Oops!

I accidentally posted that last blog without finishing my 3 week summary--still trying to figure out how to work things haha. I'm just going to jump around from one topic to the next so sorry in advance!


Home

We're living in cute, little apartment 2B on Calle de Teruel, 15. Encarnita, Preethi, and I each have our own bedrooms. There are 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, and a living room/dining room. The hallway is so tiny and it took Preethi and I over week to find out that there was light switch in the hallway that we could use instead of blindly running into the walls or the dresser (the apt is pitch black at night). There's a balcony that is full of plants (Encarnita LOVES plants and flowers). If we don't finish our water at dinner, Encarnita told us to water the plants with it so that's what we do. Encarnita goes out there to smoke. At first, she told me she only smokes one a day and no more. Then a few days later, she told me she smokes two a day and no more. When I told her that she told me she only smokes one, she said that she used to smoke 20 a day so 2 isn't bad! I had dinner with her nephew one time (which was a little awkward because he talked fast and quietly so it was hard for me to understand him), and he told me that people in Spain always yell to each other from their balconies, from one building to the next. She is hilarious--I love her! She always calls us reinas or princesas (queens or princesses). She calls me princess of the west since my family is from the states, Preethi princess of the east since her family is from India, and she calls herself princess from the center since she is from Spain. Another little thing that's different is that in Madrid, you always wear shoes in the house.

She told us that people in Madrid recycle everything so we always put our trash in a bag for her to separate and recycle later. We love how she is always humming or singing. Right now, she isn't working because she had surgery right before we came. She had a gland removed from the left side of her neck. Usually, she works at a school with children. She says she does a little bit of everything there (secretary, watches the hallway, and things like that). I love how she always ask if we are "hhhappy hhhhappy?". She knows a few English words, and she tells me that if we are hhhappy hhhappy then she is hhhappy hhhhappy :)

Before bed, she always tells us to sleep with angels, and she has an angel hanging above each one of our beds. She told me that there is this nursery rhyme in Spanish for kids about 4 little angels on each corner of the bed. Everything in Spain happens at later times than what I'm used to. Dinner is at 9 or 10, people go out at midnight and come back at 5 or 6 in the morning. Encarnita usually goes to bed around midnight or one, and she is 57 years old!

To shower, I have to turn on the gas and light this thing in the kitchen for hot water. I always have trouble with this and the door! There are about 7 locks on the door, but we only have to deal with 2 of them really and I STILL have problems with it. I thought I got the hang of it after awhile because I went about a week and a half without not being to get into the apartment, but the other day, after hearing me struggle, Encarnita had to open the door for me again. The first night we went out, Preethi and I tried to be soooo quiet when we were leaving since Encarnita said she doesn't care when we go out or come back as long as we don't wake her up (and also because she didn't know we were going out because she was in bed before we decided to meet up with friends). The door from the hallway to the little area where the door is at is SO loud. We accidentally kind of slammed it shut. Then, there is a windchime hanging right behind the door so that it chimes whenever someone comes in or out. Well, I tried to hold it still while we opened the door so that it wouldn't chime. But, like I said, the place is pitch black at night so I was aimlessly grabbing for it and ended up making more noise than it would have made if we would have just opened the door. We were trying so hard not to laugh, but we couldn't help it! If that wasn't enough, when we were struggling to lock the door, we were using my phone for light and Preethi accidentally called Encarnita! So much for being sneaky.

Now about the food! Encarnita loveessss to cook and I loveeee to eat it :). We always start off with soup or salad (her salads are amazing! She puts carrots, grapes, apples, ham, pineapple, and things like that on the lettuce with oil and pepper and salt), then we have the main dish (like chicken and rice, lentils, fish, fried potatoes, fried eggplant, croquetas, stuff like that), and then we have dessert. For dessert, we usually bananas and strawberries in milk & molasses with cinnamon or whip cream on top. We have also had arroz con leche (rice with milk--kind of like rice pudding), flan (which I'm not a fan of--can't do the consistency, I rather just play with it), and some other thing for dessert. I can't remember what the other thing was, but she said it was a special dessert they only serve for certain occasions. It's shaped like a hash brown patty and it is kind of brown, but I can't really remember it since we have only had it once. She is going to teach me how to cook! So far, she taught me how to make croquetas. For breakfast, I usually have orange juice, gluten-free cereal, gluten-free toast, and either a gluten-free muffin, a couple rice cakes, or a couple gluten-free cookies. I think all of the gluten-free food here is better than it is in the U.S. I'm not really sure why. I don't really like cereal that much--especially not gluten-free cereal--but I love it here!

