El Escorial

so yesterday I got to go to 'el escorial', which is a big monastery. we only went into the church part, but it was still so amazing. it's only a half-hour drive away, and my uncle lives there, so hopefully i'll be able to visit often. anyway, in the morning, we picked up our grandparents and headed out.

 so this is a fruit stand kind of in the middle of nowhere. but they're pretty popular. usually they sell watermelons and some other kind of melon that I don't know the name of. but yeah, pretty cute

  there is graffiti everywhere. I actually like it, I think the art is unique. it might be stupid at times, but I don't know. I like it. but I see it all the time.

 

here are other buildings and such that I saw on the drive

 

 

so when we were picking up our grandparents, we parked outside of the building that they live in (they have a piso), but it wasn't really a parking spot, but there were no other spots, so I was left to stand guard. yeah. me. standing guard. riiiight. they just said if the guy comes and starts to write a ticket tell him we're just here to pick someone up, just 5 minutes. so basically the whole 10 minutes it took them to bring my grandparents down I was trying to think of how to say that in Spanish and if the guy actually came i'd be screwed. but luckily, he did not, and we left without having to pay any money.

so anyway, it was really rainy yesterday. which I think was good because I miss cold, sweater weather, so I finally got to snuggle up in a coat and feel cold again. which I know sounds a bit odd, but I really do miss the cold. anyway, we got there and we walked a few yards to the entrance. and let me tell you, it is so much cooler in person than it looks in the pictures.

this isn't part of the big building, its more of like the entrance to get to 'el escorial'

this is my sister ana, my grandfather, grandmother, and my mom. and since it was raining I got a raindrop of my lens and didn't even notice so in a few of the pictures theres one spot that kind of fuzzy. anyway, aren't my grandparents so cute! ha, I love spending time with them

 

this is just one side of 'el escorial'. the floor is basically a square. hopefully some day I can see the whole building.

 

 

this is the entrance to the church. inside the church you aren't allowed to take pictures, but it was amazing. you walk in and in front is two rows of pews. on the right and left are old paintings and some sculptures, and the high ceilings were also painted. there was a huuuge organ that I really want to hear, and in the front was the altar. it was just amazing. describing it here isn't nearly enough. its seriously the most awesome thing I've ever seen. Ever.



So after we were done looking around, we went to a restaurant called la rueda, where we met up with my uncle Inda, his wife, and their 2 kids. At first we got these little cups of like carrot soup or something. It kind of tasted like chicken noodle soup broth, but thicker. And orange. So I wasnt a huge fan of that. But then we all ordered and I got rabo del Toro. Bull tail, literally. But it wasn't. It was just beef. I really liked it, but there was soo much food, I couldn't finish. I also tried clams, croquettas, some vegetable with cheese, and this dessert which I also couldn't finish. Just so much food.

At one point Inda was feeling really sick and had to leave. When he tried to stand up he fell against the table and he needed help to leave. So Sylvia, his wife, took him home, and when we were all done, abuelo paid, and we left. I saw the bill and it was 236 euros! 236! Oh my goodness. That's like $320. A lot. That's a lot, man. But it was good. So anyway, after that we went to Sylvia's house, where Inda was sleeping. But we just hung out and I slept for about an hour and a half. After that, we headed back home, and dropped off our grandparents. Also, I haven't mentioned that this whole time I've been sick. While we were walking around I didn't feel too bad, but once we got home, it really hit, so I decided to go to bed after watching a bit of tv. So I was in bed for about 10 minutes before I hear someone crying. I thought it was just the tv, but then I heard the noise get louder and my mom came up the stairs and knocked on my door. I came out and I kept hearing Inda and muerto. Inda died. We had just saw him a few hours earlier, I had even taken pictures of him, and now he's dead. Its so crazy to me. He was a really nice guy and spoke English with me when I didn't understand. And now I won't get to know him anymore. So I was kind of in shock last night.

                    this is Inda and abuelo. Its so odd to know I have the last picture of him.

So this morning my parents and Ana left to tell my grandparents that their son died. I cant even imagine. So here I am. I ate lunch at Lola's, our neighbor and good friend of my moms. She's super nice. She called my mom to ask how she was, and I learned that they're going to do an autopsy on Inda, so they won't know what exactly happened for 3 months, but they think there was some growth or something in his head.

So yesterday I had both the best and worst times of my exchange so far.
Yeah
   

 

this is a view of the whole thing. I basically went in through that middle door and straight back and that's it. But it was phenomenal