La Noche Madrilena

For whatever reason, I'm only able to successfully upload 1 picture per entry. So here is a Victory Sign from me to you. I'm in my tiny ancient elevator in my apartment, after successfuly walking to my apartment from the Gran Via with my aching feet. I went out two nights in a row until about 7AM, and the Victory is for making it back safe both times, despite obstacles such as alcohol and high heels. I don't have internet in my apartment, so I wrote the next portion on Word, right after I came back the first night. Enjoy.

It is clsoe to 7Am right now, 6:53AM to be precise, and I just arrived back to my bedroom. I've finally lived the notorious Madrid Life and I am back to report. What a ridiculous night.
The night wasn't so much ridiculous as the club we went to. Some girlfriends and I went to a "superdiscoteca" named Kapital. This establishment is the most ridiculous place I've ever been to. First of all, and most of all, it is 7 stories high, with different DJs and 7 different bars. The go-go dancers do nothing but look beautifully plastic, and chic-ly bored. There was everything, from mullets, to fishnets, to tight tight jeans (unisex), to cocaine, to everything 80s' that can be handled in 2005. Personally, mullets and crack is OUT OUT OUT for me, but there is always something retro that sparks the European heart.
The key to Madrid night life transportation is to leave for the club right when the Metro closes at 1:30AM and go home when it opens again at 6AM. The first week I was here, I thought they were fucking nuts to lead the kind of life but... here I am now. I did the nighlife Metro routine and walked the dark 6:30AM walk. I think that is a main factor to the crazy club nights here. The sun doesn't rise until around 8AM. Kids go home at 6 thinking it's nighttime because there isn't a hint of sunlight. Oh, but what do I know.
The night was filled with much dancing, much mingling, a bit of a rendezvous of all sorts, and plenty of funny and some-what disturbing attention. When you're foreign, and you're in a place full of intoxicated Spanish men, it is inevitable that you get more attention from them, whether it is wanted or not. Most of them were pleasant, but some were a bit to handle. Let's just say, that at one point in the night, a tall Spanish man with a baby blue daisy shirt threw me over his shoulder and carried me off to the dance floor, as if he was Tarzaan, and me Jane. It was more of a You-Tarzaan-Get OFF OF ME type of situation, so I got out of that unfortunate position like a True Expert. When you're a small girl like me, you learn to handle yourself in a testosterone-filled situation. People worry about me in that sense, but I assure you, I know how to take care of myself. Plus, when you got to a club with a group of American girls, there are no other groups of girls that are more loyal about getting you OUT of a bad-man-situation. Issaaaalllgoood.
Vale. It is 7:04AM now. I've drank my glass of water and ate my slice of bread. With insurance for a hang-over free afternoon, I bid thee good-night (morning) and adieu til next time.

P.S. I CHANGED THE SETTING SO ANNNYYYONNNNEEE CAN COMMENT WITHOUT HAVING A BLOGSPOT ACCOUNT. MAH BAD, I HAD IT SET TO "ACCOUNT HOLDERS ONLY" THIS WHOLE TIME. SO!!!!! NOW!!!! LET ME HEAR YA!!!

FOTOS part 1

La vida es jamon. The life here is all about ham. HAM = JAMON.

I know the image is posted on here thrice, but this blogger-photo-posting-thing is not working out for me, and, I am running out of internet cafe time. Besides, that is how much Spain loves their ham.

This is the closet park of my bedroom, and that window you see there looks out into the streets. I can´t even tell you how much I am in love with my apartment.

Near Puerta de Sol, which is the city center of the Center of Madrid. Beware of pick-pockets in this area, because they are ubiquitous. (however you spell that)

Ok, I realize that this is not sufficient. HOWEVER, the computer is not working with me, so I will try later, along with an update about my FIRST DAY TEACHING 13 YEAR OLDS.

Ciao.

mmhmmm...

Nothing to report today, except that the mullets are back FULL FORCE here in Madrid. Business in the front, paaaaaaarrrty in the back. Is it just me, or is that description pretty fitting for Madrid?

