This is gonna be short because I have 10 paragraphs of homework to do tonight. And today was the first day of classes! Anyway...
Yesterday (Sunday) I didn´t really have anything to do, so I decided to go to the Prado Museum because Sundays are free. When I got there, the line out the front door pretty much stretched around the block, so I chose to mosey on. I went on down to the Museo Nacional Centro de Artes Reina Sofia, which was also free on Sundays. There was no line here, as this museum isn´t nearly as famous as the Prado. When I got inside and started wandering through the permanent collection, I realized that this museum mostly catered toward those who appreciate the more modern types of art. I, however, am not one of those and continually fail to see the artistic importance of a mostly blank canvas with a few swooshes of brown or black. Therefore, I didn´t really enjoy myself. There was one point of massive interest to me in that museum, though, and it was Picasso´s Guernica, pretty much the most famous painting of the 20th century. So I was pretty excited to see that. I did see a few paintings of Salvador Dali as well, and one by Diego Rivera, but they were Cubist paintings and, therefore, boring and stupid. To me. That is my opinion. I´m sorry, Jane.
Today (Monday), I had my first TEFL class. I really think I am going to enjoy this course, because the teacher of the theory section is very cool and interesting. I´ve made a few more friends too, especially Elaine from Ireland, who I talked to today over a kebab lunch at a little Greek restaurant. Tomorrow, I am going to pick up the keys for my new apartment. That´s pretty much it. I´ll definitely let ya´ll know how La Tomatina goes, along with pictures. After this week, I´ll probably blog once a week or so, because things are starting to slow down and there´s not so much to write about. I hope Alabama cools down for ya´ll. The weather here is lovely!
Monday, August 27, 2007
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Day 4- an update
I found an apartment!!!!!! It´s cute, it´s beautiful, it´s perfect, and I absolutely love it! My roommate is cool too. She´s a bit older than me, but I know we will get along great. She´s a hairdresser (which couldn´t be better because she said she could help me with my hair) and she doesn´t speak English (which is also great because I am forced to speak Spanish with her). I was so stressed today because I was having trouble finding a place, but now all is well in Spanish-Land and I am moving in Thursday! That´s really a huge relief. And I bought myself a huge chocolate ice cream cone on the walk back to my hostal to celebrate. Just thought I´d let ya´ll know. About the apartment, not the ice cream cone. Well, now you know about both. Ok, I´m giddy.
Day 4- Saturday, August 25th 2007
The apartment search is not going well. So I am a little discouraged today. I looked at an apartment last night in a part of town that was too far to walk to, so I took the metro for the first time. The metro is Madrid’s subway system, and once you pick up a map of all the stops and stations, it’s pretty easy to navigate. However, once I got to the right part of town, I had a bit of trouble finding the apartment. I don’t think that Madrid has a ghetto, but if it did, that would have been it, and there I was hiking up and down the street. I had kind of already made up my mind about the place, and when I did finally arrive to the correct building and ring the buzzer to tell them I was there, I was panting for breath. What fun to realize that the apartment was on the 5th floor with no elevator! And when I say the fifth floor, I really mean the sixth floor, because they don’t count the ground floor. The second I saw the room they wanted to rent out, I was like, “Heck no!” Well, I actually thought something a little stronger, but my momma’s gonna read this so I will keep it to myself. There was no bed, just a mattress on the floor. The little wooden bookshelf looked like it would collapse if I put even my passport on it. And the bathroom and kitchen were worse. It was altogether massively depressing. So I politely told the guy that the location was too far from my work, and then I left.
When I came up out of the metro station at the Puerta del Sol, I saw a crowd gathered around some people playing some very familiar-sounding music, so I walked over to check it out. There was an Andean musical group there performing and selling CDs! They were very good and the music made me happy. This was at about 11:00pm, and the streets were completely full of people. This is the latest I have been out so far, and it astonished me to see so many people out that late. And it wasn’t just young people or teenagers. There were nicely-dressed older couples, middle-aged businessmen in suits, and even families with their kids! In the States, if you are in the streets that late, people assume you are looking for trouble. So, pushing my way through the crowds, I made it back to my hostal and did the American thing. I went to bed.
