I have Friday’s off, which is nice for when I’m going to travel (still need to nail down some plans!), but I went to the school today to see the “infantil” school – 5 years old and younger! I visited a class of 3 and 4 year olds and my heart completely melted. They were so cute!! They’re just learning Spanish, so I only spoke with them in Spanish. A little girl named Alba decided that we were best friends. It was a fantastic morning and I have to go back to visit.
Rosa picked me up from school and we went into Valladolid because she had an appointment and I was meeting Tonisha (the volunteer like me from Cali whose town is 15 minutes from me!). Tonisha and I met up in Plaza Mayor and wandered around the city for the afternoon, shopping here and there. We saw three different churches, but could only go inside one. They were all so beautifully built and all so old! We went to Mercado del Val, where they have a ton of fresh seafood, meats, veggies, and fruits. There’s also cafes in the Mercado that have drinks and free tapas, where we (of course) went before lunch. I took a bunch of pictures that I’ve added to the Photos page on the blog! We went to El Corte Ingles, which is like a Macy’s with a grocery store and essentially anything else you can think of. It’s 7 stories!
At around 3 pm, we were starving and discovered, much to our dismay, that almost everything was closed!! Thankfully, we found an open cafe and sat outside in the sunshine. I couldn’t get over how nice it was and I wanted to stay there all day! After our sandwiches and relaxing in the sun, we did some more exploring and ended up in the “Central Park” of Valladolid, where we saw a wild peacock!! We sat and chatted for a while, and it was a relief to have long conversations in English. Having to think in Spanish and switch between both Spanish and English has really tired me out, but I can tell already my Spanish is improving!
It was time to meet up with our host families, who were bringing us home. I finally got to meet Guillermo! He’s back from camp and he’s so precious. I was nervous that he’d be either shy or wouldn’t want to talk to me since he’s 12 and getting to the teenage years, but neither is the case! Every chance he gets, he’s talking to me about something in English and practicing. He’s very excited I like to play video games and that I brought my Nintendo Switch – that I bought right before I left!! I think we’re going to get along very well 🙂
I’m excited to have been able to spend most of the day getting to know Valladolid and Tonisha, and I’m looking forward to more days/nights in the city!
aventuras de alyssa 