Weekend One: Madrid

The first weekend in Spain I went to Madrid. No one really knew what to do with me so everyone was trying to think of what to do with the American who has no friends. So I was going to go to Motilla and stay with my roommates family while she went on a trip with her boyfriend but instead Sara and Rosa, English teachers at the school, invited me to Madrid with them for the weekend. Rosa has a beautiful apartment in the center of Madrid.

View from the apartment.

We went to have drinks and tapas and I saw there was a basketball game on. So I was watching the game and I started telling Sara and Rose about the Cav's and Lebron James. A man who was making no point about being discreet was listening. He finally interrupted after I kept looking at him and said "I'm sorry but three women...sitting in a bar...talking about basketball...is every man's dream." Then he invited me to the next game in Madrid on Thursday and we exchanged numbers, not that I am really planning on going with him but hey, as Sara and Rosa said, you never know.

After the bars, I went with Sara to her brother's birthday party. It was pretty much all men over the age of thirty. So I found myself again talking about sports and basketball. One of the guys there told me that he went to school with Shaq. I didn't believe him of course but he whips out his blackberry and shows me that Shaq went to LSU and he studied in the US at LSU. He said they would eat breakfast together and they lived by each other and they were friends. Sara believed him so I had to too... Go figure, I go to Spain to find someone who ate breakfast with Shaq in college. 

Saturday morning I woke up around noon and wanted to go running in El Parque Retiro, the huge park in Madrid. Out of all the times that I have been to Madrid, I never went to the park. So I got all ready, ipod charged and, of course, forget a hair tie. There was no way I was running with my hair down so I took an elastic headband and wrapped it around my hair like 12 times. But hey, it worked. The park was not even two blocks away so I walked, stretched at the park's entrance and started my route. I followed another runner ahead of me to start. The park is seriously like a city inside. There are streets (no cars of course) lined with trees. Fountains. Playgrounds. Statues. I mean it is a whole another world. Once I lost the runner I was following because I kept looking around at all the other people, I followed another and another and then just went my own way. I walked around for another half hour watching people pass me on bikes and roller blades. Watched a dad play catch with his son. Two brothers play fetch with their dog and a couple kiss on a park bench. I turned around a ran back the same route or else I would have been walking/running around the park in circles all day.

Once I got back I showered and got ready to go to Rosa's parents house to eat. I met her parents, brothers and their families. We had tomatos, avocados, olive oil and onion. Bread, wine, chicken, fish in tomato sauce, broccoli and fruit for dessert. Rosa and her parents talked after we ate while I sat in the lawn chair next to the pool basking in the rays (it was in the mid 70's). 

Then Rosa dropped me off to go shopping on Gran Via, the main street with all the shops. I was so excited! The first store I walked into I set off the alarm. She checked my things and let me pass. I walked into another store. I set off the alarm. The security guard checked my purse, coat and bag and told me that it was something on me that was setting off the alarm. I couldn't think of what it was but he just said to let him know when I left. This happened in every single store I went into. After the 5th one I started to get frustrated and waited for Sara outside the McDonald's by the Metro. In Madrid, the stores are so big that security guards stand at the entrance to the stores to monitor. When Sara came, I was telling her about the sensors and, jokingly, she asked if I had a surgery that my parents never told me about and I realized it was the metal in my knee from my ACL surgery that was setting it off. I guess I am just not meant to shop in Madrid.

We met up with some of Sara and Rosa's friends for drinks and went to a Mexican restaurant. So the Mexican was nothing like the Mexican in the U.S. but still good. There wasn't any salsa or chips waiting at the table or any salsa for that matter. We ordered first, margaritas. Then nachos and our own main dish. I got a burrito with chorizo, chicken, onion and cheese. Super Spanish but super delish.

Margaritas.

Burrito with chicken, chorizo, onion and cheese. 

Sunday, I went with Sara to meet up with a friend for a drink and lunch. I had Vermouth, which is a typical drink to have on Sunday in the afternoon. Then we went to eat and had fried eggs over french fries, sandwiches with jamon, bacon and tortilla and fried mushrooms. I was stuffed and over lunch we talked about the differences in college and education. I am learning so much about the Spanish educational system and I haven't even started school yet!

Drinks mid-afternoon.

Sunday drink.

(Left to right): Fried mushrooms, fried eggs over french fries and mixed
sandwiches with bacon, ham  and tortilla.

Rosa picked us up with Lucas, her parent's dog she is going to watch for the next few weeks. We drove back to Motilla (2 hours) and I played with Lucas in the backseat.

I stayed that night in Motilla at Bea's house and helped her sister, Elena, with her English homework. We sat at the kitchen table for an hour pronouncing "church" and "heat" and other similar words until we were both too tired. Bea came back from her trip and brought us waffles covered in chocolate. They were soo good, perfect right before bed haha.

more later, 

jaclyn