"Where we love is home - home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

         Greetings everyone! Well, after some persistent pleas from people (cough cough Manuel and Dad cough cough) I’ve decided to get back on the blog horse and try to get up to date.  I think the easiest thing to do will be to write the most recent stuff while it’s fresh my mind, and then I’ll back track and catch up on the rest from last year.

         First, for those of you who don’t know, this year I am teaching in another school (actually two schools) in another town about two hours away from Sevilla. At first I was pretty crushed by the news, but now I couldn’t be happier.  Yes, going back and forth between Don Benito and Sevilla is a hassle, but I really like the town and I like my schools.  I’m working with some great teachers and really nice groups of students so I’m really loving my job. Some weekends we spend in Don Benito and some we spend in Sevilla, and so far it’s going fine. 

        One challenge of this school year is that I’m working in two different schools. Mondays and Wednesdays I go to one and Tuesdays and Thursdays I go to the other.  In one school, I have a lot of fun and really enjoy my day, and in the other I’m bored out of my mind and feel like I shouldn’t even be there!  The school that I go to on Mondays and Wednesdays has a really good grasp on the bilingual program even though it’s new to them.  When I go to the classes there, I teach the classes.  The teachers and I plan things together. They let me know in advance what we’re studying and what I need to prepare. They appreciate my work and they ask me questions that they have about English vocabulary and grammar. In the other school, it’s the complete opposite.  Sometimes I show up to class and the teacher decides that he’s behind so he has to use that time to teach Spanish. Ok…great. So what am I supposed to do? They just don’t take advantage of the fact that I’m there and I have a lot of experience teaching now. Another one of the teachers I work with is skype chatting and text message during the whole class. Maybe a little unprofessional. The good thing though, is that I do like my coworkers as people and I love the students, I just don’t really do anything.

          The town of Don Benito is really nice. In terms of area, it’s pretty small but the population is about the same as Lombard, so I’m not in some lost rural one-horse town. It’s well connected by trains and buses and it’s got all the main clothing stores and supermarkets so shopping is definitely not an issue. I also like being able to walk everywhere.  Nothing is more than 25 minutes walking from my apartment so it’s really nice. Something that’s much different from the last two years is that now I’m living in the same town that I’m working so now I see my coworkers, students, and parents of students in the street all the time. Sometimes I feel like a bit of a celebrity walking around.

           Some funny things that have happened so far…During my first days of class the teachers had the kids put little signs with their names so I could learn them all. In one of the sixth grade classes, one of the boys wrote that his name was “Amador” which means “lover” and subsequently asked for my phone number. The little troublemaker's name is actually Mario and goes out of his way every day to smile and say hi to me. 

Thanksgiving at school

Halloween decorations EVERYWHERE!

Santa makes an appearance in December!

          Another thing I’ve realized is how difficult the pronunciation of English really is.  For us it’s natural because we’ve been speaking it all our lives. But try explaining to someone why though, through, tough are pronounced completely differently even though they all end in ough. In one of my private classes we had a fun little pronunciation snafu that I think you all will enjoy.  During the months of October, November, and December I was giving private classes twice a week with one of my sixth graders from school named Mario (no, not Mario “the lover” but another one) and his mom.  They were moving to Australia at the end of the semester and wanted a crash course before taking the plunge into living in an English speaking country.  My student’s dad got a job in Brisbane and had been living there a couple months, and they were going to move there after Mario finished the first semester of school.  They were really fun to have class with and treated me like part of their family.  One day Mario the sixth grader was offering me things to drink and he asked if I wanted a Coca Cola.  His mom said to him, Mario, say it how they say it in English. So Mario, obliging his mom, said clear as day “Do you want a cock?” Now I’m used to hearing bizarre pronunciations of words all the time, so I have a great poker face.  I felt my cheeks blush a little bit, but I calmly explained to him that the letter o in Coke sounds like “ooouuuu” (Our long o sound is very similar to the vowel sound made in Spanish by the combination “ou.” Then his mom indiscreetly asked, so what did he just say? With my best goody-two-shoes look I gave her a couple of examples of Spanish slang words for penis and the three of us had a pretty good laugh.

