The Fundación took us on another trip, this time to El Escorial and Valle de Los Caídos. We had to be at the school at 8:45 AM (gah!). Andres (who we played cards with forever in Granada) and Santiago (an art professor I donīt know) were our leaders this time. I was tired from having stayed up late considering what my schedule will be for next semester. El Escorial was built in 1558 or so by Felipe II to thank God for helping vanquish the French Protestants. Itīs a pretty simple exterior design, with touches from northern Europe, which is where he came from. Itīs in the Sierra Madrid, a mountain range near the city, which meant it was very cold that day. The complex houses a monastery, palace, library, pantheon, and royal math academy. It has also museums of tapestries, painting, and architecture. The whole complex is shaped like a barbecue because the saint of the day it was constructed or something was roasted to death. The only interesting thing in the whole tour was the pantheon, which was a large underground circular room where all the kings after Felipe II (except for two) are buried. It was of black stone and pretty cool-looking. The coffins were all really short too, kinda weird. We also saw the Pantheon of the Infants, for post-pubescent children of the kings. The latest coffin there had the current King of Spainīs cousin, who apparently died skiing in Aspen. There was also a room with great acoustics: if you faced a corner of the room and talked, the person in the opposite corner could hear your voice above them. We also saw the basilica (basilicas are different from cathedrals in that they answer directly to the Pope and not to a bishop). It was in the Renaissance style (first weīve seen) and someone was actually playing the organ. For a second it sounded like they were going to start playing Bachīs Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (the famous organ piece from the first Fantasia) but they didnīt. In the library, the books are stored with their pages facing outwards and the bindings inward. This is apparently to keep humidity from staying in the books and also to keep people from damaging the binding when they take the books out of the shelf (consider how you take a book out of a crowded shelf...right, you understand). There was also a mechanical sculpture that was supposed to show the orbits of the planets, but it was interesting because the orbits were circular and the Earth was in the middle. We finally got a break for lunch and ended up going Chinese. Afterwards Chuck, Kristin, Bentsen, and I found the bus in the underground lot and got on. The driver said he was leaving and locking the bus and we said ok, but later Chuck and I both needed to use the bathroom, so that wasnīt fun. Eventually the group came back and we headed off to Valle de Los Caídos.

Valle de Los Caídos is a big cross in the mountains. The cross is 150 meters high and has sculptures of the 4 gospels. While we were standing outside, everyone was a little delirious from weariness and the cold, so people were being pretty goofy and Chuck caught it all on tape. Inside the mountain (under the cross), there were sculptures of angels kneeling with swords flanking the passageway (gave me a little Neverending Story deja vu) and more statues of hooded men (llorantes) and more statues of other angels. The place was kinda grim, honestly. The whole monument was built by General Franco after he became dictator of Spain. Ostensibly, it was to commemorate all those who died in the Civil War, but really it was just a way to get the people to think better of him. He used political prisoners to build it. Franco is buried there as well (took a picture of the grave...hope it comes out. El Escorial and Valle de Los Caídos didnīt allow flash pics anywhere, so I might have wasted a whole roll) We took a silly picture of Lupita in the confessional telling me her sins; definitely one of the most sacrilegious things Iīve ever done. We finally got home around 7:00. Definitely the least interesting trip weīve been on.

