spanish children

Another beautiful weekend in Madrid! The city keeps putting up more christmas decorations...there is a big tree in Sol now and another one thats red on Paseo del Prado. I met someone the other day who has a temporary job prepping the city for the season. They really are going all out! hard to believe its the end of november. the weather has been amazing, the leaves are just now dropping in the park (it looks so beautiful!..i'm still trying to spend as much time there as possible, which seems like everybody else in the citys idea as well) and the time has been flying! next weekend we are here in Madrid, then the next 3 i'll be away: Lisbon, Milan, Heidlburg (Germany), and then Christmas, and then the sibs...and we are going to Barcelona! So quite busy.
Anyway...before i get too far ahead of myself...
the week was good, the weekend has been wonderful and relaxing. My spanish classes are going well, its good to revisit the forms of the different tenses and things. im hoping between the classes for formal, technical learning, and my students for colloquial, street language, i can master this. we'll see...
ricardo speaks great english, but his wife and kids dont, so i have them to practice on. not that the kids sit still long enough for me to talk to them...theyre usually terrorizing me, one another, or their poor mother...
which brings me to my main focus for this post: last night a little birthday party was planned for Ricardo. (he turns 40 tomorrow!) his wife had been cooking and cleaning all weekend. shaz and i had gone out to do some shopping and came back for the party yesterday to find that the younger boy had swallowed a coin and they had to take him to the hospital! of coures, the party must go on, so Maru stayed at the hospital with the boy, while we all enjoyed all the food she had prepared. Ricardo's friends were mostly computer programmers like himself and spoke very good english, so it wasnt a very good opportunity to practice my language skills. the older boy who hadnt swallowed a coin took advantage of his brothers absence to be star of the show and hide under various tables, dress up in various costumes, and run around witha sword stabbing people. these children have no discipline...they stay up late (you will see people leiusurly pushing a stroller around the block at midnight !) im pretty sure theyre all like this, not just the ones in this house.
anyway, after the party, ricardo left immediately to trade with his wife at the hospital. they came back today around noon. fun fun!
a busy week ahead, ive picked up some exam proctoring hours, so will be keeping busy. all for now, ciao!