Croquetas

• Put olive oil in frying pan on stove
• Add corn flour & stir until it looks kind of creamy
• Add cup and a half of milk, stir
• Add cut up chicken, spoonful of salt, and ground nutmeg
• Stir, put in container, cover with saran wrap, and cool in fridge
• Later, make oval shapes out of the batter
• Roll in corn flour, then in egg/milk, then in bread that is ground up like flour (pan rallado)
• Fry in olive oil
She also showed me how to grill chicken (in oil and with pepper, salt, and spices). I can't wait to learn more!

Her apartment is COMPLETELY filled with paintings from Torres Martin--one of her friends who has cancer and paints. I love looking at the paintings and seeing how he progressed over the years. Encarnita has sooo many friends. I meet a new friend almost every time I come home! Our walls are paper thin so it takes some getting used to.

School

SLU Madrid's campus is basically only 4 buildings. It's a cute little campus, though. Preethi and I walk to school every day. It's about a 20-25 min walk, but we're usually speed walking to make it to class on time so we can get there in 10 or 15. We have class for 2 hours a day, Monday through Thursday. This makes it easy to travel on the weekends since every weekend is like a long weekend! (This weekend is especially long since yesterday was Corpus Christi Holiday so we did not have class). We pass this market that smells like fish every day, so we decided to walk on the other side of the street from now on since it makes us nauseous.

The first week of school, my friends and I spent hours hanging out in the ashtray (kind of like a quad--place with a fountain and a bunch of tables for people to sit and study/eat/talk at). We felt like we were wasting our days away, but at the same time we met a lot of people from being there! Time seriously flies by. We get out of class at 3:00, and it seems like 15 minutes later it is 5:30! We decided to explore Madrid instead of sitting in the ashtray for hours every day.

Right now, I'm taking Ethics with Professor Llorente and next session I'm taking Painting I with Professor Massana. I like my class so far. We have readings every night and quizzes almost every day (but the quizzes are usually pretty easy). We have a mid-term, a final, and a paper (which I'm currently putting off). We talk about interesting cases of ethics, and my teacher usually comes up with or finds some completely improbable "real-life" examples to really make us think. Our professor is really funny and makes it interesting.

Exploring Madrid

We've been exploring Madrid little by little. We spend a lot of time at Sol (especially when we go out). La Plaza Mayor (a famous historical site in Madrid) is right next to Sol. We went to a public pool/fitness club one Saturday near Green Canal Park. It was interesting to say the least. I'd call it kind of a half nude pool, but Preethi makes me fun of me for saying that. She says it is just a topless pool, but not even half of the girls were topless and some guys wore thongs and speedos so it is kind of a half nude pool to me. I was trying to get rid of my semicircle tan line on my back that I got from standing in line at the Vatican in Rome (which I'll tell you allll about soon!), but somehow I ended up getting even more funny shapes on my back so now my back looks like a maze. I'll get rid of it eventually. The pool was HUGE and was ice cold. We only got in a couple times for like 10 minutes. They don't have chairs to lay out on because people just lay on a towel on the ground. They had a balcony things to lay out on too (which is where we were). We decided that it was pretty pointless to pay almost 5 euros to go to the pool for a few hours when we don't even get in the pool that much, so we decided to start going to Green Canal Park whenever we want to lay out. Tons of people lay out next to the fountain (that is as big as pool) so that if they get hot, they can just jump in the fountain. Sarah does her workouts there so it is pretty convenient. The park is gorgeous and has a playground, soccer fields, tennis courts, walking paths, and more. We'll probably be spending a lot of time there.

