Before I tell you about my day today, I'm going to try and explain some of the ways that my thought processes have changed recently. The truth is that my head is a bit messed up: I no longer think in English, and I can't quite think in Spanish either, so instead I have been thinking in Spanglish!

I think at the moment I spend about half of my time thinking in each language, but it is not so simple as thinking in English for a while and then thinking in Spanish. Instead I have been mixing the two together in my head. Quite often I will start a sentence in 1 language, and then switch half way through to the other. This normally happens at points with simple words that join together two clauses in a sentence, for example 'but', 'and', 'so', 'because'. The following is an example:

"I am always hungry in the morning, pero si como demasiado por la mañana no puedo comer cuando vuelvo a la casa."

The change here happened on the Spanish word for 'but' which is 'pero'. (The Spanish bit translates to "but if I eat too much in the morning I can't eat when I return to the house".)

This in itself isn't a problem, but one of the words that often makes me switch languages is when I want to say 'actually', instead I say the Spanish word 'actualmente'. This is a problem because 'actualmente' is a false friend! It seems as though it should mean 'actually', but instead it means 'nowadays'. Because this is a word that I use so often in my head, I have learnt to use it incorrectly and it is very difficult to unlearn it (instead I should be using 'en realidad' or 'la verdad').

The other thing that I have noticed that is very strange, is that the Spanish word 'aqui' has become more natural for me than the English word 'here'. This is very strange, because when I am thinking of writing something in English I often think like this:

"I don't know anybody aqui, hmmmm what is the English word for 'aqui'? Oh yeah it's 'here'."

This also happens with the word 'Inglaterra' which has become more natural than 'England'. This is very strange, and only happens with these two words, and I have no idea why! It will be interesting to see what happens to my thought processes when I return to England.

Today class was fairly typical, but after we got back from our coffee, for some reason I had to say the Spanish word for dog (perro). I told Cristina that I was frustrated because I can't pronounce the letter 'R' in Spanish correctly, especially when there are two of them in a row. In Spanish, a single 'R' has a slightly different sound to the letter 'R' in English - it sounds kind of like a soft 'D', and the sound is made my flicking your tongue across the roof of your mouth. There is another 'R' sound in Spanish, which is pronounced whenever the letter 'R' is encountered at the beginning or end of a word, or when two of them are encountered next to each other in the middle of a word. All of the following words have this sound: 'rata', 'ser', 'perro'. This sound is called an alveolar trill, and is often known as 'rolling your Rs'.

When I told Cristina that I couldn't pronounce 'R' properly she told me that she couldn't help me because she is not the right kind of teacher, but somehow we ended up saying 'rata' (rat) over and over, trying to improve my pronunciation. This went on for about half an hour and was exhausting! A few times I became dizzy from trying so hard. It seems to me that you have to hold your tongue flat and wide in you mouth, with the tip of your tongue just behind your teeth. You then have to relax it a bit and make the tip vibrate. I can almost do it, but it is not quite right and Cristina says that I blow to much air out of my mouth and that sometimes I make the sound in my throat instead of on my tongue. Also, making this sound in isolation is one thing, but making it as part of a word, followed by a vowel sound is very difficult.

If you are interested in hearing what this sounds like here are some links: perro rata. On the perro example, make sure to click the button that says 'Hombre de España' as this sounds the most like what I am aiming for.

When I got in from class today I had a great starter, and a not so great main course. For my starter I had cream of vegetable soup with croutons, and for my main course I had grilled chicken breast and small pieces of battered fish with bread. I had watermelon for desert. I had to explain to Charo that I find it difficult to just eat a plate full of meat, and I actually feel quite bloated now. Also the air conditioning in the living room isn't working correctly so I am hot!

I'm a little bit annoyed right now, because I just spent 45 minutes typing out this post, but something happened and I lost the whole lot and had to start again!

Today has been a very different day for me because I had 2 hours of lessons in the afternoon in addition to the usual 4 hours in the morning. This is to make up for time that will be lost due to the bank holiday on Monday.

When I arrived in class today Cristina asked me some questions about the riots in London. I had some videos from the BBC news site that I wanted to show her, so we watched them on her laptop. One of them was an interview with a couple of girls that were involved in the riots, and it was from the Spanish version of the BBC news site (BBC Mundo) and had subtitles in Spanish. Afterwards we talked a bit about the videos, and I explained how the girls in the video were definitely chavs. I have been trying to explain what chavs are for a while and it was good to show Cristina how they think and how they try to justify their actions.

