Madrid, Spain
La Casa de Santibanez
El 28 de Febrero, 2008
10:02pm (3:02pm Denton time)
Wow…I feel like a whole lifetime has passed since I wrote in this thing. i feel like I did so much this weekend, but I’m sure that it won’t really be that much when I actually write about it all.
Ok…starting where… Friday? Saturday? Friday. That was the 29th I think…
Ok so Saturday I had a few things that I knew that I needed to get done that day. I needed to try and find a free place for Aaron and Lindsey to stay, I needed to buy some stamps (after attempting it for 4 days now…haha), I needed to mail those things… I needed to meet cait’s mom to pick up some things for the girls…get some cash out of the atm…and finish up planning for the italy trip. And more I’m sure…
So I was bound and determined to get Pizza this weekend since I’ve been craving it for so long now. The other girls all went to Portugal this weekend so I was on my own. It was pretty cool to just hang out and walk around on my own for the whole weekend. I walked all around the Sol area trying to find the Juan Valdez Café that we had seen there last weekend. It kept evading me for probably a good 30-45 minutes which was pretty frustrating BUT I did get to see just about every inch of the area between Sol and la Plaza Mayor. I ran into the really popular chocolateria that’s over there too J I can’t wait to go there with Lins and Aaron! J it’s going to be so great. Mmmm! J I haven’t been yet.
So I finally found juan valdez, and I was planning to stay there for a good while with internet, but the place didn’t have a plug anywhere! Sheesh. Nice. So I was there until my computer died. Then I went over to the Alonzo Martinez metro area where the other Juan Valdez Café and Pizza Hut both are J literally just around the corner from each other. I went straight for Pizza Hut and ordered the special thing they have that is a personal pizza with two toppings (tomato chunks and black olive of course!), two Texas-toast type garlic cheesy bread slices, and a drink for about 6 euros. I was in heaven. You have no idea. I would eat pizza for every meal if I could, I think… well, not true, I would trade off between pizza (tomato chunks, black olives, extra cheese, and extra sauce with super thick crust J right, Gooch?? Seriously, that pizza you made for me that one time is still the pizza I dream of very often…hahaJ), California rolls, edemame, and Chilis hamburgers with chips, salsa and ranch (they totally don’t have ranch dressing in Spain….terrible…). J
Anyways. that was a ridiculous tangent. I can’t believe you guys actually read all this ridiculous writing. Haha.
So after pizza hut I tried to go back to Juan Valdez for more internet, but they were already closed, so I went to this little café place that said they had internet, but after only thirty minutes I couldn’t get it to work anymore even after I got a new password and everything. Sad. So I just went home. But I did get to chat it up with my friend, JG for a little bit! He told me I can come next time you guys go to camp on the beach, Pookie, so plan on it. J man. That sounds so cool! I love beach camping. WAY more than regular camping for sure.
OH…before all of this happened, I forgot to tell you the most terrifying thing of the night!!! Jeez… ok so I walk to the bus stop that afternoon after lunch around 5pm because I want to get on the bus before they start striking again…ugh. So inconvenient! The bus drivers are striking, and according to a posted sign at the bus stop, there are about 5 days that they are doing “partial strikes” and about 5 more days that they are doing “total strikes” between mid feb and mid march… not fun for those of us whose only means of transportation is being on those buses… yeah. So that day, it was a total strike during rush hours (7:30-9:30am and 5:30-7:30pm), so I definitely wanted on the bus before then. Unfortunately I didn’t make it… ha. But I did run into Ani while I was there waiting for the bus! She had a dentist appointment so we waited for the bus together and I let her listen to some of the music on my ipod (Jen, she heard your song “It shouldn’t matter”, it’s the only one of yours that I have on there, but she looked at me like I was lying to her. She didn’t believe me that you are my roommate. Haha. She loved it J), and we talked for a while. It’s fun talking with her. It makes me feel like I can speak Spanish. She’s really patient. J so the bus FINALLY comes at about 5:50pm, and it is PACKED!!! Seriously it is so full I’ve never seen anything like it… well, about 3 people get off and two people get on ahead of me and Ani, and we try to squeeze in, too… well we did, but it was so tight that I was having to maneuver around the door closing behind me… it closes, and I am pressed against it the whole ride… at one point I said to Ani (in Spanish…), “I’m so nervous right now! What if this door opens?!” haha. She looked at me with a “whoops” type face and said, “Hasta luego, Denise!” haha. Oh man. It was pretty intense of a ride! Haha BUT we made it to Moncloa (where the main bus stop and the metro is) in one piece and tumbled out of the bus when the doors open. I couldn’t help but laugh the whole way down to my metro car. It was pretty funny.
