Only three days left..

Unfortunately this is my last weekend here as I fly home on Thursday. Apologies for the massive gap in time since I last wrote on here. Each weekend I´d start thinking about what I was going to write but then never get round to writing it. So this is going to be a compilation of the last three weeks. A very poor effort to only get round to doing this three times in six weeks! Quite shocking, but I guess it´s better than nothing.

Well three weeks ago was the Dad´s birthday so we went out for a meal to the local tapas restaurant. The restaurant is the business and I´m looking forward to Wednesday as they mentioned we´d probably go back there the night before I leave. The Dad´s quite keen on astronomy, one night we got his telescope out to look at the moon and the stars. It was awesome, fantastic to be able to see the moon perfectly through it and even more impressively we were able to see Jupiter and it´s satellites. Two weeks ago I went to Toledo, which is further south in the Castilla y Mancha region. I had to get up mega early to get a bus to Madrid then a train from Madrid to Toledo. It was full of tiny picturesque streets scattered with old churches and buildings. It also had one of Spain´s biggest rivers ´el dajo´ and many impressive ancient bridges over it. It was great but I spent the whole day getting lost despite having a map! lol.

I got back from Toledo late at night and as I´d set off early in the morning I didn´t see the family all day. Consequently, the next morning Ignacio decided to come into my room as soon as he woke up, I assume to check I was still there as he hadn´t seen me the day before. It made me laugh as he just opened the door, came in (waking me up in the process) saw I was there then walked out again. Unfortunately, he decided to keep this up and now comes in to see I´m there every morning. Although it was funny to begin with it has got a bit annoying as he wakes me up earlier than I need to wake up.

Two weeks ago on Tuesday my parents and brother came out to see me. They´d planned to come ages ago as they´d never been to Madrid. I had the day off to go to Madrid to meet them. On seeing me in the airport my Mum literally sprinted to me to give a massive hug. I was quite moved by her excitement to see me! We had a great time seeing Madrid together. We went to and inside the spanish equivalent of Buckingham Palace although the current spanish royal family don´t actually live there these days. On the Wednesday I had to come back to look after the kids so it was only a short time with them but it was definitely worth it.

Last weekend on Saturday I went to Madrid again for what I thought would be my last time. I went to a few museums, el Museo de America (all about South America) and the archeological museum which were both good. Later in the afternoon I went to see the bull ring in Madrid. When I got there they were advertising some kind of bull fight for the next night on the Sunday. Mainly out of curiosity and wanting to sample a part of traditional spanish culture I decided it was an opportunity that couldn´t be missed. Also helped by the fact it only cost five euros. So last Sunday after a trip to church and a quick swim and sunbathe, I bussed it back to Madrid to go the bull fight. It was quite an experience! I ended up on the front row against the barrier as close as possible to the action. There was quite an atmosphere with the crowd cheering the moves of the guys waving the red cloth at the bulls and literally risking their lives. When each bull is released into the stadium the speed at which it sprints across the stadium towards the guys waving the coloured cloth at it is pretty incredibly. I certainly wouldn´t want to get in the way of it! lol. The guys wind it up by waving at it then just as it gets close they hide behind wooden fences where the bull can´t reach them. Then guys on horses would come out and they´d poke the bulls with long spears, although at times the bulls would get so close they´d nearly throw the guys of the horses. A few more guys would wind up the bull some more and stick more pointed spears into it. Next the main guy would come out and show off his best moves with the bull desperately chasing the cloth that at the last minute would be pulled away. Eventually he´d kill the bull to the cheers of the crowd. I wouldn´t usually be very attached to animals having never had a pet yet even I felt quite harsh on the bulls as they were killed then dragged off across the stadium. I had to leave half way through to catch the last bus home. However, I saw three of the six bulls which was enough as it was starting to get a bit repetitive, with the same routine being used on each bull. I was glad I was able to go to experience what a typical bull fight´s like but I don´t think I´d go again.

This weekend I´ve stayed here to spend as much time as possible with the family before I go home on Thursday. Yesterday we went further into the mountains north of Madrid. We went to an old Monastery where Benedictine Monks still live today. It was really interesting. Apart from the fact that the Monk who gave us a tour round hardly pronounced what he was saying and I hardly understood a word (Alicia..literally he made my accent seem like the clearest ever ha) On the way home we went up to the highest point of a mountain pass which is a ski resort in the winter and also stopped to see a local dam and reservoir.

As for the kids, I´ve been continuing to teach Javier English and attempting to get the rascal Ignacio to do some work too. In the afternoons after we´ve worked I´ve taken some videos of them singing their favourite songs and just generally messing about. They should be great to look back on when I get back to England. Although as they know they´re being filmed it turns into a kind of circus as they end up acting even dafter than usual (which is something as they´re pretty crazy in general lol) One thing that really made me laugh the other day was the fact the kids asked their Mum if she´d buy them some hair gel so they can spike their hair up similar to the way I do mine! ha. When she gave them some a few nights later they both came running to me to show me their new gelled hair style! haha.

So unfortunately I´m going home on Thursday. Although I´m quite looking forward to going home and seeing everyone, in a way I don´t leave. There´s a lot of things I´m going to miss. First of all these characters with whom there´s never a dull moment. I´ve promised them I´ll come and visit them in the future and that when they´re older they can come and stay with me. Should be interesting to see how they turn out to be! lol.
Secondly, the weather..it´s literally been blazing hot sunshine every day for six weeks. It´s only rained once, which is quite something considering where I am is over 900 metres over sea level, the height of like the highest mountain in England.
The swimming and sunbathing everyday. You know you´ve made it in life when you can come home from work and dive straight into a refreshing pool every evening throughout summer like the parents here do!
The language..I could spend all day just listening to them babbling away. My Spanish has definitely improved which should definitely come in handy next year at uni.
The culture and the food..I love the food out here and I´ve surprised myself loads trying and liking most types of it. Sitting outside to eat every day is superb, especially at night under the moon and stars. It´s been great to see the way the Spanish live and literally being emersed in their culture.

So on the whole it was definitely a fantastic decision to come out here instead of wasting the summer at home doing absolutely zilch! I´ve gotta say thanks to Kirsty and Tom for telling me about aupairworld the website through which I organised it.

So that´s it! All that remains are three more days of looking after the kids, before a flight home at the awkward time of six in the morning on Thursday. Which may mean sleeping rough in the airport Wednesday night as I´ll need to check in at about four or five. The Dad, Alberto says he´ll take me to the airport early in the morning but I feel harsh as he has to work the rest of the day. Probably best that I catch the bus the night before but we´lll see what happens.

Sorry this has been a bit of an essay! Hope everyone´s having a great summer themselves. Looking forward to catching up with everyone to hear about what you´ve all been up to! Take care. Love Matt x x x