ay, que tiempo sin verles!
since my last post, i have been busy showing my friends and family around madrid! our first visitors arrived 2 weeks ago today. friends traveled from london, paris, venice, and los estados unidos to come see us and our beautiful city. lauren and i did our best to show everyone a good time (ie lots of sangria from lateral and chocolate napolitanas from la mallorquina), and we were so excited to finally share madrid with everyone else so that they could start to understand why we enjoy living here so much.
then on the following saturday, my family arrived (along with a 10 pound challah from mema)! i could not have been happier to see them (this sharply contrasts with my previous feelings about my family, particularly a time during my teenage years while my phone played beethoven's 5th whenever one of them called). although my cab driver got lost trying to go to arrivals when i went to fetch them from the airport (apparently he was only a seasoned traveler when it comes to departures at madrid barajas), i was finally reunited with bill, lisa, and little hannah. immediately after seeing them, it became clear that this was going to be no different than any other family vacation, as they were accompanied by a giant bag of american snacks (probably enough cheez-its and thin mints to feed a small african country) and were yelling at each other. nevertheless, i was still excited they were there. the three of them spent their first four days in madrid touring all the usual suspects and feeding their newfound love for jamón while i was in class and then on wednesday night the four of us left for barcelona.
while in madrid, my parents were all but subtle about telling me how terrible the hotel was that i put them up in (meanwhile, i've been staying in hostels and sharing people's beds, so it seemed like the effing palacio real to me), and were immediately relieved when we arrived at our posh hotel in barcelona. i told my parents that if madrid is new york, then barcelona is miami, and this analogy was very clear once we began to take in our beachy, modern surroundings. that first night, my parents went to bed at an early 1 am while hannah and i went out and explored our neighborhood (ate at a great tapas bar). from our short excursion, we knew it was going to be a great weekend in barcelona. the next day was bill's 35th birthday, so we celebrated with cod croquetas at the boqueria, this unreal open-air market. the amount of fresh produce, meat, and cheese put central market to shame and would be any foodie's dream (personally i was into the willy-wonka-esque candy stand, but hey, it was bill's bday). after breakfast/snacktime, we went to see park güell, one of the many works in the city designed by the famous architect, gaudí. lucky for us, the weather was beautiful and we were able to get a great view of the entire city from the top of what is now my 2nd favorite park (nothing beats retiro). then we went to a celebratory lunch at a place called the champagnería, a tiny, unmarked, hole-in-the wall bocadillo bar that only serves delicious sandwiches with bottles of cava, spanish champagne. needless to say, it was one of the favorite stops of the weekend. then we walked along the port before taking a siesta to prepare for the big bday dinner, which consisted of the most incredible paella i have ever eaten (if you haven't figured it out by now, us kleinmans love to eat).
although it was difficult to top our first day in barcelona, we did our best the next day with a tour of the sagrada familia. this cathedral has been under construction since the 1800s, and part of the appeal is that while touring the cathedral, you get to literally see them building it. they say that it is going to be finished in about 20 years (mañana, mañana, as they say in spain). for dinner that night, julie g. met us (she was traveling in barcelona as well) and we took a recommendation from my uncle max, my dad's youngest brother and food enthusiast. knowing only that it was recommended by max and that the name of it was "hisop", i had a feeling that this was about to be some sort of crazy dining experience of food and art. my instincts were correct, and we were served things like smoked tuna over aubergine compote and chocolate covered in truffle. bill's personal favorite was the tonic gelatin with gin spritzer (aka fancy jello shots). lisa managed to complain throughout the whole dinner about how she would rather have last night's paella again than have this "culinary experience" for dinner (she is not exactly epicurious) but personally i enjoyed our foodie meal (my friend tex, who never ceases to tell me how often he dines at the french room (once a year for christmas, if you were wondering) would have truly appreciated this experience. tex, i had scallops with truffles over some sort of bacon in a watercress soup and it was exquisite!).
the moral of the story is that i had a great time in spain with my family and i miss them already. this week in madrid, the healthcare bill passed and no one here cared, and lauren and i somehow magically convinced maruja to put us on a dieta ligera in preparation for our semana santa (spring break) trip to italy and paris where we will literally be eating our way through europe. highlights from our meals have included cut-up fruit drenched in orange juice and vegetable soup (hey, beggars can't be choosers) and we are feeling a little bit lighter so that we can proceed to stuff ourselves with pasta, crepes, and gelato. mmmm. more updates after our eurotrip!
besos!
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Thursday, March 11, 2010
londres y lecturas
Hello friends!
Since we (I) last spoke, Lauren and I have returned from our second trip out of Spain (we are jet-setters now). We spent last weekend gallivanting around in london where they speak ENGLISH (shocking!!!!). Immediately after deplaning, we were baffled to find that all of the directions were in english and that all the people spoke English. This was slightly unfortunate due to the fact that I am in a place right now where I speak both Spanish and English at a mediocre level with a fourth grade vocabulary (last night as I tried to explain to Lauren why something was “vital” I could not remember that word, but managed to sputter around and came up with the words “important”, “lucrative”, and “viral” in place of “vital” while trying to give my explanation. This is a daily occurrence - and yes, I just figured out what word I was looking for, 12 hours later). Nevertheless, we spent the weekend basking in the glory of the English language and enjoyed a break from violent hand motions as we try to explain ourselves in another language.
As I spent a family vacation in London 3 years ago and Lauren had never been, I let her dictate the trip and what she wanted to do. We met up with several friends from paris as well as our friends studying in London and saw the changing of the guard. Tragically I was unable to snag one of the guards’ signature furry hats. After that, we walked around to see big ben, parliament, the London eye, and the thames river, and also managed to take a token London phone booth picture. The next day, we took a tip from my favorite movie, The Parent Trap, (oh how I miss the days of LiLo’s glory) and “Spent the day getting lost in Harrods” – while we didn’t buy anything (fun fact: they sell everything at Harrods. and I mean everything…including puppies), we managed to eat our way through the famous department store, enjoying sandwiches, cupcakes, and a giant ice cream sundae. Overall, we had a fabulous trip (thanks to our wonderful, hospitable friends studying in London) and it was nice to give our brains a break from the español.