          In recent news Manuel and his mom decided to give me a really special Christmas present this year, and I’m going to have a “traje de gitana” specially made for me. What the heck is that? Well it’s the traditional type of dress that all the Spanish girls wear during the Feria de Abril in Sevilla. That’s the week long flamenco festival that’s held every spring. If you haven’t seen pictures yet, this is how I’ve dressed the last two years for Feria.

          The green, white and blue dress is one that I bought second hand and the denim and red one was loaned to me by the principal at my old school.  Both were a lot of fun to wear, but I’m so excited to have a dress specially made for me!  Here are some pictures of my first fitting.  It doesn’t look like much yet, but when it’s finished I know it’s going to look great!

Manuel's friend Dani, who's making me the dress, pinning me up!

Definitely liking the view from behind!

The other color/fabric that will be part of my dress

"England and America are two countries separated by the same language." - George Bernard Shaw

So I'm not even going to make up some excuse on why it's been so long since I've blogged because at this points, it's downright ridiculous.  I have been really busy, but I'm going to try and get you all caught up.The last weekend of November/first weekend of December, I went to visit my friend Carmen in Cambridge, UK.  She’s from here, but she and her friend Lucia have been working in Cambridge for the past four months to try and improve their English. Since I had never been to London or anywhere else in England, I figured this would be a great way to kill two birds with one stone: visit a friend and check another country off the list. 

Unfortunately, RyanAir (everyone’s favorite budget airline), doesn’t fly from Sevilla to London on Thursdays, so I had to catch the bus to Malaga and fly out of there.  It’s a pretty easy bus ride though, so no big deal.  I tried to get some sleep, but there was this girl a couple seats away from me talking on the phone almost the whole time.  Usually I can tune stuff like that out, but she was talking in some bizarre language I couldn’t identify and she sounded just like Marge Simpson.  Needless to say, it was a little distracting.  Anyways, I arrived at the bus station and waited for the bus that goes to the airport.  I remembered from previous trips that it cost two euros, so I had that ready in my pocket, but when I got on the bus I saw one price said 2 euros and another said 1.20 euros.  When I asked to confirm with the bus driver, he gave me the dirtiest look, pretended he didn’t understand my Spanish and said “What???” I was like ummm OK asshole. Then he proceeds to point out towards the bus stop that says in giant letters 2 euros and says “Look, look out there!”  I was floored. I couldn’t believe he was so rude.  Besides, I wasn’t even waiting at the actual bus stop because there was a line, so I didn’t see the sign.  As if living in another country isn’t hard enough, you have to encounter jerks like this who make you feel stupid.  Whatever!  I sat down and got over it.  I thought my flight was at 8, so I found my way to the gate at ate some Burger King to kill the time (gross, I know haha).  Turns out that my flight was actually at 8:50, so I used that extra waiting time to teach myself how to read again because evidently I forgot.  When it was time to board, I found myself amidst the complete chaos that is totally typical of a RyanAir flight.  Huge lines, no explanations as to why the lines aren’t moving, flight attendants checking your bags like hawks.  For those of you have no idea what RyanAir is, which is probably most of you, they are a budget airline that offers ridiculously cheap flights, but as they say, you get what you pay for.  They are extremely strict with carry-on baggage size and weight.  Also, you can’t have an extra purse or computer/camera bag or something like that.  Everything has to fit in your one bag.  Even more bothersome, during the whole flight, they have extremely annoying advertisements and announcements over the loudspeaker.  Other than that, the flight was fine. I started to panic a bit because unlike my typical self, I was relatively unprepared for this trip.  I didn’t look into getting from the airport to the city center, nor how to get to my hostel once I got there.  I also hadn’t changed any euros into pounds, and since I wasn’t getting into London until about 11 at night, I worried it might be a problem.  I tried not to worry too much and decided to rely on the ridiculous luck I tend to have while traveling, hoping it wouldn’t run out just yet.  