This morning, I got up, packed everything, and went down the street to a new hostal that is 12 euros cheaper per night than I have been paying. It is a small place and seems to be run by a family in their apartment. I don’t have my own bathroom this time, but I don’t care. It is cheap enough for me to stay until I find an apartment, and I am tired of carrying my luggage around! The next time I move it will be into a taxi and to my new permanent room.
I have made a lot of calls to people, trying to set up some apartment-viewings, but only two have come though so far, partially because it is so hard for me to understand Spanish people, especially over the phone. The first was last night, and the second was this afternoon, in a nicer part of town that was really pretty. The apartment was cute-ish, though the room was really really small. The people who already live there seem nice and clean. However, it is also up six flights of stairs with no elevator, and won’t be available until the 1st of September. So heck. I’ll keep on looking. When I was walking to the apartment this afternoon, a car passed by me blasting “Atrevete” at full volume and it made me smile. I know that seems really lame, but I associate that song with my friends back home, so it made me think of them.
I hope my new friend Megan from Denver calls me today so we can hang out tonight. She is also gonna be taking the TEFL course with me, and we met at the orientation yesterday. I also met Rick from Boston, and we three chatted a lot. They are both a lot like me, recently out of college and teaching English for an excuse to live in Madrid.
I am back in an Internet café because I couldn’t pick up any wireless network from my new hostal. Hopefully, I can get my living situation worked out soon because this is really stressing me out. I may seek help from the wise ones at Canterbury, who can help me make phone calls and should be able to understand what people are freakin saying. Tomorrow I am going to the Prado because it is free public museum day. And I am gonna sit on my butt and look at some paintings for awhile. That should make me feel better. I miss everyone at home so much! Love ya’ll!
When I came up out of the metro station at the Puerta del Sol, I saw a crowd gathered around some people playing some very familiar-sounding music, so I walked over to check it out. There was an Andean musical group there performing and selling CDs! They were very good and the music made me happy. This was at about 11:00pm, and the streets were completely full of people. This is the latest I have been out so far, and it astonished me to see so many people out that late. And it wasn’t just young people or teenagers. There were nicely-dressed older couples, middle-aged businessmen in suits, and even families with their kids! In the States, if you are in the streets that late, people assume you are looking for trouble. So, pushing my way through the crowds, I made it back to my hostal and did the American thing. I went to bed.
This morning, I got up, packed everything, and went down the street to a new hostal that is 12 euros cheaper per night than I have been paying. It is a small place and seems to be run by a family in their apartment. I don’t have my own bathroom this time, but I don’t care. It is cheap enough for me to stay until I find an apartment, and I am tired of carrying my luggage around! The next time I move it will be into a taxi and to my new permanent room.
I have made a lot of calls to people, trying to set up some apartment-viewings, but only two have come though so far, partially because it is so hard for me to understand Spanish people, especially over the phone. The first was last night, and the second was this afternoon, in a nicer part of town that was really pretty. The apartment was cute-ish, though the room was really really small. The people who already live there seem nice and clean. However, it is also up six flights of stairs with no elevator, and won’t be available until the 1st of September. So heck. I’ll keep on looking. When I was walking to the apartment this afternoon, a car passed by me blasting “Atrevete” at full volume and it made me smile. I know that seems really lame, but I associate that song with my friends back home, so it made me think of them.
I hope my new friend Megan from Denver calls me today so we can hang out tonight. She is also gonna be taking the TEFL course with me, and we met at the orientation yesterday. I also met Rick from Boston, and we three chatted a lot. They are both a lot like me, recently out of college and teaching English for an excuse to live in Madrid.
I am back in an Internet café because I couldn’t pick up any wireless network from my new hostal. Hopefully, I can get my living situation worked out soon because this is really stressing me out. I may seek help from the wise ones at Canterbury, who can help me make phone calls and should be able to understand what people are freakin saying. Tomorrow I am going to the Prado because it is free public museum day. And I am gonna sit on my butt and look at some paintings for awhile. That should make me feel better. I miss everyone at home so much! Love ya’ll!
