Jueves, 25 de Septiembre
No, you aren’t missing anything, I have been busy. The beautiful thing is that I am typing this on my computer in my room all by myself. Yes, I usually do type all by myself, but no one is home!!!!
Brent did get internet to work, but only one person at a time and not on a Mac. This was rather challenging, since we all wanted to skype (calling/videoing through the internet at a very cheap price) people when they are awake. He has spent hours and hours and hours. A technology person came this morning and got four computers to hook up to the network. I didn’t go digging in other people’s bedrooms to look for more computers. We should be able to have four of us on the network at once – doesn’t that sound risqué?
What have I been doing?, is not the question. Rather, what have I not done?!!!
Tuesday September 9th was a holiday. You ask everyone around and they can’t tell you why, just that there is no school and everything is closed. We planned on having Nagore come over and help us with the internet. She tried and no luck. Instead, she grabbed her sister Clara (who came out to visit AZ) and they took us up the mountain to El Escorial. This is the monastery that houses the remains of all of the royal family of Spain since about the 1500’s. Brent and I had been here before, but Clara and Nagore insisted that we take the tour.
It was amazing with all of the art and the artifacts and the rooms. We didn’t go into the Pantheon, which is where the actual Kings and Queens are entombed. We did get to see the tombs of all of the children and family. This was our favorite part. The details were exquisite. The favorite part of my children was the room where you can talk in a corner and the person in the other corner can hear you, like you are standing next to each other.
We also got to partake of these waffle things that are made with egg, so really dense, served with chocolate and whipped cream. We flocked to that faster than the flies etc. It was a beautiful and generous day provided by Nagore and Clara.
Thursday, the 11th of September was Chelsea’s 20th birthday (Bryce’s twin student from ASU – quite shocking). The girls and I decorated her room etc with pieces of paper that said Happy Birthday Chelsea!!! The girls also woke her up by singing Happy Birthday before they left for school.
Brent and I then dropped the girls off at school, and headed to the airport to pick up Nicole (my sister) and her three girlfriends. Nicole met Kelly, Dawn, and Jennifer in Barcelona. They were on the study abroad program that she was on, but they were having way more fun than she was, so Nicole chose different night time buddies. These ladies usually get together every year for something fun. Last year they went to Napa, while Kelly and Dawn did the 1/2 marathon, and Nicole and Jennifer held up signs and drank more. I suggested that they come to Spain this year instead. Dawn was the first person to book her tickets, well before Brent and I did!!!!
We maneuvered the airport, subway, train, and bus systems with their bags, without a problem. Let this statement stay in your mind – because this was the only time that things worked out during these ladies’ adventures in Spain.
Brent and I took them to Tappas and then home for a nap. Nicole only could nap for about an hour, because she had to go with me to pick the girls up from school. They were all excited to see each other. Nicole was amazed that little kids continued to walk by saying Hola Brycie or Hello Brycie – just like back home.
The evening for the girls wound down, then the rest of the folks got ready to go to dinner at Nagore’s house. This was a surprise for Chelsea’s birthday. Brent had to stay home with the girls, but he got the left overs. There were the four students, Nicole’s four, and me, 9 of us total. Nagore’s mom made us this huge spread of Spanish food. It was outstanding. Her paella dish was as huge as a car tire. The table was completely covered with food. Nagore bought a cake, with candles (a 2 and a 0!), and champagne. It was quite impressive. We sat outside and watched the storm. After dinner we went inside, and the students all chatted.
The old ladies – which included me – hung out with Nagore’s parents. Nagore’s dad is a lead marketing man for a firm that Nicole was familiar with. Nagore’s mom is a family doctor. For the last five years, she has been going to art school as well. Her house was full of amazing things. As she stated, nothing is for sale, it is all for me and my family!!! She had made the dinner table, there were marble sculptures, lots of paintings, the built in buffet doors, but my favorite was the picture of herself in the downstairs bathroom. She erased some of her photo and then filled in the space with all of the things that a woman wants to do like: travel the world, be successful, have a great marriage, have great children etc. The artwork was so impressive and throughout the house.