That same night, Aishah wanted to go out to a karaoke bar (some of our friends had gone the other weekend and had a great time) so she, Lupita, and I went out. I met them at a bar in the basement of Lupitaīs building where the bartender (Juan) is in love with her and the bouncer (Paco) in love with Aishah. It was packed so we walked to another place they both worked at, got a free tequila shot, and danced till the music got lame. (I had put my jacket and scarf in a pile and when I pulled out my jacket the scarf was gone. I was freaking out, but Aishah dived into the pile and found it. Lucky I had here there.) Then we went back to the first place and Paco got us free drinks (Malibu Pineapple, thanks) and shots of Tía María, which I had never had. It was really good, tasted like chocolate syrup. He also told us where a karaoke place was nearby, so we took a taxi there. (He said heīd join us when he got off work at 3:00 or 3:30...it was already after 2:00). Turns out there were like 6 people in the karaoke place (all old) and they had maybe 20 songs in English. It was so lame. Lupita sang a song in Spanish, but she was also pretty drunk, so... Aishah sang Over the Rainbow very well. This creepy guy who was missing some teeth and mumbled fell in love with her singing, so he kept trying to talk to us. I sang The Girl from Ipanema, and I guess he thought it was good cause then he was trying to talk to me too. Lupita left and so it was just Aishah and me. We sang Pretty Woman together after she did I Will Always Love You (the creepy guy tried to make everyone be quiet and listen). I was getting bored and nervous so I did one more song (Smoke Gets In Your Eyes...Dad would be proud) and we left. By now it was 5:45 AM (just 15 minutes before the Metro opened and we were right next to a stop) and very cold. We called Paco to tell him we werenīt coming back to his place (where a party was now taking place) and he took that as a signal to drive over and get us. So we hung out with him till that second bar closed at 6:30. Even then, Aishah lingered, so I stayed too. He offered to drive us home, so we accepted. Aishah lives closer than I do and I didnīt really want to be alone with Paco (who really seems like a nice guy, but I had just met him), so I said Iīd catch the Metro home from her place, which was two stops away, so it was all good. I got into bed at 7:45 AM.

At 11:15 AM, someone calls me on my mobile phone. The ring tone means itīs not someone I know, and it probably wouldnīt be my dad cause that would be 4:15 AM his time. So I answer it and itīs some guyīs voice. He knows my name and starts telling me something. Then he finishes with a question. Iīm like, what? So I said, "Lo siento. Otra vez?", which means, "Iīm sorry. Another time?" What I meant was for him to start over, but he thought I meant "call back later" so he hangs up. Whatever, I went back to sleep.

The problem was that I had already planned to go with Paulencia to the aquarium later that day. So I got up to meet her at 2:00. The zoo/aquarium is kinda far from the town center. The tickets cost 12,75€ each! Well, it was pretty awesome. We saw all my favorite animals: flamingos, penguins, elephants, hippos, giraffes, meerkats, etc. There was also a snake and frog house and a dolphin show. The last thing we saw was the actual aquarium, which had moon jellies, a cuttlefish, and nautiluses among other things. We even saw animals you donīt see everywhere, like hyenas and koalas. The best part was that there werenīt cages. Instead, the animals all had nice lawns with a dry moat and low wall separating them from the spectators. Still, there were definitely places where the animals could have easily leapt out and killed us. (When the yaks started getting rowdy, Paulencia and I moved on :P ). Good times.