When I stepped off the plane, I was greeted by a biting cold and an almost freezing rain. Lovely.  Inside the Stansted airport the first thing I saw was a place to change money. That’s one problem solved.  I had a feeling the rates probably weren’t as favorable since it was an airport, but I needed cash.  It just so happened that at that same desk they sold tickets for the bus to the city center.  Another problem solved.  I rushed down to the bus stops in case there was one leaving soon. It was already late and I really didn’t want to wait for the next bus.  I made it just in the nick of time, lucky as usual.  The bus ride was a little under an hour, and before I knew it, I was in the center of London!  I got off the bus not knowing exactly where to go.  I could have easily gotten into a taxi, told them the address to my hostel, and called it a night. However, since I would be going to Cambridge the next day, this was my only chance to catch a glimpse of London at night.  So, even though I was freezing and exhausted I wanted to walk.  I found what appeared to be metro station and went in to see if there were any maps.  I was in luck.  There was a giant city map on the wall.  I was able to locate the street of my hostel pretty quick and tried to orient myself the best I could.  For those of you who know me and my sense of direction, this is not very easy.  I took a picture of the map just in case then set off on my little adventure.  It was a pretty straight shot from what I could tell, but it was a bit of a hike.  I soon found myself surrounded by double decker buses, fancy taxis, and…ENGLISH!  I don’t know why it surprised me so much, seeing as I was in England, but all of a sudden I was super aware of the fact that everyone was speaking English. It was actually quite a relief. 

On my way, I passed the London Bridge and some other cool buildings that I wasn’t quite sure what they were.  After a little over a half hour walking, I made it to my hostel.  Before I even walked into the door, I heard “Moves Like Jagger” blasting from inside.  I started to question my decision to book a hostel that was quoted as “good for partying.”  Oh well.  I checked in, and on my way up to my room, I was greeted by two drunk boys offering to show me to my room and inviting me to play beer pong.  I told them maybe later, with no intention of actually playing of course. It was already almost 1 am, and what I was interested in was sleeping.  When I got into my room there were already some people sleeping so I tried not to be too loud.  One of the kids woke up and introduced himself, in his underwear…Ian from Canada. Then, he proceeded to tell me that the other two girls were also American, and they were passed out because they got super drunk in the course of losing a game of strip beer pong. Oh boy…  He insisted that I come join the party downstairs but I politely declined. The next day I woke up, got ready, stashed my backpack in a locker, and headed to the hostel bar for breakfast. I didn’t have much of a plan for the day besides see as much as I could before I went to Cambridge at around 4pm.  I figured I would make it back to London at some point to really see the city, so I tried to have the mindset that whatever I was able to see would be plenty. First order of business… St. Paul’s Cathedral.  

Outside St. Paul's Cathedral

 I decided not to go inside because I’ve been inside a million cathedrals already, and I just didn’t have the time.  Next, I headed to Shakespeare’s Globe Theater to take a tour.  That was something I did want to see the inside of.  I should have done a little research ahead of time, though, because I had no idea that the actual Globe burned down like a hundred years ago and this was a replica of what it MIGHT have looked like.  There are no pictures and only vague drawings of the original, so this was their best effort.  It was still really cool and they have all kinds of old costumes and artifacts from that time.  Our tour guide was interesting to say the least.  He was one of those typical snobby Brits who don’t smile and think everything they have to say is super important.  However, he was really funny and sarcastic, so I enjoyed it. 

Me inside the Globe Theater

Next, I made the trek to see Big Ben and the London Eye, took my pictures, and moved on.  After that, I saw the outsides of Westminster’s Abbey and Buckingham Palace.  Both beautiful, but I’m not sure they rank that far up on my list of beautiful, super old European buildings.  After that, I was pretty beat and I noticed my right foot was starting to hurt.  I headed back to the hostel, picked up my backpack, and had a quick burger at the restaurant next door.  Next, I caught the metro to King’s Cross station to catch my train to Cambridge.  I was running a little late, as per usual.  One of the only things I really wanted to see in London was Platform 9 ¾ which is in King’s Cross. For those of you Harry Potter fans, you know what that is, and for those of you who don’t give two craps about Harry Potter, then you don’t know what that is. Unfortunately, I barely made it in time to catch my train and I didn’t have time to pass Platform 9 ¾ . Next time, I suppose. 

