Well, it’s Sunday again and I’m lying here in my bed with just four days of this program left and just four days left of the program and my mom’s coming so soon. I really cannot believe how quickly this time has gone by and with every passing day a bit of nostalgia (can you say that before something’s actually over/gone?) keeps setting in. There are definitely things I’m going to miss about this place and the people here but I’m also so excited for what’s to come in 2008 (I have this feeling that it’s going to be an amazing year).
If my dream (I was running around trying to get set up for a rehearsal) last night is any indication I really miss the hustle and bustle of work and (gasp!) I even miss theatre. I’m so glad to hear (okay, see) myself say that because I knew coming here would have one of two results: I realize that I don’t want to do theatre and I want to try something else OR I get my break, come back rested and realize that doing what I do is doing what I love… (Sorry for the cheese…)
Also crazy: it’s been almost four years since I graduated high school (WHAT!?)… So, I’m thinking that at least one entry per day until the program is over is in order… Look forward to a lot of sentimental mush (or not) and maybe a reflection or two…
Monday, December 10, 2007
Northern Nights
So as a little pre-finals/pre-end-of-program treat a couple of my friends and I decided to head up to the north of Spain for a few days. We left Thursday afternoon and headed to Bilbao (a grueling 45 minute flight) and then left Friday morning on a bus to San Sebastian (a horrible hour long ride…).
Both places we’re absolutely wonderful and it was amazing how green (as in foliage, not environmentally friendly) the north of Spain is. Bilbao is a small city with one major attraction: the Guggenheim. The building was designed by Frank Ghery and is a work of art in and of itself. Seriously, go look at the pictures. Anyway, besides their permanent collection the current exhibit was about the history of American art dating back to, well, when America first became a nation leading up to present day. Very interesting. Sure Bilbao has some other museums and pretty buildings but that was the main attraction.
After the museum and a little putzing around we decided that we were, in fact, quite hungry so we set off to find a restaurant and had a bit of a hard time doing so. Then I remembered what the wise and all knowing Laura told me we should do for food in Bilbs: play the tapas plan; just bounce around from bar to bar, grab a drink, grab some tapas (pintxos as they’re called in the Basque country). So that’s exactly what we did. We ended up going to 6 or 7 bars and tasting the local flavor… Good times…
Anyway, the next day we decided to leave for San Sebastian (Denostia as it’s known locally) around noon. The bus, as I said earlier took about an hour and I slept most of the time so it wasn’t bad at all… When we got there it was raining and we weren’t quite sure how to get to the hotel and my theory is, when in doubt, take a cab… So that’s what we did. As we were driving in the cab we saw the beach and got a small glimpse of just how gorgeous the city is.
The hotel was very nice (★★★★) and the lady behind the desk kindly decided to speak to us in English after seeing my passport (what I don’t get is why, after conducting an entire conversation in Spanish we find out that I’m from the US and therefore I suddenly lose the ability to speak the language…). Moving on, the room was nice, big bathroom. We rested a bit and then decided to head out to the old part of the city (which also happens to be the pretty part). Along the way we got to walk along the water and I began to fall in love with the place. We got to the old part of the city (about a 20 minute walk) and decided to explore a bit and then find some lunch. We ended up stumbling upon a bunch of really gorgeous old buildings and churches and noticed a big statue of Jesus on top of a mountain/hill thing (more on that later).
So for lunch we ended up finding a sandwich shop that happens to be a local staple. The food was amazing (and cheap!) I had a calamari sandwich with sautéed green peppers on it. Absolutely delicious and only €3,60. After lunch we decided that we were going to climb the mountain and say hello to Jesus but on our way to do that we stumbled upon an extremely breathtaking church and paid it a visit.
After the church we began out climb up Mt. Jesus. It was quite a walk but it was amazing and absolutely gorgeous. There was so much green and the view of the water was spectacular. It is truly one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen or been too in my life. We spent what must have been 2 or more hours just walking through and exploring this area (check out the pictures)…
After our semi-spiritual hike we decided to go check out another pretty church we spotted in the distance. Yet again, super pretty. After that it was about dinner time and as we we’re walking back to a restaurant that we smelled (and wow did it smell good) Laura called just to check in on me. She’s so cute sometimes…
Dinner ended up being a little bit of a debacle seeing as most of the restaurants we wanted to go to were full but we ended up finding a place with an open table. The waitress was a heinous bitch but the food wasn’t bad (I had some seafood soup and some local variation on crab. We also tried the local white wine which was quite tasty…) After that we went to a wine bar around the corner and had another glass of wine and then decided to give our poor feet a break for the night and head back to the hotel (we had really been walking all day with the exception of lunch and dinner. On a side note though, I have developed legs of steel since being in Spain).
Here’s the overall thought on the weekend: I now know where I want my Spanish vacation home. I fell absolutely in love with San Sebastian and would take another trip there in a heartbeat.
So there you have it, a small summary of my trip. Talk to you soon!
Both places we’re absolutely wonderful and it was amazing how green (as in foliage, not environmentally friendly) the north of Spain is. Bilbao is a small city with one major attraction: the Guggenheim. The building was designed by Frank Ghery and is a work of art in and of itself. Seriously, go look at the pictures. Anyway, besides their permanent collection the current exhibit was about the history of American art dating back to, well, when America first became a nation leading up to present day. Very interesting. Sure Bilbao has some other museums and pretty buildings but that was the main attraction.
After the museum and a little putzing around we decided that we were, in fact, quite hungry so we set off to find a restaurant and had a bit of a hard time doing so. Then I remembered what the wise and all knowing Laura told me we should do for food in Bilbs: play the tapas plan; just bounce around from bar to bar, grab a drink, grab some tapas (pintxos as they’re called in the Basque country). So that’s exactly what we did. We ended up going to 6 or 7 bars and tasting the local flavor… Good times…
Anyway, the next day we decided to leave for San Sebastian (Denostia as it’s known locally) around noon. The bus, as I said earlier took about an hour and I slept most of the time so it wasn’t bad at all… When we got there it was raining and we weren’t quite sure how to get to the hotel and my theory is, when in doubt, take a cab… So that’s what we did. As we were driving in the cab we saw the beach and got a small glimpse of just how gorgeous the city is.
The hotel was very nice (★★★★) and the lady behind the desk kindly decided to speak to us in English after seeing my passport (what I don’t get is why, after conducting an entire conversation in Spanish we find out that I’m from the US and therefore I suddenly lose the ability to speak the language…). Moving on, the room was nice, big bathroom. We rested a bit and then decided to head out to the old part of the city (which also happens to be the pretty part). Along the way we got to walk along the water and I began to fall in love with the place. We got to the old part of the city (about a 20 minute walk) and decided to explore a bit and then find some lunch. We ended up stumbling upon a bunch of really gorgeous old buildings and churches and noticed a big statue of Jesus on top of a mountain/hill thing (more on that later).
So for lunch we ended up finding a sandwich shop that happens to be a local staple. The food was amazing (and cheap!) I had a calamari sandwich with sautéed green peppers on it. Absolutely delicious and only €3,60. After lunch we decided that we were going to climb the mountain and say hello to Jesus but on our way to do that we stumbled upon an extremely breathtaking church and paid it a visit.
After the church we began out climb up Mt. Jesus. It was quite a walk but it was amazing and absolutely gorgeous. There was so much green and the view of the water was spectacular. It is truly one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen or been too in my life. We spent what must have been 2 or more hours just walking through and exploring this area (check out the pictures)…
After our semi-spiritual hike we decided to go check out another pretty church we spotted in the distance. Yet again, super pretty. After that it was about dinner time and as we we’re walking back to a restaurant that we smelled (and wow did it smell good) Laura called just to check in on me. She’s so cute sometimes…
Dinner ended up being a little bit of a debacle seeing as most of the restaurants we wanted to go to were full but we ended up finding a place with an open table. The waitress was a heinous bitch but the food wasn’t bad (I had some seafood soup and some local variation on crab. We also tried the local white wine which was quite tasty…) After that we went to a wine bar around the corner and had another glass of wine and then decided to give our poor feet a break for the night and head back to the hotel (we had really been walking all day with the exception of lunch and dinner. On a side note though, I have developed legs of steel since being in Spain).
Here’s the overall thought on the weekend: I now know where I want my Spanish vacation home. I fell absolutely in love with San Sebastian and would take another trip there in a heartbeat.
So there you have it, a small summary of my trip. Talk to you soon!
One of those "Oy vey" kinda situations...
The day was Wednesday; the time was 20:30; the location, 91 Don Ramon de la Cruz that’s when it began. That was when one of the more awkward evenings of my stay here in Madrid (maybe even my life), began. It all started innocently enough, my friend Dan and I we’re supposed to meet Laura’s nephew Tito for dinner to discuss Boston. You see, Tito will be heading to Boston in May to study allergies at Brigham-Women’s Hospital in Beantown. Seeing as the door was open, at precisely 20:32 Tito walked in. Picture this, if you will: a thirty year old man who has the super receding hairline, a black t-shirt tucked into his jeans (on which he missed a belt loop, mind you) and a bit of a gut… Laura, at that point proceeded to give him a tour of the house since he hadn’t been over in quite some time.
By the time the tour was over Dan had arrived and the three of us sat down had some cerveza, olives, cheese, and membrillo and began to discuss Boston and medicine. Correction Dan, who is pre-med at Brown and originally from Boston, and Tito began to discuss Boston and medicine, I sat there and chimed in with the occasional comment but mostly with, what I think has become the most used word in my vocabulary, “sí”.
After about 15 minutes of this happy-fun-conversation-time, Laura joined us in the Living room so we could all chat it up. However as she entered the living room with a new bottle of beer, she let out a very loud fart (the second one this week in fact). I didn’t find out until after the fact, but Dan used basically all of the self-control he could muster to not burst into laughter.
There were many interesting details that arose during our little pre-dinner aperitif: for example, Laura’s first husband (that’s right, there’s more than just Mr. Coppolla. How many? Still couldn’t tell you…) He happened to be a man that is big in the Ortega Foundation which brought a big lawsuit against the International Institute (where we take our classes and of which Dan’s mother is the President of the Board and his father the corporate lawyer…). Needless to say I have some good investigative work ahead of me in my last 7 days in this household.
After we had our “copa” Tito took Dan and myself to meet up with some of his friends at a tapas bar about 10 minutes from here by car. What a cast of characters… Wow! We had: loser doctor friends x12, random semi-pretty-but-still-has-an-ugly-face girls, washed up ex-fútbolista, and a few more fine individuals… Anyway, do you remember junior high? You know when there was that one kid who wanted everyone to like him so much that he bought everyone things and they basically used him for all he was worth? You do? Great, ‘cuz that, my friends, is what Tito was to this group… The whole situation was just hilarious. Ex-fútbolista was a patient in the ER at the hospital where this less than Grey’s Anatomy quality group works… He woke up and saw the pretty doctor, got her number and now is trying with all his might and ever pound of moose in his hair to sleep with her…
Meanwhile Tito ordered morcilla, congealed pigs blood mixed with flour, onion, and hot pepper and forced Dan to eat it… Good times.
Now next we did something I’m not terribly proud of: we made up a story so we could get the hell out of there. So all of a sudden at 23:30 it became one of our friend’s birthdays, her 21st to be exact, and we just had to head over to meet her because in the US, 21 is a very big year, it’s the year where it’s legal to drink. So even though we’re in Spain we certainly had to celebrate…
Before we could escape Tito asked us both if we we’re single and Dan, who isn’t said “no”, and I am so I answered “sí…” Well then we were lucky enough to get introduced to Paula… Let’s set up the scene… Tito leads Dan and I over to a pillar in the bar and calls for Paula. Then this very large, quite unattractive woman gets up and introduces herself to us. At that point Dan leaves to go to the bathroom as Tito asks me: “¿Has probado un mujer Español?” (Have you tried a Spanish woman?) To which I answer:
“Todavia no…” (Not yet…) And then, and this is the icing on the cake, Paula says:
“Pues todavia tienes seis días.” (You still have six days.) At that point I laughed on the outside and screamed on the inside. Like a real loud blood curdling scream… Anyway Dan came back from the bathroom and we talk a little more but remember, it’s our friends very important 21st birthday so we had to leave… Just before we left Tito was trying to get us to commit to hanging out in the future, like you know, Sunday…
Anyway, we got out of there relatively unharmed and laughed and cried our way to meet up with some of our friends (none of whom were celebrating a 21st birthday…)
As I write this (well most of this…), I’m getting ready to head off to Bilbao and San Sebastian for a small “puente” before my (all the sarcasm I can muster after only 6 hours of sleep) super hard finals…
PS. Did I mention that I also found out that the bed in which I am sleeping is the bed where Laura and all of her 7 siblings were conceived? No? Well, yep… I had a feeling that was the case, but now I know… OY!
By the time the tour was over Dan had arrived and the three of us sat down had some cerveza, olives, cheese, and membrillo and began to discuss Boston and medicine. Correction Dan, who is pre-med at Brown and originally from Boston, and Tito began to discuss Boston and medicine, I sat there and chimed in with the occasional comment but mostly with, what I think has become the most used word in my vocabulary, “sí”.
After about 15 minutes of this happy-fun-conversation-time, Laura joined us in the Living room so we could all chat it up. However as she entered the living room with a new bottle of beer, she let out a very loud fart (the second one this week in fact). I didn’t find out until after the fact, but Dan used basically all of the self-control he could muster to not burst into laughter.