Friday, August 24, 2007
Day 3- Friday, August 24th 2007
Thank the heavens and dark chocolate! Canterbury English does exist! I went to my orientation today and got everything straightened out, so I no longer have to be suspicious about getting scammed by stinky Internet scammers.
A few small victories to report today:
-I got a cell phone! At the orientation, we were told that cell phones are essential for teachers to have in case of class cancellations and such. So I waltzed down to the nearest Phone House and bought the cheapest prepaid thing they had, so now I can communicate!
-I have friends now! That sounds so lame, I know, but it was a victory in itself, because up until this morning, I knew absolutely nobody in this city. Granted, I still don´t know any Spaniards, but American friends are a good start.
-I went to a café and ordered breakfast without incident! I had my first Spanish tortilla, which is like a potato omelet, and pretty yummy with coffee. Nothing at all like a Latin-American tortilla.
Some other interesting stuff:
-The light thingy at crosswalks that tells you it´s safe to cross the street (what are those called?) makes chirping sounds when the little man turns green. Chirping like a little bird in your garden singing at the sun, which is quite a bit nicer than ¨You may cross Bennett Street...¨
-I walked down some new streets today and passed by all the prostitutes. It made me so sad to see all those beautiful girls in their tiny little skirts and dresses, with extremely high-heeled shoes, leaning against the light posts and in doorways, waiting for some skanky old Madridian man to come by and buy them. These girls were not missing any teeth, wearing torn fishnet stockings, or looking like they fell out of a bad 80s music video, which is the way I always picture prostitutes. Nope, they were nice looking with good hair, cute clothes, and very pretty faces. They could have just as soon been on America´s Next Top Model. But there was no doubt what they were. Broke my heart. My second prostitute viewing ever. The first was in Tegucigalpa, but those prostitutes were transvestites and for some reason didn´t make me feel bad at all. They just made me laugh.
So...that´s it for now. I hope you guys are enjoying my blogs, and I think I´ve fixed the comment thing so ya´ll can leave comments if you want. Pictures coming soon!
A few small victories to report today:
-I got a cell phone! At the orientation, we were told that cell phones are essential for teachers to have in case of class cancellations and such. So I waltzed down to the nearest Phone House and bought the cheapest prepaid thing they had, so now I can communicate!
-I have friends now! That sounds so lame, I know, but it was a victory in itself, because up until this morning, I knew absolutely nobody in this city. Granted, I still don´t know any Spaniards, but American friends are a good start.
-I went to a café and ordered breakfast without incident! I had my first Spanish tortilla, which is like a potato omelet, and pretty yummy with coffee. Nothing at all like a Latin-American tortilla.
-On Wednesday, I am going on a trip with the Canterbury people to Buñol for La Tomatina!!!! That´s the world´s biggest tomato fight where people come from all over to throw tons of tomatoes at each other and get completely soaked from head to toe in tomato juice. Yup. Go ahead, look it up on the Internet and be jealous.
Some other interesting stuff:
-The light thingy at crosswalks that tells you it´s safe to cross the street (what are those called?) makes chirping sounds when the little man turns green. Chirping like a little bird in your garden singing at the sun, which is quite a bit nicer than ¨You may cross Bennett Street...¨
-I walked down some new streets today and passed by all the prostitutes. It made me so sad to see all those beautiful girls in their tiny little skirts and dresses, with extremely high-heeled shoes, leaning against the light posts and in doorways, waiting for some skanky old Madridian man to come by and buy them. These girls were not missing any teeth, wearing torn fishnet stockings, or looking like they fell out of a bad 80s music video, which is the way I always picture prostitutes. Nope, they were nice looking with good hair, cute clothes, and very pretty faces. They could have just as soon been on America´s Next Top Model. But there was no doubt what they were. Broke my heart. My second prostitute viewing ever. The first was in Tegucigalpa, but those prostitutes were transvestites and for some reason didn´t make me feel bad at all. They just made me laugh.
