My Sock is Broken

Today was good!
Instead of driving with Maica and hiking to Kaja's house, Kaja and I decided to just meet in Madrid this morning. That meant I could sleep in until about 9 AM, which was NICE. Then I navigated the bus and metro and met Kaja in madrid! Amazingly we found each other once outside the metro without even pulling out and wasting our oh-so-precious pre-paid cellphone minutes! We had several goals for our morning in Madrid:
1) Purchase an Abono (a monthly bus/metro pass)
2) Buy some clothing
3) Eat at this vegetarian restaurant that Kaja had heard about
4) Visit this library place Kaja wanted to see.
5) Kaja also wanted to look into taking Spanish classes at this school and sign up or something.
We did not complete any of our goals!
We walked towards the Library place, but then I decided that we didn't have time to go inside if we wanted to hit up our other goals, so we turned around before actually getting there. Then we went to look for the Abono pass. The first Tabaca that we went to said they didn't sell them and directed us to a different Tabaca. In the second Tabaca we asked a man behind the counter for an Abono... he asked us if we had a photo of ourselves to put in the Abono, we didn't so we said no, he started to explain that we needed a photo and while he talked his mouth started drooling and foaming!! I am not even kidding! He had something seriously strange and wrong with his mouth going on, so Kaja and I basically booked it as fast as we could because it was SO unexpected. SO, Abono-fail until we can get a picture of us! We went to the Vegetarian restaurant, it was closed! We did a little shopping but found NOTHING! Finally, turns out the school Kaja wanted to look at didn't offer any Spanish classes!
Goals aside, we ended up eating at this nice Pizza place with outdoor seating. I actually got a pizza with ham on it, because I am oh-so-spanish! It was YUMMMMy. Also another funny thing, I got asked directions by people multiple times throughout the day! I have no clue why!
We took the Metro back, then it was about time for me to catch my bus so I went to my bus stop. AGAIN the bus driver was the creepy one. This time was especially awkward too because after a few stops, everyone had left except me and him... so he was like my personal driver... strange. But he was actually really nice because instead of dropping me off at the last stop, where i normally get off, he continued to drive me even farther so I didn't have to walk! Maybe we can become friends... ?
At the Abuelo's house I had fun with Rafa playing our same "Get the ball, throw the ball, come on" game, but Carmen was a bit more tricky... She wanted to ride on this little scooter thing she has, but she refused to put on her shoes. So I held on to it and wouldnt let her have it. She kept pulling on it, like she hadn't yet figured out that I am, in fact, a whole lot stronger than she is. She cried to abuela, but abuela agreed that she needed shoes. SO carmen put on shoes, I gave her the scooter, she scooted aproximately 1 meter away, and she kicked off her shoes. I took the scooter back! She put her shoes back on, but I wouldn't give her the scooter back because I had caught on to her strategy by then. She promptly went and told on me to abuela. Abuela came out to see what was wrong with the big bad au pair who wouldnt give the girl the scooter, but I explained with my spanish skills what really went down... I won in the end! HA HA! It was fine anyways because Carmen completely forgot her anger with me in about two seconds!
Maica took us home and then left me alone with the kids for the first time EVER! I like that the most because I don't feel like anyone is watching me, plus the kids actually listen to me because there is no one to run to and tell on me if they don't like what I am doing! We had fun, we went to the pool in the center of the little neighborhood. The water was FREEZING because it just opened and it wasn't that hot today. They waded in for about 3 minutes before they decided it was too cold, which was perfect because then I didn't have to fight an epic battle to get them Actually it was pretty funny... Carmen came out and was like, "PEE! PEE! PEE!" She had to pee... And we couldnt find the bathroom so she just squatted and peed in the grass in front of everyone else at the pool! ... I was speechless... this was definitely the first time I had encountered a situation like this. I didn't want to punish her, but I certainly didn't think it was an appropriate action! In the end I just ignored it because, hey, she had to pee and she is about the only person I have ever met that would opt to remove herself from the pool before letting it out.
We went back to the house and then they did some puzzles and played with my photobooth again. Rafa at one point was taking a video with it and I realized that he was saying, "puta" over and over again, which I was taught was a really bad Spanish word that means "Whore." Its things like this that are very difficult for an American Au Pair, because I just have no idea when he is saying a bad word and I don't feel comfortable assuming that he is being bad and chastising him! Later I asked Maica about it... I was right that he should not use that word, but there's not really much I can do. But he stupidly left video evidence of it on my computer, so if I ever need to blackmail him...
During dinner Maica and I talked for a long time in Spanish, about snow, boston, the differences between spanish and english, and more. It was a really good talk and I think my spanish has definitely improved! Then she told me that she thinks the Kids are learning a lot of english too! She said that Rafa is more shy when it comes to english, but Carmen is really picking it up! Last night apparently Carmen came up to her and said, "My sock is broken" and when Maica looked, there was a hole in Carmen's sock!! SO CUTE!! Then I made myself a bowl of chocolate ice cream with banana slices in it, delllicious.
Now I need to go take a shower and get myself packed up and ready for Toledo tomorrow! SO EXCITED!
Hasta Luego!
Julia