the day before i got an email saying i received a package, and to come pick it up in the mail room. no surprise- i had asked my mom to send me a little something. i went to the mail room (which is a desk in the student lounge. it is also the book store) to get it and i am handed a package that is substantially bigger than what i was expecting. oh no... what's this... i go back out to the court yard and sit down and open the package. valentines day goodies. candy, card, stuffed bear holding a rose, cracker jacks, and a little frog that grows into a prince when you submerge it in water (no, i am not too old for this). thanks, mom. chris, diana and i crowd around my goodies, passing the red and white gummy bears as we talk about how we miss coffee. you know.. the real kind? that comes from a coffee pot? that amounts to more than 3/4 a cup? "does any senora have a percolator?" asks diana. we all sit in silence. .....what the hell is a percolator? so i ask, "what the hell is a percolator?" "yeah, that's what i was thinking," says chris. and then diana, who is amused that we do not know, explains that is it essentially just the same thing that we know of as a coffee maker. who knew?
for dinner we had meatloaf. made me miss shari's meatloaf with BBQ sauce. ...and my stomach just growled. damn it. time to get that card out again...
the next day renata, mike and i book our tickets for dubrovnik, croatia in april. if you have never seen this place, google it. you're eyes are in for a treat.
in music thursday we have to sing in class. no one was expecting it. i mean this is music theory - a 100 level class - you're not really required to have any musical ability. when it is your turn you have to either a) change the pitch (any pitch), b) change the duration (length), c) change the volume. i was the last to go. talk about building up the pressure (which, all of you who have seen me perform in front of +4 people, know exactly how i shake and how my face turns bright red...maybe that's what draws the crowd in at mokka... the visual...). and to top it off, she makes me go twice because i didn't "crescendo." .....kiss my butt.
friday i meet raphael, christy, david, and thomas to walk over to bernabeu stadium to get our real madrid vs. espanyol tickets for the next day. [most likely will be the cheapest home game of the season, considering espanyol is the worst team we'll play at home all year. i did the research.] 40 euro. not too bad. raphael argues with me the whole way. i tell him we should walk to the stadium because it's nice out. "that will take an hour." ....no, it won't... argument. he says that the tickets won't be any cheaper than online. ...yes, they will.... argument. he tells me the game is on sunday. ...no, it's not. now i think he's trying at anything just to bicker. i'm not bothered - i'm actually entertained - because i know i'm right. and make a point of rubbing it in his face the next day at the game. raphael, if you're reading this... you know i love you.
we meet christy, david, and thomas to walk over to the stadium. i talk to david as we walk. all of a sudden, he starts walking creepily behind a man in front of us, something like this- hands in his pockets, head cocked with a mischievous grin on his face, about 4 feet behind the guy. what... is he doing... the local looks back to see david walking behind him, looking straight at him with that creepy smile. i've never seen someone walk away so fast. i'm cracking up as i watch the spaniard, who is already half a mile up the road. "what the hell?" i ask david. this kid is messed up. i like it.
i ask raphael if diana and i can cook dinner at his place before the game tomorrow, then express my desperate need to find manwich. yeap... thanks dad... been craving sloppy j's ever since that card... awesome. even though raphael doesn't like sloppy joes, we go to the american store to look for manwich after we buy our tickets at the stadium. no manwich. guess i won't be satisfying this craving for a lonnng time. instead we buy cans of dr. pepper and root beer and head to plaza de la republica argentina to drink 'em. we sit there and stare at the fountain. i realize, this is the first soda i've had in madrid. by the time i'm done, i have a major sugar rush. i jump up, slam my can to the ground and punch both arms in the air in victory. "whoaaa rocky," raphael teases. pshh... rocky... rocky can't chug a root beer like this girl...
saturday. game day.
morning- diana and i are on a mission. check fnac's (electronics, books, etc., store) for the second time for an italy travel book. i need this!!! still no dice. i regret not ordering one online... next we go to pickup our bullfighting tickets we bought for march 14th. tickets were cheap. the cheapest ones were 8 euro, so we splurged at got the 9.50 ones. yeahhhh front row of the last section, high rollin'!!! we figured, hey - we're going to watch a bull get slaughtered, we don't need front row seats for that. in fact, we prefer our 9.50 euro tickets. but. the ticket place isn't open. again, no dice. we spot a book store, casa de libros (house of books. straight to the point.), and stop in to see if they have travel books. they do. ..italia, italia, italia, ITALY!!!! one in english! FINALLY. i'm relieved. checkout, leave, done.
the truth is, diana and i love books. book stores, libraries, etc. we talk about how we miss real libraries, not the one at school which has 30 books and 5 tables. and how we were actually allowed to drink - no, ENJOY - a cup of coffee while studying, reading, ...facebooking... anyway, we're nerds when it comes to book shops. but all the ones we've been to, don't have a reading section. or cafe. why, why, why?
