The symbol for Madrid is a bear standing on it's hind legs next to the Madrone tree. No one here can seem to explain to me why this is the symbol of Madrid... and internet searches have proven to be pretty fruitless. The main statue of "El Oso y El Madrono" is in la Puerta de Sol, a famous plaza in Madrid, best known as the place where the entire city gathers for New Years. Everytime I pass the statue on a walk through Madrid or see it intermingled into various parts of the city (such as in the picture, in a hole-in-the-wall tavern, apparently the oldest in all of Madrid, where I ate with some friends on Sunday) I make up a different explination for what I want that bear to be reaching for, what's really in that tree, and what I want it all to mean. I like that my reasons are always changing and I like that my thoughts here are always evoloving and I like that I probably could know but I just don't.

I'd say that encompasses pretty well how this past week has gone for me. There are some things that I still just plain old do not know. Such as various sayings or words in Spanish. Or what happens at the end of a trimester here (coming up on November 24) and why we randomly have days off schools for fiestas that no one seems to acknowledge anyways. Or how my host dad knew the famous Jimi Hendrix rendition of the Star Spangled Banner at Woodstock but I had never heard of it, which seems more than a little backwards. I'm learning that for a Rotary kid, ignorance isn't necessarily bliss, but it also isn't all that bad.

Saturday night, I babysat for my host mom's best friend, a 3-year-old cutie with flourescent-orange rimmed glasses and a shock of blonde hair named Carlitos. After we got home from my grandpa's house in Las Matas (where we go to eat every Saturday), I had a few minutes of downtime and as I was preparing to walk out the door with my host mom, she looked at me and said "Where's your overnight bag?"... Apparently in Spain it's understood that if you're babysitting, it's gonna be an all night deal. I should've figured this, as the Spanish typically don't even get home until 5 am from parties, and it'd be difficult to catch a bus back home at that time of the morning. So I threw some clothes into a bag and Ana and I departed for the neighboring town of Pozuelo, where I was babysitting. The night was fairly uneventful, Carlitos had the characteristic homesickness that little kids sometimes get, and ended up sort of throwing a fit for his mom, but felt better when I let him scribble all over my hand, and we ended up to be pretty good pals by the end of the night. (As a side note, I'm aware that allowing small children to scribble on me is not the best way to problem-solve, but give me a break, it's hard to comfort a 3-year-old that's at the same level of vocabulary as I, the 18-year-old, am). For the rest of the night, I watched the battle on the soccer field between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, an incredibly famous rivalry, almost as intense of a game as those of el Futbol Club Barcelona vs. Real Madrid; something I can only put into context as the Packers vs. the Vikings times about 200. The game was fantastic, Real Madrid won 3-2, but it was well-played and a nail biter right until the end-- speaking of that, I have started picking my nails again... sorry Mom :)

I woke up Sunday and ran out the door with 30 euros in hand from babysitting to meet up directly with my friends Emma and Devon at El Rastro in Madrid. On the Metro in Madrid, there was a very eccentric, harmless, well-dressed, and tiny old man who walked past me on the Metro to get off at his stop. I'm still so accustomed to Minnesota-nice and smiling at everyone (something that no one does here in Spain) so as he nearly danced off the Metro (he was a weird little guy) and turned around to look back in, I gave him a quick smile. He enthusiastically began blowing kisses and waved goodbye to me, as the woman next to me gave me a nudge and asked if I knew him. When I replied "no" we both just sort of looked at each other and laughed. It's the little things :)

El Rastro was one of the coolest places I have been thus far in my adventures in Spain. It is basically a giant street market that takes over a pretty good part of Madrid. You can find the touristy goodies, such as giant Spanish flags or t-shirts with bull sillouhettes, or you can dig through the back streets and find treasures such as a broken-down antique clock, or leather bracelets, fake designer watches, classy canvas bags, or even, if you so choose, a spiffy pair of suspenders with the Spanish flag imprinted all over them. There is an incredible mix of tourists and natives, you can hear all sorts of languages and it really feels like more of an international market rather than specifically Spanish. It struck me as funny that I found myself saying things like, "annoying tourists" under my breath when they'd suddenly stop, disoriented, the mass of people moving forward through the streets. How quickly I forget :) I got my host sister Bea a birthday present however, because the next day, Monday, November 9, was her birthday.

Birthdays are kind of downplayed in Spain-- or maybe we just do it up big in the United States. Monday was a holiday for Madrid, but since I technically live in Majadahonda, I still had school. Bea made herself a cake... it consisted of a generic "cookie" which you soak in hot milk and stack in rows and columns, with melted chocolate in between the layers and melted chocolate spread over the entire thing, with M&M's spelling out "19", which you then put in the fridge to cool. Jacobo and I each gave her our little gifts, I bought her some bracelets the day before and I made her a giant sign which I left taped to her bathroom mirror with the bracelets. She was entirely thrilled when I got home :) Jacobo he had made her some presents as well, and we culminated the day with a very Spanish dinner of octopus soaked in olive oil, among other delicacies.

The rest of the week proved to be pretty uneventful. My mom sent me the new Season 5 of House, so that occupied the majority of my week nights. I also started running again, setting out a specific route that takes me about half an hour. It's pretty thrilling to me that I can still run in a t-shirt and shorts in the middle of November and I've missed the exercise, the whole body-and-mind well being is really important to me. It also helps to combat the scrumptious food that I'd consider a sin not to eat and the famous 15 pounds every exchangey is expected to gain... No way, Jose :)

I'm running out the door right now to go to a concert with some friends from school in Las Rozas. Pozuelo, Majadahonda, and Las Rozas are all right next to each other, a sort of famous trio of suburbs to the Northeast of Madrid. Last night I crashed at about 12... I had plans with friends that fell through because of illnesses and the need to study. It's that time of year, folks. Bea told me yesterday that she'll need to stop going out both Friday and Saturday nights-- she can't afford it anymore, she just has to study. We'll see if that holds up or not :)

Besitos Amigos, Sami