Yesterday was pretty much perfect for me - I barely had a minute where I wasn't doing anything. First off I had 6 hours of class instead of the usual 4, and afterwards I walked Cristina back out of town and had a really nice conversation about the things that I'm going to miss most about Toledo.

After class I ate (although I can't remember what, so it can't have been that interesting!) and then had a shower and left the house again. By this time it was about 7:00 and the sun was just starting to cool off. I walked the same walk that I have done a few times, down by the river where it is shaded and there is lots of vegetation.

The walk was uneventful, and afterwards I went to the same bar that I went to last time in the 'juderia' (the Jewish quarter). I had a clara because I was thirsty, and chatted to the barman for about half an hour. I told him how my parents had visited, and that after only 2 days of speaking English I felt that my Spanish had started to deteriorate slightly. The truth is that I was thinking a lot more in Spanish before I saw them, and afterwards I was finding it a bit more difficult. (Today I think my Spanish has improved again and is better than ever, but this makes me worry that I will quickly lose a lot of my Spanish when I return to the UK).

After my drink there, I walked into town and ate at my favourite bar - Cafe Zocodover. I wasn't that hungry so I just had a jamon baguette, and shortly after I had finished eating, a group of Spanish women came in and sat at the bar. The bar maid introduced me to them, and told them that I was a student, and I ended up pulling up a chair next to them and chatting to them for about an hour. It was quite difficult at times, because there were more of them than me and they started to talk quite rapidly, but I understood most of what they said and managed to join in a fair amount.

They started talking to me because there was someone from Andalucia (in the south) on the TV, and they were asking me if I could understand their accent. I told them that I couldn't understand it, but not because of the accent - it was because the TV wasn't loud enough and there was too much going on in the bar for me to be able to listen properly. We ended up talking about the different accents people have in Spanish, and the different phrases people use in other parts of the country. After they left I chatted to the barmaid for a while, but then a load of customers came in and she had work to do.

I also had some good pinchos in the bar, and at one point they were coming out faster than the drinks were! I had crisps, olives, pickled fish, cheese and black pudding. I had ordered half a baguette, 4 small beers and a coffee, and it all came to less than £10 which I thought wasn't bad.

When I got back to the house I talked to Charo for a while, and she told me that she thinks I speak very well now. She also told me that her father is in hospital with heart problems. I think it is quite serious.

All in all, I had quite a good day, because I didn't have much time with nothing to do, and I had a lot of opportunities to practice speaking.

I wasn't originally going to post anything today, because nothing much has really happened. Last night there was a concert in the street outside my house, but I didn't go to it because I could hear it from inside the house and it was the same group as the previous night. School was pretty average today - I didn't do so well because I was tired from being kept up half the night by the concert. The only things that have been worth mentioning the past few days have been to do with eating and drinking!

Yesterday, for dinner, I went to my favourite bar in Toledo: Cafe Zocodover. This is a tiny little place on the high street, between the cathedral and the main square (Zocodover). I started going here because I only wanted a sandwich, and on the menu outside it advertises bocadillos (baguettes). This has turned out to be my favourite bar for the following reasons:

• It serves my favourite Spanish beer: Mahou. Too many bars here serve Cruz Campo which I hate!
• I like the food, and can find something small and cheap if I'm not hungry.
• It's only €1,50 for a caña (small beer).
• It's small and I can sit at the bar. I find that when I am eating on my own, it's best to sit outside or at the bar. Sitting inside at a table is not much fun.
• It's always got quite a few people in it.
• The pinchos (free little bits of food) are awesome.
• The staff are friendly.

For those of you that don't know, it is quite common for bars in Spain to give you small portions of food (pinchos) for free when you are drinking. One of the things I like about this bar is that the pinchos are amazing! So far I have had: Crisps; Olives; Popcorn; Mashed potato on toast (seriously); A tiny toasted fried egg and jamon sandwich; Chorizo omelete on toast; Cake; Potato salad with an insane amount of garlic. This is pretty cool because the beer is cheap, and she normally gives me a pincho for each beer that I order.