After this, Nagore and her gang, took Kelly and Chelsea out for partying. The grad students, the old ladies, and I went home to bed. Being taught that a novio is more like a fiancée, but an amigo major is a boyfriend; So Nicole’s ladies are her amigas majores. They liked being called Major, and that is what we referred to them during their whole stay. Appropriate if you can pronounce Spanish correctly!!!
Friday the 12 was a Madrid day. The Majors didn’t wake up until well after noon, so we had a late start at about 5. This is okay, because nothing starts in Spain until late anyways. I took them to the Puerta Del Sol, where Dawn’s guide book referenced a bakery. This guide book called “Let’s Go!” rocked. Dawn and Kelly found these travel guides after their European travel plans got cancelled a few summers ago, so they traveled on their own with just the books. The bakery was stupendous with the hot chocolate that I had been telling people about. We then traveled through the Plaza Mayor, the cathedral, the palace, the gardens, and then found a referenced restaurant that was again wonderful.
So we planned to go back to Boadilla, get some wine, and stay up drinking and laughing all night long. We went to the grocery story by the bus stop and loaded up on wine. We go to the counter and the guys says, “NO!”. You can stay up and party at the bars until all hours of the night, but you can’t buy alcohol to drink safely in your own home after 10pm!!! After waiting, playing, laughing, video taping at the bus stop for an hour, we went back to the store and asked if we could use the bathroom and he said, “NO!”. We asked if we could use his phone to call a taxi and he said – you guessed it “NO!”. So now I start singing Amy Winehouse in a most pathetic way.
While we are trying to figure things out, Kelly and Jennifer start to follow a taxi – I say follow when really it was more like stalking. The taxi had a lady and her baby in it, and they were being dropped off around the corner from us. Kelly and Jen start unloading the lady – it was crazy and effective. We got a lovely ride home from this guy. He was afraid that we were all drunk, I told him that that was the problem, we were sober and wanted to be drunk. We came home to only find out that Brent, Kelly, and Chelsea had drank all of the left over Sangria brought over by Nagore’s mom!!!! It was still an evening to remember, and smiles to share.
No, you aren’t missing anything, I have been busy. The beautiful thing is that I am typing this on my computer in my room all by myself. Yes, I usually do type all by myself, but no one is home!!!!
Brent did get internet to work, but only one person at a time and not on a Mac. This was rather challenging, since we all wanted to skype (calling/videoing through the internet at a very cheap price) people when they are awake. He has spent hours and hours and hours. A technology person came this morning and got four computers to hook up to the network. I didn’t go digging in other people’s bedrooms to look for more computers. We should be able to have four of us on the network at once – doesn’t that sound risqué?
What have I been doing?, is not the question. Rather, what have I not done?!!!
Tuesday September 9th was a holiday. You ask everyone around and they can’t tell you why, just that there is no school and everything is closed. We planned on having Nagore come over and help us with the internet. She tried and no luck. Instead, she grabbed her sister Clara (who came out to visit AZ) and they took us up the mountain to El Escorial. This is the monastery that houses the remains of all of the royal family of Spain since about the 1500’s. Brent and I had been here before, but Clara and Nagore insisted that we take the tour.
It was amazing with all of the art and the artifacts and the rooms. We didn’t go into the Pantheon, which is where the actual Kings and Queens are entombed. We did get to see the tombs of all of the children and family. This was our favorite part. The details were exquisite. The favorite part of my children was the room where you can talk in a corner and the person in the other corner can hear you, like you are standing next to each other.
We also got to partake of these waffle things that are made with egg, so really dense, served with chocolate and whipped cream. We flocked to that faster than the flies etc. It was a beautiful and generous day provided by Nagore and Clara.
Thursday, the 11th of September was Chelsea’s 20th birthday (Bryce’s twin student from ASU – quite shocking). The girls and I decorated her room etc with pieces of paper that said Happy Birthday Chelsea!!! The girls also woke her up by singing Happy Birthday before they left for school.
