April Showers bring May ALLERGIES

This month has been dominated by allergies. I miss the days when I used to not have to take an allergy pill everyday. Here in Madrid, combined with the pollution of the city, the allergies are hitting hard. According to Erin's teachers, it's one of the worst springs for pollen. Erin has even gotten a bacterial infection because of the density and amount of pollen! I've also had to change my allergy medicine because it wasn't effective anymore for me here.

~ April Showers ~

RAIN. I thought Madrid would be more like Los Angeles: dry and warm. This Spring has proved that Madrid is more like Oregon in the Spring, cold with constant rain and weather mood swings. During one of my private lessons, it started to hail after being 75 degrees earlier in the day!

^(the hail was actually bigger than this. I had been trying to squish it/melt it with my hand so it is a bit smaller than when I picked it up)

~ Thrift Shopping ~

Despite the rain and allergies, we have still been enjoying life here in Madrid. Erin and I went thrift shopping in Malasaña and both got some amazing second hand overalls. We had a great time exploring the treasures in the stores. I love Malasaña!

~ Volleyball ~

I'm still playing volleyball and enjoying so much. I've met so many friendly people there -- it's a really great community. If you look closely at the picture below, in the middle on the court (#15) is one of the coaches of the open gym/training that I go to.

~ Private English Classes ~

Tutoring is also going along well. I have formed really great relationships with the students I work with. Below is a picture of one of my students and I during our conversation class!

~ Trying to UP my cooking skills ~

I have been continuing my cooking adventures! I made eggplant and chicken parmesan for the first time! The real successful aspect of that recipe is that I was able to fry all the food successfully!

~ Eurovision ~

We went to Juanma's house for Eurovision. It was disappointing and the woman how won wasn't that good -- her song was annoying and she was participating in cultural appropriation. In what is also supposed to be a gathering of nations in celebration of music, she also made it political with her references to Jerusalem when she won, while at the same time there were violent protests occurring between the two sides. I know Europe is obsessed with Eurovision...but this introduction was not very good. We were told this was a weird season and not normal...but I'm not sold.

~ Bye bye hair ~

Big changes! I also cut half of my hair off! I was afraid to do this...as the last time I cut my hair short I regretted it. However, I found a great haircutter from Mexico who speaks English! He totally knew what he was doing and had a vision, so I let him do his magic and well...I love it! Below is the dead animal of hair that came off my head!

~ Shadow of the Wind ~

At bookclub, we have been reading Shadow of the Wind by the Spanish author Carlos Luis Zafon. It is so good -- I highly recommend. Erin and I went on a search all over Madrid for it...I ended up finding it in Bilbao, but we found this nice bookshop with a coffee shop inside as well near Sol called La Central. Desperate Literature is by far still our favorite, but below is still a nice find. I do love bookstores.

~ Festival de San Isidro ~

The festival included an outdoor market with lots of food, music and sweets! We also saw a lot of people wearing red flowers in their hair. This festival celebrates Saint Isidro.

~ Atletico de Madrid ~

No, I didn't go see them play. But I finally did get to see the stadium of Atletico de Madrid! I did however, get to watch, on TV, Real Madrid beat Liverpool!

~ Clase de Español ~

I also finished Spanish classes at the University of Jesus Maestro. I was very disappointed with this class. I didn't learn anything new and should have been in a higher class. Unfortunately, my oral Spanish skills were detrimental to my placement...which is a shame because this class did not help my Spanish oral skills as we barely spoke in class. However, at least this program gives me official certification of this level so I'll never be in this level again and can move on. I reenrolled in a different private program called LAE. I was taking classes with them in November and December. I should have stayed with them...oh well...what's done has been done. I passed my exam and my certificate will be ready for pick up in a week or so. I'm also taking private conversation classes now. I should have started that earlier as well, but with the university classes I couldn't manage 10 hours a week of Spanish and private tutoring with more Spanish classes.