Normally I don't really get a chance to speak to the woman behind the bar here because she is always insanely busy, but every time I came in after the first time she gave me a big smile and was obviously very pleased that I had come back. Yesterday there were less people so we chatted a bit at the end, and she complemented me on my Spanish which is always nice. Today when I went in I asked her what her name was, and it sounded like she said 'Marky', but I'm not 100% sure because this is not really possible in Spanish, but she is Japanese so you never know! I guess I'll find out for sure tomorrow...

The other place that I went to today was 'Restaurante Alex'. I have eaten in this place numerous times before, and I have always liked it here, especially because the waiter, Roberto, is friendly and helps me with my Spanish. Today I ordered 'perdiz' which is partridge, and it was definitely the best thing I have eaten in any restaurant since I have been here. The meat was really rich, and it was served with wedges, mushrooms, peppers and asparagus. It was lovely to have a few vegetables on my plate for a change! When I left I told Roberto that I was leaving in a few days, and that I didn't think I would return there. We shook hands and he wished me luck for the future.

EDIT: The barmaid's name (in Cafe Zocodover) is spelt 'Maki', or more precisely:

Yesterday was the last day with Dad and Sue in Toledo. In the morning I stayed in because they wanted to meet up at 12:00. I had my usual breakfast in the house, and at 12:00 I was just starting to get hungry again.

12:00 is not a good time to be walking around outside in Toledo as it is normally just starting to warm up at this time, and yesterday was worse than usual because it had been cloudy over night and the city hadn't really cooled off. We decided to drive to a car park on the edge of the casco, and take the lift up so that nobody would have to walk up the hill.

When we got to the top we wandered around for a bit and then sat down outside a restaurant to get something to eat. All we had was a tostada each with tomatoes (I had jamon too), and soon afterwards Dad and Sue gave me a lift back to my house and departed. It was great to see them and I had a lot of fun, and I was sad to see them go.

When I returned to the house I watched TV for a bit and had a siesta, and when I woke up at 4:00 I was starving. Charo had agreed to give me dinner that night as I had skipped lunch the previous day, but that wouldn't be until 9:30 so I left the house again to find something to eat. I ended up sitting inside the Flor de la Esquina, and eating a few miniature sandwiches. It was quite fun sitting at the bar because a lot of big religious groups were turning up and making ridiculous drinks orders like '9 beers and 14 cokes please'. None of them seemed to speak a lot of Spanish, and at one point a group of French people asked me if I could translate for them. They asked me in English, but when I asked if they spoke English they said no, so I don't really know what they were expecting from me.

All through the afternoon I felt a bit bloated, and not hungry at all, but just before Charo called me in for dinner I got my appetite back which was just as well because dinner was huge! She gave me a plate of Caesar salad to start, followed by a rack of ribs for my main course.

After dinner I walked down to the Cathedral because there was a concert happening there. The band were playing pop/rock type music, and I think the songs had a religious theme but I couldn't really understand what they were singing. The music wasn't anything spectacular, but it was quite entertaining to stand and watch the crowd. There were lots of groups of people from different countries, and a lot of them had their country's flag which they would wave around as they danced. The group from Jamaica seemed to be especially enthusiastic! It was also interesting because there were old people, young people, people with push chairs, and at one point I even spotted a group of nuns jumping around in the crowd! I found it quite entertaining for a free event.

Yesterday, I also asked Charo what they were going to do today, and she said that they were going to go to some kind of service in the Cathedral. I asked if I could come with them, and she said this would be fine. She seemed to think that I would be bored and wouldn't want to come because I wouldn't understand everything, but I told her that it was something new for me and I like to try new things.

This morning, Charo, Miguel, Paula and me left the house around 11:00 and headed for the Cathedral. On the way we stopped in a bar for a coffee, and I had a soft drink because my mouth was really dry. I find it very hard to be without water for any length of time here! After our drinks we walked to the cathedral, and Charo and Miguel kept stopping and talking to people that they recognised along the way. All of their friends seemed to be very interested in Paula - I think having a small child here is a great conversation starter!

