First day of summer.

In about an hour, it will be summer in Madrid - and not a moment too soon! In about two weeks, I´ll probably be complaining about the heat! We had a wonderful weekend, chilly in the mornings but glorious in the afternoons. Saturday we had our first excursion out of Madrid to San Lorenzo de el Escorial - a town at the foot of the Sierra Guardarama about 70 km north of Madrid. The village is a popular site for summer homes for Madrileños who wish to escape the heat of the city (as are all the towns at the foot of the Guardarama). It was chosen my Felipe II as the site of his summer palace. Being a very learned and religious man, the Escorial contains a Basilica, a monastery (originally of Franciscan but now Augistinian monks), a school, a museum, an extensive library, an extensive collection of art and the pantheon for all the Kings and Queens of Spain since Felipe II in the 15th Century. Our guide was Pablo, an educator at an Ignatian College here in Madrid. His knowledge of the Escorial was amazing! Our tour was nearly 3 hours, and the boys were great although they are not used to standing and walking for so many hours. There are docents in every part of the Escorial which is part of the Patrimonio Nacional - or the Heritage Sites of the country and so there is no sitting or leaning on the walls or furniture. There are tons of steps, up and down as we traversed the various levels of the Palace-monastery. I think he told us there were more than 1800 kilometers of corridors in the building. If you asked the boys, they would probably tell you that they walked all of them!


The boys got their first introduction to Spanish art. Felipe II was a great lover of the arts and when he was buidling his palace, he commissioned many pieces. El Greco, the great 16th Century Spanish master (who came from the greek island of Crete) originally came to Spain to paint for Felipe II. Unfortunately, Felipe II didn´t like his style (!!!!!) and he never became court painter. There is however, an extensive collection of his work at the Escorial. They will see much more of it tomorrow when we visit the Prado.

Due to the fact that too many people have ignored repeated requests over the course of many years to take photos only without flash (as the contstant flash damages paint, pigment and art) photos are now forbidden in most historical sites and certainly in museums. I know that a few surreptitious photos were taken but in general, the boys won´t have any interior shots of the Escorial. But they got lots of exterior shots as we strolled through the elaborate gardens and through the town of the Escorial.

They were able to see how the building was constructed in the 16th Century - with winches, pulleys, ropes, stone cutting tools - as of course it was all done by hand. They were also able to see the huge grantite blocks and how they change colour with the light, time of year and time of day. The granite used in the Escorial is the same granite mined from the Guardarama that the romans used for the aqueduct that we saw on Sunday in Segovia (but I´m getting ahead of myself!)

There was lots of sleeping on the bus during the return trip to Madrid, but the boys seemed to recover in time to change and get back to the discoteca for an evening of music and dancing. They were accompanied by one of the young men who teaches at International House so I was able to escape to have dinner with a friend - but by all accounts, a good time was had by all! It was amazing to me how standing and walking was so exhausting, but dancing was NO problem!!!! Go figure!

One week complete...

I´ve been taking an advanced language class these past few days so my time to blog has been severely curtailed! The weather has improved dramatically the past couple of days. We are up to about 24 degrees and sunny! Whew! I didn´t bring clothes for cold! They are now saying that when the heat does actually come to Madrid (usually in July) that it will be record heat! Wonderful! Right now it is beautiful - sunny and pleasant!

On Wednesday, we changed our plans to visit the Sorolla gallery because of the Spain vs. Switzerland World Cup game. We all met at the school to watch Spain get upset...anything less than a win over Switzerland is an upset! Apparently Spain was just a little bit overconfident...There will be more opportunities to wear the red and yellow jerseys and wave the bandera de España - at least we hope so! But they must win their next two games to stay in it.

On Tuesday afternoon we went for a tour of the botanical gardens. Originally a garden of more than 100 hectares, it contains 5000 species of trees and many more species of plants inculding more than 100 different bonsai trees donated to the garden by a former president of Spain. It was a gorgeous afternoon and a relaxing way for the kids to spend a couple of hours. We strolled and chatted, looked at ponds, fish, plants and animals.

So far everyone seems happy with his classes. There have been some changes made - movement up and down levels - but I hear lots of conversation and use of Spanish and-or "Spanglish" - all good! Today we had a choice of watching the USA game or having an "intercambio" - a language exchange with the students at another International House location who are learning English during the summer. I opted for the intercambio and the guys are looking forwards to sharing their language skills with the Spanish students. On Thursday afternoon we went rowing in the small rowboats in the lake at the Parque de Retiro. It is one of the favourite activities for the boys - a beautiful setting in front of the majestic statue of King Alfonso XIII on a gorgeous afternoon. I was minding the backbacks so I didn´t get any good photos, but I imagine they will be appearing on Facebook soon. I did get a nice group shot, though.
The boys are starting to look a bit tired. I keep telling them to go to bed early - somehow I don´t think they are listening. We have a big weekend planned. Tomorrow we go to El Escorial and then the discoteca (finally!!!!)! On Sunday I am looking at Segovia for the day which will be a full day out of the city of Madrid. I won´t have much internet access during the weekend, so look for more here on Monday!

El programa de Español

I was very happy to see that everyone found his way to school with no problems on Monday morning - and they all arrived on time, even better! They each had a short quiz to fill out and then a brief linguistic encounter with a teacher to evaluate their levels. Leveling is very fluid here as some students who can speak better don´t do so well on the written part or vice versa. The first day is always a ¨getting to know the students¨ day and there is a great deal of movement in the levels. Some of the boys felt they were misplaced, and changes have been made. As I have told them, this is definitely NOT an American classroom where they can sit silently and blend into the crowd. The classes are small, they are all about conversation, speaking and understanding and if they want to move forward quickly, they must engage and converse. So far, it seems that they are all doing great - lots of Spanish going on and tons of willingness to talk. The students who have friends or acquaintances here have all gotten in touch with them and are planning excursions.