Going out: Once we get off the metro at Sol, we are usually stopped by at least 10 different people from different clubs or bars who have coupons for free entrance, free drinks, free shots, or some kind of deal. Our first night out, we found the Laclede's of Madrid--Star Studio (full of smoke and had the creepy old men near the dance floor and everything). We thought it was a little sketchy at first, but once we got in, it was so much fun! (didn't hurt that the bartender looked like Heath Ledger either) They played almost all American music--lots of oldies too (& songs from the Greece soundtrack). We took a cab home around 3 or 4 because the metro closes at 1:30 and doesn't open up again until 6 a.m. It's reallyThe inconvenient since we don't go out until midnight so you can either wait until 6 a.m. til the metro opens back up, take a cab, or walk. The metro itself is so easy to use though--I wish STL had something similar. It is clean and safe too (for the most part). Dubliner's is an Irish bar that we've been to a few times. It's a nice place to go if you just want to hang out, have a few drinks, and talk. We went to a discoteca called The Palace which was insane! We went on a Thursday so not only was everything free (for girls--entrance, beer, and sangria), but it was packed! Techno music, flashing lights, fog, and dancing, what else can you ask for? We left the Palace around 5 a.m., found some dank pizza at a little shop called Open 25, and waited to catch the metro home. Before we left for the night, we told Encarnita we were going to the discoteca, and she told us that we would be getting home whenever she would be waking up--she was right! The next night we went to El Kapital--a 7 floor discoteca, each with a different theme. It was awesome! A couple nights ago, we went to the cave bar El Chapandaz. It took us awhile to find it (even though it isn't a real cave--but it looks like one!), but when we got there it was definitely worth it. The inside looks exactly like a cave! We all drank their famous Panther's Milk (or tried to at least--some of us didn't like it and some of us couldn't finish the hugeeee glass). They poured the Panther's Milk from the ceiling from a "rock". Lights shone down on the streams of milk coming down from the rock--it was really cool!

We went to the Royal Palace of Madrid one day after school. It is such an amazing building! We saw the Spanish throne--the very seat that the kings would sit in. We stood in the King Charles' bedroom which is also where he died. There was a room with walls made completely out of porcelain, and most of the other rooms had walls of silk. Everything matched in the rooms--the same floral print was on the floor, ceiling, couches, walls, everything! We saw the painting gallery too.

When Preethi's sister, Swathi, and Mikey came, we went out to dinner at the oldest restaurant in the world! It's in Guiness's Book of World Records. It's called Casa de Botin. The food was sooo good! We each got an entree and split all of it. We had calamari, roast suckling pig, chick in almond sauce, green beans and ham, and eggs/sausage/potatoes with sangria to drink. We had this apple pie thing with ice cream for dessert. We also went to the Real Madrid. v. AC Milan Classic Corazon Match in Santiago Bernabeu Stadium!! It was a game for veterans--all of the best old players. We got there a little late and it was tied 2-2 when took our seats. The stadium is enormous, and people were going crazy! Real Madrid won 4-3!

We've done some shopping since we've been here. I think our favorite store is Okeysi. I like Zara and Sfera too. Plaza de Espana is like the Time Square of Madrid. It has a famous statue of Don Quijote there too.

Almost everything in Madrid closes from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. for siestas and tapas (naps and free appetizers with drinks you order). Some places give you pickles and olives and chips when you order drinks, but other places give you tortilla espanola, sandwiches, potatoes, and things like that. Yummyyyy :)

I can definitely tell that my Spanish is improving. Becoming fluent seems impossible, though. There is so much vocabulary to learn and vocabulary varies sooo much from one Spanish speaking area to the next. Encarnita helps me whenever she can, so hopefully it gets even better!

Well before I make this the longest blog in the world--I'm going to go finish watching The Godfather Part 2. I'll save my Rome blog for later!

Hasta luego!