picadilly circus
more reunions
buckingham palace
changing of the guard
the most touristy but best picture of the weekend
london eye
ice cream at harrods
This week in Madrid was a fairly normal one, aside from the fact that on Tuesday, I had my first of two presentations in my class with Spaniards, fundamentals del sistéma jurídica. At the beginning of the semester, we were split up into discussion groups of 5, and each week, one person in the group is the “ponente,” or expert, on the week’s assigned reading, and has to explain to the group the important points and lead a discussion. It sounds fairly painless but let me remind you that a) both the 80 pages of reading and the discussion are in Spanish and b) the people listening to the presentation are native speakers (cue profanities). Needless to say, I was a little nervous. I started reading the morning of (three days before, m&d) my presentation so that the material would be fresh on my mind (because I was too lazy to start before) and was sweating profusely by the time I got to class. As my group gathered around me to listen, I realized that there were 2 people missing, and that I would be presenting to a Spanish girl and an American boy and had pumped out all of that adrenaline for nothing. I stumbled over my words but managed to get through the reading and get my point across. Thankfully I am not the ponente for another 5 weeks.
This weekend, we have friends visiting from london, paris, italy, and the grand ol’ us of a, so a big bienvenidos a Madrid to nuestros amigos y MI FAMILIA! More stories to come soon.
Cheers!
Since we (I) last spoke, Lauren and I have returned from our second trip out of Spain (we are jet-setters now). We spent last weekend gallivanting around in london where they speak ENGLISH (shocking!!!!). Immediately after deplaning, we were baffled to find that all of the directions were in english and that all the people spoke English. This was slightly unfortunate due to the fact that I am in a place right now where I speak both Spanish and English at a mediocre level with a fourth grade vocabulary (last night as I tried to explain to Lauren why something was “vital” I could not remember that word, but managed to sputter around and came up with the words “important”, “lucrative”, and “viral” in place of “vital” while trying to give my explanation. This is a daily occurrence - and yes, I just figured out what word I was looking for, 12 hours later). Nevertheless, we spent the weekend basking in the glory of the English language and enjoyed a break from violent hand motions as we try to explain ourselves in another language.
As I spent a family vacation in London 3 years ago and Lauren had never been, I let her dictate the trip and what she wanted to do. We met up with several friends from paris as well as our friends studying in London and saw the changing of the guard. Tragically I was unable to snag one of the guards’ signature furry hats. After that, we walked around to see big ben, parliament, the London eye, and the thames river, and also managed to take a token London phone booth picture. The next day, we took a tip from my favorite movie, The Parent Trap, (oh how I miss the days of LiLo’s glory) and “Spent the day getting lost in Harrods” – while we didn’t buy anything (fun fact: they sell everything at Harrods. and I mean everything…including puppies), we managed to eat our way through the famous department store, enjoying sandwiches, cupcakes, and a giant ice cream sundae. Overall, we had a fabulous trip (thanks to our wonderful, hospitable friends studying in London) and it was nice to give our brains a break from the español.
picadilly circus
 |
| From london |
more reunions
 |
| From london |
buckingham palace
 |
| From london |
changing of the guard
 |
| From london |
the most touristy but best picture of the weekend
 |
| From london |
london eye
 |
| From london |
ice cream at harrods
 |
| From london |
This week in Madrid was a fairly normal one, aside from the fact that on Tuesday, I had my first of two presentations in my class with Spaniards, fundamentals del sistéma jurídica. At the beginning of the semester, we were split up into discussion groups of 5, and each week, one person in the group is the “ponente,” or expert, on the week’s assigned reading, and has to explain to the group the important points and lead a discussion. It sounds fairly painless but let me remind you that a) both the 80 pages of reading and the discussion are in Spanish and b) the people listening to the presentation are native speakers (cue profanities). Needless to say, I was a little nervous. I started reading the morning of (three days before, m&d) my presentation so that the material would be fresh on my mind (because I was too lazy to start before) and was sweating profusely by the time I got to class. As my group gathered around me to listen, I realized that there were 2 people missing, and that I would be presenting to a Spanish girl and an American boy and had pumped out all of that adrenaline for nothing. I stumbled over my words but managed to get through the reading and get my point across. Thankfully I am not the ponente for another 5 weeks.
This weekend, we have friends visiting from london, paris, italy, and the grand ol’ us of a, so a big bienvenidos a Madrid to nuestros amigos y MI FAMILIA! More stories to come soon.
Cheers!
Monday, March 1, 2010
berlin, gutentag!
alo (ref: scene in eurotrip)!
after 48 lovely days in spain, this past weekend we finally ventured out of the country to meet our friends in berlin. NEWSFLASH: in berlin, the official language is neither english nor spanish. this is very common information to the average knowledgeable person, but that common knowledge was absent from lauren and i when we arrived on thursday in berlin. when the _______ (fill in the blank: cab driver, person at airport ticket counter, waiter, etc) didn't speak english, we automatically reverted into speaking spanish. the good news: our cultural immersion in spain seems to be working. the bad news: no one cares about spanish in germany. danke for that, spain. we quickly learned that any word can be made german by adding some combination of "haupt", "haus", "bahn", "iess", "flugen", etc. for example, water bottle becomes waterflugen bottlebahnhaus (not exactly - but it certainly provided for an entertaining weekend). what made this weekend really exciting was the fact that we were meeting nearly all of our washu friends in germany (there were 12 of us in total). lauren and i were the first to arrive at our hostel, the meininger central station (side note: for anyone planning on going to berlin, this hostel was amazing). we were taken aback by how nice, clean, and new the hostel was, and the fact that it was more like a hotel. i emailed a picture to my parents and of course my dad said that it was "10^6 times better" than the ones he stayed in during his eurotrip before law school (see previous post about his amazing ability to live on 10 USD a day). we quickly sent the all clear report to our friends who were arriving from paris, rome, florence, and venice for our washu weekend of fun. that night, we went to a bar in the hackescher markt area where we met some germans celebrating a friend's engagement (although he didn't seem too concerned about his bride to be as he danced with liz and nicole) and listened to great pop hits from the 90s and early 2000s (think: backstreet boys and linkin park).
