The Life of a Madrileña...

Soo the past two weekends I have spent in Madrid trying to relax and prepare for the full weekends ahead.  The first weekend I just relaxed and went out with a few friends.  Last week the teachers were on strike again so my schedule was very bare and I didn't have hardly anything to do.  This past weekend we had a Halloween party at one of my American friend's piso... it was a lot of fun and really made me wish I would be home for Halloween.  All in all the past 2 weeks have been pretty uneventful.  I'm starting to feel better and my sickness is finally going away! Yippie!  Good news from home was that my cousin's baby girl was born... I can't wait to see her at Christmas :)  I'm also doing private English lessons for two young boys (3 & 5) and they make me rethink my original idea of having children.  It would be an understatement for me to say that children in Spain misbehave all the time.  They receive absolutely NO discipline.  For instance they cry when they run out of ketchup or they break a LEGO toy (which you can rebuild LEGOs).  So it can be frustrating and sometimes I want to throw them out the window (which there are a lot of because this family has tons of money) but it is definitely worth the extra money.  So things are slowly moving along.  This weekend we have what is called a "puente" in Spain.  Puente meaning bridge represents a time when there is a national holiday on a Tuesday but no one wants to go back to work/school on Monday so they just take both days off (which I think is very logical).  Hence the bridge and why it is called a puente.  So Melissa (roommate) and I are heading to Paris!!! I can't wait... Friday morning couldn't get here soon enough!!  Before I end.. upcoming news is that there are 2 more weeks that have strikes (one is the 3 of Nov.- the Thursday after the puente.. meaning I have Monday and Tuesday off and strikes on Thursday... YESSS and the other strikes are Nov. 15, 16, and 17 aka I could really get used to this whole striking thing)  Miss everyone back home... bought my flight last week so I will see you all December 23rd!!!

Sun, Cliff Jumping, and Sangria Sailboat Cruises

Hello everyone!  So this week was the easiest week of work in my life.  Monday was a full day of four hours... Tuesday the teachers were on strike so I went in for two hours... Wednesday the teachers were on strike again so I went in for an hour... and Thursday the students were on strike so my classes were empty.  All of my fellow teachers in the states be super jealous (especially since there are more strikes planned for this month)  The room mate and I decided to go on a trip to Lagos Portugal this past weekend which was much needed.  So we boarded an overnight bus on Thursday night after my private lessons and arrived in Sevilla on Friday morning (6:00am)  Boarded another bus for 3 hours and finally arrivedi n Lagos Portugal at 12:00 (Portugal time- 1 hour behind Spain)  Immediately after we got to our hotel we went on an unlimited sangria sailboat cruise (this seems to be a common occurence in my weekends)  Then took a long nap and enjoyed the largest hamburgers I've ever seen.  Saturday we went to see some cliffs and relaxed on the beach all day.  At sunset we went to the "end of the world" to watch the sunset (amazing!!! everyone should go with a special someone :))  Saturday night I enjoyed some piri piri chicken and a bottle of vino verde (yummm)  and went cliff jumping on Sunday.  Overall a pretty successful weekend.. no crazy stories and nothing went terribly wrong.  The worst part was we had to take an overnight bus on Sunday night and didn't get back to Madrid until 5:00am and I had to be at work at 9:20 (aka I didn't have any sleep and I really hated children today)  On top of all this I am sick.  Where is my mom when I need her?? I love you mom :)  I hope everyone is doing well and I'm laying low in Madrid this weekend (aka passing out in my bed or the park)  Also I'm going to post some pictures of my tiny yet amazing piso for people who have been asking.

Germany... The Land of Fairytales... and Beer!!

Sorry it has been so long but finally I have moved into my apartment and made it back from Germany... woooo!! What an amazing trip.  Munich for Oktoberfest was a once in a lifetime experience.  Everyone must go once in their life!! So parents, friends, grandparents (whoever is reading this) please bear with and don't think I'm crazy.  When travelling you always have to be prepared to roll with the punches.  We realized once we landed in Frankfurt- Hahn that it is an hour and 45 minutes from the Frankfurt Main train station... womp womp.  (Niko if you're reading this... just laugh and don't say anything when I'm home at Christmas)  The even worse news was that our overnight train to Munich left in 1 hour and 35 minutes from when we landed...  well we met some Americans stationed in Frankfurt and one was nice enough to drive us to the train station (seems sketchy I know)  but it was one guy to four girls and he got us to our train on time.  I trusted someone that worked for the American military as opposed to a random German (if anyone has seen Human Centipede then you understand).  Finally we made it to Munich.  I decided to go all out for Oktoberfest and stay at a campsite with tents (and unlimited beer and sangria)  which was great.  As soon as we checked in at 7:30am  we were handed cups of Sangria and a hearty breakfast of potatoes mixed with eggs (which helped with drinking in mass amounts).  The first day I ate my way through Oktoberfest and then on Friday I drank my way through it.  My breakfast consisted of Beer and something that was similar to a donut (pictured below).  After meeting some Americans with Patron (stupid Americans)  we decided we needed to leave (it was only 1:00).  We went and laid down in this grassy area near a HUGE statue and took a nap until the next shuttle came at 6:00pm.  We went back to unlimited sangria and beer.  Needless to say I didn't go to sleep, woke up the girls I went with and we left for our train to Fussen.  Fussen was beautiful.  The mountains were gorgeous and reminded me a little of home and Boone!  We stayed a short amount of time and saw the castle in Neuschwanstein and then barely hopped on another train to Heidelberg.  Heidelberg was gorgeous and we quickly saw the important tourists places and hopped on a train to Frankfurt to leave Germany.  What an eventful weekend but it was amazing.  If I could live anywhere in the world... it would be Germany.  It's beautiful and I have never met people who are so generous and willing to help even if they don't understand a word you are saying.