By pure coincidence, I had spotted an old amiga from my program in Sevilla on the metro. I was really excited and surprised to see her in Madrid. We later wrote each other on Facebook, and I learned that not only was she also teaching here, but she lived on the same street as me!! What a small world! She invited me to a potluck dinner at her house on Friday evening. I had planned on cooking something, but after walking around all day with my roomie, Tatiana, I did not have energy to cook anything. Around 10:30 I headed over there with Chulo, and two bottles of wine. We live so close, unbelievable! When I reached her apartment door, I met her Spanish and Italian friends downstairs. They were very friendly. When I got upstairs, I excitedly gave besos to my old friend, met her friends and roommates, and soon had a drink in hand; Agua de Valencia, a mix of orange juice, vodka, and who knows what else. I munched for a while on the finger foods, while people played with Chulo. Everyone loves him! Luckily, no one ever has a problem with me bringing him along for the fun.
Throughout the night, I played catch up with my old amiga, met some more American teachers who were pretty cool, and met an array of different people; from Italy, Spain, Brasil, France, and London. It is amazing to me how easy it has been to make friends here in Madrid. Everyone is so nice and open! I spoke a mix of Spanish and English, for those who insisted they practice their English with me. On of Emily's Spanish roommates told me that I speak Spanish "de la puta madre!" I will not translate, but this is a rather obscene way to tell me that I speak damn good spanish. I was amused. More drinks, more food, more new friends. I chatted with this Brazilian girl, Livia, for a while about my desire to visit Brazil, our mutual love of Grey's Anatomy, and a play date for our dogs! We set up a date for them to play, and for us to watch Grey's Anatomy online. I left the dinner around 2:30am, very satisfied.
Saturday, I woke up around 12, before any of my roommates. I fixed a light breakfast, and waited for them to start our planned clean-up. Me and Frenchie sat and made "rules of the house" for clean-up. My roommates are pretty sweet, but after this experience I will never have another roommate. Over it. There have already been way too many times where the sink was full of dishes all day, or the garbage was overflowing while everyone walked past it. Not ok. We talked about our rules, and all four of us quickly got to work; starting with the hardest first, the kitchen. Our house is pretty big, but pretty old as well. Cleaning was a 4 hour chore!! It was actually kind of fun, but by 6pm, we were starving, dirty (ourselves), and had a huge pile of garbage by the door. Time had flown by and I forgot that my friends (Fulbrighters teaching in Valencia) were coming in soon. I ran to take a shower, make a snack, and await the crew.
There were 3 of them, each with a different agenda for the night. One of the girls and I decided to wait for the others at a nearby bar, where we chatted with the bartenders over 2 glasses of red wine, Ribiera del Duero (my fav!), which came accompanied with Chorizo, Spanish sausage. Chulo was in my purse, and the bartenders were amused my him. They brought him some chicken wings to eat, but since I don't let him eat human food, my friend and I shared our second plate. Yum! Our friends finally met up with us and we headed to a tearby tapa bar to eat. We ordered just about every tapa on the menu, and more wine! I had some delicious fried cheese with some kind of finger-licking sauce on top. Also, I shared some fried eggplant covered in honey. Very good! We topped the tapas off with 2 more glasses of wine, and headed to our next destination; a whole in the wall bar by my house called El Chapandaz. This bar was a cave on the inside, and was apparently famous for this drink, Leche de Pantera, which poured down from the "cave" ceilings. Cool! The girls ordered 2 liters worth for 5 of us to split. I took one sip and immediately asked the bartender how to make it (I surely would try at home). He told me it had milk, cinnamon, mint liquor, orange liquor, and dark rum. The atmosphere of the bar was awesome! It really looked like a cave, filled with people, and milk pouring from the ceiling! The music was also great,m and we ordered another liter. I was clearly feeling all my drinks of the night, as my friends later told me that I was "flamenco clapping" to every song!! I had a blast, and woke up on Sunday with a headache to prove it!
Sunday was a day filled with great eats! I took the girls to some spots that I have been meaning to try myself. We went to Museo de Jamon, which is a famous spot here that display the Spanish staple food, HAM! Chulo was sleeping in my purse, and I was praying that the food aromas would not awake him. Surprisingly, they did not. I ordered merluza, a white fish, that came with salad, soup, and fries. All for 7.90! After stuffing ourselves, we headed to the famous art museum, El Prado, which houses some brilliant works from artists such as Greco, Goya, and Velazquez. However, after about an hour and a half in the huge museum, we decided we had had enough art for the day and we left. On the way to the metro, we ran into a South American pride parade, with costumed dancers throughout the street. There is always a party here! Also, I saw something quite interesting alongside the parade. There was a group of Spaniards protesting the anniversary of September 11th. They held signs that basically stated that September 11th was a hoax by the U.S. government, and that there should have been a criminal investigation. I was very impressed/surpised to see the international community's interest in the issue.
Later that night, we went to another famous restaurant that my teammates had recommended to me, Casa Mingo. The food was mouth-watering! We ordered a bunch of items for us to share; the famous roasted chicken, tuna empanada, chorizo, a mix of tuna and red peppers in a yummy sauce, and a bottle of the house cider, which is definitely not apple cider! Again, all for 8 euros! Win! Stuffed and tired, we headed home. Successful weekend! I looking forward to my two days (Monday and Tuesday) off. There is always a random Spanish holiday! Not complaining.
fun read!
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