Life Without the Internet

I have lots to write about, but my internet connection was cut off. So I´ve been spending some time in internet cafés, where there are loud one-sided phone conversations, screaming children, and awful music. (I´m listening to a Sheryl Crow song right now.)

Some good news though: I have a month-long break from classes, and a few weeks off from work! So I´ll be traveling to Paris and London. I´ll write about it all as soon as I can do it in the comfort of my own apartment.

In the meantime, my Spanish is improving, but misunderstandings are common. Last night I went to visit a couple friends at their apartment. I accidentally pressed the button for the wrong apartment. Below is a translation of the nonsensical conversation that ensued.

The lady who answered: Yes?

Me: Sorry. I pressed the number for the wrong apartment.

Crazy lady: What? It´s the police??!!!

Me: No. I pressed the number for the wrong apartment.

Crazy lady: The POLICE!!!! (yelling, and then talking very fast)

Me: No! It´s not the police.

Crazy lady: (panicking) Police???? (more excited babbling in Spanish that I couldn´t understand.)

Me: No! It´s not the police. I just made a mistake.

Crazy lady: (yells again and slams the phone down)

Sick

I have a cold. It's the second one I've caught since arriving in Spain on September 3rd. Such is the inescapable fate of the elementary school teacher. Perhaps one day I'll have caught so many colds that I'll become immune to everything and be invincible. (Though the know-it-all in the video below seems to disagree.)



Today one of the other teachers admitted to me that she's "constipada". But all that actually means is that she has a cold and is feeling congested.

Toledo

Last weekend was the first weekend, since I've moved here, that I've ventured outside of Madrid. That's because most day trips require waking up somewhat early. The night life here goes so late, I usually stay up until at least 4am on the weekends. Even when I get home early, or don't go out at all, I stay up late out of habit.

Well, I finally went to bed at a reasonable hour last Saturday, so on Sunday I took a bus ride down to Toledo with my friend Jennifer. Toledo is a charming little town that's only about an hour away. Everything is built on a hill, which makes a scenic backdrop for the scattered medieval architecture.





We took a path known as the "Ruta de Don Quijote".









Then we ate some croissants for lunch and wandered the winding, narrow streets of the town.







We walked around, checking out the shops and the view. Some of the stores were selling weapons or suits of armor.





We saw the sun setting on the cathedral, walked around some more, and went home. For me, it was a needed escape from the noise and crowds of the city. It was a Sunday so the cathedral was closed, but if you want to read more about it, go here or look at my friend Nina's blog.

Halloween and Día de los Santos

The Celtic tradition of Halloween, as celebrated in the US and England, didn't use to be a Spanish tradition. It's something that they've recently adopted into their culture within the past few years.

I teach at a bilingual school that celebrates Halloween, so I collaborated with my friend Steve that week and we taught some lessons about it. We taught the niños (grades 1 – 3) about Halloween customs and sang a song called "Five Little Pumpkins". Some of the classes had already sang the song with us, so we told them "The Great Pumpkin Story". We hung up drawings of the animals in the story on the blackboard with sticky-tack, pointed to them and moved 'em around. Then with one class, we had volunteers stand up and hold the animals and act out the story. Somehow, we held their attention long enough so that our lesson didn't disintegrate into little-kid anarchy.

A lot of people dress up here for Halloween. Last year when I lived in the states I put a lot of effort into being creative, but this year I just threw together some stuff I had. My friend Jess was visiting, so she put on some Halloween clothes, too, and we went to a party.



Then for All Saint's Day (Día de los Santos) we walked around Madrid (the Atocha and Sol area).











There weren't that many Halloween decorations, but we saw a couple.







Then there was a Mariachi band and some other street performers.






That last one is really two guys, covered in plaster. There was a crowd of spectators watching them. Every ten seconds or so, the two guys moved, just enough to keep everyone amused.

