"Oh, the Places We'll Go!": Finally made it!!!

I finally made it!!!! The longest plane ride ever along with getting lost in the Los Angeles AND Madrid airport paid off, because oh my this place is BEAUTIFUL! So my flight to Madrid was just as I was expecting, miserable!! I was literally glaring at all the people sitting in first class with all that room as I was walking to my seat. They fed us dinner and breakfast on the flight... ( I only ate the bread if that tells you anything) and then I attempted to go to sleep. I cannot tell you how many times I tried to change positions to get comfortable, it was awful. Finally I ended up falling asleep for about 3, maybe 4 hours. Finally we landed in Madrid, and surprisingly I was very calm. I figured I would be nervous, but I was actually very excited ( I think I was excited that I was off that plane more than anything). I was just kind of going with the flow of everyone else in the Madrid airport, which is HUGE!! I cannot tell you how many moving sidewalks (which after you go on about 4 of these consecutively you start to feel like you are floating when you walk!) and escalators I had to get on. After a little confusion I get on a little train inside the airport and finally collect my bags. When I walk out there is people everywhere waiting on arrivals, but thankfully my host mom, Milagros, spotted me out! She was so friendly and excited to see me, which made me even more excited!

We loaded up my bags and headed to their house which is about 20 min from the airport, although I was very tired from traveling almost 24 hours I wanted to stay upbeat and have a good time with family that night! As I pull up the kids are outside waiting on me! The youngest, Ana, is 7 years old, and the twins, Charles and Victoria both just turned 9. The fathers name is Charles as well. They all kiss you on the cheek when they introduced themselves, which I loved- so cute! The house is just beautiful! It has 3 stories and there is artwork everywhere, murals painted on the walls, and mosaic windows. There is a giant balcony in both the front and back of the house. In my room which is at the front of the house the view from the balcony is beautiful! I play with the kids most of the evening and get to know them, they are all so cute! I feel a little lost sometimes because the only time anyone ever speaks english is when they are talking to me. Otherwise, they just jibber away in spanish and I am sitting there, clueless! I will catch a few words every now and then but they talk so fast it is difficult! So I have been making the children speak only english around me, but they also help me with spanish words too!
Boy do they have quite a zoo at this house!! They have three dogs, two turtles, three birds, and a box full of caterpillars! haha... and of course they all have names, hopefully by the end of the summer I will have them down :)

The weather here is also great, in the low 80s, and there is always a breeze! So they leave all the windows open constantly...if only we could do that in Texas! The kids are still in school for two more weeks so today I just relaxed, caught up on my sleep and read! But one day of relaxing was enough for me, I am ready to get out and explore the city! Tomorrow I am going to take the bus to the city (About a 30 min bus ride to the city center. I will be by myself so I am a little nervous about that. On wednesday my family have friends who also have an American au pair, so I am going to go into the city again with her! Should be fun, hopefully minimal mishaps and I will not get lost! I will keep everyone updated! Also if you want to Skype or email, anything let me know!!! We are 7 hours ahead here but I would LOVE to make time to talk!
-Lynlee