The next day, Paulencia invited me to eat lunch at an Italian restaurant that everyone else had said was really great (Ginoīs). Thereīs one very close to where we live. Good food and cheap enough. Great chocolate mousse. Afterwards I had to leave because that day (Sunday the 9th) was the first bullfight! So I hopped on the Metro and went to the Plaza de Toros at Ventas, in the east of Madrid. Chuck, Kristin, and Justin (Kristinīs boyfriend who is visiting since itīs Spring Break) were already there. Chuck had gotten there first and bought his own ticket and not ones for us ("I didnīt know you were coming!" Liar.) So I stood in line with those two while he and his roommate went in. We ended up getting cheaper tickets (3,60€) but missed the first fight because we were waiting to be seated (Chuck told us it was really cool, so we were mad at him). Eventually he and his roommate came to our section. Hereīs how the bullfight works: The bull comes in mad. There are 4 or 5 guys with pink capes to run out and pester him before running back and hiding behind the wooden screens. Then a guy on a horse would come in every so often, carrying a long spear. He would entice the bull to charge the horse and then spear it in the back of the neck. The funny part was that the horse was very thickly padded and blindfolded so it had no idea what was going, but I wonder why it didnīt wonder what the heck kept running into it. The horse was very calm the whole time. (Chuck showed us on his videocamera the first fight, where the bull hit the horse so hard it fell over. It kept hitting the horse over and over until it ended up flat on its back with all four feet in the air. It was hilarious. But because of the padding it wasnīt hurt at all and it was still acting like nothing was out of the ordinary.) After the bull is sufficiently pestered, another man (the torero or matador, Iīm not sure of all the terms) comes out and takes two brightly colored short spears from people circulating around the outside of the ring. He makes the bull charge him and when it gets close, he stabs both spears into the back of its neck. They are barbed so they wonīt fall out. He does this over and over till the bull has like 7 or 8 of these things in its neck. It bleeds a lot. It seems like this is all done to open a hole in the bullīs back. Next the main guy takes a cape with a sword hidden in it and messes with the bull, getting it to charge and then gracefully swinging the cape away. Itīs actually pretty artistic. Eventually he pulls out the sword and tries to insert it through the hole and along the backbone. (The second bullfighter was horrible at this, the sword fell out like 5 times.) It needs to slide in all the way to the hilt. Then he exchanges the cape for another one and another sword. He uses this sword to pull the other one out. Now more cape guys come in and stand on either side of the bull, taking turns harassing it till it gets dizzy and tired, I guess. Then the main guy comes back and stabs the bull once, downward into its head. The bull falls down instantly. Thatīs it for the main guy. He walks around and gets appluaded. The gross part is that in the background, this other guy rushes in with a short dagger. See, the bull isnīt actually dead yet. So this guy inserts his knife into its skull and basically scrambles its brain. Its rather gruesome (the bullīs legs twitch). Once itīs really dead, a team of three horses come out and the bull is attached to a bar between them and they drag it out of the stadium. The third bullfighter did so well that he got to take a victory lap around the stadium. People threw him their caps or their fans and he would salute them with it and toss it back. One of the coolest parts was in the 4th or 5th fight. The bull charged the guy very quickly and he got it to dig its horns into the ground. Because it was going so fast, it ended up *flipping* over its own horns and landing on its back! There was also a small brass band that played bullfighting music after each fight. (If a guy was taking too long during the fight, the trumpets would play and that meant points off, I found out later). There was another time when the guy did very well and everyone waved white cloths, so I took out my handkerchief (which my dad always makes me carry) and did it too...felt very Spanish :P. Chuck enjoyed the fight immensely and wants to go back again. I would like to as well. Whitney called him during one of the fights because he was sitting with some of her visiting friends and asked him how it was going. He said it was kind of gory, and she says, "... You mean they *kill* them?" Oh, Whitney.

After the fight we went to a bar nearby to wait for the crowds to die down before taking the Metro home. The unknown man called my phone again. Turns out he got my name from one of the program directors (Estrella) because he wants to learn English. He is planning on going to Ireland to work in a hotel soon and he wanted someone to go over English with him before he left. I asked Estrella later, and she said he was a friend of a friend. So we made an appointment for 11 AM on March 13.

For the other students who know me, youīll be interested to hear that on Monday the 10th I went to a discussion class for the first time without having read the assignment. I thought we were supposed to read the intro to poetry for Lit but instead we were supposed to have read 3 chapters of Manolito (a Spanish childrenīs book we are studying to learn about the culture and learn some popular Spanish). I was very nervous because itīs a small class of 10 and I usually contribute. I was just going to skip and do some work for Ethics, but the others said it wasnīt so bad and convinced me to stay. Well, I hated it. Afterwards I had to run home to get things to start writing my ethics midterm which was due at 3:15. So irresponsible. Luckily it all got done.

Things happening with other people: Melissaīs and Kristinīs boyfriends both visited for Spring Break. Also, Hilaryīs friend Beth came. When she arrived at the airport, they found that her bags had been stolen. That same day in the Rastro (massive flea market), Hilaryīs wallet got stolen. Eric happened to be eating in the same restaurant as Pierce Brosnan and got a photo with him. Whitney and some friends were getting ready to leave the outside cafe one night and some guy runs up and takes all the money they collected to pay the bill. One of her guy friends ran after him with a knife and cornered him but that guy pulled out a bigger knife, so the friend backed off and the thief sped away on a motorcycle.

We saw another play in Spanish (Luces de Bohemia) which was even more boring than the first one. The Fundación bought us tickets but they were in the very last row. Lucky we moved up before it started because both main characters were old, drunk, mumbling men, so I couldnīt hear anything they said anyway. There wasnīt even an intermission so I could leave.

