Last night, I celebrated my second Thanskgiving away from home (the first time was two years ago, when I was studying abroad). It was a very unique and interesting experience, so I wanted to reflect on it now, before I forgot all of the details.
Two years ago, I went to Prague with a Duke program during Thanksgiving, so I had a traditional, sit-down Thanksgiving meal with about 20 other Duke students at a restaurant in Prague. That was certainly an unforgettable experience, but of course, I didn't have to think about cooking or making plans, because the plans were sort of made for me. This time around, things were different; I wanted to be sure to celebrate Thanksgiving, in one way or another, with my "family" here in Spain.
My friend Christina proposed having a Thanksgiving meal at her house and inviting a bunch of our American friends, as well as some other non-American friends, who have never experienced Thanksgiving before. I immediately thought it was a great idea. I had been feeling a bit homesick lately (I think the combination of the time of year and being sick can do that to you!) so it really made me happy to think that I would still be doing something special for Thanksgiving, even if I wasn't going to be at home with my family, like usual.
The plan was to do a sort of potluck- everyone would bring one of their favorite Thanksgiving dishes, given that they could find the ingredients here in Spain (which proved to be more difficult than one might expect!) My roommate Ruth, for whom this was her first ever Thanksgiving meal, was quite nervous about the whole thing. However, I reassured her that this experience was very new for almost all of us too. I know I, at least, have never really cooked a Thanksgiving meal before. Of course, I'm usually in the house when my mom is cooking, and I help out a bit here and there, but I've never been in charge of preparing the meal myself (nor have i ever prepared it with friends). So, basically, although I'm of course much more familiar with the holiday and the typical foods than Ruth, I also didn't really know what to expect.
I told Christina that I would bring a festive salad (complete with spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms, raisins, walnuts, garbanzo beans...) because I figured no one else would think to bring that. I also went to Christina's apartment a few hours early to help out with misc cooking tasks. Christina was able to find a turkey at the Corte Ingles (the big department store here)...none of the normal supermarkets carry turkeys! When I arrived at her apartment at 5:15, the raw turkey was still sitting in a bag, and Christina and her roommates were still preparing the stuffing to put inside. So, we were a bit delayed (the goal was to have the turkey in the oven at 4, but since Christina didnt end up getting home from work until 4, that wasn't exactly possible). Anyway, I rushed to help finish up with the stuffing, and in a few minutes, Christina and I were walking across the street with a raw turkey and two tupperwares of stuffing in hand.
Now- you might ask, why were walking across the street with all of this food? Well, Christina doesn't actually have an oven in her apartment. But, her landlord lives just around the corner, and was nice enough to let us use her oven! So, we arrive at the landlord's house, take out the turkey, clean it, and attempt to figure out what to do with the huge bird. I have never cooked a turkey before and Christina is a vegetarian, so it was quite a hilarious situation. But, sure enough, we figured it out, with the help of a recipe and some online videos, and stuffed that bird with our stuffing, and got it into the oven as quick as possible. Then...the mad dash back to Christina's apartment to help her roommates with the rest of the food.
Over the next few hours we (Christina, George (another Fulbright), Christina's roommates and I) were busy at work, chopping and preparing all sorts of vegetables- mushrooms with onions, green beans, mashed sweet potatoes, and squash. The kitchen was quite hectic, to say the least. At the same time, it was really fun to be there with friends, all cooking together and preparing for the rest of the guests. Christina had invited everyone to come at 8 pm, and we knew that the turkey was now not going to be ready until about 10. So...we were a little worried, but decided that most people would arrive late anyway (everyone was doing last minute cooking, plus we are all on Spanish time now!). Anyway, at 7:40, we were just finishing up all of the vegetable dishes, and ran back over to the neighbor's house to check on the bird. As expected, it was still quite raw, so we came back to Christinas place to attempt to tidy up a bit.