...i don't think i've mentioned the dogs here. 1. everyone has a dog. 2. no one has a leash. the dogs just walk along side their owners, respectfully dodging obstacles and lazily strut along. it's amazing. once, i saw a dog walking itself - it's leash in it's own mouth, causally walking along the street. anyway, diana and i are walking from casa de libros and i guess there's something about pugs that make her a little ...sentimental? i don't know, but one is walking past us and i hear her swoon.. and then i hear something else. "look at it's butt!" and then i see diana reach down and smack the side of the dog's behind. ......... "did you just smack that dog's butt?" i ask her. "yes." later i learn more about her dog butt fetish.
next, we venture around madrid. we go to the Temple of Debod - this ancient egyptian temple that was rebuilt in madrid [tell us wikipedia: The temple was built originally 15 km south of Aswan in southern Egypt very close to the first cataract of the Nile and to the great religious center dedicated to the goddess Isis, in Philae. The temple was rebuilt in one of Spain's most beautiful parks, the Parque de Rosales, near the royal palace of Madrid, and opened to the public in 1972.]. Next, diana wants to go see Francisco Goya's (a spanish artist from the 18th century... who i had never heard of until that day) tomb in this church called Ermita de San Antonia de la Florida, where Goya painted the ceiling and dome frescoes. sure, i'll come along for the ride... might as well educate myself since i'm clueless.
leaving the parque de rosales, we stop to look at our map to figure out where Goya is. a couple comes up behind us and asks if we are going to the church where Goya is en tombed. ..why, yes, we are... how did you know that? we start walking together, the woman is from a town near venice, and the man is from scottland. i tell her i am going to italy in 2 weeks. "rome?" "yes." "venice?" "...yes.." seriously. is this woman psychic? what the hell is going on. the woman tells us the church we are going to is a "place girls look for men" and later, she says it is a good place to get married. .....? i wonder if the couple is engaged... finally we find it after 20 minutes of walking. [later, diana and i talk about how crazy it was that she knew we were headed to see Goya when the church was no where near the park we were at.] there were 2 small churches. something was going on in the first because there were all people and camera men outside. we go over to the second and stare at the dome and ceiling for awhile. ...ok maybe for like 5 minutes, but like i said it was a small church. and, in my point of view, not the kind of place to get married in. sorry, fortune teller lady.
diana and i continue our venture. we stop in a bar for lunch. an asian is playing an arcade game, smoking a cigarette, while his girlfriend sits by and watches. they do not move from their positions from the moment we enter to the moment we leave. the bartender and a customer, watch the screen as he plays. i wonder if this is their typical saturday... i order calamari, but the bartender says i can't have it just by itself, it has to come on a sandwich. ... that was interesting. calamari sandwich. no sauce, just bread and calamari. ....ok, then. diana and i are proud we can go to a local bar and order food and drinks.
next we head to casa de campo, a park pretty close to where we live. we walk up a hill to this pond, where there is boat rental and small outdoor restaurants lining the water. it's a really nice place. as we walk around the pond, two bikers ask to take our picture (or so we figure out through spanglish). ..oh.. sure.... so here it is--
we sit on a bench in the sun and i get out my italy travel book and start to absorb.
for dinner, we head to raphael's - first stopping at supersol to pick up some frozen pizza's (yeah... when i said cooking... that's what i meant). diana is craving pizza - and will be for the next week and 3 days. we look at the selection supersol offers us. i spot something delicious. "ooo look at this," i say to diana - cheese, ham, and mushroom pizza. could this get any better?? "see, i don't know why they put pictures like that on these boxes," she replies. i realize that she and i are thinking the exact opposite idea of this pizza. "i think this looks amazing," i tell her. "oh, wow, really? that looks terrible!" "i'm getting it." i grab some asparagus for our vegetable and go to check out. our purchase: two oven pizzas, asparagus, 6 pack of san miguel, carton of sangria = less than 10 euro. love it.
we go to raphael's and start the oven. i get out a pan and do some improv with the asparagus. i wanted garlic put they didn't have powder - just the bulb - and i was too lazy to deal with it. but it didn't matter because it was still awesome. food is done and we sit done at the table. "that actually looks really good...," diana says, eyeballing my pizza. um, i know. and it was. "don't judge a pizza by it's cover," i say to her. "i guess you're right, but you know, to the general population that pizza looked disgusting." i laugh. we debate and decide to take a poll. so here is the pizza cover... along with diana's thumb mistakenly in the wrong direction. what do you think?
we split our pizza's half and half and share [she had opted for BBQ style, which was also delicious].
after dinner, raphael and i walk to meet thomas, david, christy, and others for the game. except they're running late, so we walk on without them. this time we argue about hair salons. when we get to the stadium, people are everywhere. raphael walks to the right without saying anything. and i don't see him. where did he go.... i stand there. shit. i have
no idea where to go. as i'm standing there wondering if we'll be able to hear each other if i call him, someone grabs me from behind. i turn around. david. and thomas. "oh my God, i'm so glad to see you guys." saved. seems like someone's always looking out for me...the game was fun. there were at least 12 of us there. we won 3-0.
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