Saturday, October 16th

so excited to go to the beach!

Today I took a “Me Day” and went to the beach. Mind you, Madrid is in the center of Spain – nowhere near the beach! But it was a rough week with missing IC’s homecoming and a few comments that rubbed me the wrong way, and I needed sometime just to be me and recharge my happiness. Plus I had an extra day on my train pass that was going to expire, so off to Malaga I went!

jumping pics are hard by yourself..

Malaga is about 2 hours and 45 minutes in the high speed train. I took a lot of homework with me, but naturally got distracted by the movies (Ghost Writer). At least I watched them in Spanish, so I learned a little. I did get quite a bit of reading done in Doña Perfecta. I can’t wait to be done with that book. It sure is boring!!! I hope the next one is more exciting!!

love my life

When I got to the train station, I went to the tourist information desk to find out how to get to the nearest beach. The lady there was an idiot. I asked for a map, in perfect Spanish. She gave me one, but it was only the city center and the beach wasn’t even on it! She looked at me like I was crazy when I asked for a different one that included the street the beach was on. Then she pointed me out the door and told me how to get to the beach. Following her directions, I ended halfway across town headed towards some mountains. I wanted to kick her.

So I stopped on a major street and asked a man where we were. He showed me where on my map and pointed me in the right direction of the beach.

McDonald's dinner!

The beach was long, but not very wide and rather dirty. Beach is beach to me though. I planted my towel between two friendly looking women, and got to work sun tanning. It was so relaxing listening to my new playlist combining with the sound of the waves breaking at the shore. I could have stayed there all week, but sadly I set an alarm for 5 pm to head back to the train station.

My train back to Madrid left at 6:10 from the Malaga train station. On the way home I watched another movie (The Box), again in Spanish.

Teresa and her pressie

When I got back to Madrid, Teresa was waiting for me at the train station. She was driving around her friend, Monica, who has a broken leg, and Monica’s cousin, giving the cousin a tour of Madrid. We drove around in the car for a while and ended up eating dinner at a food cart at a McDonalds. It was so delicious, way better than the US.. Maybe just because I was missing home.

When we got back to the house, I gave Teresa her scarf. She loved it. In true Wagers fashion, I made her put it on with her pjs and take a picture!! J