So...that´s it for now. I hope you guys are enjoying my blogs, and I think I´ve fixed the comment thing so ya´ll can leave comments if you want. Pictures coming soon!
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Day 2- Thursday, August 23rd 2007
Ok, things feel like they are starting to fall into place now, and I am getting more comfortable in my surroundings. Several successes to report on today: I found a plug convertor kit so I can use the laptop now. Also, I got a USB cable for my digital camera so I can put pictures on the computer too. Hooray for technology!
This morning I got up and did my best to repack my bags and get everything into a transportable fashion. Joaquin is an amazing packer, and I couldn’t quite recreate the magic he must have used to fit everything in, but I did the best I could. I said goodbye to the over-priced touristic apartment, gave the key to the guy at the front desk and high-tailed it out of there to find some place a lot more economical. Well, high-tailing it is a bit of an exaggeration, because with all my bags, the best I could really do was struggle valiantly. So…I struggled valiantly out of there and to the main road, determined to make it on foot because taxis are dang expensive. However, contrary to my belief that cheap hostals would pop up everywhere I turned, I was apparently in the wrong part of town for that. So after an hour of huffing and puffing and fighting my luggage around the neighborhood, I finally gave up and hailed a taxi to take me somewhere…anywhere!...to a place where I could leave that maldito equipaje. Thankfully, the cab driver who picked me up knew just where to go.
So here I am at Hostal Cantábrico, a neat 30€ per night, and really close to the Puerta del Sol, an extremely busy and popular plaza which serves as the hub of commercial Madrid, or so it seems to me. There are several pedestrian-only streets here, lined with every kind of store imaginable. I saw H&M (definitely gonna go check that one out soon), El Corte Inglés, FNAC (where I bought my plug convertors and USB) (by the way, how the heck do you say that? Fuh-nack?) (Is it ok to have several phrases in parentheses strung together like this? Oh well.), lots and lots of shoe stores, Mcdonald’s, Burger King, and Starbucks, lots of food stores and little Chinese grocers, and so forth. It was an amazing discovery for me. And I ate lunch at Pollo Campero! I didn’t know they had that here. I was so happy to be someplace familiar.
I also found where my orientation will take place tomorrow. Well, I think I found it. I followed the directions from Canterbury’s website and arrived at the correct building, but there is no indication anywhere that English classes take place there. I felt a deep sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach after walking up and down the street trying to figure it out. On top of that, yesterday I tried to find Canterbury’s main administrative office, located in a different neighborhood. The building I arrived at, following the address from the website, was the same case as today. No indication whatsoever that people speak English in those parts. Plus, I asked everyone within a 100-meter radius of the address (See? Meters! Hee hee, I am converting…) but nobody knew of Canterbury English. So today, with great dread in my heart, I finally called the office phone number, half-expecting to hear “We’re sorry, but this number has been disconnected,” or whatever its equivalent is in Spanish. I was convinced I had fallen into a great Internet scam in which some hacker ran off with my 300€ I transferred to hold my place in the program. Much to my surprise and massive relief, a lady answered the phone and verified that there is indeed a Canterbury English program in Madrid, and not to worry, the orientation would take place as planned in the afore-mentioned building. Hopefully, tomorrow morning, as I try once again to figure out how to get in, there will be several English-speaking people like me in the same predicament, and we can work together to figure it out. Heck, I’m getting there thirty minutes early just in case. I know, I know…early! Like I said before, this place is already impacting me and changing my pre-conceived notions and habits. Don’t worry though, you’ll still know me when I get back, I’ll just be more fearless! And early…
This morning I got up and did my best to repack my bags and get everything into a transportable fashion. Joaquin is an amazing packer, and I couldn’t quite recreate the magic he must have used to fit everything in, but I did the best I could. I said goodbye to the over-priced touristic apartment, gave the key to the guy at the front desk and high-tailed it out of there to find some place a lot more economical. Well, high-tailing it is a bit of an exaggeration, because with all my bags, the best I could really do was struggle valiantly. So…I struggled valiantly out of there and to the main road, determined to make it on foot because taxis are dang expensive. However, contrary to my belief that cheap hostals would pop up everywhere I turned, I was apparently in the wrong part of town for that. So after an hour of huffing and puffing and fighting my luggage around the neighborhood, I finally gave up and hailed a taxi to take me somewhere…anywhere!...to a place where I could leave that maldito equipaje. Thankfully, the cab driver who picked me up knew just where to go.
