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Published: December 24th 2009
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Karaoke
What an ambiance... haha here we are at the karaoke bar... I meant to write one more random entry plus a farewell entry, but with finals and my little Spanish fling there at the end plus hanging out those few last times with my wonderful ISA friends, I left myself little time for writing. So here it is, Christmas Eve, but I've been doing so well this whole semester, so I'm allowing myself one back-in-the-states message to wrap things up.
I had a Word Document of notes of things I wanted to talk about, which apparently included "Dreadlocks + mullets, Metro, Calentador, Canies, and Karaoke." So we'll start with that.
Not only is the mullet still quite alive and well in Spain, but a new even more horrifying phenomenon has appeared, and that is what I have dubbed the "dreadlock mullet," which is fairly self explanatory. It is everything a mullet has ever been, but made out of strands of matted hair. Sometimes there's only one lone dread hanging out on the side, sometimes there is loose hair mixed in with the dreadlocks, really, the possibilities are endless. I could tie this in with another haircut trend belong to "canies," which are little hotshot groups of guys who walk around
Alvaro
Haha is it creepy to post this picture on here? I just want it on my blog for posterity. Even if we don't keep in touch, I had a lovely time with this boy. trying to look badass until it's dinner time and their parents come to collect them. This haircut is sort of a faux-hawk, buzzed on the side look, except generally the top is more of a flattop style, think Will Smith in the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Except they're Spanish, not black.
I may or may not have talked about the Metro before.... in any case, I rode it every day to class. My total travel time took about 40 minutes, I'd say, from the time I left the apartment until the time I set foot on the actual campus, and much of this was taken up by the Metro ride. They started construction on it in the 1970's, but kept having problems with it collapsing (that inspires confidence, doesn't it?), so it wasn't until midway through the semester that all of the stops officially opened up, but we were able to get to class from the beginning. Still, a large chunk of my time spent that I'm not sure I really talked about.
One thing that has been great since I've been back is central heating, which did not exist in most Spanish households, including Lola's. Instead, we had a space heater in our room, and there was a heater (calentador) under the table that she would turn on for meals. The nice thing about that was, not only did it keep us warm, but it kept her from getting up from the table so much if the conversation got slow.
Finally, karaoke. I joined a bunch of ISA kids for a trip to a karaoke bar, which ended up being an intimate look into the Spanish mid-40's single scene. Some of those mid-40's singles even thought it appropriate to try to get us in on the scene. Seriously, when a firm "No, really, no, not a chance," doesn't do the trick, where do you go from there? I don't think I've ever learned more about avoiding eye contact than I did while in Spain. But aside from the unwanted advances, it was actually quite hilarious watching the entire bar get really into a song that I'd never heard of. But of course, I sang right along with them, anyway. Us Americans put in a few songs of our own to sing, and if I understood correctly the cougar-chasing young guy sllllllurrrrring his worrrds, it was the first time in three years that they'd played a song in English. Fantastic.
So, that about draws things to a close. Finals were not as painful as I'd expected. I didn't actually end up crying when I left my ISA friends. The thing with that is that I always feel like it's never really goodbye. If they're close enough, we'll make the effort, so why should I be so sad? It was wonderful and I was very lucky to meet the people I did. That's what Alvaro said: "No es un adios. Hasta luego." It's not really goodbye... haha our little romance was short-lived, but he made me promise we'll stay in touch. We'll see how that goes. It's all just part of the experience. I have many more hellos and goodbyes awaiting me, and I can only hope that they're constantly forming me into a better, wiser person. I have no idea what my next adventure is, but I look forward to it with the optimism that it will help to shape me as much as this journey has. Adios my faithful blog readers. Or rather, hasta luego!
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