I'm Going to Madrid

Last Friday, I nearly crashed and ran off the road. It was my fault entirely. My cell-phone kept beeping incessantly. Per California State Law, individuals are not allowed to use their cell-phone when they are driving unless they are using a hands-free device. Well, I obviously couldn't monkey up my phone with my mouth and feet, so I glanced away from the road and grabbed my phone with my free hand. I looked down for a moment to read the pestering message screaming for attention, then I started screaming myself, nearly running off the road!

My family chose me! My family chose me! My Spanish host family chose me!

If "Big Brother" was to have peeked in on my Friday morning commute, they would have thought I belonged on a funny farm or quite possibly a horrific American Idol audition. My truck was spurting out various levels of shrieks and screams! Shreims!!!

I had my Spanish host family! This was real. I am REALLY going to live in Spain for two months!

I glanced back up from my phone just as a cow began to cha cha slide into my lane on Lakeville Hwy! Holy Cow! Ok, ok, so maybe the cow wasn't dancing, but it did come relatively close to becoming a cow-patty! After nearly suffering another heart attack, I decided that I shouldn't try to read and drive, so I broke another law instead, and called my Mama to read to me the message from my email account.

My family sounds PERFECT! They live in a beautiful tree-lined neighborhood five miles from central Madrid. The mother, Maria, is a Statistician at the National Statistics Institute and the father, Luis, is a Film Production teacher at a college. They have two daughters. Sara, 18, is studying law and business, and Maria, 21 is studying pharmacology and will be graduating next year.

I have been speaking with the mother back and forth through email and I do not think I could have found a better family! She is very friendly and her English is actually not too bad. Personally, I think she writes better then some of my American friends! The family and her just needs some fine-tuning.

Through our exchanges, I talked to her about wanting to enroll in cooking classes so I could learn about the local cuisine. She mentioned to me not to worry, she cooks dinner every night and I can help her with her English as she teaches me to cook! Oh my God! I am in heaven! Seriously! How freaking sweet is this woman?!

Though I will never be like Julia Child or my best bud Darbie, in the kitchen, it will be nice to have some REAL cooking lessons from a native and a better command of the Spanish language. Fortunately, I have already learned a lesson here at home, never use a cell-phone while driving in the hillbilly farm country.