There were many interesting details that arose during our little pre-dinner aperitif: for example, Laura’s first husband (that’s right, there’s more than just Mr. Coppolla. How many? Still couldn’t tell you…) He happened to be a man that is big in the Ortega Foundation which brought a big lawsuit against the International Institute (where we take our classes and of which Dan’s mother is the President of the Board and his father the corporate lawyer…). Needless to say I have some good investigative work ahead of me in my last 7 days in this household.
After we had our “copa” Tito took Dan and myself to meet up with some of his friends at a tapas bar about 10 minutes from here by car. What a cast of characters… Wow! We had: loser doctor friends x12, random semi-pretty-but-still-has-an-ugly-face girls, washed up ex-fútbolista, and a few more fine individuals… Anyway, do you remember junior high? You know when there was that one kid who wanted everyone to like him so much that he bought everyone things and they basically used him for all he was worth? You do? Great, ‘cuz that, my friends, is what Tito was to this group… The whole situation was just hilarious. Ex-fútbolista was a patient in the ER at the hospital where this less than Grey’s Anatomy quality group works… He woke up and saw the pretty doctor, got her number and now is trying with all his might and ever pound of moose in his hair to sleep with her…
Meanwhile Tito ordered morcilla, congealed pigs blood mixed with flour, onion, and hot pepper and forced Dan to eat it… Good times.
Now next we did something I’m not terribly proud of: we made up a story so we could get the hell out of there. So all of a sudden at 23:30 it became one of our friend’s birthdays, her 21st to be exact, and we just had to head over to meet her because in the US, 21 is a very big year, it’s the year where it’s legal to drink. So even though we’re in Spain we certainly had to celebrate…
Before we could escape Tito asked us both if we we’re single and Dan, who isn’t said “no”, and I am so I answered “sí…” Well then we were lucky enough to get introduced to Paula… Let’s set up the scene… Tito leads Dan and I over to a pillar in the bar and calls for Paula. Then this very large, quite unattractive woman gets up and introduces herself to us. At that point Dan leaves to go to the bathroom as Tito asks me: “¿Has probado un mujer Español?” (Have you tried a Spanish woman?) To which I answer:
“Todavia no…” (Not yet…) And then, and this is the icing on the cake, Paula says:
“Pues todavia tienes seis días.” (You still have six days.) At that point I laughed on the outside and screamed on the inside. Like a real loud blood curdling scream… Anyway Dan came back from the bathroom and we talk a little more but remember, it’s our friends very important 21st birthday so we had to leave… Just before we left Tito was trying to get us to commit to hanging out in the future, like you know, Sunday…
Anyway, we got out of there relatively unharmed and laughed and cried our way to meet up with some of our friends (none of whom were celebrating a 21st birthday…)
As I write this (well most of this…), I’m getting ready to head off to Bilbao and San Sebastian for a small “puente” before my (all the sarcasm I can muster after only 6 hours of sleep) super hard finals…
PS. Did I mention that I also found out that the bed in which I am sleeping is the bed where Laura and all of her 7 siblings were conceived? No? Well, yep… I had a feeling that was the case, but now I know… OY!
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Where in the World is Maria?
So as you know I like to keep you informed about everyone residing in the apartment here. Well one member of the family has moved… Maria left her spacious penthouse above the mug cabinet for a cozy garden level apartment next to the immersion blender and measuring cups. She’s doing well and is quite happy in her new abode. Here’s a picture:
Also, right after I woke up this morning and stepped into the kitchen opened the cabinet took Maria out and said:
“Time to start my day.”
To which I replied:
“Some people drink coffee to start their day, but whatever works for you…”
Happy Tuesday!
Also, right after I woke up this morning and stepped into the kitchen opened the cabinet took Maria out and said:
“Time to start my day.”
To which I replied:
“Some people drink coffee to start their day, but whatever works for you…”
Happy Tuesday!
Sentimental Sally…
So I would be lying if I said I haven’t been getting excited about finishing this program, going home, or as I (and a few others have been saying) “getting back to real life"… But last night as I was sitting in the living room with Laura and Edson teaching her how to use her new iPod Nano and the three of us were laughing and comparing musical tastes I started to get sentimental. You don’t really realize (or at least I don’t… I had a class once where it was a cardinal sin to speak in generalizations for others) how accustomed to this situation, however different it may be, you have become. Sure it seems like I arrived here only a few days ago (time flies, right?) but part of me has really adjusted to the Spanish thing… I’m not saying, by any means, that I’ve forgotten how to live in the US nor am I saying that I would like to move here (as some people have said) but just that I’m starting to realize just how great this whole experience has been. Despite the bumpy moments, despite the little idiosyncrasies I’ve come to really like it here (on most levels… I am still really bored with the classes, etc. but you get the idea…) I’m sure Laura (and Edson by proxy) and I will keep in touch and I’m sure I’ll be back here at some point, but hey, only time will tell.
So this has been my sentimental moment as I sit here in my bed at 10:10am sipping my tea about to begin my day…
So this has been my sentimental moment as I sit here in my bed at 10:10am sipping my tea about to begin my day…
DEVELOPING STORY
Wednesday night I will be joining one of Laura’s primos (nephew) for dinner along with my friend Dan. The primary reason for this dinner will be to discuss Boston with primo, as he will be heading there in March for a medical residency in one of the local hospitals.
Stay tuned for further details as they become available.
Stay tuned for further details as they become available.
Monday, December 3, 2007
One weekend in Paris...
Well not that Paris but you get the idea…
Anyway, Paris was absolutely wonderful… Sure only two full days was a little short to say the least but WOW what a wonderful place… I wrote some stuff while I was there so I submit for your enjoyment a few reflections of Paris from Paris but posted in Madrid… Well you get the idea…
PARIS: DAY 1
So I’m sitting here in Paris...
(no not that one!) and it’s absolutely gorgeous… Today we got an early start and went, after tea and croissants for breakfast, to the Mussay D’Orsay. All I can say is wow… It’s such an amazing museum not only due to its collection but the architecture of the place (it used to be a train station, hop over to my pictures and take a look). The cool/weird thing about Paris is that they are absolutely fine with people taking pictures in the museum; something in Madrid is a cardinal sin… Anyway after the Mussay we headed over to the Arch du Triumph and climbed all the way to the top (284 steps to be exact) and took some pictures of the pretty city ☺. After that it was a small trek over to the Eiffel Tower which we, once again, decided to climb up rather than wait in the extra long line and pay the extra price to take the elevator (the total number of steps is about 7.5 bajillion…) Anyway, needless to say our feet were tired as all hell…
The food is amazing even though I’m sure we’re not hitting up anywhere near the gourmet level… I had onion soup (it’s just called onion soup here because, well, we’re in France) and some lovely pastries… Oh and did I mention crepes… YUM!
PARIS: DAY 2 (MORNING)
When did it get to be December??? It’s unbelievable how quickly time flies… Today we’re off to the Louvre, Notre Dame, some other church (cuz you can’t have enough Christ here in the EU) maybe even Napoleons tomb (which we attempted to go to last night but it was closed for some private mass…). Should be interesting, no?
PS: I would like to take a moment out of my morning to discuss the electric toilet that is currently residing in the bathroom of the apartment in which we are staying… IT’S SO CREEPY!!! So, allow me to explain. You do your business… Fine… Good, even… Then you push the button and that’s when the crazy starts… The thing fills up with water to the point where you think that you’ve clogged it and just when it seems like it will over flow, the motor starts… That’s right, there’s a motor and attached to that motor are blades that shred whatever you put down there… It sounds like the apocalypse and scared me half to death… What happened to a good old flush?
PARIS: DAY 2 (EVENING)
So tired… Can’t type… Louvre pretty… big… so much art… Church good… [EDITORS NOTE: Look at the pictures, it really doesn’t do any justice to try to describe the place, just go if you haven’t been… Oh yeah and Notre Dame was also pretty…]
So there you are a little taste of Paris…
NO NOT THAT ONE! Okay, talk to you soon! Byeeee….
Just in case you thought I was kidding...
Here's a photo of the jar of "Maria" that is currently residing above the cabinets in the kitchen...
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Hey remember me? Yeah... I know...
So hey… Remember me? I’d like to say that I haven’t written in a while in honor of the WGA strike but that’d be complete BS. A lot have things have happened (surprise!) over the past however long it’s been since I’ve written. For example: I went to Pisa/Florence, Segovia, and today I’m going to France. I got mugged in Retiro and got my camera stolen and my face punched (yay!). I’ve seen an opera (bad…) and a couple of plays (even worse…). Laura offered me a good deal on pot from a friend of hers and today I found a jar filled with the stuff on top of the cabinets in the kitchen… The foods been okay; the anchovies hadn’t made a come back until two nights ago but oh well, you win some, you lose some. I actually had to do some schoolwork (SHOCKING! I know…) and that might have been another reason I haven’t written (when the bullshitting muscles are working full force sometimes it’s hard to be creative when writing…).
Anyway, why didn’t I write? Well to be honest, I was tired, bored, a little over being here (I still am, I mean I’m really glad I chose to come here and all that jazz but when it comes down to it, I need to get back to my real life, to the real world. You know me, I like to work. As much as I complain when I’m super busy, I’m happy.) SO yeah, I’ve been a little down (nothing bad) and some people here have really started to bother me to death (I cannot tell you how much this feels like I’m back in high school, or really more of what my junior high experience was like, but anywho…) and I really can’t wait to get back to my norm, what’s comfortable, and most of all to feeling like I’m accomplishing something again.
On a side note, I haven’t been reading as much lately but I have developed a strange affinity for Japanese animated movies dubbed into English (say what you will, but they’re pretty and relaxing…) I’m not talking Dragonball Z or stuff like that, more along the lines of Spirited Away…( PS. The not-so-legal downloading of movies, which I don’t really support, is pretty much a way of life for American students in foreign countries…) I also watched Sicko, you know the newest Michael Moore rant-a-thon… Well let me tell you something, I’ve never been so affected by a movie… And I know that it’s not the most unbiased film on the matter, but still it’s a must see…
Hmmmm….. Other things on my mind while I procrastinate packing and showering and going to the institute to see if my happy pills and Laura’s iPod have arrived… Well, I miss my grandma a lot… (sappy personal time…) I guess ‘cuz I haven’t really had the time to go through some of those 5 stages of mourning (AP Psych, anyone?) since coming here has kinda been a whirlwind of craziness and all… So yeah, that’s something that I’m dealing with a bit… And, um, let’s see… The regular life shit too,. You know what I mean. Oh! I’ve been listening to Christmas music a lot lately (you gotta love it, I mean come on, holiday spirit!) And the Starbucks’ here all have a really great Christmas loop that they play so I’ve been doing the tall (which can I tell you, they can’t say here and you always look like an ass if you don’t just order a pequeño…) vanilla soy chai thing again.
Other than that… Let’s see… In like under two weeks the program is done and my mom’ll be here and we’ll be doing the European tourist stuff so that’ll be good and then it’s back to America. And school (last semester, what!!?) and stress (can’t lie, I’m kinda excited…) And then finding a job… YIKES!
So there’s the rant/explanation of my MIA-ness… Anyway here are some stories:
So, let me re-introduce you to Jasoñ (or me in Spain): big loser, with too much free time who has kind of lost the will to go out much or drink (I mean, why? I normally go out or grab a drink if I’m stressed to help me relaxed. When everything is relaxed what’s the point? I mean, I’m really over the drinking-to-get-drunk-so-I-can-pretend-that-stupid decisions-I-made-were-not-my-fault phase of life… So what have I been doing? Still going out and stuff… Not as much, lot’s of Laura and me time. And like I said I’ve been going to the opera/theatre/dance (BAD. WORSE. AMAZING respectively). I went to see the opera alone which was actually really cool for me… I like doing things on my own, it kind of reaffirms my independence… Funny story actually: the opera (which, if you’re under 26 and show up 1:30 a head of time, you get a 90% discount. So yeah I got a €145,00 ticket for €14,50) was the Rape of Lucretia which we did at BU 3 years ago... And when I saw it I sat in the front row... Once again, I sat in the front row... Oh well... So yeah so that was the opera…
Laura and I went to see a play. It’s called Las Persas (supposedly based on Escoles’ [sp] play of the same name…) Basically it was an hour and a half anti-war rant/actors get to (figuratively) masturbate on stage time from the Spanish soldiers point of view… It was so Spanish in fact that they sang a lot of American anti-war songs from the Vietnam era… (oh did I not mention that it was a rock-opera??? Yeah…) Well let me tell you, after it was over (Laura and I were sitting in different places) we met up in the lobby and the first thing she says to me, in English, was “Great high school play, huh?” and I quickly responded with “You’re giving it too much credit…” Anyway afterwards Laura, her friend (who she swears is an actual bruja (witch)) went out for some food/drink. Laura asked me to, please, express my complete and utter distaste for the play to here in English so I could express myself to the fullest… 20 minutes later we had some wine…
Dance. I went to see some dance. Pilobolus? Never heard of them? They’re an American dance company based in NY (remember the Oscars when the people made shapes with their bodies? That was them…) It was absolutely GORGEOUS… See them if you can…
Okay, so I got mugged… Yep… Fun times… anyway I was sitting in Retiro park on a bench by what I like to call my “magic fountain” ‘cuz it’s super pretty and likes Lord of the Rings-esque… Anyway for the first time in a while I was starting to feel pretty good again… I had bought a tortilla sandwich and was sitting there feeding the birds and humming or something and taking pictures of my new pigeon and sparrow friends (Hi my name is Jason and I have a problem. I take too many pictures of f-ing birds…). Anyway there I am being relaxed, enjoying nature, and feeling pretty good about being alive when all of a sudden I see these two kids walking into the area of the fountain. I told the birds (yeah, I was talking to them… I told you I’m a little looney…) to watch out for the people as they walked by when all of a sudden one of the little punks comes up to me. [Everything was in Spanish, you get to read it in English]
“You got something for me?”