So here I am at Hostal Cantábrico, a neat 30€ per night, and really close to the Puerta del Sol, an extremely busy and popular plaza which serves as the hub of commercial Madrid, or so it seems to me. There are several pedestrian-only streets here, lined with every kind of store imaginable. I saw H&M (definitely gonna go check that one out soon), El Corte Inglés, FNAC (where I bought my plug convertors and USB) (by the way, how the heck do you say that? Fuh-nack?) (Is it ok to have several phrases in parentheses strung together like this? Oh well.), lots and lots of shoe stores, Mcdonald’s, Burger King, and Starbucks, lots of food stores and little Chinese grocers, and so forth. It was an amazing discovery for me. And I ate lunch at Pollo Campero! I didn’t know they had that here. I was so happy to be someplace familiar.
I also found where my orientation will take place tomorrow. Well, I think I found it. I followed the directions from Canterbury’s website and arrived at the correct building, but there is no indication anywhere that English classes take place there. I felt a deep sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach after walking up and down the street trying to figure it out. On top of that, yesterday I tried to find Canterbury’s main administrative office, located in a different neighborhood. The building I arrived at, following the address from the website, was the same case as today. No indication whatsoever that people speak English in those parts. Plus, I asked everyone within a 100-meter radius of the address (See? Meters! Hee hee, I am converting…) but nobody knew of Canterbury English. So today, with great dread in my heart, I finally called the office phone number, half-expecting to hear “We’re sorry, but this number has been disconnected,” or whatever its equivalent is in Spanish. I was convinced I had fallen into a great Internet scam in which some hacker ran off with my 300€ I transferred to hold my place in the program. Much to my surprise and massive relief, a lady answered the phone and verified that there is indeed a Canterbury English program in Madrid, and not to worry, the orientation would take place as planned in the afore-mentioned building. Hopefully, tomorrow morning, as I try once again to figure out how to get in, there will be several English-speaking people like me in the same predicament, and we can work together to figure it out. Heck, I’m getting there thirty minutes early just in case.
Day 1- Wednesday, August 22nd 2007
Well, I’m here! I don’t think it’s quite sunk in yet that I have finally dropped myself in the middle of Europe to endure my greatest self-preservation test yet: succeed as a foreigner in a foreign country by adapting to a foreign language, culture, and monetary system. All by myself. That last part’s the kicker. I know that it might not be that big a deal to many people, but it feels huge to me, especially right now.So…what have I seen so far? Let me give you the rundown.
When I got off the plane, I exchanged all the cash I had for euros (€) at a terrible exchange rate, and then went off to find a taxi to take me to the city center. The cab driver I found took me to the Apartamentos Recoletos near the Plaza Cibeles (my current point of reference) and I was so tired that I didn’t want to look for a cheaper place. Plus, I had no idea where to look anyway, and my luggage was way heavy. I just wanted to take a nap. So I paid the 77€ for a double room (the cheapest thing they had) and then conked out for four hours. I woke up about 1:00pm and then realized how badly I needed a shower, so I took one. Wow, this is becoming horribly detailed.
Anyway, after all that, I went for a walk to find something to eat and to explore a bit. Plaza Cibeles is right smack in the middle of lots of interesting things, so my mouth was hanging open during my entire walk. Alan, I give you fair warning: if you ever find yourself in Madrid, make sure to take deep breaths and drink lots of water to keep calm, or the architecture just might send you into cardiac arrest. I went walking up and down some streets, and down the wide Paseo del Prado. After about 20 minutes, I was famished so I popped into the next restaurant I came to, called Mercado de la Reina, or the Queen’s Market. I had no idea what anything on the menu was, so I just ordered one of the cheapest things, which was croquetas caseras de jamón ibérico. Anything with ham sounded good to me. Turns out, the croquetas were little fried balls of sweet creamy lard stuff, with bacon bits mixed in. Probably the most artery-clogging thing I’ve ever eaten. After I paid my dreadlocked waitress, I headed out for some more exploring.
