A visit from a dear friend :)

What a great past 7 days it has been! My lovely friend, Jackie, from college flew into Madrid last Tuesday morning bright and early!  Luckily I was able to get a few days off of work, so Monday night I went to Madrid and hung out with my friend Jose.  We went to this great restaurant and had delicious tapas and then walked around Madrid at night, it was so beautiful!

The next morning, I was SO excited to go to the airport and get Jackie!  I woke up, got ready, and headed over to Barajas.  I was so excited that I started running up the escalator while exiting the Metro and tripped and almost fell.  Yep, I'm that classy.

Anyway, I finally found Jackie in the Terminal 1 baggage claim!!  I was so happy to see her!  What a great friend she is :).  As I would find later, she brought me Oreos, Cheese-its, deodorant (the stuff here sucks!), AND Oberon.  Pure bliss!!  Thanks Jackie!

We went straight to my friend's house to rest for a little while, and then embarked to have some coffee, lunch and explore Madrid!

Jackie enjoying lunch in Plaza Mayor!  We had an ensalada mixta, patatas bravas, and paella...mmmm!

A new friend!

In front of the Palace

 The next morning, we took a bus to Granada, dropped our bags at our hostel, and went to explore a bit!  I had been there before, and it had the exact same magic that I remember it having in February.  It was so great to be back there again!

Loose leaf tea for sale outside of the church, it all smelled really good!

At a Tapas bar having lunch

me on our balcony

People watching near our hostel!

There was an outdoor concert one night--so cool!

 Thursday we spent most of the day shopping, eating, seeing the cathedral, and walking around Granada, appreciating it's beauty!  Friday was Alhambra day!  In the morning, well, maybe around 11 or 12, we went to a teteria (a tea shop), and had some DELICIOUS tea.  The guy at the shop gave us some hats to try on and take silly pictures with :), and also a belly dancing shawl!  We had a lot of fun in there.

After that, we grabbed some lunch at this great Moroccan food restaurant, and then headed up the hill to go to the Alhambra!  It was beautiful, just like last time.  This time around, there were more beautiful roses, and also more people!

After the Alhambra, Jackie and I had dinner--it consisted of albondigas, croquetas, and a salad.  hooray for Tapas!! We also tried the Alhambra beer, which was pretty dang good.  

My favorite part of our Granada trip was Friday night when we went to a Flamenco show!  Wow, it was SO beautiful!!  I left wanting to see more, and also wanting to be able to dance Flamenco.  Love, love, loved it. 

Saturday morning we headed back to Villarrobledo on a 5 hour train ride from Granada.  We rested for a little while after arriving, and then headed out to meet all of my friends here for dinner at El Ruedo, a restaurant in town.  We all shared tapas, wine, and had a great time!  I was so glad that my friends joined us to meet Jackie!  We went out afterwards so that Jackie could experience the nightlife of Villarrobledo (it is surprisingly good considering the size of our town), and eventually went to sleep.  Eventually.

Some of my friends at El Ruedo

 On Sunday, Krista made us a Bermudian breakfast--codfish, potatoes, frittata sauce, avocados, bananas (not for me, ew!) and...I forget, something else?  but it was delicious!  We were all stuffed, and decided it would be in our best interest to talk a walk.  We showed Jackie around Villa, from the cemetery to my favorite park (el parque de los patos).

On Monday, I took Jackie to school with me.  My students were, for the most part, pretty well behaved...although I think their hormones are going crazy with Spring in the air, so some of the older boys acted a tad bit...like hyenas.  They were fine for the most part though, they asked her questions in English like "What is your favorite color?", etc etc, I was pretty proud of them :).

Sadly, Monday night came quickly, and Jackie left on the train to go to the airport.  I had such a good time with her here and am so so thankful that she came to visit! It was wonderful to have someone from home come here and get a peek into my life in Spain.