“No”
“Give me some money…”
“I don’t have anything…”
“It looks like you got something.” As he grabs my camera…
“Give it back!”
“If you give me a Euro I’ll give you the camera…” Now I can bee pretty stupid so I gave the kid 2 Euros and then asked for my camera back.
“The little mariposa [Spanish not-so-nice slang for gay] wants his camera back.” At this point friend to says they should leave and little punk 1 says no… I reach for the camera and he reaches for my neck. While kinda strangling me he says:
“You don’t wanna mess with me man… Yo soy Latin King!” And he then proceeds to make some sort of hand gesture… Anyway, I’ve had enough so I decided to cut my losses (at least he didn’t get my bag with my laptop in it…) and get the hell out of there… As I grab my stuff and stand up WHAM! He punches me right in the left eye… Now there were people watching the whole time, like across the fountain... People walked by as this was happening… I guess good Samaritan is not a real popular thing here in the ‘Drid… Anyway I walk away, they (and my camera) walk away… I get a little pissed/upset so I throw the tin of haring in dill crème that Laura gave me into the garbage and walk off… Not knowing exactly what I should do at that point… I call my father and then decided to go to the Institute… I got there, went to the police station, filed a report and expected nothing to come of it… Anyway, when I got home and told the dynamic duo (Laura and everyone’s favorite Edson) some hilarity ensued… Edson was sure that it was foreigners that did this to me… Not Spaniards! Spanish people don’t mug people! Only Latin American foreigners do that… Oh Edson… Laura got pissed at his blatant racism (which is really fashionable here… If you’re Asian, I’d say you’re better off in another country… Also they don’t love the Jews or African Americans…) and they yelled a little… So there you have it: the mugging story.
What else…. Hmmm… Next week before exams I’m going to Bilbao… That should be fun… I’ve seen some Spanish movies in the theaters (most of them bad… there’s a trend with Spain and the arts that I’m discovering)… And, um… I bought a new camera… It’s okay… And, oh Pisa/Florence! I’ll spare you the reading time, but go. To both. If you can, they’re both super pretty and amazing in there own ways, and let’s face it, Italian food and wine in Italy… Does it get any better? I think not…
So there you have it… An update on the gran viaje… Ask me questions I’ll tell you stories. I can’t wait to see all of you (if anyone still reads this) soon!
Much love,
Jason
OH! London! Did I write about London? Well I loved it there! Absolutely loved it! Like I-could-live-there loved it! Super fun times! Okay… Sorry… BYEEE!
Oh, I also went to see an amazing photography exhibit with Laura… It was wonderful. And one of the headlining photos was one of my grandparent’s and then another headlining artist was from the good old HP… Crazy, I know! Okay, now I’m done… For real…
Anyway, why didn’t I write? Well to be honest, I was tired, bored, a little over being here (I still am, I mean I’m really glad I chose to come here and all that jazz but when it comes down to it, I need to get back to my real life, to the real world. You know me, I like to work. As much as I complain when I’m super busy, I’m happy.) SO yeah, I’ve been a little down (nothing bad) and some people here have really started to bother me to death (I cannot tell you how much this feels like I’m back in high school, or really more of what my junior high experience was like, but anywho…) and I really can’t wait to get back to my norm, what’s comfortable, and most of all to feeling like I’m accomplishing something again.
On a side note, I haven’t been reading as much lately but I have developed a strange affinity for Japanese animated movies dubbed into English (say what you will, but they’re pretty and relaxing…) I’m not talking Dragonball Z or stuff like that, more along the lines of Spirited Away…( PS. The not-so-legal downloading of movies, which I don’t really support, is pretty much a way of life for American students in foreign countries…) I also watched Sicko, you know the newest Michael Moore rant-a-thon… Well let me tell you something, I’ve never been so affected by a movie… And I know that it’s not the most unbiased film on the matter, but still it’s a must see…
Hmmmm….. Other things on my mind while I procrastinate packing and showering and going to the institute to see if my happy pills and Laura’s iPod have arrived… Well, I miss my grandma a lot… (sappy personal time…) I guess ‘cuz I haven’t really had the time to go through some of those 5 stages of mourning (AP Psych, anyone?) since coming here has kinda been a whirlwind of craziness and all… So yeah, that’s something that I’m dealing with a bit… And, um, let’s see… The regular life shit too,. You know what I mean. Oh! I’ve been listening to Christmas music a lot lately (you gotta love it, I mean come on, holiday spirit!) And the Starbucks’ here all have a really great Christmas loop that they play so I’ve been doing the tall (which can I tell you, they can’t say here and you always look like an ass if you don’t just order a pequeño…) vanilla soy chai thing again.
Other than that… Let’s see… In like under two weeks the program is done and my mom’ll be here and we’ll be doing the European tourist stuff so that’ll be good and then it’s back to America. And school (last semester, what!!?) and stress (can’t lie, I’m kinda excited…) And then finding a job… YIKES!
So there’s the rant/explanation of my MIA-ness… Anyway here are some stories:
So, let me re-introduce you to Jasoñ (or me in Spain): big loser, with too much free time who has kind of lost the will to go out much or drink (I mean, why? I normally go out or grab a drink if I’m stressed to help me relaxed. When everything is relaxed what’s the point? I mean, I’m really over the drinking-to-get-drunk-so-I-can-pretend-that-stupid decisions-I-made-were-not-my-fault phase of life… So what have I been doing? Still going out and stuff… Not as much, lot’s of Laura and me time. And like I said I’ve been going to the opera/theatre/dance (BAD. WORSE. AMAZING respectively). I went to see the opera alone which was actually really cool for me… I like doing things on my own, it kind of reaffirms my independence… Funny story actually: the opera (which, if you’re under 26 and show up 1:30 a head of time, you get a 90% discount. So yeah I got a €145,00 ticket for €14,50) was the Rape of Lucretia which we did at BU 3 years ago... And when I saw it I sat in the front row... Once again, I sat in the front row... Oh well... So yeah so that was the opera…
Laura and I went to see a play. It’s called Las Persas (supposedly based on Escoles’ [sp] play of the same name…) Basically it was an hour and a half anti-war rant/actors get to (figuratively) masturbate on stage time from the Spanish soldiers point of view… It was so Spanish in fact that they sang a lot of American anti-war songs from the Vietnam era… (oh did I not mention that it was a rock-opera??? Yeah…) Well let me tell you, after it was over (Laura and I were sitting in different places) we met up in the lobby and the first thing she says to me, in English, was “Great high school play, huh?” and I quickly responded with “You’re giving it too much credit…” Anyway afterwards Laura, her friend (who she swears is an actual bruja (witch)) went out for some food/drink. Laura asked me to, please, express my complete and utter distaste for the play to here in English so I could express myself to the fullest… 20 minutes later we had some wine…
Dance. I went to see some dance. Pilobolus? Never heard of them? They’re an American dance company based in NY (remember the Oscars when the people made shapes with their bodies? That was them…) It was absolutely GORGEOUS… See them if you can…
Okay, so I got mugged… Yep… Fun times… anyway I was sitting in Retiro park on a bench by what I like to call my “magic fountain” ‘cuz it’s super pretty and likes Lord of the Rings-esque… Anyway for the first time in a while I was starting to feel pretty good again… I had bought a tortilla sandwich and was sitting there feeding the birds and humming or something and taking pictures of my new pigeon and sparrow friends (Hi my name is Jason and I have a problem. I take too many pictures of f-ing birds…). Anyway there I am being relaxed, enjoying nature, and feeling pretty good about being alive when all of a sudden I see these two kids walking into the area of the fountain. I told the birds (yeah, I was talking to them… I told you I’m a little looney…) to watch out for the people as they walked by when all of a sudden one of the little punks comes up to me. [Everything was in Spanish, you get to read it in English]
“You got something for me?”
“No”
“Give me some money…”
“I don’t have anything…”
“It looks like you got something.” As he grabs my camera…
“Give it back!”
“If you give me a Euro I’ll give you the camera…” Now I can bee pretty stupid so I gave the kid 2 Euros and then asked for my camera back.
“The little mariposa [Spanish not-so-nice slang for gay] wants his camera back.” At this point friend to says they should leave and little punk 1 says no… I reach for the camera and he reaches for my neck. While kinda strangling me he says:
“You don’t wanna mess with me man… Yo soy Latin King!” And he then proceeds to make some sort of hand gesture… Anyway, I’ve had enough so I decided to cut my losses (at least he didn’t get my bag with my laptop in it…) and get the hell out of there… As I grab my stuff and stand up WHAM! He punches me right in the left eye… Now there were people watching the whole time, like across the fountain... People walked by as this was happening… I guess good Samaritan is not a real popular thing here in the ‘Drid… Anyway I walk away, they (and my camera) walk away… I get a little pissed/upset so I throw the tin of haring in dill crème that Laura gave me into the garbage and walk off… Not knowing exactly what I should do at that point… I call my father and then decided to go to the Institute… I got there, went to the police station, filed a report and expected nothing to come of it… Anyway, when I got home and told the dynamic duo (Laura and everyone’s favorite Edson) some hilarity ensued… Edson was sure that it was foreigners that did this to me… Not Spaniards! Spanish people don’t mug people! Only Latin American foreigners do that… Oh Edson… Laura got pissed at his blatant racism (which is really fashionable here… If you’re Asian, I’d say you’re better off in another country… Also they don’t love the Jews or African Americans…) and they yelled a little… So there you have it: the mugging story.
What else…. Hmmm… Next week before exams I’m going to Bilbao… That should be fun… I’ve seen some Spanish movies in the theaters (most of them bad… there’s a trend with Spain and the arts that I’m discovering)… And, um… I bought a new camera… It’s okay… And, oh Pisa/Florence! I’ll spare you the reading time, but go. To both. If you can, they’re both super pretty and amazing in there own ways, and let’s face it, Italian food and wine in Italy… Does it get any better? I think not…
So there you have it… An update on the gran viaje… Ask me questions I’ll tell you stories. I can’t wait to see all of you (if anyone still reads this) soon!
Much love,
Jason
OH! London! Did I write about London? Well I loved it there! Absolutely loved it! Like I-could-live-there loved it! Super fun times! Okay… Sorry… BYEEE!
Oh, I also went to see an amazing photography exhibit with Laura… It was wonderful. And one of the headlining photos was one of my grandparent’s and then another headlining artist was from the good old HP… Crazy, I know! Okay, now I’m done… For real…
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
London OR “What?! People speak English?”
So I went to London over this last weekend and let me just say, I absolutely LOVED it…. Anyway, I’ll start at the beginning.
After my lunch of Tortilla (thanks Edson!) I headed to the airport. Now not knowing how long it would take me to get there or if the airline would have a problem with the fact that my ticket listed my name as Jason Taylor instead of Jason Vanderwoude (darn double apellidos… and we won’t even get into the three hours I spent on the phone with EDreams and Air France, all in Español by the way…) So I arrived at Burjas at 4:30… One problem, my flight didn’t leave until 7:30… Oops… So in a true Vanderwoude fashion, I had a good 2:40 to kill in the airport. Security there was an absolute joke. I went got my ticket, was never ID-ed, walked up to the metal detector, beeped as I went through, and then had them wand my belt, never once asking a question… So I spent my time in the magical world of Duty-Free everything and playing solitaire on my phone… Woot! Anyway, I finally boarded and began my journey to London.
The flight was fine… Just me and a bunch of English businessmen and women with around six bags each of duty free alcohol… We arrived on time and I deplaned thinking that Heathrow looked a little small… Anyway my bag came super quick and I went to find the Heathrow Express train that Ashley told me to take… Well funny story… Lately I haven’t exactly been thinking a lot so I’m a tad bit slow... I actually arrived in London at London City Airport, not Heathrow… Hey, to my defense I don’t know London, never been there before, so it was easy to confuse the airports… Anywho, a nice older man working at the train station helped me plan my route.
I was on the train for about 1:30 when I arrived at Wimbledon… Now I had thought that Ashley was gunna meet me at the Tube station so I got there and waited around for a while… Now, my phone was out of money and since I was on roaming I couldn’t receive calls either… Oops,! Never mind the fact that I didn’t have Ashley or Taylor’s numbers in my phone… AY! So after about another hour or so I decided to go get in a cab find a hotel with internet access and try to contact the girls… So the cab takes me “about six or seven quid” from the station to a Holiday Inn Express and as we pull up (miracle of miracles) my phone rings. It’s Ashley (thank GOD)… So long story short I pay another 10 quid to head over to their place…
It was super great to see both of them and their flat (the penthouse) is super cute and the neighborhood is even cuter (so many little British children!!!). After a bottle of wine and some tortilla chips we settled in for the evening.
The next day Taylor had to go to work early so Ashley and I decided to do a little shopping/exploring the city and met Taylor for lunch at a cute French bistro. Now I won’t go into every detail of what I did while there, but I found it very hard to communicate with English speaking people the first day and a half I was there… Yeah… Anyway over the weekend I saw some of the sites, did some super expensive (have you seen the exchange rate lately?!?!) shopping and tried out the night life a little… Again SUPER GREAT TRIP…
I’m sitting in class as I write this so I should probably cut off this entry here… Suffice to say I love London and can’t wait to get back there at some point and explore some more!
Oh yeah, on the way back I stopped in Paris (Charles Degaul [sp?] Airport) for about an hour and a half. Very friendly people, couldn’t really understand them… Anyway, I had a pastry, bought some magazines and then headed back the Spain… A good end to a great weekend!
¡Chao!
