Almost three weeks in...

So I have a TON of catching up to do. I really should have started this blog about 2 weeks ago, but I will try remember everything I can!

Getting here

On May 15th, I flew out of STL with Yelena & Sarah. The plan we took to DC was soooo small that we had to crouch down just to walk to our seats. We switched planes in DC, picked up Preethi, and then we were off to Madrid! I think the flight was about 9 hours. When we got to the airport, we picked up our bags and made a sign that said "Mary Ellen" for Yelena. She was meeting her roommate at the airport and didn't know what she looked like. After obnoxiously screaming her name, we found her :) Preethi and I took a cab to our apartment and nervously buzzed our Senora (Encarnita). She greeted us at the door and helped us to her apartment. It was Sunday around noon Madrid time when we got in (5 a.m. back in the States). Since we didn't sleep much on the plane and had been awake since about 7 a.m. Saturday, we passed outttt! When we woke up, we started talking to Encarnita (well it was mostly me talking since Preethi doesn't speak any Spanish). When she was going over rules and basic stuff around the apartment, I thought she told me that we have to be home by midnight every night otherwise she would call the cops. We were ready to call housing after that because we knew that people in Spain don't go out until 11 or 12 at night and come back at 5 or 6 in the morning. It turns out that what she ACTUALLY said was that she didn't care what time we came home, but if we weren't home by noon the next day, then she would call the police (guess my Spanish was a little rusty). We unpacked and relaxed for the rest of the night. The next day, Encarnita walked us to school (she's so cute!), and later that night she had one of her former students Ian and his cousin over for tea. Afterward, Ian walked us down Bravo Murillo, told us how to recognize our street (the big red If sign), showed us how to use the Metro (usually take the light blue line to get home--Pinar de Chamartin & Valdecarros are the ends of the line and he told us to remember that Pinar de Chamartin is longer so we take the long way home), and took us to Sol (a popular plaza in Madrid). We also found out that Encarnita is an amazingggg cook! Those were our first few days of Madrid.