15 Things I've Done the Past Three Months

1) Started attending a playreading group with friends.  Did dramatic readings of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and "Act Without Words I."

2) Absorbed more art around Madrid: Museo Sorolla, El Hermitage en el Prado, "The Garden of Earthly Delights."  

3) Won a trip to Berlin in March to attend a weeklong European conference.  Am forever grateful to the Fulbright Commission.  

4) Went to a few meetings of the Auxilares Artists Group, played board games, saw "Attack the Block," went to Zombie Bar.

5) Did Thanksgiving activities at school.  Two students drew Mike Young turkeys.  Celebrated my first Thanksgiving away from home at a potluck dinner with a group of extranjeros (foreigners).

6) Attended a "Country Night" at a bar, in which I danced wearing a cowboy hat on a straw-covered floor and rode my first mechanical bull.

7) Went to Expocomic 2011.  It was comforting to know that comics conventions are just as nerdy here in Madrid as they are in the States.

8) Took a weekend trip to Cordoba.  Ate bull's tail, saw flamenco, and juggled oranges that I picked off the trees.

9)  Attended the Peace Corps 50th Anniversary Ceremony at the Ambassador's House.  Heard a lot of inspiring stories.  Made me think that the Peace Corps would be worth doing someday.

10)  Found the one New York-style pizzeria in Madrid.  Savored the flavor I miss most.

11) Picked up Brian Kateman at the airport dressed in a Santa costume, then proceeded to come back to the house where the family played a game of "amigo invisible" Secret Santa unlike anything we've ever seen.  Definitely the rowdiest Christmas of my life.

12) Went to Lisbon, Portugal.  Saw the westernmost part of Europe.  Came back to Madrid and ate 12 grapes at Puerta del Sol.

13) Took a solo trip to Amsterdam and Paris.  Wore three pairs of socks and underwear to bear the cold, but saw the Anne Frank House, the Van Gogh Museum, the Eiffel Tower, and the Louvre.  Looked into Mona Lisa's eyes and am forever a changed man.

14)  Picked up new private lessons.  It appears that English is in demand here.

15) Started an introductory German class.  Proactively answering the question of whether I could ever learn a third language.