Next, another Fulbrighter, Jason, came over, and the two of us prepared some hot wine on the stove. Christina and i had really enjoyed this yummy drink in Budapest and had decided that it would be fun to make for Thanksgiving (its basically red wine, brandy, cinnamon, sugar, oranges, cloves all heated up on the stove). Luckily for us, everyone was late, as we had predicted. At about 8:30, the guests started to arrive. Several other Fulbrighters came, all bearing different Thanksgiving treats (Kelly, Noel, Kara, Cassandra) and Ruth arrived as well, with her first ever corn bread in hand!!! (which turned out great! yayy Ruth!)
I was absolutely amazed at the spread we had. We were unsure whether or not we would have enough food (we were 13 people in total), but it turned out great! By the time everyone got there, our table consisted of the following items: lots of stuffing, cranberry sauce, green beans, mushrooms and onions, salad, green bean cassarole, corn bread, two different kinds of sweet potatoes, squash, deviled eggs, and three different pies for dessert!) It was about 9 pm, and we knew we still had about an hour to wait for the turkey, so we decided we could all start eating the other foods, while they were warm, and go back for seconds by the time the turkey arrived. So, we all dug in..and the food was all great!! I was so impressed with all of us :) All of the non-Americans (Ruth, Christina's roommates (a British guy, a Belgian girl and a French girl) and another Mexican friend) all really enjoyed the food as well! It was also just really fun to be relaxing and lauging amongst good friends. It felt really good to share such a wonderful holiday with other people who had never experienced it before. I think they all really appreciated what a nice day it is!
At around 10 pm, Jason, Christina, and George went across the street to check on the turkey. After a few minutes, when they hadn't returned yet, we were starting to get a little worried. But sure enough, a few minutes later, they walked through the door, golden turkey in hand, and all hysterically lauging. I really wish I could have seen the scene they described. Picture this- three 22 year olds walking across the street in Madrid at 10 pm, carrying a huge turkey in a pan (or course, there wasn't really any way to cover the turkey). Apparently, EVERYONE in the street was staring at them and pointing, laughing, oohing and aweing. Apparently some people even congratulated them! I'm pretty sure most of them didn't realize the turkey was for Thanksgiving and also probably didn't understand why they were carrying a huge turkey outside, so i can only imagine how funny that must have been!
So, the turkey arrived AND...it turned out great too!! Christina and I were worried that it would be dry, because we werent really sure that we had done enough to season it. But, it was actually really good; everyone really liked it!! We did a really good job with the food- there were some leftovers, but we ate most of it! The hot wine also went over really well :) We all talked about our different Thanksgiving traditions and even spoke about how thankful we were to have the opportunity to celebrate Thanksgiving in Spain with people we care about :)
A little later..it was time for dessert! I was already completely stuffed..but that is a sign of a good Thanksgiving, right? We told all the non-Americans that if there is one day when you are not allowed to worry about how much you are eating, it's Thanksgiving!! Of course..at home, I would have eaten a lot earlier, and had a few hours to sit on the couch watching football or whatever else! Anyway, we had three different wonderful pies- a pumpkin pie, a pumpkin walnut pie, and a pecan pie. And, someone even brought ice cream! The desserts were all wonderful, just like all the other food!
Around midnight, the celebration began to wind down and people started to head out (some people were even travelling the next morning!) Over all, it was a really wonderful night- the whole experience made me feel really at home, which is hard when you are thousands of miles from home during such a family-orientated holiday like Thanksgiving. While I'm excited to be home again for Thanksgiving next year, I will never forget this very special Thanksgiving that I celebrated here in Madrid.
Ohhh and I almost forgot- we might be having a Thanksgiving 2 soon, because all of my other Spanish friends are anxious to experience the holiday as well (and im sure after Ruth raves about all of the food, they will be even more excited!) Soooo..we'll see what happens! Anywayyy....happy Thanksgiving everyone!!
Friday, November 26, 2010
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Budapest! (With a short stop in Milan)
This weekend was quite the adventure! My friend (I should say- my VERY adventurous friend) Christina and I went to Budapest. But first...we went to Milan...for a few hours! We started our trip with a shaky start- it wasn't the BEST time for us to be travelling; I was feeling sick and Christina was really busy and stressed w/ grad school apps, but we were both troopers and decided we would go anyway and try our best to enjoy. Anyway, we flew to Milan on Thursday night and didn't leave for Budapest until 7 am. So, we decided we would take advantage and go into Milan for a few hours, instead of just hanging out in the airport. However, by the time we made it to Milan, it was already almost midnight. Anddd...although Christina swore that something would be open (its a city right? like Madrid? of course we will find food at midnight!), it turned out that the city was quite dead.