The Piso Situation

Let´s call this The Piso Situation. The Piso Situation started when I went to go talk to the Artista and the Musico about house rules and payments and such. First things first, the Musico was not there. I´ve been mainly talking to the Artista and well... let´s just say that things were a little different than I had hoped it would be. I found out that they were bohemian by profession, but militant by life styles. She presented me with a set of house rules, and I had to sign a paper saying that I understood them. Here are some rules: First, I am not allowed to use any parts of the house that are not designated to me, which excludes the living room and two other open rooms. Second, no visitors of any type, "de ningún tipo" she said. Third, even though I get to use less than half of the apartment, I still have to pay the same amount for utilities as the rest of them. I left the apartment drowning in remorse, KNOWING that I was about to enter a situation that was going to SUCK. I called my apartment-housing expert Nudy close to tears, and she told me that I needed to get out of there ASAP. Luckily, I hadn´t paid the deposit or month´s worth of rent. So, I went back to the grand Colegio, and talked to the two remaining girls in the guy-infested dorm. They told me that I had to get out of there as well, and sweet Jenica-not-Jessica offered me a place that she saw earlier today. She was going to live at another place because it was close to work, but she swore to me that this place was lovely. I called the girl immediately, and ran over there at 10pm to take a look at the place. It. Was. FABULOUS!! The biggest bedroom I have ever seen in Spain, and a dog named Fredi greeted me at the door. Fredi asked me to stay and play, so I am now living there as of this point. My bedroom is huge, with thrice the closet space I need, plus a window that opens out to the streets. I look out, and BAM, the city is right there. Plus, Parque del Oeste, also known as the prettiest park I have seen is a block away. I live with 3 Spanish girls and a Korean girl. Korean homegirl had some Korean food stashed in the fridge. Soon Dooboo in Spain? I think it may be possible!! The girl I have been mainly hanging out with is Fredi´s lady, la Animalista. Animalista is not a word, but she loves loves loves animals and especially dogs. Dog in Spanish is perro, and perra means bitch, which she is not. So Animalista she shall be. We went out on a walk with her "friend" El Ecuatoriano. He has two dogs, Jimi and Jacko. "Amigos" she said, but I am not dull. Something sweet is brewing over there. They showed me around the western part of the city and I. Love. It! Viva Arguelles. I think I found my place. Another thing, complelty off topic, but interesting... I ran into 2 people from my high school. 2 people that I have literally not seen for four years, and we meet, here... in Madrid. LOCO. I´m supposed to meet with them in an hour because apparently, another SPer is here in Madrid for one more night. The world is the smallest thing, my friends.

I can´t figure out how to spell check on this thing, so excuse my spelling and grammar. I´m madly writing this, because my time in this internet cafe is about to be up.

Bueno, ciao everyone, and don´t be scurred by comments by strangers! Everyone is welcome.

PISO!

Ladies and Gentleladies, I FINALLY FOUND AN APARTMENT.

I feel like I can finally write because I found my new home. It's in a cute neighborhood called Arguelles and I'm living with a couple. Now, usually couples entail drama, but these two were so chill, so I hope I'm not putting myself in a shithole because I followed my judgment.

The apartment is bohemian but clean, and my bedroom has great natural light. It's TINY, though. I also have a salon to myself, which is even smaller. I've been calling it the cubicle salon, because it looks like a cubicle turned into a room. The artista Marisita told me that I can use the two rooms however way I'd like to, but without Thom from Queer Eye, I'm not so sure what to do with the second room. I'm glad I have the extra space, because the bedroom is tiny, but... We'll see. I can get creative.

The best thing about the place is the location. Very cute bars and cafes just around the corner, a young vibe, very chill, but vibrant. The apartment also has internet, so more updates will come. It also has a DRYER which is something of a luxury here in Spain. We're going to have to pay a lot for the electricity bill, pero bueno, I am DONE looking for places.

So, in a day, it is good-bye to el Colegio Mayor, my home for the last week. I made friends with some of the guy students that live here, specifically el Experto and el Honrado. Those are the nicknames, which directly translates to The Expert and The Honorable. Neither are anything like their nicknames, but that has been the fun part about hanging out with them.

I have to quickly mention that this blog is STRICTLY my own opinion. There's been several cases where people got fired from their jobs because of things they wrote in their blogs, and since I am on a government funded scholarship, I'd like to make it clear that this is my opinion, and not that of the Fulbright commission, the US Embassy, nor the Comunidad de Madrid.

With that being said...

We did meet the American Ambassador of Spain. The US Ambassador of Public Services is the co-chair of the commission, so we had a reception with the Ambassador and some of the other officials from the Fulbright and Comunidad de Madrid. I have to say, the Ambassador was a likeable guy. You, or at least I, always get weary when meeting government officials, but he was very friendly. A man originally from Louisiana, he greeted us with a huge "HOWDY folks!!" and I must admit, it made us feel very comfortable. Also, since he is from Louisiana, he did speak to us about Katrina, and teared up a little bit when he reenacted the moment when planes took off from Spain to the US carrying food and water. There's a guy from Tulane University here too, and his visa is floating around in the water some where. It's... a catastrophe. Really. I fear President Bush is unpopular here, now more than ever, since the Socialists regained power after the March 11th bombing.

