Spring is Almost Here!

---

The weather is getting warmer! I heard it was 70 degrees in D.C. and similar temperatures in Philly. It hasn't been that warm here yet but it's been in the mid-50s which isn't too bad. I hope the Phillies are working hard down in Clearwater!

Last Wednesday Ashley and I had a great time at the Intercambio. We met some strange people before finally introducing ourselves to a young couple from Madrid who were so friendly and totally hilarious. The man's name was Javier (I swear every guy here has that name) but I forget the woman's name because it was uncommon. Their English was pretty good and we were able to speak in Spanish the majority of the time and then we used both languages when it was hard for either side to explain something. They have a little 1 year old daughter named Claudia who stays with the wife's mother outside of Toledo Monday through Friday because Claudia has had to have a few operations since her birth and she isn't healthy enough to go to a day care. Javier showed us a video of her on his cell phone and she was so cute! We talked to them until around 11:30 pm and the bar was still full. It's so different how late people here stay out even on a week night. (My business professor told me he thought Italy was boring the other day because there were no bars open on Sunday nights and everywhere else closed at 2 am regularly, haha.)

Thursday I had class and then met up with people from my program to go out. We started out at a bar called the Rover which is actually an Irish Pub (there are surprisingly a lot of them here) and then walked down to Sol which was pretty far to a place that one of the girls knew. We went in and out different places and I ended up taking the buho (night bus) home for the first time. I got on the right one but I think I might have gotten off at the stop too early because I ended up having to walk a lot longer than I thought I would. I was at least proud I got myself home for free instead of taking a cab (with my monthly pass I have unlimited use of the metro and bus system). I got home pretty late around 6 am because it took me a while to walk to Plaza de Cibeles where the night buses depart from and I also had to wait a while for the bus to come.

I slept in until the afternoon on Friday and then went out for a run. Then I did some homework and Patricia and I left at 7 pm to take the bus to a free concert. During Advent and Lent the city of Madrid thanks to different sponsors puts on a lot of free concerts of sacred music in different churches and performing arts centers. Patricia got to play tour guide on the bus as she pointed out different buildings since I hadn't taken that line before. We got to the church pretty early since the seats fill up fast but they were still doing Stations of the Cross so we ate the bocadillos (cheese of a baguette) she packed as a snack outside on a bench. The concert was about an hour long and was performed by a men's choir. They all wore tuxedos with different colored bow ties. I thought I would be able to practice listening to Spanish music but all the words were in Latin.

After we took the bus home I changed my clothes and then went back to the same section of the city to meet my friends. One of the guys in my program named Edgar has a girl around our age in his home stay named Marta who said she could get us into a well-known discoteca, Kapital, for free. We all met around 11:30 pm and first went to get a drink at a little place around the corner. As usual when the people they "know someone" it never really works out completely but after Marta did some bargaining we got in for 15 Euro with 2 drink coupons. I usually refuse to pay a cover period but since this place was well-known I decided I'd suck it up just this once for the experience. I'd have to say it was worth it in the end. The club had 7 floors with different music on each one and at the top there was a lounge area with a roof that opened up when the weather was warm. We mostly hung out on the 3rd floor where they played hip-hop and the 1st floor which was the biggest and where they had general techno/house music. One guy from my program, Alex, brought his home-stay "brother" named Javier who has gone out with us before a few times and Marta brought along 2 friends. It was cool to hang out with them and for all of us to practice out second language with peers. We stayed until the club closed at 5:30 am and I took the bus home with Marta at 6 am (the metro and regular bus lines re-open at 6) since she lived a few stops after me and Edgar had already gone home. Patricia actually was actually waking up when I walked in

Saturday morning I slept in way too late and had lunch late even for a Spaniard. I need to start setting my alarm so I don't waste my mornings sleeping! I showered quickly and then took the bus to the center of town where I walked around the Retiro (the big park) for a while. The weather was great and it was full of people of all ages walking, riding bikes, and rollerblading. There were people in cartoon character costumes making balloons for kids, tarot card readings, street performers, and even puppet shows. I definitely want to spend more afternoons here as the weather gets better. Around 6:30 I headed over to a nearby performing arts place where another one of the free concerts was going to be held. It was a 5 person Latin jazz band which I was really excited to see but in the end I really didn't enjoy the music. All of the musicians were clearly very talented but the selections they chose sounded like they all were playing a different piece of music but at the same time and it just didn't make any sense. There was one cool piece though in which the percussionist performed solo with 4 congas and 2 bongos which was fun to watch.

