Sunday Funday here in Madrid but there wasn’t a lot of alcohol today, mainly because I was too hungover from last night. I went to a botellón (essentially a drinking party in the streets) in the neighborhood, La Latina. I really liked the area over there and want to go back soon. There is way more culture and the buildings have more of a classic Spanish vibe. I, unfortunately, live in a neighborhood that can be equated to the Upper East Side. There are no Chinos (discount shops run by the Chinese) and everything is very commercialized and posh. Luckily my rent doesn’t reflect that and, alas, there is the Museo del Jamón aka 1 euro bocadillos and 1 euro cañas (draft beer). Anyways, more about the botellón. Public drinking was recently outlawed in Spain but everyone still does it anyway. A botellón can happen anywhere and everywhere on any particular night and it’s a way to save money instead of drinking at expensive clubs. I bought a 2 euro bottle of wine and I was good to go! It’s a good way to chat with your friends and enjoy the outdoors. However, beware of creepy homeless men who walk around with giant cardboard signs. A man last night was “looking for a wife who would marry an ugly man who would never leave her.” Needless to say, I respectfully declined.
Today I went to the Prado, a museum with classical art and ranked 9th in the world!, with my roommate Bene and my new Spanish friend Pablo. I saw paintings by Raphael and Goya and Bosch, mostly depicting Jesus’ crucifixion and Mary and Jesus hanging out and Jesus’ trial and Jesus’ last supper and oh pretty much anything with Jesus. It was still really cool though and I’m excited to go back since it’s so huge and free for 2 hours every evening! There are 2 other well-known museums here too, one being Reina Sofia which has more modern art like Picasso and Dali.
Afterwards we went to a Mexican restaurant and I was un poco disappointed. No huge baskets of chips and salsa, high prices, and bland taste. If only La Carreta or Guadalajara could expand to Madrid...
I booked my flight home for Xmas today! I only feel a little dumb considering I thought it was 479 euro but it was actually in pounds (the symbols are kind of similar, right?). Stupid United Kingdom, come on and assimilate already!
This week I get to learn about teaching English to children and the following week I do business professionals and then I’m done with class! WOO WOO! Annnnd tomorrow I have a real interview for a company that pays 16 euro an hour, sounds good to me. It’s better if I can find individual classes without going through a middleman but this company provides the books for the students and because Spanish people like to cancel, I’m sure there will be more rules so I still get paid.
Lauren and Sylvia come in a week and I’m so excited to share in Europe’s glory with them. Even if they’re in a different country and it’ll be nice to know that my friends are going through the same thing as me. And people will finally be in the same time zone as me!
And now I’ll leave you with the best moment of the day: rompers that come as long pants! I don’t have to give up my obsession during the winter, hooray! Adult onesies are the coolest things since sliced bread, lemme tell ya.
Hasta pronto.
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