Hay Conejo en la Paella

We had breakfast this morning at 8 o'clock, while it was still dark outside. Almost nobody here is up at that hour, aside from early morning workers or parents walking their niños to school. Since my group didn't have class until 11, I walked around the city with one of the girls until it was time to go. Madrid is very quiet in the morning, so it was pleasant to explore the streets, almost relaxing. The weather here in the winter is like a Spring day in Milwaukee, very cool until the sun warms things up a bit. It was really nice to be out and about without the streets crowded with people, as they usually are. I took some pictures that I thought looked pretty cool because of the way the sun was rising over the buildings.

La Plaza Oriental

El Catedral

Hopefully it doesn't rain today because I still haven't bought an umbrella. The other day while it was raining we left the hostel, and a man came up to me trying to sell me an umbrella out of his backpack. I didn't have any money on me, so I said "No, no" and pushed the umbrella back to him. He took this as a sign that I simply wanted a different color, so he offered me a different one from his backpack. I said to him, "No, no, I don't have any money," and walked away hastily, realizing only seconds later that he had no idea what I was saying since, oh yeah, Spaniards don't understand English. Whoopsies.

School today was über fun. Our lecturer was an animated man named Santiago, who is somehow affiliated with Harvard. Needless to say, he was extremely smart and had a lot to say about Spanish literature. Qué interesante.

We were finally served some paella at lunch today, instead of french fries (thank God). Era muy deliciosa except for the chunks of rabbit, complete with bones, that were included in the mix. Forgive me, but I would rather not eat bunny fou fou, even in España.

The view from our balcony.

I think we're going shopping later on today, but we have to wait for the stores to open back up after la siesta. Can you believe it? Stores here close during the middle of the day while everybody takes a nap.

Whitey le gusta mucho a España. Se parece que todas las personas aquí tienen perros. While most of them don't even use leashes, the dogs don't wander off. I wonder if the dogs here bark in Spanish?

La vida es buena.