First Week in Madrid

Since this is the first blog i have ever done i am going to keep it pretty short and eventually I will ease into it. Where to start... When I arrived in Madrid I met up with my host mother and was much more nervous than I thought I would. This was mostly due to the fact that I wanted to make a good first impression, which is especially hard when the host mother doesn't speak a word of English. She gave me a kiss on both cheeks (a Spanish custom) and we were off in her Chevy Aveo. When we arrived at her apartment, she showed me around. My room is completely purple, but it is a decent size and has a lot of photography and travels books and i have my own bathroom. Oh, her name is Pilar and she is 60 and divorced. She has 3 children, but they all have moved out already. One of them, Cristina, visits frequently because she works close to Madrid. Cristina has a 10 month old baby named Hermán and a small little dog named Ty. They are both awesome, but Hermán cries and cries all night, so i am kind of relieved when they are not around as much as i love the two of them. We eat breakfast in the kitchen and dinner in the living room. Breakfast usually consists of Corn Flakes, toast with marmalade, orange juice, hot chocolate, or fruits. Dinners are a little less conventional. We eat on couches around the TV little serving tables. We watch the news every night and talk about current things in the world or just small talk. She is very good about slowing down her speech a bit and letting me try to rephrase things. She gives me a lot of space and encourages me to go out, however I was nervous for the first few days because I knew that Cristina was only there to check up on me and make sure that a freak wasn't living with her 60-year-old mother. I am in the computer lab right now, but when I get back to my room I will post again and include a few photos of Ty and Hermán. Catch you guys on the flip side.