Wednesday, January 30, 2008

from the capital

I am writing from Toledo, the religious capital of Spain, and have recently come here from Madrid. The weather in Toledo is much colder than Madrid felt, for, we are up in the mountains. Yesterday we saw Franco's church, El Escorial, or Valle de los Caidos (valley of the fallen people, I would say), where he was buried, because he could not be buried in the real El Escorial de San Lorenzo, which we also saw. El Real Escorial de San Lorenzo is the royal palace away from Madrid which Felipe II had built where he died in his bed, where he wanted to, while able to watch mass.
Today we saw El Catedral Alcazar, a very very grand cathedral of Toledo...
^
at that point, it was the 30th of Jan, my computer suddenly died because I had no plug at that moment, but now, I am writing from the ISA office. I am now in Malaga, it is not cold but is quite gray for the time being, but it is also early in the morning for the good weather to begin. My hair has begun to frizz dramatically, it is very humid. I have a pic cell wireless phone and the number can be given to anyone by my mother. It is completely free for me, if anyone wants to give me a call (free for me, not you).

Madrid was great, Toledo was wonderful, especially my last night, when I finally found the right people to talk to. There is a universal look, I am finding, that people like me have, and when I find them, especially here, in Spain, with so much overt friendliness, it is like we have known each other for years. The Spaniards have been very patient with me, speaking slowly, and we have a lot of things to talk about and we understand one another well. My last night in Toledo a boy told me that I speak with an accent Castellana. I was overjoyed. For some reason, a lisp in Spanish is very pretty, while in English a lisp is ugly sounding usually.

I have had my placement test this morning, this is just a small break between other things. Right now, I need to go back to the school to now recieve my level and classes.
I miss everyone very much.
Hasta luego.

una besa muy fuerte,
Mamie xoxooxoxoxo

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