Dia Nueve

Tuesday July 7th: Today was the first full day of class that we had here in Madrd. I feel pretty overwhelmed. Like I said yesterday the class is entirely in Spanish, and I am having trouble understanding much of what is said in class. I guess that I’m getting better at understanding but I don’t see any real progress while I’m in class. I guess it depends on the day. We are still going over ser, hay, and estar. We went to the park after class and hung out with people while they ate their packed lunches. Paul, reed, and I then came home to another feast. We had spaghetti, pan (bread), and breaded chicken, and then to top it off we had some helado (Spanish word for ice cream). After lunch I came home and did my homework and worked out a little bit. I posted yesterday’s blog as well. Today I have really been craving more than just basic communication. I want a real conversation. I was able to have the longest communication yet with my host mother at dinner today. She asked me a question and I was able to answer fully without searching for a word and then she asked a follow-up and I was again able to answer fully. The afternoon was spent online and then napping after that huge meal. I woke up and spent the intervening time talking to people online and looking at the gross number of pictures that John Bundick has posted on face book of me. It is slightly entertaining to know that my picture count has almost doubled because of this trip alone. Dinner was very entertaining. My host father, Valentin (I think this is how to spell it), taught us the word mear. while the word means to pee, the reason it was entertaining was he danced around the room for about five minutes imitating holding it while we tried to figure it out. When we finally did we all had a good laugh. After dinner I walked to the park, which I discovered is probably not the best idea ever. The park around 8 in the evening is packed. The park at 10 is not so much. The park itself is perfectly safe after dark due to the number of lights around but the entrance is through a tunnel under a major road. The tunnel is light but there is an area around it that is not. I walked rather quickly into and out of the park. Also, I would like to watch a sunset in the park sometime. There is a pond in the middle of the park that would be a great place to watch it from. After my walk in the park I took the metro home and went to sleep.