Sala Costello

This place, Costello's Lounge, is definitely worth a visit if you're in Madrid. I was happy I discovered it, because it's a cool little music venue with a good line-up of bands. The upstairs is a bar/lounge with chairs and couches and the downstairs has a stage and a bar. It reminds me of The Middle East Club in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I've only seen one show here so far, but it was an indie-rock band called Niño y Pistola, and it was amazing. The crowd was fun, with lots of people dancing, plus it was only €5 to get in.

Club Costello
Niño y Pistola

Americanism

The thing that’s kind of weird about living abroad is that no matter how much you might blend in, you'll still stand out as a foreigner. You’ll always have an accent and get some words wrong. You’ll always be a little bit different.

People often come up to me and ask me for directions, so I guess I’m not an *obvious* American. Is that because:

a) I’m not sitting sprawled out in the metro with a box of donuts;

b) I don’t own a fanny pack;

c) I don’t use a credit card to pay for everything;

d) I don't frequent fast food joints like McDonalds and Burger King;

e) I don’t ride on tour buses; or

f) I haven’t even walked around holding a coffee or tea from Starbucks since I’ve been here?


However, one thing I am guilty of is taking lots of tourist pictures! Like these of Atocha Station and the Museo Centro de Arte Reina Sofia:








This photo from Plaza de España is another favorite of mine. Behold the elegant composition as some stranger photographs some buddies from Simmons and me:

Yesterday

I went to Plaza Mayor


and made a friend there.

New Apartment

I’ve got a new apartment with WiFi! It's in a central location, and pretty close to where I work. Best of all, my roommates are nice and laid-back. I am the happiest girl alive!

So...

I bought some tea today. I think this picture speaks for itself.

Escapando la Tiranía

I saw Picasso’s Guernica at the Centro de Arte Lorena Sophía last weekend! It’s huge (probably about twenty feet tall).

Also, I found a new apartment!!! It’s cheap and in a great location. I can’t wait to move in. It’s a good thing, too, because the señora is kicking me out three days before the end of the month – even though I already paid her 400 euros for the whole month.

I have no legal recourse, so I might be staying at a hostel for a few days, until I can move in on September 28th or 29th. But if I’m lucky, one of my friends will let me crash at her place for a day or two. A hostel may be expensive and inconvenient, but at least I won’t have to obey the following rules on a daily basis:

1) Do not shower for more than five minutes.

2) After showering, use a mop to wipe the bathroom floor; the same one Alfonsa uses to clean the floor when the dog pees on it, since she doesn’t take him out.

3) Do not use a blow dryer for more than five minutes.

4) Do not use the light in your bedroom for more than two hours every night.

I look forward to having my freedom once again. My new apartment will also have THE INTERNET, so no more internet cafés for me!

Mmmmm...

Ham-flavored chips anyone?

Subway Soundtrack of Madrid

I’m still apartment hunting. I’ve also been working at a school here, teaching English for my Master’s program. I just started this week. Right now I’m helping out the other teachers, but eventually I’ll teach my own lessons.

My commute to the school is always sort of fun, because of the random music playing in the subway. I once heard a guy singing “Karma Chameleon.” Another time I heard someone playing “When You Wish Upon a Star” on the accordion. Then today, there was “Yesterday” by the Beatles.

It seems so obvious now.

A few days ago, I had an epiphany. I figured out one reason why the señora is the way she is: she’s an alcoholic. I don’t know why I didn’t see it before. She's moody, inconsistent, and forgetful. She has a bad temper, and I’ve never seen her eat anything... ever. Also, there are always beers in the fridge and beer cans in the trash. She went out last night, and came home at two. Then I heard her crack open another can of beer.

I have nothing against drinking. To each his own. I’ve known plenty of alcoholics, and I don’t hold it against them. But most of them are still nice people. That is, they don´t take it out on others, affecting their lives in a negative way. Alfonsa must be really far gone, though I think she means well. But it does sort of help me understand the enigma that I am living with right now.

