Weekend Jumble

I have a list (actually its a little more sophisticated... its a detailed excel spreadsheet) of things I want to do while I'm here. The longest section is cafes to try. Saturday I crossed another off of the list- it's called Fuentetaja, and it used to be a bookstore during Franco's regime that sold prohibited books. Today it is still a bookstore with an upscale cafe. Cool right? When I got there, I found out that the cafe is across the street from the old famous building, so Fuentetaja, the cafe, is nothing special- they sell books and share its name with a cool bookstore. lame.

Saturday was my first car ride in over a month. I went with my Spanish friend, Esmeralda, and a group of her friends outside of Madrid for dinner because I really wanted sushi and she had never tried it. (Once again, this whole thing is sounding a lot cooler in theory). The place we went to was not a cute little Japanese palce, but rather an overpriced and verging terrible asian buffet. But we did steal 75 napkin-bundles of gummies.

Friday's cooking class took a year and a half to find since it was not in a studio or restaurant, like I expected. Then we realized it was an apartment building, and literally its a woman's apartment with some folding chairs hovering around the kitchen counter. We watched while she made the food, except I did mash and flip my own tortilla espanola. The paella was delicious- just as I imagined it would be. Apparently, Elvira hasn't forgotten that she said she would make it for me. She said today she's just waiting for the "right night". Whatever. I have a recipe now, I don't need her.

Today was the first day that smelled like Spring! It was 60F and sunny and made for the most excellent run-- on which I had 2 mini-epiphanies. 1. I am going to sign up for the Madrid half marathon in April- includes a t-shirt, already checked. 2. I am going to work on convincing myself to try the famous jamon serrano. The idea of it is currently making me puke, but Im taking baby steps. Once I stop gagging, ill be that much closer to really experiencing Spain.

'Twas a Dark and Stormy Night

Last night I went to go see Spain's movie of the year, "Celda 211", which stole almost all of the Goya awards for 2010. Elvira warned me with one word, "fuerte". And that really is only word to describe it--I highly recommend it, but just don't plan to go picknicking after.

I didn't think about it until later, but going to the movie late on a cold and rainy Wednesday night complemented the mood perfectly. I took the metro home afterwards, which was in the opposite direction of Renee's metro line, so I'm standing inside the train alone, and I smelled cigarette smoke. I hadn't noticed when I got on, there was a man a few seats down smoking away with a can of beer opened next to him. Great he looked like he came straight from "Celda 211". Then- he started yelling and I couldn't really understand him, but I could make out something about Franco, the King, Spain, and justice.

I had trouble sleeping last night.

Starbucks

I started my day with some Special K Red Berry cereal (at last!), and decided it might as well be a good day to make my first step into Starbucks. Until now, I had been an authentic madrilena, hopping around from cafe to cafe to sip my cafe con leche with friends at the bar. Today between classes, I longed for an oversized comfy chair, a cup of coffee that needs both hands just to hold, and the comfort of not appearing antisocial for drinking coffee with a book instead of a friend.

And like everything else I do (Cadiz, hiking trip...) it turned into an ordeal.

The menu looked relatively familiar and even refered to espresso as espresso and coffee as cafe. I had 2 hours to kill, so I decided on a great big coffee. The man took my order in line and asked for my name to write on the cup. I searched for a Spanish name to avoid trouble, but Bonnie came out instead (in case any friends from home are reading this-- good thing they didn't ask for my last name too--because saying Bonnie again would really sound strange). Actually, the guy didn't butcher it an call me 'Vooney" or ask me repeat it 30000 times. Good work Sr. Starbucks.

Too bad he wasn't working the cash register, too. I told the cashier I had ordered a cafe grande. She thought I said latte grande...? After an exhange taking entirely too long and passing through the menu from latte, to cafe con leche, and finally to americano, I paid for my "cafe". (in case any managers from Starbucks are reading-- either put americano as an option on the menu OR don't call your house blend coffee "cafe de casa".)

Then, I passed over to the pick-up area, and waited while others came up to get their drinks upon hearing their names. I finally heard "americano, which although isn't my birth name, it was comically fitting.

And of course, there was not one comfy chair left.

I learned a valuable lesson today- IF I ever go back to Starbucks, my name is Maria and Im ordering tea.