I arrived in Cambridge at around 5pm and Carmen and her friend Lucia were there waiting to greet me.  This was my first time seeing Carmen since I left Sevilla last June, so it was a bit of an emotional reunion.  We walked towards the city center because we needed to catch the bus to get to the bed and breakfast the girls were working at.  My first impression of Cambridge was a cold one, but the city is really cool. We got to the bus station and had to wait a while, but eventually we made it to the Rectory Farm bed and breakfast.  Carmen and Lucia had been working there since September and to be frank, they hated it.  I mean, there’s not much to like about housekeeping at a hotel.  To make matters worse, they lived together in a tiny room that had no bathroom.  If they needed to go to the bathroom or shower, they had to go in an available room of the hotel.  And if there wasn’t an available room…well, you do the math.  My situation would be the same for the next two days, but I didn’t complain because I was staying there for free.  I happened to be lucky during my stay because there was always at least one empty room where I could do my business. Oh I should mention that I didn’t really have a bed, but more a mattress on the floor. But, I did have a kitchen…that I didn’t use.  I cleaned up a bit after my travels and we headed out for a few drinks. First we went over to their friends’ house for dinner, then headed out for a bit.   

 

After dinner photo. Carmen is on the left, and Lucia in the middle.

We didn’t stay out too late because the girls had to work the next morning and I had lots of sightseeing to do.  So I went to bed and woke up around 9.  The girls left all their breakfast stuff out for me so I went to their room and made myself some toast before I started my day.  I should also mention that my foot was not only still hurting, but getting worse.  Perfect for sightseeing on foot all day…not.  I wasn’t going to waste my chance to see Cambridge, though, so I just tried to ignore it.  I grabbed a couple of maps, bundled up, and headed out. The weather there was much colder than I am used to, especially now that I’ve missed the last two Chicago winters.  I’d say it was somewhere in the high 30s to low 40s.  Not unbearable, but definitely a shock to my system.  

Anyways, after I caught the bus into the town center from there bed and breakfast, I started walking.  Not ten minutes in, I already found myself falling in love with Cambridge.  I noticed right away from what I saw in London and Cambridge and from what I saw in Ireland last year with my parent, the atmosphere in the UK is much different than that of the rest of Europe.  There’s a very medieval feel to it.  Also since December had just started, there was a fun Christmas vibe going on. Lights everywhere, bands in the streets playing Christmas music, and shoppers packed the streets. So I hobbled along taking my touristy photos and taking in the sites. Every once in while I popped into a café to have a hot chocolate…well the hot chocolate was secondary to resting my foot and escaping the cold.  

 

Cool jazzy band playing Christmas music.

The historic King's College of Cambridge

 Carmen and Lucia got off of work at about 3 so I met up with them for lunch, but since none of us were very hungry yet, we just walked around some more and decided to have an early dinner.  I decided I wanted something really typical from there, knowing that their style of cooking is similar to ours at home. We decided to go to a very popular restaurant there. It’s a really cool, huge place with multiple bars and seating everywhere.  We happened to run into one of their coworkers and her brother who were also there to eat, so we decided to eat together.  I helped Carmen and Lucia read the menu (it was in English of course) and went to the bar to order for us.  I got what I thought was the heartiest homiest meal on the menu, and I was not disappointed.  It was some sort of roast beef pot pie with potatoes and vegetables, and it was reeeaaallly good.   

 

LUNCH!