the next day, we did a free walking tour of berlin, which was probably my favorite part of the trip. our guide, max, took us around the entire city while giving us the historical background about every place we visited. we saw the bradenburg gate, the holocaust memorial, hitler's last bunker, the berlin wall, museum island, as well as famous cathedrals, opera houses, and universities in a matter of hours. at the very end of our tour, we sat on the steps of the berlin cathedral while max told us about the fall of the berlin wall. fun fact: the berlin wall was knocked down due to the misinformed press secretary - the german government never meant for it to fall when it did. our day was filled with fun facts like this one and we left the tour educated and informed.
the coolest thing about berlin is the fact that basically the city is 20 years old. so many of the original buildings were destroyed during the second world war that were rebuilt either during soviet rule or after the fall of the berlin wall. it was incredible to see history that has only been occuring since the year we were born, and the city is still going through so many changes.
that night, we went on a pub crawl hosted by the same company that did our walking tour. we arrived at 8:30 for a half hour of free beer at our first bar, but there was a group of 30 americans from north carolina who were bellig (for you julie) and had literally started puking before we moved on to the second bar. thus, we decided to leave the pub crawl and go for a lovely dinner. after we ate, we went back to the 2nd bar (as the drunken vomiters had since left) where we tried the delicious german drink of berlinerweiss (pilsner with raspberry syrup). i had emailed my women and gender studies professor (who has her phd in german studies) and she gave us this drink as one of her recommendations. needless to say, we were not disappointed with this refreshing beer-drink (we had it at least 2 more times during the trip).
saturday, we started the day with a trip to the hamburger bahnhopf museum (this is the actual name, not more of my made up german) which was a display of modern art superstars such as andy warhol and robert rauschenberg. it was a nice break from all of the traditional paintings we have each seen at our respective museums in spain, italy, and france. after the museum, we got on the metro to head over to the east side gallery, the famous remains of the berlin wall that have been painted with murals depicting peace. however, when we got on the train, the metro staff was checking for tickets. don't worry - we weren't dumb enough to be traveling without one, but we had a [expired] group ticket that covered 5 people and there were 7 of us on the train (our second ticket was with another friend what had spent the day doing other things). the woman asked us to get off the train when she discovered that we were 2 too many. as we are all used to the lax rules of the st. louis metro, we assumed we would just get off, buy 2 more tickets, and continue on our journey. however, the woman began demanding a fine of 80 euros (40 euros per non-ticketed person). outraged, we explained that we were tourists, our other ticket wasn't with us, etc, but this bitch wasn't having it (it definitely wasn't her day). she said we either had to give her 80 euros or give up 2 passports so that the german metro administration could find us if we didn't pay up. after much angry banter, we finally paid up (it only ended up being 11 euros per person, but still), wanting to avoid giving our names to the german government. angrily, we got back on the train with new tickets and had stopped fuming by the time we got to the east side gallery, which was almost as cool as the walking tour. all of the murals were repainted last year in honor of the 20th anniversary of the falling of the wall so the paintings were colorful and thought-provoking.
our hostel
bradenburg gate
holocaust memorial
walking tour
on the steps of the berlin cathedral
reunion!
east side gallery
the whole crew along the river by the east side gallery
after our view of the gallery, we decided it was time for some shopping (obviously). we trekked over to KaDeWe, the biggest department store in germany (think harrod's with less english). we went straight past the 6 floors of clothing up to the top of the building where there was the biggest gourmet food selection i had ever seen. i'd be lying if i said i didn't make it out of there without a bag of delicious german chocolate. saturday night we went to a club and had a lovely close to our weekend with friends. overall it was a very educational, informative, and fun trip. berlin was an incredibly interesting city, and it was so great to see all of our friends who we have missed so dearly in the past 2 months.
as for madrid, everything here is business as usual (maruja over-feeding us, jamón whenever we can get it). next week i have to give a presentation in spanish to spaniards so that should make for an interesting blog post. until next week!
after 48 lovely days in spain, this past weekend we finally ventured out of the country to meet our friends in berlin. NEWSFLASH: in berlin, the official language is neither english nor spanish. this is very common information to the average knowledgeable person, but that common knowledge was absent from lauren and i when we arrived on thursday in berlin. when the _______ (fill in the blank: cab driver, person at airport ticket counter, waiter, etc) didn't speak english, we automatically reverted into speaking spanish. the good news: our cultural immersion in spain seems to be working. the bad news: no one cares about spanish in germany. danke for that, spain. we quickly learned that any word can be made german by adding some combination of "haupt", "haus", "bahn", "iess", "flugen", etc. for example, water bottle becomes waterflugen bottlebahnhaus (not exactly - but it certainly provided for an entertaining weekend). what made this weekend really exciting was the fact that we were meeting nearly all of our washu friends in germany (there were 12 of us in total). lauren and i were the first to arrive at our hostel, the meininger central station (side note: for anyone planning on going to berlin, this hostel was amazing). we were taken aback by how nice, clean, and new the hostel was, and the fact that it was more like a hotel. i emailed a picture to my parents and of course my dad said that it was "10^6 times better" than the ones he stayed in during his eurotrip before law school (see previous post about his amazing ability to live on 10 USD a day). we quickly sent the all clear report to our friends who were arriving from paris, rome, florence, and venice for our washu weekend of fun. that night, we went to a bar in the hackescher markt area where we met some germans celebrating a friend's engagement (although he didn't seem too concerned about his bride to be as he danced with liz and nicole) and listened to great pop hits from the 90s and early 2000s (think: backstreet boys and linkin park).
the next day, we did a free walking tour of berlin, which was probably my favorite part of the trip. our guide, max, took us around the entire city while giving us the historical background about every place we visited. we saw the bradenburg gate, the holocaust memorial, hitler's last bunker, the berlin wall, museum island, as well as famous cathedrals, opera houses, and universities in a matter of hours. at the very end of our tour, we sat on the steps of the berlin cathedral while max told us about the fall of the berlin wall. fun fact: the berlin wall was knocked down due to the misinformed press secretary - the german government never meant for it to fall when it did. our day was filled with fun facts like this one and we left the tour educated and informed.
the coolest thing about berlin is the fact that basically the city is 20 years old. so many of the original buildings were destroyed during the second world war that were rebuilt either during soviet rule or after the fall of the berlin wall. it was incredible to see history that has only been occuring since the year we were born, and the city is still going through so many changes.