Towards the end of the lesson, we did an excercise where we had to read about a brief history of Spain, and then discussed it a bit afterwards. After that, I was supposed to talk her through a brief history of England, but I really struggled to do it. The point of the excercise was to practice speaking in the past tenses, but I simply didn't have enough information to do so. It's hard to condense the history of a country down into a few paragraphs! Cristina was clearly disappointed because she is very interested in the history and culture of England, and she kept trying to prompt me for information but I couldn't really tell her much.

After the lesson, I returned to the house and had the best lunch yet. To start I had gazpacho soup with tuna and egg which is always nice because it is very refreshing. Afterwards I had 2 small (and very nice) hamburgers, with pisto which is a dish comprising of onions, courgettes and peppers cooked in a tomato sauce. I have had this before in a restaurant, but it was quite different being home made. It wasn't as rich and was served cold and was delicious! Afterwards I had natillas.

After lunch I had 45 minutes before I had to leave for class again - not quite enough time to have a siesta (I could have squeezed it in but it would have been difficult to sleep straight away). Instead of sleeping I decided to read up on the wives of Henry VIII so that I could give a short presentation to Cristina when I returned to the class. I didn't have my notebook to take notes (I had left it in the classroom) but I managed to memorise most of the important details. I knew most of it before, but not in enough details to explain it, so this was just revision.

When I returned to class I asked Cristina if she wanted to hear a bit about 'Enrique Octavo de Inglaterra' and she said yes but only if I wanted to talk about it. I said that I wanted to and she took her notebook and sat on the other side of the desk (quite enthusiastically), and I stood in front of the whiteboard and explained the story to her. It was actually a lot of fun because Cristina was very happy to hear about it and even took notes and asked questions. It was also a great opportunity for me to practice talking in the past tenses which was the point of the original excercise.

The rest of the lesson proceeded as normal, but at a slightly slower pace because we were both quite tired (¡que sueño!). Towards the end of the lesson Cristina had prepared some things that were easier and a bit more fun than usual, as it is easier to do this type of activity at the end of such a long session. One of the great things about having Cristina as a teacher is that she is always adjusting the pace of the lesson so that I don't get bored. Sometimes she changes some of the excercises so that we can talk more and write less, and skips the stuff that I find really boring. Class is always a lot of fun and is normally the highlight of my day!

Now that I am back from class I am extremely tired, and don't really feel like doing a lot tonight. I think I have become quite dependant on my siesta!

Not a lot happened of interest today. I've got to the stage now where I am getting used to life in Toledo, and I am very comfortable here. If I had my girlfriend here with me I think I could stay here forever!

In class it was just me and Cristina again, but another teacher was there (I don't know his name) for the break, so there were 3 of us at break time. In the lesson today we talked a bit about the differences between family life in the UK and family life in Spain. I told her about my observations about the use of public space in Spain compared to England, and I also told her about my relationship with my family and she told me about hers.

She told me that in Spain it is normal for people to live with their parents much longer than in England. She said that she lives in a house with her parents and her sister (she is the same age as me), and that her grandmother lives with her every other month, and spends the other months living with her aunt. I told her how my family lived all over the place and that I don't see my parents that often, and she says in Spain it is normal to visit your parents a lot more frequently (a couple of times a week). I also told her that my parents are my friends as well as my parents, and when we see each other we will go to the pub and have a few drinks, and she said that in Spain this would be unusual, and that the relationship with your parents is a lot more formal. I also told her how it is more normal in England to have friends/girlfriends at your house, and that when I was younger I could always spend time at home with my girlfriend, and she said that she wishes it was like that here. She said that having such a close relationship with her family can restrict her sometimes and that she doesn't have the same amount of freedom to do what she wants.

When I got home today I had Gazpacho soup, followed by 'Judias Verdes' - green beans with ham and a fried egg. This is one of my favourite dishes.

This afternoon I actually spent quite a long time reading English new sites about the riots in London, as it seems to be quite serious. This has also received a lot of news coverage on Spanish TV, and when I went out to a bar this evening to eat, I watched the riots on the TV there too.

When I got back I had a chat with Cristian and I understood everything he said. I also think that I managed to keep up a good pace in my conversation. This is mainly because we were talking about things which I could express easily in the present indicative tense but I was still impressed with myself because I don't think I sounded too much like a 'guiri' (a slang word for foreigner). I also chatted to Charo about the riots in London, and about the fact that my girlfriend's sister had to leave work earlier because looters had broken into the building next door.

Now it's time for bed! Tomorrow I have an extra lesson in the afternoon, because there will be no school on the Monday due to the fiesta. Adios!

