Y así se fue..

Quick as a flash Nic is gone and I am left once again to drink my sangria sans siblings.

After waking up at a blissful 1.45 pm we set out yesterday for Parque del Retiro and the Prado. The museum was a bust when we arrived and saw that the line was a good billion meters long, but los Jardines Botánicos made up for it. Today I'm suffering the consequences as I look back guiltily on the cactus I accidentally killed this summer, but the flowers in this garden were HUGE and COOL.

We (me) had been complaining about the loud music going on outside

the garden walls during our visit, but when we walked out we saw it was a PARADE!! We watched as groups from different South and Central American countries came through dancing, playing music, and swinging

their hips like it's hot. It was hot. I felt so homesick for South America and am seriously tempted to drop out of life and become a Colombian salsa dancer instead. Never mind that I have no rhythm; when I was in Quito a friend told me I danced like a gringa but I was good for salsa because I was easy to push around. Thanks dude.

Last night we returned yet again to the bar Dublin, where music videos of Savage Garden and other '90s highlights kept us rapt. Jorge the bartender told me one of his friends was coming later and asked me not

to mention that a couple of friends and I are going to his house tomorrow so we can learn some cooking skillz. Umm.. We also scored some free hats from a bartender at another place and rocked them proudly. (But who wouldn't?)

And then it was time to go home. We said goodbye to our new friend Faysal from Brussels, made some plans for Monday-Funday Night, and Nicole's madcap Madrid experience was coming to a close; it had only just begun.

Back to reality. Which means for me, homework. I have to write a couple essays for my bachillerato students so they can have an example when they write their descriptions of a person in English. How's this: "Nicole is my sister. Nicole likes wine. She rocks funky fresh hats. Her eyes are green and she has trouble with the Spanish lifestyle as evidenced by Saturday night." (You can ask her about that yourself)...