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Published: September 26th 2008
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Film Crew
This was crew filming our "tiburones" (sharks) at the aquarium...I'll be famous here...I know it. 9 - 21 - 08
Finally, a morning that I didn’t have to wake up to an alarm! I got up around 9:30 and got dressed and ready to go to El Rastro again! I was only there for 20 min or so when it started raining! Kinda bad, kinda good. Bad because I got soaked!, Good because there weren’t very many people and the vendors were more likely to give me a discount. I found quite a bit that I wanted to get. I also got some really good deals (at least I think I did…who knows). I bought a really pretty purse (which wasn’t a good deal, but I loved it so oh well), some bracelets, my dad something!...Molly something (yall will have to wait and see 😉 ), a painting which I love, but I’m not sure if Ray will…but eventually I want to hang it in our house…so I hope he likes it. ¿Qué más? Some earrings, a scarf…I think that’s it. Anyway, I had a good time. By the time I got home though, my feet and jeans were soaked, so I changed, and showed Charo what I had got (she really liked my scarf
Random
Jasmine took this of me on the Metro...yep...people staring at us again. and painting). I had some lunch…and then I was going to go watch this bicycle race come in (it’s like the tour’d France, but in Spain…and the finish is here in Madrid, really close to where I live, but I’m too lazy to go out again, so I took a siesta!
9 - 23 - 08
Today was an embarrassing day at work. I felt like I didn’t understand anything anybody told me. First, they asked me to go to the front of the zoo to get a box that was delivered. They said it was made of Styrofoam, so I walked to the front, but there were 3 boxes! So I asked the gate-keeper which one was for the aquarium and she pointed to one of them, and I asked if she was sure, so I took that box back to the aquarium. Like 10 minutes later, I hear people laughing, and when they saw me, they gave me the “mom face” and said that the box had “huevos”. And I gave a confused face, not because I didn’t understand “huevos” but because I didn’t understand why there would be EGGS in that box, but sure
Work people
This was some of us at the bar...while my feet were hurting so bad! enough, an entire box of eggs…like chicken eggs! They were all laughing at me, and they didn’t believe me that I actually asked the gate-keeper! They all think I’m stupid. Later, Pablo was talking to me, and he asked me where they girl was, but I couldn’t understand him (partly bc I thought the girl’s name was pronounced differently) - I could tell he was getting frustrated with me. Ugh. Today was my first time to work the whole-day shift, instead of leaving at 2:30, I didn’t leave until 6:30. So I ate lunch with all my coworkers…which is awkward because I just sit there while they have conversations that I don’t understand…it’s really uncomfortable. After lunch, it was time to feed the sharks - that’s the reason I stayed all day. I helped Pablo, pretty much all I did was through some fish and squid into the tank. But it was cool. Some of the sharks we have are over 6ft. (the sand shark), so it’s cool to see them up close. Well, maybe that will be my worst day at work…if so, it wasn’t so bad. Oh, and a film crew was there…so yeah, I’m going to be on TV in Spain! Apparently there’s this program that airs every Tuesday night all about Madrid Zoo. So tonight, I made Charo and Jasmine watch it with me, unfortunetly, I wasn’t on it…well, the aquarium wasn’t on this week’s episode…maybe next week. but I did get to see the veterinarian…and the stuff she was doing is so much cooler than what I’m doing! She did stuff with the dolphins, gorilla, rhinos, lemurs…ugh…I’m jealous, I’m supposed to be doing that!
9 - 24 - 08
Today started just like all other days. I went to work. Nothing new today. Just washed some tanks, changed some filter, so we did an autopsy on this REALLY WEIRD fish. I think it’s called ‘el diablo’ (the devil in English), but I’m not sure. It looks like it’s ½ fish, ½ chicken! Look it up! Anyway, it died, so we had to cut it open, so that was interesting. After work, I went straight to Eureka so I could work on my vet app. I finally finished!!! I was there for about 4 hours, and now all I have left is to hit ‘submit’ and fax my mom this signed page by me so that she can send it to them with my app fee and a photo…I feel so relieved, but really I still have a lot to do, because that was only my general app, I still have to finish my supplemental app for TAMU and an entirely different app for UGA (luckily, I just read that UGA no longer needs their supp app!!! Whoop). After Eureka closed, I called Virginia and they said they were at J&J’s. I asked if they’d be there awhile, they said yeah, so I hopped on the metro and met them there. I was there a total of 6 min. when they decided they wanted to leave! (It costs me 1€ for every metro ride) but oh well. So we went to the Sol area. We walked around for awhile, got a few free drinks at a couple of bars, then I was hungry, so we started looking for some tapas, but they were all so expensive, so we all just ended up calling it a night and just went home.
9 - 25 - 08
Let’s see, I think the only thing different about today at work was I went to the zoo kitchen with Javier to get some veggies…and I “vacuumed” this one tank…and I watched Sandra and Pablo dive in the tank with the sharks (while that same camera crew filmed.) Maybe some day soon, I’ll get to dive…but I don’t think he lets students dive in the shark tank…too dangerous. After work, I went home to get some lunch…then I took a nap. I woke up to my phone ringing-it was Ray. He said that his air-conditioner broke…so that sucks, it’s going to be really expensive. I guess it’s good he didn’t spend that money to come to Spain, but I miss him so much! When I got off the phone with him, I had to start getting ready because tonight I was having dinner with some people from the zoo at this Italian place. I left around 9 and tried to find the restaurant…stupid me, I wore heels! Bad choice. When I finally found the place, I felt so over-dressed! Ugh. Everyone was just in jeans and t-shirts. Oh well. The food was good, but again, it was kinda uncomfortable because I was left out of all conversations because I couldn’t understand them. We were there until midnight, and then they wanted to go to some bars. I said I’d go, but I had to catch the Metro back home before it closed (at 1:30) so they were like, ‘ok, fast drink’. So I followed them to this bar (which was much further away than I thought it would be…in heels…ugh). The bar was good…but again, uncomfortable…out of place for me…I didn’t talk at all…but I was only there for a little while…then I had to walk all the way to a metro station! My feet hurt so bad. Finally I got home, washed my feet…and now…I’m going to bed…good night.
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Javier
non-member comment
unpolite people!
Hi, I'm just a Travelblog reader and I'm following your experience in Madrid. I just finished reading your last entry and would like to show you some support... I mean, that co-workers of you could at least make the effort of including you in their conversations, specially taking into account that Spanish isn't your mother language... I really hate that unpolite behaviours which lead to akward situations like the ones you tell. Anyway, try not to get very frustrated because of it, you'll see that it will all improve when your Spanish gets better. Take care!