After lunch/dinner we went to walk around some more before heading back to the bed and breakfast.  On the way, we went into a sweet shop that was basically like home away from home.  The store was full of American candy, treats, and drinks. All things that I don’t get to see a lot in Sevilla.  I was so tempted to drop all the pounds I had and buy out the store, but then I remembered that I only had one backpack, so best not to go overboard.  I did, however, buy some Laffy Taffy, candy canes, and Kool-Aid.  I was really tempted to buy pop-tarts but decided they wouldn’t fit in the backpack.  I was sad to leave that store, but it was time to go back and get ready.  Later we were going out for a friend’s birthday.  So, we went home, changed, had a few drinks and a light dinner, and left for the night.  We caught the bus back into the center and met with their friends at the same bar that we ate lunch at.  After that we all went together to a club to party!  One thing that stands out about these British girls is their style...if you can call it that.  Very alternative, almost 80s punk mixed with Jersey Shore.  Also, apparently they don't see the need in wearing a coat over there strapless dresses and mini skirts, even when it's like 30 degrees out. 

 It turned out to be a night full of fun, dancing, drinking, and too many embarrassing photos that won’t be making an appearance in the blog.  We went home after a while, actually not too, and went to bed.  My original plan was to head back to London early and see what was left to see, but by that time my foot was hurting so bad, (maybe I shouldn’t have danced as much as I did) that I decided to stay in Cambridge for the morning.  There is a train that goes from Cambridge directly to London Stansted airport.  So I figured I would see more of Cambridge then head to the train station.  Turns out, that wasn’t even an option. So I saved up all my energy just to make it to the train station, and even then I was in a lot of pain. First though, I had to walk to catch the bus into the center as always.  On the way, I was walking in a part that didn’t have a sidewalk and the grass was slippery with frost.  I think you can guess where I’m going with this….yep, I wiped out.  With the weight of my backpack, I fell like a ton of bricks.  Thankfully I didn’t hurt myself, but it took me a while to get up because I was too lazy to take my backpack off. Anyways, I made it to the station, then to the airport with no further issues. 

 

Sweet view from the front seat, top level of one of a double decker bus!

Luckily, this flight was directly from London to Sevilla so I didn’t have to take the bus from Malaga later. I had quite a bit of time to kill at the airport, so I sat down and had an extremely American meal of a cheeseburger and fries with a Dr. Pepper. Side note, the only place you can buy Dr. Pepper in Sevilla is at a shopping center called Carrefour which has a pretty decent international food section.  I arrived at the Sevilla airport tired and limping more than ever.  I was relieved that I didn’t have to take the bus home, though, because my boyfriend Manuel came to pick me up.  Oh, I guess this would be a good time to mention that I have a boyfriend, if you haven’t heard it from someone else in my family yet. He’s one of my coworkers from school and we’ve been together for almost five months now…but we’ll comment more on that subject later.   ;)

"Nobody goes to bed in Madrid until they have killed the night." - Ernest Hemingway

I love that quote because it’s so true, not just for Madrid, though, all of Spain.  All right ladies and gents, you might want to grab a coffee and get comfortable because this is a long one!  So I haven’t left the country yet, but my roommate Mary and I took our first trip to spend the weekend in Madrid.  We had a GREAT time.  So, Thursday morning we caught the train at 8am to arrive in Madrid around 2:30.  Since I have the uncanny ability to sleep just about anywhere, I managed to sleep almost the whole bus ride there, which is good because we had a busy weekend ahead of us…or so we thought.  We arrived at the train station, hopped on the metro, and made it to our hostel with no problems.  When we went to check in, the girl kept typing in my info and kind of frowning at the computer.  I was thinking, oh great we don’t actually have a booking and we’re going to be looking for another hostel last minute.  After a few more minutes of scowling at the computer screen, she looks up and says “Ok so due to overbooking, your reservation was changed from an 8 person room to a 10 person room…but we’ll give you a discount.”  Ehhh we were OK with that. Sure, 10 people is a lot per room, but I was more concerned about the discount.  We carried our bags up, and discovered a pretty big really clean room.  I was relieved.  We got settled, changed, and went to eat some kebab for lunch.  For those of you who don’t already know, I’m obsessed with kebab.  And if you don’t know what kebab is, it’s kind of like a gyro, but with different bread.  Every time we travel, we eat kebab, and I have a running list of the best ones I’ve eaten.  This one was pretty good, but not the best I’ve had.  Our plan for the night was to walk around, see the sights, and kill some time until going to dinner at El Botin, the world’s oldest restaurant (according to the Guinness Book of World Records).  So, we walked around, did some shopping, and ended up at the Cathedral at the perfect time.  The lighting in the sky was so cool and we got some great pictures.