After my lunch of Tortilla (thanks Edson!) I headed to the airport. Now not knowing how long it would take me to get there or if the airline would have a problem with the fact that my ticket listed my name as Jason Taylor instead of Jason Vanderwoude (darn double apellidos… and we won’t even get into the three hours I spent on the phone with EDreams and Air France, all in Español by the way…) So I arrived at Burjas at 4:30… One problem, my flight didn’t leave until 7:30… Oops… So in a true Vanderwoude fashion, I had a good 2:40 to kill in the airport. Security there was an absolute joke. I went got my ticket, was never ID-ed, walked up to the metal detector, beeped as I went through, and then had them wand my belt, never once asking a question… So I spent my time in the magical world of Duty-Free everything and playing solitaire on my phone… Woot! Anyway, I finally boarded and began my journey to London.
The flight was fine… Just me and a bunch of English businessmen and women with around six bags each of duty free alcohol… We arrived on time and I deplaned thinking that Heathrow looked a little small… Anyway my bag came super quick and I went to find the Heathrow Express train that Ashley told me to take… Well funny story… Lately I haven’t exactly been thinking a lot so I’m a tad bit slow... I actually arrived in London at London City Airport, not Heathrow… Hey, to my defense I don’t know London, never been there before, so it was easy to confuse the airports… Anywho, a nice older man working at the train station helped me plan my route.
I was on the train for about 1:30 when I arrived at Wimbledon… Now I had thought that Ashley was gunna meet me at the Tube station so I got there and waited around for a while… Now, my phone was out of money and since I was on roaming I couldn’t receive calls either… Oops,! Never mind the fact that I didn’t have Ashley or Taylor’s numbers in my phone… AY! So after about another hour or so I decided to go get in a cab find a hotel with internet access and try to contact the girls… So the cab takes me “about six or seven quid” from the station to a Holiday Inn Express and as we pull up (miracle of miracles) my phone rings. It’s Ashley (thank GOD)… So long story short I pay another 10 quid to head over to their place…
It was super great to see both of them and their flat (the penthouse) is super cute and the neighborhood is even cuter (so many little British children!!!). After a bottle of wine and some tortilla chips we settled in for the evening.
The next day Taylor had to go to work early so Ashley and I decided to do a little shopping/exploring the city and met Taylor for lunch at a cute French bistro. Now I won’t go into every detail of what I did while there, but I found it very hard to communicate with English speaking people the first day and a half I was there… Yeah… Anyway over the weekend I saw some of the sites, did some super expensive (have you seen the exchange rate lately?!?!) shopping and tried out the night life a little… Again SUPER GREAT TRIP…
I’m sitting in class as I write this so I should probably cut off this entry here… Suffice to say I love London and can’t wait to get back there at some point and explore some more!
Oh yeah, on the way back I stopped in Paris (Charles Degaul [sp?] Airport) for about an hour and a half. Very friendly people, couldn’t really understand them… Anyway, I had a pastry, bought some magazines and then headed back the Spain… A good end to a great weekend!
¡Chao!
Monday, October 15, 2007
Dateline Sunday: Family Dinner
In lieu of studying for my midterms I’m going to take some time to describe this evening’s dinner with you.
It all began this afternoon right before lunch… Laura was going to visit her mother and brothers back in the “pueblo” and little did I know it but she would be bringing home some surprises.
Right after we finished our lunch of spaghetti with dried fruits and nuts (a dish Laura later claimed to have tasted like a Hindi desert) Edson informed me that he was off to meet up with his friends and to buy some more hashish (that’s right our good friend Maria is coming to stay for a while).
Anyway, I did pretty much nothing all day and when Laura arrived home from her mother’s at around 5:30 she informed me in English that she had brought “lots of goodies from the village!” Curious I began to look around. It wasn’t until after Laura returned from the pool at her spa that I got the grand tour of the food. Included in the horde was some ham (SURPRISE!), a loaf of special braided bread (taste and texture similar to a French bread but maybe a little harder on the outside), some potato chips (best I’ve ever had), an assortment of cookies, muffins, an apple tart-ish thing, and, oh I don’t know, about 5 pounds of grapes. Anyway after explaining to me exactly what it all was Laura asked, “¿Quieres cenar con el plan dulce?” (Do you want to do the sweet plan for dinner?) Not being one to express how I actually feel, I said sure.
And that brings us to dinner. What did I eat? Well, I had some chips, grapes, three cookies, a muffin, and that apple thing… Oh and a glass of water. In the middle of dinner Laura decided she wanted some cerveza (beer) and left to get it at “Los Chinos” (if I haven’t explained it before and I’m not sure that I have, Los Chinos is basically a dollar+ store run by Asians. That’s right, in Spain it doesn’t matter of what decent you are, if you’re Asian, you’re a Chino.) When she came back she poured herself a tall glass and ate her dessert/dinner. After we finished, well actually after Edson finished, he went on a frantic search for his last rolling paper and after finding it in the trash began to roll himself a nice joint. As I finished up eating Edson began toking.
So there you have it. A nice, normal Sunday family dinner. Just me, my alcoholic mommy, drug addicted dad, and our green leafy cousin Maria. (I only say these things in jest, neither Laura nor Edson have any addictions that I know of…) Now my sugar-high self is gunna attempt to study until the IBS kicks in from the large amounts of oil and butter that were in those pastries and chips…
Happy Monday everyone. Oh and happy birthday Evan!
It all began this afternoon right before lunch… Laura was going to visit her mother and brothers back in the “pueblo” and little did I know it but she would be bringing home some surprises.
Right after we finished our lunch of spaghetti with dried fruits and nuts (a dish Laura later claimed to have tasted like a Hindi desert) Edson informed me that he was off to meet up with his friends and to buy some more hashish (that’s right our good friend Maria is coming to stay for a while).
Anyway, I did pretty much nothing all day and when Laura arrived home from her mother’s at around 5:30 she informed me in English that she had brought “lots of goodies from the village!” Curious I began to look around. It wasn’t until after Laura returned from the pool at her spa that I got the grand tour of the food. Included in the horde was some ham (SURPRISE!), a loaf of special braided bread (taste and texture similar to a French bread but maybe a little harder on the outside), some potato chips (best I’ve ever had), an assortment of cookies, muffins, an apple tart-ish thing, and, oh I don’t know, about 5 pounds of grapes. Anyway after explaining to me exactly what it all was Laura asked, “¿Quieres cenar con el plan dulce?” (Do you want to do the sweet plan for dinner?) Not being one to express how I actually feel, I said sure.
And that brings us to dinner. What did I eat? Well, I had some chips, grapes, three cookies, a muffin, and that apple thing… Oh and a glass of water. In the middle of dinner Laura decided she wanted some cerveza (beer) and left to get it at “Los Chinos” (if I haven’t explained it before and I’m not sure that I have, Los Chinos is basically a dollar+ store run by Asians. That’s right, in Spain it doesn’t matter of what decent you are, if you’re Asian, you’re a Chino.) When she came back she poured herself a tall glass and ate her dessert/dinner. After we finished, well actually after Edson finished, he went on a frantic search for his last rolling paper and after finding it in the trash began to roll himself a nice joint. As I finished up eating Edson began toking.
So there you have it. A nice, normal Sunday family dinner. Just me, my alcoholic mommy, drug addicted dad, and our green leafy cousin Maria. (I only say these things in jest, neither Laura nor Edson have any addictions that I know of…) Now my sugar-high self is gunna attempt to study until the IBS kicks in from the large amounts of oil and butter that were in those pastries and chips…
Happy Monday everyone. Oh and happy birthday Evan!
Book Review
So I’ve been reading a lot since I’ve been here and now I’d like to take a little time to tell you about the books that I’ve read. Why? I’m a little bored and don’t feel like studying fo my midterms.
Katie: The Real Story by Edward Klein
Those of you who know me know that I have a thing for Katie Couric, The Today Show, and the TV news industry in general so it should come as no surprise to you that I picked up this, the first (albeit unauthorized) biography of Ms. Couric. It was really interesting if you’re at all interested in Katie or the TV news biz. There are plenty of good insider quotes and interviews and it does give an interesting look at the first woman to ever solo anchor an evening newscast.
Cell by Stephen King
Disclaimer: If you like Stephen King, well then you like Stephen King. If you don’t, you don’t. This one is a post apocalyptic tail of cell phone zombies that takes place between Boston and Maine. It was a good page-turner and as usual for Mr. King the characters were well developed and there was plenty of smart and witty dialogue. Give it a try if you’re looking for something fun that’ll make you jump a little.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
Wow. Perfect. That’s all I can say. I couldn’t have been happier with the last book in the Potter series. Although I must say after I turned the last page I was quite sad that this would be the last that we would hear from Harry and his friends.
Lisey’s Story by Stephen King
Okay, so I’m on a little bit of a Stephen King marathon here, but what can I say, I love the way he writes. This one was really good and different. Sure there are still some grotesque and horrible elements to this one but it’s main focus is Lisey and how she’s coping with the death of here husband, a famous novelist. This novel, more than others king has written focuses more on the characters than on the events taking place around them. Even if you’re not the biggest King fan, I’d still give it a try.
Marley & Me by John Grogan
The first thing I noticed when I picked up this book and read the back of it was a review from the New York Times that said, “A book with intense but narrow appeal, strictly limited to anyone who has ever had, known, or wanted a dog.” I’m going to mostly agree with that comment except for one thing: I’m going to change the word dog to pet. Sure the book is about a man, his family, and their dog but for anyone who has had a pet or loves animals this book will be enjoyable and tug at your heartstrings a bit.
Misery by Stephen King
A classic King novel that I think is a must. The movie was creepy as all hell thanks mostly to Kathy Bates’ portrayal of Annie Wilkes but the novel is far more creepy and gruesome. It’s a little bit longer but it reads really quickly. A fun book for a flight or long train trip.
So there you have it. All the books I’ve read so far. I’m currently reading The Green Mile by Stephen King and waiting for Amazon.com to deliver Reality Show by Howard Kurtz another new book about the evening news race between Brian Williams, Katie Couric, and Charlie Gibson (I know, I’m a big ol’ dork but you love me anyway…)
Katie: The Real Story by Edward Klein
Those of you who know me know that I have a thing for Katie Couric, The Today Show, and the TV news industry in general so it should come as no surprise to you that I picked up this, the first (albeit unauthorized) biography of Ms. Couric. It was really interesting if you’re at all interested in Katie or the TV news biz. There are plenty of good insider quotes and interviews and it does give an interesting look at the first woman to ever solo anchor an evening newscast.
Cell by Stephen King
Disclaimer: If you like Stephen King, well then you like Stephen King. If you don’t, you don’t. This one is a post apocalyptic tail of cell phone zombies that takes place between Boston and Maine. It was a good page-turner and as usual for Mr. King the characters were well developed and there was plenty of smart and witty dialogue. Give it a try if you’re looking for something fun that’ll make you jump a little.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
Wow. Perfect. That’s all I can say. I couldn’t have been happier with the last book in the Potter series. Although I must say after I turned the last page I was quite sad that this would be the last that we would hear from Harry and his friends.
Lisey’s Story by Stephen King
Okay, so I’m on a little bit of a Stephen King marathon here, but what can I say, I love the way he writes. This one was really good and different. Sure there are still some grotesque and horrible elements to this one but it’s main focus is Lisey and how she’s coping with the death of here husband, a famous novelist. This novel, more than others king has written focuses more on the characters than on the events taking place around them. Even if you’re not the biggest King fan, I’d still give it a try.
Marley & Me by John Grogan
The first thing I noticed when I picked up this book and read the back of it was a review from the New York Times that said, “A book with intense but narrow appeal, strictly limited to anyone who has ever had, known, or wanted a dog.” I’m going to mostly agree with that comment except for one thing: I’m going to change the word dog to pet. Sure the book is about a man, his family, and their dog but for anyone who has had a pet or loves animals this book will be enjoyable and tug at your heartstrings a bit.
Misery by Stephen King
A classic King novel that I think is a must. The movie was creepy as all hell thanks mostly to Kathy Bates’ portrayal of Annie Wilkes but the novel is far more creepy and gruesome. It’s a little bit longer but it reads really quickly. A fun book for a flight or long train trip.
So there you have it. All the books I’ve read so far. I’m currently reading The Green Mile by Stephen King and waiting for Amazon.com to deliver Reality Show by Howard Kurtz another new book about the evening news race between Brian Williams, Katie Couric, and Charlie Gibson (I know, I’m a big ol’ dork but you love me anyway…)
Madrid: One Month Later
I can hardly believe that I’ve been here for a little over a month… Time has really flown so far and I’m sure it’s not going to slow down. It’s been an amazing experience so far and I must say it’s pretty cool to be basically acclimated to life in another country (and I swear, I’m getting used to the cultural differences. Well except the no tipping thing… Just can’t get used to that…). This time has been, so far (and I know I must have said this 100 times by now), exactly what I hoped it would be. I’m getting a chance to relax and enjoy myself while expanding my horizons. Yes I am a little bored, at times, with classes that are less challenging than things I did my Freshman year at HPHS and the four day weekends sometimes seem a little too long (now don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, but you know me; I’m used to working six days a week with obnoxious hours on top of classes and, oh yeah, trying to have some semblance of a social life). But I know that this is a temporary situation so I’m really trying to soak it all up before heading back to Boston and what is sure to be a busy semester before graduation (WHOA! College went by a lot faster than I expected). I’m finally getting my act together and I’m gunna start traveling (London this week, Granada & Cordoba the next, then Pisa, France, and maybe Norway or Switzerland???) So I’m gunna take a look back now and comment on some of the different things I’ve learned or discovered in the past month-ish. Enjoy!