I donīt know if I have mentioned Pasapalabra before. Itīs a game show they have here. Two contestants play against each other and each gets a team of two celebrities to help them (not that celebrities are ever very good at game shows). My seņora watches it every night, so I have seen this show almost every night since Iīve been here as well. It involves guessing words from clues, so you can imagine that if itīs hard for Spanish people, Iīm pretty much clueless, but every so often I get one (I still remember the first word I knew) and itīs exciting. Well, I told her once that I was going to get on the Internet to see how I could go to a taping of it (we passed the studio on the way back from San Agustín de Guadalix, so I knew it was close by). Well, I forgot that my seņoraīs son works for Antena 3. So the next day she tells me that he can get me into it! Wednesday the 12th was the big day (skipped class and everything). Went to a nearby plaza and got on the bus at 12:45. They took us to the studio and we went into this large, cold warehouse-like room (took my camera away, jerks). They even fed us sandwiches (of course, mine was chorizo, the same thing that was in that nasty dish Chuck had in Córdoba, so I ate about half) The problem was they made us stay there forever! We got lunch at 1:25 but we went in the studio at 3:00. The studio was a lot smaller (and warmer) than I thought it would be. I sat in the third row behind the blue team. The couple next to me was very nice and we talked for a while (I was surprised that The War was as far down on the list of topics as number 4). It took a while to get started because of electrical problems and stuff. The celebrities came out and the couple explained who they were. We saw three games. Each time they switched for the final round or finished an episode, there was a long break. They made us move around between episodes so the home audience doesnīt realize that weīre the same, but the movement rules are pretty strict, like in chess, so the best seat I had was during the first game, which is being aired during Las Fallas, when I wonīt even be here. I had a great time, but it was harder playing along in real life without the clues that are on the screen. It took forever to finish though because every so often the hostess stopped and they had to start over (sometimes the contestant had to pretend he/she didnīt know the answer so the time was used up at the same rate as before!) At the end, it was dark out. They took us back to the lunchroom and (hereīs the most amazing part) they PAID each of us 15€ for being there! Total craziness. When my mom was on Wheel of Fortune, they sure as heck didnīt give us food or money for being there. Got home late. The next day everyone kept coming up to me and asking how it was (apparently word spread when I was absent the day before). Felt cool being a minor celebrity for a day. :P

Thursday morning was my first appointment with the guy who called me about learning English (Jorge). He lives nearest the Chueca metro stop, which is two away from the one closest to school (Ruben Darío). I met him at his door and we walked up to his 4th floor apartment. I looked through his booklets and things. Turns out he was studying phys ed but realized that he liked working with kids but didnīt like the studying part, so now he is studying tourism. He paid this company to find him a job in Great Britain or Ireland (he chose Ireland because he thinks the people there will be more like Spaniards, whatever that means). Heīll be working in a hotel for 3-6 months (doing what he doesnīt know) and then when he returns he wants to do hotel management. I didnīt really know where to start, so I taught him this, that, these, and those, and some-, any-, no-, and everything. Eventually he brought out some booklets of a program called Fast Forward (thank goodness cause I didnīt have a plan) and we went through whatever he thought was difficult: a/an vs. the, interrogatives, etc. He has an extensive collection of Marx Bros. movies also, which I thought was cool. Then we talked for a while in English. Heīs 27 and has 5 brothers and sisters, all older. He doesnīt speak poorly, but he needs time to think (just like I do when I speak Spanish). It was fun and I left with 20 more Euros than I had when I walked in! ;).

After class that day, I also bought my bus tickets to Las Fallas in Valencia, an annual festival where they burn things. Itīs gonna be awesome.

That night I went to (what I consider) my first discotheque ever with Paulencia. It was International Night at Palacio, so the line was around the corner. But it was only 5€ to get in, with a free drink. We found the three dance rooms and hit up the slowest one. When we got tired, we cashed in for Malibu Pineapples and then hit the Techno Room. Aishah arrived so we met here and went in the third room, which was extremely crowded. Aishah handed me a gin and tonic, which tasted like a bitter Sprite/Alka Seltzer, so I only had half of that. We danced for a while more until Paulenciaīs feet hurt and I got tired (Aishah was set to go all night). So Paulencia and I left and walked to Plaza de Cibeles to catch the night bus home again. Got in at 4:30 AM or so. Iīd like to go again.