Brent and I then dropped the girls off at school, and headed to the airport to pick up Nicole (my sister) and her three girlfriends. Nicole met Kelly, Dawn, and Jennifer in Barcelona. They were on the study abroad program that she was on, but they were having way more fun than she was, so Nicole chose different night time buddies. These ladies usually get together every year for something fun. Last year they went to Napa, while Kelly and Dawn did the 1/2 marathon, and Nicole and Jennifer held up signs and drank more. I suggested that they come to Spain this year instead. Dawn was the first person to book her tickets, well before Brent and I did!!!!
We maneuvered the airport, subway, train, and bus systems with their bags, without a problem. Let this statement stay in your mind – because this was the only time that things worked out during these ladies’ adventures in Spain.
Brent and I took them to Tappas and then home for a nap. Nicole only could nap for about an hour, because she had to go with me to pick the girls up from school. They were all excited to see each other. Nicole was amazed that little kids continued to walk by saying Hola Brycie or Hello Brycie – just like back home.
The evening for the girls wound down, then the rest of the folks got ready to go to dinner at Nagore’s house. This was a surprise for Chelsea’s birthday. Brent had to stay home with the girls, but he got the left overs. There were the four students, Nicole’s four, and me, 9 of us total. Nagore’s mom made us this huge spread of Spanish food. It was outstanding. Her paella dish was as huge as a car tire. The table was completely covered with food. Nagore bought a cake, with candles (a 2 and a 0!), and champagne. It was quite impressive. We sat outside and watched the storm. After dinner we went inside, and the students all chatted.
The old ladies – which included me – hung out with Nagore’s parents. Nagore’s dad is a lead marketing man for a firm that Nicole was familiar with. Nagore’s mom is a family doctor. For the last five years, she has been going to art school as well. Her house was full of amazing things. As she stated, nothing is for sale, it is all for me and my family!!! She had made the dinner table, there were marble sculptures, lots of paintings, the built in buffet doors, but my favorite was the picture of herself in the downstairs bathroom. She erased some of her photo and then filled in the space with all of the things that a woman wants to do like: travel the world, be successful, have a great marriage, have great children etc. The artwork was so impressive and throughout the house.
After this, Nagore and her gang, took Kelly and Chelsea out for partying. The grad students, the old ladies, and I went home to bed. Being taught that a novio is more like a fiancée, but an amigo major is a boyfriend; So Nicole’s ladies are her amigas majores. They liked being called Major, and that is what we referred to them during their whole stay. Appropriate if you can pronounce Spanish correctly!!!
Friday the 12 was a Madrid day. The Majors didn’t wake up until well after noon, so we had a late start at about 5. This is okay, because nothing starts in Spain until late anyways. I took them to the Puerta Del Sol, where Dawn’s guide book referenced a bakery. This guide book called “Let’s Go!” rocked. Dawn and Kelly found these travel guides after their European travel plans got cancelled a few summers ago, so they traveled on their own with just the books. The bakery was stupendous with the hot chocolate that I had been telling people about. We then traveled through the Plaza Mayor, the cathedral, the palace, the gardens, and then found a referenced restaurant that was again wonderful.
So we planned to go back to Boadilla, get some wine, and stay up drinking and laughing all night long. We went to the grocery story by the bus stop and loaded up on wine. We go to the counter and the guys says, “NO!”. You can stay up and party at the bars until all hours of the night, but you can’t buy alcohol to drink safely in your own home after 10pm!!! After waiting, playing, laughing, video taping at the bus stop for an hour, we went back to the store and asked if we could use the bathroom and he said, “NO!”. We asked if we could use his phone to call a taxi and he said – you guessed it “NO!”. So now I start singing Amy Winehouse in a most pathetic way.
While we are trying to figure things out, Kelly and Jennifer start to follow a taxi – I say follow when really it was more like stalking. The taxi had a lady and her baby in it, and they were being dropped off around the corner from us. Kelly and Jen start unloading the lady – it was crazy and effective. We got a lovely ride home from this guy. He was afraid that we were all drunk, I told him that that was the problem, we were sober and wanted to be drunk. We came home to only find out that Brent, Kelly, and Chelsea had drank all of the left over Sangria brought over by Nagore’s mom!!!! It was still an evening to remember, and smiles to share.
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