Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I forgot to mention that Saturday was also 11-M, in other words, the second anniversary of the Madrid train bombings. Throughout Madrid there were memorials and stuff, in particular here in Alcalá, at El Pozo, and two other train stations where the trains blew up. The trains actually went through Alcalá, and my mamá told me a story about how Raul, my brother, always met up with a friend and took that train to work, but that day he was late and missed the train, but his friend got on it and died. There is a memorial at the train station for it, and on Sunday when we went to the Rastro, there were a bunch of candles and flowers and stuff around it. But anyways, on Sunday while I was waiting for Monica to get to the train station, there was something going on, I have absolutely no idea what though. There were a ton of people, and I think they were all boy and girl scouts or something, of all ages. They were all shouting and going by, but I have no idea what was going on. We got to Madrid, and met Laura, and headed to the Rastro. It was crazy, reminded me of a French brocante or something. There were a ton of people, it was a gorgeous day, and you could get pretty much anything you wanted. It was fun though, and I bought a Madrid shirt. After that, we went to Sol and the Plaza Mayor to eat our bocadillas. We sat there for like an hour relaxing and taking in the sun and the people and everything since it was so nice. We walked around some, and then we came upon this guy who was taking pictures like from the early 1900’s. Laura really wanted to do it, so we did and it was really funny. Then we just walked around Madrid some more and walked back to Principe Pío, since it’s close to Laura’s house and so we could get the train home. It was also Nicole’s birthday, so after dinner Nicole, Monica, and I went to the Irish pub to have a drink for her birthday. It was fun, and we had a good time, and got home about 1am.
On Monday, it was so nice outside, I couldn’t resist going to the plaza to try to catch up on my journal a little bit. There were a couple people speaking in Spanish, then French, sitting next to me, and I listened a little bit…it made me so excited to go to Paris next week and speak French! Then Ebets, Karly, Steve, and Carolyn came to the plaza and were hanging out, so I talked to them for awhile before going home for dinner and that was fun.
On Tuesday after school, we had a little birthday party for Nicole. We went to the plaza to get everyone, and then they came to our house. It was kind of weird because we aren’t really allowed to go to other people’s houses, it’s kind of a cultural thing, and so it was the first time anyone had ever been to our house. Mamá bought a torta and some Fanta, coke, and champagne, which were all really good. Ebets, Karly, Lance, Steve, and Monica all came to the party, and it was fun. The cake was really good, and we also drank the rest of Nicole’s 48 euro bottle of wine that she had bought in Extremadura. Then they started to play never-have-I-ever, in Spanish with the coke and Fanta, which was hilarious because mamá was there. It was a good time though, and it was fun just to hang out with everyone.
On Wednesday, we had dance class after school. I got to school a little early and a couple of us were sitting outside and talking before Marta, our teacher, got there. We learned how to do the hands and arms for the second sevillana, and it is hard!! I haven’t mastered that yet, it’s hard to coordinate the arms with the feet. It’s still fun though. After dance, Monica, Dane, and I went to Carrefour to look for something, I forget what, and that was about it.
Today is St. Patrick’s Day, which isn’t really celebrated here at all. On Sunday, which is also Father’s Day in Spain, we’re going to Valencia to go to Las Fallas, I’m really excited for that. Then on Monday, we don’t have school, because of the fiesta Sunday. Then finally on Wednesday we’re going to Paris and I couldn’t be more excited!!!