"do you serve pigs blood"

Monday
-I’ve been waking up feeling completely exhausted. As if I didn’t just sleep 8 hours. Not a good feeling. But other than that I feel fine.
-I took a 2 hour nap. It was glorious. I love Spanish siesta

Tuesday
-another day with no energy = another 2 hour nap
-one of my 4 year olds saw that I had a package of gummy bears in my pocket and she asked if they were for her and I told her that they were for me and she said “but teachers don’t eat candy.” Not sure where she got that idea from.

Wednesday
-one of my 5 year olds gave me the finger… wonder where he learned that from
-my high schoolers confessed some good stories to me. When they asked if I had any similar, luckily I could honestly say no.

Thursday
-I went to school in the morning to make up for a day that I’m going to miss later. I felt like it was a waste of time. I just followed Piedad around and didn’t do much. Whatever.
-After my classes Eddie and I decided to go to Cuevas for just a little bit, both insisting we’d be home early… then I ran into 2 of my new friends Santi and Fran (I go to church with his parents but since he studies in Albacete he can never come) and their friend Carlos and I sat and talked to them for a while. And they made me move on to another place, promising me I’d be home by 1:30… but it really was a lot of fun. They’re super funny and not quite as crazy as the others. And they gave me a new nickname: Shunny Delight.

Friday
-the weather was gorgeous. Like 80º with lots of sun.
-around 4ish, Esther, Eddie and I went to Alcazar de San Juan to pick up Casey and his friend Ansel and off we all went to Toledo. The boys had never been for tourist purposes. It was a lot of fun being there with all of them. They’re all so funny. Casey was in this really random mood where he was cracking jokes all the time. In English and in Spanish. We also discovered that we’re like “kindred spirits.”
-we walked around the city for a while before going to Esther’s piso where we watched a movie. But Toledo is absolutely beautiful at night.

Saturday
-after coffee Esther and the rest of the “family” drove me to the bus station and got me on literally at the last minute and off I went to Madrid. I met up with Libby and did lunch and ice-cream
-later we went to pick up my race materials. The runner’s feria was super disappointing compared to that of Philly. However, they gave me the most random stuff in my goodies bag. My favorite being chicken broth. What?
-then I went to meet up with Alisa and off the 2 of us went to the Santiago Bernabeu for the Madrid vs. Sporting game. The stadium itself is incredible and we had sweet seats. In the 6th row in one of the corners. I conveniently picked the corner where my Ramos would be defending. It was perfect because my Granero played as well and he took a good chunk of corners right in front of us. It was a special game because they honored (the original) Ronaldo, one of Madrid’s historically best players and because Higuain played for the first time in months. It’s soo good to have him back. I’ve missed him
-however, Madrid lost 1-0. Off of a fluke goal. We had control the whole time and we didn’t play awful, we just couldn’t get it.
-the young couple sitting next to us were super nice. I liked chatting with them. And there was a fight a 2 rows in front of us between 2 Sporting fans and an old Madrid fan. There were several times I thought he was going to have a heart attack. Crazy.

Sunday
-after a night of not sleeping too well, I got up at 7 am and off I went to run my half marathon in Retiro park. On the metro I met another American guy in my program going to do the same and then in the park we met up with an American girl also in our program and off the 3 of us went to get our time chips and to check our bags. It was nice not being completely alone and they were both super nice.
-once the race started we all got split up. But I ran the whole 13 miles (21 km), without stopping. I ran slowly, but I made it. However, km 18 and 19 were awful. I thought they were going to kill me. It was a 2 km long hill. I think every Spanish insult crossed my mind aimed at whoever decided to end a half marathon like that. Jerks
- I was pretty much dead when I finished, but I finished. I sat in the grass and rested and stretched a bit then went back to Libby’s where I took a nap. When she got back after church we did lunch and then I caught a bus home and that was my weekend :)