FOOD
Eating has been a little difficult. It’s harder than you’d think to find a decent restaurant that’s not just a bar that has sandwiches (especially when you or your friends are being a little more budget conscious), but I’ve been eating well… Food at home is a different story and it’s starting to bother me a little bit. Laura seems to have taken a page from the Muriel Schneider Handbook to Food Storage, specifically the part that states, “If it’s in the Frigidaire, it won’t go bad ever.” We have a lot of frozen food that is reheated. Things like beans and seafood (which is starting to gross me out… I really don’t know how long its been in there and it’s not like it’s being put through the grinder and made into a knish, I can still tell what this stuff is…). Also, we’re big on olives and other vinegar-soaked things. Again, fine in moderation but not all the time. And for goodness sake, if I ever eat another anchovy in my life it will probably be tooooooooooooo soon. But like I said, I’m making due.
THE LANGAUGE
Here’s a fun one. One month later and I find that my comprehension has improved two-fold but my speaking, while improved, is not quite on the same level. I’ll take some responsibility for this but I am going to place some of the blame elsewhere: The faculty at the International Institute of Spain (specifically those of BU & SUNY). Bless them for trying, but really if someone doesn’t get it the first time, it would probably be beneficial to try to explain it once more in Spanish rather than jumping right over to English. Granted, I’ve met grains of salt more intelligent then some of the students on this program (I wish I was exaggerating, I really do…) but still, we’re here to learn Spanish things in Spanish, not Spanish things in English, we can do that at home (granted some people are actually just here to get drunk and travel, but some of us actually want to learn. What a concept!) My phonetics teacher did bring up a good point in class the other day and I tend to agree with it. She said that they staff purposely didn’t make the classes too difficult because they understand that that is only a minor part of our experience here and that it wouldn’t make sense for us to be stuck studying all the time when we should be getting out and exploring the culture for ourselves. True enough.
THE LOCALS
So it’s been a month and I can’t say that I’ve really met any native Spaniards (save for Laura’s niece Laura) my own age and that’s kinda bumming me out. I know there’s still time but I’d like to make a Spanish friend or two. Is that so much to ask? Yeah, I didn’t think so.
THE HOME STAY
My comfort level at home is getting better but I still feel awkward at times (not that I should, they’re paying the home stay families the equivalent of $1,116.50 a month) especially when it comes to eating, showering, or really just my overall use of the house. I’m still too afraid to say no to food and, if at all possible, wait until everyone else is out of the house before showering so I don’t have to feel guilty about the amount of time I spend in the bathroom. In other news: the cardboard that acts as a box spring for my bed has stopped squeaking as much (yay!).
THE CULTURE
I have been to so many museums, churches, palaces, old buildings, movies, and plays, since I’ve been here and for that I am truly thankful. I have gotten to see and appreciate lots of things that I’ve only previously seen in books. It’s been great to see some of the local cinema and theatre as well just to see how things differ from the US to here. The one thing I’m gunna complain about (and you know me…) is the lack of intermissions in the theatre here. I sat through a 2 ½ hour long 19th century play that, while it was well done, made me want to pluck my eyes out with a spoon by the end… At least BU is paying me back for it… The movie I went to yesterday (Saturday) was at a really nice theater that had assigned seating. It was pretty cool and the concept kinda works a little better, I think…
But even more than just the Spanish culture, being here has exposed me to myriad other cultures as well. Friday was the Day of the Nation here and to celebrate the Spanish discovery of the Americas the have what is called a “marcha”. This is basically a parade where each of the South American countries put together either a float or a dance/display and come walking through from the largest train station in the city to one of the more prominent plazas. It was very cool to see these different cultures… The next day we decided to go to this Arabic music fest that Laura had told me about. Playing that night was a group from Morocco. Again, very cool to see and hear. So yeah, being here just over a month has already begun to expand my view of the world more than I thought. And for this, I’m very thankful.
Anyway, that’s about all I’ve got for now. I’m sure I’ll think of something later but in the meantime Edson’s making lunch while listening to Kylie Minogue… ¡Oye!
¡Hasta pronto!
FOOD
Eating has been a little difficult. It’s harder than you’d think to find a decent restaurant that’s not just a bar that has sandwiches (especially when you or your friends are being a little more budget conscious), but I’ve been eating well… Food at home is a different story and it’s starting to bother me a little bit. Laura seems to have taken a page from the Muriel Schneider Handbook to Food Storage, specifically the part that states, “If it’s in the Frigidaire, it won’t go bad ever.” We have a lot of frozen food that is reheated. Things like beans and seafood (which is starting to gross me out… I really don’t know how long its been in there and it’s not like it’s being put through the grinder and made into a knish, I can still tell what this stuff is…). Also, we’re big on olives and other vinegar-soaked things. Again, fine in moderation but not all the time. And for goodness sake, if I ever eat another anchovy in my life it will probably be tooooooooooooo soon. But like I said, I’m making due.
THE LANGAUGE
Here’s a fun one. One month later and I find that my comprehension has improved two-fold but my speaking, while improved, is not quite on the same level. I’ll take some responsibility for this but I am going to place some of the blame elsewhere: The faculty at the International Institute of Spain (specifically those of BU & SUNY). Bless them for trying, but really if someone doesn’t get it the first time, it would probably be beneficial to try to explain it once more in Spanish rather than jumping right over to English. Granted, I’ve met grains of salt more intelligent then some of the students on this program (I wish I was exaggerating, I really do…) but still, we’re here to learn Spanish things in Spanish, not Spanish things in English, we can do that at home (granted some people are actually just here to get drunk and travel, but some of us actually want to learn. What a concept!) My phonetics teacher did bring up a good point in class the other day and I tend to agree with it. She said that they staff purposely didn’t make the classes too difficult because they understand that that is only a minor part of our experience here and that it wouldn’t make sense for us to be stuck studying all the time when we should be getting out and exploring the culture for ourselves. True enough.
THE LOCALS
So it’s been a month and I can’t say that I’ve really met any native Spaniards (save for Laura’s niece Laura) my own age and that’s kinda bumming me out. I know there’s still time but I’d like to make a Spanish friend or two. Is that so much to ask? Yeah, I didn’t think so.
THE HOME STAY
My comfort level at home is getting better but I still feel awkward at times (not that I should, they’re paying the home stay families the equivalent of $1,116.50 a month) especially when it comes to eating, showering, or really just my overall use of the house. I’m still too afraid to say no to food and, if at all possible, wait until everyone else is out of the house before showering so I don’t have to feel guilty about the amount of time I spend in the bathroom. In other news: the cardboard that acts as a box spring for my bed has stopped squeaking as much (yay!).
THE CULTURE
I have been to so many museums, churches, palaces, old buildings, movies, and plays, since I’ve been here and for that I am truly thankful. I have gotten to see and appreciate lots of things that I’ve only previously seen in books. It’s been great to see some of the local cinema and theatre as well just to see how things differ from the US to here. The one thing I’m gunna complain about (and you know me…) is the lack of intermissions in the theatre here. I sat through a 2 ½ hour long 19th century play that, while it was well done, made me want to pluck my eyes out with a spoon by the end… At least BU is paying me back for it… The movie I went to yesterday (Saturday) was at a really nice theater that had assigned seating. It was pretty cool and the concept kinda works a little better, I think…
But even more than just the Spanish culture, being here has exposed me to myriad other cultures as well. Friday was the Day of the Nation here and to celebrate the Spanish discovery of the Americas the have what is called a “marcha”. This is basically a parade where each of the South American countries put together either a float or a dance/display and come walking through from the largest train station in the city to one of the more prominent plazas. It was very cool to see these different cultures… The next day we decided to go to this Arabic music fest that Laura had told me about. Playing that night was a group from Morocco. Again, very cool to see and hear. So yeah, being here just over a month has already begun to expand my view of the world more than I thought. And for this, I’m very thankful.
Anyway, that’s about all I’ve got for now. I’m sure I’ll think of something later but in the meantime Edson’s making lunch while listening to Kylie Minogue… ¡Oye!
¡Hasta pronto!
Close Up: The Odd Couple
For this week’s edition of Close Up, we’re going to focus on the Relationship between Laura (a former Coppolla) and Edson (a pot smoking Brazilian immigrant).
When I first arrived at Don Ramón de la Cruz 91, I was greeted by two figures both in bathrobes: Laura and Edson. It was at that point that Edson was introduced to me as a “friend” who would be staying at the apartment only until he found a place of his own. I soon began to notice that that was, however, not so much the case.
I began to get suspicious when Edson would refer to Laura’s family members with such familiarity and they to him. However, I told myself that the couldn’t possibly be a couple… He sleeps in a separate (and rather small) bedroom and they didn’t seem to have romantic interactions. As the weeks have progressed and we have all become a little more comfortable around one another, the two of them (mommy and daddy as I like to call them) have begun to let their guard down a little. Edson, for instance, has begun to call Laura “mi amor” and even has begun to give her little affectionate kisses on the forehead when I’m around.
It was about a week ago, after I had settled into my room to read a little bit (or a lot bit…) when I went back into the living/dining room to say “¡buenas noches!” when I saw the first sign that something more was going on. Mommy was sitting in daddy’s lap and he had his arms around her waist while they were watching the news or some nature documentary… Actually, now that I think about it, it was probably fútbol. Anyway, that’s when my suspicions began to reawaken.
Let’s jump forward a little ways…
This morning (Sunday October 14, 2007) I woke up around 10:30 and after waiting a little bit opened my door and wasn’t sure exactly where I heard her but I could hear mommy laughing a little bit… “Strange,” I thought, “it sounds like Edson is with her…” Then I looked straight in front of me at the bathroom door. Mommy and daddy were bathing together (Okay… kinda awkward) So I quietly re-closed my door and pretended that I hadn’t yet left my room. Well that didn’t work so well… When I heard the door to the bathroom open I waited a minute or two and then emerged from my room as well.
Laura and I greeted each other with our usual good mornings and then she proceeded to tell me that the two of them were showering together and that they were worried when they heard me that I had to go to the bathroom very badly… “No,” I assured her. That was the end of that… Or so I thought…
After breakfast the two of them went out of the living/dining room and I went into the kitchen to clean off my plates and my Coca-Cola Christmas tray when I heard more giggling coming from the bathroom (“These two are like horny teenagers,” I thought rather snootily to my self). I walked by to find Edson sitting on the toilet and Laura sitting on the edge of the tub while Edson gave her a pedicure of sorts. All the while Edson was explaining how the beaches in Rio (remember the guy is from Brazil) are divided between the “guapos” and the “feos” (the pretty people and the uglies). So long story short, I’m not sure what to make of their relationship. It sure doesn’t seem like daddy’s moving out anytime soon (or getting a job for that matter… Laura seems to be a pretty good sugar mama to him afterall…).
As the weeks and months continue we’ll continue to report on any developments or confessions regarding this extremely illusive couple. ‘Til next time.
When I first arrived at Don Ramón de la Cruz 91, I was greeted by two figures both in bathrobes: Laura and Edson. It was at that point that Edson was introduced to me as a “friend” who would be staying at the apartment only until he found a place of his own. I soon began to notice that that was, however, not so much the case.
I began to get suspicious when Edson would refer to Laura’s family members with such familiarity and they to him. However, I told myself that the couldn’t possibly be a couple… He sleeps in a separate (and rather small) bedroom and they didn’t seem to have romantic interactions. As the weeks have progressed and we have all become a little more comfortable around one another, the two of them (mommy and daddy as I like to call them) have begun to let their guard down a little. Edson, for instance, has begun to call Laura “mi amor” and even has begun to give her little affectionate kisses on the forehead when I’m around.
It was about a week ago, after I had settled into my room to read a little bit (or a lot bit…) when I went back into the living/dining room to say “¡buenas noches!” when I saw the first sign that something more was going on. Mommy was sitting in daddy’s lap and he had his arms around her waist while they were watching the news or some nature documentary… Actually, now that I think about it, it was probably fútbol. Anyway, that’s when my suspicions began to reawaken.
Let’s jump forward a little ways…
This morning (Sunday October 14, 2007) I woke up around 10:30 and after waiting a little bit opened my door and wasn’t sure exactly where I heard her but I could hear mommy laughing a little bit… “Strange,” I thought, “it sounds like Edson is with her…” Then I looked straight in front of me at the bathroom door. Mommy and daddy were bathing together (Okay… kinda awkward) So I quietly re-closed my door and pretended that I hadn’t yet left my room. Well that didn’t work so well… When I heard the door to the bathroom open I waited a minute or two and then emerged from my room as well.
Laura and I greeted each other with our usual good mornings and then she proceeded to tell me that the two of them were showering together and that they were worried when they heard me that I had to go to the bathroom very badly… “No,” I assured her. That was the end of that… Or so I thought…
After breakfast the two of them went out of the living/dining room and I went into the kitchen to clean off my plates and my Coca-Cola Christmas tray when I heard more giggling coming from the bathroom (“These two are like horny teenagers,” I thought rather snootily to my self). I walked by to find Edson sitting on the toilet and Laura sitting on the edge of the tub while Edson gave her a pedicure of sorts. All the while Edson was explaining how the beaches in Rio (remember the guy is from Brazil) are divided between the “guapos” and the “feos” (the pretty people and the uglies). So long story short, I’m not sure what to make of their relationship. It sure doesn’t seem like daddy’s moving out anytime soon (or getting a job for that matter… Laura seems to be a pretty good sugar mama to him afterall…).
As the weeks and months continue we’ll continue to report on any developments or confessions regarding this extremely illusive couple. ‘Til next time.
