Happy Epiphany!

Hola Amigas et Amgios!

Thats about as far as my spanish has come! I've been having a great time here in Madrid, thanks to the wonderful family I am staying with. They have been feeding me amazing food and the little boys are too cute! We went on a beautiful, long hike up Sierra de Guadarrama. It was snowing, so we made a snowman, had a snowball fight, and just had a good time! I love "family time," so it was really more than I could ask for!

In Spain, they celebrate Christmas differently than in America and France (no duh, Morgan!) They don't give presents until the Epiphany (or when the three kings came bearing gifts) We have gone shopping a few times this week, and instead of pictures with Santa, little kids line up to take pictures with one of the three kings!

Yesterday there was a big parade in the city to celebrate, and I have to say it put the Macy's parade to shame! There was an acrobat hung from balloons that looked like she was flying through the air! Every culture was represented in the Parade, so it was not like they were pushing religion on anyone. AND there was bon-bons... lots and lots of CANDY! Before we went to the parade, we stopped at Dominique (my host father's) favorite pastry shop because I just  had to try a galette there. The line to get into the bakery was incredible! It wrapped around the whole block! Luckily, Dominique knew the owner, so we got to line-jump!!

After the parade, we went to a lovely Belgium restaurant where I got a warm goat cheese salad. DELISH! I don't know if I mentioned this before, but French people always, always have to finish a meal (even breakfast!) with a dessert!! Believe me, after two weeks here, I'm either going to be a diabetic or extremely obese. But I'll take either considering the food is so amazing!!

In a few minutes we are leaving to go to the park to go running! They know I am crazy about running and since today is the first sunny day, they are taking me to a "safe" park! ha They are too cute! I see a lot more runners here than in Paris, and people running at all hours. This will be my first run here,  because they would rather "not worry" about me and it has been horrible weather.

My camera seems to not want to load my pictures, so check in tomorrow for a picture update!
Bisous!
Morgan