We did get to see the Duomo (the main cathedral/square in Milan) and a bit of the center of the city, which was pretty cool. However, we couldn't find any open restaurants or bars. So, we decided we would just head back to the bus station and then back to the airport. However, it turned out that we had misread the bus schedule and long story short....the 1:20 am bus that we thought we would take did not exist, and the next bus wasn't until 4:15. So, we had to figure out what to do with ourselves for three hours in a city that was cold, pretty dead, with very little open. Luckily, the bus station was close to a bunch of hotels, and a nice hotel receptionist agreed to let us chill on the couch in the lobby while we waited for our bus. That was quite the relief! So...we spent 2.5 hours in a hotel lobby...I was drifting in and out of sleep while Christina was working on her computer and we were occasionally laughing (in our deliriously tired state) about our crazy, adventerous night.
Anyway, we made it back to the bus and to the airport, and on our way to Budapest. When we first arrived, the weather was pretty crummy (cold and rainy), but we still managed to enjoy our day. We went on a hop-on, hop-off bus, which took us all around the city, to all of the main sites. Budapest is divided into two parts (Buda and Pest, which are divided by the Danube River). The bus tour took us to all the main sites on both sides of the city, and we also went on a boat tour on the Danube. We learned all about the history and culture of Budapest, which was really interesting! The Buda side of the city is the hilly part, which is where the famous Fisherman's Bastion is, and where you can see an amazing panoramic view of the city. On our way up the hill, we also saw the Parliament building, which was an absolutley beautiful building and is one of the largest Parliament buildings in the world.
We also went past several other impressive monuments on both the bus and boat tours, including the famous medicinal baths (Budapest has the largest medicinal bath in Europe). We took a long walk across the famous Chain Bridge (one of the many bridges that divides the two parts of the city), and got some great views of the entire city (although the pictures would have certainly been better if the weather had been sunnier!).
At this point, we were exhausted and hungry...we made our way back to the Pest part of the city, where we found what they call "Fashion Street," which is a very popular pedestrian street with lots of shops and restaurants. We found a nice restaurant, where we had some traditinal Hungarian food (goulash soup, some sort of Chicken/pasta dish, and a Hungarian crepe-like dessert). After lunch, we walked around the area a bit and then came across the annnual Christmas market. We got really lucky- the Christmas market opened the day we arrived- and it was probably one of our favorite parts of the weekend. The market was full of traditional foods and desserts, hot wine (one of our favorite parts of the weekend!), and all sorts of great gifts, artwork etc. We walked around for awhile and snacked a bit before we decided we were so exhausted that we needed to walk back to our hostel. So, we got back early, hit the sack, and called it a night.
The next day- we had much more energy, and certainly made the most of our time. We left the hostel at 9 am and didn't come back again until after 11 pm!! First, we walked down Andrassy ut, which is the main, famous street in Pest. We walked along the street, away from our hostel, towards Hero's Square. Along the way, we saw all sorts of beautiful houses and buildings. Then, we arrived at Heros Square, which is a monument for Hungarian soldiers that have died during the various wars. Also at the same square are two different, beautiful mesuem buildings. And, right behind the square, there was a beautiful old castle and a nice, big park, where we walked around for a bit. After we finished touring that area, we walked toured the Dohany Street Synagogue, which is the largest synagogue in Europe! Since it was Saturday, we were unable to go inside, but just the outside of the building was quite impressive! It was absolutely beautiful!
Next, we went back to the Christmas market to do a little shopping, now that we had a little more energy to think about what we wanted. We both bought some great gifts :) We also ate some traditional Hungarian snacks for lunch- I had a kebab with chicken, onions, and some other substance that we were unable to identify (not sure i want to know?), and we shared this really yummy sweet dough- it was basically dough rolled in cinnamon, sugar, walnuts etc (delicious!)