Next we moseyed around Plaza Mayor waiting to go to dinner at a semi-appropriate time…around 8.  There was this really bizarre, kind of gothic guy playing the harp.  Pretty cool, but mostly creepy.  We still had some time to kill so we stopped at a bar called Tragatapas because they, like many other bars in Spain, had a deal for a bucket of 5 beers for 3 euros.  They’re little beers, but it’s still a ridiculous deal.  Since it happened to be Thursday, they had an additional deal, which was 6 euros for the bucket and a plate of ham.  Ummm yes please!  Even though we were going to eat after, we couldn’t turn that down.  Turns out that we got a bit drunk off those five beers and had some good laughs at the strange British music videos they were showing on the TV. 

 

 A little later we made our way to El Botin.  Since it was my third time eating there, I remembered the way.  We walked in, said table for two, and the host told us it was all booked.  Crap.  So I asked him if we could come back Friday or Saturday, and he said, no we’re booked all weekend for dinner. Double crap.  He explained that we could come back any time for lunch.  Well, this was a problem because we had two day drips planned and weren’t planning on being in Madrid for lunch.  We told him we would think about it and we left.  Ok…so now what? With our dinner plans squashed we decided to do the next logical thing…drink more!  We popped into a small Irish pub and ordered some massive Paulaner’s, then some smaller ones, and enjoyed ourselves. 

 They played “Call Me Maybe” and of course we started singing, so Mary said “Well, if they didn’t already know we were American, they do now…”   After a while we headed back to El Botin to make a reservation for lunch the next day.  From what we heard, Toledo was pretty small and we could see it in half a day.  So our tentative plan was to do lunch at El Botin and go to Toledo on Friday, then to Segovia on Saturday. After that, still rocking the beer buzz, we decided it would be a good idea to eat a little something before bed so we stopped at one of the many “Museo del Jamon” stores which is a chain where they sell lots of meats and cheeses, but they also make cheap sandwiches.  We saw the sign for a ham or cheese sandwich for 1 euro.  Sweet.  We walked in and had to wait a little while this group of French people ordered like 80 euros worth of meat and cheese. Must be nice to throw money around like that!  Anyways, it was our turn to order, and Mary asked if we could have sandwiches with ham AND cheese even though the menu said ham OR cheese.  The guy behind the corner looked kind of hesitant and then said, “well…yes but it will cost 2 euros.”  Oh boy, hold the phones!  I would pay 1 euro for a sandwich but not 2!  Just kidding, of course.  We told him that was fine, and ordered two.  We made it back to our hostel and munched on our sandwiches while we looked up details for the train to Toledo for the next day.  Shortly after, we went to sleep.  

Friday morning, we woke up, had a quick breakfast at the hostel and went to the bank. Both of us needed to take money out for the rest of the weekend. I had to go inside the bank because for some reason my debit card wasn’t working.  As I was waiting in line, I saw the funniest thing.  An older woman was sitting on a bench next to a young kid, probably about 9 years old. I couldn’t tell if they were grandma and grandson or just two people sitting on a bench, but all of a sudden the little boy starts teaching the woman how to play Pokemon cards!  First of all, I haven’t even seen Pokemon cards in years, second of all she was actually getting into it.  I wish it wouldn’t have been totally creepy to take a picture of them because I sure wanted to.  Anyways, after the bank we headed to El Parque del Buen Retiro which is this massive park in Madrid.  It was soooo beautiful.  In Sevilla we don’t have a lot of trees that change color, so I really miss the fall from home. Walking through the park felt being back in Chicago or walking through the Morton Arboretum.  We made our way through, enjoying the crisp weather and taking pictures of course. I was delighted because the weather was supposed to be really crappy that weekend, but it had been holding out pretty nicely.  We also stumbled upon what I can only imagine was the world’s largest gathering of elderly people doing exercise.  There was one personal trainer shouting instructions to at least 80 people doing stretches. It was pretty funny.  