This morning, Alfonsa was mean to me again. So I avoided her all day. I spent hours searching apartment listings online and visited an apartment. When I finally came home at about 9 pm, she was really nice to me, and gave me some dinner. She’s like Jekyl and Hyde.

Wanted: New Roommate

I’ve been in Spain for a little over a week. I’ve got a cell phone and a metro card!

I’ve also got a place to live. It’s in Salamanca, the posh part of Madrid, and very close to the metro. But I’m planning on moving out on October first, as soon as I possibly can. I was going to stay longer, but the señora who I’m staying with is driving me nuts. When I first arrived, she was nice. Now she yells at me every day and insults me. It’s a very hostile environment for me to be living in. I can’t wait to move out. The thought of picking out my own food, having an internet connection, and not getting screamed at or bossed around is exciting, though these are things I would have taken for granted before!

When I called Señora Alfonsa from the US before coming here, she told me she had an internet connection. It turns out that she does pay for WiFi every month, but her router isn’t plugged in. I can’t hook it up because it’s missing the power cord. I showed her the picture of the power cord in the manual, and she started screaming at me in Spanish that she doesn’t understand technology. I tried a few more times, politely, but there was no getting through to her. So it was off to the internet café every day. (I have to get the timing just right, since they are closed on holidays, on random days, in the middle of the day, and late at night.)

There are three teenage girls from Italy staying with us in the other room right now. “¿Por qué necesitas el internet?” the señora said. “Las chicas italianas no lo necesitan!” (Why do you need the internet? The girls from Italy don’t!) I’ve had to explain several times that they are on vacation for a few days, but I will be living in Spain for ten months. I’ll be living here, working, and taking a class, so of course I need it.

I am always polite to the señora and I never raise my voice. I try to eat everything she cooks for me, even though I was practically a vegetarian when I was living in the US. Yesterday though, I was starting to feel sick from eating so much meat. So I left some chicken on my plate and told her I wasn’t very hungry. She yelled at me that in Spain, it’s a tradition to eat everything on your plate, or you don’t get any more food… ever. Then she sat down right next to me, only so she could smoke a cigarette in my face and insult me while I ate.

The señora is always home and watches TV all day at unprecedented volumes. She even leaves it on while she sleeps! I sleep with earplugs in every night. She won’t let me use my international phone card to call anyone from her phone. I explained that it only would charge my card, so it would be free for her. I offered to pay money if it wasn’t. The director of my internship even called her and explained to her in fluent Spanish that it’s free. But the señora only hollered at her that it was very expensive and that it wasn’t possible to make international calls from her phone. Then she slammed the phone down. Now when she leaved the house, she usually brings the phone cord with her.

She is often yelling at me and asking me questions about what I’m doing and where I’ve been. Sometimes I even hear her screaming from across the hall and I shudder, only to realize that she’s yelling at the dog.

Eating Apples With a Fork

I'm leaving for Spain in less than three weeks!

I'm really excited... and maybe a little nervous about the whole thing. Mostly excited though, I think.

Anyhow, I'm taking a Spanish boot camp / Teaching ESL class and learning some interesting things about the Spanish country and culture:

• People eat many foods with a fork and knife, including croissants and apples. Eating is more of a big deal over there. Also, nobody eats on the subway. It's considered rude.
  

• Nobody ever walks around their house barefoot.

• No one really leaves voicemails for each other. Just about anything can be accomplished with a text message.

It's official.

I’ll be living in Spain from September until June.

It's true! I'll be teaching English and taking graduate classes, but I'll also be running from the bulls and dancing el breikindance with this dude.



I've been to Croatia but I've never been to Spain before. So if you have, and if you know of any cool places there or in the rest of Europe, let me know!

(By the way, I don't like Reggaeton music, so why am I so hooked on this video? It must be because that third dance, el Miqueulyason is actually called “el Michael Jackson.”)