I decided to find the Prado Museum, which houses some of my favorite Spanish paintings, especially those by Diego Velásquez. Thanks to my lucky travel book and its lovely maps, I found it quite easily and began staking out the place. Unfortunately, it seems to be very well-guarded. Walking out with Los Borrachos (my favorite Velásquez painting) is going to be a bit more difficult than I had anticipated. Well, I’m here for eight months, which should be plenty of time to figure something out.
Even though this is my first day here, I have already realized what a profound influence this place is going to have on my life. For example, living in Madrid will force me to get over my fear of fountains, because they are everywhere. I saw a particularly scary spiky metal one in the shade-tree pedestrian part of the Paseo del Prado, and actually walked by it like it was not there, ignoring its deadly bubbliness completely, so I am proud of myself.
The Prado is close to the Parque del Retiro, so I headed there next. The Parque is like a gigantic forest in the middle of the city, with lots of shady walking paths. It was nice and cool and relaxing. Well, it would have been relaxing if my shoes hadn’t started trying to peel the skin off my heels at the very moment I arrived there. I had definitely chosen the wrong shoes for a hike around the city, but I least I looked cute while limping. Actually, Joaquin, remember the time we were in that mall in Tegucigalpa (I think Miraflores) and I had to stuff tissues in my shoes because they were hurting so bad? Yup, same shoes. I think I’ve learned my lesson this time. Anyway, there is a big lake in the northern part of the park where people can rent rowboats. There are benches everywhere, which I took full advantage of whenever I could. Around the lake is a great place for people-watching. I saw Spider-Man, two Minnies, and Shrek making balloon animals for kids. Lots of people were roller-skating. There were fortune tellers, and portrait sketchers, and artists selling their little paintings on bed sheets in the shade. Many families were out taking a walk and couples were rowing their little boats around the lake. As such, the Parque del Retiro is my favorite place in Madrid so far.
Another thing about the people in Madrid: I have seen so many different kinds of people, of different colors, speaking different languages, wearing different types of clothes. People looking confident and people looking completely lost. People walking fast and people just strolling along. Blond people, black people, Japanese people, mestizo-type people, American-type people (somehow, you can just tell), dorky people, fashionable people, fat people, skinny people, funny-looking people…it goes on and on. This was a particularly encouraging thing for me to discover, because I fit in perfectly! Finally, a Spanish-speaking country where I don’t stick out like a sore thumb! It’s about time…
When I got off the plane, I exchanged all the cash I had for euros (€) at a terrible exchange rate, and then went off to find a taxi to take me to the city center. The cab driver I found took me to the Apartamentos Recoletos near the Plaza Cibeles (my current point of reference) and I was so tired that I didn’t want to look for a cheaper place. Plus, I had no idea where to look anyway, and my luggage was way heavy. I just wanted to take a nap. So I paid the 77€ for a double room (the cheapest thing they had) and then conked out for four hours. I woke up about 1:00pm and then realized how badly I needed a shower, so I took one. Wow, this is becoming horribly detailed.
Anyway, after all that, I went for a walk to find something to eat and to explore a bit. Plaza Cibeles is right smack in the middle of lots of interesting things, so my mouth was hanging open during my entire walk. Alan, I give you fair warning: if you ever find yourself in Madrid, make sure to take deep breaths and drink lots of water to keep calm, or the architecture just might send you into cardiac arrest. I went walking up and down some streets, and down the wide Paseo del Prado. After about 20 minutes, I was famished so I popped into the next restaurant I came to, called Mercado de la Reina, or the Queen’s Market. I had no idea what anything on the menu was, so I just ordered one of the cheapest things, which was croquetas caseras de jamón ibérico. Anything with ham sounded good to me. Turns out, the croquetas were little fried balls of sweet creamy lard stuff, with bacon bits mixed in. Probably the most artery-clogging thing I’ve ever eaten. After I paid my dreadlocked waitress, I headed out for some more exploring.