Monday, October 8, 2007
BREAKING NEWS
(Madrid, España) It was revealed late Sunday evening that one Laura Rodriguez has in fact been married at least once before. Ms. Rodriguez later disclosed that her ex-husband is none other than August Floyd Coppola, brother to Francis Ford Coppola and Father of Nicholas Cage. More details as they become available.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Quote of the Day
Overheard in a classroom...
Girl A: "I think all this drinking and smoking is making me stupider..."
Girl B: "You can get smarter from not eating? Wow..."
Girl A: "No, I said all the drinking and pot smoking is making me stupider..."
Girl B: "Oh..."
Rigorous academic institution folks, that's where I'm at... Yep...
Girl A: "I think all this drinking and smoking is making me stupider..."
Girl B: "You can get smarter from not eating? Wow..."
Girl A: "No, I said all the drinking and pot smoking is making me stupider..."
Girl B: "Oh..."
Rigorous academic institution folks, that's where I'm at... Yep...
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
False Cognate of the Week
The “_______ of the Week” column is back with a vengeance. This week we’re focusing on the language barrier with a truly fun false cognate.
Constipated: adj. You can’t make poo.
Constipado: adj. Feeling a little stuffy, as if one is getting sick.
This weeks false cognate has been brought to you by the fact that everyone in Madrid is currently constipado including myself… Yay! And for those of you who know me well, you know it’s not often that I’m constipado (think about it for a second… There you go! You got the joke!)
Byee
constipado VS constipated
Constipated: adj. You can’t make poo.
Constipado: adj. Feeling a little stuffy, as if one is getting sick.
This weeks false cognate has been brought to you by the fact that everyone in Madrid is currently constipado including myself… Yay! And for those of you who know me well, you know it’s not often that I’m constipado (think about it for a second… There you go! You got the joke!)
Byee
Dateline Sunday: Bull Fight
DISCLAIMER I DO NOT AGREE WITH THIS PRACTICE AND DO NOT SUPPORT THE SLAUGHTER OF ANIMALS FOR SPORT. AS A GUEST IN THIS COUNTRY I FEEL IT IS MY DUTY TO ATTEMPT TO EXPERIENCE AND UNDERSTAND AS MANY DIFFERENT FACETS OF THE CULTURE AS I CAN. BY ATTENDING THIS EVENT I WAS SIMPLY TRYING TO ABSORB AND UNDERSTAND A DISTINCT AND IMPORTANT ASPECT OF THE SPANISH CULTURE.
ADDITIONALLY, THE PICTURES ARE QUITE GRAPHIC AND WERE TAKING TO SHOW THE EVENT TO THE FULLEST. VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED (Side note: I have always wanted a reason to say that…)
Phew! With that all said, yes, I did attend a bullfight this Sunday at Madrid’s Plaza del Torro (it may or may not be related to Benicio). The stadium itself is a beautifully constructed brick building with many gorgeous details. ADDITIONALLY, THE PICTURES ARE QUITE GRAPHIC AND WERE TAKING TO SHOW THE EVENT TO THE FULLEST. VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED (Side note: I have always wanted a reason to say that…)
Wow! When I first arrived outside the stadium from the Metro I couldn’t believe the amount of people that were here for this event. There were people of all ages from little children (we’re talking 4, 5, or 6 years old) to old men scalping tickets… And judging by where you sit in the plaza, the tickets can range in price from €4,20 to €100,00 (crazy, right).
Anyway we got the cheap seats, which turned out to not be that bad. Sure we were high up (as high as you can go minus about 3 rows) but if we were any closer I might actually have cried or vomited… The seating itself is interesting: it’s just concrete not chairs. And you know what? The concrete was more comfortable than the seats at a baseball game. So anyway, the crowd comes and brings beer, food and enough cigars cigarettes to give a small country lung cancer (or me for that matter…), sits down, and prepares to watch six bull fights from start to finish.
It is an event very much rooted in tradition. The participants are all dressed very ornately and there is a band of sorts consisting of some horns and a drum that signals when certain segments of the bull fight are going to happen. Now instead of going into the details (suffice to say the first bull’s death was the most disturbing and violent thing I have ever witnessed in my life) I’m going to let you look at the pictures and ask me any questions that you have later. I will now, however, attempt to explain one or two of the more interesting customs that I at first did not understand.
After a bullfight is over, if it has been a particularly good one, the crowd will wave white handkerchiefs at the Matador. This custom is apparently to get him to cut the ear off the bull (the ears and the tail are considered trophies) and if they keep waving it means that he should take the other ear and the tail as well.
Another interesting fact: these bulls are not trained. This is their first time in a plaza and their first time interacting with the matadors and the various colored cloths. For better or for worse, at least this means that these animals are not bread and abused to be angry, vicious creatures.
And finally the one thing neither my friends nor myself understood. At one point when a group of matadors entered the plaza, the people in the stands began throwing their clothing at him so that he would throw it back… Why? No clue…
So there you have it. A brief description of my experience at a bullfight. Like I said before, click on over to the pictures if you want and please ask me questions later.
¡Hasta luego!
Week of Culture
Welcome to what my friends and I are calling “The Week of Culture”. You see, there is a very simple premise to this fun-tastic new week. BU will pay for us to do cultural things (museums, Spanish movies, theatre, historical monuments, etc.) and we receive up to €6,00 back (and even more in some places, but that’s not the point right now). Seeing how much money we’ve all thrown at BU (either just for this semester or, you know, that whole $40,000 a year thing that’s been going on for the past 3 ½ years…) we are trying to get our moneys worth while doing things that we’d want to do anyway… So here is a summary (with prices) of how the week has begun!
Friday Evening:
After much wandering and a pretty decent dinner of tapas, we stumble upon a movie theatre and decide to see something. Our choice, Mataharis a Spanish film set in Madrid that follows the lives of three private investigators and how their work effects the other aspects of their lives.
PRICE: €6,50 TOTAL AMOUNT REIMBURSED: €6,00
Saturday:
After seeing and very much enjoying the movie the previous night, we decide to make Saturday a museum-tastic event and try to rack up some more moolah. After my lunch at Rodilla (a really, really crappy sandwich place) with the schizophrenic clown (ask me about him and I’ll tell you… It is as creepy as it sounds, but not nearly as interesting) we headed over to the Archeology Museum… Now being that it was after 14:30 on a Saturday there was no charge for admission (danm! Only kidding… kinda…)
PRICE: €0,00 TOTAL AMOUNT REIMBURSED: €0,00
Anyway after exploring a few past civilizations we decided to head over to the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. This absolutely gorgeous museum with a collection to die for (although a bit controversial seeing as most of its art was bought from Jews and others escaping Germany during the Holocaust…) was closing in an hour from when we arrived, but we decided to go anyway (hey, why not right?) and give ourselves the speed tour. All I know is, I cannot wait to go back and actually take some time to look at things.
PRICE: €4,00 TOTAL AMOUNT REIMBURSED: €4,00
After our quick jog through the Thyssen, we decided to head over to the Botanic Gardens (again, why not, it is basically free). They had finished renovating a few of the gardens in the ½ week since I’d been there last and it was really fun to see the vegetables and lettuce growing and even to taste some of them (although we later saw a sign strictly instructing us not to eat the produce because it is coated in toxins about once every two days… Oops!) But the gardens too were closing quickly so that visit had to be cut short as well.
PRICE: €1,00 TOTAL AMOUNT REIMBURSED: €1,00
Sunday:
I went to a bullfight. Don’t judge me just yet. Wait for the next entry.
PRICE €4,20 TOTAL AMOUNT REIMBURSED: €4,20
That brings this weekends total amount of reimbursement to €18,20 (including a ticket stub to the Reina Sofia given to me by a friends of Sonja’s who was in town visiting before heading to Senegal). THANKS BU!
Friday Evening:
After much wandering and a pretty decent dinner of tapas, we stumble upon a movie theatre and decide to see something. Our choice, Mataharis a Spanish film set in Madrid that follows the lives of three private investigators and how their work effects the other aspects of their lives.
PRICE: €6,50 TOTAL AMOUNT REIMBURSED: €6,00
Saturday:
After seeing and very much enjoying the movie the previous night, we decide to make Saturday a museum-tastic event and try to rack up some more moolah. After my lunch at Rodilla (a really, really crappy sandwich place) with the schizophrenic clown (ask me about him and I’ll tell you… It is as creepy as it sounds, but not nearly as interesting) we headed over to the Archeology Museum… Now being that it was after 14:30 on a Saturday there was no charge for admission (danm! Only kidding… kinda…)
PRICE: €0,00 TOTAL AMOUNT REIMBURSED: €0,00
Anyway after exploring a few past civilizations we decided to head over to the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. This absolutely gorgeous museum with a collection to die for (although a bit controversial seeing as most of its art was bought from Jews and others escaping Germany during the Holocaust…) was closing in an hour from when we arrived, but we decided to go anyway (hey, why not right?) and give ourselves the speed tour. All I know is, I cannot wait to go back and actually take some time to look at things.
PRICE: €4,00 TOTAL AMOUNT REIMBURSED: €4,00
After our quick jog through the Thyssen, we decided to head over to the Botanic Gardens (again, why not, it is basically free). They had finished renovating a few of the gardens in the ½ week since I’d been there last and it was really fun to see the vegetables and lettuce growing and even to taste some of them (although we later saw a sign strictly instructing us not to eat the produce because it is coated in toxins about once every two days… Oops!) But the gardens too were closing quickly so that visit had to be cut short as well.
PRICE: €1,00 TOTAL AMOUNT REIMBURSED: €1,00
Sunday:
I went to a bullfight. Don’t judge me just yet. Wait for the next entry.
PRICE €4,20 TOTAL AMOUNT REIMBURSED: €4,20
That brings this weekends total amount of reimbursement to €18,20 (including a ticket stub to the Reina Sofia given to me by a friends of Sonja’s who was in town visiting before heading to Senegal). THANKS BU!
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Lost in Translation
I’d like to introduce another regular feature here on the old blog… This one’s called Lost in Translation. Basically every so often I’ll post about 3 or 4 pictures of some of the more hilarious or suggestive examples of really botched Spanglish or just some funny sights... I hope you enjoy this week’s selection.
Yep... I... Hmmm....
OMG! Laguna Beach!!! Oh... wait... maybe not...
Now I wonder what they do here...
Yep... I... Hmmm....
OMG! Laguna Beach!!! Oh... wait... maybe not...
Now I wonder what they do here...
Monday, September 24, 2007
Dateline Sunday: Dinner
Okay, this one’s a quicky but I thought worth telling… Last night Laura decides to make pasta for dinner. Okay. Good. Fine. Then as we sit down she tells me that she has invented a sauce but won’t tell me what’s in it (although she assures me that there is nothing of the meat variety that I don’t eat). Okay. Sure. Why not? When in Rome, right? So I try it… I can tell that its mostly a ricotta cheese base and I’m thinking that the other ingredient is either anchovies or capers (capers were eventually declared the winner) but Laura still wont tell me what the other ingredient is… Well it can’t be that bad… So after the pasta is finished and we’re moving on to the fruit Laura finally decides to divulge her secrets… Read for it? (In the style of Iron Chef) The secret ingredient is (lights flash as the metal cover zooms off the small ceramic bowl of pasta sauce):
COD LIVERS
Yeah, I know… But honestly it wasn’t bad and like I said… When in Rom-well better make that Madrid…
COD LIVERS
Yeah, I know… But honestly it wasn’t bad and like I said… When in Rom-well better make that Madrid…
Things I miss…
So it’s Sunday again, time for a little reflection. Today I present you with a list of things (not people, solely things just so nobody gets offended) in America that they either don’t have or rarely use here in Spain. (In no particular order)
1. The FDA. I know it sounds silly but you don’t realize how nice it is to have nutrition facts on everything. Also, it’s great to have some sort o laws governing the quality of food… Just makes you feel a little more at ease is all I’m saying.
2. Clothes dryers and fabric softener. Yeah, another seemingly insignificant thing but I mean really, you tell me how you would feel about having your underwear hung out for the world to see and then when you do finally bring it in from the clothesline all your clothing feels like a cereal box…
3. Toilet paper that’s more than 1 ply and not made from bark. ‘Nuf said…
4. Regular flushing of toilets. Here in Spain, they are very environmentally conscious (yay! Good thing.) however due to this fact, toilets don’t exactly always get flushed (boo! Not a good thing.). I like a surprise as much as the next guy but not in the toilet.
5. Q-Tips. Holy hell. I have been looking for these things since I got here and until today was unable to find them… And even now the ones I have aren’t that great. Oh well… It just makes me wonder: What do the Spaniards do to clean out their ears.
6. Widespread use of wireless Internet. Here in Spain, or so I’m told, wi-fi has not made as big of a boom as it has in the States… I really only get internet on my computer when I’m at the Instituto and then other days at the Pepe Center (more on that one at a later date).
7. Walgreens. Here there isn’t really a pharmacy as we would think of it. The farmácias have pretty much everything (I think, I’m still a little scared to go into one) but you have to go and ask the pharmacist for what you need… There is no one stop shopping…
8. Dishwashers. In my home stay, all the dishes are “washed” by hand… Really what this means is that they come into contact with some dirty water and some watered down soap and then get rinsed and put into the drying cabinet. I often find chunks of food still on things… Yeah… Not so much…
9. TV News. I miss being informed but then again, I don’t. It’s relaxing in some respect to not hear about everything wrong with the world every day but at the same time, I miss knowing what’s going on… Also The Today Show… Miss that…
10. Marshal Field’s. Oh wait just kidding… Hah! (F-ing Macy’s…)
So there you have it… A top ten list of sorts… Oh by the way, I finished Harry Potter (overall very pleased with the ending) and I’m now on to Stephen King’s new one… Super exciting, I know…
Byeee
1. The FDA. I know it sounds silly but you don’t realize how nice it is to have nutrition facts on everything. Also, it’s great to have some sort o laws governing the quality of food… Just makes you feel a little more at ease is all I’m saying.
