My first real day in Madrid

My second day was MUCH shorter than the first day, but I'm just as tired. I had a hard time falling asleep alone in a new place, and I woke up a lot. Luckily, the middle of the night for me is a great time to talk to Casey who is seven hours earlier than me. I think it was just a combo of strange sleeping hours (jet lag) and feeling so nervous about this crazy experience. I finally fell asleep later and then slept until the mid afternoon. Oops. I think it finally hit me in the morning that I'd transplanted myself halfway across the globe and I had no idea what I was doing! Definitely overwhelming. But after breakfast/lunch, a shower, getting ready for the day, finally wearing my contacts again, and talking with some friends, a I felt like a new person. By then it was late afternoon, so, today was short but not unsubstantial. It's nice to have a safe sunny place to wake up and figure things out in. 

Here's a few pics of the home where I'm staying:

I was so overwhelmed by all the unfamiliarity and unanswered questions about my stay here. So, I decided to start familiarizing myself, to take away some of that. After some trouble I figured out the weird door key (muy dificil!) and took a long walk around the area I live, mostly up and down the one street so I wouldn't get too turned around. It looks just like I remembered Madrid on our honeymoon - busy streets, pretty balconies and windows, colorful buildings, little street signs, and flowers everywhere.

 

I find I like purple graffiti when I don't know what it says!

 

My biggest blunder of the day was my attempt to use the metro. I figured it'd be no big deal since I'd done the Metro in Madrid before, and was familiar with it from NYC and London as well (I still miss my Oyster Card!). So I went to purchase a 10 trip pass, put my card in, and it ate it! That was a stressful event. But after the help of three mechanics, I had it back safe and unscathed. I vowed to just leave riding the metro for tomorrow!

The evening was chill. My host mom made dinner (I love how in Europe french fries drip with olive oil!) and there was tv time. They were watching a show that, far as I can tell, is just a Spanish ripoff of Downton Abbey! Hah. I showed them pictures of my family (they say my parents, siblings, and husband are "muy guapo!"). My favorite part was how much better I was at Spanish today than yesterday. I had nearly a whole  conversation in my broken Spanish with my host mom about the state of the Spanish economy. She works for the government doing something with finances. She says it is a very hard time for Spain.

It doesn't seem like much, but today I explored Madrid some, learned the door key, got better at Spanish, hung out with my host family, and kept in touch with some friends and family at home, and made a to-do list of goals for this week, so it was full.