After the Christmas market, we walked to the Opera building, which is another amazing site in Budapest! We took a tour of the building, which was really great, and learned all about its history (even learned that Franz Liszt was the director there for a few years). Then, we walked back towards the market (Christina still had some gifts to get), and sat for a bit, talking with some other Americans we met there. Then, we walked along the Fashion street again, and found a nice restaurant on a side street, where we had some more great tradtional food. I had pumpkin soup and stuffed cabbage. Christina also had the soup and had a pasta and mushroom dish. After dinner, we walked along the water, but in another part of the city that we hadn't seen before. We wandered around for quite awhile, before heading back towards our hostel.
And, near our hostel, there was this really cool outdoor food and wine market going on. There were all these stands set up where they were selling all different types of wine and also different foods, buffet style. So, we decided to sit and enjoy another cup of that hot wine we enjoyed so much, and take in the ambience. Eventually, after our long and exhausting day, we made it back to the hostel and called it a night.
Sunday morning, we woke up and took a short walk around the area where our hostel was (in another direction, where we hadn't walked before). We found a cafe to have some breakfast, and then we headed to the airport. Our trip back was another adventure. We were flying from Budapest to Munich, and then on to Madrid, but had a very short layover. We knew that even if our first flight was on time, it would be pretty tight. So, our flight did leave on time (more or less), but we still ended up landing about five minutes late. Then, it turned out that we needed to take a bus to the terminal (which adds about five mins) and we needed to wait for everyone to get on the bus (another 2-3 mins), and as you know if you have ever ran through an airport trying to make a connection (or if you have ever missed a flight that way), you know that 7-8 minutes makes a big difference in these situations.
So, by the time we got to the terminal, it was already 2:40 (or maybe later?) and our flight was supposed to leave at 2:50. We dashed across the airport towards our gate, with the hope that we might get lucky. AND, it turned out, that when we arrived, completely out of breath, that the flight hadn't even started boarding yet! (delayed for one reason or another). So, we made it back to Madrid as planned...and although i came back still sick and a bit stressed with a lot of things to do, I realized that I'm really glad I went on this trip (i had considered not going at one point, because i hadn't been feeling well). I thought about it- when again am i going to go to budapest for the weekend? So...this week will be a bit hectic, but its totally worth it for this incredible adventure of a weekend that Christina and I shared :)
Anywayy..i know this is a long entry, but i just had sooo much to say! I hope I didnt forget too much (i'm sure there are plenty of things I left out...Christina can add if she thinks of anything!)
We did get to see the Duomo (the main cathedral/square in Milan) and a bit of the center of the city, which was pretty cool. However, we couldn't find any open restaurants or bars. So, we decided we would just head back to the bus station and then back to the airport. However, it turned out that we had misread the bus schedule and long story short....the 1:20 am bus that we thought we would take did not exist, and the next bus wasn't until 4:15. So, we had to figure out what to do with ourselves for three hours in a city that was cold, pretty dead, with very little open. Luckily, the bus station was close to a bunch of hotels, and a nice hotel receptionist agreed to let us chill on the couch in the lobby while we waited for our bus. That was quite the relief! So...we spent 2.5 hours in a hotel lobby...I was drifting in and out of sleep while Christina was working on her computer and we were occasionally laughing (in our deliriously tired state) about our crazy, adventerous night.
Anyway, we made it back to the bus and to the airport, and on our way to Budapest. When we first arrived, the weather was pretty crummy (cold and rainy), but we still managed to enjoy our day. We went on a hop-on, hop-off bus, which took us all around the city, to all of the main sites. Budapest is divided into two parts (Buda and Pest, which are divided by the Danube River). The bus tour took us to all the main sites on both sides of the city, and we also went on a boat tour on the Danube. We learned all about the history and culture of Budapest, which was really interesting! The Buda side of the city is the hilly part, which is where the famous Fisherman's Bastion is, and where you can see an amazing panoramic view of the city. On our way up the hill, we also saw the Parliament building, which was an absolutley beautiful building and is one of the largest Parliament buildings in the world.
