  I'm at an internet cafe in Madrid, and I feel a little overwhelmed because there is so much to write about and so little time. It's pretty cheap to get online though...it's only costing me one euro per hour. Ok, so I am going to be as organized and as concise as possible. Here are my topics for today's entry: school homestay friends korean church--missionary kid comp lit A lot, right? But I know you miss me and that you are dying to hear all the details!!!!!!!!!!!!! ^^ SCHOOL It's great. I'm attending International House, Madrid, and I'm glad Joyce told me about it because it really is an awesome language school.
The teachers are excellent! I am learning a lot, and rapidly. I'm also taking down a lot of observation notes on the different teaching techniques mi profesora uses. Carmen's truly amazing. I love going to class everyday if only to learn more about how to be a better language teacher. But of course the beauty of it is that, because she's such a great teacher, I myself am progressing in espanol! HOMESTAY I live with a little old lady, whom I endearingly refer to as "mi abuelita. " She is very small, and very cute!
She loves to talk, so I do lot of listening when I am with her.^^ The nice thing about my homestay is that I have a lot of privacy. My room is nicely furnished, pretty spacious, and always clean. She cleans it everyday, and even handwashes my laundry! I am going to give her a nice gift when I leave. FRIENDS I have been hanging out with my Spanish friends from Paris.
I went to Ruben's house last Thursday, and saw him as well as Jaime and Nacho, and I met several of their friends. Jaime also invited me to his home on Saturday, and his mother cooked up quite an amazing meal! I was absolutely stuffed, but fully content. Lunch is at an odd hour in Spain....we ate at 4 pm! I arrived there around 2, and left around 8, so I spent my entire Saturday afternoon "siesta" with Jaime's huge family. He has two sisters, Paloma and Ana, and two brothers, Andres and Eduardo. Meeting them and spending time with them was really really special. We just sat around and ate and talked and watched TV and ate again and talked some more. His mother really took a liking to me. She kept saying, "Ella es muy inteligente y interesante," (I'm not sure what made her think that, but it's fine with me!^^) and asked me a bunch of questions about Korea as well as my life as a Korean American. Before I left, she declared, "Te veremos. " ("We _will_ see you (again)"). I got to see all of Jaime's pictures as well as all the family pictures around the house. I can't believe how goodlooking Spanish people are. Both Jaime's parents were hotties when they were young, and all his siblings are gorgeous.
And Jaime's girlfriend, Almodena, seriously looks like she stepped out of the cover of Vogue magazine! Oh, and Jaime isn't so badlooking himself. Also, Jaime is an artist, so he showed me several of his paintings as well as a couple of art books he's been published in. I am not often easily impressed by people, but Jaime really impressed me with his talent. His paintings are Mondrianesque, except that he likes to utilize the space around a painting as well, and sometimes paints on the walls around the paintings.
In that sense his work reminded me of Daniel Buren. After we left his home, we went and met Cova, my other friend from Paris, and her boyfriend Luis. They were in the middle of studying for finals, so we only chatted for about an hour and looked at pics. Then we went out and met a bunch of Jaime's friends, going from bar to bar. I hope we go dancing next time.
Bars aren't very fun because I don't like to drink very much, and Spanish is especially hard to understand in such a loud setting. But it was nice to see a bit of Jaime's life in Madrid. I have yet to meet his girlfriend in person, because she's been sick. I will probably meet her this week, although I am a bit intimidated by her drop-dead gorgeousness!
This week, I am supposed to have lunch with Cova and Luis, and go sometime to Jaime's university to see his studio and watch him paint. Please keep praying that God would give me the opportunity to share about my faith with Cova and Jaime. I've been meeting people from different parts of the world in my language school, so that's been neat, too. OK, I am really running out of time now, but I guess I will come back tomorrow and finish up my thoughts. 