2. Clothes dryers and fabric softener. Yeah, another seemingly insignificant thing but I mean really, you tell me how you would feel about having your underwear hung out for the world to see and then when you do finally bring it in from the clothesline all your clothing feels like a cereal box…
3. Toilet paper that’s more than 1 ply and not made from bark. ‘Nuf said…
4. Regular flushing of toilets. Here in Spain, they are very environmentally conscious (yay! Good thing.) however due to this fact, toilets don’t exactly always get flushed (boo! Not a good thing.). I like a surprise as much as the next guy but not in the toilet.
5. Q-Tips. Holy hell. I have been looking for these things since I got here and until today was unable to find them… And even now the ones I have aren’t that great. Oh well… It just makes me wonder: What do the Spaniards do to clean out their ears.
6. Widespread use of wireless Internet. Here in Spain, or so I’m told, wi-fi has not made as big of a boom as it has in the States… I really only get internet on my computer when I’m at the Instituto and then other days at the Pepe Center (more on that one at a later date).
7. Walgreens. Here there isn’t really a pharmacy as we would think of it. The farmácias have pretty much everything (I think, I’m still a little scared to go into one) but you have to go and ask the pharmacist for what you need… There is no one stop shopping…
8. Dishwashers. In my home stay, all the dishes are “washed” by hand… Really what this means is that they come into contact with some dirty water and some watered down soap and then get rinsed and put into the drying cabinet. I often find chunks of food still on things… Yeah… Not so much…
9. TV News. I miss being informed but then again, I don’t. It’s relaxing in some respect to not hear about everything wrong with the world every day but at the same time, I miss knowing what’s going on… Also The Today Show… Miss that…
10. Marshal Field’s. Oh wait just kidding… Hah! (F-ing Macy’s…)
So there you have it… A top ten list of sorts… Oh by the way, I finished Harry Potter (overall very pleased with the ending) and I’m now on to Stephen King’s new one… Super exciting, I know…
Byeee
Noche en Blanco
So every year (starting last year…) Madrid has one night where virtually everything stays open. We’re talking museums (all free by the way), bars, cafes, restaurants, from 11:00pm (or 21:00 in local time) until 7:00am (still 7:00 here). Well needless to say, this was something to be taken advantage of.
My friends and I have been trying for about two weeks now to get reservations at this restaurant called Wagaboo (described by one guide book as an “exotic eatery serving global cuisine”) and keep failing to get a reservation. So, in our desperation of somewhere to go I turned to my handy dandy Señora. I asked Laura if she knew of any good (and not too expensive) restaurants that we would enjoy. She quickly informed me that, in fact, her cousin owns a restaurant called El Teletipo about 4 blocks from our school and that the food is fantastic (well that’s debatable but we’ll discuss that in a bit…) So Laura called and made the reservations and we were in for 9:30.
Jump to the next day: I’ve been fasting for a while (you know, that whole Judaism thing…) and haven’t really eaten so when we head off to dinner I’m pretty excited. Now, seeing as Laura told me that we’d need a reservation to get into this place, I figured it would be somewhat of a “spot”… Well, we walk in and it’s pretty much us (save Laura’s cousin, the wait staff and the private party in the back room). Okay, fine… So we sit down and get our menus. Good selection of things. I order the sole. Okay, so I have a thing with eating whole fish, I don’t know why but having it remain in the same shape that it used to swim in… Not so much my cup of tea… Anyway, the fish wasn’t bad and the wine wasn’t bad either (we got the house white, Laura’s suggestion) and to be honest this little Jew with his empty stomach started feeling it pretty quickly… Anyway dinner’s done (oh did I mention that my friend Mike ordered the deep fried brains, testicles, and sweet meats platter; also Laura’s suggestion… Yep…) and we order desert, some sort of chocolate pastry thing. WOW! Seriously, none of us could understand it but this slice o chocolate whatever-it-was, that didn’t look particularly intriguing was absolutely fantastic. Really, desert made the somewhat “meh” dinner worth having and made the restaurant worth going back to.
Anyway, we leave the restaurant and decide to go over to one of the museums (Why not right? It is free after all.) and settle on the Reina Sofia, Madrids more contemporary art museum and home to Pablo Picasso’s Guernica. Well needless to say, we made it to the museum with a minimal amount of lost-ness (and wow were the streets crowded, it seemed like every person of every age that lives in Madrid was out and about last night, or two nights ago by the time you read this…). Anyway, I have my heart set on seeing Guernica mainly because I’ve been studying the damn thing for, I don’t know, 10 years and have done maybe 6 reports on it, plus I like Picasso. So we make our way into this absolutely gorgeous art museum, (I mean really, the building itself is worth the trip) and up the elevator to the 2nd floor where Guernica is located. It is really breathtaking to see such a massive and important piece of artwork up close and personal. I know it’s an obvious statement, but there is just sooooooooo much more to appreciate and detail to notice when your not looking at something in the pages of an art history text book… So we stood for quite a while marveling at this painting and then decided it was time to head out and take advantage of this sure-to-be-an-absolute-shit-show night. So we headed off, stopping along the way to get some bottled water (hydration is good and for some reason I haven’t felt well hydrated since I’ve been here) and ended up at our first destination of the evening, the hip-ish, albeit a little gay, Chueca (Chicagoans: think of it as Lakeview but only in concept, the execution is really not so much). We sat for a while at an outdoor café and then made our way into one of the nearby clubs (it seemed that everywhere was charging a cover, probably because the could seeing as the entire city was awake and looking for places to go…)
[For those of you who care or my find it funny, a shirtless Edson just walked by my room and is now cooking tortilla, I believe] (UPDATE: I was wrong it was pista. Think of it as sautéed vegetables with French fries on top.)
Anyway, we stay in this club for a little while (it’s not so much fun… It’s in the basement and there is really no space). So we decide to leave and see what else the area has to offer. We end up putzing around for a little while when we’re approached by one of the now infamous (to us, at least) people offering either chupitos gratis or entrance without cover. This one tells us we can get in for free, ahead of the line and the have “música Franz Ferdinand”. We gee golly, I’m sold (if you couldn’t tell I’m being sarcastic only because last time we’re in Chueca and somebody offered us free shots and no cover to a “great bar with a mixed crowd”, we ended up in some lesbian bar. I mean I guess the crowd was mixed if having lesbos with both long and short hair is your idea of a mixed crowd… Anyway, moving on…). So we get to this club and it’s not awful, not super though, and the drinks weren’t super expensive. And so we stayed there for a while, maybe half an hour, and decided to move on to Calle Fuencarral, and area that we seem to be frequenting a lot lately, and an area where there was supposed to be live entertainment (Daft Punk I think…). However, by the time we got there it looked like some post-apocalyptic vision with people moving down the street in large clumps and garbage piled to the high heavens (you’ll have to excuse me, I’ve been reading Stephen King lately). Anyway, before looking for another bar, the drunken munchies take all five of our bodies hostage and we go searching for this pizza place where apparently Mike had some really good pizza one night that he doesn’t so much remember… Well when we get there, now keep in mind this is Spain, they only have ham or pepperoni pizza… COME ON! I know slaughtering pigs is like a national past time here, but really… No cheese? It’s just fucking cheese pizza, it’s a staple… Anyway Sonja, Emily and myself (who don’t eat the pig) we’re pretty not happy… Mike and Merina we’re fine (they eat that). So after those two have their pizza, the other three of us set off on what seemed at the time like a life or death mission to find something to eat (and keep in mind its 3:45am and there are no good calories at this point.) So we walk around what seemed like half of the city searching for something, at the very least a Döner Kebap place where we can get some falafel or something…. But no… We just keep walking, and walking. Although in our mad hunt we did manage to find this bar that Emily had gone to when she studied here two summers ago where the serve drinks called minis which are anything but… These drinks are about the size of your head and according to Emily the ones at this bar can only be lifted with two hands. So in time, we ended up pretty much where we started and thankfully found a bar that served food. While the two carnivores went to get some more pizza, we ordered bocadillos of tortilla (think about an 8” long sandwich on French bread and tortilla, if I haven’t explained it, is basically an omelet like concoction with potato in it. Yeah, at 4:00 in the morning, that sandwich was like the second coming (or, I guess for me, the first coming, but that’s just a technicality and also a badly placed Jew-joke…) Anyway, after we finish our humongous bocadillos and the fries that came with them, we sat and digested for a while and then decided to head back to that bar with the minis… Well we got there and it was an America-themed bar (I’m talking American celebrities and sports posters all over everywhere)… I think it also doubles a s smoke house because I think I now have a black lung from just standing in the place for about 30 minutes… So, by the time 5:15 rolls around, we’re not feeling the bar so much anymore and decide to head out, find a bench and just wait until the metro reopens at 6:00… At this point, pretty much the entire city is still awake, still out, and some of them are even still drinking (don’t ask me how, I honestly enjoy sleeping a little to much…)
Well needless to say the Metro reopened at 6:00 and hordes of people piled down into stations and trains everywhere. Emily and I were fortunate enough to get on the train with a very hairy, very scary shirtless man who was rocking out a little too hard on a crowded train… By the time I got to my stop it was 6:45 and by the time I got to bed I think it was 7:15… It’s Sunday now so that means it’s gunna be a somewhat boring day. We’re all meeting up at this really interesting Spanish café to do our translation homework later though, it’s called Starbucks… I think they have a few in America, not really sure though.
At any point, I think the length of this post more than makes up for the lackluster description of Toledo, don’t you?
Hasta luego….
My friends and I have been trying for about two weeks now to get reservations at this restaurant called Wagaboo (described by one guide book as an “exotic eatery serving global cuisine”) and keep failing to get a reservation. So, in our desperation of somewhere to go I turned to my handy dandy Señora. I asked Laura if she knew of any good (and not too expensive) restaurants that we would enjoy. She quickly informed me that, in fact, her cousin owns a restaurant called El Teletipo about 4 blocks from our school and that the food is fantastic (well that’s debatable but we’ll discuss that in a bit…) So Laura called and made the reservations and we were in for 9:30.
Jump to the next day: I’ve been fasting for a while (you know, that whole Judaism thing…) and haven’t really eaten so when we head off to dinner I’m pretty excited. Now, seeing as Laura told me that we’d need a reservation to get into this place, I figured it would be somewhat of a “spot”… Well, we walk in and it’s pretty much us (save Laura’s cousin, the wait staff and the private party in the back room). Okay, fine… So we sit down and get our menus. Good selection of things. I order the sole. Okay, so I have a thing with eating whole fish, I don’t know why but having it remain in the same shape that it used to swim in… Not so much my cup of tea… Anyway, the fish wasn’t bad and the wine wasn’t bad either (we got the house white, Laura’s suggestion) and to be honest this little Jew with his empty stomach started feeling it pretty quickly… Anyway dinner’s done (oh did I mention that my friend Mike ordered the deep fried brains, testicles, and sweet meats platter; also Laura’s suggestion… Yep…) and we order desert, some sort of chocolate pastry thing. WOW! Seriously, none of us could understand it but this slice o chocolate whatever-it-was, that didn’t look particularly intriguing was absolutely fantastic. Really, desert made the somewhat “meh” dinner worth having and made the restaurant worth going back to.
Anyway, we leave the restaurant and decide to go over to one of the museums (Why not right? It is free after all.) and settle on the Reina Sofia, Madrids more contemporary art museum and home to Pablo Picasso’s Guernica. Well needless to say, we made it to the museum with a minimal amount of lost-ness (and wow were the streets crowded, it seemed like every person of every age that lives in Madrid was out and about last night, or two nights ago by the time you read this…). Anyway, I have my heart set on seeing Guernica mainly because I’ve been studying the damn thing for, I don’t know, 10 years and have done maybe 6 reports on it, plus I like Picasso. So we make our way into this absolutely gorgeous art museum, (I mean really, the building itself is worth the trip) and up the elevator to the 2nd floor where Guernica is located. It is really breathtaking to see such a massive and important piece of artwork up close and personal. I know it’s an obvious statement, but there is just sooooooooo much more to appreciate and detail to notice when your not looking at something in the pages of an art history text book… So we stood for quite a while marveling at this painting and then decided it was time to head out and take advantage of this sure-to-be-an-absolute-shit-show night. So we headed off, stopping along the way to get some bottled water (hydration is good and for some reason I haven’t felt well hydrated since I’ve been here) and ended up at our first destination of the evening, the hip-ish, albeit a little gay, Chueca (Chicagoans: think of it as Lakeview but only in concept, the execution is really not so much). We sat for a while at an outdoor café and then made our way into one of the nearby clubs (it seemed that everywhere was charging a cover, probably because the could seeing as the entire city was awake and looking for places to go…)
[For those of you who care or my find it funny, a shirtless Edson just walked by my room and is now cooking tortilla, I believe] (UPDATE: I was wrong it was pista. Think of it as sautéed vegetables with French fries on top.)