We also went past several other impressive monuments on both the bus and boat tours, including the famous medicinal baths (Budapest has the largest medicinal bath in Europe). We took a long walk across the famous Chain Bridge (one of the many bridges that divides the two parts of the city), and got some great views of the entire city (although the pictures would have certainly been better if the weather had been sunnier!).
At this point, we were exhausted and hungry...we made our way back to the Pest part of the city, where we found what they call "Fashion Street," which is a very popular pedestrian street with lots of shops and restaurants. We found a nice restaurant, where we had some traditinal Hungarian food (goulash soup, some sort of Chicken/pasta dish, and a Hungarian crepe-like dessert). After lunch, we walked around the area a bit and then came across the annnual Christmas market. We got really lucky- the Christmas market opened the day we arrived- and it was probably one of our favorite parts of the weekend. The market was full of traditional foods and desserts, hot wine (one of our favorite parts of the weekend!), and all sorts of great gifts, artwork etc. We walked around for awhile and snacked a bit before we decided we were so exhausted that we needed to walk back to our hostel. So, we got back early, hit the sack, and called it a night.
The next day- we had much more energy, and certainly made the most of our time. We left the hostel at 9 am and didn't come back again until after 11 pm!! First, we walked down Andrassy ut, which is the main, famous street in Pest. We walked along the street, away from our hostel, towards Hero's Square. Along the way, we saw all sorts of beautiful houses and buildings. Then, we arrived at Heros Square, which is a monument for Hungarian soldiers that have died during the various wars. Also at the same square are two different, beautiful mesuem buildings. And, right behind the square, there was a beautiful old castle and a nice, big park, where we walked around for a bit. After we finished touring that area, we walked toured the Dohany Street Synagogue, which is the largest synagogue in Europe! Since it was Saturday, we were unable to go inside, but just the outside of the building was quite impressive! It was absolutely beautiful!
Next, we went back to the Christmas market to do a little shopping, now that we had a little more energy to think about what we wanted. We both bought some great gifts :) We also ate some traditional Hungarian snacks for lunch- I had a kebab with chicken, onions, and some other substance that we were unable to identify (not sure i want to know?), and we shared this really yummy sweet dough- it was basically dough rolled in cinnamon, sugar, walnuts etc (delicious!)
After the Christmas market, we walked to the Opera building, which is another amazing site in Budapest! We took a tour of the building, which was really great, and learned all about its history (even learned that Franz Liszt was the director there for a few years). Then, we walked back towards the market (Christina still had some gifts to get), and sat for a bit, talking with some other Americans we met there. Then, we walked along the Fashion street again, and found a nice restaurant on a side street, where we had some more great tradtional food. I had pumpkin soup and stuffed cabbage. Christina also had the soup and had a pasta and mushroom dish. After dinner, we walked along the water, but in another part of the city that we hadn't seen before. We wandered around for quite awhile, before heading back towards our hostel.
And, near our hostel, there was this really cool outdoor food and wine market going on. There were all these stands set up where they were selling all different types of wine and also different foods, buffet style. So, we decided to sit and enjoy another cup of that hot wine we enjoyed so much, and take in the ambience. Eventually, after our long and exhausting day, we made it back to the hostel and called it a night.
Sunday morning, we woke up and took a short walk around the area where our hostel was (in another direction, where we hadn't walked before). We found a cafe to have some breakfast, and then we headed to the airport. Our trip back was another adventure. We were flying from Budapest to Munich, and then on to Madrid, but had a very short layover. We knew that even if our first flight was on time, it would be pretty tight. So, our flight did leave on time (more or less), but we still ended up landing about five minutes late. Then, it turned out that we needed to take a bus to the terminal (which adds about five mins) and we needed to wait for everyone to get on the bus (another 2-3 mins), and as you know if you have ever ran through an airport trying to make a connection (or if you have ever missed a flight that way), you know that 7-8 minutes makes a big difference in these situations.