that night, we went on a pub crawl hosted by the same company that did our walking tour. we arrived at 8:30 for a half hour of free beer at our first bar, but there was a group of 30 americans from north carolina who were bellig (for you julie) and had literally started puking before we moved on to the second bar. thus, we decided to leave the pub crawl and go for a lovely dinner. after we ate, we went back to the 2nd bar (as the drunken vomiters had since left) where we tried the delicious german drink of berlinerweiss (pilsner with raspberry syrup). i had emailed my women and gender studies professor (who has her phd in german studies) and she gave us this drink as one of her recommendations. needless to say, we were not disappointed with this refreshing beer-drink (we had it at least 2 more times during the trip).
saturday, we started the day with a trip to the hamburger bahnhopf museum (this is the actual name, not more of my made up german) which was a display of modern art superstars such as andy warhol and robert rauschenberg. it was a nice break from all of the traditional paintings we have each seen at our respective museums in spain, italy, and france. after the museum, we got on the metro to head over to the east side gallery, the famous remains of the berlin wall that have been painted with murals depicting peace. however, when we got on the train, the metro staff was checking for tickets. don't worry - we weren't dumb enough to be traveling without one, but we had a [expired] group ticket that covered 5 people and there were 7 of us on the train (our second ticket was with another friend what had spent the day doing other things). the woman asked us to get off the train when she discovered that we were 2 too many. as we are all used to the lax rules of the st. louis metro, we assumed we would just get off, buy 2 more tickets, and continue on our journey. however, the woman began demanding a fine of 80 euros (40 euros per non-ticketed person). outraged, we explained that we were tourists, our other ticket wasn't with us, etc, but this bitch wasn't having it (it definitely wasn't her day). she said we either had to give her 80 euros or give up 2 passports so that the german metro administration could find us if we didn't pay up. after much angry banter, we finally paid up (it only ended up being 11 euros per person, but still), wanting to avoid giving our names to the german government. angrily, we got back on the train with new tickets and had stopped fuming by the time we got to the east side gallery, which was almost as cool as the walking tour. all of the murals were repainted last year in honor of the 20th anniversary of the falling of the wall so the paintings were colorful and thought-provoking.
our hostel
 |
| From berlin |
bradenburg gate
 |
| From berlin |
holocaust memorial
 |
| From berlin |
walking tour
 |
| From berlin |
on the steps of the berlin cathedral
 |
| From berlin |
reunion!
 |
| From berlin |
east side gallery
 |
| From berlin |
the whole crew along the river by the east side gallery
 |
| From berlin |
after our view of the gallery, we decided it was time for some shopping (obviously). we trekked over to KaDeWe, the biggest department store in germany (think harrod's with less english). we went straight past the 6 floors of clothing up to the top of the building where there was the biggest gourmet food selection i had ever seen. i'd be lying if i said i didn't make it out of there without a bag of delicious german chocolate. saturday night we went to a club and had a lovely close to our weekend with friends. overall it was a very educational, informative, and fun trip. berlin was an incredibly interesting city, and it was so great to see all of our friends who we have missed so dearly in the past 2 months.
as for madrid, everything here is business as usual (maruja over-feeding us, jamón whenever we can get it). next week i have to give a presentation in spanish to spaniards so that should make for an interesting blog post. until next week!
Monday, February 15, 2010
carnival y strange spanish norms
bueno, amigos.
we have returned from our first weekend away from madrid and we are glad to be back! we traveled to cádiz, spain for the festival of carnival. similar in nature to mardi gras, carnival is celebrated in cádiz for the entire month of february. lauren and i signed up for a trip with a tour company for students here. it was advertised as 3 days, 2 nights in a four-star hotel with free transportation to downtown cádiz for carnival. sounds great! while we did have a good time, the trip was not exactly as it seemed. friday morning we arrived (begrudgingly) at the bus meeting point at 7:45 am - but we did not arrive in cádiz until 7:45 pm that night (fyi: by train, it takes 6 hours to get from madrid to cádiz). we also found out that our hotel was an hour away from everything and had to eat the 25 euro buffet for dinner. NEVERTHELESS, saturday night we arrived at carnival and it was quite the experience. i have been to mardi gras in both new orleans and st. louis, but carnival was a completely different animal. throngs of people were drinking and dancing in the streets, eating from street vendors, and all in costume. i do not know if halloween is a big deal in spain, but the costumes we saw at carnival put the costumes we wear for halloween to shame. first of all, everyone dresses up as a group - not 3 or 4 people, but literally 10-20 people wearing the exact same costume. we saw groups of smurfs, french maids, and our personal favorite, a group dressed as spanish "abonos" or metro passes (see recent pictures above). another common theme was men dressed as women: for example, baywatch lifeguard, flamenco dancer, etc (my women and gender studies professor, dr. cislo, would thoroughly have enjoyed the abandonment of hetero-normativity - see mom and dad? i did learn something at school!). needless to say it was quite the éspectaculo. although sunday followed with another 10 hour bus ride, we really enjoyed participating in this quintessential spanish experience.
the rest of the week before carnival was a fairly normal week here in madrid, but as i spend more time here, i have started to pick up on things that are totally acceptable here and would be really freakin' weird in the united states:
1. walking on the street: here it is perfectly acceptable for a person to shove, push, or run into you while walking down the street, on the metro, etc without uttering a word. no "i'm sorry", no "perdón" - nada. rude right? no - here, when you apologize you come off as over-polite and everyone just slams into each other and then continues on with their lives.
2. in the gym locker room: at my gym in st. louis, people change in the locker room, but are fairly modest, don't really talk to the people around them and don't just stand around ass-naked. the only people i've ever seen talk is a group of elderly women after they finish with their water aerobics class (mom: confirmation that no one under the age of 60 does water aerobics). in spain, it is the complete opposite. whenever someone enters or leaves the locker room, every single person inside says "hola!" or "hasta luego!" like they're all old friends. they stand around (ESPECIALLY in the locker room at the pool) completely naked and chat each other up in the nude. welcome to europe. i'm trying to get comfortable with it since you all know i spend about 75% of my life running, swimming, and/or cybexing.
3. at the gym: at home i have learned that the proper amount of aerobic exercise is anywhere between 30-60 minutes a day, 5 days a week. accordingly, when you go to a gym, the general limit on machines is around 30 minutes when there are people waiting. here in madrid, the limit on machines is 10 minutes!! and people literally get on the treadmill for that amount of time or less and run at about 7.5 km/ hr (this is about a 13 minute mile aka not running). any time i see a person on a machine for more than fifteen minutes and remotely exerting themselves, i assume they are not spanish.
