A typical Monday



my terrace under contruction

This past Monday, Oct. 25 was kind of interesting.

1. I was woken up to the soothing sounds of a jackhammer about 2 metres away from my cabeza!!! I knew they were going to begin work on my terrace, but I didn't think it would require jackhammers at 8:30am.  Apparently, Carlos' dad said that the piedra on our terrace was probably going to start cracking once the winter cold arrived, so we're having some fancy new kind put in.

2. I tutored Enrique from 3:30-4:30 and then Carlos & Alvaro from 5:00-6:00. The twins are in 2nd grade and are currently learning "Money and Food" vocabulary in English and "Digestive, Respiratory, and Circulatory systems" in Science.  Carlos told his brother that vomit came from the intestines, so I corrected him and said, "No, vomit comes from the stomach."  "Well, then what's in the intestines?" he said. I just looked at him and said "Poop" thinking it was obvious.  Then they asked me what 'poop' was....I'm just digging my own grave here.

3. I decided to go into Madrid to have dinner with Sharon.  Instead of taking my usual route (the 495 Arroyomolinos bus into Principe Pio), I decided to take the 498 Mostoles bus to the Mostoles metro into Principe Pio.  On my way into the Mostoles metro stop, a middle-aged woman asked me for directions.  That's the third or fourth time a Spanish person has asked me for directions!!! I must appear to be walking with purpose here.

4. Once I was on the metro....it broke down.  The train stopped, a few minutes later the conductor ran down through all the cars, a few minutes later he ran back up through all the cars, and then he announced on the intercom that he would be shutting the system down to re-boot and we'd be in the dark for a few moments.  The New Yorker in me immediately grabbed my purse and thought, "Someone is either going to get mugged, attacked, or at least groped."  The lights went out (I used my iPod for my own personal light) and when they came back on, everyone was just sitting where they were, completely relaxed.  That would've never happened in the States.  It was stop-and-go from then, with the conductor running back to a fusebox-ish contraption about two or three times.  Finally, he made us all get off at the next station and wait for a new train.



Sharon's gofre con nata y chocolate and
my chocolate tradicional a la taza



5. When I finally got into the city, I met up with Sharon for some pinchos and a tostada con tortilla española.  She is definitely my favorite person that I've met in Spain so far, which is crazy considering we met because we sat next to eachother on the flight over from Philly to Madrid!  After dinner, we decided to get some dessert at a nearby cafe.  She got the gofre con nata y chocolate, and I got my first ever cup of chocolate tradicional!  It was amazing deliciousness.

6. I had missed the last bus to Arroyomolinos at 11:30pm, so I took the subway back to Mostoles.  On my way to the Mostoles bus stop, I saw two cop cars parked outside a bar-restaurante and two very serious looking policemen standing in the doorway of the place.  The next thing I know, there is a woman, literally being dragged by her wrists out of the restaurant and screaming obscenities at the manager, the cops, and the other man inside. Not exactly where I wanted to be at 12:15am on a Monday night.  I got into a cab and proceeded to have an awesome conversation with my taxista Antonio.  He couldn't believe that I had come all the way from the United States to teach in Arroyomolinos or that I had already graduated from college at 21 years old.  I told him of my 5 year plan to live in Spain, Mexico/Guatemala, Panama, Colombia, and Argentina and he told me, "No soy quien...para decirte adonde debes ir o no debes ir, pero en Argentina hay muchos miserias.  Aqui en Espana tambien"  He also tried to get out of me my opinion on Zapatero, el PSOE, el PP, and Obama...but I told him I didn't think I knew enough about Spanish politics to make a decision yet.  (Don't want to upset my new abuelo friend).  When he dropped me off, he said "Ok. Nikita. Hasta Luego"...with enphasis on the Nikita.  I love Spain.