So, by the time we got to the terminal, it was already 2:40 (or maybe later?) and our flight was supposed to leave at 2:50. We dashed across the airport towards our gate, with the hope that we might get lucky. AND, it turned out, that when we arrived, completely out of breath, that the flight hadn't even started boarding yet! (delayed for one reason or another). So, we made it back to Madrid as planned...and although i came back still sick and a bit stressed with a lot of things to do, I realized that I'm really glad I went on this trip (i had considered not going at one point, because i hadn't been feeling well). I thought about it- when again am i going to go to budapest for the weekend? So...this week will be a bit hectic, but its totally worth it for this incredible adventure of a weekend that Christina and I shared :)
Anywayy..i know this is a long entry, but i just had sooo much to say! I hope I didnt forget too much (i'm sure there are plenty of things I left out...Christina can add if she thinks of anything!)
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Otra semana interesante
I feel like I never fail to have interesting experiences here in Madrid! Last weekend, the MTV music awards were hosted here in Madrid, so there was a huge pre-awards show concert at the Puerta de Alcala, which is right near Retiro Park. It was insanely crowded with people (I guess people get motivated by free concerts!) and the acts were actually pretty well-known. The performers were three American groups- 30 Seconds to Mars, Katy Perry, and Linkin Park (so a very unique mix). I went with Ruth and Kelly, and we actually ended up watching from Ruth's office, which was RIGHT next to the stage. We had an amazing view, and unlike everyone outside, we could actually move without being pushed by others. Also, one of Ruth's co-workers had prepared a little party for the event, so we had food and drinks too. It was our own little VIP fiesta! hahaha
This week at school was pretty short. We didn't have school on Tuesday because there was yet another holiday here in Madrid. I took advantage of the day off to catch up on sleep and work and to spend some time with friends. School went well this week- had some productive conversation lessons with my English students. Did have on sort of funny moment- I was teaching the first-year kids about vocabulary to use at hotels, and one of the words on their list was "linen." None of them knew that word, so I then asked them if they knew the word "sheet," since sheets are basically linens....Well, turns out that they didn't know this word either, and they proceeded to start giggling and whispering, "mierda," which means "shit" in Spanish. SO, of course, I was embarassed...told them "NOOO...." and wrote SHEET on the board and explained them how to pronounce it and what ie meant." Of course, as 12 and 13 year old kids, they weren't done giggling. They claimed they didn't understand how sheet was pronounced differently than shit, which put me in a sticky situation. I then realized that they all read books that have some bad words in it, so I figured it was ok to clarify this error in pronunciation one time. Of course, after that, it was a bit hard to recover our hotel discussion, but I made it through OK.
Thursday night, my friend Christina and I went to an intercambio (exchange) event at this one bar where they have cultural/linguistic exchange every week. It was fun- we met a lot of interesting, new people. Friday night, Noel and I went to see "Los Miserables," at a theater on Gran Via, Madrid's equivalent of Broadway. We both really loved the show! We were both huge fans of the English version and of the music, and we thought it was really cool to hear all the music in Spanish and see how the translations differend in order to fit with the music. For the most part, the songs had the same meanings, but of course, they couldn't literally translate every word, or else the rhymes and rhythms wouldn't work. It was quite interesting and overall, the singing/acting was quite good!
Yesterday, my friend Grant came to visit from the US. He works for an airline company, so he has travel benefits, where he can decide really last-minute if he wants to travel somewhere, and if there is space, he can go VERY cheaply. SO, since he studied abroad here and since he was aching to come back, he ended up getting away for the weekend. He was only here for a day (everyone who heard that thought he was loco hahah), but it was a fun-filled day.