4. at a restaurant: first of all, you have to pay for the bread. it's usually only 1 or 2 euro, but still - free bread with dinner is probably one of the greatest things about going to a restaurant. second of all, they will not take any substitutions - and i mean any. being my father's daughter (he coined the phrase "chicken noodle soup, no noodle"), i usually want to adjust 3 things about my meal on average, so when i ask for my mixto con huevo sin queso or a bocadillo with only fried eggs, the staff just laughs in my face. get ready, dad.
as i come across more strange spanish norms, i will keep you updated. missing you all in the states, and love the emails/gchats/bbms/skype sessions. keep 'em coming!
hasta la semana próxima!
we have returned from our first weekend away from madrid and we are glad to be back! we traveled to cádiz, spain for the festival of carnival. similar in nature to mardi gras, carnival is celebrated in cádiz for the entire month of february. lauren and i signed up for a trip with a tour company for students here. it was advertised as 3 days, 2 nights in a four-star hotel with free transportation to downtown cádiz for carnival. sounds great! while we did have a good time, the trip was not exactly as it seemed. friday morning we arrived (begrudgingly) at the bus meeting point at 7:45 am - but we did not arrive in cádiz until 7:45 pm that night (fyi: by train, it takes 6 hours to get from madrid to cádiz). we also found out that our hotel was an hour away from everything and had to eat the 25 euro buffet for dinner. NEVERTHELESS, saturday night we arrived at carnival and it was quite the experience. i have been to mardi gras in both new orleans and st. louis, but carnival was a completely different animal. throngs of people were drinking and dancing in the streets, eating from street vendors, and all in costume. i do not know if halloween is a big deal in spain, but the costumes we saw at carnival put the costumes we wear for halloween to shame. first of all, everyone dresses up as a group - not 3 or 4 people, but literally 10-20 people wearing the exact same costume. we saw groups of smurfs, french maids, and our personal favorite, a group dressed as spanish "abonos" or metro passes (see recent pictures above). another common theme was men dressed as women: for example, baywatch lifeguard, flamenco dancer, etc (my women and gender studies professor, dr. cislo, would thoroughly have enjoyed the abandonment of hetero-normativity - see mom and dad? i did learn something at school!). needless to say it was quite the éspectaculo. although sunday followed with another 10 hour bus ride, we really enjoyed participating in this quintessential spanish experience.
 |
| From madrid! (y granada y cádiz) |
the rest of the week before carnival was a fairly normal week here in madrid, but as i spend more time here, i have started to pick up on things that are totally acceptable here and would be really freakin' weird in the united states:
1. walking on the street: here it is perfectly acceptable for a person to shove, push, or run into you while walking down the street, on the metro, etc without uttering a word. no "i'm sorry", no "perdón" - nada. rude right? no - here, when you apologize you come off as over-polite and everyone just slams into each other and then continues on with their lives.
2. in the gym locker room: at my gym in st. louis, people change in the locker room, but are fairly modest, don't really talk to the people around them and don't just stand around ass-naked. the only people i've ever seen talk is a group of elderly women after they finish with their water aerobics class (mom: confirmation that no one under the age of 60 does water aerobics). in spain, it is the complete opposite. whenever someone enters or leaves the locker room, every single person inside says "hola!" or "hasta luego!" like they're all old friends. they stand around (ESPECIALLY in the locker room at the pool) completely naked and chat each other up in the nude. welcome to europe. i'm trying to get comfortable with it since you all know i spend about 75% of my life running, swimming, and/or cybexing.
3. at the gym: at home i have learned that the proper amount of aerobic exercise is anywhere between 30-60 minutes a day, 5 days a week. accordingly, when you go to a gym, the general limit on machines is around 30 minutes when there are people waiting. here in madrid, the limit on machines is 10 minutes!! and people literally get on the treadmill for that amount of time or less and run at about 7.5 km/ hr (this is about a 13 minute mile aka not running). any time i see a person on a machine for more than fifteen minutes and remotely exerting themselves, i assume they are not spanish.
4. at a restaurant: first of all, you have to pay for the bread. it's usually only 1 or 2 euro, but still - free bread with dinner is probably one of the greatest things about going to a restaurant. second of all, they will not take any substitutions - and i mean any. being my father's daughter (he coined the phrase "chicken noodle soup, no noodle"), i usually want to adjust 3 things about my meal on average, so when i ask for my mixto con huevo sin queso or a bocadillo with only fried eggs, the staff just laughs in my face. get ready, dad.
as i come across more strange spanish norms, i will keep you updated. missing you all in the states, and love the emails/gchats/bbms/skype sessions. keep 'em coming!
hasta la semana próxima!
Monday, February 8, 2010
veeps
today in my spanish lengua class we learned about 15 different ways to greet someone, but i'm going to use my personal favorite:
hombre!
this does not mean man! but rather, why hello there!
i have a feeling i am the only person who thought that was funny. anyway, it is now our one month anniversary of arriving in spain and we are beginning our fourth week in madrid. we have finally been here for enough time that i feel like i can give you an accurate portrayal of our daily life:
monday through thursday we take class at our school, uc3m. i am taking lengua (spanish language), teatro (theatre - works, not acting), periodismo (journalism), and fundamentos del sistema juridico (fundamentals of the judicial system). the first three classes are all in spanish, but have only american students. these classes are fairly easy and are similar to spanish classes i have taken in high school and college. The latter of the four is my class with spaniards. there is one other person from the wash u program in the class with me, and we have to do group projects with the other people in our class. there is one main lecture class and one discussion class. the most bizarre part of all is during the lecture, students talk while the professor is talking, leave during the middle of class, and do not take notes - that is, if they even attend class. it is certainly going to be an experience. in addition, on wednesday nights, we have our 2-3 hour cultura y civilización class taught by the wash u faculty and attended by wash u students only. so far, work seems fairly light, but because it is all in spanish, we definitely feel like we are learning.