Anyway, we stay in this club for a little while (it’s not so much fun… It’s in the basement and there is really no space). So we decide to leave and see what else the area has to offer. We end up putzing around for a little while when we’re approached by one of the now infamous (to us, at least) people offering either chupitos gratis or entrance without cover. This one tells us we can get in for free, ahead of the line and the have “música Franz Ferdinand”. We gee golly, I’m sold (if you couldn’t tell I’m being sarcastic only because last time we’re in Chueca and somebody offered us free shots and no cover to a “great bar with a mixed crowd”, we ended up in some lesbian bar. I mean I guess the crowd was mixed if having lesbos with both long and short hair is your idea of a mixed crowd… Anyway, moving on…). So we get to this club and it’s not awful, not super though, and the drinks weren’t super expensive. And so we stayed there for a while, maybe half an hour, and decided to move on to Calle Fuencarral, and area that we seem to be frequenting a lot lately, and an area where there was supposed to be live entertainment (Daft Punk I think…). However, by the time we got there it looked like some post-apocalyptic vision with people moving down the street in large clumps and garbage piled to the high heavens (you’ll have to excuse me, I’ve been reading Stephen King lately). Anyway, before looking for another bar, the drunken munchies take all five of our bodies hostage and we go searching for this pizza place where apparently Mike had some really good pizza one night that he doesn’t so much remember… Well when we get there, now keep in mind this is Spain, they only have ham or pepperoni pizza… COME ON! I know slaughtering pigs is like a national past time here, but really… No cheese? It’s just fucking cheese pizza, it’s a staple… Anyway Sonja, Emily and myself (who don’t eat the pig) we’re pretty not happy… Mike and Merina we’re fine (they eat that). So after those two have their pizza, the other three of us set off on what seemed at the time like a life or death mission to find something to eat (and keep in mind its 3:45am and there are no good calories at this point.) So we walk around what seemed like half of the city searching for something, at the very least a Döner Kebap place where we can get some falafel or something…. But no… We just keep walking, and walking. Although in our mad hunt we did manage to find this bar that Emily had gone to when she studied here two summers ago where the serve drinks called minis which are anything but… These drinks are about the size of your head and according to Emily the ones at this bar can only be lifted with two hands. So in time, we ended up pretty much where we started and thankfully found a bar that served food. While the two carnivores went to get some more pizza, we ordered bocadillos of tortilla (think about an 8” long sandwich on French bread and tortilla, if I haven’t explained it, is basically an omelet like concoction with potato in it. Yeah, at 4:00 in the morning, that sandwich was like the second coming (or, I guess for me, the first coming, but that’s just a technicality and also a badly placed Jew-joke…) Anyway, after we finish our humongous bocadillos and the fries that came with them, we sat and digested for a while and then decided to head back to that bar with the minis… Well we got there and it was an America-themed bar (I’m talking American celebrities and sports posters all over everywhere)… I think it also doubles a s smoke house because I think I now have a black lung from just standing in the place for about 30 minutes… So, by the time 5:15 rolls around, we’re not feeling the bar so much anymore and decide to head out, find a bench and just wait until the metro reopens at 6:00… At this point, pretty much the entire city is still awake, still out, and some of them are even still drinking (don’t ask me how, I honestly enjoy sleeping a little to much…)
Well needless to say the Metro reopened at 6:00 and hordes of people piled down into stations and trains everywhere. Emily and I were fortunate enough to get on the train with a very hairy, very scary shirtless man who was rocking out a little too hard on a crowded train… By the time I got to my stop it was 6:45 and by the time I got to bed I think it was 7:15… It’s Sunday now so that means it’s gunna be a somewhat boring day. We’re all meeting up at this really interesting Spanish café to do our translation homework later though, it’s called Starbucks… I think they have a few in America, not really sure though.
At any point, I think the length of this post more than makes up for the lackluster description of Toledo, don’t you?
Hasta luego….
Un viaje a Toledo
Well I took my first venture outside the city limits of Madrid to the historical city of Toledo. It’s a very beautiful city especially when you approach it and once you get there, well, it’s also very beautiful.
The city itself is a shell of what it once was: the epicenter of Spain’s Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faiths, however many of the original buildings still stand (and then again, many do not).
Our trip consisted of visits to various churches-cum-museums and a generous amount of free time to explore this city in which there is really nothing much to explore.
Aside from the religious aspects, Toledo is known for its steel as well as its gold work. And besides churches, you pretty much only find souvenir shops selling swords and, you guessed it, things made of gold with lots of intricate patterns.
I know this post is kinda short, but there really isn’t much to say that you can’t see for yourself in the pictures. I mean, sure I could talk about El Greco and the church/museum that had a wall dedicated to the anti-abortion, pro life sentiment, but I’m really not in the mood… So please to be exploring the pictures on your own time... :)
Later…
The city itself is a shell of what it once was: the epicenter of Spain’s Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faiths, however many of the original buildings still stand (and then again, many do not).
Our trip consisted of visits to various churches-cum-museums and a generous amount of free time to explore this city in which there is really nothing much to explore.
Aside from the religious aspects, Toledo is known for its steel as well as its gold work. And besides churches, you pretty much only find souvenir shops selling swords and, you guessed it, things made of gold with lots of intricate patterns.
I know this post is kinda short, but there really isn’t much to say that you can’t see for yourself in the pictures. I mean, sure I could talk about El Greco and the church/museum that had a wall dedicated to the anti-abortion, pro life sentiment, but I’m really not in the mood… So please to be exploring the pictures on your own time... :)
Later…
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Let’s talk about class, baby…
(Front Door of the International Institute)
So, as some of you know this semester amongst other things was/is going to be my time to see what my life would be like as a “real college student”, you know, not the kind that spends more hours in class and rehearsal than he does out or in his apartment… Well so far so good... So as the title of this entry says, let’s talk about class baby!
While my schedule has changed a few times since I’ve been here, I’ve finally settled on a schedule that works for me. I’m in four 4 credit classes that all meet 2 a week. Somehow, Lord only knows, I’ve managed to squeeze all these in and still managed to have Thursdays off (there generally is no class on Fridays for Spanish students…) So yep, Jason has himself some four day weekends… Every week… And oh yeah, he also happens to be in Europe… Anywho, classes…
The first class I have each week is my translation in theatre and film course. So far it’s an extremely entertaining class where we translate myriad different works. For example, right now we’re working on Antz, you know that animated movie about ants with Woody Allen? Yeah, thought so. But it’s been really great learning some more of the intricacies of the language as well as learning a lot of Spanish slang.
My next class is my phonetics class. Um super fun…. It’s kind of like being in a Spanish elementary school… On Monday of this week we were handed worksheets with the alphabet printed on them and were instructed to name the letters and then produce the sound that they make… I know, my life is really rough right now. Afterwards we had to take words who’s syllables had been messed up and reorder them. This prompted the teacher to ask us (in Spanish, of course) “Does everyone know what a syllable is?” We all nodded and added some vocal confirmation. She then proceeds to hit her fists on the desk while saying “Syll-a-ble” in order to drive the point home. Class that day ended with a rousing game of Spanish Scatergories…
Next we have my Art in Madrid class. This art history class is really nice solely because when we study something in class, we end up seeing it in one of the 3 major art museums here in Madrid. Each week one of our two 1:30 classes is spent at either the Thysian, Prado, or the Reina Sofia. Not a bad way to spend some time. Also, the professor is a very nice, intelligent guy.
And my last class. Spanish film. I’m not the biggest movie fan but I’m enjoying this class so far. It’s taught by the same professor as my art history class which is nice (he knows many things…) and we do get exposed to a lot of interesting cinema. So far we’ve been focusing on the Spanish director Luis Buñuel and some of his earlier works and we’ll be working our way up through time ending, I believe, on Almodovar… So there you have it… A little more insight into my life as it stands right now… Oh yeah, I’m also considering getting certified for TOEFL (teaching of English as a second language) and working up to 11 hours a week… But we’ll see…
¡Adios!
Quote of the (Yester)Day...
So after an exciting morning outing to the Pepe Center for some internet action, I returned home to lunch with Edson. I walk in and something smells a little off... As we sit down to eat:
EDSON: He estado fumando Maria... Huele no?
I've been smoking Maria (pot)... Smells, no?
JASON: Si...
Yeah...
Then we ate our pasta. That is all...
Monday, September 17, 2007
Sunday: 1 Week Later
So after a week, I’m really starting to adjust… Maybe not so much to the cold shower hose contraption thingy, but to other things. Today was very nice… I woke up in the morning and took some time to relax and a little while after, Laura asked if I wanted to go grab a little appetizer and a drink at this little seafood restaurant/bar down the street. Of course I was game… Before we were able to leave however Edson returned home from the Rastro (think of it as a large open air flea market) where he was supposed to buy a part for a lamp… Well it turns out that Edson didn’t have enough money to buy the part that he eventually found because he spent some of it on food for himself while out… Needless to say, Laura got a little peeved and there I was standing in the living/dining room while mommy and daddy were fighting… Awkward flashbacks to childhood (just kidding mom & dad, you know I don’t mean it). So I retreated to my room a little for a while. After Laura was done reaming out Edson we headed out.
This bar was wonderful… The seafood was some of the freshest and most flavorful that I have ever eaten. We started with some fried calamari, toasted bread with anchovies and tomatoes then moved on to the little baby clams covered with olive oil, garlic, and lemon (yum!) Then the owner treated us to some salt cured tuna (a very expensive delicacy) which was also extremely delicious. We each had 2 beers and discussed many a topic (the conversation did get a little awkward when I asked if she had kids… A sore subject? Maybe. Why? I don’t know, but I don’t intend to investigate it any further…) Afterwards we went back to the apartment and had lunch (THEY EAT SO MUCH HERE). Post lunch I headed to what has in a short time become my favorite place in Madrid, Retiro Park.
Not only had I spent about 7 hours on Saturday sitting by a magical little fountain reading, but I went back today. This time however, my friends and I met up for a little “Homework on the Green” if you will… It was a very nice afternoon. I had enough time to finish my homework and finish my book (Cell by Stephen King… Good post-apocalyptic quick read… Now I’m finally gunna finish Harry Potter) Dinner (at 9:30) was couscous and then I read until bed… Not a bad day if I do say so myself…
So Sundays can work, if and only if you know how to use them….
L’Shana Tova
First and foremost, may it be good new year. Now… Let’s discuss my Rosh Hashanah. You all know me by now… Sometimes I get myself into awkward situations unintentionally… Well this was certainly one of those times…. Friday afternoon I had called around attempting to find somewhere to spend the holidays (I’m not one to miss them and especially this year) so I found the Jewish Center in Madrid. They said I was welcome to come as long as I brought my passport. Fine. So I went.
Allowing myself the “Jason gets lost for at least 30 minutes whenever he goes somewhere” grace period, I headed out pretty early to get to services. When I arrived at the street, there was a large building with no address on it but a man standing in front of it. Oh! Did I mention that the entire street was barricaded by police, yeah, that too… So I walk up to this man and asked “Is this number 3?” He said, “Why do you want to know? What are you here for?” I sheepishly reply “Rosh Hashanah services…” He said “One moment” and proceeded to open the door and take me inside.
Once inside I was asked to hand over my passport answer a large round of questions, empty my pockets and get patted down before being allowed to enter the synagogue… After I was inside I got lost… SURPRISE! Even in a building, I can still get lost… While I was finally walking up the correct set of stairs I heard a voice from behind me in Spanish ask, “Hello. What’s your name?” Long story short I answer and find out the this young man is also an American who happens to be from Chicago and is here on a Fulbright scholarship translating Hebrew texts into Spanish… Yep… Oh, and he’s also a librarian (somebody’s racking up the cool points) Anywho, as he’s the only other American in the place, I stick with him. While waiting for services he asks, “So do you normally go to orthodox?” and I replied with , “I knew it… I knew this was going to be orthodox… Actually no, I’m pretty much reform…” Also I’m an Ashkenazi and these were (of course) Sephardic services. I decided then that it would be interesting to observe a completely different tradition. And it certainly was: The chants are all different, different prayers are recited, there was not English let alone Spanish in sight for the entire time- just Hebrew. Most interesting moment of the service: Madrid is in the center of Spain so there’s no body of water nearby. Therefore we went and did Taslich (sp?) in front of a running faucet… Yep… Look at us Jews being so crafty J. Anyway, after the service (which was not nearly as long as I expected it to be) I headed out to start of the new year right…
Close Up: Breakfast
I wanted to take a moment to address an issue that I seem to be having. Breakfast, why you gotta be so big? Seriously though… When I’m home breakfast might be some cereal, maybe a granola bar, once in a while a sandwich, and super rarely some sort of waffle or pancake… But here, well let’s just say things are a little different…
Every morning I wake up to an absolutely ginormous morning meal that, although it might not sound that filling it most definitely is (especially when you’re avoiding using the toilet at home for certain things… But I digest. I mean digress) Waiting on my Coca-Cola® Christmas elf tray in the kitchen is a large bowl of muesli with Laura’s homemade (I think) yogurt on top (there was something about a jar of cultures in the cabinet that she puts milk in every week, I dunno…) Now we’re not talking your sissy-ass American granola here. This stuff is filled with whole nuts and dried fruit as well as grains and comes in a bowl (I kid you not) the size of my head. Next to the muesli, we have a mug of tea usually accompanied by a whole pot of tea which I still haven’t figured out if I’m supposed to finish or not… Okay, fine. But next we have the killer: the orange juice (if you can call it that). Laura, bless her heart, every morning squeezes two oranges for me and makes juice. However after the juice has been extracted from the oranges, the pulp goes right back into the glass… Imagine, if you will, trying to drink a lowball full of pulp. Seriously this is no different than just eating two oranges except the happen to be all mushed up and in a glass… By the time I’m done eating as much as I can (because I’m still not so sure if I’ll offend anyone by throwing something out) I’m full and almost ready to burst (remember I’m not really using the bathroom at the apartment… You saw the pictures… And plus the walls are paper thin). So yep… There you have it. A close up on my typical Spanish breakfast. Thanks for listening to me rant a bit…
Until next time.
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