He got here around 12 pm, and we took a very long walk all around the center of the city. We walked from my place to SOL, to Plaza Mayor, and to Plaza Santa Ana, where we had a nice Spanish lunch. We then went back to my place to recover a little (we were both exhausted!). Then, we went out to a bar in Alonso Martinez with some of my Spanish friends, which was a lot of fun (they are the ones who thought he was CRAZY for coming to Madrid for a day from the US haha). Then, we met up with my friend Christina and went to dinner at a really cool place in Malasana. So, he got to see LOTS of Madrid in a very short time. Hopefully (for his sake), he is currently on a flight home. He wasn't sure if he would get on, because for whatever reasaon, the flights back to the states from Madrid got much more full in the past 24 hours....soo there is a chance he may be back here later. Either way, since I hadn't seen him since graduation in May, it was really nice to catch up :)
Anywayy, assuming Grant doesn't show up at my door again today, I plan on just having a relaxing day...finally got to catch up on my sleep last night, which was great. Now I'll probably just go to the gym, prep some classes for school, and maybe meet a friend for coffee later. Anyway, thats it for now i think..hasta luego :)
This week at school was pretty short. We didn't have school on Tuesday because there was yet another holiday here in Madrid. I took advantage of the day off to catch up on sleep and work and to spend some time with friends. School went well this week- had some productive conversation lessons with my English students. Did have on sort of funny moment- I was teaching the first-year kids about vocabulary to use at hotels, and one of the words on their list was "linen." None of them knew that word, so I then asked them if they knew the word "sheet," since sheets are basically linens....Well, turns out that they didn't know this word either, and they proceeded to start giggling and whispering, "mierda," which means "shit" in Spanish. SO, of course, I was embarassed...told them "NOOO...." and wrote SHEET on the board and explained them how to pronounce it and what ie meant." Of course, as 12 and 13 year old kids, they weren't done giggling. They claimed they didn't understand how sheet was pronounced differently than shit, which put me in a sticky situation. I then realized that they all read books that have some bad words in it, so I figured it was ok to clarify this error in pronunciation one time. Of course, after that, it was a bit hard to recover our hotel discussion, but I made it through OK.
Thursday night, my friend Christina and I went to an intercambio (exchange) event at this one bar where they have cultural/linguistic exchange every week. It was fun- we met a lot of interesting, new people. Friday night, Noel and I went to see "Los Miserables," at a theater on Gran Via, Madrid's equivalent of Broadway. We both really loved the show! We were both huge fans of the English version and of the music, and we thought it was really cool to hear all the music in Spanish and see how the translations differend in order to fit with the music. For the most part, the songs had the same meanings, but of course, they couldn't literally translate every word, or else the rhymes and rhythms wouldn't work. It was quite interesting and overall, the singing/acting was quite good!
Yesterday, my friend Grant came to visit from the US. He works for an airline company, so he has travel benefits, where he can decide really last-minute if he wants to travel somewhere, and if there is space, he can go VERY cheaply. SO, since he studied abroad here and since he was aching to come back, he ended up getting away for the weekend. He was only here for a day (everyone who heard that thought he was loco hahah), but it was a fun-filled day.
He got here around 12 pm, and we took a very long walk all around the center of the city. We walked from my place to SOL, to Plaza Mayor, and to Plaza Santa Ana, where we had a nice Spanish lunch. We then went back to my place to recover a little (we were both exhausted!). Then, we went out to a bar in Alonso Martinez with some of my Spanish friends, which was a lot of fun (they are the ones who thought he was CRAZY for coming to Madrid for a day from the US haha). Then, we met up with my friend Christina and went to dinner at a really cool place in Malasana. So, he got to see LOTS of Madrid in a very short time. Hopefully (for his sake), he is currently on a flight home. He wasn't sure if he would get on, because for whatever reasaon, the flights back to the states from Madrid got much more full in the past 24 hours....soo there is a chance he may be back here later. Either way, since I hadn't seen him since graduation in May, it was really nice to catch up :)
Anywayy, assuming Grant doesn't show up at my door again today, I plan on just having a relaxing day...finally got to catch up on my sleep last night, which was great. Now I'll probably just go to the gym, prep some classes for school, and maybe meet a friend for coffee later. Anyway, thats it for now i think..hasta luego :)
Friday, November 5, 2010
Week in review
Soo...had another interesting week here in Madrid. Last weekend was full of Halloween festivities. Saturday night, I went out with Ruth, Carlos, and Lorena (two of Ruth's good friends) to a discoteca. There were a fair amount of people dressed up in costumes, mainly people with blood face paint or strange masks..attempts at "scary" costumes haha. But, anyway, we decided to save our costumes for Sunday. So, we wore normal clothes and basically had a "normal" night out in Madrid.
