So I decided that after about two weeks since being there that I should right a bit about my weekend in Madrid. We started out with a 3 hour "scavenger hunt" of sorts where we had to go around the central part of the city and find random bits about everything and anything. We went down to the Prado Museum (just the outside...) and el Parque Retiro for a bit that same day and it was all very pretty. I was completely surprised to see how enormous the park was. I also wished that I could've been there a bit earlier in the year to see the leaves change because it would've been soooo beautiful, but hey you can only do so much in six months, right?
After going on this scavenger hunt we finished in the Plaza Mayor and waited for a our director for about an hour which wasn't exactly cool considering it was close to freezing out. The minor annoyance subsided pretty quickly when all of our Spanish friends from years' past along with our Kalamazoo friends that were studying in Madrid showed up. We caught up for a bit before our director came and then went for some awesome tapas at El Tigre. It was nice to catch up with all those hooligans. We all went back to the hotel and got ready for a night on the town, and let me tell you it was something. We went to this seven-story...yes, seven-story discoteca and had a great time. I have never seen such a big club in my life but that may because I've really been out to them in Cáceres and Bahía isn't much to brag about.
The next day we got a absolutely delicious brunch (I guess that's what you could call it?) at this place called Miranda on la Calle de Huertas. In fact, I'm sure if you ever ask Mauro what his favorite part of Madrid was, the honey mustard pork we had has to be in the top three. We went through the Prado museum which was pretty neat, but it was more like a race to see as many painting by Goya and Velázquez as was humanely possible in 2 hours. All of that on a long day of walking the day before and going to bed early in the morning didn't exactly make it easier, but there was some very impressive things to see. Unfortunately, we weren't able to see the other huge museums around the corner because we ran out of time which is a bit said considering they contain some very important Picasso paintings.
Finally, we went through the Royal Palace and my Lord is that something. We didn't have a guide per se, but our director did a pretty good job of explaining everything along with the little plaques that were in every room haha. We only saw about 10% of the entire thing, but I'm pretty sure that everyone of the little 25 square meter rooms could've been valued pretty close to a million dollars. There was a room with 5 violins and cellos made specifically for the Spanish royalty by Antonio Stradivari. If you're not exactly sure who he is, he made string instruments in the 1600's which are still regarded as THE best in the world and every instrument he made is priceless. Then the fact that they're custom made for the king and queen makes them even crazier!
I enjoyed my time in Madrid, but I still don't know how to describe it. There weren't any cultural sites like in Granada or Salamanca but everything still felt impressive in some way. Obviously it is the capital city so it is special, it just didn't feel like the Spain I had been accustomed to in Cáceres I suppose. I'm planning on exploring it some more, but as of right now I would say that there are other places you need to go to first before you go to Madrid.
This weekend I'm going to Dublin to meet up with Maggie and I'm getting pumped! I haven't seen that chick forever and I finally get to go see the land of some of my ancestors. I'll let you know how that is after this weekend so be on the lookout for another post.
So I had Thanksgiving here, obviously, and it was very...different. I can't say that I've ever had duck patê at any of my dinners back in the US (Rowley and Schultz families feel free to back me up) nor only one plate of turkey. Needless to say, it was absolutely delicious and I still was able to get ahold of both sides of my family during their respective dinners. It was kinda hard to not be around a ton of family for the huge holiday but my friends and professors made it a worthwhile and memorable experience.
The following day I had to teach at my elementary school which is called Licenciados Reunidos. It's a semi-private (I don't understand it either so don't ask haha), bilingual school were I teach English, History, Biology and basically anything else the teachers don't feel like teaching on Fridays. My mom sent me some photos from some of the Thanksgiving dinners and I was able to make a Powerpoint and teach a bunch of classes about our cool holiday. All of the kids (and professors) were astounded by the amount of food that they had made and eaten during the day. That same day I got a history lesson about Spain's conquest of the Americas and also interviewed in Spanish about American stereotypes. We really need to stop making movies where cheerleaders and football players are the most popular students in school because that's what Spanish middle-schoolers think that high school is like haha. They also think it's weird how we always sing the National Anthem at sporting events and fly flags everywhere because they have so many protests that more flags are burned in the country than are ever put on a flagpole. The only time that many European countries seem to be proud of their country and national anthems seem to be during international sporting events, so the World Cup basically. We talked about a ton of other stuff as well, but feel free to ask me about that because at this point I feel like I've written more than anyone would want to read. Hope everyone is doing well Stateside and there's still time to get postcards if you want one! Love all y'all.
¡Hasta luego tíos y tías!
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