 

 

After a while, it was time to head to El Botin for our lunch reservation.  I was really excited because I knew already how good the food was, but I was even more excited for Mary because she had never eaten there, but her grandpa had over 60 years ago when he was in the air force and talked about how great the suckling pig or “cochinillo” was.  That’s their specialty, by the way.  I was really excited because they seated us in the basement which is basically this old dungeon like wine cellar.  Really cool.  As we were looking through the menu adding things up in our heads, we both just kind of laughed.  Neither of us are the type to splurge on anything, but we had totally accepted the fate of this lunch…which was that it was going to be expensive.  We ordered a pitcher of sangria to share and some fried eggplant with sal morejo for an appetizer.  The sangria was great, a little strong, but really tasty.  The fried eggplant was phenomenal.  We seriously never wanted the plate to end.  Next, Mary ordered the suckling pig, since well, you kind of have to.  I, however, ordered the roast lamb because I had already eaten the suckling pig twice and wanted to try something else.  I was not disappointed.  It was absolutely amazing, one of the best things I’ve ever eaten.  Mary also pointed out that while the two of us had our meal, at the table next to us, a couple came and left and another man came and at a whole four course meal and still finished before us.  What can I say?  We were really enjoying ourselves.  We asked for the check, fully aware of the damage we had done.  It was easily the most expensive lunch I’ve eaten, but it was definitely worth it!  

Now because we took our sweet ass time, we were cutting it close to make the train.  I don’t know what it is with us, but we are always running late, always just late enough to stress ourselves out.  Although, Mary put it best when she said that if she was going to miss the train to Toledo because she was eating at El Botin, she wouldn’t be that disappointed.  We picked up that pace walking to the train station, and this means that Mary was walking fast, and I was essentially trotting to keep up with her.  We arrived at Atocha station a little sweaty, but on time.  However, what I didn’t mention earlier was that we hadn’t actually bought tickets yet.  Big mistake.  They were all sold out. Oops.  Ok so bad news, we weren’t going to Toledo. On the bright side, we could spend the rest of the afternoon in Madrid and do whatever we want.  We decided to head back to the hostel and make some plans.  First on the list, go check out Ernest Hemingway’s old stomping ground, a bar called Cerveceria Alemana.  Hemingway spent a lot of time in Madrid watching bull fights and getting drunk. The bar was only a couple blocks away from our hostel so we went and had a drink. It wasn’t really the coolest place so we only stayed for one drink.  After that we had a whole night to kill and not much to do.  We did some more shopping, but since neither of us had money to buy anything, that got old fast.  We walked around for a while, and all of a sudden we ended up at the same bar as the night before ordering another bucket of beer.  When you’re on a budget and want a drink, there’s really no better deal.  We also ordered this meal that was called the “oferta quitahambre” which roughly translates to “shit ton of food.” Well, that’s how I’m translating it at least.  It seemed like a good idea at the time, but the food was mediocre at best and I’m pretty sure it took a few years off our lives eating it. 

 

We had our day trip to Segovia ahead of us, so we decided to call it a night.  In a stroke of fate, on our way home we passed the Ice Bar.  I had obviously heard of ice bars, but had never been to one, and I didn’t know there was one in Madrid.  We both got super pumped and decided that we were for sure going there tomorrow night.  We made it back to the hostel and went to sleep. 