On Sunday, I had a pretty relaxing day, hung out with a friend for a few hours, and then went to Halloween celebration part 2. We (me, Ruth, Carlos, Aitor (our two neighbors) went to a party at our other friends' apartment. Ruth and I showed up in costume (me in my Hawaiian witch outfit, her as a scary, bloody nurse haha) to find out that "it wasn't a costume party." We were a little embarrassed when we walked into a room of about 10-15 people, all of whom were in normal clothes. However, we decided to embrace our mistake, and convinced everyone else that they were the lame ones for not dressing up. Anyway, it turned out that other people later did show up in costumes, plus some of the people who were originally in normal clothes found "costumes." We eventually left the house party and went out, where we saw lots of strange costumes!! (no other Hawaiian witches though)
Monday was All Saint's Day, so I didn't have school (I know i know, my schedule is too easy). I
slept in, and then went over to Noel's house, where we ate lunch at caught up a bit. We went on a nice long walk afterwards and enjoyed the return of the sunny weather. Eventually, we met up with two other Fulbright girls for a light tapas dinner.
Then, I had my "busy" three day week at school. It was a pretty typical week- had my different conversation classes, helped out with a few lessons in social science classes, had my two private English lessons in the evening etc. On Thursday, to celebrate the end of our "long" week at school, Noel and I got kebabs for lunch (there are a ton of Kebab places in Madrid, for whatever reason, they are really popular here, and I had yet to try one before yesterday!). We sat outside at a park by her house; it was suprisingly warm outside in the afternoon, much much warmer than it is in the morning or at night. Then, I went back to my house and did a little bit of drawing to relax, which was a really nice change of pace. I went to the gym, and then just hung out at my house at night, watching tv with Ruth.
Today, I have to take advantage of my day off and make it to the bank and to the gym. Then, I'm going to my friend Rebecca's house for lunch, so that should be fun. Tonight will probably be another fun night out in Madrid! Anywayyy..thats my week in review. Hasta pronto :)
On Sunday, I had a pretty relaxing day, hung out with a friend for a few hours, and then went to Halloween celebration part 2. We (me, Ruth, Carlos, Aitor (our two neighbors) went to a party at our other friends' apartment. Ruth and I showed up in costume (me in my Hawaiian witch outfit, her as a scary, bloody nurse haha) to find out that "it wasn't a costume party." We were a little embarrassed when we walked into a room of about 10-15 people, all of whom were in normal clothes. However, we decided to embrace our mistake, and convinced everyone else that they were the lame ones for not dressing up. Anyway, it turned out that other people later did show up in costumes, plus some of the people who were originally in normal clothes found "costumes." We eventually left the house party and went out, where we saw lots of strange costumes!! (no other Hawaiian witches though)
Monday was All Saint's Day, so I didn't have school (I know i know, my schedule is too easy). I
slept in, and then went over to Noel's house, where we ate lunch at caught up a bit. We went on a nice long walk afterwards and enjoyed the return of the sunny weather. Eventually, we met up with two other Fulbright girls for a light tapas dinner.
Then, I had my "busy" three day week at school. It was a pretty typical week- had my different conversation classes, helped out with a few lessons in social science classes, had my two private English lessons in the evening etc. On Thursday, to celebrate the end of our "long" week at school, Noel and I got kebabs for lunch (there are a ton of Kebab places in Madrid, for whatever reason, they are really popular here, and I had yet to try one before yesterday!). We sat outside at a park by her house; it was suprisingly warm outside in the afternoon, much much warmer than it is in the morning or at night. Then, I went back to my house and did a little bit of drawing to relax, which was a really nice change of pace. I went to the gym, and then just hung out at my house at night, watching tv with Ruth.
Today, I have to take advantage of my day off and make it to the bank and to the gym. Then, I'm going to my friend Rebecca's house for lunch, so that should be fun. Tonight will probably be another fun night out in Madrid! Anywayyy..thats my week in review. Hasta pronto :)
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