On Monday we had our first afternoon outing (after a rather spectacular thunderstorm which I have never seen in Madrid!). We walked ¨Madrid de los Austrias¨ which is a walking tour of the oldest part of the city during the reign of the Austrian kings. The streets are very narrow, barely wide enough for the smallest of cars; we saw the remains of the original ¨murallas¨ or the outer fortress walls of the medieval city, visited the Iglesia de San Miguel and ended up in the Plaza Mayor. We also strolled past the Catderal de la Almudena, the Cathedral of Madrid and the Palacio Real. We have plans another day to have a tour of the inside of both.
We are working on our schedule for the coming weeks. The boys are getting used to walking around the city and taking in the (sometimes unusual!) sights of European city life! While my photos are pretty tame, they have taken some very funny ones. I think you can find theirs on facebook!

First days in Madrid.....

We had a great flight! Arrived ontime at 7 am local time Saturday morning to rain ... it never rains in Madrid! Apparently this year it has been raining lots and everywhere! Who knew? Anyway, it was showery, but fine. The bus met us at the airport and had a planned route to deliver the boys to their homes. I met with each family and got to see where each pair of them is settled. They had time to unpack, shower, eat and rest and then we met at 4 pm near the school to take a little tour of and learn how to use the metro. I took them to the Puerta del Sol, the Plaza Mayor and then we had chocolate and churros. We passed a discoteca and some of them had designs on going dancing (!!?!?!?!?!) which I quickly squelched! We found out that all the World Cup games are televised on regular tv so every house can get them whether they have satellite/cable or not. As the boys were very tired, I sent them all home to watch the game with plans to meet at 9am on Sunday morning. ¨By this time they had all learned how to navigate the subway and were beginning to figure out the money. We stopped at the tourist office where I obtained a city map for each of them - so they could see where they were, where they needed to go and how to get there! Now if I can just get them to remember to bring the maps with them, we´ll be all set!

In Madrid, 9 am on Sunday morning is an ungodly hour... some people are just getting home from a night of revelry. However, it dawned sunny and glorious; we met at the Plaza Mayor where we took some great photos, some students got a cafe con leche (my personal favourite!) and a pastry. We then headed down towards the barrio La Latina¨ to go to the Rastro - the renowned Sunday morning outdoor market. There you can buy everything from antiques to lingerie. I got them there, showed them around and gave them some time to explore and look. It is a place that covers 4 or 5 long streets and the connecting streets so it is impossible to stay together in a big group. Some will stop to look at one thing and others want to look at something else, so as long as they are in small groups they are fine. I then headed off to Barajas to meet the second plane!

Matt´s plane landed about half an hour late which was great since I arrived a little late. On Sundays the metro runs on a ¨weekend schedule¨and the trains are a little farther apart. However, he was out quickly and we took the metro back into Madrid so I got him used to using the system right away. His roommates were at home when we arrived, so he had some time to rest, and acclimate before we all met again at 3 in the afternoon to get the phone situation organized.

During their free time, some of the boys walked to Retiro park and played frisbee. Thy each have a city map and seem to be finding their way around without any problems.

I had already checked with the phone store to see what would be the best way to go and what they had available - they were able to buy phones from ¨Happy Móvil¨for €45 - the phone cost €20 with €25 in minutes on it. Addiditonally, since we all got the same program, we can call each other for free. This was a particularly good feature since the majority of calls will be within the group. I bought the same program and so the students can call me and I can call them without charge. Each one can call the US and anyone in the States can call them. There is no charge to receive calls. I shall send you all my number by email.

After we got the phones organized - that took the best part of 2 hours! - I took the group walking to the Opera House, the Cathedral and the Royal Palace. About 7 pm, I sent them home to have dinner and watch the game - the World Cup games are televised at 8:30 in the evening here - and head to bed early as they needed to arrive at school at 9 am the first day. If how tired I am is any indication, I´m doing a great job of keeping them occupied during the day so they go home tired and able to sleep at night.

Everyone arrived ontime and ready to go this morning. They have had their evaluations and are already in their classes. They have funny stories to tell about linguistic mixups, trying to use their language and figuring out how to maneuver around the city. They are doing great! While the Madrileños seem to think it is chilly here, I think it is fantasstic! Sunny and mild by Madrid summer standards...but at any time I know it can get HOT! So we shall enjoy the pleasant temperatures while we have them.

Our first afternoon cultural activity today will be a walking tour of the old part of the city. While I´ve already taken them to many parts in the center, today they will get a little of the history of what they are looking at. By tomorrow, we´ll have an itinerary for the week and will know where we are headed on the weekend. I forgot to bring my cable to upload photos today so check back again soon for pictures. ­¡Hasta luego!

4 days and counting....

Ok, here we are! Four days from our departure date and I just KNEW things were going along too smoothly! However, we'll get past this dentist thing tomorrow and things will go smoothly once more! The power of positive thinking! Tomorrow I shall have a meeting with all the boys traveling to go over the "game plan" and to answer any questions they may have. I'll also cover some safety, etiquette and behavioural matters so we are all on the same page. Having done this a few times now, I know that the more we understand each other, the better off we all are! This is just an opening post to initiate the blog and let you all see where it is. Please feel free to comment or ask questions. If any of the boys want to post to this blog or start their own, I can link to them. They just need to let me know! More soon...