD to eat/drink when I came home. Did I make anyone hungry? What would you miss if you lived abroad?

(imagine these blinds but with holes in them… they look like metal like mine, but I’m not sure)

In the afternoon I lift them and “enjoy” the cooler night temperatures (which is still way to hot to sleep in). Another key element to this recipe is the POOL! I’ve been going to the pool more than I have ever gone in my life! I’m not such a tan person, but I think I’m probably the darkest that I ever remember myself being. I’m so freckly!!

Another thing that I’ve done to beat the heat is go to the beach! I went to Valencia and Lisbon (again) in the past month or so. Here are some pictures!

(beach in Valencia with my friend Nikki)

(Cascais – just outside of Lisbon)

For the last week I’ve been working at a camp outside of Madrid. It’s really tough! I had two five-year-olds, one four-year-old, and a three-year-old. When the kids are so young you have to be creative to keep them interested. Also, when one acts up you have to stop the others from following their lead! I’ll continue the camp for the next two weeks and then I have two weeks off to pack and get ready to go back to the states for a bit! I’m hoping that my mom and step-dad can come visit during that time. I can’t wait to show them my city!

I don’t have A/C, which is rather sad. What does this mean? I keep my window open 24/7. What else does that mean? I get to know my neighbors that much better. My window looks directly into someone’s bedroom, and the kitchen window looks directly into their kitchen… awkward. Said neighbors also blast interesting music throughout the day. The other day I was sure that I heard them playing old Italian music from the 60s/70s, and the day before I heard a man playing guitar and singing rather loudly. I should clap next time I think…

I guess I could fill you in on my most exciting private class. I teach an eight-year-old girl once a week. I pretty much play with her and “trick” her into speaking English for an hour. Here is an example conversation:

Student: (in Spanish) Do you have a boyfriend?

Me: (in English) No.

Student: (in English) KEN IS YOUR BOYFRIEND!

Yes, Ken like Ken and Barbie. Soooo now her Ken doll is my boyfriend. She made me kiss him. What’s worse is that the next week he was back with Barbie! I got really angry and told him that I’d never talk to him again. The week after that he was begging for forgiveness…  What will happen next week?? Stay tuned! It’s like my own personal soap opera!

I’ll leave you guys with a picture! The infamous kiss. Ken’s got a nice body, eh?

Grocery shopping is always a fun experience here in Madrid!

I was standing outside of the museum waiting for my friends and I saw this woman sitting on a bench near me. After waiting a couple of minutes she comes up to me and asks me how to get to a certain metro stop. I tell her how to get there and explain how to get to the right line from where we were standing. Then she asks me about a different stop. I tell her what line it’s on and how to get there etc. and she kept asking questions about the metro stops that were close to where we were. After that she just stood next to me for a while and I felt pretty uncomfortable so I tried to chat with her a bit to figure out what she was doing. I asked her where she was from and she said Senegal, and then I thought she was going to leave because she did the normal Madrid “two kisses” deal BUT she did it while hugging me and kind of rubbing my back a bit. That weirded me out! Then she didn’t leave… and that made me think “hmm I think she’s trying to rob me!” She never left my side to go to where I was giving her directions to… and that was another weird factor! I told her that I was meeting some people so I called them and then walked towards where they were walking from to get away from her. RIGHT after meeting with my friends I saw her walking on the same street going in the opposite direction of where she was “going” before. Fishy!!

The main reason we went to the museum was so that we could go on the roof and check out the sunset! Here is the best picture that I got…

That was my afternoon!

I get to the doctor’s office and it’s inside of an apartment building. There are three staircases, so I just kinda wander around for a bit before I finally pick the right one (it was the 2nd one I tried). I get to the office and it looks just like a little apartment, only there are a few extra people around. The waiting room was pretty small, and it only had six chairs that were pretty close together. That made me pretty self-conscience because of my cough! The receptionist and a random nice older lady both gave me some candy to suck on to soothe my throat. How sweet!

I didn’t really have any problems at the doctor, but it sure is hard talking about medical things in Spanish! I’m glad that it wasn’t something too serious, or else I would have needed a medical dictionary or something! In the end, she told me that I had pharyngitis and advised me not to go to school for two days. I spent the next few days in bed! In total I spent almost a whole week in bed and it was pretty much driving me mad. I had serious cabin fever.

Good thing that I’m back to normal now!

And a few more things.

If you moved to another country, what would you miss the most?

After all of that goodness, I sat at my gate to wait for my plane. After a few minutes, I heard someone say “Can I sit next to you?” I looked up and it was my friend Hannah from my university!!! She has spent the last year in Denmark and she was coming home at the same time. What a small world!!

The flight from London to Madrid was kind of miserable, but I always hate long hauls like that. My back hurts from the seats and I can hardly sleep… but I made it! The airline left Hannah’s bag in London, so she had to sort that out. Then the ATL airport put my bag on the wrong belt after I went through customs and rechecked my bag (hard to explain if you aren’t familiar with Hartsfield-Jackson)… but I found it after an hour! So all is good.

And now it’s snowing! This is the first white Christmas that I can remember having! I got a lot of nice presents and everyone liked what I brought for them from Spain (or they are good at pretending! ).

I’m very glad to be home and I’m extra happy that I get to spend a lot of time here before school starts again!

More to come!