¡estoy en madrid! and now i will go back to english because i really have not retained enough spanish to do otherwise.
it is hot as f*ck here. we are in an internet cafe right now, partially because we wanted to check our e-mail, partially because everything is mellow around siesta time this sunday afternoon, and partially because it is air-conditioned in here.
i am getting used to the keyboard. it is all kinds of difficult to remember where are the @ ? / * keys, though maybe that is just because i am slow.
but anyway. i will give a rundown of what has been going on.
thursday/friday:
leave at 9:15 a.m. fly to new york. fly from new york to madrid. arrive in madrid on friday at 8:55 a.m. there went thursday.
friday i got to the hotel where sahar was passed out, and then we met up with sami who has been staying in sevilla but who took the ave up to meet us. groggy and disoriented from the heat, we wandered around el centro aimlessly, had lunch in a plaza that i renamed "plaza del once," and then ambled over to the palacio real and neighboring cathedral. if i had my guidebook with me you would be apprised of its name, but as it is you won´t. then we sat around outside at a cafe and drank tinto verano con naranja (red wine on ice with fanta. yes, fanta. orange fanta. it´s really, really good).
after heading home to rest up a bit, we reconvened around 10 and had dinner at the oldest restaurant IN THE WORLD (according to the guiness book of world records). i had the roast suckling pig, sahar had stewed partridge (which she pronounces part-ridge), and sami had gazpacho and croquettes. after dinner a band (i want to say mariachi, but i suppose that´s mexican, huh? ) played and sang for everyone, finishing off with la cucaracha.
we had planned on barhopping or something after that, but were too beat. we went home and slept.
saturday:
we slept in (well, sahar and i did -- sami got up early, had breakfast, and walked around), and then went to the nearby maestro churrero, where we sampled spanish hot chocolate (very thick and darker than american hot chocolate) with churros (which are not covered with sugar and cinnamon here) and a jamon and tomato croissant (they are crazy about their cured jamon here).
after this we went to the catedral de san isidre, and then trekked up to the prado museum. the prado museum is filled with masterpieces by lots of famous and talented artists, but sahar and i determined that we can only take so many jesus paintings.
then we headed to el parque de buen retiro, where we planned to go rowing but: 1) it was threatening to rain, and 2) the estanque was small and not worth rowing in. instead we hopped onto a hop on/hop off bus tour that AAA had given us free vouchers for, and rode around the northern part of the city, where they have for some reason dubbed a smallish grouping of 10-30 story buildings "mini-manhattan."
in the later part of the afternoon (which here is around 7pm), we had some tapas at a taberna, where we discovered another summery drink, "clara" (beer with either lemonade or lemon soda -- also very good). we then went home (well, sahar shopped for a while) and napped and cleaned up to go out around midnight, which is apparently the normal thing to do here. by 1, when we were hitting our second bar, the streets were starting to fill up, and by 2:30 or so, when we headed to a club, the streets were packed with throngs of people. it was pretty cool. we went to the palacio de gravirio (or something like that), which was in an old-style building (such that the integrity of the floor was perhaps called into doubt as it creaked and swayed along with the dancers) and had several dance floors with different genres of music and dancers shaking their asses at the crowds and then dancing with themselves in the mirrors they were dancing against. this was not a bad scene and had a surprising showing of old people.
not wanting to stay out too late, we left around 4 and stopped by the chocolateria de gines, which is open around the clock to serve party-goers. sometime around 5 a.m. we were asked if we didn´t like the club we were at and if that was why we left so early.
sunday:
today is sunday. we got up and finished packing, checked out, and then went to el rastro, a huge flea market that spans several blocks. it was hotter today than yesterday, so while the flea market itself was very cool, and filled with lots of cool stuff, all i have is a hazy recollection of the sweltering heat. i bought a fan.
we were planning on seeing a bullfight this afternoon, but alas, the bullfight is at 7, and we have to leave for the airport at 8. sahar is online right now researching at which clubs we will be spending the next 48 hours.
and, with that, adios.
so, i'm half-assedly preparing for my trip to spain (okay, this is not true. i have not started at all, but am leaving thursday morning), but am still recovering from our summer associate weekend in catalina. much drinking and fun was had by all. we karaoke'd friday night, with me and a couple others kicking off the take-over with "i will survive." after that we slowly peppered the stage with more and more people in our group, in a progression that culminated in a summer belting backsteret boys at the top of his lungs with a mic in each hand. this was a good thing, however, since everyone else was playing slow and boring crap that they played ostensibly to show off their voices, which were much much too crappy for that purpose. we belted enthusiastically from our seats, and while dancing discovered that one of our summers is crazy, but in a good way.
saturday we went kayaking. i had the presence of mind to bring high powered water guns with which to attack all those around me. it was good times.
then we had lunch and lounged around at the beach bar where three years ago i was taught in detail how to spot fake breasts. we drank buffalo's milk, the beverage of choice at catalina -- it's a frothy island drink with rum, banana, chocolate and some sort of cream. it's something one should only drink while lounging around on an island beach bar, but there we were.
after an afternoon of alternating between getting in the ocean and drinking at the beach bar, we headed back for a 15 minute nap and then were off to dinner and clubbing. by "clubbing" i mean we went to a bar where there was a live performer who sang and played guitar, accompanied by cassette tapes, and then went to catalina's only dance club (self-proclaimed), club chi. it was a lot of fun except for the sweltering heat in the club, which necesitated going outside periodically to cool down, which enabled a strange swedish guy to approach us outside and enthusiastically hit on one of our summers for a very long time that extended beyond her showing him her wedding ring. but inside, much fun was had by all and most of us at varying points got up and danced in a cage.
this tuckered us out such that we all passed out on the ferry on the way home. after this i spent the rest of the day dozing off while trying to work.
i love catalina.
quoted, in pertinent part, from a Human Rights Campaign e-mail:
"Just moments ago, the Federal Marriage Amendment lost in the Senate by a stunning, bipartisan vote of 50-48. We won this historic victory for two reasons: First, because the politics of division don't work, and second: the votes were on our side."
i think most people figured that this amendment would not pass. all the same, it's nice to not have that lurking in the background somewhere.
that is a pretty damn close vote, though. it half makes me really happy and half scares the crap out of me.
[okay. i just realized that it is not close at all because i forgot about that 2/3 margin. i am an idiot. sorry.]
i moved into my new digs today. my new office digs, i mean. no more damn surfboard desk where things fall off the corners. no more not being able to reach the counter behind me where i store my documents. no more loud secretaries outside my office. i am now surrounded on three sides by nice spacious desk, have a bigger office with frosted class doors, and am safely far enough away from the chatty people.
i also had a fan-fucking-tastic weekend. i saw no doubt in santa barbara, i saw spiderman 2, i went rollerblading and shopping in venice...
ah. happy.