when we are not in class, we are either eating dinner with the rodriguez family or out exploring madrid. this weekend, our friends from another program were out of town, so lauren and i dubbed it our "cultural weekend" and did our best to explore madrid like real madrileñas. friday, we went to two museums: the thyssen, and the museo de jamón. the thyssen was the perfect amount of art - it is a private collection owned by the Thyssen-Bornemisza family that takes up three floors of a relatively small building. we were able to see paintings from caravaggio to to lichtenstein in just a few hours. the more famous works are housed at the prado and the reina sofía, but we found the thyssen to be much less overwhelming and still an incredible collection of art. later, we went to the aforementioned museo de jamón, which ended up being all lauren and i could have imagined and more. the museo de jamón is not literally a museum, but it is a three story store, bar, and restaurant. the walls are covered from floor to ceiling with whole jamones and there was one jamón iberico de bellota extra (refer to previous post for more info) that cost 90 euros per kilo. must be quite the jamón. lauren and i sat at the bar and each had a tomaca de jamón iberico (toasted bread covered with tomato-garlic puree and jamón) for 2 euro. needless to say, the museo de jamón did not disappoint and we will definitely be going back.
saturday, we took a 30 minute train to the bordering town of toledo, a beautiful little town up on a hill with famous cathedrals, mosques, and synagogues. first, we took a ride around the border of the city in a tiny antique train that showed us all of the main sights. then lauren and i wandered around for the rest of the day through the various cathedrals and jewish neighborhood. in the church of santa tome, we got to view the famous el greco painting, the burial of count orgaz, which i hadn't seen since art history in high school. the painting was massive, and below it was the actual tomb of the man depicted in the painting. slightly morbid, but at the same time, really amazing to see such a famous piece.
each night this weekend, we tried out different bars and clubs recommended to us by our host sister, gloria. as mentioned before, gloria is a former model and beauty queen, and thus, knows the coolest places to go out in madrid. she is what we would refer to in america as a "v.i.p." but in spain she is called a "vip" (pronounced veep). because gloria is a vip, she never pays to get into clubs here and knows the doorman basically everywhere. she told us that "necesitáis tener la actitud que no váis a pagar" (you need to have the attitude that you're not going to pay). ooook gloria. for the rest of us who aren't vips, we generally have the attitude that we will probably have to pay and by some stroke of luck, maybe we won't. but FEAR NOT. gloria has our back and each night we tried out a new place and got in for free! the best part of all was that every night we were probably the only americans at each place and got to see how the madrileños salen de la noche. at our favorite place of the weekend, a discoteca called vanila, the man was waiting at the door for us, let us in, and said, "two free drinks for the amigas americanas de gloria!" obviously, it was a great night. we can't wait to share all of our new places with our friends who were out of town.
to conclude, our cultural weekend was a success, and we are loving la vida española. next weekend we begin our travels out of madrid! in the next few weeks, we are going to cadíz, berlin, and london.
pues, nada. hasta luego!
hombre!
this does not mean man! but rather, why hello there!
i have a feeling i am the only person who thought that was funny. anyway, it is now our one month anniversary of arriving in spain and we are beginning our fourth week in madrid. we have finally been here for enough time that i feel like i can give you an accurate portrayal of our daily life:
monday through thursday we take class at our school, uc3m. i am taking lengua (spanish language), teatro (theatre - works, not acting), periodismo (journalism), and fundamentos del sistema juridico (fundamentals of the judicial system). the first three classes are all in spanish, but have only american students. these classes are fairly easy and are similar to spanish classes i have taken in high school and college. The latter of the four is my class with spaniards. there is one other person from the wash u program in the class with me, and we have to do group projects with the other people in our class. there is one main lecture class and one discussion class. the most bizarre part of all is during the lecture, students talk while the professor is talking, leave during the middle of class, and do not take notes - that is, if they even attend class. it is certainly going to be an experience. in addition, on wednesday nights, we have our 2-3 hour cultura y civilización class taught by the wash u faculty and attended by wash u students only. so far, work seems fairly light, but because it is all in spanish, we definitely feel like we are learning.
when we are not in class, we are either eating dinner with the rodriguez family or out exploring madrid. this weekend, our friends from another program were out of town, so lauren and i dubbed it our "cultural weekend" and did our best to explore madrid like real madrileñas. friday, we went to two museums: the thyssen, and the museo de jamón. the thyssen was the perfect amount of art - it is a private collection owned by the Thyssen-Bornemisza family that takes up three floors of a relatively small building. we were able to see paintings from caravaggio to to lichtenstein in just a few hours. the more famous works are housed at the prado and the reina sofía, but we found the thyssen to be much less overwhelming and still an incredible collection of art. later, we went to the aforementioned museo de jamón, which ended up being all lauren and i could have imagined and more. the museo de jamón is not literally a museum, but it is a three story store, bar, and restaurant. the walls are covered from floor to ceiling with whole jamones and there was one jamón iberico de bellota extra (refer to previous post for more info) that cost 90 euros per kilo. must be quite the jamón. lauren and i sat at the bar and each had a tomaca de jamón iberico (toasted bread covered with tomato-garlic puree and jamón) for 2 euro. needless to say, the museo de jamón did not disappoint and we will definitely be going back.
saturday, we took a 30 minute train to the bordering town of toledo, a beautiful little town up on a hill with famous cathedrals, mosques, and synagogues. first, we took a ride around the border of the city in a tiny antique train that showed us all of the main sights. then lauren and i wandered around for the rest of the day through the various cathedrals and jewish neighborhood. in the church of santa tome, we got to view the famous el greco painting, the burial of count orgaz, which i hadn't seen since art history in high school. the painting was massive, and below it was the actual tomb of the man depicted in the painting. slightly morbid, but at the same time, really amazing to see such a famous piece.
each night this weekend, we tried out different bars and clubs recommended to us by our host sister, gloria. as mentioned before, gloria is a former model and beauty queen, and thus, knows the coolest places to go out in madrid. she is what we would refer to in america as a "v.i.p." but in spain she is called a "vip" (pronounced veep). because gloria is a vip, she never pays to get into clubs here and knows the doorman basically everywhere. she told us that "necesitáis tener la actitud que no váis a pagar" (you need to have the attitude that you're not going to pay). ooook gloria. for the rest of us who aren't vips, we generally have the attitude that we will probably have to pay and by some stroke of luck, maybe we won't. but FEAR NOT. gloria has our back and each night we tried out a new place and got in for free! the best part of all was that every night we were probably the only americans at each place and got to see how the madrileños salen de la noche. at our favorite place of the weekend, a discoteca called vanila, the man was waiting at the door for us, let us in, and said, "two free drinks for the amigas americanas de gloria!" obviously, it was a great night. we can't wait to share all of our new places with our friends who were out of town.
to conclude, our cultural weekend was a success, and we are loving la vida española. next weekend we begin our travels out of madrid! in the next few weeks, we are going to cadíz, berlin, and london.
pues, nada. hasta luego!