Oh, and earlier that day (Friday), before the girls left, cait and I met up at the normal Juan Valdez and I did manage to book mine and Katie’s return flight from Italy…so that’s good. J haha. So we’ll be going to Italy (why in the world have I always …ever since I can remember… tried to spell Italy and Italians with either two t’s or two l’s…sheesh.) from March 28th to April 2nd. We’ll fly out of Milan on Tuesday April 2nd in the early early morning, and after that I’ll be heading back to the states! J I’m not sure the exact day, but I could be coming home as early as that day… we’ll see when Cait’s mom looks at the flights and sees what’s available. It actually works out really well because we have to get new Abono passes (for the metro and bus) at the beginning of each month or else pay 1 euro for each ride on them… so when we’re in Italy, my march abono will be done, and I have about 4 rides left on a ticket from when we were first here in January, so that should work out to be just about perfect! J just a couple for the metro/bus rides home from the airport and then hopefully Paloma will be able to take me to the airport when I go J
Oh… a must try for Madrid (and so I hear in Italy too, so maybe it’s a European thing) is the orange juice! They have these machines. They’re phenomenal! They have a tube out the top that you put in whole oranges, and the machine runs the oranges through and squeezes out the juice into your cup. It is the best orange juice I have ever had in my entire life. It’s just like when we were in elementary school and just sucked the juice out of our orange slices instead of eating them… it’s that fresh. Whoa. So good.
So that’s my new addiction… European orange juice. Haha J
Ok so that was Friday…
Saturday was really busy and long, but I didn’t really do that much because a majority of my day was spent walking all around this one area trying to find this stupid hostel to check it out and hopefully book some beds for Aaron and Lindsey for less than two weeks from yesterday! Usually, you want to book hostels about 3 weeks in advance to get the best prices… so yeah… anyways. I went to Juan Valdez to get info about it, and find out exactly where it was, went there and looked around for it, and couldn’t find it. So I went BACK to juan valdez to look it up again, and I actually drew the map out for myself. Went back and walked around a more narrowed down area for it… google maps is full of crap. It was totally not marked on that map correctly. I FINALLY found a shop keeper who knew what I was talking about and he pointed me down about two streets away from where the map said it was supposed to be. I found it and went up to ask the guys some questions. The guy at the counter didn’t speak English, so it was kind of hard communicating the questions I had, like, they’re flying standby, so if their flight doesn’t come in on the day that we book the first night for, will they still be able to come in on the second day without their reservation being canceled totally. The second guy finally figured out what I was asking and tried to start translating for us and speaking English to me, but the first guy kind of snapped at him and said (in Spanish), “no! let her practice! She’s doing well!” haha it was so funny. Frustrating at the moment, but after we finished the discussion and they understood my questions and I understood their responses, it was kinda cool that he did that. Haha. The Spanish people are really cool. They really do love the fact that we try to speak Spanish with them. Even if they do speak a little English. Most of them will pretend that they don’t understand English if they see that you’re proficient enough to get your points across with a little help and patience J it’s pretty cool. So those guys were pretty cool, and they gave me a flyer for 10 percent off of the stay, only you have to book online… so I still had to go get internet again to actually book the beds. ARG! I hate not having internet! Ugh. It makes the simplest things so difficult! Haha.
Anyways. so at that point I really needed to make my way up to the part of town where the Delta flight attendants stay to pick up some things from Caitlin’s mom for the girls. So I make the trek to that end of town… a lot of walking that day. Haha. And hang out with her mom for a little bit. She’s SO SWEET! It’s really cool to be able to see her pretty much every weekend while we’re here! I think moms (the cool ones anyways…) have this quality that make you just feel like you’re hangin with your own mom for a bit. Especially if they’re the mom of a really close friend, like cait’s mom. She brings snacks and goodies every weekend. its so cool. Next weekend we’re going to Barcelona, and we’re going to get to stay for FREE because her flight is to Barcelona too! J so we’re not having to get a hostel or anything. So awesome. Anyways, so she told me that some of the flight attendants were going back to that place called La Farmacia (they have the BEST sangria in all of Madrid, I’m convinced…at least it’s the best I’ve hadJ) for sangria and tappas, and asked if I wanted to join them. Of course I did! My girls were gone, so I had no plans… so that was really fun. Everyone I’ve met from Delta is SO sweet. Really fun people to hang out with. After hanging out there for a good while (where they randomly had wifi! So I was able to book beds for ap and lins! Not the hostel that I wasted my entire day looking for …. They didn’t even have the beds by the time I got to try and book them…FRUSTRATING!!! But at least they have a place for sure now!), I headed back home. Got there about 9:30ish and was just in time for dinner, so that was cool. Paloma and Eduardo Sr. went out again, so Eduardo, Veronica and I watched the Disney channel for a while. It was cool (Hannah Montana! Yeah!)J only it was in Spanish, and they can’t put English subtitles, only Spanish ones…so it got really frustrating after a while of not understanding anything, but I made it through an episode of Hannah Montana and that Nanny movie with The Rock in it? I don’t know what it’s called, Super Nanny or something like that… I dunno. But it was all in Spanish… I was definitely ready for some English CNN when the kids went to bed and I headed up to my room… yeesh. It’s not very fun when you don’t understand… dur… haha.
Ok. So my back is aching from hunching over this computer for so long. That means this entry is probably ridiculously long… big surprise, huh? No. prob not. Haha.
Anyways. so it’ll be 45 days tomorrow. That’s crazy. I’ve been away for 45 days.
BUT on the other hand… I get to see two of my most favorite people on earth in only TEN DAYS FROM TOMORROW!!! (tomorrow = Monday)
You have no idea how psyched I am for them to be here. I know I probably write that every time I write, but I promise, you still have no clue as to how much I wish they were here!!!!! I wish you all could come! I would love to actually show you the things I keep talking about J
Anyways, I love you all very much, and I’m super impressed if you actually made it through this far in this blog. I think I probably would have given up after the first few days of me writing this much. Haha. However, you get a gold star, for sure!
Break, team! J
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