when friends visit

When you start over, no one you meet knows how you used to be, or where you started. They get version 2.0, the more finished product, and the past isn't really relevant. But that's what your friends are for! To remind you of that time when you did that thing, and so on and so forth. So, I was really excited when my friend Sarah came to visit me in good old Spain. We lived together here when we studied abroad (also Veronica, shout out!), and it was a nice reunion. It also made my job of host super easy, because Sarah had already lived in Madrid, and we didn't need to do touristy things. But that article my mom sent me from the NYTimes on Madrid did in fact come in quite handy. We hit up all over Madrid, going to El Matadero, an alternative art space that used to be a slaughterhouse (still pretty sketchy). We checked out some cool gardens, along with some Roman murals in La Latina, a pretty trendy neighborhood. And our old señora, Maria Luisa, was not forgotten. I'm extremely glad Sarah made me go see her, and we went out to dinner with her. We nearly exploded with food. Disgusting. Chorizo and cured meat would have gone everywhere. Sarah even came to school with me for a day, to watch me teach 3 year olds the Hokey Pokey. My job is very stressful, clearly. It was overall, a great visit. Except the part where I got Sarah sick. That wasn't so great for her. But at least it wasn't swine flu.