Saturday morning we woke up, but not as well rested as I had hoped.  Even though we had lots of hours of sleep, it was interrupted by some obnoxious snoring at 4:30am.  One of the many joys of staying in hostels: no matter what, there is always a snorer, and if you’re really lucky there’s more than one.  In this case, it was the person sleeping in the bed right next to me, so he might as well have been snoring right in my ear.  And honestly snoring is putting it politely.  It really sounded like he was choking.  Anyways, we had our quick breakfast and headed out to catch our train to Segovia.  This time we had tickets already, but we also had a long metro ride ahead of us because we had to go to the other train station.  We made it there with just enough time and not having had to rush.  The train ride was only a half hour long, but of course I managed to fall asleep.  When we got to Segovia, we had to take a bus to get into the city center – another close call.  We barely made it on to one bus, which was really lucky because we could have had to wait up to an hour for the next one.  I won’t get too detailed about Segovia because I’ve already written a novel about this weekend. One thing I will make note of is that we had to pay 20 cents to use the bathroom in the tourist office.  Ok, sure I could find 20 cents in the couch cushions, so it’s really not a big deal. And we also could have waited and gone in a bar or something.  But it’s the principle!  No one should have to pay to use a bathroom!  At least they had toilet seats and toilet paper, two things that public bathrooms in Europe are often lacking.  Overall, though, Segovia took my breath away.  It’s such a beautiful city.  It reminded me a lot of Sienna, which I also loved. 

 We caught the train back to Madrid around 6:30, took the metro back to our hostel and started to prepare for the night.  We decided to cook dinner at the hostel to save some money, so we made some pasta with zucchini and red peppers.  Hostel kitchens are always an interesting environment.  There was this kid in there who made a HUGE skillet of pasta, and when we came in he asked us if we wanted some because he made too much.  We said no thanks, so he proceeded to eat the entire thing himself, chewing with his mouth open the whole time.  I’m not sure why this is such a pet peeve of mine, but I really can’t stand it.  Anyways, we made our food, ate, cleaned up, and went back to our room.  We were both pretty beat already, but our night had only just begun.  Next on the agenda:  chill for a little bit, get ready, Ice Bar, Kapital.  Kapital is a huge, awesome club that I went to last time I was in Madrid.  It’s got multiple floors, weird people dancing, smoke machines, confetti, the whole shebang.  Mary and I aren’t particularly the clubbing type, but tonight we were making an exception, just for Kapital.  We headed to the Ice Bar around 11:30ish.  It was soo cool!  It really was cold in there, but you don’t notice it at first because of the giant parka they give you to wear.  We had a couple of drinks, took a bunch of pictures, and had a blast walking around like penguins in our parkas.  I’m really glad we stumbled upon it because it really is a unique experience.  When we really started to feel the cold, especially in our feet, we decided to head out.  

We stopped back at the hostel, just to shed a few layers into our clubbing outfits and we were ready to go.  Unfortunately, that’s when it decided to start raining, and on top of that we had to wait in line! It’s OK, that’s what umbrellas and raincoats are for.  Fast forward to inside the club; it was just as crazy as I remembered. We checked our coats, went to the bar to get our drinks that came with the cover at the door, and headed to the dance floor.  After a while, we decided to get another drink so I squeezed up to the bar and ordered two rum and Cokes.  The girl says “Ok 24 euros.”  I just stare at her.  She repeats it, and I still just stare at her.  So she says it in English thinking I don’t understand her.  And so I say, umm yeah I heard you, I just can’t believe the drinks are 12 euros!! Eh, you only live once I guess.  Needless to say, we didn’t buy any more drinks after that.  We danced the night away until about 4:30 and decided to call it a night.  On our way home we saw a bunch of people outside the kebab restaurant ordering food.  So of course, we had to too!  We got a kebab to share.  When we got back to the hostel, though, the common room was closed, and we didn’t want to wake the people up in our room, so we ate it on the stairs.  Super classy and equally hilarious. 

 

The next morning, three things told me I had a great night:  1. I had slept with my pajama pants on inside out.  2.  When I took off said pants to put them on right, a few pieces of confetti flew everywhere.  3.  No hangover!!  Luckily, we had packed up all our stuff the night before so all we had to do was grab everything and go.  We ate breakfast, checked out, and left the hostel with a lot of time to spare just in case.  It’s a good thing, too, because neither of us was moving very fast that morning.  Next, we were on the bus back to Sevilla.  I was pretty nervous on the bus because it was raining really hard, but everything went fine and we made it back in one piece…exhausted, but in one piece!