Extreme-adura

This weekend's trip was a whirlwind trip through Extremadura. We saw 3 towns in a day and a half with lots of rain and walking. In Merida, we saw the ancient Roman amphitheatre, ancient Roamn theatre, and aqueduct system. In Caceres, we took a twighlight tour of the medieval city(it reminded me of Cadiz), and in Trujillo, we took a tour of the city (aka sprinted though the town to take refuge in medieval castles, Francisco Pizarro's house, and curches to escape the monsoon outside).

Merida- bridge that took only 11 months to build; Trujillo-bitter oranges; Trujillo- city wall

Now back to reality, and fast forward a few hundred years: 3 classes tomorrow starting at 8am, and still more rain. I need to be Friday already for the Spanish cooking class!!! Unless Elvira gets her act together before then, it will be my first taste of paella. om nom nom.

Extracurriculars

Now that I have survived the first week of classes, I'm moving on to what I do best- jam packing every second of my schedule to the point of 24/7 entertainment and perhaps exhaustion. But first in case you are interested in my academic life, I'm taking (Enlish translation) BusinessTypes and Strategy, Market Research, Distribution Marketing, Power and Politics of Modern Spain, and The Consumer and his Environment.

For the fun stuff:

• I just got back from my first photography workshop. This is going to be difficult because- I'm enrolling in the middle of the course, and I forget a lot of the fundamentals from the photo class at Reservoir, oh and what I know is half-useless because I don't know the techinical vocab in Spanish. So, even though the past 2 hours were interesting, my brain hurts.
• I got a "job" and will be playing with a 3 year old and a 5 year old boy in English, as a sort of babysitter/tutor mix action. It's only one hour a week, but Im getting paid in euros.
• I have a language exchange partner, Esmeralda. She is learning English, so we alternate between English and Spanish. We hang out.
• I will be traveling tooooo. Alex and I are going to Morrocco in March, and hopefully Mike, from Georgetown, will meet us there! This weekend we are going to Extremadura (Merida, Caceres, Trujillo) with the program.

Some pictures posted by our program director, Ani: http://madridprogram20092010.shutterfly.com

Impromptu Snowcapped Mountain Hike

In my delerium after returning from Cadiz, Lauren and I decided it would be a great idea to go hiking in the mountains north of Marid *note my excitement in the previous post*. We half-questioned the practicality of hiking in the mountains during winter when our internet research frequently associated the winter in la sierra guadarrama with skiing and the summer with hiking. Minor details.

As our train wound up to the mountain, the snow got deeper and deeper...and colder and colder. The closest thing I had to hiking boots were my beloved running shoes, so I paired those with a comically underpreppared assortment of layered clothing. Still- minor details. Once we arrived in Cotos, we made our way through the snow past hikers decked out in ice pick boots and hiking sticks to the tourism office. The lady at the desk laughed at our shoes and warned us of the ice on the hiking trails- she tossed around estimates for how long it would take a rescue crew to find us when we died- then she recommended that we just walk up the paved road and sit in the cafe until our return train arrived to take us back to Madrid.

We decided to go against the depressing warnings to explore the trails as far as we could make it. This little peak at the trails somehow turned into wading through a narrow path of snow and ice on the side of the mountain all the way to La laguna. Then, we ate our bagged lunches on some rocks by the "lake"- aka a flat untouched surface covered in feet of snow. It was a perfect sunny day, albeit 10 degrees fahrenheit, and I got some really great pictures!

Oh yeah, today was the first day of classes. Not much to tell- I can understand the professors for the most part, so that's reassuring. And I can't complain, my winder break has been 2 months and I had a ridiculous weekend to kick off classes!!!

We Brought Carnaval to Cádiz

Our (Me, Lauren, Renee, Amy, Chris, and Sean) 26 ours in Cadiz plus 16 hours of travel has just recently ended. It was a lot of fun, but im currently loving being warm, dry, and sheltered.

The bus ride there was great since I slept the entire 8 hours (roadtrip to Rothbury-style). Right by the bus stop was El Abuelo's cafe- crucial. It wasn't raining yet so, we got to explore the beach. Then on our walk to the tip of the peninsula, towards the historial part of town, it started to rain (although this morning as we were leaving it was downpouring, so we felt better about our rain). The streets were completely empty when we arrived at 730am and did not start to fill until about 3pm. To pass the time, we went to the ancient Roman Theater, The Wine and Bull Museum-complete with Jerez wine tastings, 80% of the cafes in Cadiz where we knocked back one cafe con leche after the other to stay awake, and el cine to see "Un tipo serio" --Cohen Brother's "A Serious Man" which I was outnumbered in liking. We walked the entire width, length and circumference of the city, and then bar hopped in costume until they closed around 5am. This morning we were pitifully homeless in the cold rain since absolutely nothing is open 24hours, so we slept in an alcove until abuelo opened his cafe!!!