Then I took the bus home and ate dinner with Patricia. People in my program were going out again but I wanted to get some sleep. I set my alarm for 10 am and then this morning I went to the English-speaking parish again. There were less people there than last week at the childrens' mass but it was still really enjoyable. After that I came home and got my run in before I returned to the church for their Young Adult Group. Earlier in the week I e-mailed the pastor, Fr. Ron, and the group's leader and they told me it would be fine for me to just drop in when I could even though I can't attend every Sunday.

It was an interesting experience. Last weekend they talked about the second commandment and today we talked about the third one: keeping the Sabbath holy. I didn't think there would be much to say but we went over scripture and discussed life situations and what living the commandment means for about an hour and a half. In the group the leader was Gustavo, an Argentine who was very knowledgeable in Catholic theology and answered people's questions and kept everyone on track. Sarah from England (who is engaged to marry Nestor, a Spaniard, in May) led the group discussion today. Also in attendance were a couple from Nigeria named Florence and David, Evelyn and Sarah from the Philippines, Paul from Australia, Pedro from Protugal, and a guy from Thailand, two more from Nigeria, and one from India all whose names I can't even begin to know how to spell. Everyone had such different frames of reference from growing up in different places and almost everyone but me spoke at least two other languages. One thing that was striking was that two of the guys from Nigeria spoke several languages but none of the same ones and could only communicate with each other by speaking English. They group was only just formed in January so it's a tad disorganized but everyone was very welcoming so I'm going to try to come when I can.

After that I got home around 4, ate my lunch, and took the bus downtown to go to the special Francis Bacon exhibit at the Prado art museum where I have class on Wednesdays. Every day of the week from 6-8 pm the Prado's permanent collection is free but the special exhibits never are. I saw posters all over the metro ever since I got here in January for the Bacon exhibit and since learning a little big about him in my high school art history class I've really enjoyed his work. With my student ID admission was only 4 Euros which I was willing to pay. The exhibit was a littler crowded since it was a Sunday evening and I would've liked to take my time a little more but I'm so busy during the week I was worried I wouldn't have time to see it if I kept putting it off. Some of his most famous works were there and it was great.

Then I came home and ate with Patricia. At night back in the States my parents had all of my family over to celebrate my brother Jeffrey's 16th birthday and so they set up a laptop in our dining room and I got to Skype with all my family which was a lot of fun. Everyone was holding up their delicious food and making me really jealous of my family's home-cooked meals!

Today was rough waking up. After language class we had a meeting about the GW Study Abroad Office representatives who will be here next week to learn about our program. My flamenco class will be performing from then and we'll be having a cocktail hour and an opportunity for them to ask us about our thoughts on the program, so that should be interesting. After art history and flamenco I went straight to a church off of a nearby metro stop for another one of the Arte Sacro concerts. The choir was composed of both women and men and they sang songs in Latin in a Gregorian chant style used for different parts of the mass. I called Patricia to tell her I would eat dinner after the concert but as it turned out she was on her way to the concert from work so when I got there I sat with her and her friend. When the concert was supposed to begin they announced that the time was printed wrong in the program and that mass was actually first so we just stayed for mass and then the concert started right after. For dinner I had Spanish tortilla, chicken broth with veggies, and white rice. Yum!

Last weekend Patricia got all excited because she saw a perfectly good table on on the street for the trash people and brought it back to our apartment with the help of a neighbor. Then I helped her bring it up in pieces into her little storage attic on the roof. She is slowly collecting furniture for a second apartment that she wants to buy in Asturias, one of the comunidades (like a province) up in the north where it's really green and on there are mountains and a coastline. Saturday night she came home all excited because she finally went to the movies with a friend to see Slumdog Millionaire (a dubbed version) which she loved. Unfortunately she has been really stressed out lately because she oldest sister who has Down's syndrome has been sick a lot lately. When she was born doctors only gave her a few months to live and so it's a miracle she's now over 50 but the last five years her health conditions have been worsening. Patricia is getting nervous that she will pass away soon which is sad because she visits her at least once a week along with her other siblings in the area.

---

Photos

Seafood Paella
Jose Maria and Ramon said it's not supposed to look yellow like this. To them good paella is brown.

Spanish Tortilla.
With white ride and chicken flavored broth with veggies.

Comments

[Christine]

Guess what?
Fr. Gurnee's homily was on the third commandment today!!! And I finally went to see Slumdog Millionaire with my mom yesterday. Glad that I finally got caught up on your blog! I can't wait to hear more.