Before going into the cathedral, we went to a place outside with a series of taps. People were filling up large jugs and drinking the water - Miguel told me that the tradition was to drink this special water before entering the cathedral. I didn't drink any, but Charo filled up some bottles with the stuff to take home, and when we got home Miguel put some black tape around the bottles so that they could tell which ones had the water from the church. I wonder what the shelf life is for holy water!

When we got to the cathedral there were a lot of people there, and it took a while for us to get through the crowd around the entrance. Once inside I noticed that a lot of people were taking photographs, so I took some too. Unfortunately this is worse kind of environment for my camera, because the light level is very low, and it is too big for the flash to be effective. There was also a lot of smoke in the air from the incense that they were burning.

We waited around for a while, and then a procession started around the inside of the cathedral. There were a lot of people in robes carrying golden staves with crosses on the end, and at the end a group of men were pushing around a large effigy of the Virgin Mary. The whole time there was singing and chanting and it was quite interesting to watch.

When the procession was over, I asked everyone if we could stop for a picture and they agreed. I took a picture of them, and then I asked a passer by to take a picture of us. Unfortunately the woman that the took the pictures of us all together was probably the slowest photographer in the hole world! The first picture she took was ridiculous, and the second one was only marginally better. Next time I will try and look for someone a bit younger, because 1 button seemed to be a bit too much for her to deal with!

On the way out of the cathedral, Charo stopped to talk to someone, and Miguel and Paula went off ahead. I tried to follow Miguel and Paula, but there were so many people squeezing out through the same doorway that I ended up getting separated. When I got outside I looked around for a while, and then waited for Charo for a while, but in the end gave up and walked home by myself. They all turned up about half an hour later and explained that they had gone round the corner in the opposite direction to me because there were less people there.

For lunch I had pisto with potatoes to start, followed by pieces of marinated pork. I also had a small portion of rice and seafood cooked in squid ink, as I hadn't tried it before. After all that I had a piece of melon, and staggered off to my room for a siesta. The air conditioning wasn't working so I took the fan up to my room, and it was hot and sticky but I had a great sleep!

Tonight I'm going to investigate the great big stage that has appeared outside the house in the main road. They have closed the road off and installed a massive sound system (which I have been able to hear all day as they've done various sound checks).

On Friday night, after the rain stopped, I met Dad and Sue at their hotel and we walked into the centre to try and find something to eat. We ended up walking quite far and having a drink on the way, and then returning to the one of the first restaurants that we saw to eat. When we stopped for a drink, somehow I managed to order a non-alcoholic beer! I don't have a clue how that happened, but it was ok because my stomach still wasn't completely settled from lunch time's drinking.

When we did stop to eat, I had Gazpacho, followed by quail and chips, and then some tiramisu for desert. I thought that wasn't bad for €10,00 but Dad and Sue seemed to think that it was expensive.

The next day we met up in the morning at 10:00, and stopped for some tostadas, before heading over to one of the many churches in Toledo. This church cost us €2,30 to enter and we could go up the bell tower for some amazing views of Toledo.

After looking around the town for a while, we ended up sitting outside a bar and had a few beers and some lunch. We chose a bar near the Alcazar because it had a machine underneath each parasol that would spray you with a fine mist of water which was very refreshing! After lunch I returned home and Dad and Sue went to their hotel room for a siesta.

In the afternoon we were due to meet at 7:00, and when I got to the hotel only Dad was waiting for me. We were due to to a walk outside the casco around the surrounding hills, and Sue had decided not to come. Me and dad walked all the way around the valley, and stopped at the bar half way for some beers. When we got back it was 10:00 and we met Sue in town outside a bar.

We decided to eat at a restaurant a little bit further into town, and when we looked in through the windows there were just a few little table and chairs. When we told the waiter that we wanted to eat he lead us downstairs to a massive basement section with lots of tables and chairs in it - you could probably sit about 50 people down there! It was quite a surprise because the place looked so tiny from the outside.