Monday, February 1, 2010
jamón y más jamón
while constructing this post, i was trying to decide if i was going to write about my vida diara en madrid or jamón. i have decided to give it another week before i tell you about my day-to-day so that i can make sure that i give you all an accurate portrayal of spanish life (really, i just wanted to write a very detailed post about our favorite food).
although this weekend was mi cumpleaños and we spent it eating all of my favorite american foods (brunch and sushi), lauren and i are getting very accustomed to the spanish diet. staples here seem to be bread, cheese, coffee, eggs, bean soup, and ham (which from this point on will be referred to as jamón). Pretty standard, slightly different from what we are used to eating in the states, but we are open to trying new things and recently have come upon a shocking realization: WE LOVE JAMÓN.
A brief history of the torrid love affair: I grew up as a nice jewish girl in a nice jewish home where we didn't exactly keep kosher, but jamón (or any other pork product, for that matter) was not something we really kept in the house. We had an encounter with a christmas jamón about once a year when our family traveled to el paso to visit my grandparents during the holidays, which always sparked the conversation about how my grandmother, irene (or maybe it was my great grandmother and namesake, rae. mom, please clarify) invited the rabbi over for dinner and served up a beautiful jamón. Recently, we have been keeping jamón de estilo oscar mayer in our house for my dad. he makes jamón and butter sandwiches to eat on his 60+ mile bike rides instead of energy bars, because it is "what the guys on the tour de france do" (ok, dad...). Other than that, my encounters with jamón pre-spain were slim to none.
as i mentioned in one of my first posts, jamón is like a religion here, and it is difficult to walk into any restaurant, bar, or house without coming across it in some way, shape, or form. on just about every menu you can order a giant plate of jamón costing anywhere from 15-25 euros. however, before madrid, my idea of jamón was limited to the kind they sell covered in honey glaze during the holidays or the slimy lunch meat. jamón in spain is completely different, and completely delicious. although there are many, many different kinds to try here, lauren and i have tried (and loved) all of the staples:
1. Jamón York: this is your basic lunch meat jamón in spain, mild tasting, and not slimy like its american counterpart. we eat this daily at school on our favorite sandwich, mixto con huevo (a ham and cheese sandwich, toasted, with a fried egg in the middle)
2: Lomo: one of our more recent discoveries, lomo is basically like canadian bacon but thicker and more flavorful. maruja made it for us the other day for lunch with eggs and french fries. delicious.
3. Jamón Serrano: our first introduction to spanish jamón, this kind is similar to prosciutto and is the lower quality of the jamón that spaniards are famous for. rich in flavor, we eat it on toasted bread with olive oil or even alone
4. Jamón Iberico: the cream of the crop, jamón iberico comes in several types, the nicest being jamón iberico bellota. it comes from black pigs that are fed only acorns and has el sabor más rico que todos los jamones. it is similar in texture to jamón serrano, but is slightly more delicate. we had this the other day on top of a tomato-mozzarella salad and it was incredibly delicious.
our love for jamón will continue this week when we go to visit the museo de jamón (literally: museum of ham), a famous restaurant, bar, and store that sells, you guessed it, pretty much every type of jamón out there. for those of you who are coming to visit us in madrid, we will make sure we take you to taste the best kinds out there so that you can fully understand our newfound love for this spanish staple.
tienes hambre?
although this weekend was mi cumpleaños and we spent it eating all of my favorite american foods (brunch and sushi), lauren and i are getting very accustomed to the spanish diet. staples here seem to be bread, cheese, coffee, eggs, bean soup, and ham (which from this point on will be referred to as jamón). Pretty standard, slightly different from what we are used to eating in the states, but we are open to trying new things and recently have come upon a shocking realization: WE LOVE JAMÓN.
A brief history of the torrid love affair: I grew up as a nice jewish girl in a nice jewish home where we didn't exactly keep kosher, but jamón (or any other pork product, for that matter) was not something we really kept in the house. We had an encounter with a christmas jamón about once a year when our family traveled to el paso to visit my grandparents during the holidays, which always sparked the conversation about how my grandmother, irene (or maybe it was my great grandmother and namesake, rae. mom, please clarify) invited the rabbi over for dinner and served up a beautiful jamón. Recently, we have been keeping jamón de estilo oscar mayer in our house for my dad. he makes jamón and butter sandwiches to eat on his 60+ mile bike rides instead of energy bars, because it is "what the guys on the tour de france do" (ok, dad...). Other than that, my encounters with jamón pre-spain were slim to none.
as i mentioned in one of my first posts, jamón is like a religion here, and it is difficult to walk into any restaurant, bar, or house without coming across it in some way, shape, or form. on just about every menu you can order a giant plate of jamón costing anywhere from 15-25 euros. however, before madrid, my idea of jamón was limited to the kind they sell covered in honey glaze during the holidays or the slimy lunch meat. jamón in spain is completely different, and completely delicious. although there are many, many different kinds to try here, lauren and i have tried (and loved) all of the staples:
1. Jamón York: this is your basic lunch meat jamón in spain, mild tasting, and not slimy like its american counterpart. we eat this daily at school on our favorite sandwich, mixto con huevo (a ham and cheese sandwich, toasted, with a fried egg in the middle)
2: Lomo: one of our more recent discoveries, lomo is basically like canadian bacon but thicker and more flavorful. maruja made it for us the other day for lunch with eggs and french fries. delicious.