I learned a few things on this trip:

• Appreciate Denny's, McDonalds, and all 24hour conventiece stores
• I can now single handedly Yelp all of Cadiz
• Carnaval really starts the day after it is officially said to start
• Sherry is just wine that comes from Jerez in Spain

Tomorrow: Hiking in Sierra de guadarrama!

The Excitement Contrinues...

I was supposed to rain all week, so I was bummed about having to scrap my plans to explore different neighborhoods around the city, and my plan to find the hidden entrance to the el campo del moro (which I unsuccessfully tried to find on a run last week).

Not only is it not raining today, I found el campo del moro! I was in a running daze when I noticed a PEACOCK sauntering 2 feet away from me on one of the paths inside. There was no cage, no other animals, but a PEACOCK apparently lives in this park according to wikipedia. I wish I had my camera, but somehow I found this picture online that captures exactly what I saw this morning...it's the same PEACOCK, and you can see the park in the background.

And the excitement continues; I was talking with Elvira at dinner and she mentioned that the building we live in is famous in Madrid because a famous Spanish architecht designed it. cool. AND... Pablo Neruda lived in this building too when he lived in Spain. really cool. There's a plaque on the corner of the building to prove it, but I haven't looked for it yet.

There's more... I am officially going to Cadiz, the southern tip of Spain, for the world's 3rd best Carnaval celebration this weekend!!! We're taking the 8 hour bus down Thursday night, hanging out on the beach and watching parades all day Friday, staying up all night, and then Saturday we have to catch our bus back to Madrid at 9am. Needless to say, this will be epic.

Lazy Sunday

I went to el rastro, an outdoor market that takes over blocks and blocks with tons of people. It reminded me of the Silk Market in China with all of the junk they sold. Some of the vendors literally must have taken a few boxes to their homes, packed up a few rooms and brought everything they had to sell at el rasto. Seriously, I saw family portaits for sale. Although...there was some cool jewlery and books that I might have to go back for.

Instead of going for a run today, I took the camera to el parque del oeste to document my running route:

...jealous?

A Cuentito

My host mom does my laundry for me, and I gave her my first load to do last night. When I got back from going out, I saw my clothes were still chillin in the washer through the glass door (does this woman know that you cannot leave wet clothes in the washer or else they get funky?). I ignored it and went to sleep. When I woke up this morning, the laundry was still in there!!! (Then, I felt the clothes and they were already dry, and realized, of course!, the washer must also double as a dryer), so I took everything out to put away (They didn't smell like laundry detergent, but she probably uses neutral soap).

I get home today and Elvira starts laughing as soon as she sees me. She asks me why I took my clothes out of the washer. (I was confused and just stared at her). She goes, I haven't washed them yet! She laughed even harder when I showed her my pile of neatly folded, but still unwashed whites. That's not cultural ignorance, I was just dumb.

Anywho..

• Last night we went to el chapandaz, a bar that looks like a cave, and the ceiling is covered in stalactite. It gets even better- their signature drink, "panther's milk", flows from the tip of a stalactite.
• Today, Renee and I are exploring the Chueca barrio for a presentation we have to give to our Spanish workshop/class.

Feliz Cumpleaños Papá

Happy Birthday Dad!!! --Did you find the birthday card I hid?!?!

Today we went to the Prado! It was much cooler than I expected because while I enjoy art museums just to browse and for the wow factor, today our guide, Fernando, gave us an in-depth art history lesson which made things much more interesting. Velazquez's portrait of Aesop is even creepier in person.

After lunch, we had our second academic workshop at Comillas, which is basically a everything you need to know Spanish-review class. We learned slang yesterday and today we worked our our spanish "lisp"....I still cannot roll my "r"s though.

I just got back from some afternoon tapas with some friends. The top 40 countdown was on in the background. Among the Spanish artists, Black Eyed Peas and Shakira both appeared twice.