I had Judias Verdes (green beans) to start but they were no where near as good as Charo's! For my main I had croquettes and chips, and I had flan (which is like creme caramel) for desert. On the way home I could hear music playing in the park near my house, and even inside my room the music was quite loud. I still managed to fall asleep straight away though because I was so tired.

Today's post is going to be a little rushed because I need to leave in half an hour to meet my Dad and Sue.

I thought last night was going to be 'just another night on my own' but it turned out to be quite good. First of all I went for a walk, near the river where there is a lot of shade and vegetation. When I had finished I was very hot and thirsty and I came out near a bar that I had been to before. I went in and ordered a 'clara' (shandy) and sat at the bar inside. The bar man instantly recognised me and said "You've been in Toledo for quite some time haven't you?" (in Spanish of course). I ended up sitting at the bar and chatting to him for a long time, probably about an hour. I told him I was hungry and that I wanted a 'bocadillo' (baguette), and he asked me what I wanted. I said I wanted jamon and tomato, and he started looking through the cupboards behind the bar. The then went on to explain that he would make me a baguette but he didn't have bread (which is quite an important ingredient, no?). He picked up a piece of bread off the side and said "bueno, tengo pan pero es muy duro!" (well, I have bread but it is very tough!) and started smashing it against the bar.

After that I walked to my favourite bar in Toledo. It's a tiny place near the centre of town, but I like it because it is always full of people and I can sit at the bar and have a baguette. I ordered a baguette and afterwards a tapa with some kind of fish (very similar to pickled herring). The bar maid in this bar is Chinese, and seems to be the fastest barmaid in all of Toledo! There are normally 10 - 15 people in this bar and with only 1 barmaid, she is always very busy! After I had eaten I ordered a couple more beers, and she kept giving me free food despite my protests. First I got a small toasted sandwich with ham and egg, and afterwards a piece of cake which was delicious. I haven't really spoken to her much because she is always so busy, but every time I come in she looks very happy to see me and the free tapas get better each time!

On my way back home I vividly remember feeling very happy. Walking back home in Toledo is always wonderful: At 11:00 the temperature is warm but not unbearable, and because Toledo is so high you can watch the lights of the city below. I stopped for a while to watch the cars going round the roundabout in the distance and driving out of town. I felt very content.

When I returned to the house, Elvira, Oliver and Paula had returned. We sat outside for a while and talked, and I learnt how to say that I missed someone in Spanish. It was interesting to talk to Oliver and Elvira, because Oliver is a police officer in Madrid, and we could compare the police in both countries. I told them how the police in the UK don't really have any power to do anything, and Oliver said it was the same in Madrid. This is not what I have heard before about the police in Spain, but I think it is possibly different in a big city where they are so visible.

Today in class we did the subjunctive. We skipped over a lot of material in the book because I wanted to do this topic, and it's extremely confusing!

After class I returned to the house for dinner, which consisted of tomato, egg and tuna salad, followed by roasted chicken, with natillas for desert.

Just as I finished eating my phone rang and it was Sue telling me that they had arrived. I spent the rest of the afternoon in a bar with them, and it was great to see them again. The bar was outside of the casco, and was not the kind of place that I would normally go in by myself, but it was great fun. The barman was from Ecuador (in South America) and we chatted with him a bit. He told us that he likes it here, and it is much better to work here because the economy is better, but in a few years he is going to return to Ecuador. After quite a few cañas (beers) I returned to the house for a siesta, and then quickly wrote this article, as I am due too go out again very soon!

Sorry if this has been a bit rushed, but I don't think I will get another chance to blog for a few days, and I wanted to write this down before I forget it! Now I am going to meet my Dad and Sue, but for the first time it is raining outside!

Hasta luego!

EDIT: When I wrote this it was raining. Now it is pouring, and there is thunder and lightning, and we have decided to postpone our meeting until it stops.