Tuesdays are very very long days!! I have filled my schedule with so many activities here in Madrid. I have to keep reminding myself that I am here until June and I will have plenty of time to exercise my curiosity. My first class begins at 9:10 on Tuesdays. Then, I have classes back to back all day, until 3:05. The day seems even longer because I am usually very sleepy in the morning, and very hungry by 3rd period. Luckily, I have made friends with the cafeteria man! Tuesday is the day that I have 2 of my lower level English classes back to back. They are, to say the least, different. They are extremely talkative, and you would think each and every one of them had ADHD, but I suppose they are just eager to learn; sometimes too eager. I can barely give them directions without them shouting at me and asking questions about the assignment. I have to speak at an obscenely slow pace, and repeat everything. I love a challenge, and they are teaching me patience; because in the States, I would have hit them with a book by now! They are under the impression that I do not speak Spanish (and I would like to keep it that way), so they curse each other and the assignments all the time. After two periods of this madness, I nearly lose my voice almost every Tuesday. By last period I am dead, and I run to the bus as the bell rings.
On the bus home my head is plastered to th window and my eyelids are struggling to see light. By the time I get home it is 4pm (way past my lunch time) and I have about 45 minutes to tend to my doggie, cook/eat, change bags, and get to French class at 5. I pop some gum in my mouth and sprint out the door, homework in hand. Chulo, I decided, is not allowed in my French class until he is fully trained, because I can't concentrate. Class is always good, but the hour goes by so fast. I really have to focus. My notebook is full of a bunch of scattered mess; what I call notes. I think it will be necessary to stay in the class the whole year. When class is over, I hop the metro back home, thinking of how I will balance the rest of my activities for the night.
Normally, I have running practice Tuesdays at 8:30, which would leave me about 2 hours to chill after French class. However, this Tuesday I had my first Amnesty International meeting, and I didn't want to miss out. The meeting was at 7:00, so I had just under an hour to make it there. As I am walking up to my house, I see the nice old man I met a couple weeks ago. He saw me with Chulo one day and stopped to tell me all his puppy stories and advice. I soon realized that he and his wife are the owners of the shoe stores next to my house. He tells me to come into the store to see his two yorkies and meet his wife. Although I was in a hurry, I went in to have a look. The dogs were adorable, two girls with pink bows in their hair. The wife excitedly asks about Chulo and tells me that she has some old dog clothes to give me! I was sooo excited to get them because I hadn't yet found any clothes small enough for my baby, and he is always cold! She gave me a whole bag of really cute puppy fits! Sweaters, a jacket, and some shirts. The coolest thing was a strap-on puppy carrier (similar to what mothers carry infants in on their chest)! I don't know why, but I was sooo amused by this! It was perfect! I was delighted; people are so nice here.
By the time I made it back upstairs to my apartment, it was about 6:50 and I had to walk to the Amnesty meeting. It was a nice walk from my house, and I always love discovering new things in my neighborhood. When I arrived at the Amnesty office for my meeting there were about 8 people in a small room with a projector. I was eager to tell the director about my past work with Amnesty and my proposed ideas, but she promptly stared a long video. Most of the information, I already knew about Amnesty, but it was interesting to hear about the different focuses in Spain and how active the members are. After the video, she went on to talk for about an hour and a half straight about various things, and how we could get involved. AI Spain is different from AI Atlanta in that there are teams within teams, within teams. So, the work on each area/campaign is very specific. When she finally stopped talking, my head was overflowing with information. I knew that I was interested in Immigrants/refugees, North Africa, women's rights, and human rights education; but I had to choose a focus. When I applied for the Fulbright, I proposed, in my statement of grant purpose, a side project with North African immigrants. So, I went with my instinct and stuck to my plan; I joined the group organizing campaigns/advocacy in North Africa! I'm excited about my work with Amnesty.
I walked home from the office around 9pm, hungry and exhausted again. I made myself another stange creation for dinner. After such a busy day, I thought I would be knocked out after dinner. However, my roommate reminded me that the movie we wanted to see, Los Hombres que no Aman las Mujeres, was coming on. So we grabbed our blankets and got comfy on the couch for a movie night. The other two roomies joined us later. Part two comes on tonight, and I've got snacks on deck already!
J'aime ton blog! et tu me manques! C'est tout!
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