Chocolate Con Churros

Yesterday I took the bus into Madrid again. My first stop was the Plaza Mayor, a giant square right in the middle of the city surrounded by shops and restaurants. I loved walking through all the small streets surrounding the Plaza, because they were so colorful and had such an authentic Spanish feel.

I hadn't had breakfast yet, so I decided to try out a traditional Spanish breakfast: Chocolate con churros. Just a block over from the Plaza Mayor is a famous Chocolateria called San Gines. They've been around for well over a hundred years, and they're known for some of the best Chocolate and Churros.

San Gines was a bit difficult to find. You head down a side street and it's tucked away back in the corner. But it was packed. I went in and ordered ("Un chocolate con churros por favor") and found a table.

Now imagine the best hot chocolate you've ever had. But it's thicker, nearly as thick as melted chocolate. And imagine the best churros ever, still hot from the fryer. NOW imagine dipping the churros in the chocolate and eating it all together. Yes. It was amazing. I know it was terrible for me. But it was worth it :)

After San Gines I needed to walk off all of the chocolatey, sugary goodness. So I went back to the Plaza Mayor and went out the other side, headed for the Palacio Real. Instead, I found el Mercado de San Miguel. It's a food market, and it was filled with tourists and locals alike. I had to squeeze my way through the crowds to get a peek at all the amazing looking paella, empanadas, and sweets that lines the display cases. People were stopped in the middle of the market having a drink, tasting wine, trying different foods, and buying their lunch. It was a fun place to experience. I'll have to go again when I'm not so full and try some of the foods.

From San Gines I walked for a few minutes and found my way to Almudena Cathedral. It was right across from the Palacio Real (Royal Palace). I paid five euros to get into the Palace and tour the numerous rooms and halls. I found it pretty incredible that the ceilings, walls, and floors were all intricately decorated in every single room. And there were a lot of rooms. One of the rooms was larger than the entire downstairs of our house, and then I find out it was used as the King's dressing room!

After touring the palace I made my way back to bus stop (Without getting lost this time) and went back to the house.

That was yesterday.



Today I had my first "Tutoring" session. Sort of.

I'm supposed to be helping Santi with his English homework. But the past couple of days he hasn't had any English homework. And yesterday he and his dad went to see Real Madrid play. So today six o'clock came around, and I asked what he wanted to do.

First, we played monopoly. I had him tell me all the directions in English and count the spaces after he rolled the dice. His English is pretty good, but he has difficulty with pronunciation. His vocabulary is also much more limited than that of his sisters. He asked me a few times what certain things are called in English.

Next, we played basketball. Well, not really. We shot the ball from different places on the court to see if we could get it in the basket. While we did this I asked him about his favorite movies, school subjects, and sports. Of course, his favorite sport is futbol.

After that we jumped on their trampoline. He said he loves to jump. I told him I could do flips and he wanted to see, so I showed him. He asked me all sorts of questions about how I learned to do flips and what else I could do. Then I tried to teach him a forward roll, which was really funny. He just didn't get it. But he thought it was great, and when we were heading back inside he said to me, "Okay, next time, you teach me to back flip."

Yeah, probably not :)


It's going to take awhile to really get used to being here, but I'm slowly starting to. I'm planning on taking a day trip to Segovia this weekend, so that will be yet another fun adventure. And next weekend I'm probably going to Barcelona. After that I've got eight more weekends to use up. Any ideas? :)