Anysnootch, I feel that I will have more interesting stories and the energy to type them out when I get situated in my piso (apartment). I gotta tell ya, this apartment searching ordeal has really kicked me in the ass as far as energy goes. I'm out in the city all day, and I am pooped by 8pm in the evening. Since the search is over, I promise to be more funny.

Besitos.

What to say, what to say...

Well chickadees and chickadudes, I am here in Madrid.

I am staying at a university dorm hall called Colegio Mayor Jaime del Amo, which incidentally is an all-boys dorm during the school year. There have been several Spaniards walking around the premise, and some have been very friendly. The freshmen boys of the hall have to go through a series of hazing, which I believe is a boarding school tradition. I don’t really know, as I never was part of anything close to that. I don’t know what it is about boys and their pleasure in watching other dudes in pain. The things the freshies have to do seem pretty harmless, so far. Us female Fulbright students have been marked as targets with theses hazes. Today, we were serenaded by one of the freshmen with the Macarena, complete with the dance and the Ole at the end. By the way, the two old men who sang that song were famous flamenco singers before. Go figure.

The students, senior researchers, and PhD candidates here for the Fulbright are here for amazing projects. There are so many interesting research topics, and I really want to know how it all turns out. There are history projects, like the African legacy in La Habana y Cartagena in Sevilla (JEALOUS! I talked to the guy who was doing this for his dissertation, and we were chatting forever and a half about Sevilla), and something as modern as constitutional law and gay marriage. Gay marriage just passed this year in Spain, and it’s a really interesting situation. (It’s surprising that a country with a national religion can deal with this, and certain “secular” countries can’t even stomach it.)

The last two days have been a whirl. Between orientation meetings, I’ve been squatting in the front hallway with my laptop furiously looking for an apartment. The dorm has wireless here (amaaazinggg!) and it only works for me near the front door. A bunch of us are down stairs staring at our respective screens, and I must admit, we look a little strange to the Spaniards. Easier target for the hazing.

This feels like freshman year in college, with the dorms, the cafeteria foods, meeting new people, talking to the new people for an hour past meal time in the cafeteria… dare I say, it makes me miss Pitzer a little bit. But, I figure this is the best version of freshman year at Pitzer, in a more grown-up situation.

I have yet to entertain you with a funny anecdote, as I’ve only been here for about 40 hours. I am still looking for that perfect apartment (with internet, a bratty request) with the perfect natural lighting and a balcony… I’m still hoping. We shall meet here again when I am settled in. My one fear right now is actually becoming homeless, but we all know that everything turns out okay in the end.

Un saludo y besitos.

P.S. Incidentally (I got that word from Rachel the Cheesy Ray), you can comment on this page without having a Blogspot account. I think there’s an option that says “guest” or something, and so you don’t have to go through the hassle of creating an account. In any case, this little tidbit is to encourage you all to leave me a little sumthin’ sumthin’.

Tomorrow is the day!

Tomorrow is the day, and I am still packing. I knew it. It was inevitable.

So, let me break it down for you. I'm going to be in Madrid for 9 months for the Fulbright Schoarship. Here is a bit of a description. And this is a brief abstract of what I will be doing:

In a globalized world, cultural collisions generate various interesting forms. I would like to study one example of this collision in the south of Spain. My proposed project is to research the Japanese flamenco dancers who have traveled to Spain from Japan to study this ancient art form. I will combine this interest with part-time TA work at a secondary school, basically our version of high school.

What that means exactly, I honestly do not have a clear idea. I think it's going to form itself as I go. Basically, though, it means that I will be running around interviewing Japanese flamenco dancers about their expereinces, while teaching English at a high school. When I tell people about my project, they give me this "Why? What? Flamenco?" kind of sputter. Why am I doing this? Because I want to know about it. That's it. And someone decided to give me money to go investigate, so that is what Imma do. I have a bit of a feeling that my research is going to take a back seat in the first couple of months while I get used to teaching, but I'm ok with that. I think I need a sense of direction and guidance when I first get there.

SO I'm off. Enjoy my Pandora's box of confusion, and hopefully, enlightment.