January 27

Today was a cool day! We went to Mejorada del Campo, which is the city where the Patricia, the Directora of AYA lives. We took the bus, which was an interesting experience. The driver was smoking as she drove. I hate how everyone here smokes! Patricia said that they were going to pass a law prohibiting smoking in public buildings, and at the last moment they added on “unless the owner chooses otherwise.” For the first week they tried without and of course lost their customers so they chose to allow smoking inside. She said they are talking of changing it again to enforce the no smoking, but that won’t happen while I’m here.
Anyway, in the city we got our month-long passes for the bus/train/metro, instead of the week visitor passes we had. Then we went over to this cathedral that is being built. The man (Justo) building it used to be a monk who got TB and left the order. He decided to build a cathedral, and has been working on it mostly by himself with a few volunteers for about 40 years! He uses slightly deformed bricks that have been donated by construction companies that rejected them, and uses coffee tins and paint cans and stuff for the molds for columns and other things. Some people have come and painted frescoes in the sanctuary and there are some stained glass windows. It’s still a work very much in progress, but all the walls are up and the ceilings and domes have the framework up. It’s huge, too, not just a little chapel. There are cloisters and a crypt (I think), and towers, and a whole bunch of stuff. It was really cool to see. Apparently Coca Cola used his story as a commercial about dedication for an energy drink. It brought a whole bunch of tourists. We saw him down there working away at mortaring one of the walls. Patricia said he’s about 80 now, but he still works on it every day. One time there was a service in it and he said it was the most important thing for him. It was an amazing thing to see.
We were going to meet some of Patricia’s English students for lunch, but we were a half hour so they had already gone. I got some kind of French omelet with ham and cheese, which was really good at first, and then just go really salty. I feel like they use a lot of salt here, which I’m not used to at all. They played Piano Man at the cafetería, and I thought of Dad. J Also of Tracey’s wedding when they played it at the end and I was the only one who knew the words. Seriously, who doesn’t know the words to Piano Man? Anyway, I digress.
After that we went back to Madrid and four others and I went to the Parque del Retiro, which is a huge park in the middle of Madrid. It has a whole bunch of ancient royal buildings and a couple lakes. We didn’t see all of it, because it’s so big. But we saw some amazing stuff. There were two fountains (only one was on) and a monument/tomb of one of the kings, maybe Alfonso XII? I can’t remember. That was very Romanesque, with columns and a huge monument with lots of statues on it and topped with an equestrian statue of Alfonso XII. It was right against the lake, so it was hard to take pictures from close up from the front. There were four lions facing the water with different statues beneath either two or all four of them. The two rows of columns were curved into a circle and the monument was in the middle. It was beautiful. We also saw the Palicio de Cristal, which is a giant building made entirely of windows that houses art exhibits. It was also by a lake; more like a large pond this time, complete with a waterfall! It was breathtaking. We wanted to go inside but it was closed.
I took tons of pictures today. For some reason a lot of them look very blue, and I don’t know why that is. Try to imagine them without the blue tint and it’ll be more accurate.
I found an internet café a couple blocks from my house that’s one euro for an hour. I guess maybe I’ve never seen an internet café, but it was completely different than I expected, with everyone getting their own little cubicle. I might try that out. It looks a little intimidating. I want to see also what the internet situation is at Carlos III (the university). It would be easier and probably free to use that, but we’re not going to get a tour until next week I think.
I bought a Spanish phone today for 19 euros. It’s one of those rechargeable prepaid phones, and it comes with 12 euros worth of use. I didn’t add more on yet, although I should have done that then. I think I’m just going to use this one for Spain and still have people call me from the States on my old phone. Calls received are free on both phones I’m pretty sure, but then I won’t have to give out another cell phone number. I’m not sure how much it is to text to the US from this one, but I’ll probably just avoid it and use the other phone if I absolutely need to text someone from home.
I need to buy a map of Madrid. Some of the girls bought one today and I was going to but I was afraid to spend the money. I think it’s a necessary expense, though. All I have is a metro map and that’s useless for streets. There are maps at all the bus stations and a lot of the metros, too, but it would be much easier just to have my own.
I was gone until about 5 or 6 today, which was nice. I feel awkward being around my host parents. Since we ate while we were out, I haven’t had to sit and eat with them except for breakfast (which consisted of tea, since she only has these little donut things). I don’t have the energy right now to brave going out of my room. I’m afraid she’ll eat me if I go sit in the living room or kitchen. Dinner conversation will be painful enough; I don’t want to add to it.
My friends and I are still speaking in English with each other. I know, I know, don’t scold. It’s a relief not to have to concentrate so hard, at least for the first week. I think next week we’ll switch to Spanish--at least mostly. Patricia is speaking English too, which is nice, especially when she’s giving us important information. She said she’d give us a break the first week. But I think we’ve been gradually adding Spanish phrases in here and there, and of course we have to speak in Spanish when we talk to anyone else.
Oh, last night we went out late. There were five of us girls wandering around Sol. We got offered a free shot at an Irish pub (which I didn’t take), a free beer, which turned into two (which I also didn’t drink) another shot which we all turned down, and free I can’t remember what they were called, but they were like shots of this cherry-ish drink that was kind of good and kind of tasted like cough syrup or very concentrated kiddie cocktail. I did drink that one, though not like a shot, because I figure I should participate a little, and since it was fruity there was a chance I would like it. I don’t think I would do it again. Even with that one I could feel it sitting in my stomach and although it didn’t affect me like getting me drunk or anything, it made me feel a little sick. I think I’ll stick to water, or maybe sangria every once in a while. I was glad the other girls didn’t pressure me to drink when I told them I didn’t want to. There was just no way I was going to take a vodka shot! It’s not that I’m chicken, it’s just that . . . wait, yes I am. I don’t want to experiment with alcohol when I’m in a foreign country in a big city alone or with few others and need my wits about me. So in those pictures that might show up of me holding a shot, it was just for the picture. I swear. Go ahead and be proud of me, mom. I had fun hanging out with the girls, but I didn’t like all the loud music (almost all American music) and smoke. At least one of the bars had hookah! I don’t know if that was the weird smell I noticed or if it was something else. Either way, it was gross. We were out until about 12:30 and took the metro home, which was a little weird cuz there weren’t a lot of people. Sondi and I went together (I am eternally grateful that we live so close!) so I felt better about it, but when I left her to go to my house it was a little creepy. It’s only like a block and a half, but there was no one on my street, which made me edgy. Fortunately nothing happened. I’d been having key problems earlier in the day, and I’m not sure if I actually opened the door by myself or if my señora opened it (btw I did open it by myself today, so it works at least part of the time). I had expected her to be in bed. I think she thought I was going to stay out later than I did. We actually came back early by Madrid standards. I wasn’t really even tired. I don’t think I’m fully adjusted to Spain time yet. I had a really hard time falling asleep, and I don’t feel like I slept much at all, so I’m going to try to go to bed early tonight. I didn’t nap today, even though I’m feeling the need to now, so I hope I’ll be able to sleep.
Well, I don’t really have anything to do between now and supper in 50 minutes, but this blog is already plenty long. I’m writing way more than I ever thought I would! Probably way more than anyone really wants to know, but whatever. It’s good to have an outlet.
I’ll write again soon. I hope to try out that café tomorrow, so hopefully you all will be able to read these!
¡Chao!
Bethany