I decided to find the Prado Museum, which houses some of my favorite Spanish paintings, especially those by Diego Velásquez. Thanks to my lucky travel book and its lovely maps, I found it quite easily and began staking out the place. Unfortunately, it seems to be very well-guarded. Walking out with Los Borrachos (my favorite Velásquez painting) is going to be a bit more difficult than I had anticipated. Well, I’m here for eight months, which should be plenty of time to figure something out.
Even though this is my first day here, I have already realized what a profound influence this place is going to have on my life. For example, living in Madrid will force me to get over my fear of fountains, because they are everywhere. I saw a particularly scary spiky metal one in the shade-tree pedestrian part of the Paseo del Prado, and actually walked by it like it was not there, ignoring its deadly bubbliness completely, so I am proud of myself.
The Prado is close to the Parque del Retiro, so I headed there next. The Parque is like a gigantic forest in the middle of the city, with lots of shady walking paths. It was nice and cool and relaxing. Well, it would have been relaxing if my shoes hadn’t started trying to peel the skin off my heels at the very moment I arrived there. I had definitely chosen the wrong shoes for a hike around the city, but I least I looked cute while limping. Actually, Joaquin, remember the time we were in that mall in Tegucigalpa (I think Miraflores) and I had to stuff tissues in my shoes because they were hurting so bad? Yup, same shoes. I think I’ve learned my lesson this time. Anyway, there is a big lake in the northern part of the park where people can rent rowboats. There are benches everywhere, which I took full advantage of whenever I could. Around the lake is a great place for people-watching. I saw Spider-Man, two Minnies, and Shrek making balloon animals for kids. Lots of people were roller-skating. There were fortune tellers, and portrait sketchers, and artists selling their little paintings on bed sheets in the shade. Many families were out taking a walk and couples were rowing their little boats around the lake. As such, the Parque del Retiro is my favorite place in Madrid so far.
Another thing about the people in Madrid: I have seen so many different kinds of people, of different colors, speaking different languages, wearing different types of clothes. People looking confident and people looking completely lost. People walking fast and people just strolling along. Blond people, black people, Japanese people, mestizo-type people, American-type people (somehow, you can just tell), dorky people, fashionable people, fat people, skinny people, funny-looking people…it goes on and on. This was a particularly encouraging thing for me to discover, because I fit in perfectly! Finally, a Spanish-speaking country where I don’t stick out like a sore thumb! It’s about time…
Sunday, August 12, 2007
In Over My Head
Eight days until I ship myself off to Europe. I am beginning to get a little nervous. I mean, I have made a packing list, familiarized myself with the layout of Madrid, studied Spanish for a good four years, and surveyed apartment availability on the Internet. And I have never felt more unprepared in my life.
What was I thinking? In a little over a week, I am going to throw myself into a foreign culture, whose language I barely speak (even after the aforementioned four years' study), without knowing a soul in the whole city, without a place to live, without a ride from the airport, without a clue how to teach English...the list of withouts goes on and on. I wanted an adventure, and I guess I am about to get one. I feel a bit foolish now, because my idealism and I-can-do-it! attitude may very well prove to kick me in the arse. I am in way over my head.
Wow, I had no idea I was so neurotic...
What was I thinking? In a little over a week, I am going to throw myself into a foreign culture, whose language I barely speak (even after the aforementioned four years' study), without knowing a soul in the whole city, without a place to live, without a ride from the airport, without a clue how to teach English...the list of withouts goes on and on. I wanted an adventure, and I guess I am about to get one. I feel a bit foolish now, because my idealism and I-can-do-it! attitude may very well prove to kick me in the arse. I am in way over my head.
Wow, I had no idea I was so neurotic...
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