Today was the first day in class on my own. I had a lesson with just me in the class before when Ahmed didn't turn up, but it was different because there were other classrooms with lessons and the place still felt full of people. It was definitely different being just me and Cristina, because the rest of the building was empty and we were alone together, even when we went for a coffee during the break.

When there's just the two of us in the classroom, there is a greater tendency to get side-tracked and start talking about things unrelated to the course, but it's good anyway because it gives me a chance to practice speaking and it often leads to me learning some new vocabulary. When we left the school Cristina was walking in the same direction as me so we walked together, and also talked a bit in English, but we soon reverted back to Spanish because it is more natural for us.

When I got in for lunch, Oliver was at the house and this time he was with his girlfriend, Elvira. I wasn't that hungry at lunch time, but I had Gazpacho soup followed by a pasta dish that was similar to paella but with small pieces of pasta instead of rice. It was really nice but I couldn't eat much of it. After lunch I went for a siesta.

When I woke up I went back downstairs and sat in the living room with Charo, and a short while later Elvira came in and joined us. When the program they were watching had finished Charo left and I chatted to Elvira for more than an hour. Her voice is extremely fast, but for some reason I find it to be really clear and easy to understand, unlike Cristian and Oliver who I often have to ask to repeat themselves. Elvira told me that she is studying at University in Madrid to be a lawyer, and we talked about some of the differences between living in England and Spain. She told me that she keeps chickens and showed me some pictures on her phone, so I showed her my chicken blog and some of the photos of Toledo on this blog. It actually made me feel really good speaking to her because she spoke really fast and kept asking me questions, and I barely had to ask her to repeat herself.

When Oliver and Elvira left, Paula went with them. Paula is going to be away with them until Friday so I think the house is going to be really quiet! When she said goodbye she gave me a kiss on the cheek. I actually think I'll miss having Paula around because she spends quite a lot of time with me and she's always highly amusing.

Last night, I got back from eating and posted about the amazing free tapa I had eaten, and then about 5 minutes later Cristian came home and asked me if I wanted to go and watch a film at his friend's house. I was really tired, but I had been hoping to go somewhere with Cristian so I agreed and went with him.

His friend's house was outside of the casco in the new town, so Cristian drove us there in his dad's car. Before the film we stopped outside a shop and met 2 of his friends and he bought some coca cola and snacks. Then we went to his friend's house and there were another 3 people there (7 of us in total). I chatted to them a bit before we watched the film but didn't really talk much. When they chatted amongst themselves it was difficult for me to keep up.

By the time we put the film on it was midnight and I was too tired to understand much of it. When I'm tired my mind wanders and I can't concentrate on it enough to understand anything. Funnily enough I was still thinking a lot in Spanish and about Spanish phrases I had heard that night - I just couldn't concentrate on the film.

After the film I was really tired and I think Cristian was too so we left straight away, and chatted a bit in the car. I think I learnt more from the little bit of chat in the car on the way home than I did in the rest of the evening. I also learnt what 'cojones' are. (Look it up if you care).

It is interesting to see the difference between English and Spanish university students. The first and most obvious difference is that Spanish students seem to study in their home town (at least in Toledo) - Cristian and a lot of his friends still live at home, and everyone I've talked to who is a student here says that they grew up here. This is completely different to the UK where most people try to get as far away from their parent's house as possible! It was also interesting to see that they were sitting at home and drinking coca cola on a Saturday night. In the UK when a bunch of students get together on a Saturday night, they don't normally drink coca cola! In fact you only had to look at the mess on the pavements Sunday mornings in Coventry to tell how much the students there used to drink on a night out. I obviously can't say whether this applies to student life here in general as I have only been out with them once and it is holiday time, but it seemed pretty different from my memories of student life back in the UK.

This morning when I woke up Charo offered me something good for breakfast: I had tostadas which are toasted French bread (ok Isabel I know it's Spanish bread too :-p) with garlic, olive oil, tomato and jamon. After breakfast I went for a walk and to read some of my book, but in the end I felt too hot and returned home. The rest of the morning I felt slightly sick and just watched TV.

For lunch I had pisto (vegetables in tomato) to start, followed by chicken and chips, followed by natillas. After lunch I had a siesta and I think I could have slept for hours. I always set an alarm though so that I only sleep for 30 minutes but today it was hard to get up again!

In the afternoon I watched Toy Story 3 in Spanish with Paula, followed by Pirates of the Caribbean (also in Spanish). After that I walked into town and had a jamon and tomato sandwich, and some octopus salad.

Not the most exciting day but I had some nice food today. This is the last weekend I will be spending by myself, and the end of the second week which marks the half way point through my trip. I feel like I've been here forever! (In a good way!)