3. Jamón Serrano: our first introduction to spanish jamón, this kind is similar to prosciutto and is the lower quality of the jamón that spaniards are famous for. rich in flavor, we eat it on toasted bread with olive oil or even alone
4. Jamón Iberico: the cream of the crop, jamón iberico comes in several types, the nicest being jamón iberico bellota. it comes from black pigs that are fed only acorns and has el sabor más rico que todos los jamones. it is similar in texture to jamón serrano, but is slightly more delicate. we had this the other day on top of a tomato-mozzarella salad and it was incredibly delicious.
our love for jamón will continue this week when we go to visit the museo de jamón (literally: museum of ham), a famous restaurant, bar, and store that sells, you guessed it, pretty much every type of jamón out there. for those of you who are coming to visit us in madrid, we will make sure we take you to taste the best kinds out there so that you can fully understand our newfound love for this spanish staple.
tienes hambre?
Sunday, January 24, 2010
madrid, te amo
vale.
we are finishing up our first week in madrid and it has been amazing. you all may have noticed that i keep saying 'we' instead of 'i'...this is because my roommate lauren and i are basically married and eat, sleep, and breathe every moment together...she even has to listen when my dad is rambling on ichat about how he lived on $10 a day in europe (in 1980). she has even asked me if she can write some of these posts (meanwhile, i offered to do a duo blog with her months ago but she was too cool for it...her loss).
ANYWAY, this week, we had orientation at our school, universidad carlos iii de madrid. while the name of the school says it is located in the city, do not be fooled - it is actually in getafe, a suburb area about 35 minutes away from our apartment. every day, we take a train and a bus to get there and back home. the school itself is fairly new and has nice facilities. while i am here, i will take 3 classes in the cursos de estudios hispánicos, which are classes in spanish for international students, and one class in grados, with other spaniards. tomorrow is my first day of real class and i am excited as well as nervous to see how i do speaking in and listening to spanish at school all day.
while we weren't at school, we spent a lot of time trying to get to know the neighborhoods around us in madrid. we have discovered sol, a cool area with bars, shops, and discotecas in the center of madrid; calle gran via and calle serrano, two of madrid's most renowned shopping districts; and la latina - every sunday there is a giant flea market here called el rastro. today lauren and i went here and felt like real madrileños. on my own, i have been exploring (running) up and down the paseo del prado, a path that runs between all of madrid's biggest and most famous museums and monuments.
this week we have also been getting to know our host family. our mom, maruja, will literally not stop feeding us, and no matter what it is, whether a chocolate "bombón" or a pear, she tells us that we MUST eat it because "es rica" (it's rich). last night, maruja told us that she weighs twice as much as she did at her wedding, and we're guessing it is because if something es rica, she has to eat it. on the other end of the spectrum are both her husband, pedro, and her daughter, gloria. pedro is a skinny man who eats a bowl of fruit for dinner while maruja stuffs us full of delicious tortilla española (an omelet filled with potatoes) or tostas de jamón (crispy toasted white bread and serrano ham). he and maruja have been married for 40 years and are still so in love. gloria is their beautiful daughter who used to be a model and was miss spain (nbd). she eats with us and tells us how she hates dessert and churros (of course she does, thus, the fact that she is 28 years old and still has her rockin' model bod). in summary, we have truly come to love them and are excited to keep learning about their family.
at night, we have been trying out different bars and clubs in various areas throughout madrid. the good news: there are plenty. the bad news: people don't start going out here until 2 in the morning! we are certainly adjusting to the different lifestyle. we have also learned that everyone we know at home has at least one friend here in madrid, so we've been meeting lots of great, nice people who are studying here this semester as well.
overall, we had a great first week here and are beyond thrilled to be back in madrid from granada. we hope to spend the next couple of weeks exploring everything and really getting to know this city that we're living in for the next 4 and a half months!
we are finishing up our first week in madrid and it has been amazing. you all may have noticed that i keep saying 'we' instead of 'i'...this is because my roommate lauren and i are basically married and eat, sleep, and breathe every moment together...she even has to listen when my dad is rambling on ichat about how he lived on $10 a day in europe (in 1980). she has even asked me if she can write some of these posts (meanwhile, i offered to do a duo blog with her months ago but she was too cool for it...her loss).
ANYWAY, this week, we had orientation at our school, universidad carlos iii de madrid. while the name of the school says it is located in the city, do not be fooled - it is actually in getafe, a suburb area about 35 minutes away from our apartment. every day, we take a train and a bus to get there and back home. the school itself is fairly new and has nice facilities. while i am here, i will take 3 classes in the cursos de estudios hispánicos, which are classes in spanish for international students, and one class in grados, with other spaniards. tomorrow is my first day of real class and i am excited as well as nervous to see how i do speaking in and listening to spanish at school all day.
while we weren't at school, we spent a lot of time trying to get to know the neighborhoods around us in madrid. we have discovered sol, a cool area with bars, shops, and discotecas in the center of madrid; calle gran via and calle serrano, two of madrid's most renowned shopping districts; and la latina - every sunday there is a giant flea market here called el rastro. today lauren and i went here and felt like real madrileños. on my own, i have been exploring (running) up and down the paseo del prado, a path that runs between all of madrid's biggest and most famous museums and monuments.
this week we have also been getting to know our host family. our mom, maruja, will literally not stop feeding us, and no matter what it is, whether a chocolate "bombón" or a pear, she tells us that we MUST eat it because "es rica" (it's rich). last night, maruja told us that she weighs twice as much as she did at her wedding, and we're guessing it is because if something es rica, she has to eat it. on the other end of the spectrum are both her husband, pedro, and her daughter, gloria. pedro is a skinny man who eats a bowl of fruit for dinner while maruja stuffs us full of delicious tortilla española (an omelet filled with potatoes) or tostas de jamón (crispy toasted white bread and serrano ham). he and maruja have been married for 40 years and are still so in love. gloria is their beautiful daughter who used to be a model and was miss spain (nbd). she eats with us and tells us how she hates dessert and churros (of course she does, thus, the fact that she is 28 years old and still has her rockin' model bod). in summary, we have truly come to love them and are excited to keep learning about their family.
at night, we have been trying out different bars and clubs in various areas throughout madrid. the good news: there are plenty. the bad news: people don't start going out here until 2 in the morning! we are certainly adjusting to the different lifestyle. we have also learned that everyone we know at home has at least one friend here in madrid, so we've been meeting lots of great, nice people who are studying here this semester as well.
overall, we had a great first week here and are beyond thrilled to be back in madrid from granada. we hope to spend the next couple of weeks exploring everything and really getting to know this city that we're living in for the next 4 and a half months!
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